This paper, written by Titilope Olalere, provides an appraisal of the 2015 Nigeria general elections in the context of women’s participation. The paper covers women’s participation in elective positions (from Presidential to State Houses of Assembly elections), as well as women’s involvement in electioneering processes, campaigns, rallies, and other areas. The paper adopts historical, descriptive, and empirical methods in its analysis, and begins by providing an in-depth overview of the history of Nigerian women’s political involvement in pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial contexts. A direct appraisal on the 2015 general elections follows, including gender-disaggregated data from, and analysis of, the all levels of electoral contests and results.
Olalere identifies a number of barriers and constraints that continue to hinder women’s political participation in Nigeria:
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Cultural and religious factors: these factors are especially inhibiting to women in northern Nigeria, where the Purdah System is more pronounced. Also mentioned is the socio-cultural practice of polygamy.
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Gender imbalance: despite having a Federal Character Principle that is meant to eschew group imbalance in public institutions and affairs, gender is not included. Neither is there any legally backed affirmative action to promote gender balance, and address the patriarchal views that lead to men being given preference in employment.
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Lack of internal democracy: political parties have a tendency to select a ‘consensus candidate’ at the cost of diminishing the democratic processes, and excluding alternative candidates including women.
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Lack of funds: elections are prohibitively costly to contest, presenting monetary barriers that disproportionately impact women due to the gendered nature of poverty.
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Women’s issues: the expectations, pressures, judgements, and interactions experienced and communicated by women in politics can result in significant inter-gender conflict.
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Violent nature of Nigerian politics: violence has been a common theme of Nigerian democracy, and the physical battles that often accompany the electoral contests must be addressed.
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Women’s education: girls typically have less access to schools than boys, and are often removed from school at an earlier age. Without addressing this imbalance, high-paying jobs will remain highly imbalanced with regard to gender.
The paper concludes that the involvement of women in Nigerian politics over the years has undergone some major transformations, especially with the return to democratic rule in 1999. Olalere points to the fact that in 2015, for the first time, a registered political party (the KOWA Party), presented a female as its candidate. Her emergence as a candidate for the party followed due process of internal democracy, keenly contested against three male candidates. It was the first time that a woman had run for President, and although she did not win, she did beat two of the other male candidates. This, as well as the All Progressives Party’s choice of a female candidate as the governorship aspirant of Taraba State, represented a major development in Nigerian democracy. That said, the paper maintains that women need to be given much more space in Nigerian politics in the future.