As Nigeria marks International Women’s Day 2025, Minister Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim highlights four key challenges facing women: legal and policy gaps, economic empowerment, gender-based violence, and political representation. She calls for stronger enforcement of gender laws, improved access to finance, and increased female leadership to achieve true equality.
As Nigeria commemorates International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has outlined four critical challenges affecting Nigerian women: legal and policy gaps, economic empowerment, gender-based violence, and political representation.
Speaking in Abuja, the minister stressed the need for full enforcement of gender-related laws, such as the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act and the Child Rights Act, to ensure that women’s rights are fully protected. While 35 states have domesticated the VAPP Act and 34 states have adopted the Child Rights Act, implementation remains a major hurdle.
Economic empowerment was also a key focus, with the minister highlighting that women own 41% of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria. However, access to finance and digital literacy remains limited, preventing many from scaling their businesses. She emphasized the need to close the gender financing gap and expand support for women entrepreneurs through projects like the Nigeria for Women Project Scale Up and the MOWA-SARA initiative, which aim to support millions of women nationwide.
Gender-based violence continues to be a pressing issue, with statistics showing that over 30% of Nigerian women have experienced physical violence. The minister cited recent high-profile cases to stress the urgency of tackling gender-based violence.
On political representation, she lamented the low number of women in governance, with only four female senators out of 109 and 17 female House of Representatives members out of 360. She called for greater inclusion of women in leadership roles to foster true gender equality.
