Nigerian women have encountered a number of problems while venturing into politics. There is large scale discrimination from the men folk, both in voting for candidates and in allocating political offices.
More often than not, men constitute a larger percentage of the party membership and this tends to affect women when it comes to selecting or electing candidates for elections. Since men are usually the majority in the political party setup, they tend to dominate the party hierarchy and are there fore at advantage in influencing the party's internal politics.
Women usually constitute a smaller per centage of political party membership because of the social, cultural and religious attitudes of different Nigerian societies which most often tend to relegate women to the background. As a result, only very few men, even among the educated, allow their wives to come out and participate in politics. In Northern Nigeria, for instance, an important factor inhibiting women's participation is the purdah system (i.e. house seclusion of women).
Another problem facing women is lack of adequate education. Women constitute a larger per centage of the illiterate group in Nigeria. This could be attributed to the fact that in most families, parents prefer to send their sons to school, instead of their daughters whom they fee! would eventually get married and thus get incorporated into another family. Thus, a larger percentage of the girls remain uneducated and unexposed. |
As the 2015 election steadily approaches, and campaign strategies by various politicians and political offices holders already in full gear, women are being charged to gear up to vie for elective positions in the country.
But the odds are stacked against them despite president Goodluck Jonathan’s much touted 35 per cent representation of women in government; and the 1995 Beijing conference-recommended 35 per cent allocation for women in political positions, power and decision.
While there has been an improvement in the Mr. Jonathan’s cabinet, with the coordinating Minister of Economy and Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, heading the financial administration in Nigeria, this has not been the case in elective positions.
In the country’s general election in 2011, female candidates had a meagre eight per cent representation with only 32 women elected at the national parliament.
With a culture that is largely patriarchal and wont to throw up men for elective posts, political analyst say there might be a repeat of the trend in the 2015 election.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa
Aisha Osori, the CEO of the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund, spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, on the challenges a woman faces when she attempts to go into politics.