Women’s Political Participation and Leadership Final Report — Nigeria Assessment
Source: USAID | Year: 2023
This study investigates the barriers and opportunities to expand women’s participation and leadership in the political landscape in Nigeria. It uses the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Women’s Political Participation and Leadership (WPPL) Assessment Framework to document women’s access to and power in politics along sociocultural, institutional, and individual dimensions. The report can be used by the relevant stakeholders to identify priority areas where their investments in programs and initiatives to support WPPL are likely to have the greatest and most meaningful impact.
Women in Nigeria remain woefully underrepresented at all levels of government and faced both structural and societal barriers to fully and meaningfully participate in the country’s most recent elections in 2023. Already ranked the lowest in Africa for the number of women in political office, the number of women elected has declined since 2015. While the government has taken symbolic steps to promote affirmative action, such as calling for a 35 percent gender quota in elected and appointed office–without a legislative mandate with real enforcement mechanisms, women’s representation is likely to stagnate due to deeply ingrained cultural and religious interpretations which severely hinder women’s ability and opportunities to participate in public and political life.
Previously rejected calls for constitutional reforms–if revived–offer a transformative opportunity, now that general elections are complete. From creating 111 additional reserved seats for women, to instituting a 35 percent quota for women in leadership roles in political parties, this package of reforms, broadly supported by Nigerian women’s organizations, would serve as a powerful foundation to tackle systemic inequalities and practices that disadvantage women. Although most men still lack an understanding of what barriers women face in politics and how those barriers should be overcome, traditional leaders and the media could open pathways for more progressive ideas about women’s participation in politics and gender equality in general.
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