IWD: AEIG Advocates For Gender Equity

Blessing Bature, Abuja 

As the world celebrate women's day, Abiodun Essiet Initiative for girls has on Wednesday urged men to use their positions of influence and initiative as an opportunity to be an ally or advocate for gender equity. 

The Executive Director, AEIG, Mayowa Akpati disclosed this in a statement that being curious, having some self-awareness about how your actions can include or exclude and building your knowledge is a key process to help you understand the challenges facing women in the workplace. 

"Remember you have the chance to make a difference, not only to women but to all marginalised groups within your organisation".

Akpati said, "It is the 8th of March again, and this year, 2023 is another opportunity to bring to the fore myriad of issues being faced by women all over the world. This year’s theme: DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” highlights the role of innovative technology in promoting gender equality and meeting the health and developmental needs of women and girls".

According to her, "The role technology has played in the overall development of mankind cannot be overemphasized. Women all over the world have benefited in no small measure from reproductive health to menstrual hygiene; nevertheless, we must do more to remove the digital gender divide, mainly impacting vulnerable women and girls, especially those in rural and remote areas with low education and socioeconomic status".

She said beyond this year’s theme, Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. 

Akpati added that gender equity means respecting all people without discrimination, regardless of their gender. It aims to address gender inequalities that limit a person’s ability to access opportunities to achieve better health, education and economic opportunity based on their gender, and the private sector has a critical role to play in addressing these challenges and promoting gender equity, by implementing policies and practices that support women’s participation in the workforce and promote their advancement into leadership roles, corporations can create a more inclusive and equitable society.

According to her, "Equal pay for equal work is another critical component of advancing equity in the workplace. Corporations should be committed to paying their employees fairly and transparently, regardless of gender or any other characteristic. 

"The compensation and benefits policies should be regularly reviewed to ensure that they are fair, competitive, and consistent with local laws and regulations. We should also provide regular training to our managers and employees on diversity and inclusion, including unconscious bias training, to ensure that everyone understands the importance of equity and how it can be promoted in the workplace".

"As an organization, we have been at the epicenter of promoting gender equity and social inclusion through promoting the improvement of policies, supervising governments and companies, providing services to women and researchers, strengthening the publicity of female role models and male participation, and expanding cooperation".