Increasing the representation of women in political and elective offices in Nigeria will enhance socio-economic progress and nation building, a not-for profit organisation, ElectHER, has said.
ElectHER maintained that without greater representation of women in political space, policy outcomes in the country will remain poor and ineffective.
According to the Co-founder of ElectHER, Ibijoke Faborode, the #EndSARS protest, which was peaceful before it was hijacked by hoodlums, awaked social consciousness, and proved the competence of women to birth positive transformation.
Identifying social, economic and structural barriers as major impediments to women attaining political heights in Nigeria, Faborode revealed that ElectHER, which was launched in December 2019, is set to bridge the inequality gaps in Nigerian politics by pushing for women’s political advancement.
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Stating that the current representation of women in political offices is put at an appalling 4.1percent, the Co-founder revealed that the organisation will through behavioural change, communication, skills development, human and financial capital mobilisation using an end-to-end approach, support 1000 women to run for office come 2023.
Speaking recently at a press conference to mark the first anniversary of the group, Faborode said the theme for the anniversary is, “ A New Agender”, a term derived from the word agenda and gender. She said the theme depicts the organisation’s focus and plan.
Faborode said: “ A lot of things have happened this year that has really spurred on social consciousness on the part of the citizens. With the #EndSARS campaign and other things that happened. If there was one thing that stood out during the #EndSARS campaign, it was that women drove the campaign.
- “No one was questioning the competence of ladies, because that was an exposé, that really proved to people that women can lead. When we talk about women’s political advancement, it is not a movement against men, it is a movement of equal representation, greater representation and nation building.
“Nation building and socioeconomic progression cannot be attained without equal representation especially in a county such as Nigeria that has an underwhelming number of women in elective and political office. Without greater representation, our policy outcomes will remain poor and ineffective.
“To formulate policies and implement effectively, if the policy is not reflective of who we are as a nation, if it doesn’t represent everybody men and women, we are going to have issues, and we are going to have the deficit we had over time. That is why ElectHER was created one year ago after critical research.”
While stating that the poor representation of women is responsible for the delayed domestication of the child rights act in 11 northern states, as well as the inability to pass the gender and equal opportunities bill, Faborode added that politics is a game of number.
She further noted that ElectHER has over the last one year built structures, platforms and programmes that would help at least 50percent of Nigerian women, who run for office in 2023 win.
She said: “Our journey so far has led to the creation of several projects and platforms required to initiate and effect the desired change. We launched the ‘Decide to Run Network’, the first ever digital network and national recruitment platform for women aspiring to run for elective office in Nigeria.
“We have also gone ahead to engage stakeholders and citizens on our first year over consultative forum and townhall meeting respectively. We recently launched ‘Elect Her Academy, a multi dimensional platform, where we are solely concerned with building and driving the capacity of women that have decided to run, to help them navigate the political terrain, to increase their understanding of the space, to grow sift skills and real life skills that they can apply to their campaign, election and personal growth.
“We also have the ‘ ElectHER future lawmakers programme, which will incubate women between the ages of say 25 to 45. So essential we will be targeting the house of assembly, the house of representative, and the senate. We will teach policy formulation, law making, how to propose a bill, grassroot politics, critical fund raising skill and human capital. So this is a game changer as we will see ElectHER position herself as that organisation with a repository of bold strong competent lawmakers.”
Similarly, Abosede Geroge-Ogan, also a Co-founder of ElectHER, posited that women in elective office have more re-distributive agenda, which benefits all segment of society.
She noted that the organisation will as a means to achieve its goal, engage critical stakeholders, religious leaders and political parties.
Ogan said: “The African development bank and many other studies show that when women are elected, they have a more redistributive agenda. So what that means is that they don’t only benefit women,they benefit everybody. they think about healthcare, they think about access to education, they think about providing providing economic opportunities, they think about people living with disabilities, they think about issues that affect children, women.
“When we say we need more women, we are inadvertently saying we need progress in Nigeria, we need development in Nigeria. Ideally the political system in a society should be representation of the people in that society, and who do we have in our society? We have men, women, and people living with disabilities. Why are they not at the floor of the house?
“Why are they not at the senate? why are they not at the state assemblies? why are they not governors?so that was the gap. Nigeria has a national gender policy that actually recommends 35percent women’s representation in elective and appointive offices since 2006, we are in 2020 has any body ever asked what has happened? ”
To surmount the structural barriers that has hindered the election and appointment of women into political office, Ogan said a gender quota either at 35percent representation or 50 percent parity will accelerate the move.
She added that swift passage of pending bills that advance the political involvement of women in Nigeria will also create the needed change.
“A gender quota can accelerate all we are saying, there is currently four or five bills at the floor of the house combined that are advocating women’s political representation, whether 35percent, or parity at 50percent, if those bills are passed, the demand to elect women will increase because women will have an assurance that there is space for them.
“So this is about the nation, it is about ensuring our policies are inclusive, our laws are diverse and It’s representative of the people and we really reaping the tenets of our democracy.”