African Women’s Active Participation in Politics and Nation–Building: The Case of Nigeria

Abstract

Women have played a significant role in the development processes of various societies of the world, most importantly their participation in social, economic life. Discrimination against women in politics is a phenomenon that excludes majority of women from taking part in the politics of their country. Nigerian women constitute about half of Nigeria’s population. Their participation in the political arena is below expectation. Women remain a segment of the population that has been disadvantaged for ages. Women are underrepresented in roles that involve leadership, intelligence or a balanced psyche and could not inherit property and their social standing was primarily determined through marriage. The paper examines the status of women in Nigerian politics, challenges women encountered in their bid to participate in politics as well as the way out of such challenges. The paper explores the use of relevant information from primary and secondary sources. It further adopts descriptive approach and content analysis as its methodologies. The paper tries to answer why men are considered superior to women in Nigerian politics and how this can be amended so as to improve the position of women in Nigerian politics and nation building. The paper recommends among others that: legislative changes in favour of gender equality be implemented, that economic power of women should be increased and reinforced so as to diversify their means of survival, and the establishment of a coalition of NGO and grassroots women association that coordinate the support and advocacy for women aspirants.