A PAPER TITLED "WOMEN'S RIGHTS -
AN OVER-VIEW" PRESENTED BY MRS. SYLVIA SHINABA CHAIRPERSON
FIDA, LAGOS STATE (INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN LAWYERS)
AT THE YOUTH & GENDER NETWORK WOMEN CONFERENCE/SKILLS
ACQUISITION WORKSHOP ON FRIDAY, MAY 16TH 2008, @ BRITISH COUNCIL,
NO. 20 THOMPSON AVENUE, IKOYI, LAGOS. PROTOCOLS
• I congratulate Youth and Gender Network on the success
of this programme and commend its desire to foster the involvement
of FIDA Nigeria, Lagos State Branch.
• WOMEN'S RIGHTS:
• 2.1 The term "Women's Rights" refers to the
freedoms inherently possessed by women and girls of all ages,
which may be institutionalized, ignored or suppressed by law,
custom and behaviour, in a particular society.
• Issues commonly associated with notion's
of women's rights include, though not limited to, the right to
health, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to
privacy, the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment,
and the right to be free from sexual violence, the right to bodily
integrity and autonomy.
• To vote (universal suffrage); the right
to hold public office; the right to work; the right to fair wages
or equal pay; the right to own property; the right to education;
the right to serve in the military; the right to enter into legal
contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights.
• These rights are founded upon principles
of human dignity and equality. As the story of Creation tells
us.
• The relationship between man and Woman therefore
is that of a partnership not subordination otherwise God would
have taken the bone or muscle from man's feet.
• Therefore Women's Rights embrace Core Human
Rights.
• Since creation, millions of women throughout
the world have lived in conditions of abject deprivation of and
attacks against their Fundamental Human Rights for no other reason
than that they are women.
• Women have been excluded for generations
from the full participation in civil, political, economic and
social life.
• As a result of the different needs and concerns
of women, a common opposition to gender oppression built up over
the years, leading to many Movements across the Globe.
WOMEN AND THE LAW
• In recognition of the obstacles to the equality
of male and female human beings, certain instruments and specific
provisions have been made by the International Community to protect
women. International legal Instruments for the protection of the
rights of women include the following:
International legal Instruments
(i). Universal Declaration of Human
Rights: (Article 2)
(ii). International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights: (Articles 2,3,10).
(iii). International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights:(Articles 2,3,4,24,26).
(iv). Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951
(v). Convention Against Discrimination
in Educations: (Articles 1 & 3).
(vi). Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic
in Persons and of the Exploitation
of the Prostitution of Others (which came into force in July 1951).
(vii). African Charter on Human and People?s
Rights: (Articles 2 & 18).
(viii).Convention on the Political Rights of
Women (which came into force on July
7, 1954).
(ix). Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)
Convention, 1958: (Articles 1 &
2).
(x). Convention on the Nationality of Married
Women (which came into force on August
11, 1958).
(xi). Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum
Age for Marriage and Registration
of Marriages (which came in force on December 9, 1964.
(xii).Declaration on the Protection of Women
and Children in Emergency and Armed
Conflict.
(xiii).Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women
The Constitution of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria 1999,
• Provides for what is known as Fundamental Rights. Sections
30-42 of the Constitution provides for the
• Right to Life,
• Right to Dignity of Human Person,
• Right to Personal Liberty,
• Right to Fair Hearing, Right to Private and Family Life,
Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and
• Religion, Right to Freedom of Expression and the Press,
• Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association, Right to Freedom
of Movement, Right to Freedom from Discrimination
and Right to Acquire and Own Immovable Property
anywhere in Nigeria.
4 FACTORS THAT PREVENT THE WOMAN FROM
ATTAINING HER CIVIL RIGHTS
Discrimination And Unequal Treatment in the Home
• Domestic Violence Against Women
• Police Regulations 124 and 127,
• Discrimination in the Work Place
• The Role of Custom: Widowhood, Succession and Property
Rights
• Marriage Under Native Law & Customs
• Unequal Taxation
• Dehumanizing widowhood rights
• Women and Inheritance/Succession to Property-
• Female Genital Mutilation:
• Unequal Achievement of Sustained Economic & Social
Development
CONCLUSION:
• Discrimination against women on the basis
of their gender is an abridgement of Women's
Rights. Women must therefore confront the socio-economic, cultural,
political and religious causes of women's inequality.
• All cultural and customary norms which are inimical to
full participation of women in political, social
and economic life as equal members of the populace must
be eliminated and redressed
• Customs, values, beliefs which reinforce the stereotype
roles of men and women in society must be deconstructed.
• Women are encouraged to fight for their rights .I therefore
charge you thus;
Woman, carry yourself in dignity as a person in your own
right, created in the image and likeness of God, equal to man,
to be acknowledged as an individual with unique gifts and talents.
To be seriously taken as a Partner in any development and given
the rights befitting the human person.
MRS SYLVIA SHINABA | 
