National Assembly should amend Constitution to accommodate gender bill – NAWOJ

The Nigeria Association of Women Journalists has called on the National Assembly to amend any section of the 1999 Constitution that prevented the passage of the Gender Parity and Prohibition of Violence Against Women Bill.
The called was made in a statement signed by National President of NAWOJ, Ifeyinwa Omowole, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.
Omowole expressed displeasure at how the Senate jettisoned bills that had something to do with women empowerment.
She therefore called on both chambers of the National Assembly to direct their Constitution amendment committees to effect amendment in areas concerning women and their rights.
NAWOJ said: “In view of the many advantages of this bill, it is the position of NAWOJ that the relevant sections of the Constitution should be amended to allow for the bill to be passed.
“If the Constitution could be amended to accommodate political issues, then the 8th National Assembly can amend the Constitution to accommodate women who are their mothers, wives, sisters and their daughters.”
Omowole commended Senator Biodun Olujimi, the Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate, who sponsored the bill and urged her to continue being a worthy representative of all Nigerian women.
While thanking the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, for his support for the bill, she charged him to use his good office to push for the actualization of the bill.
She called for more support for the bill, stressing that the bill did not seek to make women equal to men and not submissive to their husbands.
The statement said: “The Gender Equality Bill is not a battle of the sexes; it is not a bill that removes the submissiveness of women to their husbands, it is not a bill that seeks to erode the responsibility of the woman in her home.
“It only seeks to give the woman more opportunity to assist her and the man in the home; it is a bill that benefits the man even more than the woman.
“Men need to step up and act in support of gender equity. This is not a battle of the sexes but a struggle to ensure that both sexes have access to quality life.
“Progress and development will be limited if we fail to recognise that there is urgent need for women to be empowered.”
NAN.