Introduction
There is growing global recognition that
gender equality is paramount to the development of political economy of any
society, of which the Nigeria community cannot be an exception, (Obiamaka, 2014
in Ellis, 2004). Where gender inequality
impedes level playground participation for men and women of any society in
diverse area of specialization, the resultant effect is that there will be
lower competition among all eligible human participants. Thus, the best may have been denied their
contributions in the achievement of optimal results in all areas of political
and economic progression.
Emergence
of Nigerian Women
Until of recent, there is the general
archaic belief in Nigeria’s family circle that women’s place is only in the
kitchen and four walls of the household; to tender all occupants of each necleus family. This belief lends credence to not allowing
the female child to have equal educational opportunity with her male
counterparts. This practice is more
pronounced in the northern part of Nigeria; but by the turn of the current
political dispensation in Nigeria, thanks to the outspoken posture of the
current First Lady of Nigeria and Late Professor Dora Akuyili, one-time
Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Control – NAFDAC and
erstwhile Minister of Information and Communication, the womenfolk rapidly
started to evolve. It is during the
Presidential campaign of Dr Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan that the Nigerian women pushed through the now famous 35%
affirmation in the sharing of political appointments. This effort by our womenfolk ushered in the
advent of Nigerian women occupying key Ministerial and economic positions. It must not be forgotten that before this
time, Obasanjo regime showcased two prominent women in the Nigerian political
dispensation by giving opportunity to two female Ministers – Oby Ekwensili and
former World Bank Director, Ngozi Okwonjo-Iwiela to serve as Ministers of
Education and Finance respectively. The
scorecard of these few women that were tested, to be candid, varies by public
analysts, but on the whole, it doesn’t appear that the former denial of women
participation in the socio-political economy of Nigeria was the best experience
we have been subjected to. On the
contrary, the general belief that women are more tighter on table came to the
limelight, very prominently when one continues to assess the performances of some
of these females in public appointments execution of their duties.
Gender
Marginalisation Effect
The
1999 Constitution of Nigeria clearly stipulates gender equality, but customary
and religious laws continue to restrict women’s rights. The disparity between women and men in terms
of political, social, educational and economic achievements cannot be separated
from some problems which hinder parity between the two groups. Such problems include low participation of
women in politics, limited rights in terms of access to resources; such as land
ownership, credit facilities and opportunities in education, training, job
placements, especially for the predominantly Muslim Northern women. There are also more than 250 ethnic groups
with various customs, offering many constraints to emancipation of women-folks
to take their rightful position in the society, specifically in the economic
and political dispensation.
In
a 2008 research, Obiamaka et al posited that the total number of women involved
in one form of work or the other, in the
economy of this country is 43.1% as opposed to men’s 56.9%. The picture according to this statistics
appears favourable, comparatively to women, but Obiamaka et al assert that the
statistics is misleading. They opined
that key leading sectors in the economy by way of income yield or reward have
not been favourable to women in terms of participation. There are the construction industries where
women participation is 0.2% relative to men’s 3.2%, transportation and
communication business, 0.5% relative to men’s 6.8% and administrative/defence,
where women participation is only 2.5% as against men’s 7.0%. They conclude that a higher participation of
women are found in the lower spectrum of public offices.
Case for More Women Participation in
Politics
With
the foregoing status quo, as highlighted above, it can be clearly ascertained
that women has in the past been denied equal participation in Nigerian
politics. With the turn of things very
recently, it has been established that given the opportunity, women can
contribute their own quota in the political and economic indices of this
country. Therefore, there is a dire need
for the Nigerian electorate to articulately screen womenfolks in their
communities and present credible women of virture, cool-headedness,
hard-working and educationally groomed into positions of authority in this
country. The enumerated examples have shown that there are the matured
Nigerian women, who have been tested and proved to be able to tower in their
areas of specialization. Such could be
given opportunities to serve in the political dispensation of this country.
ADEBAYO,
Busayo (2015)
Freelance
Public Analyst.
adebayobusayo1@gmail.com
