Pastor of Christian Life Bible Church, Ikorodu, Lagos State, Tunji Atolagbe, on Wednesday appealed to parents to give both the boy and the girl child equal treatment.
Pastor Atolagbe said this to commemorate International Day of Girl Child.
The UN had designated every October 11 as International Day to highlight and address the needs and challenges faced by the girl-child.
Atolagbe said that giving preferential treatment to boys was common among African parents, which had caused emotional and psychological trauma to many girls.
“In the olden days, it was believed that only male child can sustain the family name but female will get married to another man.
“This made many parents to treats boy child better than girl child. They have forgotten that both have potential.
“Recently, many parents have realised the mistakes of their forefathers, they strive to also treat girl child the same way boy child was treated.
“These days, girl child are more successful, this was possible because their parents treated them equally.
“We have seen many women who made it more than men, they are even better than many male children out there,” he said.
He advised parents who were still in the habit of treating girls lesser to strive to be gender-neutral and to treat and educate daughters equally like their sons.
Atolagbe also urged men to stop domestic and sexual violence against women and girl-child.
