LASU 88th Inaugural Lecture: Prof Yusuff advocates documentation of biographies of women leaders

Professor Olabisi Sherifat Yusuff, a Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences of the Lagos State University (LASU) has advocated the documentation of biographies of women leaders in Nigeria.

Professor Yusuff was speaking as the 88^th Inaugural Lecturer of the Lagos State University which took place at the Buba Marwa Auditorium, Ojo Campus on Wednesday, January 25, 2023.

The advocacy was part of her recommendation from her lecture titled ‘Gender Equality Is Equal to What? What Do Women Want? What women should want from the TRIADS in Nigeria.”

He stated “Biographies of women leaders should be properly documented and kept for reference for future generations. If the activities of women leaders are not documented, there is every likelihood that the coming generation might not remember their activities and not have role models to read about or look up to.”

She also acknowledged Lagos State University’s intervention in the Creation of Institute of Gender and Development Studies, saying that the vision of the institute should be a point of reference globally as an outstanding institute for gender and development studies.

She said the institute should be a degree awarding institution “The institute should be an award degree institute in Gender and Development Studies. The institute will be able to bring different areas of knowledge to current issues. Inclusive approaches and a greater array of data – quantitative and qualitative – are needed to broaden and deepen our understanding of gender issues in order to inform policy and practice. The Institute will explore how gender studies/analysis is necessary across numerous disciplines and how the institute will be central to the transformation toward greater sustainability, equality, and social justice.”

Professor Yusuff said decreasing violence against women and girls requires a community-based, multi-pronged approach, and sustained engagement with multiple stakeholders, adding that campaigns that are meaningful such as the use of drama should also be used to create awareness on the health implication on Gender-based violence. “University should continue to provide the needed environment and opportunity for scholars to conduct research that would be significantly beneficial to humanity.”

She stated that addressing gender-based violence in universities and research organizations is a crucial endeavour, as it will enable a better, evidence-based, and robust understanding of the magnitude of the issue with its various forms and expressions, which in turn creates a baseline for effective policies and measures to be implemented by the organizations. She said “Addressing gender-based violence in universities and research organizations also increases the capacity of staff and students to combat it.”

 Interestingly, she said, strategies for elimination of intimate spousal violence cannot be achieved unless they are also rooted in culture. She said though the process may be slow, the change should start now, adding that it is not an individual task. “It is a collective one which should be approached from multifaceted perspectives. Most importantly, with women themselves to socialize both the girls and boys on inherent dangers in domestic violence.”

Professor Yusuff also added that men's partnership is required in addressing issues that hinder women's political engagement, including structural barriers, discriminatory practices and violence that prevent women from exercising their right to vote. She said that discriminatory institutional practices and laws that prevent women from being recruited, nominated for standing for office, or getting elected should be reviewed. Also, institutional discrimination against women in office resulting in their not being appointed to head committees where they can have influence against violence, sexism and harassment against female candidates and female elected officials, and negative gender-based stereotypes perpetuated by the media should be investigated.

Further, the inaugural lecturer stated that Men can help lead the change with women in enacting legislation that promotes women's rights, repealing laws and policies that discriminate against women and limit opportunities. They can also support the advancement of women in decision making bodies by advocating temporary special measures. In political parties, men and women can work together to champion women's participation including nominating more women.

Referring to Africa generally she said. “In Africa, most women's jobs are informal. As a result, they are not covered by labour relations laws, have no minimum wage and no social protection, no maternity benefits, and no old-age pension. Ultimately, it is important to bring new light and resources to the informal sector, strengthening social services, upholding women's rights and breaking access to barriers will not only make economies work for women but will also benefit societies by creating a more sustainable future for Africa.

In making further recommendations the erudite Professor said efforts in correcting the anomalies should involve total grassroots Involvement “More women and men reside in rural areas of the country. These are the areas where female marginalization, oppression, discrimination, slavery, and other obnoxious discriminatory practices such as inheritance rights, are still practiced by many Nigerians. However, about 98% of these evil practices are not reported. Therefore, everyone, whether in the rural areas or in urban cities must be involved to unmask the evil of gender discrimination in the society,” she said.

The Inaugural Lecturer called for the involvement of religious leaders as they are veritable agents of information dissemination. “Religious leaders should be carried along in the move for change as they can provide a veritable avenue for the dissemination of the idea. Federal, state, local government and traditional rulers who are the custodians of culture, nongovernmental organizations, men, and women, are all needed to achieve the necessary change against the high-level discriminatory practices on women's land inheritance and ownership. It may not be easy considering that in the final analysis, the issue has to be legislated upon and passed into law, and most of the legislators are men with their inherent biases.”

She also spoke about her contribution to knowledge saying “Upon my resumption as Acting Head of the Department, I constituted Quality Assurance Committee. The term of reference of this committee is to see that all graduate papers either seminar or defense go through the committee irrespective of who supervised the work. This has standardized the graduate projects. During my tenure as Head of the Department, post graduate seminar attendance improved significantly. This has helped the academic standard of the department.”

She added “In contributing to Gender and Development in the Faculty of Social Sciences, I developed curriculum on Gender and Development studies for the undergraduate students. We hold Gender Workshop annually where series of gender issues such as sexual harassment, Reproductive Health Issues, Economic Empowerment of students, the concept of friendship with male lecturers among other gender issues were discussed,” among other scholarly efforts.

Earlier, Prof Yusuff said that the work she was presenting were empirical works through quantitative and qualitative approaches that spanned over two decades and shed light on the status of women in the 21 century, and it gives recommendations on how gender equality space in developing countries can be advanced by confronting the TRIADS of Patriarchy, Gatekeeping and Women's Poverty in Nigeria. Hence, the title of her inaugural lecture.