On every March 8 since 1975 the World’s International Women’s Day
is celebrated around the world. This annual event is ‘to mark the
economic, political and social achievements of women’. The theme for
this year was ‘The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum’. Gaining momentum in
this sense would mean making progress in education, business and
entrepreneurship and most importantly, representation in governance.
Progress, stagnation and retrogression have been recorded in
different sectors but for this discussion; we will focus on politics and
policy because this translates to governance that impact on all other
sectors.
According to the 2012 UN Report, Africa
has made progress in the last decade in women representation in
parliament. By January 2012, women held 41 of the 271 speakers posts,
compared to 1995 when they held only 24 posts. While the average women’s
representation in parliament across Africa is 19%, Nigeria is at 7%.
However, we must commend the gradual gains that have been made over the
years.
One of the gains is that gender parity is now a burning issue in the
polity. With the adoption of the MDGs (specifically Goal 3) in 2000,
awareness on gender issues and women political
participation increased significantly. There are now more Civil Society
Organizations working on gender advocacy and international development
partners have invested enormously to advance women development
programmes. They have gender component programmes that now run for as
long as seven years. The Federal Government is now more interested in
promoting gender issues as it is seen in the establishment of the
Nigerian Women Trust Fund through the auspices of the Ministry of Women
Affairs and Social Development and the Office of the Senior Special
Adviser to the President on the MDGs. In 2011 when women lost some
grounds in the parliament, there were notable gains in the state
parliaments where the number of women in the State Houses of Assembly
increased. In the same year, we recorded the highest number of women in
the Federal Executive Council with 33 women holding key policy
positions.
The appointment of the first female Chief Justice of the Federation
shows we are ‘gaining momentum’ within the Judiciary. Lagos State is
leading the pack in terms of the number of female judges in the Lagos
High Court with 35 female judges out of a total of 52 and quite a number
of states have recorded female chief judges.
Within political parties, the election of Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose as the State Chairperson of
Ondo State Chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2011 is
note worthy for elevating the status of women from just being heads of
party wings. Although women representation in parliament dropped
slightly in 2011, more women are vying for political posts and taking
part in party politics.
Having looked at the gains it is important we review the constraints
that have retarded progress. It is factual that compared to countries
like South Africa, women representation in governance in Nigeria is
poor. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) report shows that as of 1st of
February 2013, South Africa has 42.3% women representation in the lower
house and 32.1% in the upper house while Nigeria has 6.7% and 6.4% in
the House of Reps and Senate respectively. Kenya has 9.8% and Zambia has
11.5% women representation in government. Percentage of women
representation in Nigerian parliament is therefore unacceptable.
What could be the reason for this poor result? As we have always
emphasized, one of the reasons for this is lack of internal democracy in
political parties. Political parties in Nigeria are male-dominated; the
youth wings are virtually all-male. The women wings have little
influence on major decision-making. In gaining momentum, this must be
addressed and it is important to engage political parties to make
structural changes before the 2015 elections.
Other factors include lack of mentorship for young female
politicians, electoral violence, low level of education, patriarchal
systems in governance, unfavorable religious and traditional beliefs,
poor legal framework and bureaucratic bottle necks restraining gender
policy implementation, indifference and lack of confidence on the side
of some women, disconnection between woman leaders in politics and women
activists and poor use of the media.
Looking ahead to the 2015 general elections, CSOs must organize
millions of women around a common agenda and ensure that aspiring female
politicians start early with their campaigns and ramp up the effective
use of media. Finally, the political parties must be encouraged to adopt
a framework for gender sensitive guiding rules and to level the playing
field to ensure the best women (and men) are encouraged to devote their
talents and passion to the development of Nigeria
Source .http://premiumtimesng.com
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