By Time Nigeria
The Minister of Women Affairs, Senator Aisha Jummai Alhassan has lamented women underrepresented in all facets of Nigeria’s political process.
The Minister stated this when she led some women societies on a courtesy call on the Peoples Democratic Party National Caretaker Committee Chairman, Senator Ahmed Makarfi at the party temporary secretariat in Abuja
The minister therefore called on the leadership of all political parties in the country to give more slots to women to enable them participates in partisan politics and governance in the country.
According Senator Alhassan, “From the lowest, all the way to the highest, women have often been underrepresented in leadership positions and decision making and are only sought after as electorate during electioneering campaigns. This sad reality of women being underrepresented in all facet of the political process is often due to social-cultural barriers, leading to poor public, social and political party support,”
She highlighted other factors that have contributed in the limitation of the political space for women in the country. She said: “Entrenched traditional views, lack of financial means, lack of capacity building opportunities especially access to technology, gender discrimination, divisions along ethnic lines, violence and intimidation have all contributed in poor performance of women in political activities especially elections.
“Although the Nigerian Constitution guarantees equality for everyone in governance and political participation, women have not fully enjoined this constitutional provision. Globally, Nigeria remains one of the most backward and poor performing countries on the African continent in the area of women political participation.
As a result, we have been overtaken by countries like Rwanda with 66 per cent women representation in parliament, South Africa with 40 per cent, Seychelles with over 50 per cent, Ghana with 35 per cent and a large chunk of other African countries with over 25 per cent. Unfortunately, Your Excellencies, Nigerian stands at less than 6 per cent,” she lamented.
In his remarks, on behalf of the party leadership, Senator Makarfi appreciated the Honorable Minister and her delegation for the visit and pledged the commitment of the PDP to partner with her in the advocacy for more women participation in politics.
Makarfi however, urged the Minister to also take the advocacy to the parliament for possible amendment of existing laws and making of new ones to create more rooms for women.
“You are here on a courtesy call on a very fundamental issue-that of bringing some parity in gender participation by our mothers and sisters in governance. You are doing this at a very good time. Some matters are not just matters of policy but matters of constitution,” Makarfi Observed.
He advised the Minister not to stop at demanding for free nomination forms for women for elective positions insisting that free form without a ticket is as good as useless. In attendance at the meeting were stalwarts of the party including Senators Abdul Ningi, Ben Obi, Iyiola Omisore, Odion Ugbesi, and Prince Dayo Adeyeye.