Ugo Nosiri, Owerri
A non-governmental organisation, Community Life Project, wants parents and care-givers to pay more attention to the training and empowerment of the girl child to enable her realise her potentials.
At a workshop organised for community and religious leaders to mark this year’s International Women’s Day in Owerri, a member of the NGO, Mr Oluchukwu Nnabugwu, regretted that women have continued to suffer neglect in families.
He explained that training of male children have continued to receive priority to the detriment of their female counterparts especially in the South-East, thereby depriving the society of the positive impacts that women were endowed with.
Mr Oluchukwu while appealing to the government to implement gender equality laws to bridge the gap existing between men and women in society, explained that men were selected for the workshop to champion the course in the rural communities.
Mr Nnabugwu who is also chairman Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, admonished the girl child to rise and subdue the psychological effects of her upbringing which tend to make female children feel inferior before the men folk.
Another speaker, Mr Chinedu Eze, said the forum had afforded the opportunity to engage with the men on the need to invest in women, the challenges inherent in this and how to overcome the obstacles, noting that women are catalysts to national development.
He identified cultural and religious beliefs as some of the factors inhibiting women empowerment and appealed to Nigerians to disabuse their minds and invest in the girl child in line with the theme of this year’s celebration which is “Investing in women, accelerate progress.”
