The age-old impression that politics is a dirty game and one of the reasons women are scared of the stage appears to be giving way thereby rekindling the interests of that gender of all persuasions. In some developing nations like Nigeria, in the past, women claimed to relegated to the backwaters irrespective of their backgrounds.
But for some decades now, they have been leaving their shells to jostle with their male counterparts for elective and appointive positions in the running of the country’s public affairs. They also hold sway in the private sector. This can be attributed to what someone referred to political re-awakening and societal transformation. He points out that a different and appreciable scenario has positively been playing out on the part of women for long which contributes to the nation’s development in diverse facets.
A Sociologist, Mrs Margret Tarso, believes that women are endowed with what will enable them contribute meaningfully to the wellbeing of Nigeria, but it is incumbent on the governments at all levels to harness such if they are committed to attaining gender equality in democratic governance and facilitating enhanced female participation in politics.
To Tarso, prior to independence, Nigeria boasted of political activists like the late Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Mrs Margret Ekpo, Mrs Janet Mokelu, Hajia Sawaba, among others. While particularly in the Fourth Republic Nigeria paraded a good number of the womenfolk in the political sphere. You had people like Dr Dora Akunyili, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Mrs Modupe Adelaja, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-iweala, Mrs Titi Ajanaku, Folasade Akinbile-Yusuf, Funmi Badejo, Amina Mohammed and the rest. And the scenario has continued to progress with successive regimes.
She adds that women were and still occupying exalted positions in the legislature, executive and judiciary arms of government. And in the same way, one finds them in revered status in the academic, armed forces,police and other paramilitary establishments including the business circuit.
An expert in gender affairs, Ms Joke Davies, opines that the era of associating the women with only the kitchen is now spectacularly a thing of the past. According to her”, these days, women no longer rest on their oars, but engage in things that will make the society reckon with them. ”We are in a changed era where the husband and the wife cater for the family. The family burden is no more on the man solely.”
”Politically, she stresses, as obtainable in some parts of the world, the government should endeavour to ensure that the gap between men and women is gradually bridged. After all, women command a larger chunk of Nigeria’s population”.
The gender affairs advocate cites Ekiti state as one of the states women are leaving their comfort zones and try to measure up with their colleagues elsewhere.
To her, for the 2026 gubernatorial election in Ekiti state, two women aspirants have so far emerged in two of the political parties. Adding that Senator Abiodun Olujimi had set the pace long ago. While this time since the inception of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, it has at least six female lawmakers which is not the case in other states of the federation.
Davies posits that even at the lower rung of the ladder, every woman in Nigeria these days irrespective of level or standard strives to acquire one skill or another with a view to facing the dictates of life either for now or in the future.
A Psychologist, Dr Mike Johnson, suggests that encouraging women to be part of the nation’s leadership or playing pivotal role in the society should be a grassroots thing. That is, an adventure that should commence from the level of family. ” He maintains that the family push is a morale booster and confidence-building. While the women should equally not be deterred in their aspirations by complex of any type.
Dr Johnson admonishes that the bias and discrimination the womenfolk encounter in certain areas of human undertaking are out of sync with the quest for national growth and development