IWD 2025: Stability & Sustenance CEO Calls for More Women Inclusion in Leadership

Fadekemi Ajakaiye 

In commemoration of the 2025 International Women’s Day, Judith Onwerumaru, Chief Executive Officer of Stability & Sustenance Limited has called for more women inclusion in leadership positions globally. 

The International Women’s Day is celebrated globally on every 8th of March, annually with the full support from the United Nations and other women’s right movements.

This year, the theme of the International Women’s Day is “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment,” a call to accelerate actions to attain gender parity for women. Every woman and girl deserves to be empowered, given equal opportunities and have their rights respected. 

In her statement, Judith highlighted the plight of womenfolks, calling for a positive shift for the betterment of the society. 

“When it comes to business, only 27% of women globally are in leadership positions in their organisations. I am a business leader and I am lending my voice for more inclusion. We need more women in leadership positions, in business, in politics and wherever decisions are made. Equality is not optional; quality men don’t fear equality,” she emphasised.

The Stability & Sustenance CEO advised organisations that are male dominated, to have a rethink and adopt inclusion by giving women a fair, level playing ground to showcase their leadership, talent and expertise.

Also, she called on perpetrators of violence against women to desist as the world is now watching keenly with adequate mechanisms to punish offenders. 

She continued that, “According to the UN, 1 in 3 women globally experience physical or sexual violence. The numbers are scary. Every 10 minutes, a woman is killed by a family member or lover. What is the world turning into? Family is supposed to be a safe space. Love is supposed to make you feel safe but statistics sadly shows the opposite. For those intentional perpetrators of violence, your day of conviction is coming and it will be horrible because the world is watching.”

She also admonished women in her community, and would love to extend the message to all women that gender equality is not war, it is a call for collaboration and not a fight against men. In her statement, “Dear woman, while fighting for gender equality, we should always remember that gender equality is not war against men, men are lovely beings. Even though we have many who turn out to be monsters, we should not generalise and hate all men, our message should be communicated with respect, we should strive to bring value to the table so that our values will make way even before our gender gets noticed”.

On IWD, she collaborated with the UN Women UK and Million Women Rise to march with thousands of women to Trafalgar Square in London and she said the experience was a mixed feeling because of the experiences of some women. The intention of the march was to raise awareness to end all forms of gender based violence with an OI! (Observe and Intervene) call to action.

This year, Judith will be participating in the 69th session of the Commission on Status of Women hosted in the UN headquarters from the 10th of March to the 21st of March as she pledged to continue working with established women’s right organisations including the United Nations Women, Million Women Rise, and others in order to keep bringing issues affecting women to the fore while seeking solutions.