Men Not Asking For Our Hands In Marriage, Women Living With Disabilities Cry Out

Chairperson of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Edo State, Ms Ann Ujugo, has lamented that marital discrimination is what women living with disabilities in Nigeria suffer most.

She said Nigerian men do not ask for their hands in marriage, leaving them single all through their lives.

Ojugo made the assertion in Benin City, Edo State yesterday at a press briefing to commemorate the International Women Day marked on the 8th of March every year.

She said other challenges include lack of job opportunities, discrimination in schools and in market places.

According to her, “One of the most difficult challenges women with disabilities face is marital discrimination as no man, even men with disabilities don’t come to ask for our hands in marriage.

“Some will even ask if you feel like a woman. For a woman with disability, emotional discrimination is a double tragedy for us. Another one is education, some people don’t like sending their daughters to school, not to talk about when the person has disabilities.”

Earlier, in her speech, Miss Janet Omole, a member of JONAPWD, said the day stands out as remarkable for them because it is a day they choose as women and girls with disabilities to add their voices to that of millions of Nigerian women and also to appreciate the place of women within the global community.

“The biggest emphasis around women’s rights in the last few decades has been gender equality in schools, workplaces, and other areas, which is highlighted in goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, today in Nigeria society, underrepresentation, unbalanced education, pervasive social norms, employment discrimination, and physical or sexual violence are some of the biggest challenges women and girls still face. And women with disabilities face a double incidence of these challenges described above worsened by the social and cultural viewpoints of the society towards persons with disabilities and disability related issues.

“Women and girls with disabilities continue to suffer social and cultural discrimination amidst other structural and technical barriers placed on them by the society. Efforts by successive governments to tackle some of these challenges through the enactment of justifiable laws like the Child Rights Law have not been very effective as a result of poor implementation,” she said.