08 Mar 2022 International Women’s Day: Women Africa Calls for More efforts to Realize Gender Equality
Women Initiative for leadership strategy and innovation in Africa (Women Africa) joins the global community in celebrating international women’s day a day for world citizens to shine a spotlight on gender equity issues that impede global development, and how they can be eliminated. The 2022 international women’s day theme as set by the United Nations is Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow. At Women Africa we believe that “When a woman rises, the world rises.” We put those words into action every day, and today we reaffirm them as we celebrate International Women’s Day.
Women Africa celebrates all women and girls around the world, in all of their diversity. Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls have long been a part of Women Africa’s work—we seek to create environments that help women succeed economically, prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV), provide voluntary family planning and other reproductive health services for women, and ensure women’s leadership and meaningful participation in all areas of life.
In a bid for an equal and sustainable tomorrow, recognizing the contributions of women and girls around the world who are leading in diverse sectors to build a sustainable future all and unlocking the potential of women is more important than ever. The economic success of women and girls has a ripple effect that leads to better health and development efforts, expanded access to justice, inclusion, and greater resilience. Unfortunately, gender inequality has exacerbated the already disproportionate burden of violence, objectification, discrimination, and socioeconomic inequality that has led to anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of women and girls, preventing them from generating income and ultimately undercutting economic recovery for entire communities.
We celebrate programs such as Women Africa Girls Leadership Academy (WAGLA) – training adolescent girls and young women on leadership skills in Nigeria and providing essential leadership and development skillsets through mentorship. In Nigeria, Women Africa is expanding a youth (Young Women) program to ensure participants succeed in their leadership ventures. Preventing gender-based violence (GBV) has always been a core goal for Women Africa.
On this International Women’s Day, we pause to celebrate the exceptional work aimed to break the cycle of GBV and gender inequality through capacity building training, mentorship, and leadership programs by various women’s rights organizations which have had a significant effect on women’s livelihoods and growth across different sectors. Women and girls are important contributors to the developmental economy, benefitting their communities. We want to recognize their crucial roles this International Women’s Day.
Women Africa, therefore, calls out to everyone to use their social media platforms to tell the world what International Women’s Day means to them. People especially women and girls should share thoughts and activities inspired by the theme ‘Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow’. We encourage more people to call on their state government and relevant stakeholders to make great efforts to realize gender equality and eliminate gender inequality from the communities, local government, and at national level.
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