A non governmental organization, Eye On The Future Initiative Foundation, with its focused on promoting sustainable gender equity, justice and resistance against female violence and discrimination, has taken their awareness campaign to market women in Otovwodo-Ughelli community in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.
The initiative aims at educating women on the need and importance of speaking against gender violence, intimidation, exploitations and support their female counterparts suffering from one form of domestic violence or the other and to as well reach out to concern bodies and agencies once such happened.
Speaking to Journalists, Executive Director Eye On The Future Initiative, Josephine Omodior said; they came to the market to mark the 16 days activism against gender base violence which began on November 26, to December 10, 2024.
“We are here to create awareness about what is happening to our women and to encourage them to speak out and join hand in fighting violence against women in the society. And the responses so far shows that it does happened.
“Violence against women is real. There are intimidation, exploitation and depravity in women empowerment, all these are injustice, inequality and discrimination for the women, hence Eye on the future initiative is out to encourage women to speak out especially against gender base violence”.
Josephine Omodior who is also the Assistant Secretary, Nigeria Union of Journalist. NUJ, Delta State Council, disclosed that many women in Nigeria today are being abused by their spouses, but yet refused to say it out for fear of being victimized by their fellow women and the society.
“Some women endured pains and brutality even to the extent of loosing their lives but Eye on the future initiative is out for the purpose of educating and creating awareness in the need to stand by them and ensure they all have equal rights with their male counterparts.
“Most a time the ratio of men in politics is always 90 over 10 or lesser, whereas, in the time of campaigns and struggles for political positions, it is the women that they use to front for their different positions, but to empower the women becomes a problem after using them to climb.
“It is wrong and we are out to create this awareness that the woman is not just a tool that is used and dumped.
“Women are exploited daily in their work places, in the schools and every where they are. We hear of rape here and there but most of the victims are scared to talk or name such violators so that they can be prosecuted.
“Some are intimidated and even threatened not to talk why some fear out of stigmatization, it is wrong because it has enabled the trend continued and culprits evade justices”.
She called on the women not to be afraid and be ready to stand firm to defend themselves by providing information that could lead to the prosecution of any of their violators and bring justice to them.
Responding, some of the market women testified that most women are suffering from domestic and gender base violence, despite their supports to the family and being industriousness at all time. They admitted that some of them are the bread winners in their various homes, yet they are being abused daily even as they suffers brutality in the hands of their spouses. They called on the body to ensure they have offices across the state to enable them accessed to the right authority that can prosecute such persons.
Majority of the women expresses happiness and joy for the initiative and enjoined the body to frequently come out to educate victims of gender base abuses as some of them are scared of reporting their spouses for fear of what may happened to them.
