Politics
With the clamour for more female representation, gender equality, girl-child education, the call to end violence against women, rape, and other female related problems continues to face strong resistance, the National Assembly may have been fingered as the biggest obstacle to attaining gender equality as most gender sensitive bills brought before the lawmakers were rejected.
By Anthony Isibor.
RECENTLY, the bill to promote women equality in Nigeria was unfortunately thrown out by the male dominated National Assembly. Reports have it that the lawmakers had in the last 10 years stood against 11 bills that sought to promote gender equality.
For instance, the report of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Fifth Alteration Bills, and 2022 which had 68 clauses could not pull through because the legislature is largely dominated by the male folks.
The review of Bill No. 35, which focused on Special Seats for women includes Sections 48, 49, 71, 77 & 117. However, they didn’t pull through for the same simple reason of male dominance.
The first Bill sought to create special seats for women in the Senate, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly. If the bill had pulled through, it would have meant an additional two seats for each state and the Federal Capital Territory that is to be reserved for women in the House of Representatives, without prejudice to their eligibility and to contest for the other seats.
It would have also translated to one additional seat from each of the three senatorial districts is reserved solely for women in the Houses of Assembly of each state.
Unfortunately, however, during voting on this bill, 30 senators voted in favour of the bill, while 58 voted against the bill in utter disbelieve of the women folks.
The second Alteration Bill which was also rejected by the National Assembly is the “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) Bill, No. 37, 2022 (Affirmative Action for Women in Political Party Administration- Section 223) “This Bill sought to provide for affirmative action for women in political party administration by requiring a minimum of 35 per cent of party executive members at all levels to be women.
Thirty four senators voted “Yes” and 53 voted “No” for the bill.
The third Bill is “Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fifth Alteration) Bill, No. 68, 2022 (Affirmative Action).
This Bill also sought to alter the Constitution to provide a minimum percentage of 10 women nominees as ministers and commissioners in the Federal and State Executive Councils, respectively: as this will guarantee inclusivity of women in governance.
For this Bill, 44 senators voted in favour of the Bill, while 43 voted against it.
Speaking on the outcome of the bills, Sen. Biodun Olujimi, who expressed her disappointment over the action of her male colleagues said: “It is a sad commentary how men place us as the female gender.
“It is disheartening; a great set back because we had worked a lot. It had taken us two years. And beyond the two years, we had spoken to everybody that mattered in the issue. It is very painful to find out that none of them survived.
“We are too disappointed. Not even the smallest one 10 women out of ministers, not even that passed. This shows you how our gender is valued in this country. I pray that it does not continue because if it does, it’s going to be a disservice to the people coming behind.
“The future is in the woman, the woman is an epitome of the future, she is the representative of what the future holds, if we don’t look after the nation, the nation is at risk and if we don’t also give to that group, then we are not taking care of tomorrow.”
In her own contribution, Odi Lagi, Senior Programme Director, Network of University Legal Aid Institutions, NULAI, said: “It looks like our society does not comprehend the place of women yet in the society.
“We have to do more to make them understand that the role of women is very key to sustainable development in the country,” she said.
Considering the number of female bills that have passed through the legislature in the last decade, the legislatures may easily be accused of misogyny.
According to reports, the male dominated legislature during this period, had rejected about 11 bills that sought to promote gender equality.
These bills range from the Gender Equal Opportunities; Abuse and Administration Bill, proposed in 2010, and Gender Equal Opportunities Abuse and Administration Bill, proposed in 2012; both sponsored by Sen. Helen Esuene.
The Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity for Women Bill, proposed in 2012, Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill, proposed in 2014 sponsored by Rep. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta.
The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Act, 2015, and Electoral Act, Amendment Bill, proposed in 2015 to ensure that all political parties are gender-sensitive and to eliminate all forms of discrimination in all political parties.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, stated that “In the 9th Senate, the Gender Equal Opportunities Bill was rejected for the third time in five years.
The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Biodun Olujimi, sought to promote gender equality in the country and to reinforce existing laws against gender-based violence was rejected by majority of the male lawmakers after they cited social, cultural and religious concerns, as reasons for the rejection.
According to political analysts, such bills failed to translate into an act because of how the male folks dominate the political space.
Also, Sen. Helen Esuene, a former senator in the 7th Senate, had said that women were still under-represented in all political structures in Nigeria. As the then Chairperson, Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Matters, Esuene had noted that although women participated actively in politics in the country, they had nothing to show for it except to mobilise for the electoral successes of other people.
While rejecting one of the Bills, Sen. Yusuf Yusuf, said that the equality of the male and female gender infringes on the Quran.
“This equality infringes on the Quran. I will not support the passage of the bill until the word equal is removed. When you bring equality into it, it infringes on the Quran.”
Similarly, Sen. Aliyu Wamakko, noted that equality was wrong “When it comes to socio-cultural practices.
“When you talk of equity it is okay, when you talk of equality it is a no. I will not support it,” he said.
“The men were just set on what they wanted to do” and simply had their way,” Senator Olujimi said.
Also Ebere Ifendu, chairperson, Women in Politics Forum, added that even though the women did all they could to ensure the success of the bills, the obstinate disposition of male legislators, who are the majority in the National Assembly ensured the failure of the bills.
However, contrary to Olujimi and Ifendu, Benjamin Kalu, spokesperson of the House of Representatives, believes that the bills failed because the women didn’t do enough lobbying for them, adding that the bills failed because the people whom the lawmakers represented rejected them.
“The lobbying was done a bit late, Yes, I want to say that, but this lobby and advocacy ought to have started longer than now. I say that without mincing words.
“Nigerians are shifting their focus to the representatives only. It was not the senators and the representatives that did the job; it was the instruction from their various constituents. This is the truth that must be told,” Kalu said.
However, in an interview, with the Guardian, the convener, Feminist Womanifesto and founding Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, WARDC, Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, described Kalu’s assertions as false.
She said: “It is not true; 119 members of the House of Representatives co-sponsored the bill; 89 of them voted, what happened to the rest? Ordinarily, 119, who sponsored the bill should have been able to lobby their members. Furthermore, the women honourables have been talking and lobbying, which is what led to the gender bills making the delineation in the house in the first instance,” she said.
“Maybe they are referring to the financial aspect of lobbying; women don’t have the financial muscle like men. What caught my attention was the fact that they referred to cultural and religious limitations as to their reasons for voting against women’s bills. Are they saying our culture and religion do not promote women’s development? My holy book doesn’t say that. They even said we are Africans, but Rwanda has the highest number of women in Parliament. We are therefore demanding that all our bills should be reconsidered,” says Abiodun Essiet, Adviser to Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC Chairman on ICT, CSOs and donor agencies,
Meanwhile, Governor, Nyesom Wike, who blamed the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, for denying women of desirable roles in politics, described it as a major setback for Nigeria’s democratic advancement..
In a statement by Kelvin Ebiri, media aide to Gov. Wike, “Women, including the wives of the President and Vice President, Aisha Buhari, and Dolapo Osinbajo, respectively, had approached, lobbied and secured the promise of members of the National Assembly for affirmative action, but it was still not considered.
According to him, “Look at what happened in the National Assembly. I watched it and I laughed when I saw how our wives and women were disgraced. It has never happened anywhere. I saw wives of the president and vice president go to the plenary session of the National Assembly to lobby them, to please help them.
“APC controls the National Assembly. If Mr. President was in support of this, there is no way they will disgrace women in the National Assembly.”
“Today in this state, all 23 vice-chairmen are women. Today in this state, we said we must have five women as councilors in each local government. It is a matter of policy and it is leadership,” he noted.
According to a story in The conversation on May 3, 2021 with the title, “Nigeria has few women in politics: here’s why, and what to do about it”.
It is important to have more women in politics as they represent half of the population, their participation will create a balance of power between genders.
“When women are not participating in politics, it’s less likely that policies will benefit them. Women need to participate to bring attention to issues that uniquely affect them, and to change attitudes towards gender.
It also added that women have failed to get into power due to policies, protocols, conventions and quota systems, which are rooted in the concept of compensatory justice. .
“Also, customary laws often clash with the goals of protocols and conventions,” it said.
It advocated the use of quota system to create a balance noting that countries like Rwanda and South Africa have used the quota system to pave the way for women representation in politics.
“In Rwanda, over 50% of political positions are held by women. Affirmative action or a quota system provides role models. Seeing women in positions of power can encourage others to confidently aspire to leadership positions.
In addition, political parties in Nigeria must fix the price of their forms at affordable price for women to be able to purchase.
AI.
First published – March 28, 2022 @ 10:56 GMT |
Tags: Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi Ebere Ifendu governor Nyesom Wike Odi Lagi Sen. Aliyu Wamakko Sen. Biodun Olujimi Sen. Helen Esuene Sen. Yusuf Yusuf
