By Emma Ihemeje
For some time now, there has been an increase in immodest dressing by some Nigerian girls and women, which has kept tongues wagging in condemnation. Most people, especially Christians, feel that the situation has deteriorated so much that parents, the Church and educational institutions should have roles to play in re-socialising and orienting women against immodest dressing.
Trinitas correspondents over the weekend interviewed some mothers on the issue. Speaking, the president of the Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) of St Jude Catholic Parish, Fegge Onitsha, Mrs Grace-Helen Nwankwo, lamented that the current ways of dressing by some women have greatly lessened the sanctity of womanhood to the people, especially the God-fearing ones.
Mrs Nwankwo wondered the kind of society we are living in and what it will be like in the near future, regretting that some of the efforts of the CWO, through seminars and other forms of sensitisation against immodest dressing, have not yielded expected results. She charged parents and guardians not to relent in their responsibilities of bringing up God-fearing and responsible children, hoping that God and the Blessed Virgin Mary will help them to arrest the ugly situation.
She explained how she has been confronting people one-on-one on the issue, and some people’s reactions have shown that some mothers are instrumental to the way their children dress. She further pointed out that the type of clothes some mothers wear denote their real self in society, and she urged them not to shirk their major responsibilities in family upbringing.
Also speaking, the secretary of the parish CWO, Lady Josephine Ileme (JP), blamed the increasing corruption in our country especially the fashion craze on imitation of Western civilisation and culture by Nigerians. She explained how she confronted a certain woman in a market over the type of clothes her daughter was wearing and her reactions showed that some mothers play a role in the way their children dress and live in our society.
She noted that the issue of immodest dressing among our children and some mothers is worsening day by day and appealed to the teachers and instructors in our educational institutions to brace up for the challenge of setting things right.
In her own contribution, Mrs Lilian Ozua decried the development and called for a reversal of the ugly trend. She commended mothers for the work they do in their respective homes and urged them not to relent. She also called on mothers of the Catholic faith to enrol in the CWO as a way contributing to the progress and growth of the Catholic Church.
