Hajia Salamatu Baiwa, the National Women Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC) has called on Nigerian women not to relent in pursuing their political ambition.
Baiwa made this call in Abuja on Thursday at the 2018 Women and Girls Summit in commemoration of International Day of the Girl-Child.
While acknowledging the great strides women had made in Nigeria and around the world, she said that women of the 21st century were ambitious, compassionate, visionary and successful in every sphere of the economy.
She said that women participation and capacity knew no bound, adding that she was happy to say that they were making significant stride in politics as well.
“We agree that the fight is still being fought and some of our sisters had to drop before they got to their destination not out of weakness but some out of frustration.
“Some out of fear and some even out of danger for the rest of us that moved on, it was not easy and even despite being where we are today; we still continue to struggle to hang on.
“A lot of these continuous struggle still had to do with gender bias and inequality and even more so the traditional acceptance belief that regard women as a weaker and inferior sex.
“They believe that we can do no better than our male counterparts and this has really been an obstacle for a lot of us to reach the peak we desire.
“Forcing us to be relegated for gender stereotype roles for a lot of u, we have learnt to stand because we have not passed the baton,’’ she said.
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Baiwa said that women might be mothers, sisters and even wives and society had relegated them to supporting roles where they were also important pillars.
“My dear sisters, we must earn our place through persuasion and persistently proving our capabilities,’’ she said.
She urged women to work twice as hard as men to prove their competence and remain relentless; adding that with time things would gradually improve.
According to her, globally women political participation has been recognised by important nations hence recently women participation in politics and decision making has received significant attention across the world.
“A few weeks ago in Nigeria, we had a number of women participating in just concluded primaries across the nation and this is big improvement from four years ago,’’ she said.