The Justice, Peace and Development Initiative of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti has charged women to step up their involvement in politics, to right many wrongs in the policy.

The Assistant Director, JPDI of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Rev. Sis Agatha Ogbuagu, made the call in Ado Ekiti, on Thursday, during the quarterly dialogue with women.

The event, which dwelt on the role of women in gender-based violence in Ekiti State, was attended by gender rights activists and local government gender officers across the 16 council areas of the state.

Participants at the programme held in conjunction with the European Union Democratic Governance in Nigeria Programme Phase II, were also given free training on the challenge of the high prices of tomato and pepper, through home farming using sacs and organic methods.

Ogbuagu frowned on the level of women’s participation in politics which she described as “low and negatively impacting on the country,” including the outcome of the fight against GBV, and charged women to “stand up and defend yourselves, encourage other women.”

She said, “Women have been marginalised, we have been deprived, that is gender-based violence. Because we are women, we are relegated to the background, it is a great abuse.

“That is why we want this abuse to stop and we are encouraging women to rise. We have all it takes to lead the nation.

“God created us male and female. So both genders should contribute. We see things differently, the way a male looks at things is different from a female. In politics, it is the same thing and that is why we are having the problems.

“We don’t have much women to look at things from the perspective of a woman. That is why we are suffering. Unless we allow women and men to complement each other in politics and government, things will continue like this. That is why we are encouraging women to come out and make things better for us.”

Ogbuagu, who said the culture of silence and fear of stigma remained among the reasons domestic violence thrived in homes and families, said, “We should shun what people will say and liberate ourselves from bondage by speaking out.

“When people speak out and culprits are punished, this will serve as a deterrent to others. Women, let us encourage one another, if you have friends going through all these, let’s encourage them to speak out.

“Let’s tell people to speak out without stigmatising them so that they can be liberated. Let us support one another to voice out for our mental stability,” she said.

A legal officer with JDPI, Anthony Adeusi, who lauded the Ekiti State government for unrelenting in the fight against GBV, canvassed the change of the cultural mentality that women were supposed to be silent,

She said changing the mentality would help to address the low-level participation of women in politics.