Screenshot of some of Nigeria's women politicians from YouTube video, ‘2023 Elections: Trials, Triumphs Of Nigerian Women In Politics | Gist Nigeria‘ by Channels Television. Fair use.

As more African nations seek to encourage gender parity in government positions, some African countries are struggling to fully integrate women into the political sphere. A recent report by the Policy and Legacy Advocacy Centre (PLAC), an independent, non-partisan, non-profit capacity-building organization that works to strengthen democratic governance and citizens’ participation in Nigeria, revealed that Nigeria ranks lowest among Sub-Saharan African countries in terms of women’s representation in parliament.

Out of the 185 countries analyzed in the report, Rwanda ranked highest in Africa, with women making up 61.3 percent of its parliament, while Nigeria ranked 180th, with only 4.4 percent female representation.

The data shows that Nigeria's 360-member House of Representatives currently has 16 women, and the 109-member Senate has just four women. Furthermore, 14 of Nigeria's 36 states have no female state legislators. Even in states with female legislators, their numbers remain disproportionately low. The situation is similarly bleak for elective executive positions: since the return to democratic rule in 1999, no woman has been elected president, vice president, or governor in Nigeria.

This low level of representation fails to reflect the population of women in Nigeria. In fact, statistics from the World Bank have shown that women and girls constitute half of the population of the most populous country in Africa.

In alignment with the principles and guidelines of the International Bill of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Nigerian government has made efforts toward gender equality by formulating the National Gender Policy in 2006, which promotes a 35 percent affirmative action for women in governance processes.

Despite this policy and numerous other efforts that have been made, Nigeria has maintained the lowest rate of women's parliamentary representation in Africa, with a steady decline in numbers since 2011. The reasons behind this underrepresentation of women can be attributed to unfavorable political systems and socio-cultural practices.

Unfavorable political systems

The majority of African countries with a high or proportional representation of women in parliament have adopted constitutional, legislative, and party quotas to ensure women have a fair chance of being elected into office. However, this is not the case in some Anglophone countries in Africa, like Nigeria and Ghana, which use the plurality-majority electoral system. This system is less favorable to women candidates, as political parties win and allocate legislative seats based on the proportion of votes they receive in elections.

Male politicians dominate leadership roles within most political parties in Nigeria. These political parties usually fail to create a supportive environment or infrastructure for their women members. Hence, these women face difficulties in getting party nominations to run for office during the general election.

In Nigeria, the few women who manage to overcome the hurdles of gender discrimination usually cannot meet the financial obligations that come with vying for political offices in Nigeria since elections are highly monetized in the country. Only those who have powerful support among the party leaders and abundant financial resources to donate “gifts” to the party stakeholders are nominated as candidates.

Ayisha Osori, writer, lawyer, and social justice advocate, who ran for the People's Democratic Party's ticket to Nigeria's House of Representatives in 2015 and lost, said this about low women representation in Nigerian politics: “Elections in Nigeria are monetized and transactional, and women are already socially disadvantaged considering that in Nigeria, the fastest way to be rich is to be in government… If women are not in politics, then they cannot raise money, and if they cannot raise money, then they cannot be in politics.”

Another important issue that bars women from participating is electoral gender-based violence. Nigerian elections are often marred with violence, and women candidates and voters are always among the victims of various forms of politically-motivated gender-based violence.

One of the survivors of electoral gender-based violence during the 2023 presidential elections is Jennifer Bina Ifedi, who returned to her polling unit to cast her vote after she was attacked and injured by political thugs in Lagos. There are many more examples of gender-based electoral violence targeting women that are unreported due to inadequate media coverage.

Cultural and societal barriers

Although Nigeria's constitution grants women the right to vote and be elected, many cultural and societal barriers still prevent them from participating fully in politics and holding leadership positions. In various ethnic groups across the country, conservative beliefs persist that cast women as unequal to men and unfit for leadership roles.

Some religious practices in Nigeria also oppose gender equality, limiting women's opportunities to hold leadership positions. These socio-cultural norms have fueled the widespread belief that women, regardless of their skills or education, are primarily suited for domestic roles. For many, a woman's decision to run for public office is seen as defying societal expectations, making it a challenging and audacious pursuit.

To address this underrepresentation, experts have urged the National Assembly to enact the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill sponsored by Senator Abiodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party to “promote equal opportunities and counter sociocultural barriers that prevent women and girls from reaching their full potential.” This bill proposes a 35 percent quota for women in both federal and state legislative seats, as well as party leadership positions. The Inter-Parliamentary Union has also called on Nigerian stakeholders to “use the current electoral process to raise public awareness about the importance of women’s participation in elections, and in parliamentary membership and political leadership.”