As Nigerian women joined others to celebrate International Women’s Day on Friday, IndustriALL Women has tasked women/girls to ‘Balance for Better’ to accelerate gender parity and say no to discrimination.
Chairperson of the IndustriALL Global, Nigeria Council, Women Committee, Comrade Oluchi Amaogu, at the union’s celebration on Thursday, said all humanity should rise up to say no to violence and harassment against women/girls.
“This type of opportunity is always an avenue to encourage all affiliates #to take the pledge to end violence and harassment against women in their workplaces and in the union,” she said.
She noted that the event which kicked off with a rally and awareness walk by all the Nigerian eight affiliates of IndustriAll Global Union, namely National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non Metallic Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), Chemical and Non-Metallic Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (CANMPSSAN), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Steel and Engineering Workers Union (SEWUN) and AUTOBATE, was part of the vision of the global body.
According to her, three questions in the view of IndustriALL’s vision should guide members to take action and these include,
“Where we were?, Where we are? Where we are going to?
“If we fail, we learn, improve and put ourselves in places with people who will inspire us positively.”
She recalled that March 8 was International Women’s Day was set aside to celebrate women and achievements by women globally and has been faithfully observed for over 100 years.
Speaking on the theme for this year, which is ‘Balance for Better,’ Amaogu said the union this year decided to bring in teenagers from different public and private secondary schools to be a part of the programme, believing that it was part of mentoring, to help them balance for better in future because they are the leaders and workers of tomorrow.
She said, “We should celebrate the younger generation (the youths) today for they are our leaders tomorrow. It is always a delight to see the innovations these young ones are bringing in. We must endeavour to create an enabling environment for our youths to realize their potentials and fulfil their dreams.
“Our collective objective is to defend and protect workers’ rights. To every comrade in the house, we must be purpose-driven. Though from different cultures and religious backgrounds, we have but one purpose – protection of workers’ rights and defence of women. Let’s work with love and the spirit of comradeship. We are here to serve in order to balance for better years ahead.”
In her address, Dr. Joe-Okei Odumakin, equally charged the young girls at the event to ensure they are empowered so that can be fight injustice.