Women from academia, politics and other sectors on Wednesday 6^th October, 2021 canvassed support for their fellow women who are in leadership positions.

They sought the support for women at the “Maiden Summit on Women in Leadership and Development” ,organised by Prof Mrs Joyce Ebele Egwunyenga, Director, Centre for Gender and Development Studies, Delta State, University, Abraka  in collaboration with 100 Women Lobby Group at the  750 Seater Lecture Hall, Site 3, Delta State University,  Abraka.

The cream of the society graced the occasion. Among  those present were the   Eminent Guest and Mother of the Day, Her Excellency Dame Edith Okowa, First Lady of the State;  Distinguished Guest of Honour, Her Excellency Dame Pauline K. Tallen, Honourable Minister of Women Affairs; His Lordship, Honourable Justice Pat Elumeze, President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Delta State; Her Royal Majesty, Obi Martha Dunkwu Omu Anioma/Nneoha; Guest Lecturers  such as  Prof. Lilian Salami, Vice Chancellor, the University of Benin, Maryam Omone Haruna;  and a host of others.

The wife of the governor in her presentation talked extensively on the place of women in the society. She encouraged women to support women in leadership for she has observed that most women prefer to support males instead of their female counterparts. She praised women who she sees as hardworking, good managers and administrators.

The First Lady commended the Delta State Government for being proactive towards women empowerment. She stated that in appointments in the state, there are six Commissioners, seventeen Local Government Deputy Chairmen and 91 Councillors currently serving under the Okowa-led administration.

In a lighter mood, the First Lady said while men often concentrate only on one thing at a time like watching football on the TV, the women do many things at the same time perfectly well  like tapping the child on her back while stirring the soup and listening with rapt attention to the baby sleeping in the bed to know whether he or she has woken up.

Corroborating the First Lady on women empowerment,  Honourable Justice Pat Elumeze, President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Delta State asserted that  the state has the second highest number of judges in Nigeria which is commendable.

According to the Convener, Prof Joyce Ebele Egwunyenga, the summit was in line with the avowed objective of reshaping the understanding of gender issues in Delta State in particular and Nigeria in general. She further averred that the achievement of the gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls as articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) would only be possible through an inclusive implementation of programmes aimed at removing every barrier to women empowerment in the world.

In his speech titled “Bridging the Gender Gap in Higher Education: The Delsu Experience,” the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Andy Ogochukwu Egwunyenga , observed that women are  undervalued, continue to work more, earn less and are underrepresented in leadership positions.

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He advised that such a situation ought to be reversed. He emphasized that education is the strongest weapon to fight gender inequality and underdevelopment.

He, however, proudly mentioned that in Delta State University bridging the gap has influenced the policies of his administration in practically all aspects of the university life.For instance, the students strength compared in terms of gender, females (57.04% ) outnumber the males (42.96) . But he lamented that in engineering, medicine and law courses, the percentage of girls is relatively lower (medicine – 41.53% to 58.7%; law- 47.51%-52.49%; engineering 12.10%- 87.9%). He asserted the Delta State University is committed to bridging the gender gaps in engineering and medicine within the next few years.

Still on the issue of the gender gap, he said that the staff strength also shows that 60.5% of the staff are males while 39.5% are females.

He promised that Delsu is resolved to develop policies to bridge this unhealthy gender gap. The vice-chancellor advocated that the summit should provide a strong platform to address the spectrum of issues in women leadership and development.

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