As Nigeria returns to democracy, concerns continue to grow about the low representation of women in both elected and appointed positions.
Women make up more than half of the world’s population and make a significant contribution to society as a whole. In Nigeria, the current National Gender Policy (NGP) recommends 35% affirmative action and more inclusive representation of women, with at least 35% of political positions being elected accordingly and government appointees.
The recently released 2023 update of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) highlights the significant barriers women and girls face in realizing their potential, from politics to the corporate boardroom.
This is largely due to deeply rooted social norms. What is worrying is that nearly half of the world’s population believes that men are better political leaders than women. Such stereotypes create barriers to women’s equal participation in government agencies.
These staggering obstacles require immediate action which is why Gender and Development Action (GADA) focus is on mainstreaming gender in all its programs to promote equality.
Currently, GADA is implementing the Women’s Voice and Leadership Nigeria project, a project that is supported by ActionAid Nigeria with funding from Global Affairs Canada, this program seeks to promote gender equality and empower women and girls in Nigeria.
The project focuses on addressing the systemic barriers that prevent women and girls from fully participating in Nigerian society, particularly in leadership roles. It supports women’s organizations and activists in Nigeria to advocate for gender equality, promote women’s participation in decision-making processes, and increase access to justice for women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence.
In light of this, GADA’s thematic area on women’s political participation, leadership and decision-making was timely during the last year in preparing the women for the 2023 elections. GADA, through its activities such as town hall meetings, advocacies, physical and media publicity, mentorship & capacity building, partnerships, etc. focused on increasing and encouraging women’s involvement in the decision-making process for a democratic society.
With the provision of technical support to encourage women’s support for female aspirants and candidates, increase women’s leadership and women’s voter turnout during the 2023 elections, etc., women were able to register for their permanent voter’s card (PVC). Measures were put in place by engaging an ad-hoc staff to support INEC in registering women free of charge in real-time in their large gatherings which produced fruitful results and in turn, was appreciated by the women. 29.6% of women registered for their PVCs through the technical support provided by GADA during the continuous voter registration exercise by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2022.
The women were also encouraged to collect their PVCs which resulted in a total of 9.8% of women picking up their PVCs to participate in the electoral process in the 2023 elections.
Furthermore, as a result of GADA’s mentorship and capacity building for 30 young women in the University of Calabar, University of Cross River and College of Health Technology, 26% of these mentees across the 3 tertiary institutions within this reporting period who were once apathetic towards leadership roles have vied and contested for several leadership positions in their schools which is a trajectory in meeting the overall goal of encouraging young women in schools to speak up and act to end discrimination against them and participate more in school politics.
Lessons learned from the above events show that there is still work to be done and continuous improvement is needed to overcome women’s indifference to leadership, break the glass ceiling and empower women to participate more in decisions that affect themselves and the nation by assuming leadership positions in all areas of both family and social life.
Priority should be given to women’s electoral education and the importance of women’s full participation in the country’s electoral process, with the ultimate goal of empowering women and promoting gender equality. and supporting the rights of women and girls in Nigeria.
By allowing women to fully participate in politics, we strive to develop more equitable and sustainable societies. This will have the impact of leading to better governance, greater economic stability and improved social cohesion.
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