Fund Your Policy Statements, Promises On Gender, Group Tells States, FG

A non-governmental organisation operating under the aegis of the Center for Gender Economics Initiative (CGE Africa) has charged states and federal governments with funding their policy statements and fulfilling promises made along gender lines.

It charged governments at all levels to implement projects to bring economic equality to all genders rather than focusing on one.

Executive director of the Center for Gender Economics Initiative (CGE Africa), Uchenna Idoko, gave the charge during the training workshop for 30 officials of  the Cross River State government drawn from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) yesterday in Càlabar.

Idoko called on the states and federal government to live up to expectations by funding policy statements and promises along gender lines rather than reneging on promises and implementing policy statements.

“You can’t tell women that your government will provide gender equality and you renege at the end of the day.

“When promises  and policy statements are funded, you can be sure of prevention and mitigation of sexual and gender-based violence,” Idoko stated.

She advocated mainstreaming of gender into the budgets of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) during planning process to avoid gender discrimination.

“My message to Cross River State Government is that there is no budget that is gender neutral. They should mainstream gender into those numbers that they ask the right questions to unpack the budget in every ministry.

“They should ask who this budget is for? Is it bringing women and men, who are they working for? Are female workers discriminated against? How about maternity leave?  What is going on with female inmates who are in the correctional centres?  They should start putting gender lines in all the projects,” she added.

The executive director averred that with action planning on gender-responsive budgeting,  sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) can be prevented and mitigated.

“It is on the basis of this, that we urge you to employ a comprehensive approach in the allocation of resources based on the unique needs of different genders for equitable society.

“Ours is to see both genders carried along in the area of resources distribution for egalitarian society. This is why we engage with policymakers, executives and the community to create innovative solutions for the achievement of economic equality, advancing work, and
creating financial security for women.

“We promote the consideration of gender economic inequalities and find out exactly how they can be resolved by people of all genders in the economy,” she maintained.

She stressed that the knowledge gained at the workshop is likely to usher in a turnaround in the state, especially when beautiful stories begin to turn in, alerting that MDAs have begun drawing their budgets along gender lines.