PAWED utilized art to advocate policymakers and donors, and IPs present at the Gender Summit to increase insight into WEE. All eight artworks were strategically displayed in the exhibition hall. Beneath each artwork, PAWED included a poster presentation with data on WEE for each themed photo. One such artwork is the WOMEN CRUSHING STONES PAINTING which draws attention to women in the informal sector work that is mostly female-dominated, providing cheap labor in artisan quarries all over Nigeria. As a consequence, they suffer from respiratory diseases, deformities, and exhaustion. There is no mention of this cadre of workers or sector in the National Development Plan 2021-2025.
Also, WOMEN IN MARKETS PAINTING, PAWED art draws attention to the fact that women run small businesses in rural and urban markets all over Nigeria, selling commodities, but studies show that they are at greater risk of sexual and physical violence and are more likely to internalize losses that seek formal complaint to the police. Women also have economy-enriching roles to play but we see from budget reviews that women are not always the beneficiaries of women’s economic empowerment projects
All images were sourced and procured from artists across Nigeria on the theme of Women’s Economic Empowerment. The intellectual property rights belong to the dRPC-PAWED project which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.