Two non-governmental organizations, HER Foundation and Pearl with Eno Initiative have rallied stakeholders to empower women to realize their potentials and provide greater support to their families.

Executive Director of HER Foundation, Mrs. Lois Oni, and Executive Director of Pearls with Eno Initiative, Mrs. Eno Taiwo, respectively, came out with this position during a Get-Together for Women, which was organized by both organizations and held in Bonny, Rivers State on Sunday, December 5, 2021.

In a chat with Kristina Reports, Mrs. Oni noted that women need confidence and collaboration to pursue their dreams and impact their families, stressing that women need to synergize to achieve their collective objectives.

“There are two things that women need; that confidence that I can make things different; I can decide I want things to be different and do something about it. That is number one. Number two is the power of collaboration. Exposure opens your mind to a lot of things.”

“What I really want women here to take away is that if I work with others we have better results. I take a lesser burden. We can just do things together and maybe I should go to that saying that if you walk alone you will go fast but if you walk with others you will go far. That is really the message.” 

On her part, Mrs. Taiwo harped on the need for women to be aware of their self-worth as that was key to achieving their dreams and how they are perceived by society, urging them to build value around themselves to be relevant in the society, positing that it was important for the family to be prioritized and mainstreamed given its pivotal role in shaping society.

“We found out that some women have lost their self-worth; they don’t know who they are. As they say when purpose is not known abuse is inevitable. When you don’t know who you are it is easy for you to abuse yourself and others to abuse you. But when you know who you are others would value you. We also found out that when you value yourself and others value you also add value to the society.”

“Also the smallest unit of society is the family, everything starts from the family. The robbers that you see today come from the family. All the social vices you see today stem from the family. And so we also want to focus on the family as a unit. How do we focus on the family as a unit?”

“There are a lot of errors, and we want to start correcting that error and we want to start from ourselves. We want to start from our families and when we do that we can be able to build a stronger nation. So that is the purpose of Pearls (Initiative). We collaborate with HER Foundation because of the role women play.”

Earlier, the Father of the Day, Se-Alabo Dagogo Claude-Wilcox, who is also the Chairman of the Bonny Chiefs Council (BCC), had praised the tenacity, focus and commitment of the women to achieve the best for themselves and their families, pointing out that like him, they can succeed in their endeavours if they are dedicated to their aspirations.

Also, the Woman Leader of Bonny Kingdom, Amaopuorubo Helen Jack-Wilson Pepple, who drew lessons from her personal story, charged the women to take charge of their respective destinies by being intentional about their personal development, skills acquisition, career and entrepreneurial pursuits, emphasizing that their opinion about themselves was key to achieving their fullest potentials.  

The Special Guest of Honour at the event, Gabriel Omin opined that it was in the interest of the man to build the capacity of his wife and collaborate with her to build a solid family, noting that the family unit is a complete team prepped for success when everyone works together to achieve set objectives.

“When you realize that it is a win-win and it is for your own good, you’ve got to do it. It’s a complete team, it’s a unit. If you think you’re Messi, you can score one but they will score you eleven because it’s eleven people pitched against you. So, the earlier you partner with your spouse, your children, your family the more you will be able to get things done.”

He encouraged men to support their to wives achieve their dreams and not stunt their career or entrepreneurial aspirations, asserting that an empowered woman is an asset to the family and her husband and children, advising that it was important for spouses to achieve consensus on decisions that affect each other and the family.

“Every family has its dynamics. If you go into marriage as a union and knowing the part everybody has to play it is hard to dictate, again I’m a football fan. You can’t just dictate to your wife. You should understand why you are two.”

“You can’t just relegate her and say she can’t work. You should like, how do we find balance in this thing? Sometimes there are special circumstances you cannot just abandon the child and it makes sense where you know she has to stay home. You have to agree on things, family dynamics.”

“And for some families both spouses can work and they find a way around it. Maybe they have a support system to get things done. There are families where one person has to stay back because of special circumstances. There are cases where even the man does not work but you understand the family.”

On their part, the Guest Speakers, Tunde and Bridget Elesin emphasized the need for spouses to value each other and place premium on the contributions of each other to make the family succeed, stating that the human spirit has no gender but manifests in different genders to play purpose-driven roles as assigned by God Almighty in the family, society and the world.       

On her part, Mrs. Bridget Elesin asserted that the woman was created by God for a purpose and as such each woman should focus on fulfilling the purpose for which she was created, urging women to maximize the value their God-given potentials can bring to the world and the society.

“As a woman, you have been created to fulfil purpose, first as a woman, if you decide to be a wife, play the role of a wife as a wife. If you decide to be a mother, as a mother. If it’s a minister, we are all ministers as believers. There is something God has put in us that we give to the world; we are ministering purpose.

“It’s for you to be an influencer as a woman to liberate your world and make a difference with the gift that God has given you. As women, we are talented, like the man that was given a talent in the Bible, one was given five, one was given two and one was given five; most women have five talents; they can do so many things at the same time.”

Mr. Tunde Elesin warned against ego tripping, saying that it destroys more than it builds, explaining that it blinds the mind from appreciating the value the other spouse brings to the table to make the family succeed, enjoining the men to understand and appreciate the contributions of their wives.

“In the family environment it is two that becomes one, not one becoming two; two become one, myself and my wife. So, what ego does is that it closes your eyes so that you don’t see your wife’s contributions; you don’t see her as a human being. You’ll be shocked that your wife has as equal strength as you. Let me shock you that there is no female spirit. There is no male spirit.”

“The other thing ego does is that it overmagnifies your voice. You become proud, you speak the language of arrogance. Arrogant people don’t listen to advice. And there is something God has given our wives, it is called intuition. So, every man listening to me maximize your wife’s strengths and maximize your strength and minimize your weakness.”

The participants were given the opportunity to ask questions relating to personal development, home management, spousal relations, and career pursuits and got answers from the Elesins, Oni and Taiwo.