The Nigerian government has inaugurated a National Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) policy aimed at closing Nigeria’s gender pay gap and women’s empowerment.
The policy was launched alongside Nigeria Country Gender Equality Profile, and the Development Partners Group on Gender (DPGG) Equality Women’s Coordination Strategic framework for 2023-2028.
The schemes were inaugurated by Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs, in Abuja on Friday by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs (FMoWA) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
Speaking on the programme, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, Minister of Women Affairs, said the programme would address policy gaps and catalyse multisectoral partnerships to drive women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in Nigeria. Noting that women in Nigeria face disparities in accessing financial benefits as well as in economic, political, and social spheres, in spite of their huge contribution in all areas of society.
According to her, “We had to seek ways to change these narratives, resulting in the National WEE Policy and Action Plan being launched today. The WEE Policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria builds on the National Gender Policy and other gender-relevant sectoral policies.”
“The WEE Policy combines expert perspectives, government priorities, and the grassroots voices of Nigerian women engaged over the course of the past 24 months to propose high impact.
“The policy draws attention to key sectors, where most Nigerian women and girls are employed or likely to pursue livelihoods, such as agriculture, entrepreneurship, the traditional labour market, education, and skills.”
The Minister also noted that the policy will also recognise cross-cutting enablers such as Women’s Financial Inclusion (WFI), literacy, digital innovation, literacy, access, household, workplace, and community support structures.
In contribution to the aim of the policy, Mrs. Ene Obi, Nigeria’s Country Director, ActionAid, said the strategic framework would enable all the Development Partners Group on Gender (DPGG) to coordinate all their programmes on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and poverty eradication in the country.
“This framework will help the DPGG as a collective to address most of the coordination issues around gender and women’s rights interventions.”
