THE bill
on Gender and Equal Opportunity for all sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujinmi
(PDP-Ekiti State) unequivocally met a brick wall at the second reading in the
Senate on Tuesday and since then portrayed the upper legislative chamber as
insensitive and self-centred among others.
According
to the particulars of the bill, it was aimed at eliminating the alleged
discrimination against women in the country thereby promoting equality, development
and advancement of all persons in Nigeria as well as promoting women’s freedom
of movement, female economic activity and girls’ access to education.
Particularly,
the bill seeks to incorporate and enforce certain provisions of the United
Nations CEDAW and other global instruments on the rights of women in Africa
which according to the proposer will drastically reduce the incidents of
discrimination against women in relation to marriage, marriage, divorce,
property/land ownership and inheritance.
In her
statement, she emphatically lamented over the plight of women in the country stating
that the plight of the women in the society seemingly reduces them as mere
bystanders rather than stakeholders, hence requires urgent legal intervention.
Prior to her bill, several other women had futilely embarked on similar project
in the past especially during the 7th National Assembly sponsored by
Chris Anyanwu.
Remarkably, the President of the Senate, Dr.
Bukola Saraki in calming the tension the rejection has generated diplomatically
pledged that the bill will be represented after subjecting it for review to circumspectly expunge some no-go areas. Splendidly,
the bill also contained some positive clauses seeking for the liberation and
economic empowerment of women in Nigeria.
However, the salient issues which cannot be
overemphasized is the goals the other clauses in the controversial bill were meant
to score putting into consideration that laws are not just passed without the objectives
intrinsically weighed so as not to interfere
with or counter the laws of nature.
The Senate without any form of delay threw it
out at its second reading implying lack of merit. Now, looking at the issues extensively,
if the bill had scaled through, what manner of society will it produce; a
society where everyone is equal against the natural principles of orderliness. Objectively,
laws are made to guide the future and not just the present, and no parliament
would recklessly pass laws that its goals will do more harm than good to the
society. By the way, positive laws (man-made laws) are not supposed to engage
in conflicts with natural laws.
According to some of the gender activists
including those demagogically seeking relevance, if
women are given equal opportunity with men, they will produce similar results
if not more, and proceeded on listing names of women who made history in their
respective fields of endeavours. Among the names in the list are the former
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonji-Iwealla, late Professor Dora Akunyili and
the Liberian President, Mrs Ellen Johnson.
Unfortunately, the contenders missed a
fundamental factor which all the listed women who had excelled had in common.
Contrary to the claims, none of these achievers was given exclusive opportunity
to excel rather determinedly worked hard and judiciously utilised the available
opportunities and resources some other person could have wasted. As a matter of
fact, their laudable achievements could be traceable to insight which is
lacking in most women in the society today.
Believably, these great achievers prioritized
their careers, ignored their gender attractions or distractions, and
strategically positioned themselves to the present position several years ago
by vision, prudence and courage. It is imperative to note that these great
achievers were not recommended to these enviable positions purposely for equal
opportunities to women but on account of professional and intellectual
capacities for service delivery through studies and trainings.
Taking a cue from the order of nature, a woman
is organically created to submit to a man irrespective of position. To think
otherwise is clearly
indicative of hubris. However, this notion doesn’t imply that women are inferior to men
or second class creatures. The structural arrangement is exclusively for the
sake of order in the society starting from homes.
Genealogically, the man is the head of every
family and not the woman. The headship is sacrosanct and not relative. No
doubt, some men could be nauseating, recalcitrant and grossly deficient of the
requisites to head a home, nevertheless, he remains the head of the home
starting from the woman. This is the core reason why a decision to sign-up to a
man in your life must be thoroughly thought of to enable freely and joyful submission.
Economically, a woman could occupy a better
position than man; however, it has not changed the structures of nature. The
earlier this is understood, the better as several cases of divorce and other family
crises leading to single parenthood in the society today are due to ignorance
of the truth. To take up the position of the head by virtue of life accomplishments
are erroneous. The headship of a man is not by merit but extraterrestrial.
Similarly, in most traditions in Nigeria, a woman
kneels during the traditional marriages which signify subordination and
submission to man. No part of the Nigerian nation has it been recorded where a
man kneels to a woman traditionally apart from the courtship makeup which is merely
for the fun of it. Unfortunately, in the western system which Africans are
beginning to accept, everyone is equal leading to high rate of instability in
homes.
The bill, tendentiously thrown out by the Senate, if it had scaled true is capable of
destroying many homes in the nearest future as it tends to destroy the
orderliness of nature. Reasonably, a woman needs consent from his husband prior
to engagement in some actions like joining active politics and embarking on
trips. That is ebulliently,
orderliness
and not intimidation against women.
Comparatively, a home where everyone maintains
equal powers is not different from a corporate organization where everyone is contemporaneously, the chief executive
officer. Two captains, they say, cannot operate in a boat simultaneously. From
the biblical perspective, a man submits to God while a woman to the man and
jointly, they raise the children. This is the intent for the headship of the
man albeit always abused. Illustratively, a woman occupies the position of a
neck in the body while the man is the head. This shows the sensitive position
of a woman in the society.
Suffice to say that the bill on gender should be
towards liberating women in some parts of the country where discrimination
against woman is apparent and overwhelming particularly bills releasing women to
go to school and to eliminate early and non consensual marriages.
Thoughtfully, if at all there should be outcry
for gender and equal opportunities, it should come from men who in most
occasions remain job hunters after graduations while their female colleagues have
choices of enviable job offers. Ostensibly, the labour market and society at
large favours women more than men. Hence, the message should be to encourage
women to put in their best in education as it fixes them in prominent positions
in the society irrespective of their gender.
Interestingly, across all the political parties
in Nigeria, women are sumptuously encouraged by the offers of free tickets to
join the contests against men that pay several millions of naira for the same
positions.
Conclusively, the Senate rejection of the bill
is in order and not an act of cowardice or insensitivity as misconceived in
some quarters. The upper legislative chamber cannot reasonably pass a law that
is impracticable and constitutes great dangers to organized family life as that
of the Same-Sex Marriage bill. All man-made laws must reasonably flow from the
laws of nature, and the lawmakers’ position in aligning with the natural phenomenon
is conventionally sound and accurate.
By and large, women should be given periodic
orientations and encouraged to embrace education, as well as other vocational
and economic empowerment programmes but not to equate with men which is
inconsistent with natural order, and above all, will leave homes hysterical and disorganized.
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