Implementation Of Policy To Tackle Gender-Based Violence Important Stakeholders Submits -

Stakeholders have called on the Federal and State Governments to implement the National Women’s Economic Empowerment Policy as the best strategy to mitigate the country’s negative impact of surging Gender-Based Violence.

The stakeholders made the call in a statement issued today at the end of the 2024 National Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society, themed ‘Socio-economic development in Nigeria: Imperatives, implications and impacts’ which was held from September 3-4, 2024, in Abuja the National WEE policy and action plan was launched in May 2023 as a holistic and robust plan that leverages diverse approaches and perspectives to redefine the Federal Government’s approach to women’s economic empowerment.

The domestication of the policy is key to attaining sustainable economic growth and bridging the gender gaps at Nigeria’s subnational and national levels Globally, one in three women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly by an intimate partner, according to the World Health Organisation the United Nations defines violence against women as any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

Speaking during a panel session tagged, ‘Economic policy shocks and the role WEE Policy domestication as a framework for responding to household poverty,’ organised by the Development Research and Projects Centre, the Executive Director of the centre, Dr Judith-Ann Walker said the overarching reason for domesticating the Policy at the subnational level is to serve as a set of principles that guide actions and decisions among policymakers to achieve specific goals of improving the economic well-being of women at that level.