Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, minister of women affairs, says the
reserved seats for women bill is a weak negotiation for increased female
political participation.
The reserved seats bill seeks to create special legislative
seats for women in both the national and state assemblies.
The bill proposes creating 37 additional seats for women in
the house of representatives (one seat per state and the FCT), 37 additional
seats in the senate (one seat per state and the FCT), and three state houses of
assembly seats per state (one seat for each state’s senatorial district).
The additional seats do not stop women from contesting for
the existing constituencies.
Lawmakers introduced the bill following sustained public
criticism of Nigeria’s poor global ranking on women’s political representation,
despite women accounting for nearly half of the population.
The minister welcomed the effort on Tuesday at the
Beijing+30 women’s summit but said it still felt like a shortchange for
Nigerian women.
The summit was convened in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by
the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement (AIPLA), in
collaboration with the African Women Leaders Network (AWLN-Nigeria) and
Womanifesto.
“I’m a great advocate for the special reserve seat bill, but
I am not a fan of it, and I’m not afraid to say that, because I believe that
the bill even puts us at a disadvantage as women,” she said.
“I believe that we can go for more and get more. So why are
we negotiating for less, and why do we keep watering it down?”
“Some people say, ‘Let’s start from somewhere.’ No. The
countries that have really gotten there didn’t start from somewhere; they went
all out.
What
are we afraid of?
“We are the voters. According to a saying, ‘half of the
world are women; the other half were given birth to by women.’ And we all know
that without women there won’t be any election or election victory. We all know
it.
So
why are we shortchanging ourselves?”
Pointing to factors that limit women’s political
participation, the minister said men often benefit from political godfathers,
work collaboratively, pool substantial financial resources, and plan their
strategies well in advance.
“We’re negotiating for seats without a seat on the neck, so
even the negotiations are faulty,” she said.
“I am praying for this reserved seat bill to scale through
because every time I go for international meetings, I’m a subject of ridicule.
They are like, ‘What’s happening in Nigeria?’
Because we are the lowest when it
comes to elective offices.
“So, I’ll wait for that to change during my time so that at
least I can have my shoulders high, but does it address our problems?”
Erelu Adeleye-Fayemi, AIPLA co-founder, said Nigeria’s
constant low ranking on global indicators that measure gender equality remains
a major barrier to women’s advancement.
The former Ekiti first lady said the institute would
continue to galvanise the increased awareness of women’s rights and gender
equality to fight for gender justice and support feminist leadership
development.
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