By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

LAGOS- TRADE Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, has called on policy makers and legislators to promulgate laws against gender discrimination both in the workplace and other areas of human endeavour, for women to contribute meaningfully to nation building.

In a statement to mark this year’s women’s day celebration in Lagos, President-General of TUC, Mr. Peter Esele, said TUC believed that conscious efforts should be made to give women equal access to self improvement through education, while a stop should be put to all traditions, practices and perceptions that promoted various restrictions against the advancement of the womenfolk.

He said: “We call on both our policy makers and legislators to see this event as an opportunity to be awake to the realisation that we need to take concrete steps to protect our women. We need not only to ratify the different international conventions protecting women but also to domesticate them.  We must put in place laws against gender discrimination both in the workplace and elsewhere.

“We must protect women both as housewives and as domestic workers. We must consciously make effort to give them equal access to self improvement through education and must stop all traditions, practices and perceptions that have prevented their advancement. Conscious attempt at deliberately opening the political and economic space must also be made to accommodate and allow women participate in building our nation.”

“As we celebrate our women, we should remember that we are not doing it for them or embarking on a charity mission but for ourselves and for the greatness of the nation. Encouraging women renews their hopes thus changing lives that are central to the transformation of the society,” the union added.