To commemorate the March 8 International Women’s Day (IWD), an Abuja-based non-governmental organisation, Paged Initiative in collaboration with Griot Studios and Give Girls a Chance, organised a meet-series between young girls and women excelling in extraordinary careers to guide girls through career path. ENE OSANG was there.
IWD is globally commemorated on March 8 annually to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
The theme of this year’s celebrations, Balance for Better, is a call for true practice of equality across borders.
According to the managing director of Paged Initiative, Ummi Bukar, the call for equality has a long way to being achieved in Nigeria.
Ummi, however, said the struggle has been on and is on the right direction, urging all stakeholders to do their bits to bring this to reality.
Speaking on the meet series, she said it was convened to connect young girls and women excelling in extraordinary careers as a way of motivating them to aspire to become who they want to be.
Bukar said many girls today need guidance and mentorship and that many had been led to careers they had no passion for.
“Many girls today need guidance and mentorship and we wanted them to look out for careers that have been hitherto assumed to be for males and excel in such areas. We want girls to know that when they are passionate about a particular career they shouldn’t let themselves be limited by their gender, rather they should prove people wrong by doing well in the field of their choice.
“Don’t let yourself to be put in the box, be creative and good at what you are doing and eventually people will respect you for who you are,” she said.
One of panelists, the founder and CEO of Dream Home Nigeria, Gbemi Elekula, said pursuing a dream is a tough, but doable.
Elekula urged girls to take advantage of where they find themselves while aspiring for their dreams, stressing that there is always a lesson to learn.
She said: “I always loved arts, but my mother wanted a different career for me. So, I studied quantity survey for my mother. I excelled in the course, but wasn’t fulfilled.
“I graduated couldn’t get a job in my field, I became a banker and worked for several years before I finally took few months off and focused on my career. I urge you to not despise where you are in life rather take lessons and move on. I didn’t like banking but I learnt marketing, customer care and discipline which is really helping my business today.”
The group also stated that the 2019 edition of International Women’s Day “will be used to examine women’s achievements and challenges with a view to creating gender parity.”
Another panelist, an electrical engineer and lecturer at Baze University, Fatima Iliasu, encouraged girls to ensure they had passion for what they wanted to be in life.
Narrating her journey to engineering, a male-dominated career, she said “though tough and stressful, it is with passion and determination it is achievable.”
She said: “I have always loved maths particularly further maths and physics because I like what my brother achieved being an electrical engineer. While studying in ABU Zaria we were only 10 girls in a class of 200 and later dropped to four girls because the other girls dropped out.
“I joined boys to fling through windows just to get seats in the class and today I am proud I did. I have published four books and I am developing an app to track underage voters during elections. It is challenging but interesting.”
Also, a multimedia developer, Ummi Yakubu, advised girls to strive to do the right things by being good at what they do and they will be respected and recognised.
“I wish I learnt early enough that everyone doesn’t have to like you, when at work I don’t joke and I try to stand out so you don’t have reasons to put me down. I did two and half years in sciences and I wasn’t doing well in Chemistry, my lecturer advised me to try something else. There was a photo competition I competed and my collection was among the best.
“Today, I am a multimedia developer and I am doing great, I also got good support from women around me so we should all support each other,” she said.
