Wiscar Hosts ‘Money Marriage’ Screening IWD 2020

Members of the Women In Successful Careers (WISCAR) community on Sunday 8th of March, 2020 hosted the public to the screening of ‘Money Marriage’ documentary film, in commemoration of the International Women’s Day.

“Money Marriage documents the experiences of young women entrapped in the traditional harmful practice in Becheve Community of Cross River State, Nigeria. The abhorrent culture promotes the sale of under-age girls into marriage to offset what is often generational debt”

The event focused on the central theme of this year’s International Women’s Day “Each for Equal” to celebrate women in Nigeria and dialogue on the issues of gender parity in our communities.

The documentary film screening was well attended by notable women such as; Amina Oyagbola Founder and Chairperson of the WISCAR, Bukola Smith Executive Director FCMB and Advisory Board Member WISCAR, Funke Adekoya SAN Founding Partner at Aelex, Omolara Michael-Nwandu General Manager Financial Planning MTN and many more.

The evening commenced with opening remarks by the Executive Secretary of WISCAR, Fabia Ogunmekan and a formal welcome by the Founder Amina Oyagbola, where she stated that WISCAR had decided to lend its platform to the makers of the documentary to create awareness and stimulate conversations around the rights of every young girl to nurture her dreams.

Amina Oyagbola stated that “it is essential for us to remember that it is the right of every young girl to grow fully into womanhood and to self-actualize whatever her dreams maybe for herself. It is the concern of all of us and it should worry us all greatly as we push for gender parity, that a large proportion of our future generations of leaders are being disenfranchised of their basic human rights.”

WISCAR’s mission is focused on empowering and developing professional women to contribute to the development and growth in Nigeria and indeed Africa. The WIN with WISCAR Mentoring programme is a structured mentoring program that provides strategic career advice, inspiration, guidance and support to young career women to help unleash their potential, navigate career pathways, foster ambitions and nurture dreams.

The highlight of the event was the post screening Q and A session moderated by Princess Abumere a Senior Journalist with BBC Africa and the Director and Producers, Emeka Chukwuleta, Somto Onubogu and Asa Emmanuel respectively. The conversation generated a lot of interest amongst the audience members, with several individuals committing to taking action to create further awareness and concrete steps towards eradicating the practice in the affected community

The documentary screening was hosted by WISCAR in partnership with Impact HUB Lagos, Global Child Health and Safety Initiative, Schucks Media and Asaolu Studios