13 September 2017
menstrual hygiene
Menstruation
is a very important aspect of reproductive health however, many culture see it
as a shameful and dirty condition. So many girls and young women today are
faced with the difficulty of inadequate access to inexpensive and hygienic
sanitary items thereby making menstrual periods uncomfortable an unhygienic. A
study conducted by UNICEF showed that 1 in 3 South Asian girls had no prior
information about menstruation before they started menstruating.
Mr Femi
Aluko, who is the Menstrual Health Management (MHM) Coordinator for UNICEF in
Osun State on Monday 11th September 2017, addressed the need
for the eradication of the various misconceptions surrounding menstruation. Mr
Aluko made this address during the Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in
Ijebu-Ijesha, Osun State. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the
MHM Coordinator spoke about the various misconceptions surrounding menstruation
and how it has become an embarrassment and also led to lack of self confidence
among girls and young women.
The MHM
Coordinator said that an increase in Menstrual Hygiene Awareness is
needed as it is a Human Right as well as a global issue which requires the
attention of every stakeholder. Menstrual Hygiene according to Mr Aluko is not
just about managing menstrual periods but most especially addressing societal
belief that surrounds the issue of menstruation.
There is
a bill that is currently under consideration to be passed into law by the
California Senate in the United States. This bill will require that schools
provide certain feminine / menstrual hygiene products for students without
charging them a penny. According to a report of their Senate Education
Committee Analysis, Cristina Garcia argues that menstrual products are medical
products for anybody that menstruates. She also argued that some young girls
are absent from classes as a result of little or no access to sanitary
products. She made reference to a research project that was conducted in New
York City where free menstrual products were provided for students in middle
and high school and it was reported that there was about 2.4% increase in
school attendance during this project. She also addresses the fact that
inadequate menstrual hygiene management especially among girls and women from
low income families can lead to infections, emotional pressure as well as
cervical cancer.
It is
interesting to note that the same situation of Menstrual Hygiene in the United
States (which is a developed country) is also applicable to our society in
Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Majority of our young girls make use of
unhygienic products such as cloth, tissue paper, newspaper e.t.c during their
menstrual periods and these can lead to urinary tract infection among all other
infections.
I am of
the opinion that a system can be put in place where young girls especially
those in public schools can have direct and easy access to Menstrual Hygiene products so
that no child will be missing classes as a result of her menstrual periods and
various levels of infections can be prevented. These and more will bring us
closer to achieving a sustainable development goal.
10 September 2017
World Bank supports literacy in Nigeria
Mr
Olatunde Adekola, who is a Senior Education specialist of the World Bank
representing the African region made a statement at the Pan African Literacy
for All Conference that was held in Abuja. And in his statement, he said that
the World Bank is going to continue to support the literacy rate in Nigeria by
concentrating on the children of school age.
The
conference according to The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was organised by
Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN) and was supported by the International
Literacy Association (ILA) as well as The Nigerian Federal Ministry of
Education.
Mr
Adekola, the Education Specialist, also said that the World Bank is in total
support of what the Reading Association of Nigeria is doing and for this
reason, they will continue to support the enhancement of Education in Nigeria.
The purpose of this commitment, he said is because
1) Education is very essential as a
determinant of the economy and growth of a nation.
2) There is the need for something
to be done so that the educational policies will be able to achieve a
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
3) There is need to think of a
holistic new approach to providing quality education for the vulnerable group
of people and most especially the girl child.
According
to Mr. Adekola, The World Bank has recently created a $1 million (One
Million Dollars) project that is set out to enhance the Northern part of
Nigeria. The project which is tagged Nigeria Partnership for Education.
This
project will be carried out by World Bank in partnership with other development
organisations such as USAID, UNICEF and DFID.
The
project will be focused on strengthening the government system of Education by
providing basic education for children in primary school level. Secondly, the
project will be focused on improving the supply and demand side of education in
particular to the girl child.
Mr
Adekola also noted that it is not just enough to enroll children in school
because they will also need to be provided with adequate learning tools. He
also said that the project will also include scholarship opportunities for
girls to enroll and study for 3 years at primary school level.
Teachers
who do not have the National Certificate of Education (NCE) will also be
granted scholarship to obtain the certificate within the next 3 years.
A few
days back, I published a post on this blog on Domestic Violence if you
missed it click here to catch up and I got various responses. A particular response
got me thinking because some people hide under the umbrella of religion
to beat their wives. Please watch the video below and spread the word.
6 September 2017
back to school
In most countries, it is about the beginning of a new school term for children and for this reason, we have to make sure that all children (not exempting the girl child) has to return to school. As we all know, the key to the empowerment of the girl child is education and the best form of development that you can give anyone is self-development. By giving the girl child an equal form of education as the male child, we are bridging the gap of gender inequality in our society.
The best way to develop and empower a girl child is by educating her and in other for us to successfully achieve this aim, there is a need for us to totally destroy all forms of barriers standing in the way of the girl child to successfully complete her education. The act of the girl child dropping out of school before the completion of their education has been on the increase lately in remote areas in Nigeria and some African countries but we need to understand that for us to bridge the gap of gender inequality, we have to empower our girls and young women by giving them a form of formal education. It is not enough that we build schools and provide teachers in the schools, we also need to understand that it is very important that we get the children to school because that is when they can benefit from the educational structure that is put in place.
When a girl child drops out of school before her graduation, she is limited in various aspect of life as she approaches adulthood. There is a need for a functional education system that practically gives priority to the education of the girl child. The circle of poverty in Nigeria and Africa will continue to increase if the girl child is not given an equal opportunity as the male child to complete her education.
While commending the various efforts that are been made by various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and various government agencies, there is still work to be done in order for the gender inequality gap to be bridged. We need to identify specific problems such as teenage pregnancy and early marriage which is a major reason for young girls dropping out of school and not being able to complete their education which shouldn’t be.
It is very important that we understand that when we educate the girl child, we educate a nation
3 September 2017
stop domestic violence
On
the 30th August 2017, The Nigerian Wedding Blog published an article
where the commissioner for Women Affair and Poverty Alleviation in
Lagos, Dr Lola Akande who was represented by Mrs Olushola Falana at an
event for Management of Domestic Violence. During her speech, she mentioned that women are the cause of domestic violence in Nigeria by their actions.
Mrs
Falana who is the Director of Women Development Department said vices
such as misguided utterances, infidelity, negligence and sophistication
by women are the reasons for domestic violence. However, she went ahead
to add that men that beat their women are beast and that no man should
raise their hand at a woman.
My View: This actually made me realize that our society needs more education on the subject of Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence by definition is the act of aggression towards any member of a family. When a family member is a victim of domestic violence, all members of the household becomes endangered and so is the society at large.
Considering the actual spectrum of domestic violence,
we will notice that the circle usually starts with violence towards the
mother and then the child or children also gets abused or traumatized
in the process (do not get me wrong, men also get abused but in most cases women and children are the victims).
Women’s
right a long time ago was just limited to the right to vote but now, we
are faced and still frustrated by a system that has an
unwritten code that a man’s home is his territory and what happens there
should stay there and you hear statements such as …it is a domestic
issue let them settle it amicably within the family.
We
are also faced by a society which makes the woman believe that she is
the reason for domestic violence. No woman, Child or Man deserves to be
abused for any reason and nobody deserves to stay in an abusive
relationship.
Should in case you find yourself in this situation run for safety and get help.
where to get help?
You can reach out to Project Alert, they stand for violence against women. They can be contacted via email on project@projectalertnig.org or call them on 08180091072
30 August 2017
Bride or Child
Child
marriage according to the United Nations is the formal or informal union
between a girl and a boy before the age of 18. In this part of the world, the child
marriage that we find is the girl child related one where we have a girl below
the age of 18 been married off to a much older man. Usually they refer to girls
that are above 16 year as old virgins.
Mrs
Uwais, who is the special adviser to the Nigerian President on special
protection plan, according to NAN, explains that child bride is the worst kind
of child abuse/violence that you can have perpetrated to the girl child.
According to the Child Right Act 2003, a child cannot give
consent to sex and as we all know sex has to be consensual if not it is
referred to as rape. The fact that a girl child looks physically developed
because she has big breast and buttocks doesn’t make her an adult. The Child
Right Act however, is yet to be adopted in most states in Child
marriage according to the United Nations is the formal or informal union
between a girl and a boy before the age of 18. In this part of the world, the
child marriage that we find is the girl child related where we have a girl
below the age of 18 been married of to a much older man. Usually they refer to
girls that are above 16year as old virgins.
Mrs
Uwais, who is the special adviser to the Nigerian President on special
protection plan, according to NAN, explains that child bride is the worst kind
of child abuse/violence that you can have perpetrated to the girl child.
According to the Child Right Act 2003, a child cannot give consent to
sex and as we all know sex has to be consensual if not it is referred to as
rape. The fact that a girl child looks physically developed because she has big
breast and buttocks doesn’t make her an adult. The Child Right Act
however, is yet to be adopted in most states in Nigeria. The only state in the
Northern part of the country that has adopted the child right act is Kano
State. In other for child bride to end in Nigeria, all Northern states need to
adopt this Child Right Act and pass it into law.
In most
cases the perpetrators of this Act say that they do it in other to
prevent the child from rape, underage sex and teenage pregnancies but they
forget that what is actually being done to the girls is the exact things they
are trying to avoid. The point remains that rape within marriage and pregnancy
of a teenager within marriage is still rape and teenage pregnancy respectively.
According
to the United Nations, 15 million girls get married within a year globally
however, Nigeria has about 40% of this child marriage which is dominantly in
the Northern part of the country. When a girl-child is married off as a child
bride, her childhood is stolen from her. A bride age 13 - 16 is not physically,
psychologically and emotionally ready for the responsibilities of marriage and
child bearing which usually exposes them to health risk such as VVF and death
during child birth. In most cases these girls have to stop their education as a
result of this and as we know, Education is a very important tool in the life
of a girl. If she isn’t educated, then what happens to the child she brings
forth? The circle will continue and poverty will eat deep into the society.
The point here is that a girl child shouldn’t be given out in marriage
as she cannot consent to sex related issues until she is 18 when she is
mentally ready for such responsibilities
.
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