Women from various groups continued their protest at the National Assembly gate on Thursday.
For the fifth day, women gathered early in the morning at the National Assembly, demanding that lawmakers reverse their decision to reject five gender bills as part of the process of amending the 1999 constitution.
The protest by women from various groups began on Wednesday, March 2, and members of the House of Representatives rescinded their decision on three gender bills on Tuesday, March 8, in response to their demands.
The women, on the other hand, continued their protest, demanding that Senate members join their House counterparts in re-examining the bills.
They also want approval for all the five gender bills.
Among other demands, the women want specific seats in the National Assembly, indigeneship of their husband’s state after five years of being together, and 35% affirmative action for women.
They insist that they will continue to picket the gate of the National Assembly till all their demands are met. They also threatened to vote out the lawmakers who voted against women in the constitutional review.
They demand that the voting pattern for those bills be released to them so they can mobilse women at all levels of government to vote out the lawmakers who they say took a stand against Nigerian women at the constitutional review.
The groups gathered for the protest include the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Federation of Muslim Women Association (FOMWA), Women Organisation for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN), Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA), Women In Business (WIMBIZ), Action Aid, Yiaga Africa, the Islamic Youth League, among others.
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