The Women’s Right Advancement Protection Alternative (WRAPA) has urged Nigerians to take active steps to encourage increased women participation in politics.
Miss Prisca Obika, WRAPA’s Programme Officer (Legal), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Obika said that certain factors existed in Nigerian societies that limited abilities of Nigerian women to play active roles in the electoral process.
“Women have not been fully involved in Nigerian politics due to some factors that limit their abilities to be part of the political process.
“I urge Nigerians to encourage and accommodate increased female participation in politics, with emphasis on capacity and integrity,’’ she said.
Obika said that Nigerian women had also failed, over the years, to take full advantage of their numerical strength to assert their importance in the political scene.
“Women have not been able to fully understand and appreciate the numerical advantage they have and the roles they can play in politics.
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“Most times, they believe that they should leave politics and governance to the men; they believe that men are better prepared to take decisions and to take all the risks involved in politics.
“But women are more in number than men, going by the 2006 population censors, and with that numerical strength they can rally round fellow women to win important elections,’’ she said.
Obika also urged women to come all out to support their fellow women when they vie for elective positions and correct the impression that women did not support one another.
“There is this impression that women do not support fellow women who play active politics.
“We have had women come out to contest for the presidency in the past but did not enjoy support of fellow women.
“In the last presidential election, the only woman that initially indicated interest to contest withdrew midway.
“If she had enjoyed the support of Nigerian women, maybe she would have gone ahead to win the election.
“Women believe that they have their traditional roles in societies, and they sometimes find it difficult to support other women whom they see as stepping out of those traditional roles.’’
She reminded women that capacity, rather than gender, was important in determining leadership recruitment. (NAN)
