By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Men promoting gender justice in Plateau State have appealed to traditional institutions in Nigeria to promote gender equality in their domain by ensuring women are not denied any form of inheritance by the men in their families.

They particularly asked that women, either married or single, be allowed to share in land inheritance, as denying them such is a form of discrimination against them.

The men aired their views in Jos during the biannual shared learning forum for men promoting gender justice organized by the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA, Nigeria, with support from the Ford Foundation.

Addressing the men at the one day event, the Country Vice President/National President, FIDA Nigeria, Amina Agbaje advocated the need to end the gender-based violence that is domiciled in some cultures and traditions in Nigeria, and urged the men to network to break barriers to gender sensitive and protective communities.

Agbaje, represented by the Chairperson of FIDA in Plateau State, Ngozi Achilefu, said, among other things, “Gender-based violence has been an all-time concern in many African and international communities; it is, however, particularly exacerbated in Africa where there is preponderance existence of an unhealthy mix of tradition and religious gender-discriminatory beliefs.

“Gender-based violence is deeply rooted in many cultural and traditional values, it is regarded as a normal attitude or remains hidden or passively condoned with devastating health impact on the women… Traditional beliefs impose economic barriers on women, restricting resource control and allocation primarily to men.

“In some Nigerian communities, women are even denied family inheritances. Based on the above, this intervention is conceptualized for a community men’s forum in creating a counter-narrative against the patriarchal system, enhance awareness of women’s rights protection while enabling men to stand as champions not just to defend the rights of women and girls but also to support efforts to seek justice for victims and survivors of violence against women and girls in their communities.

“We expect that at the end of this shared learning event, men from our local communities will regularly network and share experiences on what works and barrier-breaking modalities in enabling gender-sensitive and protective communities.”

Also speaking, the District Head of Nabor in Jos North local government area of Plateau State, Bala Haruna, appealed to traditional institutions in Nigeria to promote gender equality in their domain.

He noted, “One of the challenges we have is the issue of women’s inheritance, where women are denied inheritance of land, and I therefore encourage our traditional rulers to ensure that gender equality, is being promoted in our communities by allowing women to also have inheritance of properties, houses, money and including land.”

The participants, drawn from diverse communities in the State, also appealed to parents not to truncate their girl children’s destiny by forcefully marrying them off to men who got them pregnant, but rather focus on empowering such girls who are probably confused, to have a secured future.