The United Nations, UN Women, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with media executives in Nigeria on promoting gender equality in leadership.
Other key focus areas of the memorandum include providing platforms for women to advance in
legislative and leadership roles; enhancing women’s economic empowerment through
capacity-building and preventing violence against women amongst others.
The UN Women Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Beatrice Eyong signed the document with some media Representatives during a media roundtable in Lagos, Southwest Ngeria.
Ms Eyong reiterated the need for the media to examine opportunities where they can address challenges faced by women and girls.
She emphasised the organisation’s dedication to bolstering women’s resilience and professional development.
“We are here with few media executives to x-ray the challenges that affect and hinder women’s representation in the social economic and political sectors. We need to examine the opportunities to address the challenges to enable women regain strength and confidence. No nation can prosper if its women are excluded,” Ms Eyong explained
Highlighting some services UN Women rendered in order to promote gender equality, she said that gender equality was central to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, adding that Nigeria had been lagging behind.
She said; “As long as we are not able to accelerate gender equality, we will not be able to accelerate implementation of the SDGs; that is why we are here to recognise the fact that we cannot do this job alone. UN Women believe that investment in women equals to investing in the architecture of the society. UN Women invests in enhancing personal resilience and professional development of women in order to increase their contributions to leadership, economic growth, peace, security and humanitarian service.”
On her part, the Founder of Women in Successful Careers, Mrs Amina Oyagbola called on the media executives to focus more on advocating gender equality especially as it concerns equal participation in politics.
”The role of the media in advancing gender equality is fundamental and critical. The media is the most powerful tool for changing perception,
influencing public discussion and for challenging societal norms. Media can contribute by raising awareness and shaping the narrative, reporting gender-related cases and giving necessary support,” she reiterated.
The former President of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Moji Makanjuola and the President Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr. Eze Anaba
harped on the need to invest more resources and platforms in promoting women’s issues and addressing harmful social norms that are barriers to the advancement of women’s aspirations
and endeavours.
Highlights of the event were the signing of the MOU, tagged ‘Compact of Commitment,’ solidarity statements and an engaging panel discussion.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
