Stakeholders have harped on the need to ensure harmful practices that violate gender equality and the rights of women are eliminated to allow for a more dignified society.
They made the submission during a State Consultative Forum organized by the National Human Rights Commission, Cross River State Office in Calabar, with the theme “Eliminating Harmful Traditional and Religious Practices Impacting on the Rights of Women and Gender Equality in Nigeria.”
Eliminating harmful traditional and religious practices refers to the eradication of customs, rituals, or beliefs that discriminate against women and girls.
These harmful traditional and religious practices impacting on the rights of women and gender equality in Nigeria include Female genital mutilation, Child marriage, Widow inheritance and Property dis-inheritance.
According to data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, 30.3 percent of women are victims of child marriage, 15.1 percent have undergone female genital mutilation, and 13.2 percent of women aged between 15 and 49 years have experienced physical or sexual violence.
Against this backdrop, stakeholders converged in Calabar for a forum aimed at promoting women’s rights and gender equality, a gathering the Cross River State Coordinator of the National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Remi Ajuga, believed would mark a significant step towards ensuring dignity for women and girls.
“Today in our State, consultation was specifically mapped out to address this issue and we are going to rely on you for very resourceful responses so that at the end of this session, we shall have very urgent working operational suggestions and the way forward as well as action plan that will fit the issues we are going to raise,” he said.
The Coordinator of the Muslim Community in Cross River State, Alhaji Shaaban Abdullahi pointed out the importance of intensifying advocacy efforts, ensuring sustainability, and partnering with civil society groups to prevent harmful practices against women and girls.
“Advocacy efforts often center the experiences of women and girls who have endured these practices, humanizing the issue and compelling action. Civil society groups, including community-based organizations and women’s rights groups, often have long-standing relationships within the communities they serve can effectively communicate community needs to policymakers and ensure that national plans are implemented appropriately at the local level, he added
On his part, the Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Calabar Municipality, Pastor Godfrey Mbang, identified misconception as the major obstacle to ending harmful practices against women and girls, stressing the need for a change in narrative.
“Violence against women and girls is rooted in the patriarchal power imbalance between men and women, and in the dominant belief that men protect and provide for and have authority over their family and good women prioritise their family’s health and wellbeing. After marriage, women’s most important roles are to serve their husbands and to have and to raise their children.
“In intimate relationships, women’s and girls’ choices over their bodies are dominated and controlled by their male partners and the belief that women’s bodies should always be available to men. These norms contribute to intimate partner rape and other forms of abuse, which are the most common form of violence against women and girls,” he explained.
The Clan Head of Big Qua Town, Ntoe Ekong Oqua emphasized the need to tackle harmful practices affecting women’s rights and gender equality by promoting education and collaborating with religious and traditional leaders to raise awareness about the risks and impact of these practices.
“We must understand that traditional rulers are custodians of cultural norms and they are powerful agents of social change at the grassroots level. You can use their platforms to publicly condemn practices harmful to women and girls and declare such practices contrary to true traditional values and human rights.
“The religious leaders hold significant moral and social influence. They should integrate messages about ending violence against women and girls into sermons, prayer meetings, and other religious gatherings to shape social values and break the silence surrounding abuse.
l strongly believe that education is a powerful force for changing attitudes and behaviors across generations. Authorities concerned can incorporate content about gender equality, human rights, and respectful relationships into school curricula from an early age. This will help students understand what constitutes violence and to desist from it, the monarch stressed.
