International Women’s Day: NAWOJ Calls for Abolition Of Cultural Practices Against Women

As the world marks the International Women’s Day today Sunday, the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, South-East zone, has called for the abolition of Igbo traditions which appropriate rights to
inheritance to males.

The body stated this in a release signed by its vice-president,
Chibota Edozie, and made available to newsmen in Enugu to mark this
year’s event. It called for the abolition of inhuman practices against
women in the zone, including those meted to widows.

According to the release, “We particularly decry the archaic
traditional and cultural practices against widows, right to
inheritance and male child preferences in the South East. This inhuman
and degrading treatment is not in consonance with the Beijing
Declaration. Concerted efforts have to be made to abolish these
inhuman practices.”

Edozie commended the federal government for appointing a female,
Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, as the acting president of the Court of
Appeal, replacing Justice Bulkachuwa, also a female.

The International Women’s Day is set aside by the United Nations to
commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration. The theme
of this year’s event is: “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s
Rights”.

A lawyer, Nkechi Ozioko, in an interview with THE WHISTLER, called
on women to cry out whenever their rights were being trampled upon.
According to her, there are provisions in the 1999 Constitution which
protect women’s rights, but regretted that majority of those
affected are not aware of the provisions.

She said, “Let me not go into technicalities, but the court is always
ready to enforce the fundamental human rights in our constitution.

“The law didn’t make provisions for males’ rights alone. Again, the Supreme
Court has ruled that women have equal rights to inheritance with their
male counterparts. Again, there are NGOs, the Human Rights Commission,
Public Compliant Commission, Women’s Aid Collective, here in Enugu,
among others, ready to protect women’s rights.

“Women should utilise these opportunities to safeguard their fundamental rights. I think fear and naivety are the problems.”