PROJECT PROPOSAL ON WOMEN PARTICIPATION AND

DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (1999- 2015)

BY

SEWAVI GRACE IYABO

180631049

POLITICAL SCIENCE

FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY, OJO

AUGUST, 2022.
1.1 Background of the Study

The imperative of women participation in democratic governance and democratic development

cannot be over emphasized (Amadiume, 1997:81; Bruce, 2004:113; Babatunde, 2003; Bari,
2005). Sustainable democratic government relies upon the participation of all citizens in
determining through elections and political processes, who governs them. It also depends upon
the equality of all citizens under the law (Sodaro, 2001:247, Anifowose, and 2004:205).
Women's legal status is closely linked with their political participation and has an impact on their
ability to contribute to and benefit from economic and social progress. The involvement of
women in political activities underscores this correct assertion:

Without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women's perspective in all
levels of decision making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved
(Akiyode Afolabi&Arogundade, 2003).

The possibility for all citizens - both males and females to participate in the management of
public affairs otherwise known as mass or popular participation is thus at the very heart of
democracy (Sodaro, 2001:247). Putting it more succinctly, the Inter-Parliamentary Union
incorporated in the Universal declaration for Democracy that:

The achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in
the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work equality and complementarity drawing
mutual enrichment from their differences (Inter-parliamentary Union, 1999).

Although equal political opportunity for women is a goal shared by both men and women and
despite increased support of women's equality, for thousands of years, women records poor
participation in politics and decision making positions (Waylen, op.cit:10; Anifowose, 2004:204;
Pokam, 2006; Henderson, 2006). This is despite the fact that women constitute roughly half of
the current world population (Pascaud-Becane,1999; Babatunde, 2003; Anifowose, op.cit:204;
Bari, 2005). In Nigeria, like in other parts of the world, women are at least half the country's
population.

According to the report of the 2006 census, women constitute 48.78% of the national
population, yet this numerical strength of women does not automatically translate to increase in
women participation in political activities in the country (Kukah, 2003:162; Abdu, 2003; Nigeria
CEDAW NGO Coalition Shadow Report, 2008).

While the global average representation of women in national politics is 10%, in Nigeria, the
figure has hardly ever been more than 3% (Ajayi, 2007:138; Inter-parliament Union, 2007).
From the country's independence to 48 years after, there have been various degrees of women's
participation in politics and governance and varying sets of limiting factors to women's political
participation (Johnson, 2003; Agomo, 2004; Adu, 2008).

This global low women's participation in politics has prompted the emergence of campaigns to
increase women's political presence in countries around the world. The first major international
action in favour of women universally was taken by United Nations in 1946 when it set up a
commission on the status of women (Peterson &Runyan, 1999:11; Akiyode-Afolabi et al, 2003).
In 1975 during the International Women's Year, the UN General Assembly launched the UN
Decade for Women (1976 - 1985) with a view to creating greater global awareness on the status
of women and the girl child (Akinboye, 2004:13). This concern climaxed with the Fourth World
Conference on Women in 1995 held in Beijing, China with the theme "Equality, Development
and Peace", the aim of which was to review and appraise the achievements of the UN Decade for
Women (Omotola, 2007:33). One of the major activities of the year was the World Conference
on Women that took place in Mexico. In 1976, the UN Assembly again established the
Voluntary Fund for the UN Decade for Women to implement the objectives of the Decade
(Oyekanmi, 2004:44). It also adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which became effective in 1981 (Rai, 2005:3). In
1985 however, the General Assembly gave the Organization an expanded mandate to join the
UN group of agencies as the United Nations Development Fund for Women(UNIFEM) with the
mission to promote the economic and political empowerment of women in developing countries.
In addition, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD) work towards strengthening women's political leadership and their
participation in political decision making bodies (Olojede, 2004:120). These events marked a
watershed in human resource development as it brought women, the other half of the world's
population, into development. However, despite these international instruments to encourage
women involvement in political activities, the world stil witness slow progress of women
participation in politics (UNDP Report, 2005). The Inter Parliamentary Union Report of 2007
indicates that there are only twelve countries where women attained the critical mass of 30%
women representation in the parliament, out of which Rwanda, Sweden Finland, Argentina are
handful of countries that have elected more than 40% women to the legislative body (IPU, 2007).
The Beijing Declaration that was adopted by participating governments at the world conference
on September 15, 1995 admits inter alia:

In the Platform for Action (PFA), Paragraph 28 and 29 of the Global Framework, which
expounds the basis of remedial actions to be taken, captures the gross under-representation of the
world's women in decision making and power relations in thevarious countries of the United
Nations. This is further explained in the preamble for the Strategic Objectives and Actions for
the enhancement of women's access to power and decision making thus: Despite widespread
democratisation in most countries women are largely underrepresented at most levels of
government especially in ministerial and other executive bodies or in achieving the target
endorsed by the Economic and Social Councilof having 30% women in positions of decision
making levels.

Government that are signatories to the agreements are bound to take specific measures to ensure
women's access to full participation in political activities ( Bruce, 2004:101) . It is on the basis of
the United Nations stipulations that various countries , therefore, begin to intensify efforts to
shift women from the periphery to the center of national development processes and seek
modalities for ehncong their (women) political participation.

The convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) was
ratified by Nigeria in 1985 (Okome, 2005), Besides, Nigeria is also a signatory to the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for action and on that basis constituted the National Committee on
Affirmative Action (Anifowose, 2004:210). Furthermore, The specific objectives of the policy
seek to ensure that the principles and provisions as contained in the Nigerian Constitution are
effectively enforced, and that gender perspective are mainstreamed into all policies and
programmes based on a systematic gender analysis at all levels of government (Agomo,
2004:977 &Oronsaye-Salami, 2005). The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
by virtue of Section 40 states that:
Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in
particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for
the protection of his interests

Section 42 of the same constitution states further that: Any citizen of Nigeria of a particular
community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion shall not, by reason
only that he is such a person be subjected to any form of discrimination.

From the foregoing, there is nothing in the constitution, which excludes the participation of
women in politics in Nigeria. The development of corresponding economic, social and political
power of women still leaves much to be desired despite their significant roles before and after
Nigerian independence, (Akiyode-Afolabi, et al, 2003:1, Ikpe, 2004:20). The fact that the
military ruled for years helped to institutionalize violations of human rights that resulted in very
severe political, social and economic crises (Waylen, 1996). These anomalies have impacted
negatively on the development of women's political right, despite the many international norms
and institutions designed to advance the cause of women in Nigeria (Anifowose, 2004:209).
Hence, there is the need to interrogate factors responsible for this phenomenon in Nigeria and to
seek ways on how to engender a balance in the political affairs of the Nigerian state.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The challenge of women's participation in the political process in Nigeria gained significant
attention, following the country's return to democracy in 1999. With transfer of power from the
military regime to a civilian democratic administration, one would have thought that women
would also be represented equally based on the Beijing Declaration. On the contrary, with the
percentage increase of 2%, 4% and 6% in women political participation and 6.3%, 8.8% and
7.3% women representation in the national parliament in 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections
respectively, it is obvious that the perception that democracy would automatically boost women's
political involvement has not been validated after nine years of Nigeria's return to civilian rule
(Okocha, 2007; Akioyede-Afolabi, 2003; The Nigeria CEDAW NGO Coalition Shadow Report,
2008:3 &Adu, 2008:27). While Nigeria has not been able to produce a female elected governor,
in the 1999 election, only Lagos State had a female deputy-governor out of the 36 deputy-
governors in the country and the subsequent elections did not witness any significant difference
as there were only 6 women in the 2007 elections, from Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Imo, Plateau and
Anambra States, out of the 36 deputy governors in the country. The percentages of women in the
States' Houses of Assembly across the country were 1.21%, 3.84% and 5.5% in the 1999, 2003
and 2007 elections respectively. In the 2007 elections, out of the 40 member Lagos State House
of Assembly, only 5 were women while in the same year the 24 member State Executive Council
had only 3 females (Fashola, 2008). Similarly, in the same election, Ogun State produced only 2
women out of the 26 member State House of Assembly and was the first female Speaker in
Nigeria; while the State Executive Council had only 3 women out of the 25 members. At the
local government level, between 2003 and 2007 however, there were only 9 women out of the
774 chairpersons in the country. In the 2008 elections. there was only 1 woman out of the 20
local Government Council chairpersons and 37 Local Development Areas in Lagos State, and
similarly only 1 female out of the 20 local Government chairpersons in ogin state (Akinboye,
2004:235; Ajayi, 2007:139; Nigeria CEDAW NGO coalition shadow report 2008:30; Omotola,
2008:41 & GADA, 2008). Scholars have hypothesized various factors that affect women's
participation in politics across the globe. These factors either enhance or hinder the involvement
of women in political activities. Of the factors explored, research studies elucidate the following
four factors as particularly important: (1) socioeconomic development; (2) cultural factor; (3)
historical legacies stemming from a society's cultural and political traditions; and (4) institutional
design factors (Amadiume, 1997; Inglehart&Noris, 2003, Akioyode Afolabi, 2003; Dahlerup,
2005; Rai, 2005; Alexander &Welzel, 2007). What is less clear however, is the degree to which
these four factors uniquely influence women's participation in political activity. These findings
therefore necessitate a comparative assessment of the socio-cultural and political predictors on
women's participation in Nigerian politics to confirm the relative degree to which the political
environment matters with respect to women's attainment of positions of full political
empowerment. Such diagnosis will bring to limelight valid modalities for improving women's
political participation in Nigeria especially as the country undergoes democratic of a process
consolidation.

Against the backdrop of this study, this research work will examine the extent to which those
four factors have affected the participation of women in Nigeria particularly, Lagos states from
1999 to 2007. It will also present comparative analysis of women political representation in the
legislative and executive organs of the two states with a view to determining any correlation
between the two states.

1.3 Objective of the Study

This Study will be directed towards establishing the nature of participation and training by
women in the Politics of Nigeria, the level which they have attained, the hindrances and what
should be made to improve.

The study will establish the participation of women who are proficient in politics and how their
participation have helped in inculcating progress and emancipation of women from the decision
making body of Nigeria.

The specific and concrete desires achievement at the end of the research work underscores it's
objectives (Obasi:1999)

Accordingly, this research work intends:

1) To find out if women are actively involved in the Politics of Nigeria and the impact they
have createdas regards to political development
2) To find out if there still exist colonial and post colonial system of social discrimination
against women in the Politics of Nigeria
3) To find out the strategies to be adopted in order to ensure active participation of women
in the Politics of Nigeria

1.4 Research Questions

The following questions have been put forward as a guide in this research work:

1. Are the women in Nigeria been involved in politics and democratic process?
2. To what extent have they been allowed to be involved?
3. What are the possible hindrances to the involvement of women in politics?
4. How have their participation been able to facilitate political development?
1.5 Scope and limitations of the Study

The Scope of the study over a reasonable period of time, which is (1999-2015). In the first place,
the scope range from the colonial period till the present period. This spring from the fact that the
colonial masters first instituted the process of economic and political alienation and exclusion of
women which invariably were inherited and subsequently perfected by the indigenous political
elite.

However , the Nigeria state is the Area of coverage, while women on their art collectively will be
the fundamental instrument of the study.

The challenges and limitations include time constants, financial inadequacies of the interviews,
poor infrastructural facilities like poor power supply.

However, with perseverance and enterprises, these challenges will be tactfully surmounted and a
successful completion of the research work will be attained.

1.6 Significance of the Study

Firstly, the significance of the study is to unmask the nature and character of the Nigeria political
system with particular reference to the degree of participation of women in the Politics of
Nigeria.

The study also shall assess the fundamental factors responsible for low training of women in the
Politics of Nigeria.

Going by this trend, the study shall also provide both women and often political stakeholders
required information necessary for addressing the problems of low turnout of women towards
participating in the Politics of Nigeria.

Empirically, women especially those aspiring political positions will equally be policy makers I
general, it will give them insight into the hindrances (economic, social and culture) to women's
aspirations in the political spheres and therefore, know how to make legislations which would
encourage their effective participation in politics.

1. 7 Research Methodology
The methodology of this study will be qualitative in nature using primary and secondary sources
of information. The primary source shall entail interview while the secondary sources shall be
through journals, reports, articles, newspapers, treaties, textbooks and various statutes which
would be obtained from online sources. The issue under discussion is a global menace which
cuts across all the countries of the world, there have been so many literatures on the subject
matter across the globe, this shall be referred to in discussing the topic at hand.

1.8 Definition of terms

Women: Refers to the female gender, the opposite of male gender.

Participation: Participation is the involvement of citizens in some way with making decisions in
political system.

Apathy: Apathy describes an absence of feeling or emotion. This indifference can affect your
motivation and leave you feeling detached.

Women Liberation: a movement to combat sexual discrimination and to gain full legal,
economic, vocational, educational, and social rights and opportunities for women, equal to those
of men.

Discrimination: Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people

based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong.

1.9 Organisation of the Study

The study will be structured into five chapters. Chapter one gives the introduction which
incorporate the Background of study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research
questions, significance of the study, scope and limitations of the study, definitions of terms,
research methodology, and the Chapters outline. Chapter two will present the literature review
on women participation and democratic development in Nigeria (1999-2015) and the theoretical
framework. Chapter three dwells on research methodology. It gives the overall view of research
methodology including the method of data collection and analysis. Chapter four will provides an
insight and case study Into Women participation and democratic development in Nigeria (199-
2015). Finally, Chapter five will contain the summary of the study, conclusion and
recommendations of the study.