Years of military dictatorship has left deep scars in Nigeria’s political transformation. As is the case the world over, the military in Nigeria was, and remains, dominated by men, with women vastly under-represented. In this paper, the author makes the case that military rule laid the foundation for, and played a decisive role in, the limiting of social and political development for Nigerian women, to this day. Rather than indulging in historical narratives however, the aim of the paper is to focus on the status of women, including their political representation, since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.
To begin, the author explains the historical context. During pre-colonial times, women served a much more public, less constrained role in society, with important responsibilities both productively and socially. However, this began to change when the gender-discriminatory cultural values of the British colonialists led to Nigerian women having little or no participation in their communities. Yet throughout each of these periods, there were notable women leaders who brought groups together and had real influence. Even so, it should be re-iterated that women in northern Nigeria could not vote until 1979, some 23 years after the south.
Next, the paper presents a literature review, taking an in-depth look at the intersections of gender and democracy, and of gender and Nigerian politics, where the author explores the question: if there are so many notable female individuals in Nigeria’s past, why do women still find it so hard to participate in politics today? Topics discussed by way of explanation include motherhood, the “sanctimonious mask” of religion, economic and educational inequities, political thuggery, and harmful cultural conventions.
Following a section that discusses international policies on women’s representation in politics and the limited impact of Nigeria’s constitutional protections, the report notes a number of areas in which legal mechanisms and policies are needed to encourage women’s participation in Nigerian politics:
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Raising literacy levels: women should be educated and allowed to acquire relevant qualifications; without basic education and literacy, women cannot participate actively in politics.
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Financial empowerment: political campaigning is expensive, and represents a significant barrier to women’s participation in politics. Efforts toward increasing the economic empowerment of women will bring us one step closer to increased women’s political participation.
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Breaking free from cultural beliefs and superstitions: beliefs and values that conspire to limit women’s roles to cooking, cleaning, and childcare must be dropped. Women must be supported in their efforts to break free from these restrictive and barbaric practices.
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Deliberate quotas: The federal government must implement the National Gender Policy at local, state, and federal levels, including quotas for women in politics. With this as an incentive, more women will be encouraged to enter politics.
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Celebration of women pioneers: Nigeria should seek to celebrate Nigerian women such as Queen Amina of Zaria and Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, which will help inspire more women to seek political office.
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Vocational training: women who are interested in politics should be supported through vocational training. This will also aid in promoting economic empowerment.
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Enlightenment of women: there is a lack of awareness, on the part of both men and women, of the right and duty of women to participate in democratic governance. A key constraint is the divisions between women themselves on the role they can or should play in politics. This necessitates a better understanding of the need for women to cooperate more fully.
The author concludes that since women constitute half the population of Nigeria, networking is likely to be key in redressing the gender imbalance in politics. Such was the case almost 100 years ago, when the networking of market women led to their rising against oppression in the Igbo Women’s War of 1927. A united front of Nigerian women is once more needed, and would contribute greatly to improving the political climate in Nigeria.