Nigerian girl’s voice is held up as one of the social movements in 2020. Back in the 1990s, young girls are marginalized.
Men have gone to the moon and back, even in the armed forces. Strong and able women cannot join regiments, like some special forces in the military.
Meanwhile, women have significant leadership roles in various human development. Many women have changed the stigma against them by setting a platform targeted at ambitious young girls to transform their lives.
Funmi Ayinke is one of these women who says educating a girl means educating those in charge of any country’s economy.
The marginalization of women is not a new thing, says Funmi Ayinke Waheed Adekojo, the Funmi Ayinke Humanity Foundation founder. A foundation that has been supporting women in particular to pursue their ambition.
Funmi Ayinke Humanity Foundation’s active involvement in gender equality opens space for young people in Nigeria to contribute to the country’s development with their enthusiasm.
The three regions in Nigeria include over 100 million youths aged 15-30-year-old; despite the linguistic and cultural diversity, most leadership positions in the country are held by men compared to neighboring Europe.
Even it is common knowledge that men earn more than women in some jobs in the country.
“For the country to develop, we need to stop both age and gender discrimination,” says Engineer Funmi Ayinke.
Funmi Ayinke Humanity Foundation’s aim to promote gender equality and give youths a fairer chance of contributing their skills that would help develop the economy for future generations.
Meanwhile, the diseases such as HIV/AIDS pandemic are destroying more women than men in Nigeria; Funmi Waheed Adekojo said the foundation had introduced ways to make contraceptives and other protective pieces of equipment available and a hotline where advice can be given on any relevant information.
Getting Girls Into School
Since the foundation’s policies targeting young adults have narrowed the gender gap in South West Nigeria to the lowest. The total number of children out of schools is declining during the last few months.
Funmi Ayinke Waheed Adekojo thinks the only ticket out of poverty is education; It is acknowledged that women’s contribution to the economy’s growth cannot be ignored; in fact, it is estimated that over 50 percent of women contribute to the labor in food production in Nigeria.
Educating these women means we educate those in charge of the economy, says Funmi Waheed-Adekojo.
“We strongly believe that women’s contribution to the economy and social development in Nigeria is at an early stage, growing. We must ensure it grows to our satisfactory standard,” says Funmi.
