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Commissioner Offers Insight Into International Women’s Day

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This is the speech of the Rivers State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Joeba West on the occasion of the celebration of the International Women’s Day in Port Harcourt.

The International Women’s Day is observed globally by United Nations member-states including Nigeria.  It is a day set aside to celebrate women’s achievements and the roles women play in the development process.

This celebration dates back to March 19, 1911 in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. It was to mark the day the Prussian King promised to introduce votes for women in 1884.  This promise gave hope for equality but it was not kept.

In 1975, the United Nations drew global attention to women’s concerns by calling for an International Women’s Year, and later an International Women’s Decade.  It was also in 1975 that the first World Conference on Women was organised in Mexico City and March was declared the International Women’s Day.

In 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations’ Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace, observed on any day of the year by member states, in accordance with their historical and National traditions.  For the United States, International Women’s Day has been observed on 8th March since 1975.  the day is traditionally marked with a message from the UN Secretary-General.

This year the United Nations theme for the International Women’s Day is “A Promise is a Promise: Time  for Action to End Violence against Women”.

The African Development Bank theme is “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum”.

These themes are interwoven and will be jointly adopted for the celebration of the 2013 International Women’s Day in Rivers State.

This is because our focus is on the implementation of the Gender Policy, the 35% Affirmative Action and the emphasis we are placing on Gender as a core concept for achieving sustainable development.

Gender mainstreaming in Nigeria will improve women’s participation in politics, leadership, education, health economy and all sectors of human development.  People-oriented development must include females and males without bias or discrimination, contributing their quota according to their abilities towards development.

Rivers State women have never relented in building strong alliances for inclusion in governance and decision making.  They have contested for elective positions and have effectively participated in campaigns.  A few have emerged successful but more efforts need to be galvanized to involve more women in the mainstream of development.

The National Gender Policy posits that, promoting gender equality is globally accepted as a development strategy for reducing poverty levels among women and men, improving health and living standards and enhancing efficiency of public investments.

Gender equality is not only a human rights issue but a prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable development.

The United Nations theme focuses on violence against women which is a violation of the rights of women.  This crime occurs regularly in our society because men take advantage of the powerlessness of women economically, polticiallly, socially, culturally and perhaps physically.

The elimination of violence against women is still farfetched.  Wife battery, rape, forced prostitution, trafficking in women are forms of abuses that further dehumanize the women folk.  To end this threat on women, men and women must unite to create awareness for the achievement of behavioural change.

The Ministry of Women Affairs in collaboration with the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI) a brain-child of the wife of the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Her Excellency, Dame Judith Amaechi, is using this medium to raise awareness on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (MDG3) and the elimination of violence against women in Rivers state at this year’s International Women’s Day.

As we join Nigeria and the International community to celebrate this event the Ministry has planned a state Summit which will hold on March 26th, 2013.  The Summit will feature Seminars  on the International Women’s Day themes, the inauguration of the State Council on Women Development and Special Maternal Health Programme by the Medical Women’s Association Rivers State Chapter.

It is  therefore my pleasure to implore all women and indeed men to join us to commemorate this  special event.

Thank you and God bless.

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Women

The Wise Woman

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The wise woman builds her home. Mothers are supposed to live exemplary lives. The roles of mothers in the building of the modern Christian home cannot be overemphasized.
The function of the mother is to help the man build the home. She is a helper. A helper to the husband when the man is not doing well. It is important for the wise woman to assist when the man is not able to meet up with the items needed in the home.
A wise woman needs to reference God first and then the husband. Also the wise woman should respect her husband.
Caring for her own children as well as others is very crucial.
Do not despise children from other mothers. Discipline the child who is going the wrong way.
Ensure family bonding, show love and don’t discriminate. Connection with children is very important, especially the females. Find out who is her friend. Also find out the kind of lives they live. Caution, counsel and guide so that they make good partners.
Teaching children the dos and donts should start from birth. Inculcate the word of God in them so that when they grow, will not depart from it.
From the Scripture, some women influenced their families positively. Virgin Mary influenced the world, she never destroyed herself hence she gave birth to Jesus Christ.
Elizabeth, despite her age, God blessed her as she waited patiently.
A wise should curb favouritism in the family and love children equally. Whether a child is your biological child or not, it is necessary to show love equally. Reprimanding the children should be the function of both man and wife.

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The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

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Marriage is beautiful when there is love. Before and after marriage, couples show love to themselves. But you discover that after some years, that same love turn to be something else. A lot of people start going through emotional trauma in the hands of their loved spouses.
There are many things the woman desires to keep the love on as far as marriage is concerned.
Women are blesssed with feminine abilities that can be used for good in husbands lives. With your abilities, you can create a marriage that will last till couples get old.
A woman needs
man that is honest,  trustworthy,  nice,  loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, if there is no reasonable finance,  it is always difficult to manage the home.
Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3: “Your desire  shall be unto you…….. “
What this means is that whatever the woman desires in life shall be provided as far as she performs her role in her home. There are many things  the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy,  at least helping to do one or two things when he is at home.
A man that is educated and intelligent so that they will transfer such traits to their children.
Knowing that there are traits that her husband has,  traits of taking care of people,  giving freely to people and caring for her family. She expects him to exhibit them.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family,  remembering his family even as he is away from home.
No matter where he finds himself, he is not destracted by external influence. He returns home to his loved ones.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.
According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that a woman builds her home. As far as he rreturns home, you accept him as your own.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit.  Don’t be a monitoring spirit.  Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband. The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.
You can show some form of jealousy, but to an extent. Cooperation, respect and being honoured from time to time is what the woman desires.
The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man.  A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.

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Women

The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

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A woman needs a man that is honest,  trustworthy,  nice,  loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, If there is no money,  it is always difficult.


Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3:Your desire  shall be unto you……..
That is one aspect  the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy,  at least helping to do one or two things.   A man that is educated and intelligent.
She knows that there is a trait that her husband has.  Traits of taking care of people,  giving freely to people and caring for her family.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family,  remembering his family even as he is away from home.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.


According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that the women builds her home.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit.  Don’t be a monitoring spirit.  Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband.
The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.


The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man.  A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.

Eunice Choko-Kayode

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