For emphasis, women, and girls in Nigeria, according to the British Council report (2012) are a plausible group with the inherent potential to drive a revitalized and progressive Nigeria. Politics in Nigeria yet remains one of the major areas where women’s and girls’ voices have faltered since the country became a democratic state in 1960.
An economic overview of Nigeria by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2018, reported that the possibility of having less of a gender gap in the Nigerian socio-political and economic systems, would lead to a significant increment in the growth and productivity of the Nigerian economy (IMF, 2018). According to the report, the case of a loss in a boost for the Nigerian economy is the relative forfeiture of an economic booster (gender equality). Nigeria, according to the report is widely hit by pervasive gender inequality. For Newiak (2018), the pervasiveness of gender inequality within these Nigerian systems, is connected to the multiplicity of the unevenness in both the opportunities and outcomes available to Nigerian females, versus males. The opportunities consist of, among other things, access to education, financial aid and services, health care, and having fewer women in the labor market, as board members of organizations and representatives in governmental positions (IMF, 2018).
The need for women and girls to actively participate in Nigerian politics is not only a smart economic strategy, but also in conformity with established global human rights declarations, such as the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. From an economics standpoint, for a projection of further annual economic growth of 1.25% to be realized, as emphasized by Monique Newiak, equal contribution and representation of both men and women must be reached (IMF, 2018).
Further, from the human rights perspective, a democratic system is noted to be relatively weak, when a state’s population is not evenly represented. A recent acknowledgement of this, was by Ambassador Derek Mitchell’s remarks during his visit to Armenia, from 26-28 February 2020, when he noted that the democracy of Armenia is incomplete until women and youths are evenly represented in the country’s political system (National Democratic Institute (NDI), 2020). The National Democratic Institute, has further noted that democratization demands the hearing of the voices of all factions of the population, such that women and girls pose equal opportunities as decision-makers and participants in political activities, as this concerns their right to be able to equally affect changes in their communities (NDI, 2020).
Arguments on the need for women to be evenly represented in politics have since far back in time, seen various articulations by scholars. Mary Wollstonecraft’s address to M. Talleyrand-Périgord, as far back as in 1792, in her renowned work, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (2007) argued for the absolute need for women to actively get involved in politics with the major purpose being a need for the group’s self-representation. Mary Wollstonecraft asserted how inconsistent, and unfair it is for men to be allowed to actively represent themselves, but to deny women the same opportunities to advance their own happiness, on the assumption that men in power can act on their behalf. The exclusion of women in power therefore constitutes injustice and can only be left unquestioned by a proof of their inability to reason like men, thus, not being able to benefit from human natural rights (Wollstonecraft, 2007). Complementing this is Elizabeth Stanton’s address to the legislature of New York in 1854, which emphasized the injustice inherent in women’s absence as representatives for themselves. She noted how the interests of a woman can never be adequately represented by a man, without instances of bias, and thus, demanded evenness in representation (Elizabeth, 1854).
Women’s and girl’s involvement in politics is not only limited to economic benefits and human rights promotion, but also advances for a social transformative agenda. For instance, women in politics, according to the British Council report (2012), significantly impact more effectiveness and efficiency in resource allocations of states, resulting in a proportional increase in human development reports, when compared with states with lesser women as representatives. This notion is predicated on the differential behaviors of political actors based on gender.
Furthermore, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, in his remarks at the New School on Women and Power, stated that women in power are more inclined than men, to invest in live-changing projects that result in increases in Human Development Indexes. And that, when women are more involved in the governmental structure of a country, a society is likely to see innovative changes from outdated conditions restraining development (UN, 2020). In contrast to this, the Nigerian case is a valid example, with its failure to pass the Gender and Equality Opportunities Bill into Law, amidst a house of the senate that is crowded with men, who have little understanding of the need for such a Law in Nigeria (Bukky, 2016).
Having women and girls in politics, ensures political stability, sustainable peace in times of crisis, the responsiveness and accountability of a government to people’s different needs, particularly of marginalized groups, an enhancement of conflict prevention mechanisms, an espousal of redistributive politics, and inclusive economies (British Council, 2012; Dim, & Asomah, 2019; United Nation’s-Secretary General, 2020). Even more significant, is the notion that women in Nigerian positions of power, are more likely than men, to be interested in finding appropriate, lasting solutions to major problems peculiar to women and children in Nigeria. Such as one of the world’s highest maternity and childbearing rates, high pregnancy complication rates, including issues such as fistula and maternal mortality (with a rate of one death in thirteen women) and population control (Reuben 2019; WHO, 2020).
Men´s benefits
Women and girl’s active involvement in Nigerian politics, is not only a remedy to them being marginalized groups, but simultaneously, provides plenty of benefits to both men and boys. With more women in politics, the stereotypic rigid order is challenged, necessitating a relief from incessant masculinity demands, which, according to the famous Nigerian writer; Chimamanda Ngozi, is a cage-like representation that predetermines acceptable activities of boys and men (Chimamanda, 2013). Re-echoing the benefit of having shared responsibilities between men and women, as political representatives, this avails men and boys of more choices, lesser burdens, and improvements in personal relationships, which are all important, especially seeing as they have shorter life spans than women (United Nation’s-Secretary General, 2020). In Nigeria for more contextual familiarity, the average life expectancy for a male is 53.7 years while that of a female is put as 55.4 years (World Population Review, 2020).
Decreasing the gender inequality gap, in terms of representation in government, equal labor participation, access to education and health, amongst others, is noted by the IMF country report (2018), to ease income inequity and thus, increase economic diversification. What this therefore implies is that, the economic situation becomes less harsh, with increases in wealth generation and productivity, not only for men or women as beneficiaries, but for the population at large.
Extract from Kayode, K. (2020) ‘Nigerian Women and Political Participation: The Not-Too-Young-to-Run Law; A new Vista for More Women Participation In Nigeria’s Politics’. Chapter 3, Page 19-21.
GIRLS 4 LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE, NIGERIA 