In politics, the fact is that the highest no of voters are usually women during elections, but when it comes to positions, we are always relegated to the background. Why? It has been repeatedly said that, “There has been a visible increase in efforts towards bridging inequalities between men and women in the political space across the globe, but Nigeria has kept falling short even, when women constitute almost half of the voting population.”
The theme for International Women’s Day, 2024 has been declared as ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’ according to the official website of the United Nations and the colour for the celebration Purple.
Therefore, speaking to NTA, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria in an Interview today march 8th 2024, the Country President of United Nations Positive Livelihood Award Center, UN-POLAC, Professor Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies calls for focus on education of girl-child siting her self as an example, as well as more inclusion of women in politics, generally.
She also encourages all women in political positions to perform optimally. “What is the need for clamouring for inclusion, if women would even perform worse than their male counterparts?” She asks?
While, she has always said that, “there is a dare need for involvement of women folks in Nigerian politics, especially as holders of elective and non-elective political positions, advocating for more and more opportunities for Nigerian women,” but now she insists that, “the women would need to perform maximally when given the opportunities.”
Prof. Adesanya-Davies describes women as the back bone of every striving society. She added, “Women are the peak of God’s creation after he has made all things. Today is a day of joy as we as women celebrate the joy of womanhood across the globe. I am so proud and excited to be a woman and a mother.”
Speaking on gender and equality of women and men in Nigerian politics in the past, for instance, she said, for instance: “Only 7 women made the list out of 43, this year – about 16 per cent. This was not 2015, different from the 6 women out of 42 nominees appointed by President Buhari in 2015.” However, “of the 84 million registered voters in the 2019 election, women accounted for almost 40 million, that is (47.14 per cent) of voters.”
Presently, “Women are still denied a seat at the table. In the 9th Assembly, we had 7 senators, but in the current Assembly, just about 3% of the 109 senators are women. Yes, we have 16 women as members of the House of Representatives in the current Assembly (3 more than the 13 we had in the 9th Assembly); however, this is still just a little over 4% of the 360 members. All the top 5 offices in the country (President, Vice President, Senate President (and deputy), Speaker of the House of Representatives (and deputy), and Secretary to the Government of the Federation) are currently occupied by men. We only had 8 female ministers, and, unfortunately, we have now reduced them to 7 (just about 16% of the 45 minsters) because of the suspension of the minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
In another report by Seun Elere, on the International Women’s Day 2024,
“Women were reported to have remained vulnerable to malnutrition. “Many women are still forced to sacrifice their meals to feed their children. Access to gender-specific nutritious diets is still impeded by affordability and availability, which further contributed to and are still contributing to the prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
However, “Times like this should be a season of sober reflection for us to truly evaluate what we have done right and the lingering issues bedevilling women’s rights in this country. The deafening silence of the renowned women’s rights advocates is also a call for worry.
“Promoting women’s rights should go beyond occasional emblems and slogans; it should be an everyday business and a very serious one at that. We all must continue to not only inspire inclusion but also legislate for and enforce it.
In politics, the fact is that the highest no of voters are usually women during elections, but when it comes to positions, we are always relegated to the background. Why? It has been repeatedly said that, “There has been a visible increase in efforts towards bridging inequalities between men and women in the political space across the globe, but Nigeria has kept falling short even, when women constitute almost half of the voting population.”
President Bola Tinubu while setting up his next cabinet should therefore compensate women by giving them nothing less than 35 per cent position as we had always requested.
Adesanya-Davies, the Country President of UNITED NATIONS-POLAC therefore congratulates all women today in all endeavours both in Nigeria and all over the world while wishing them a wonderful International Women’s Day in 2024.