The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, says the 10th National Assembly is determined to promote gender equity.
He stated this during an international conference on women in governance organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja on Wednesday.
The Senate President highlighted gender stereotypes and biases as well as absence of modeling as some of the factors that has hindered the low turnout of women in governance.
He further stated that he desires to see more women in governance but said it is easier to promote more women in appointive positions than elective positions.
Akpabio said that women should engage more in campaigns of gender equity values and charged the Director General of NILDS and other critical stakeholders to develop women friendly policies that will drive gender equity in governance.
Also speaking during the conference in Abuja, the NILDS DG, Abubakar Sulaiman, said since 1999 women representation in governance has not exceeded 10% and expressed displeasure over the declining rate.
He also described the statistics of women in the national assembly as worrisome while stating that only 3% of women are at the senate and 4% at the House of Representatives.
Sulaiman, however, commited to deepening democratic culture and promoting gender sensitive legislation in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, in her speech, charged the leadership of the National Assembly to set the tone for a gender equality legislation.
She appealed that the affirmative and gender quota bills that failed to pass in the 9th National Assembly should be reviewed and considered for passage.
Also at the event were Deputy Senate President, Barau Jubrin, the wife of the former governor of Ekiti State, Bisi Fayemi as well as women parliamentarians from Uganda, Kenya and South Africa among others.
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