Nigerian Women on Wednesday sent a strong message to the menfolk, especially the political class, demanding for a new deal and saying they are now tired of singing, clapping and dancing for politicians.
They made the demand at the opening of a National Women’s Dialogue, tagged “Womanifesto 2019: A Women’s Charter of Demands”.
Chairperson of the Dialogue and wife of the Ekiti State Governor, Erelu Bisi Fayemi said Nigerian Women needs a country where they are no longer treated as objects of a trade by barter.
“The issues are very familiar and have been addressed over and over again. However, it was felt that this national dialogue needed to be concerned in order to put ourselves together as a women’s movement.
“Our vocations are different. Our experiences are different. Our platforms are different. Our understanding of the issues might be different, yet there is one thing we have in common.
We are tired. We are tired of saying the same thing over and over again. We are tired of being raped. We are tired of nursing our raped and battered children.
We are tired of mourning our sisters beaten to death by their spouses. We are tired of fetching for our children who have been snatched away from our arms and have not returned.
We are tired of singing, dancing and clapping for political leaders only to end up with nothing to show for it. We are tired of not being able to go to our farms for fear of being raped”, she declared.
Erelu Fayemi’s views resonated with the audience who have cheers of approval.
Also speaking, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi of the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre WARDC recalled how women representatives at the 2005 Constitutional Conference came up with “Womanifesto”, saying since then, Nigerian Women have made progress but still far from their set goals.
According to her, “there is a feminization of poverty. What we see every day are women who are poor, who cannot meet their needs. There is a need for us to have a frank and honest conversation so that we can all work together to deconstruct the patriarchy that has kept us where we are as women”.
