Wife of Rivers State Governor Justice Eberechi Wike has advised women lawyers not to see themselves as inferior to their male counterparts.
According to her, what a male lawyer can do, a female lawyer can do better.
She said women lawyers ould succeed by being focused, and by working even harder.
Justice Wike spoke at a session by the Women Forum of the African Bar Association (AFBA) at its just-concluded yearly conference in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Justice Wike advised women lawyers to choose their husbands carefully.
Making the wrong choices about a partner, she said, could have repercussions on a women lawyer’s progress in the legal profession.
Mrs Wike said women should continue to improve themselves academically and should not make excuses at the workplace.
“Women must have a clear idea of where they’re going. No one should be static. Get more education and improve your capacity to earn more. Do something to improve yourself. Never stop learning. It is a continuous thing. You can learn by even listening to news.
“Some women work not because of money but because they want to feel good about themselves and to improve the society in their own little ways. Women should invest. Don’t spend all your money on jewelry,” she said.
According to Mrs Wike, women should not limit themselves. They should also choose their husbands carefully because “there are men who want you to depend on them”.
She said every woman ought to be engaged because it would improve their self-respect and mental health.
“Sitting down at home has a way of affecting you. A woman must have something she is doing. A woman must be careful the kind of woman she marries. If you marry a husband who wants a housewife, it will be difficult to actualise your dreams.
“Always watch your husband’s temperament. Some men may feel insecure. Nobody is too big to suffer domestic violence. Parents should teach their children from childhood not to feel superior to their female siblings, like asking girls to go to the kitchen,” she said.
Meanwhile, Also, Justice Elsie Johnson has urged women lawyers to enforce their right in court.
She said they should “be quick” to litigate issues affecting women rather than complaining.
“Take the matter to court. For instance, why would Nigeria sign treaties and not domesticate and enforce them? You can go to ECOWAS court and challenge them. You don’t even need to exhaust local remedy. Let us name and shame.
“Take the mantle. Go to court and challenge the margina-lisation of women. You may not win, but someone somewhere could hear you. It’s also all about the politics of who hears the case,” Justice Johnson said.
She urged women to choose career in which they have a passion for.
“A lot of women don’t act like professional lawyers,” she said, and called for a change in their approach to work so that women can be reckoned with like their male counterparts.
A Senior Advocate, Prof Ernest Ojukwu, urged women to take up leadership positions.
He recalled that during his studies at the Nigerian Law School, no woman law student ran for the student representative council seat, despite urging them to do so.
Source: The Nation
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