A Case For Women’s Participation In Governance, Decision-Making

 By Moruff Adenekan

Globally, women are under-represented in leadership and decision-making within political, public and corporate spaces. According to UN Women, gender disparity, low participation in elective and appointive positions and gender-based violence are major setbacks for women worldwide, especially in developing countries. In Africa, patriarchy and societal norms overtly and covertly subjugate women and girls and contribute to inequality and exclusion.

*Pauline Tallen, Women Affairs Minister 

Nigeria, currently without comprehensive legislation that protects or advances women’s rights, exemplifies this inequality. These inequalities manifest in the poor numbers for girl-child education, low numbers of women in leadership, and abysmal representation in public life. The manifestation continues in the high numbers of maternal and child mortality, high numbers of exclusion, widening pay gap between men and women, and alarming numbers of sexual and gender-based violence.

Gender Strategy Advancement International, in a June 2022 report, noted that women’s political participation in Nigeria is below global and continental standards. They said that in 2015, the national average of women’s political participation in Nigeria was 6.7% in elective and appointive positions, far below the Global Average of 22.5%, African Regional Average of 23.4% and West African Sub Regional Average of 15%. This negates the 30% affirmative action Beijing Declaration Nigeria is a signatory to and runs afoul of the Constitution which enshrines representation. Nigeria ranks 181 out of 193 countries on the Gender Equality Index.

Nigeria does not fare better at the sub-national level. There are no women governors and only two deputy governors across the 36 states of the Federation, A glance at 12 of the 36 states will reveal a paltry 23 female state house of assembly members out of 287; 425 special assistants out of 2050, and 31 female local government chairpersons out of 325. Scanty 368 females were elected as councillors out of 2,075 in those sampled 12 states.

In corporate spaces, the number of women on the boards of corporations in Nigeria is also lopsided in favour of the male gender. According to the Gender Equality in Nigeria’s Private Sector report by the International Finance Corporation in partnership with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, the average percentage of women at the executive level is 20%. However, the figure is higher than the global average of 17%. Furthermore, the average rate of women at the board level is 23%, close to the standard of 25% globally. However, women still lag in the total number of females in the workforce. The report indicates that only 33% of women are in the workforce compared to the average of 37% globally.

Unfortunately, Nigeria seems to have lost past gains, falling to 102nd place in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report Ranking on Women Political Participation. Nine years ago, Nigeria placed 99th in that ranking. For a population with over 49.2% of women, Nigeria must address this urgently.

The urgency of these inadequacies has birthed a pro-women’s group, the Southern Women’s Forum, a regional and non-partisan platform to promote and advance the cause of southern women in Nigeria. The Forum, amongst other activities, is raising the nation’s consciousness on inclusion and representation as the nation inches towards the 2023 general elections.

A representative of the SWF, Maryam Ayomide Rahim, said: “We can no longer accept regression as normal. We cannot continue to excuse the underrepresentation of women in Nigeria; there is no platform to amplify our voices, dreams, needs, and place in this country. Government after government, women, cannot continue to be short-changed in this country.”

Speaking of the vision for the Southern Women’s Forum, the founding member said, “This is why we conceptualised the SWF, a platform for women from the southern part of Nigeria at home or in the diaspora. This Forum will reorientate its members on our role and harness our strengths to advance our place in the nation. The Forum seeks to actively lobby, mobilise and advocate across party lines on issues that affect women generally, particularly southern women”.

“It also aims to support women seeking elective and appointive office irrespective of creed, political leaning or affiliation. Southern Women’s Forum is neither a political party nor a religious group and we welcome women across all strata of society to embrace this vision,” she said.

Indeed, the call for the inclusion and participation of women in governance and decision-making at all levels could not have come at a better time than now.

*Moruff Adenekan writes from Lagos