Getting women more involved in politics in Nigeria
Women participation in both elective and appointive positions in Nigeria has been relatively low. And this has not been too encouraging. However, concerted efforts have been made by government and non-governmental organizations to increase the level of participation of women in politics in line with the declaration made at the fourth World Conference on women in Beijing, which advocated 30 per cent affirmative action.
In a paper presented by Mrs Oloyede Oluyemi of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Abuja, she reiterated that, “In Nigeria, the extant National Gender Policy (NGP) recommended 35 per cent affirmative action instead and sought for a more inclusive representation of women with at least 35 per cent of both elective political and appointive public service positions respectively. The under-representation of women in political participation gained root due to the patriarchal practice inherent in our society, much of which were obvious from pre-colonial era till date.
“However, the re-introduction of democratic governance has witnessed once again an increase in women political participation both in elective and appointive offices. The national average of women’s political participation in Nigeria has remained 6.7 per cent in elective and appointive positions, which is far below the Global Average of 22.5 per cent, Africa Regional Average of 23.4 per cent and West African Sub Regional Average of 15 per cent.”
In the National Assembly, women constitute 5.6 per cent of members of the House of Representatives and 6.5 percent of the Senate.
Also, for twenty two years (1999-2022) of uninterrupted democratic governance, Nigeria is yet to produce a female Governor in any of the 36 states of the federation.
Recently, the National Center for Women Development embarked on the collection of a national data on involvement and participation of women in politics in Nigeria (1999 to 2015). One of the objectives of the data collection is to provide a baseline for the implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The data collation of the exercise is ongoing. Hopes are high that the result will show the progress steadily made to achieving the affirmative declaration and determine how the gap that erstwhile existed has been closed as well as measure the variation between where we are and the affirmative action of 35 per cent. Also, it will improve evidence-based planning and programming involving women in decision making; increase the support of key stakeholders on measures to increase representation of women in decision-making and further improved awareness of new advocacy tools among stakeholders to support the campaign for increased representation of women in decision making in Nigeria.
Under international standards, both men and women should have equal rights and opportunities to everything worldwide, most especially to participate fully in all aspects and at all levels of political processes. Globally, women constitute over half of the world’s population and contribute in vital ways to societal development generally.
In most societies, women assume some key roles, which are: mother, producer, home-manager, and community organizer, socio-cultural and political activists. Of these many roles mentioned, the last has been engendered by women movement.
In line with global trend, Nigerian women constitute nearly half of the population of the country. But despite the major roles they play with their population, women roles in the society are yet to be given recognition. This is due to some cultural stereotypes, abuse of religion, traditional practices and patriarchal societal structures.
In Nigeria, the awareness about the role of women in development of a nation came up in 1980s. The International Conference on women in Beijing in 1995 enhanced the effective participation of women in politics in Nigeria. About 51 per cent of women are involved in voting during elections in the country. Despite this, women are still under represented in both elective and appointive positions. Available statistics revealed that overall political representation in government of Nigeria is less than 7 per cent.
Appointive position In 1999 and 2003 out of 130 federal boards of public corporations only 7 (representing 5.6 per cent) were women. During the period, out of 47 cabinet ministers appointed only 7 were women which represent 14.89 per cent. One woman was appointed as Director-General of a government regulatory agency. Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistant were 2 women espectively.
Six (6) women were appointed as Special Assistants, 8 women as Permanent Secretaries and one woman as Special Assistant to the Vice President.
In 2011, more women were given political appointments, 12 women were appointed as Ministers out of 42 which represents 30 per cent and 4 women out of 20 as Special Advisers.
In this present regime, only 6 women were appointed as Ministers out of 30 ministerial appointees.
Some women have distinguished themselves in political offices, notable among them are, the one time Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Late Dora Akunyuli of NAFDAC among others. This is to tell us that if women are given the chance, their ability can never be in doubt.
Several efforts have been made to address the low representation of women in elective and appointive positions in Nigeria. Among such efforts are the establishment of Women Political Empowerment Office and Nigeria Women Trust Funds, Women Lobby Group, the convening of the Nigeria Women Strategy Conference among others.
National Center for Women Development in collaboration with National Bureau of Statistics are making efforts to have evidenced based data about this issue. Presently, the available data are not harmonised. The data collation covers the period 1999-2015.
One of the objectives of the data collection is to provide a baseline for the implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It is becoming clearer that women may never achieve the mandated 30 per cent affirmation as enshrined in the Beijing plan of action except some of the following recommendations are followed.
Firstly, political parties should create a support network for prospective aspirants by pairing them with established women politicians who will be playing key role as mentors and provide capacity building for young or aspiring female politicians to enhance and develop them ahead of subsequent elections.
Again, there is a need to build mass coalition of women support and advocacy group using NGOs and grassroot women associations to coordinate support and advocacy for fellow women aspirants.
In addition, an enabling environment that allows women to engage meaningfully in decision making process should be created in a sustainable and effective way that is free from violence and harassments of any kind.
Apart from all these, legal funds should be established to assist women politicians to challenge electoral malpractices of any form at all levels of political processes.
Another school of thought has advocated the introduction of quota system at all levels of government and identifying and engaging relevant stakeholders such as Independent National Electoral Commission and political parties to ensure strict adherence to it, as much as not subjecting ourselves to mediocrity. We strongly believe in putting the round peg in round hole.
Politically, women have been relegated to the background, despite the tremendous efforts put forward by government and non-governmental organizations following the declaration made at the fourth World Conference on women in Beijing, advocating 30 per cent affirmative action, and National Gender Policy (NGP) recommendation of 35 per cent affirmative action for a more inclusive representation of women both in elective and appointive positions. It is worthy to note that Nigerian women are still being marginalized due to the style of leadership inherent in the country. The relevant stakeholders are advised to advocate for the protection of women from abuse, empower them economically, politically and review the necessary legislations to accommodate the growing interest of women in politics both in elective and appointive positions.
