By Chinelo Obogo
The National Assembly caused nationwide uproar, when on March 1, just few days to the celebration of the International Women’s Day, it rejected five gender bills seeking to reserve special seats for women at the National and State House of Assembly.
The bills among other issues sought to provide for affirmative action for women in political party administration and grant citizenship to foreign born husbands of a Nigerian woman, to allow for the domestication and prohibition of all forms of discrimination with the aim to create gender parity and end negative stereotypes. But those who felt that such bills were long overdue were taken aback when the National Assembly rejected them. This caused women from all over the country to occupy the gates of NASS for 10 days until the House of Representatives promised to revisit the bills.
At the Vanguard International Women’s Day Commemoration held recently in Lagos, with the theme “Walking the Talk: Towards a Gender Balanced Polity. The Time is Now!’, women narrated the difficulty and discrimination they have experienced in politics and how they are joining forces to push for better representation and 35 percent affirmative action.
Joy Emordi, former Senator for Anambra North constituency
During the transition to civil rule programme of the late General Sani Abacha, I contested and nearly had one leg in Anambra Government House, Awka. When I was contesting then, I received much criticism from the menfolk because they said a woman should not be breaking kola nuts and many asked that if I become governor, who would be breaking kola nuts? I then responded that if I won, I would appoint a commissioner for kola nut breaking. I continued my campaign but for the death of Abacha, I would have been governor as already, my party had cleared the House of Assembly seats, more than half of the House of Representatives and Senate.
After that period, I decided to contest for Senate and there was a lot of noisemaking again coming from the menfolk but God has always been with me in politics. At a stage, I wanted to give up but I decided to be persistent because if not, many other women that were looking up to me from different parts of the country and even those I met during the Beijing conference who were calling and encouraging me would be disappointed. If I had given up, other women would have thought it is impossible for a woman to make it in politics, so I doubled my efforts, going out to people’s homes and asking for support.
Every day, I was going house to house from one local government to the other. At the end of the day, I won that election to be the first woman from the South East to be elected to the Senate. However, one day, I heard on the TV that my victory has been cancelled after collecting my certificate of return and given to someone that didn’t even buy the form or contest the election. I saw hell. I started fighting for my mandate and by the grace of God, I got it back after one year.
I was re-elected in 2007 and by then, it was easier for me. However, you can’t say because you’re a woman, you should have things easy. As a woman, you would have to work 10 times more than men and know that power is not for free. You have to put your eyes on the ball. I won that second election again but for them to give me my certificate of return, it was hell. I mobilised my supporters and eventually got my certificate of return, so I went to the Senate. I then promised God that the only way I can give back is by supporting other women. So I decided to mentor the likes of Senator Uche Ekwunife who is a fighter like me. When you’re going into politics, don’t turn left or right, just put your mind focused on the ball”
Ene Obi, political activist, Country Director of ActionAid
“In 15 states across the country’s Houses of Assembly, there is not one woman and you have women committees where men are the members. We have three senatorial districts in each state and we are saying we need one more and women should be allowed to contest for it. These were things that were inserted into the constitutions of Rwanda and South Africa.
“The other issue we are challenging is citizenship. When you talk about citizenship, a man can go out of Nigeria and get married and become citizen of other countries through their wives but as a Nigerian woman, you cannot confer citizenship by marriage.
“Then we talk about indigeneship. I come from Benue and I have been married to someone from Anambra State for many decades now but then, I am a stateless person. This is also what happened to Amina Mohammed, who is the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and many other women. As women, we have no tribe.
“We also have the issue of the 35 percent affirmative action. We are tired of having women leaders because political parties only use them for moblisiation of women during campaigns. We want political positions and we are asking political parties to have 35 percent of executive and appointive positions. Women have the numbers but have we made use of it? We have not. We need to build the agency of the women and young people.”
Dr. Dere Awosika, Chairman, Access Bank Plc
“It is no secret that institutions and Government houses across Nigeria have been recording low participation of women in both elective and appointive positions since this nation assumed independence. Some concerted efforts to rectify this dire situation have been made by both government and non-governmental organisations. But gender inequality, patriarchal ideologies and stereotypes continue to exist in all spheres of Nigerian polity. The effects of this continue to show in the policies, or lack of it, that promote and protect Women’s rights, thereby preventing women from developing and exercising their full human capabilities to play a significant role in sustainable democracy.
“The subjugation of women especially in Africa is a moral challenge of this era despite facts showing that in the aggregate, having women in positions of political power promotes bipartisanship, equality, stability, and sustainability. Women represent about half of Nigeria’s population, 49.3% as at 2020, but occupy only about 5% of political positions nationwide. Even when women do run for political office and succeed, they encounter many barriers to advancement as well as struggle to garner support from their male colleagues in government. This plays out in form of gender-based discrimination as well as unconscious gender bias.
“Nigeria has the lowest representation of women on the presidential cabinet at just 15%. South Africa and Ethiopia have about 50% representation of women on their executive cabinet while women account for 28% of the total Ministers in Sudan’s executive cabinet. Women account for roughly 6% of the Senators on the National Assembly in Nigeria; Rwanda and South Africa have about 38% and 35% women in the senate respectively, while Sudan’s Upper House has about 27% of female Senators. Among the five countries analysed by PwC, Nigeria has the lowest female representation in the highest offices in Nigeria.
“As we continue to commemorate the World International Women’s Day, I think the time has come for us to change a lot of prejudices and biased ideas about women generally. Thus, the type of concerted push back against the gender discrimination bill as experienced with the National Assembly recently should be encouraged. There is strong evidence that as more women are elected, family-friendly and diverse policy making increases, as seen in such countries as France, Sweden, South Africa, Rwanda and Egypt. The huge marginalisation of Nigerian women in politics is not only due to patriarchy but also the stigmatisation that politics in Nigeria is only for the cold-hearted people that are willing to compromise their virtues for selfish gains.And because many of us want to protect our reputations we tend to shy away from being in negative spotlights. Notwithstanding, every challenge women face on the political climb, there is an exemplary leader that can be looked upon as inspiration (past and present).
“As women, we are not asking that these positions should be given to us on a platter of gold. Rather, what we are asking for is a level-playing field devoid of any gender-bias. We want an objective and unbiased environment where we can thrive based on our abilities and capabilities.
“As the next general election approaches in February 2023, Nigeria cannot afford to leave women behind. Getting women into positions of political leadership should be prioritised and treated with urgency. However, women will continue to face outrageous financial and social costs when they aspire to run for public office or succeed in obtaining leadership positions. The onus is on us, as seasoned professionals, to mentor, encourage and endorse competent younger women with political aspirations. We should support them from the ideation phase all the way to their election phase.
“Can we therefore find answers to the following questions? How can we deliberately increase women active participation in the coming elections and beyond? How can we further push the National Assembly to pass the necessary legislations that will entrench the interest of women generally to achieve gender balanced polity?
“ Can we make a robust presentation to INEC to amend the electoral act to accommodate female quota system at all levels of governance in line with global trends? How can we cushion the effect of outrageous financial and social costs when women aspire to run for public office or succeed in obtaining leadership positions?”