Women under the name Reserved Seats for Women Advocacy Coalition have said that reserving seats for women at the state and National Assembly would give women voice to contribute to community development.
They stated this at the just concluded South East Zonal Public hearing on the review of the 1999 constitution held in Owerri.
Speaking, the Coordinator of the group, Dr. Adaora Onyechere Sydney-Jack, expressed her sadness over the underrepresentation of women in the Southeast region’s legislative assemblies. According to her, “If you take a look at the statistics of Southeast population, over 20 million, 9.8 per cent are women, 0.02 per cent of that number represents women in the National Assembly and in the state house of assembly.”
She highlighted the dire situation of women representation in the region’s state assemblies, stating, “We do not have a single woman in Imo State Assembly, none in Abia state, one in Ebonyi, two in Enugu and one in Anambra states.”
Dr. Sydney-Jack emphasized the importance of passing the Bill, saying, “With a population like that and lagging behind of our women, community development is a tragedy. So we adopt this Bill and we know that with this Bill in Southeast, the girl child may dream to live for her education to rise.”
She added, “This is not a woman bill but a national bill for women to have a voice and for young women to live for their education to rise.”
The post 1999 constitution review will give women voice – Women group appeared first on Vanguard News.
