In the last two posts here, we have written about the gaps between legal reform and lived realities. We outlined what it would take to build a gender equity delivery system that bridges law and life for women in Nigeria. But what if we went even further? What if gender-responsive justice didn’t end at the ink on a bill or the passing of a policy. What if we are intentional about saying “that’s where it begins”?
Imagine this: every new law in Nigeria (across Africa even) comes packaged not just with a press release, but with a gendered delivery blueprint. One that doesn’t assume equity will trickle down, but insists it must be deliberately structured into the system.
Let’s ask the real questions:
- What if Ministries of Justice were required to co-develop implementation roadmaps with women’s groups—not just consult them after the fact?
- What if every economic reform had its own gender accountability index, tracked publicly and reviewed annually?
- What if customary systems weren’t treated as barriers, but engaged as delivery partners with clear harmonization tools and accountability mechanisms?
- What if corporate actors were required to publish workplace gender metrics, and private sector inclusion was tracked the same way we track election results?
- What if the budget office couldn’t sign off on a policy unless it came with a funded enforcement mechanism and real feedback loops from women on the ground?
This is not fantasy. In fragmented ways, these ideas are already emerging within feminist economic coalitions, in CSO pilot programs, in bold state-level initiatives. But what’s missing is a shared vision and investment in the last mile.
Because that’s what this really is: a last mile problem. We have constitutional protections. We have gender policies. We even have landmark laws like the VAPP Act and National Gender Policy. But we do not have structured systems for ensuring those laws ACTUALLY change lives.
There is a clear role for philanthropy in this Next Chapter. This is the space for the bold, systems-oriented philanthropy to step in. Not to duplicate government functions—but to:
- Fund the co-design of delivery blueprints alongside state actors and women-led CSOs.
- Support feedback and accountability systems driven by the lived experience of women across class, location, age, and ability.
- Invest in the field of gender-responsive governance, especially in research, public finance, data architecture, and cross-sector collaboration.
Lived equity is not an abstract idea but rather a real design challenge that we can solve if we stop thinking of laws as endpoints, and start treating them as starting conditions for transformation.
We need better laws, yes, but we also need better pathways to translate law into life.
Still Curious. Still Learning.
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