The Girl Child: Reaching out and Raising Opportunities for Health: Empowerment and Education

Abstract

My joy knows no bounds as I humbly stand, before a very distinguished audience of ladies and gentlemen from all works of life, representatives of governments, institutions, organizations and most importantly members of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria on whose invitation I am here.

This day is even the more special for me, because | stand before you not just as another woman, but the proud mother of a final year medical student and a special needs daughter whose life and future has been truncated by a devastating disease and has been home-ridden for more than ten years. This broadens the scope of my experiences of reaching out and giving opportunities to the next generation of girls and young women, whole and handicapped alike.

My mission here today is very simple and straight forward. This is not another Beijing!!! We are not here to vility our husbands, brothers, sons and male colleagues, make them uncomfortable and insure or worse even, give them a guilty conscience! We are here instead stretching out our loving arms, calling for their full support and cooperation to achieve our goals. We salute every man, who is “man enough” to accept women as equal human beings, who is not afraid to be “overtaken” or "overshadowed" by women. There is enough space for all of us! More seriously, we are here to engage in a meaningful dialogue on the “girlsAvomen” question, to corporately encourage and exhort one another, to move the gender debate to the next level. The real challenge, ladies and gentlemen, is how do we create = better world for all? We are here to look for answers and solutions by inspiring ourselves to do more.