Osinbajo Joins ‘He-For-She Campaign’ to Support Gender Equality

The Federal Government inaugurated the gender equality and women empowerment campaign, tagged “He-For-She campaign’’, in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Sen. Aisha Alhassan, said it was designed to secure the commitment of one billion men across the globe.

Out of the signatories to the campaign in the country, we anticipate that half will take the initial step of making a simple pledge for gender equality. We also project that another quarter will pledge and be inspired to engage more fully, taking a second step to donate towards, advocate for, and sensitise themselves and other gender equality issues,’’ the minister said.

She said the final and last quarter would deepen their engagement by pledging and following through on major actions that substantially contribute to social change.

PM News reports that ‘HeForShe 10 impact Project’ launched in 2015, the projects brings together 10 heads of states, 10 global Chief Executive Officers and 10 university Presidents or vice chancellors who would sign on to 30 communities to fast track gender equality in boardrooms and world capitals.

The UN Women Representative to Nigeria, Comfort Lamptey, said Nigeria was the fifth country to officially launch the campaign advocacy platform after Cape Verde, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal.

She said globally, more than 1.1 million men had joined the campaign movement to date.

Ifeyinwa Omowole, the newly elected President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), said the association would support by taking the campaign to the grassroots.

According to ChannelsTV, the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo also joined the campaign in Abuja during its inauguration. He said to fight for gender equality is not only an imperative of justice and fairness but also an entitlement and a debt owed to women.

Over time, the struggle has been refined to the level of a right to gender equality, the notion that women and men should have the same legal, social and political rights. This is a body of rights which in public law is a basis for feminism.

This is perhaps the greatest leap of development in contemporary history, when boys and girls can’t today, take gender equality for granted, women and girls will be free to reach their full potentials to get decent education and earn equal pay for equal work, and the full potential of the other half of the population will finally be unleashed.

The implications of these for vastly improved quality of life for all can only be imagined,” Osinbajo said.

Several other dignitaries including politicians, traditional rulers and federal lawmakers are enlisted to be a part of the campaign.