By Halimah Olamide
The National Coordinator, GEF Small Grants Programme, Ibironke Olubamise, has lamented over the discrimination against women in the labour sector, stating that 75% of farmers in the country are women but only 10% are land owners.
She said this at Day 12 of the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), 16-Day of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, themed: “How much discrimination do Nigerian women face in the labour sector.”
She stated that in a case whereby just 10% of women are land owners, compared with the large percentage of women involved in food production, farming and distribution, their sources of livelihood are at stake as the owners of these lands can ask them to vacate the land at any point in time.
Olubamise further noted that it is imperative to empower women in society as most times even when they’re equipped with the right knowledge, they do now have access to resources.
“70% of food production in Nigeria especially when you talk of agriculture is by women and between 70 and 75% of farmers in Nigeria are women yet only 10% of landowners are women and these figures alone give the idea of the disproportionate occurrence of land ownership and food production in Nigeria.
“When you get to the communities, the women are eager to do what you have explained to them or trained them to do, unfortunately, the same women do not have access.
“We have to start awareness creation from the women themselves, the way we also see ourselves is an issue to us and education as much as possible in whatever format.
“Capacity building of these women to be able to also believe in themselves that they can deliver and then empowerment because it is one thing for them to be trained and another thing for them to have the resources.”
Ibironke Olubamise has a total of 30 years of work experience. She is a LEAD Fellow, a Chevening Scholar, and an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) and the Sustainability Challenge Foundation.
She is the pioneer National Coordinator of the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), in Nigeria.
With over 12 years working with the United Nations, she is responsible for strategic development and managerial oversight for the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP) Nigeria; the Community Based REDDD+ (CBR+) of the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UNREDD+) and the Global ICCA Support Initiative (GSI).