Women’s Problems are Nigeria’s Problems

Last Monday, October 11 marked the ninth anniversary of the International Day of the Girl Child. I had forgotten about this holiday until my aunts in Nigeria messaged us with pictures of their daughters on their way to school. My cousins were beaming with pride in their school uniforms, and they had every right to. In most cases, education is the foundation of mobility and success - financial, social, or otherwise. It is something that girls need in a world where the odds are already stacked against them. The International Day of the Girl

Child calls attention to the fact that despite the value of education, millions of girls around the globe go without it at disproportionate rates. In Nigeria, the majority of children who are not in school are girls (Ossai, 2021). A lack of education is tied to lower income and more experiences of violence in the future (“Facts & Figures,” n.d.). Violence, which is already perpetuated against girls and women at alarming rates, is a direct assault to their health. So is the denial of education.

Women’s problems are Nigeria’s problems, and vice versa. National instability, lack of infrastructure, and questionable cultural practices impede their progress and subject them to explicit danger. Nigeria’s maternal deaths make up nearly one fifth of the global number; there is clearly a crisis at hand (Adeoye, 2018). Living in a low-income country virtually guarantees inadequate access to healthcare for a large portion of the population, along with poor transportation services to even reach healthcare centers in the first place. Even at healthcare facilities, a lack of infrastructure and national wealth means that there are often not enough supplies to treat pregnant women with the precision that they deserve (Olonade, 2019). Cultural practices are a bit of a minefield to criticize, but it is worth asserting that there are many in existence that jeopardize the health of women and girls. These range from forbidding girls from talking about menstruation to outright mutilating their bodies. They should be reevaluated, and potentially even abolished.

The plight of suffering women and girls in Nigeria has not gone completely ignored. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for instance, lends financial support to help fortify the country’s internal access to healthcare and digital resources (“Nigeria,” n.d.). This is timely, as the theme of this year’s International Day of the Girl Child is increasing access to digital services for girls (“In Focus,” n.d.). The donations and help given by organizations outside of Nigeria have certainly helped multitudes of women and girls, but lasting and permanent change must come from Nigerians themselves - otherwise, there is little way forward for the country.

Of course, there is enough determination and entrepreneurial spirit among Nigerians to show that there is indeed a brighter future coming. HelpMum, a health service company started in 2017, is just one example. It reaches out to women in rural areas, facilitating cleaner and safer home births by providing free medical supplies for mothers who otherwise would not have made it to a healthcare facility (Adeoye, 2018). In conjunction with HelpMum and other startups like it, Nigerians are helping their women and girls simply by talking. There are women in my family who did not complete primary school, and yet stress the importance of education because they have learnt it from their daughters and sisters and friends. Mothers who had scarce information about women’s health as teenagers sit their daughters down to make sure that they have more than enough resources for their well-being; I and several other women I know are among these daughters. Nigeria’s women and children are also helping themselves.

The United Nations can create as many days to honor women and girls as they please, but ultimately it is Nigerians who must transform those dreams into reality. Such a transformation is already underway, but those of us outside Nigeria’s borders still cannot just sit in impassive silence. Education is a gift, and it is also the first step in spreading awareness and reminding us to look out a little more for our girl children.

References:

Adeoye, A. (2018, December 7). How Low Tech is Making a Big Impact on Maternal Deaths in Nigeria. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/07/africa/nigeria-maternal-health-google-int/index.html

Facts & Figures. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/commission-on-the-status-of-women-2012/facts-and-figures

In Focus: International Day of the Girl Child. UN Women.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child

Nigeria. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/places/africa/nigeria

Olonade, O., Olawande, T. I., Alabi, O. J., & Imhonopi, D. (2019). Maternal Mortality and Maternal Health Care in Nigeria: Implications for Socio-Economic Development. Open access Macedonian journal of medical sciences, 7(5), 849–855. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.041

Ossai, Edem Dorothy. (2021, July 27). Education in Emergency in Nigeria: Creating Gender Equitable Policies so all Girls Have an Uninterrupted Right to Learn.https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2021/07/27/education-in-emergency-in-nigeria-creating-gender-equitable-policies-so-all-girls-have-an-uninterrupted-right-to-learn/