WimBiz advocates sustainable reforms with focus on gender parity

WOMEN in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) has advocated for the urgent need for institutional sustainable reforms with focus on gender parity within Nigeria’s corporate and political sphere

Speaking at the 13th CEO/Policy-Maker Interactive breakfast Series held recently in Lagos, the Executive Council Chairperson of WIMBIZ, Olubunmi Aboderin-Talabi, in her opening remarks, pointed out the unconscious bias that can affect the progression of women within the workplace.

According to her, women do the majority of the world’s unpaid labour; they are more likely to be economically disadvantaged; they are treated in some circles as inferior and are vulnerable to violence.

Speaking on the importance of fair representation for all Nigerians, Mrs Talabi said, “after the recent 2019 election, the number of female senators dropped from 8 to 7 out of a total 109 available seats. The number of female members of the House of Reps dropped from 19 to 11 out of an available 360 seats.

We only had six female cabinet members, out of 37, during the season of the 8th Assembly. With the dawn of the 9th Assembly, we hope that the number of female cabinet members will not fall,” she said.

The interactive session attended by over 90 CEO’s and policymakers had the theme for discussion ”Hidden Figures: The Cost of Exclusion” which was chosen deliberately to highlight the cost of exclusion to Nigeria’s economic growth, and the correlation between gender affirmative reforms and GDP, Economic Growth, Job Creation & Wealth Distribution.