Gender activist tasked on selflessness

Stories by Ene Osang
Abuja

Member of parliament at the Benue state House of Assembly Honourable Susan Ngunan Addingi,  has stressed the need for female gender activists to see the gender struggle as a course that is meant to benefit every woman and girl in the country.
Speaking exclusively to Blueprint, she maintained that the lack of genuine struggle to the emancipation of women from gender inequality is a bane to their political growth.
According to Adingi, most female gender activists take up the struggle for selfish benefits, saying until they begin to see the struggle as a course women will remain at the same point.

‘’Every woman knows how to get things from her husband in the house, why are we not using that same power and idea to push for what we want in governance?
‘’It is because women are not committed to the struggle. We will need to move and say I am not doing this for myself but for every woman and girl, until we begin to think that this struggle is not for me now, but take it with passion else if we are in the struggle because we want to get political appointments we won’t get anywhere,’’ she said.
She further stressed the importance of women supporting each other, noting that  90% of people who vote during elections were women yet their votes go to the men.

It is on this note that she regrets the lack of support by women to themselves, restating that until women support each other with votes female politicians can’t make headway.
“A woman can actually be Nigeria’s president if we put ourselves together. Forming a women political party as some suggest can’t lead us anywhere because if they do that when the men have their meetings and plan we won’t be there, and you know you have to be in their political parties so that when they are planning anything you will know how to counter it.

‘’I’m not an advocate for women to have their own party now maybe in 10, 20-30 years time. What we need is every woman supporting another but unfortunately women don’t support themselves and until we move this struggle to a course we won’t move anywhere, ‘’ she emphasised.
“The people who fought me were women, those still fighting me and have refused to support me are women, I don’t know if this is inbuilt or just a complex issue but women will not mentor another woman.

“Secondly, we have a competitive spirit in us that always makes us feel we are better than the other woman which is very wrong because people on the same team ate not meant to fight.
“Women can keep denying this but when women get into positions they don’t pull others along. This is happening around us and until we understand our problems we can’t solve it,’’ she said.
The parliamentarian however urged women politicians especially those aspiring for positions not to be discouraged if they loose election, even as she charged them to do synergies in other to get supporters during election.

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