AMOTOI INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Miss Marilyn Abia-Bassey talks about the Women’s Human Rights and the reasons why International Women’s Day is celebrated (the need to break the bias). Women's rights are the fundamental human rights that were enshrined by the United Nations for every human being on the planet nearly 70 years ago. These rights include the right to live free from violence, slavery, and discrimination; to be educated; to own property; to vote, and to earn a fair and equal wage. As the now-famous saying goes, “Women’s rights are human rights.” That is to say, women are entitled to all these rights. Yet almost everywhere around the world, women and girls have still denied them, often simply because of their gender. Winning rights for women are about more than giving opportunities to Marilyn or Victoria or any individual woman or girl; it is about changing how families, communities, organizations, and countries work. It involves changing laws and policies, winning hearts, and minds, and investing in strong women’s organizations and movements.
“I would like to stay here that even though part of the struggle is to ensure women can own property, vote, run for office, get paid fair wages, and live free from violence – including domestic violence, sexual assault, and harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, We want every woman and girl to realize these rights are enshrined in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. We also stand for other rights that are vital for women’s equality. We stand for a woman’s right to decide if and when she has children, and to have high-quality health care that means she won’t die during pregnancy or during childbirth. We know female genital mutilation is a violation of girls’ rights and must be eliminated. And we stand for the right of every woman to live equally and free from discrimination. That!! My dear friends are the essence of our struggle”.
In conclusion, she quoted the famous Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie “Of course, I am not worried about intimidating men. The type of man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the type of man I have no interest in."
