From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Some female politicians have advocated equal political participation with their male counterparts, adding that deliberate marginalisation by political parties should be expunged.
They made their appeal at a national conference on Women Political Participation in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja, organised by the UN Women, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Women’s Political Participation Working Technical Group and Women in Politics Forum.
Convener and UN Women Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Beatrice Eyong, said the conference was to assess outcome of the 2023 General Elections and to identify areas of improvement and reinforce commitment to ensure equal political involvement.
Eyong lamented that despite the population strength of women in politics, they remain underrepresented in politics which is according to the data by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
According to her ,only 10.1 % of female candidates were fielded by political parties, while 4% and 5% were elected to the National and State Assemblies respectively.
“These statistics are a clear indication that there is still a long way to go in terms of gender equality in Nigerian politics.
“Our democracy is not truly representative unless it reflects the richness of perspective that both men and women bring to the table, so we must delve into the root causes, social norms, cultural expectations and systemic barriers that limit the political agency of women.
“The role of political parties as vehicles to political power cannot be overstated; it is essential for them to prioritise inclusivity in their internal processes, let us challenge parties to create enabling environment and support qualified women.
“Nigeria is a signatory to the World Conference on Women in Beijing, which advocates 30 per cent affirmative action and the National Gender Policy recommends 35 per cent affirmative action for a more inclusive representation of women both in elective and appointive positions,” she said.
Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Idayat Hassan, said while there was a nominal increase in the number of women who dared to run during the 2023 elections, only a meagre percent made it.
Represented by CDD Election Team Lead, Chibuike Mgbeahuruike, Hassan said in spite of the tireless effort of female candidates, the victories achieved remained disproportionately modest.
“A disappointing outcome was the fact that only four women managed to secure seats to the senate exposing the glaring gaps in representation.
“The frustration lies not in the lack of capable and committed women leader but in the systemic barriers that continue to obstruct their path to meaningful political influence.
“It is imperative to acknowledge and address the deep-rooted challenges women candidates confront like gender bias, unequal funding and disproportionate levels of disinformation and misinformation which undermine their capacity to participate in the electoral process.”
Also, Chair, Women Political Participation Working Group, Ebere Ifendu, disclaimed the myth that women were not support women politically.
Ifendu said that women were highly marginalised in from political parties’ level adding that there was need for legislations to compel parties to address that as well as the reintroduction of the gender bills.
She called on women groups to speak with one voice and mentor younger women to climb the political ladder.
The Keynote Speaker, Ene Obi,in her presentation titled: ‘Gender Bias in Politics: An X-ray into the 2023 General Elections,’ said the structures of political parties have continued to undermine women’s participation in politics.
According to her, there was a need for more transparency and accountability in the electoral system for more women to contests elections.
“In the 2023 elections, 1,019 women contested for elections and 48 of them were elected into parliament, this is a far cry from equal participation.
“We really need to rise in terms of deliberate positioning of women in governance.
“Although the National and some State Assemblies have women now ,however,states like Abia, Bauchi ,Borno,Gombe ,Imo ,Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger ,Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara had no women in their parliaments.
“Yet these assemblies will take decisions that concerns women forgetting that ‘nothing for us without us’,” she said.