They may still be living in an unequal world – dispossessed and discriminated against in the 21st century – but Nigerian women appear to be punching above their strength.
As the world marks Women’s Day on March 8, its theme which focuses on forging a gender equal world could not be more apt in Africa’s most populous country where women’s achievements belie their condition at the lower rungs of the social pyramid.
The far reaching concern around the celebration is pegged on “An equal world, is an enabled world’’ designed to celebrate women’s achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality.
In a polity dominated by men, Nigerian women are overreaching themselves, providing the proverbial grease that oils the national economy.
An estimated 50 percent of the country’s entrepreneurs are women, many of them farmers.
In spite of their toil, they earn low income and are generally poor and burdened.
Many of Nigerian women are necessity-driven and only a few are opportunity-driven.
The women are pushed into starting businesses because they have no other source of income.
They are pushed into farming, subsistence agriculture.
Only a few and educated women entrepreneurs are those who enter business ownership primarily to pursue an opportunity.
Women are largely involved in skill trades such as fashion designing and tailoring, hair fashion, petty trading, farming and a lot of other enterprises. Some get into industrial ventures.
The Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics recently concluded that if women had the same education opportunities and same political opportunities as men, they would be able to create higher value entrepreneurship.
The rating of Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa with more than US$450 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is largely attributed to the aggregation of the sweat of women, yet they are relegated to the background.
They have lower educational endowments than men and consequently, a higher proportion of them are engaged in non-innovative entrepreneurial ventures.
If Nigerian men and women had the same endowments in education, the latter would be able to create more entrepreneurial opportunities in high value ventures, Mrs Arikawe Oriola, a pharmacist, says.
She adds that while the Nigerian constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender, this is not enforced.
Customary and religious laws sometimes restrict women’s rights.
Consequently, Nigeria has large gender gaps in education, economic empowerment, income, and political participation, she says.
According to the World Bank Running a Business Report, Nigeria is one of 115 economies surveyed where women cannot run a business in the same way as men.
But Africa’s most populous country is improving in its education rates for females although more should be done, the Chairman of Exam Ethics Project, Mr Ike Onyechere, suggests.
Policymakers and educators could also consider incorporating more entrepreneurship and vocational modules into the curriculum to stimulate entrepreneurship especially in the absence of paid jobs, he says.
Women Arise for Change Initiative, and NGO, has urged the National Assembly to formulate more robust laws that could promote gender inclusiveness.
Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, who heads the group observes: “We require more robust laws that can further promote gender inclusiveness, especially in our public institutions and governance.’’
He adds: “This can also be enhanced by wider advocacy by the media, civil societies and other stakeholders within the society.
Although there had been great improvements in Nigeria’s quest for greater gender balance, considering the level of advocacy by civil society organisations and selected government institutions, a lot of grounds are yet to be covered.
The realisation of a gender-balanced society is still being restricted and hindered by traditional and religious sentiments, archaic laws and some other societal factors.
Nigeria, leading economy in Africa right now, is an exciting place to be a woman entrepreneur who compete with people like billionaire Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga.
In spite of the tribulations, there are some celebrated women such as Tara Fela-Durotoye, founder of House of Tara; Mo Abudu, CEO of EbonyLife TV; Deola Sagoe, founder of Deola; Olajumoke Adenowo, founder of AD Consulting; and Adenike Ogunlesi, founder of Ruff ’n’ Tumble and many others.
Women entrepreneurs are actually becoming more successful and ambitious in today’s business world but there are still a whole lot of efforts that still need to be invested in boosting and accelerating female entrepreneurship.
Mrs Nneka Okenwa, founder and CEO of Clair Textile factory, calls for support for women socially, economically and educationally in order to alleviate poverty in the world.
Okenwa, also the coordinator of Catholic Women Organisation, says that helping women, being an important workforce, would be a great relief to Nigeria and the society at large.
As the women celebrate March 8, 2020 as their day, Okenwa advises the Nigerian government to include more women in governance so that their motherly wisdom would boost the standard of administration.
“Women have indeed been relegated to the background and are not being given important roles in governance,” she said.
Also Mrs Ada Ozongwu, National President of the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs (NAWE), says the association is seeking partnership with the federal government in training and accessing soft loans, to bolster entrepreneurship among women.
Ozongwu believes that partnering with the government and other relevant agencies would also guarantee standardisation and recognition of their locally manufactured products.
“We want government agencies like Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to give us more support in training and provision of soft loans,’ ’she says.
Ozongwu confirms that women entrepreneurs represent 50 percent of the country’s population, adding that their proceeds contributed to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
She calls on stakeholders, relevant women entrepreneurs, to make a difference and set Nigeria on a global stage.
“We need a Nigeria where women can legally open businesses and sign contracts the same way as men” she adds.
MM/as/APA