Nigeria: Beyond the Sexist Chauvinism

6 October 2010
opinion

Gombe — Women the world over are earnestly trying to stamp their authority so as to prove the equality between the two genders. They have succeeded in rewriting the lexicon with the introduction of such words as Chairperson and Humankind (in direct rebellion to gender-specific words Chairman and Mankind).

In Nigeria there is today a proliferation of female-oriented societies. A roll-call of such associations gives a harvest of sexist channels like the National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Women in Nigeria (WIN), Association of Professional Women Engineers (APWEN), National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPS), Nigerian Army Wives' Association (NAOWA), Police Officers Wives Association (POWA); Naval Officers Wives Association (NOWA), National Association of Media Women (NAMW), Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), to mention but a few. Perhaps in some years to come we will begin to witness the birth of some female-oriented societies in the university campuses: Women Mass Communication Students Association (WMCOSA), Women Law Students Association (WLAWSA), etc, are most likely in the pipeline.

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