Sen. Binta Garba (Adamawa/Adamawa North) has appealed to men in the country not to see the Gender Equality Bill as an affront to them.
Garba told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that men and women are partners in progress in all sectors.
”Women must be given an equal opportunity to serve her motherland in every standard she would found herself be it in her work place, in her chosen career or whatever.
”We are not fighting the men.
”The Gender Equality Bill initially was rejected and re-presented and deliberated upon; areas of concerns were looked into.
”Most parties that were obviously not in support of it now saw that it was necessary that such a bill should see the light of the day.
”Areas of national interest will be looked into and that will give it the speedy passage,” she said.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Biodun Olujinmi (PDP-Ekiti South) scaled the second reading in Sept. 2016 after some modifications.
The bill aims to prohibit all forms of discrimination against any person in accordance with Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution.
The section prohibits all forms of discrimination due to gender, age and disability through spoken words, acts, rules, customs and practices by any person or institution.