… Identify Challenges Limiting Women’s Chance Of Participation In Politics
By Joy Gadani
Participants at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement, organized in Kaduna, North West Nigeria, by Zamani Foundation in collaboration with United Nations Women (UN Women) and the Canadian Government, have urged stakeholders to reaffirm their commitment and take practical steps to enhance women’s participation in politics in Nigeria.
The event, part of UN Women’s “Advance Women’s Political Participation Project in Nigeria,” aimed to boost women’s involvement in political processes and leadership roles in both elective and appointive positions across all levels of governance.
Addressing the participants, Chundung Ashley Dauda, the Programme Specialist on Governance and Women’s Political Participation of UN Women Nigeria, said “promoting women’s leadership is one of the fastest ways to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”.
According to her, no nation can make progress when half of its population is left behind “research has shown that when it comes to policy priorities, women prioritize issues of human development like education, health, employment” compared to their male counterparts.
She noted that as an organization, their focus is around pushing for gender responsive legislations, quotas mandating women representation in leadership and in political participation.
Honourable Hannatu Biniyet, Former Chairman, Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) spoke about the wide gap in the number of women participation in election compared to their male counterparts. In her message, she referred to a 2012 report; the report showed that out of 730 contestants in local government council elections of 2012, only 10, about 7% of contestants were women.
According to her, this situation has not improved despite continued advocacy effort to advance women representation in elective positions. “My personal observation is that the problem is the political parties” she emphasized that women have to collaborate and demand for quota representation from their respective political parties.
Honourable Aisha Mohammed from Sabon Gari Local Government said women are faced with economic, social, religious and financial challenges which limit their chance of participation in politics. She said for women in Northern Nigeria, the situation is peculiar, saying that despite the provision of the Constitution which allows everyone the right to vote and contest in election, cultural norms and beliefs serve as barrier for many women.
According to her, women have to be resilient, and continue to push for the right to compete freely and fairly in elections. She advised that women must take politics seriously “I don’t take politics as a part time job, I take it as a real job because that is what I do for a living”.
UN Women works to end gender-based violence, promote economic empowerment, women participation in peace and security and promote women political empowerment.