ABUJA – A delegate to the ongoing National Conference, Prof. Nnenna Oti, on Wednesday called for redress of plight of the women and men placed at disadvantage in many sectors in Nigeria.
Oti, who is representing South-East geo-political zone, said men were minorities in some sectors and were denied platforms to promote their own agenda.
“We repeat the same mistake the society has been making about stereotyping gender and employing the gender issue to simply means women issues, they are not women issues.
“While I respect all the views espoused and the disadvantages women suffer and continue to suffer, may I just present to us, some of the areas, where men have been disadvantaged.
“Men are becoming the minority in our primary, secondary schools and very soon, also in our universities as teachers and this is creating a lot of problems.
“Also, we don’t find men as nurses. Where are the market men associations?”
Oti said further that the issue of gender equality should not be stretched as it obtains in the U.S., where the level of divorce and homosexuality are on the increase.
“We have to be very careful, so we do not make and repeat the mistakes of America where gender and feminism has been stretched to a level where even the fabric of the family structure has been destroyed.
“We don’t want gender to be such a factor that men are now afraid to marry women and so their divorce rate is so high.
“When you begin to confuse and distort God’s ordained orders for the male gender and the female gender begin to see aberrations such as homosexuality.
“We should change the Ministry of Women Affairs to either the Ministry of Gender Affairs or we have a Ministry of Boys and Men affairs,” she said.
The delegate stressed that women should realise that for every successful woman, there is a supportive man.
She, however, appealed that women should not be discriminated against.
The delegate said she was looking forward to a time when Nigeria would produce a female president and 50 per cent of women representation in government. (NAN)
