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| Ramatu Ada Ochekliye, Founder, Shades of Us, at the 2025 Gender and Inclusion Summit |
By Ramatu Ada Ochekliye
On September 4, 2025, I walked into the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja for what has become an annual pilgrimage—the Gender and Inclusion Summit hosted by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC). This year marked my third time attending since 2023, and just like the previous years, I was eager to immerse myself in conversations that matter deeply to me.
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| Photo by Joshua Abner on Pexels. |
By Adetayo Adetokun
Across the vast and culturally diverse African landscape, deeply ingrained societal expectations and age-old customs often rigidly reinforce binary gender norms, leaving little room for those who transcend these restrictive boundaries. As a consequence, gender non-conforming individuals find themselves entangled in a web of discrimination, prejudice, and bias, all of which impede their access to quality education and obstruct their path toward career advancement. These challenges act as barriers to their personal growth, hindering their ability to thrive in a society that is often reluctant to accept and support their authentic selves.