Women parliamentarians seek 35% affirmative action, child spacing

Women in parliament, across the country have called on government at all levels to commit resources towards child spacing to ensure national development.

In a communiqué issued after the national women in parliament summit Friday in Abuja, the parliamentarians said they were committed to ensuring that government implemented the 35 per cent affirmative action for women as stipulated in the National Gender Policy.

The summit was organized by Women in Parliament Committee of the House of Representatives and Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) with the support of Health Policy Plus and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands.

The communiqué was signed by the Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Women in Parliament, Evelyn Omavowan Oboro, Executive Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, and Country Director, Health Policy Plus, Dr. Onoriode Ezire.

The parliamentarians also called for urgent legislation that makes it mandatory for political parties to allot spaces within their party structures for women.

“That the women in parliament would continue to support the passage of pending bills and in particular such as Gender and Equal Opportunity bills and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill, across the states to support the protection of women especially as the 2019 elections draw near,” they said in the communiqué.

They also pledged commitment to girl-child education and urged support for women’s fund to enable women mobilize, campaign and participate in political processes.

They also enjoined INEC to urgently set up machineries to monitor political parties so that women are not shortchanged in the 2019 elections.