Women are grossly underrepresented in politics, leadership positions —Dr Ayeni

Dr (Mrs) Oyebola Ayeni, an administrator and expert in human resources management is the registrar of Lead City University. In this interview with MODUPE GEORGE, she shares her leadership experience and why women remain the best option for key leadership positions in the society.

Do you think women are adequately recommended for leadership responsibilities as they should be in this side of the world?

Women, without gainsaying, are a major stakeholder in the development project of any society. The issue of marginalisation and unenviable participation of women in leadership and decision-making remains a major problem in our society. Interestingly, this issue has contributed significantly to the initiation and execution of different awareness programmes, such as we have today. Despite the advantage of the numerical strength of the 49.2 percent of Nigeria’s 2016 estimated population of 193 million people that women have and the difference we make in ushering in a new government, women are still largely absent from national and local decision-making bodies; even as we struggle to have a voice on issues and concerns that are affecting us.

Nigeria, being a patriarchal society generally, allows the men to hold primary power and predominate in political leadership roles, moral authority, social privilege and property control, while women are marginalised. Moreover, most Nigerian traditional societies are ‘patrilineal,’ meaning that the male lineage inherits property and title. Meanwhile, women are grossly underrepresented in politics and other sectors of our body polity.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, sometimes said that the low number of women in politics and other leadership positions is a major setback to the country’s development and that inadequate number of women in decision-making positions explained the country’s low investment and slow progress in some of the crucial sectors of human development outcomes.

Currently in the House of Representatives, out of 360 members, only 18 are women, representing about 4.61 per cent, while the Senate has eight women out of 109 members, representing 7.34 per cent.

Indeed, women can lead, as this has been proved again and again that what a man can do, a woman can equally do. Some honourable Nigerian women such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Professor Dora Akunyili, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, Ameyo Adadevoh, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Amina J. Mohammed, Folorunsho Aakija, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Agbani Darego, Genevieve Nnaji, Debola-Deji Kurunmi, Funke Akindele have manifested the intense abilities and capacities of women in diverse spheres of life.

In your opinion, why should women encouraged and allowed to take up crucial leadership responsibilities?

One of the major reasons is that women have ideas. Sadly, many women have been intimated to drop their lofty ideas on the ground of being women. Women are better managers than men when it comes to real life situations such as handling pressures, money, multi-tasking to mention a few. Women will always bring skills, different perspectives, and innovative ideas to the table. This is almost a seamless exercise for them because their experience and passion combined bring positive.

Also, feasibly, women demonstrate better leadership. Even in the family, children tend to see the mother as the more accessible and passionate parent, hence they tend towards them more, especially when making crucial decisions.

While some see this as an excess in most women, talking is definitely a strength that can be maximised by women to achieve communal growth and progress. Women talk, Yes!, and indeed, this can be a tool to enhance meaningful conversations with investors, employers, co-workers and partners, thus creating an open communication stream that creates a sense of clarity, which is actually needed for leadership.

Another reason is that for women, wearing different hats within our roles is a common occurrence. You will often find women balancing career, work, and business on the side, and taking up the mantle of parental guidance along with many other experiences. These are the qualities that make leaders to quickly adjust to new situations and focus on finding solutions to real-life work issues. These other attributes such as empathy, honesty, integrity, kindness, open-heartedness, being teachable, team-spiritedness, and being goal-oriented, among others, are qualities that women are naturally endowed with that stand them out for leadership roles. Bringing women to leadership is not an end in itself, it is much more important for them to have leadership qualities.

Apart from beauty and all of these unique leadership qualities, are there other factors to look out for when choosing female leaders?

To me, attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference in life. If you lack the right attitude as a woman, it will prevent you from rising higher. One may spend more money to look good and well, but without a good attitude, one can’t get to any height or position that is befitting. Simple things like greetings and courtesy have a very crucial role to play in this regard. Weakness of attitude will eventually reveal the weakness of one’s character as a leader. People can only hear your words, but they can feel your attitude; your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude as a person. There is no gainsaying the fact that attitude can bring up a man and it can also bring down a man. Attitude is very important. Every woman should ask herself “Do I have the right attitude?”

This is applicable in all spheres of life. It would be hard to be a true leader when one lacks a good attitude. People look up to the leaders. How sad would it be for the leader that lacks character and attitude?

Apart from beauty, women should pay more attention to diligence, which represents their drive to keep learning how to develop their leadership competency. Self development is equally significant as this also will help to contribute to a clear vision for the team. Perhaps the most important characteristic of good leaders is that they are continuous learners; a good leader always wants to know more. The self-motivation to stimulate passion or excitement amongst the team members to achieve challenging goals, improve the existing systems and processes by championing excellent change initiatives with the support of others and manage resources optimally is not condonable. Other factors include courage and resilience. These are the abilities to do something that frightens one in making one stronger and better and the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties and unpalatable circumstances.

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