By Sunday Isuwa, Abuja
As Nigerians celebrate the International Women’s Day 2023, Women Rights Advancement And Protection Alternative (WRAPA) has called on Women to engage themselves in technology and also join politics.
A statement issued by the Senior Executive, Programmes & Projects Coordinator of WRAPA, Yemisi Nathaniel, said even though women frequently face social, physical, psychological, economic, and cultural obstacles that hinder the full exercise of their participation rights, added that they often suffer from discrimination and violence.
The International Women’s day is specially dedicated to celebrating women and their achievements around the world as well as raising awareness on the challenges being faced by women and determining ways of achieving gender equality.
This year’s celebration is themed “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” which highlights the role of innovative technology in promoting gender equality and meeting the health and developmental needs of women and girls, especially politics in the Nigerian context.
“Gender inequality and discrimination in Nigeria affects women’s participation in elections as we’ve witnessed over the years, either as a voter or candidate, women frequently face social, physical, psychological, economic, and cultural obstacles that hinder the full exercise of their participation rights and they often suffer from discrimination and violence.
“As at date, the number of females that won the Senate is 3 and the number that won the House of Representatives is 14 as opposed to 8 and 11 in the 2019 general elections respectively, while we secured gains in the House of Representatives the number of female Senators is relatively low.
“Women encounter bias in politics which legitimizes the dominance of men. The political environment is hostile to women, negatively impacting their potential, retention, and progress. This is quite unsettling!
“Notwithstanding, we cannot ignore the impact of the digital world and how it affects women globally. WRAPA Nigeria stands in solidarity with numerous CSOs, CBOs, and WROs who have dedicated this year’s International Women’s Day to achieving gender equality in the context of digitalization.
“Women are more likely to improve their political participation through the great use of the digital world. We have witnessed how powerful the digital world can be in promoting advocacy for a just cause and one of them being women’s participation in politics. Therefore we are encouraging women to learn and relearn the usage of technology, adopting all its professional ethics to promote women’s participation in future elections.
“Quite a number of women participated to be elected in the 2023 General Elections, but only a few knew who and what political platform they campaigned under and the reason for their lack of popularity in the political space is that the digital platforms available to popularize them were not properly or even used.
“Today, WRAPA Nigeria calls on all institutions and people, especially women to break the digital gap within the shortest time possible with concerted efforts and voices to embrace the digital world and adopt its safe practices, innovation, and technology for gender equality.
“We hope that by the next elections, there will be a significant number of women elected into political offices. Until then, let’s go DigitALL, ” the statement added
