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Historically, leadership
has been a predominantly masculine role through the centuries that few females
have obtained.[1]
It is evident that women have received little or no encouragement to seek
leadership positions.[2] Similarly, women are poorly represented in governance and
decision-making. In Nigeria, the women fold accounts for only 6% of elective
positions as of 2011. However, at the national level that percentage increased (slightly)
to about 29.5% after the 2011 General Election with the recent appointment of
13 women as ministers in the 44-member cabinet of Federal Executive Council.[3]
Arguably, this increment was achieved due to concerted efforts of women activists
and civil societies which are being accentuated by 35% ‘Affirmative Action’ as
well as the excellent performance of women in key leadership positions.
However, taking a censorious look at the polity, it is evident that there is
still a great need to enhance women’s participation in leadership. Succinctly, in
this essay we shall consider some of the ways this can be pursued.
Empowering women through education is a
key component of building women’s leadership capacity. Governments must focus
on educating girls and women. Significantly, I posit that scholarship should be
provided for young women. Besides, legal frameworks should be put in place to enforce
enrolment of girl-child in schools, not only in the cities but also at the
grassroots level.
Promoting equal access by women to land
ownership and other resources, such as capital, technical assistance,
technology, tools, equipment, markets, etc is needed for effective
participation in position of leadership. Women are incredibly vulnerable; the loss
of a husband or father often also, signals a loss of land and with it, a woman
source of food security, income, bargaining power and status. Economic
empowerment and poverty eradication among women is a must to enhance women’s
participation in leadership.
There is a need for long term and sustained support to
widen the political space for women and to prepare them for governance and
decision-making positions, as a gap exists with current work in that area
because many of such programmes tend to end after the election season.[4]
Civil societies, NGOs, and agencies must vigorously pursue this. A good example
is Kudra &
Junior Kudra Leadership Programme.[5]
All
existing local laws supporting gender equality and the rights of women must be
implemented. International Conventions such as the 1979 Convention on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women; the 1952 convention related to women’s political
rights; the 1949 convention related to the elimination of human trafficking and
prostitution; etc must be enforced in Nigeria. Besides, any existing laws in
the Nigerian Constitution and labour laws not favourable to women’s rights must
be revisited and reviewed to be in tune with the realities of the 21st
century.
To
complement the aforementioned points, synergy and partnership with International development agencies (e.g. UNDP,
UNIFEM, UNFPA, DFID, USAID, CIDA, Japanese International Cooperation Agency
(JICA), ActionAid International Nigeria, Oxfam and OSIWA), etc must be pursued
aggressively; gender stereotyping must be suspended; women must also put a stop
to their indifference to women-politicians; cultural and religious beliefs
militating against gender equality must be neglected, entrenchment of
violence-free political engineering,
optimization of the Information and Communication technologies –
particularly the New Media (facebook, twitter, etc)[6]
in order to enhance women’s participation in leadership.
Women must be made to realise their full potentials
and allow to participate in local & national development. No doubt many
women had proved their worth in governance, corporate management, etc;
therefore women must be supported and given the opportunity as well as the
right to be involved in decision-making and positions of leadership. In a
nutshell, I will like to end this write up by quoting Frances E. W.
Harper: “So close
is the bond between man and woman that you cannot raise one without lifting the
other. The world cannot move ahead without woman's sharing in the movement, and
to help give a right impetus to that movement is woman's highest privilege”.
[1] Eagly,
A.H. (2007). Female Leadership Advantage and Disadvantage: Resolving the
Contradictions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31, 1-12.
[2] Growe, R. & Montgomery, P. (1999). Women
and the leadership paradigm: Bridging the gender gap (Report No. EA031031).
Louisiana: EDRS (ERIC, Resources in Education No. ED452614).
[3] Nkechi,
Eke Nwankwo, “Who Is Doing What On Gender In Nigeria?: Northern
Zones Report”,Heinrich Boll Stiftung,(August 2011).
[4] Nkechi,
Eke Nwankwo, “Who Is Doing What On Gender In Nigeria?: Northern
Zones Report”,Heinrich Boll Stiftung,( 2011).
[5] Kudra & Junior Kudra Leadership Programme equips girls and young women with livelihood skills, tools and
information they need to participate at all levels of society, details @ http://kind.org/version2/interlink.php
[6] A good example of the effective use of new
ICT in promoting gender equality was related to an Internet-based dialogue on
the implementation of the Security
Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and
security, organized by the International Women’s Tribune Center in 2005. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/index.html
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