More Women on the Table
By Iberuche Maryann
I keep wondering, why is the Nigerian political and public space dominated by men? Why do we have little or no women in political positions? Why are we pulling down democracy by allowing just a particular gender detect the piper? This and numerous questions keep troubling me, and I know we have other concerned Nigerians like me who want women at the helm of affairs especially in politics.
According to research, from 1999 till date, only 157 women have been elected into the 469-member National Assembly (38 senators and 119 members of the House of Representatives), compared to 2,657 men (616 senators, 2,041 reps) during the same period.
To me, the Nigeria political space is like a sky which is large and big enough to accommodate everyone who seems interested, but as it stands, the reverse is the case as women are not given the chance to fully participate in politics.
To encourage gender balance and bridge the gap of inequality in our society we need the full and equitable participation of women in politics.
Over the years, several attempts to have women hold political and leadership positions have woefully failed and this is causing a great in-balance in the political system. Countries like Rwanda and South Africa have used a quota system to pave way for women representation in politics. In Rwanda, over 50% political positions are held by women, why can't we adopt the same method in Nigeria?
Give women a chance in politics to change Nigeria for better and see how things turn around, we really need to move with the pace at which first world countries are moving, we need to change the narrative and put more women on the table. Its a very shameful thing that Nigeria seems left behind when other countries like United Kingdom, Germany and France are constantly producing female presidents.
The just concluded presidential election made it evidently clear that the opposite gender controls the political system here in Nigeria, the low number of women in elective and appointive positions in Nigeria is nothing to write home about. Report had it that about 416 persons contested for governorship across 28 states of the federation, out of that number, only 25 were female candidate. According to Tunde Eso in 2013, he states that "it is injustice to deprive women from occupying position at any facet" if the Africans especially Nigerians could see through his statement and adhere to it.
At this point, we should be calling for a Nigeria where women are given a fair chance at politics just like men, a Nigeria where godfatherism shouldn't be the call of politics and a Nigeria where women are given a fair shot when they opt-in for political positions.
Looking back at the democratic election over the years, the turn out of women vying for positions is indeed a far cry, and this made me to wonder if Nigeria as the giant of Africa has not come of age to trust elected political positions into the hands of women? So many unanswered questions on why women are not given a fair chance at politics, hopefully someday answers will be provided to these questions, the voices of women will be heard and we will have more women on the table. Until then, we will keep encouraging and clapping for the opposite gender.
Iberuche Maryann,
Girl child right advocate and Co-founder Daughters of Africa.
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