18th WIMBIZ Annual Conference Keynote Speech delivered by Her Excellency, Erelu Bisi Fayemi on 7th November 2019 in Lagos.

1. SHAPING THE FUTURE: STRATEGISING TO WIN
KEY NOTE ADDRESS WIMBIZ CONFERENCE,
NOVEMBER 7TH
2019
BISI ADELEYE-FAYEMI
CO-FOUNDER, AFRICAN WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT
FUND AND 1ST
LADY OF EKITI STATE

2. PROTOCOLS
It gives me great pleasure to be here this morning. I thank the leadership of
WIMBIZ for inviting me to address this gathering of powerful women leaders.
I congratulate you all on what you have been able to achieve by carving out this
very important space that you can use to reflect, engage, network and
reenergize. I hope that by the end of your conference, you would have all
strengthened your bonds of professional and personal friendships.
I am particularly pleased to be speaking to the theme of the conference:
Shaping the Future: Strategising to Win’. I congratulate WIMBIZ on such
an amazing job of keeping this network going, reaching out to so many women
and having such a great impact on many lives. Thank you for being a powerful
voice for women in leadership across sectors.
I have just returned from Addis Ababa, where I went to attend the UN
Economic Commission for Africa and Africa Union Regional Preparatory
Conference for Beijing plus 25, which will review global progress at the United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women in March 2020 in New York.
The UN invited a group of African women who were involved in the Being
Conference 25 years ago, (they called us ‘Beijing Veterans’) and we were asked
to be part of the technical review of the progress reports submitted by African
governments. Reading through the documents, I thought about something
that happened on my first day at the Beijing conference. I was the Executive
Director of AMwA, an international development organisation for African
women based in London. I was responsible for a group of 20 women from the
UK, other European countries and some from Africa. We arrived in the hotel
around 11am. I did not finish checking in till 4pm, my colleagues left me there
to go to their rooms while I was there at the front desk. I tried to explain to the
person who first attended to me that some people in our group would be
leaving on certain dates and others would come in to take their place, so the
bookings we had would not change, only the names of the occupants of the
rooms. After listening to me for a while, the Chinese guy said, ‘Wairamini’
(Wait a minute) and called someone else to listen to me. I had to start all over
again with this new person, only for him to ask me to ‘Wairamini’ while he
called someone else. I had to tell the same story four times, growing
increasingly frustrated but knowing that it would be eventually sorted out, I
just needed to keep explaining till everyone understood.

3. It never occurred to me 25 years ago that I would be standing before
audiences, bearing witness to what it was like back then to be a part of a global
movement of 50,000 women and men who went to Beijing, both physically
and figuratively. The progress of African women since Beijing has been one of
ten steps forward and five steps back, with many ‘Wairamini’ moments where
we have had to say the same thing over again to different audiences.
Most of us at AMwA were young women below the ages of 35. We were
concerned about the future of the women’s movement on the continent, and
our struggles for peace, democracy, political participation and economic
empowerment. We knew that as young women we needed to have a say, but
we needed to prepare ourselves. I started the African Women’s Leadership
Institute in 1996, a pan-African training, networking and information forum
for young African women aged 25-40. This was a deliberate way of shaping the
future, using different platforms and spaces. Our thinking back then was that
we needed a cadre of women across the continent who were grounded in
feminist theory and practice, gender mainstreaming and analysis, with strong
leadership capacities. We figured that the next generation of women leaders
would emerge from this process, directly or indirectly. Guess what? We were
right. Today, the AWLI has produced over 6,000 women leaders across Africa
and many of them are in key decision-making positions. Here in Nigeria,
Josephine Effah (Project Alert) Dr Amina Salihu, Dr Mairo Mandara, Mufuliat
Fijabi, Esther Eghobamien and many others, are alumni of the AWLI.
With the success of the AWLI came the need to consolidate the gains we had
made with the growing number of women passing through the leadership
program. It was time to help shape the future on another platform. I teamed
up with two other African women, the late Joana Foster of Ghana and Dr
Hilda Tadria of Uganda and we started the African Women’s Development
Fund in 2000, the first Africa-wide grantmaking foundation for women.
AWDF has funded up to 2,000 women’s organisations in 42 African countries
with millions of dollars, and is now one of the leading Women’s Foundations
in the world, not just in Africa Here in Nigeria, there are at least 300 AWDF
grantees in 15 States, including WIMBIZ, Project Alert, Alliances for Africa,
WARDC, Girl Power Initiative and many others.

4. I stepped down as Executive Director of AWDF when my husband became
Governor of Ekiti State in October 2011, though I am still on the Executive
Board. When my husband first told me that he had been approached to run
for office, my response was an emphatic NO. However, I thought about it and
agreed with him that we could not spend all our lives talking about what must
change and not make an attempt to direct that change if an opportunity
presented itself. During my husband’s first term in office, popularly called
JKF1 (2010-2014) and the JKF2 period (2018-present) Ekiti is now known as
the State that has the most comprehensive legal and policy frameworks in the
country that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment. I have
seen this position as just another platform to continue my life-long
commitment to the promotion and protection of women’s rights.
In 2014, my husband lost his re-election bid. There were a number of reasons
for this, ranging from the militarization of the election by the federal
government to the hounding and arrests of our supporters to the emergence of
a damaging populist phenomenon known as ‘Stomach Infrastructure’. I was
sad to see hard work and sacrifice unrewarded, but I took it in my stride and
was deeply grateful to God that we emerged from it all in sound body and
mind. I weighed my options, and decided that I would not leave Nigeria to
return to international development work. I began to work as a Consultant for
UN Women and I started to write more frequently. I set up a social justice,
development and self-empowerment website called Above Whispers in 2016,
and began writing a weekly column Loud Whispers, which is now being
syndicated by Daily Independent, Vanguard, Sun and Daily Express. I use
Loud Whispers as a mentoring and reflection outlet. The book Loud
Whispers was published in 2017 and another book will be out in 2020.

5. NIGERIAN WOMEN SINCE BEIJING: THE BAD NEWS FIRST
Nigeria features poorly on most global indicators measuring Gender Equality
and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE). The 2014 World Economic Forum
Global Gender Gap Report rated Nigeria 118/177, the 2015 World Bank
Gender Equality Measure Report gave Nigeria 158/177, the 2016 UNDP
Gender Inequality Index rated the country 152/188 and the 2017 World
Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report ratings place Nigeria 122/144 .
Nigeria is ranked as one of the 20 worst countries in the world for women
alongside Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, DRC, Yemen and so
on. According to the 2018 Global Slavery Index (2018) Nigeria ranks 32/167
of the countries with the highest number of slaves. Not only did Nigeria not
meet any of the original Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), if care is
not taken, we might not meet most of the SDG goals in 2030 either.
Millions of women and girls still suffer from the feminization of poverty, lack
of access to basic resources, disease, violent conflict and the use of culture,
religion and tradition to render women voiceless. Crimes against women,
young girls and children are on the rise. Gender-based violence, femicides,
rapes, sexual assaults, harmful traditional and religious practices, religious
fundamentalisms, voluntary and involuntary commercial sex work, trafficking,
sexual exploitation, institutionalized gender-based discrimination and
kidnappings, make private and public spaces in Nigeria very unsafe for women
and children. In addition, Nigeria continues to record unacceptably high levels
of maternal and infant mortality rates, one of the highest in the world. There
are approximately 10.5m children out of school in Nigeria and 60% of those
are girls.

6. These issues continue to hinder the progress of Nigerian women due to
entrenched patriarchal power, violent conflict and displacement, endemic
poverty, lack of political will, and religious and cultural conservatism.
AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS
Almost twenty-five years after the Beijing conference, we can lay claim to the
following as Nigerian women:
1. Nigerian women and girls have more access to educational
opportunities than ever before. Not only is the enrolment of girls in
schools at very high levels in Southern Nigeria, in some places their
enrolment in schools exceeds that of boys. In addition, girls are doing
very well in tertiary institutions, graduating with top degrees, winning
prizes and excelling in areas such as Medicine, Science and Engineering.
There also seems to be an unprecedented number of female role models
on Faculties and non-teaching staff across the country, inspiring new
generations of female students.
2. There is now more awareness of women’s rights and gender equality
across all our communities. We have seen more acceptance of the need
to address discrimination against women in terms of access to
education, employment and also the need to prevent violence against
women and girls.
3. There are legal, policy, and constitutional frameworks in place to
ensure that women’s human rights are guaranteed and protected.
There is CEDAW, the African Women’s Protocol, Solemn Declaration
on Gender Equality in Africa, UN Resolution 1325 on Women in
Peace and Security, the Sustainable Development Goals (2010) the
Child Rights Act, the National Gender Policy (2005, revised 2015) the
Violence Against Persons Act of 2015, State Gender Policies, State laws
against violence, and many others.

7. 4. The notion of women as leaders has been popularized, and it is no
longer strange to see women campaigning for very senior positions in
public life. Due to the remarkable success of women in elected and
appointed positions in some countries, we have changed political
landscapes, for example in Liberia, Rwanda, and South Africa.
5. The women’s movement has been able to build consensus around key
issues of importance to women, such as rights to livelihoods and
economic empowerment, access to decision-making, reproductive rights
and health, non-discrimination and the critical importance of peace. In
addition, scholars, activists, community leaders, writers, thinkers,
professionals, rural women and politicians who are part of a progressive
women’s movement have been able to create a body of knowledge,
thought and activism on women’s rights and gender equality
6. We have strong women’s organisations and networks who have been at
the forefront of shaping these agendas, Wimbiz is right up there with
the best, and who have used their organisations as a training ground for
many inspiring women leaders on the continent today. There are also
many powerful role models who inspire younger generations to
greatness.
STRATEGISING TO WIN: AN EIGHT POINT ROAD MAP
1. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND PATRIARCHAL POWER AND
PRIVILEGE
Patriarchy is a system of male authority which legitimizes the oppression of
women through political, social, economic, legal cultural, religious and military
institutions.

8. I am a feminist. To me, feminism is a global struggle against all forms of
patriarchal oppression. It is not a battle against individual men, it is a desire to
transform political, economic, social, religious and cultural institutions which
devalue the lives of women throughout their life-cycle. Any woman or man
who is genuinely committed to breaking the cycle of discrimination and
exclusion is a feminist. Not all women are feminists and not all feminists are
women. It is also important to note that patriarchy thrives on the co-option of
women to sustain patriarchal norms and values, using the nurturing roles of
women as mothers. If we want to break this pattern, we need to minimise our
investments in the Bank of Patriarchy. You cannot take a shower without
getting wet. We cannot achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment
without questioning the institutions, norms and values that disempower
women. Women are not each other’s worst enemy, Patriarchy is our real
enemy. We should also note that the plan is not to replace a Patriarchy with a
Matriarchy. We want a world that is equitable and fair to all.
2. USE LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS TO BREAK
BARRIERS
In the past three electoral cycles, Nigerian women have gone from bad to
worse. We now stand at less than 5% of women in the National Assembly, and
there are some State Houses of Assembly where there are no women at all.
Nigerian women will continue to beg and appease political leaders if we do not
ensure that there are constitutional guarantees for effective representation and
participation specifically through affirmative action and quotas. We should
always remember that in spite of the many constitutional guarantees of
equality of citizens, there is no level playing field out there. Without concrete
and proactive measures such as affirmative action and quotas, we will continue
to see dismal statistics of women in business, politics and decision-making. The
Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill that keeps stalling at the National
Assembly needs to be passed.

9. This Bill will also help enhance women’s equal access to economic activities
and resources such as land, credit, technology, training and information. I
hope that WIMBIZ will lend its voice and resources to efforts to make this
possible. Where we do have legislation and policies such as the VAPP Act and
the National Gender Policy, we need advocacy for the political will to
implement these instruments.
3. AS WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP, WE HAVE TO HAVE AN
AGENDA.
You cannot strategise to win if you have no agenda. It does not have to be the
kind of transactional agenda which is usually associated with conventional
leadership practices. I am talking about having an agenda grounded in social
justice, equality, fairness and truth. To be an authentic leader, you have to
have a theory of change. What needs to happen for example, for Nigeria to
return to the path of greatness? What role do we as women play in all that? My
own theory of change in this regard is that for Nigeria to achieve the greatness
it truly deserves, it needs to invest in women and young people in very
significant ways. My agenda in Ekiti State during JKF1 and JKF2 for example
has been focused on women having a voice and serving as key stakeholders at
all levels of government. This is why I have been able to accomplish the
following:
• Passage of three laws, with the GBV law revised in October 2019
• Domestication of the National Gender Policy
• Advocacy for a Family Court (2012)
• A State Shelter for Women in Distress
• Keep Girls in School Campaign
• Anti-FGM Campaign
• Food Bank for the elderly
• Women in leadership in the SHA, State appointments and local
government.

10. 4. SHAPING THE FUTURE REQUIRES PLANNING A LEGACY.
As a woman in leadership, you have to be able to envision a legacy you would
like to leave behind and put all you can into it. It is that legacy that will
determine whether you have made an impact or not. True, we all operate in
different contexts that might make change difficult, but even if it is not feasible
for us to accomplish this professionally, we can use our private spheres of
influence.
You can work with others to establish a policy, pass a Bill, create an
organisation or project. The important thing is that this legacy of yours has to
be linked to your theory of change. If you occupy a leadership position as a
woman, and you are unable to develop an agenda for change, if you are
incapable of serving and supporting other women and unable to leave an
identifiable legacy behind when your time is done, I am afraid you have wasted
that space. Worse, you have made it more difficult for another woman to be
considered. One of the best moments of my life was one evening in 2017, I
was listening to the radio, and there was a report of a man who was jailed in
Ekiti for rape. In sentencing him, the Judge cited the Ekiti State GBV Law of
2011. I started to cry. The Law I had fought for was serving its purpose –
protecting women.
.
5. BE POLITICALLY ENGAGED
One of the main reasons why competent, qualified women keep being
overlooked is because we hold political processes in disdain and we refuse to
engage. Go home, to your constituencies and villages. Engage in community
projects, award scholarships. You don’t have to have any political ambition in
mind, we all have to actively engage in making change happen at community
level.

11. There is a need to channel our positions of influence in the business sector
into power in governance. Why are women in business not supporting other
women to run for office? What stops us from identifying credible candidates
who are women, with integrity and a track record, and backing them with our
financial resources and networks? Why can’t we create and use our own ‘girls
networks’ and use them to get other women into power the same way in which
men use their ‘old boys’ networks? We will not resolve the leadership crisis in
Nigeria today unless we get more credible women into leadership.
6. MENTORING AND INTER-GENERATIONAL ORGANISING
We need to keep mentoring young women in ways that nurture them and
prepare them for the harsh world of business, politics and public life. In doing
this, we need to be able to set an example for them because they will practice
what they see and not what they hear from us. As we do this, we also need to
be honest about the price to be paid sometimes for stepping up as a woman.
The sight and sound of a powerful woman can be very scary to some people. If
you are not prepared to be called names, vilified, lied against and the target of
abuse, if you want everyone to love and like you, stay home and hide under
your sheets.
7. BRING OUT YOUR WRAPPER FOR OTHER WOMEN
At the recent Arise Women’s Conference here in Lagos, I told the story of a
woman who went into labour in a market somewhere in Uganda. The women
in the market rallied round to help her, and they brought out their wrappers
to shield her from prying eyes. I use the wrappers as a metaphor for protection,
responsibility, compassion, empathy, respect, all those values that make us
human. Let us bring out our wrappers for other women every day, at work or
in our private lives. Every woman has a wrapper and every woman needs one.

12. 8. PREPARE FOR LIFE’S TRANSITIONS
We are all in transition from one phase of our life to the other, but while we
know this, we hardly prepare ourselves. Some of these transitions are linked to
joyful milestones such as academic accomplishment, marriage, childbirth,
promotion, our children’s successes and so on. Some might be unpleasant,
sudden and shocking such as divorce, loss of livelihoods, failed business
ventures, electoral loss, illness or even death. Let us learn to reflect on our
various transitions and prepare as and when necessary. For example, if you are
over 50, do you have a retirement plan in place?
How will you take care of yourself in the future? If you are married, what
would happen if your spouse was no longer in the picture? Are you able to
learn a new skill in case you need it?
CONCLUSION
Patriarchy tells us many lies. That we are not good enough. That we ought to
have everything all at once and if we don’t, we are less than everyone else. Tell
your story, write it if you can. Even when you run into Wairamini situations
and you feel like giving up, remember that one of the most important things in
life is being able to survive to tell your story. Regardless of your age, stand
before your mirror every day and tell your reflection, ‘My name is ………. I
am great now and I will be great forever. I will always be enough’.
Let us all rise and set our sights on all the great things we know we can
accomplish. Let us stop being afraid or complacent. Let us move out of our
comfort zones. Let us stop passing things on to the next person. You are the
person. You are the change. You have the power to shape the future. You
can’t Wait a Minute. You have God’s blessing and grace. Use your spaces
and power well, in the service of others, particularly women and children.
We are all winners over and over again. We are done waiting, this is our
time.
THANK YOU