By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos
UN Women Nigeria partnered with the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) to mark 2018 International Women’s Day by observing the “Ring The Bell For Gender Equality” ceremony, at the Stock Exchange House, Lagos.
By doing so, UN Women Nigeria joined UN Women and 61 Stock Exchanges around the world to commemorate the day by observing the “Ring The Bell for Gender Equality” event.
“The events are a partnership between IFC, Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, UN Global Compact, UN Women , World Federation of Exchanges and Women in ETF,” UN Women Nigeria explained in a statement.
According to the group, the objective of “Ring the Bell For Gender Equality” is to raise awareness about the business case for women’s economic empowerment. Other purposes of the event include to raise awareness about the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
The UN theme for this year’s International Women’s Day commemorated on March 8 is, “Time Is Now: Rural And Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives.” The theme is meant to achieve “focusing on empowering women in all settings, rural and urban and to celebrate the activists who are working relentlessly to claim women’s rights and realize their full potential.”
“Today’s activism needs to alter the way we listen to women and the way we look at them, recognizing the power of stereotypes to influence how we value people,” Ms. Comfort Lampey, UN Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS said.
According to Eme Essien Lore, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria, “Gender equality can be a major driver of economic development.”
She stressed that women have the power to transform the global economy, judging from their purchasing power currently estimated at 18 trillion Dollars worldwide.
