By Cecilia Ologunagba
A Nigerian politician, Mrs Zainab Marwa, has launched a website to showcase the stories of over 101 exceptional women in Nigeria who have made significant contributions in their respective fields.
Marwa, the author of “101 Nigerian Women of Impact” told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York after the unveiling of the book that a website had been launched to also amplify the voices of the women showcased in the book.
NAN reports that the unveiling of the book was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN in commemoration of the International Women’s Day.
The unveiling of the book also coincided with the ongoing 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67).
Marwa said to make the book more available, interested readers could access it online@ www.101nigerianwomenofimpact.com.
“The website is very important because it emboldens and amplifies the voices and the stories of the over 101 women in the book online.
“This is also in line with the 2023 International Women’s Day theme, which pushes for more digital representation of women. It’s very vital that we as women have more of a digital footprint online,” she said.
According to her, technology has become a powerful tool that can help women advance their careers and create a level playing field for all gender.
“With the website’s launch, we can reach a wider audience and showcase the stories of these extraordinary women to inspire and motivate others.
“The website will provide a platform for people to learn about the struggles, achievements, and contributions of Nigerian women by granting them digital presence.
“It is very important at this point to ensure that women’s stories are accessible to the world at large,” said Marwa.
Marwa told NAN that the launch of the website and unveiling of the book were done in New York city to promote Nigerian women globally and during the annual UN conference on Women.
“I decided to do the unveiling here in New York because I wanted a larger platform for the next two weeks at the ongoing 67th session of CSW which ends 17th March.
“I felt that this would be the perfect time to unveil this book to the world and this is the perfect time to get women from different circles all around the world to come and witness what Nigerian women are doing.
“So, this book that has showcased over 100 Nigerian women now stretches beyond the borders of Nigeria and indeed Africa.
“Doing it in New York City at this time is just profound and it is also apt. It allows the world to see what we’ve done.
“It allows women from all over the world to have a glimpse into the impact that Nigerian women have made,” she said.
The author said it was important to set the first footprint here in New York, adding that the book would also be launched in Nigeria, tentatively on the 4th of May.
Marwa, who is currently a Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Community Relations and a PhD scholar in Gender studies, expressed dismay over the poor representation of women in politics.
“Women are not duly represented in Nigerian politics. We hope for more representation and we’re going to push for that and with the book, the attention of the authorities is drawn to electing women into various positions.
“So, for appointed positions, books like this, amplify the voices of women and their activities and allow the people that choose to appoint women to know that we have such women on board,” she said.
Marwa said she was inspired to write the book because of lack of availability of books to inspire women in politics in Nigeria, noting that the book was a sort of compendium of women.
“It’s a book that is transgenerational, it’s a transformative book. It’s a book that would inform a lot and guide even young women to excellence because it looks at the stories of older women and younger.
“When I ran for the House of Representatives in FCT 2018/2019, I was looking for inspiration and I was looking for resource materials that would inspire me and motivate me and galvanised me to better and faster action and unfortunately, I couldn’t find it.
Marwa, who is the founder of Aspire Woman Forum, an NGO based in Nigeria, also spoke on the focus of her NGO in pushing for inclusion of women in politics.
“We have three branches, We have the Aspire women, which is from ages 35 up; we have the Aspire young women, which is from about 18 to 35 and we have the Aspire girl force, ages nine to 18. (NAN)
