….says many women are heads of household due to abandonment, death

By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

Cross River Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Edema Irom has revealed that less than 10 per cent of women in the state participate actively in her policy and decision making process.

Mrs Irom made the revelation, Monday in Calabar during a press conference to mark the International Women’s Day (IWD), 2024, with the theme: “Inspire Inclusion,” while the United Nations theme is: “Count her in: invest in women, accelerate progress.”

The Commissioner also asserted that many women were heads of households due to abandonment by their husbands while others were occasioned by death of their husbands.

She further explained that the percentage of women who benefit from agricultural grants and inputs in the state were not more than 29 per cent and many of them do not have access to land for agricultural purposes.

“Just as the theme implies, we are pleading for more women inclusion in decision making and policy making process.

“We desire to see women accelerate progress in different spheres of life such as agriculture, science, information communication technology, education, business, development space and all aspect of life.

“As we do our programming, we must be deliberate to invest in women, because studies has shown that women are backward compared to men in different sphere of life.

“The percentage of women in policy and decision-making process in Cross River is less than 10%. The percentage of women who benefits from agricultural grants and inputs are not more than 29%, and many of them don’t have access to land for agricultural purposes.

“Not more than 31% of women are in large scale business because they lack access to land for collateral purposes. The percentage of women in information communication technology is very insignificant compared to their male counterparts.

“Also, other vices such as transactional sex and other negative coping mechanisms such as substance abuse, human trafficking, rape, physical and emotional violence, Female Genital Mutilation, forced child marriage among others have also increased in the last three years,” Mrs Irom stated.

“As the government of Gov. Bassey Otu is committed to fight for the rights of women and girls, all these challenges would be addressed.

“The state government has keyed into the Nigerian for Women Project and in the coming days, about 5000 women and girls in Cross River shall be beneficiaries,” the Women Affairs Commissioner said.