The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said women’s participation in economic activities is consistent with Islamic teachings, urging society to reject narratives that portray women’s economic empowerment as a foreign concept.
Sanusi spoke via Zoom at the launch of the women economic empowerment policy introduced by the Kano State government to strengthen women’s participation in the economy.
The policy was developed through technical collaboration with the Development Research and Projects Centre and supported by development partners including the Ford Foundation, the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund and the Gates Foundation.
The monarch said the prosperity of early Muslim societies was driven by the active participation of women in trade, scholarship and community leadership.
According to him, Islam guarantees women rights to property ownership, inheritance, enterprise and independent economic activity.
“Our history and faith are clear on this matter. We must reject any narrative that frames women’s economic empowerment as foreign to our values because it is rooted in them,” Sanusi said.
He noted that Kano must harness the potential of women to remain competitive in the global economy, stressing that meaningful economic growth cannot be achieved while half of the population remains marginalised.
Sanusi also pledged that the emirate council would support the implementation of the policy by advocating girls’ education and encouraging community acceptance of women entrepreneurship.
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Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, represented by the Commissioner for Rural and Community Development, Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, described the policy launch as a milestone in the state’s pursuit of inclusive development.
He said the government had begun implementing programmes to support women, including monthly disbursement of N50,000 to 5,200 women across the state’s 484 wards.
Also speaking, founder of the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Maryam Uwais, urged stakeholders to ensure rural women and married adolescent girls are not left behind.
She called for deliberate efforts to reach uneducated and unskilled women in rural communities to enable them benefit from the policy.
