HUMAN beings are generally regarded as social beings who find resonance and fulfilment more as part of groups and in relation to others rather than as individuals. And the implication is that humans tend to function along with groups and in relation with others in order to advance even what is considered individual interests. By this is meant that individuals almost always end up looking for how to advance individual interests by identifying with others who share or have such interests in order to be able to use collective platform to advance the interests. And this has been the essence of group and inter-individual relations and relationships in human affairs. Indeed, the emergence of community as the signpost of collective human living is such that gives resonance to the group and collective essence of human life and this means that group and collective aspirations and actions go a long way in explaining and deconstructing human actions and relationships over time. The logic is such that those who want to advance particular interests in the community and society and those who want to understand how people advance interests ought to be concerned with and interested in getting to know how groups function and strengthen themselves in human societies in order to be able to continuously correctly gauge the effect and importance of groups in human affairs.
To be sure, not every human group would have the capability and capacity to advance its interests in the face of competing interests of other groups in the society. But even at that, there is a sense in which almost every group matters in the society to the extent that individual interests are not likely to be as strong as group interests in the way and manner that societies function. In this way, it means that it is always better to seek to harness group efforts and platforms to advance interests instead of wanting to rely on individual efforts and aspirations. In any case, as many have found out, humans respond to collective aspirations and efforts more than individual aspirations given that collective aspirations reflect and have a higher semblance of the social essence of human beings. This is a realisation and recognition that we think and believe that Nigerian women, as a group, have to take more seriously and let it reflect more in their aspirations and the way they conduct the business of advancing women interests. This is because Nigerian women have shown, over time, a higher level of concern about bemoaning their negative conditions and the discrimination against them within the Nigerian body politic instead of dedicating attention to how to organise themselves as a group to defend and advance their particular group interests while ensuring that they are able to confront and thwart and oppose and indeed overcome every discrimination against them. The key here has to be the consciousness of Nigerian women of themselves as a group with specific and particular interests and particular determination and resolve to use their group identity and platform to defend and advance those recognised group interests. Unfortunately, most of the time, Nigerian women have tended to conduct themselves in a disparate manner such that many do not see them as a formidable group that should be taken seriously given that they are invariably unable to stamp their mark on the societal processes and demand respect and attention for their group interests and whatever they want within the Nigerian body politic.
It is significant in this respect that while Nigerian women continue to point to their numerical number as constituting half of the population of the country even as they lament that this numerical advantage has not stopped the males in consigning women to inferior and unimportant posts and positions in the country, it was only recently during the processes for Constitution Review and Amendment by the National Assembly when all the women-related bills for amendment were roundly and summarily rejected by the Assembly that Nigerian women came up on their own as a group and demanded attention to the women-related bills leading to three of them being quickly reconsidered for passage after Nigerian women opted for and actually took over and occupied the premises of the National Assembly. Yet, the point would seem to still be lost on Nigerian women that the only reason many were and are not listening to them about their complaints of marginalization and discrimination is because they have not seen them deploying their resources as a group into action to fight for and advance their own interests. At least seeing them storm the National Assembly as a group was enough to effect a change of mind on the part of the largely male and patriarchal legislators with regard to the women-related bills for Constitutional amendment, showing that group interest, properly canvassed and deployed, would matter and get things done for Nigerian women if only they are conscious of the import of the power inherent and residing in them as a group.
Perhaps Nigerian women ought to take a cue from the recent political development in Australia where women mobilised themselves to campaign and vote against the last Prime Minister who was accused of not taking seriously issues relating to gender equality and sexual assault against women. By the end of the elections, women had succeeded in making their point in getting the Prime Minister removed by losing key parliamentary seats through the action of the women. Says Simon Jackman, a University of Sydney Professor: ‘You seldom see this in Australian politics – a campaign that springs up and catches fire,’ – referring to teal community campaigns run by women volunteers. And Chris Wallace, a Professor at the University of Canberra, added: ‘The election showed women’s anger at (Scott) Morrison … underpinned by a fierce desire to get accountability back into Australian politics.’ Monique Ryan, a paediatric neurologist, on her own, cited the gender pay gap and violence against women as key issues during the elections. And it was said that highly educated voters were also angry at the government on integrity issues, including the handling of gender and sexual assault claims in parliament that would not have been tolerated in most Australian workplaces, such that women were powerfully motivated by all of this anger.
Indeed, the anger ‘mobilised women in never before seen numbers – including the affluent, middle-class professional women who donned teal T-shirts and took several safe seats off the (Prime Minister’s) coalition.’ The implication of this political development in Australia is that this could happen anywhere women rise up enough to deploy their number to fight for and advance their group interests. And this should be a lesson for Nigerian women that they should do less of bemoaning their condition and rather work to mobilise themselves to campaign and politically seek redress for all discrimination against them. And it would be seen that success would come their way just as the Australian women saw after their own campaign and mobilisation.
- Yakubu is of the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan.
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