WIMBIZ Advocates Attitudinal Change Towards Increased Participation, Visibility of Women in Nigeria

Mary Nnah

Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), a Nigerian non-profit organisation that seeks to inspire, empower, advocate, and connect women, has announced the take-off of its Women advocacy programme and has therefore inaugurated a committee to plan and execute advocacy programmes on its behalf.

Drawing on its extensive women’s community-building history, the WIMBIZ advocacy committee’s current intervention is to support the 2022/2023 pre-election advocacy. The advocacy committee’s mandate for this year is centered around the sensitisation of women and positively influencing their attitude towards the exercise of their civic duties during the upcoming general elections in 2023.

This year’s campaign centers around informing and reminding women about their voting history, their rights, responsibilities, and rewards regarding voting, and encouraging women to perform their civic duty.

The programme which has the theme, “Women and Civic Duties, Voters’ Attitude and Elections in Nigeria”, will also feature a report, infomercials, and a mini-historical documentary on Nigeria’s suffragettes.

Speaking during a press briefing to inform the media of the WIMBIZ 21st Annual Conference scheduled for November 3^rd and 4^th at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos,  the 2022 Advocacy Committee Chairperson, Ms. Ronke Onadeko said the goal of WIMBIZ in its advocacy efforts is to increase women’s awareness of our historical journey in public and private participation and politics and advocate improvements in inclusion, participation, and visibility on all related indices.

With the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 10 for gender equality and reducing inequalities respectively in view, the WIMBIZ advocacy pillar is focused on engaging both the public and private sectors and individuals through strategic partnerships, collaborations, and direct engagement while preparing females to position themselves to contribute to nation-building and performance of their civic duties.

The goal for public sector engagement is to have a higher representation of women developed, equipped, and positioned to increase their representation at all levels of government and in politics for both appointive and elective roles from 3.8 per cent to 30 per cent by 2030 and to increase the representationo f women in the corporate sector occupying senior and executive positions.

WIMBIZ advocacy initiatives are championed by standing committees staffed by loyal Associates in collaboration with WIMBIZ HQ.