Women delegates demand equal c’ttee chairs with men

Women at the National Conference yesterday said they were marginalised in decision making and other critical activities of the conference.

Maryam Jummai Bello, who spoke to our reporter, said the committee named by the chairman Justice Idris Kutigi last week to resolve the controversy that dogged the adoption of a voting pattern, was heavily lopsided to the detriment of women.

“We should have equal representatives. If 10 men are chairmen, since it is 20 committees, 10 women should be chairpersons and also 10 vice chairmen and 10 vice chairwomen which means we have equal ratio,” she told Daily Trust.

Bello said “the 50 wise men that were chosen to sit on the voting pattern and consensus, we go through the list and we saw that very few women were there and with this development, if it goes this way, it seems that our voice will not be heard.

“The way it will affect future proceedings is that if really they go by this ratio on the number of women in a 50-person group, they (women) are like just four or five, I think with the appointment of chairmen, deputy chairmen, we might have problems; maybe they will sweep the whole number and it won’t augur well.”