The Ogun State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Adijat Adeleye, has called for male involvement in the fight towards ending gender-based violence.
She urged men to be agents of change in the fight against the menace.
Adeleye, according to a statement on Thursday, gave this admonition at a 16-day anti-gender-based violence campaign (male engagement), organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.
The campaign was organised in collaboration with United Nations Population Funds at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode.
She noted that male engagement became necessary in addressing gender inequality and character modification, and there was a need for policymakers and stakeholders to eradicate GBV in society.
She said, “The task of ending GBV should go beyond educating and sensitising only the girl child, but raising male champions with the mindset that they should give support to females, working them through the journey of life to promote gender-based equality for societal development.”
Earlier, the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mr Oluwaseyi Sokoya, represented by the Director, Women Empowerment Services, Mrs Wonuola Kassim, said a lot of attention had been directed on the girl child, with the belief that girls were more vulnerable to all sorts of violence.
He added that men were important, as they also experienced some form of sexual abuse.
“We are here to raise males as champions to advocate the elimination of GBV in our tertiary institutions.
“It is time to protect our male gender from all forms of violence, increase male capacity so they can equally unite with the female gender, and invest in the prevention of gender violence against all and sundry,” he submitted.
In his goodwill message, the Dean of Student Affairs of the institution, Dr Ahmed Abdul-Malik, advised the male child to stem the menace of GBV, calling for more education and public enlightenment towards its eradication to achieve a society devoid of violence.
Appreciating government awareness, the President, Student Union Government of the institution, Emmanuel Akinfetan, said it was essential for a male child to have adequate knowledge of gender-based violence and other sexually related abuses, as most of the perpetrators were assumed to be males.
He concluded that a lot had to do with their “upbringing.”
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