CHIDIMMA UCHEGBU-Abuja.
The Chairman of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Niyi Yusuf, has said that the gender parity in Nigeria is not recovering as indicated in the Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
Yusuf made this known in his opening remarks at the ‘Gender and Inclusion Summit 2022’ in Abuja.
Speaking at the event with the theme “Connecting the Dots for a Gender Inclusive Society”, the NESG chairman said that there is no sustainable development without gender equality.
Mr Yusuf said that it will take another 132 years to close the global gender gap.
“The pandemic has done more than open our eyes to the economic vulnerability of our nations. It also opened our eyes to the plight women and other marginalized groups face. Statistics are out there for us all to see; showing how the pandemic disproportionately impacts women and other marginalized groups. They all saw the spike in violence, primarily fueled by societal power imbalance.
“On educational attainment, Nigeria records higher levels of parity in secondary education and tertiary education enrollments. However, both shares of men and women in secondary education in 2022 were lower than in 2021, while both increased in tertiary education. The sub-index where Nigeria has the widest gap to close is political empowerment which has been widening since 2012 and currently stands at 96%”, he said.
According to Yusuf, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is covering 63.9% of its gender gap while Nigeria returns to higher and earlier levels of parity registered in the 16years covered by the report.
Nigeria, he said, also ascends 16 ranks on the overall index, with positive changes recorded on the economic and educational sub-indexes.
“After dipping in 2021, overall workforce parity recovered in Nigeria, although the participation rates decreased for both men and women while equality in professional and technical workers declined from 1 to 0.628 over the past year; parity in legislators, senior officials and managers increased from 0.434 to 1, as women now make up a majority in 2022’, he stressed.
Yusuf also said that 27 years ago, stakeholders from all over the world gathered at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to produce one of the most important documents which became a turning point for the global agenda for gender equality and in securing the equality for all in law and in practice, which has set the stage for ensuring actions. However, he said, “as we are all aware, 27 years later, the concerns raised are still largely unsolved.”
