Abstract
Despite their numerical strength of approximately 49% of the population and their potentials for leadership, women in Nigeria still constitute a minority in leadership of the legislature among others. This is in contrast to the increase in women’s representation and leadership in many national legislatures in different parts of the world, particularly in Africa where Nigeria is seen as a leader. This chapter advocates the need for increased representation and leadership of Nigerian women in the legislature. Bringing to the fore the wave in women’s representation in different parliaments across the world, the paper discussed the advantages of having more women in leadership positions in Nigeria’s national legislature. It also identified the challenges to their representation and leadership role in the national parliament and suggested solutions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adenuga, A. (2017). History throwback Thursday: First Nigerian women in politics. https://connectnigeria.com/articles/2017/08/throwback-thursdaynigerian-first-women-politics/. Accessed 27 November 2018.
Ajodo-Adebanjoko, A. (2018a, June 28). The quest for proportional representation in Nigeria. Roundtable organized by Department of Political Science University of Abuja in Conjunction with Rosa Stiftung, Germany, held at the Parliamentary Building University of Abuja.
Ajodo-Adebanjoko, A. (2018b). Gender-based violence and inequality in Nigerian politics. Paper submitted for publication in Zaria Journal of Social Sciences. A publication of Faculty of Social Sciences, A.B.U Zaria.
Apolitical. (2017). Ranked and mapped: Which countries have the most women in parliament. http//:archive.ipu.org. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Ayodele, S. (2018). Nigeria: General elections 2019, INEC seeks increased women’s participation in electoral process. INEC News http://www.inecnigeria.org/?inecnews=inec-seeks-increased-womens-participation-in-electoral-process. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Bartleby Writing. (nd). Essay on women’s role in society in the 1800 s–728 Words/Bartleby. https://www.bartleby.com. Accessed 13 September 2018.
Bartleby Writing. (nd). Essay on women’s role in society: Throughout the years. https://www.bartleby.com. Accessed 13 September 2018.
BBC News. (2015, December 12). Saudi women cast their first votes.
Buchanan, K. (2015). Women in history: Elected representatives. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/03/women-in-history-elected-representatives/. Accessed 3 December 2018.
BusinessDay. (2018). At 57, still a long walk to equal opportunity for Nigerian women. www.businessdayonline.com. Accessed 13 September 2018.
Cooper, M. (2016). Why women (Sometimes) don’t help other women. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/queen-bee/488144/. Accessed 30 November 2018.
Dike, V. (2003). Nigeria and the politics of unreason: Political association, developments, money bags and public protests. Sacramento: Centre for Social Justice and Human Development.
Elgie, C.D. R (2008, April 1). The effect of increased women’s representation in parliament: The case of Rwanda. Parliamentary Affairs, 61(2), 237–254. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsn007. Accessed 27 November 2018.
Eniola, T. (2018). Where are all the women in Nigerian politics? https://www.equaltimes.org/where-are-all-the-women-inaccessed. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Enyiuche. (2017). Electoral voting process in Nigeria. https://learnvercity.com/2456/electoral-voting-process-in-nigeria/. Accessed July 2018.
Erunke, J., & Ndiribe, O. (2013). National Assembly committees: The bony and the juicy. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/national-assembly-committees-the-bony-and-the-juicy/. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Frimpong, D. (2017). The country with the most female politicians in the world is in Africa. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-country-with-the-most-female-politicians-in-the-world-is-in-africa-2017-10. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Gabriel, C. (2015). Elective positions: Why Nigeria records more women losers than winners. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/elective-positions-why-nigeria-records-more-women-losers-than-winners/. Accessed 27 November 2018.
Hill, S. (1995). Political parties standing on the threshold of a third party dream, excerpt from a speech given to the annual national convention of the Green Party USA, July 29, 1995 and the annual national convention of the National Lawyers Guild, August 9, 1995.
Hill, S., & Richie, R. (nd). The case for proportional representation. http://www.fairvote.org/the_case_for_pr_. Accessed July 2018.
Holter, L. (2015, August 20). There’s 1 country where women can’t vote & it’s seriously time for it to break with tradition. Bustle. Bryan Goldberg.
IPU (2008). Taking action on violence against women. http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/meeting.htm. Accessed 29 November 2018.
IPU. (2018). Women in national parliaments: Situation as of 1st October 2018. http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Keen, R., Cracknell, R., & Bolton, M. (2018, July 20). Women in parliament and government (Briefing Paper Number SN01250). House of Commons Library.
Korpela, S. (2006). Finland’s parliament: Pioneer of gender equality. https://finland.fi/life-society/finlands-parliament-pioneer-of-gender-equality/. Accessed 3 December 2018.
Law Library of Congress. (2017). National parliaments: Nigeria. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/national-parliaments/nigeria.php. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Limo, I, Davies, V. O., & Bromley, J. (2005). Protecting the rights of women through community focused approaches to strengthening gender in African peace support operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic. Policy & Practice Brief, South Africa, ACCORD.
Matfess, H. (2017). From Women and foreign policy program and women around the world violence against female politicians. https://www.cfr.org/article/violence-against-female-politicians. Accessed 30 November 2018.
Mikva, K. (2015). 12 Sub-Saharan African countries with most women in parliament. https://moguldom.com/90064/african-countries-women-parliament/. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Mill, J. S. (1861). Considerations on representative government. London, UK: Parker, Son and Bourn.
Ministry for Culture and Heritage. (2018). Women MPs’. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/parliaments-people/women-mps. Accessed 3 December 2018.
Mutume, G. (2004). Quota systems allow more women to gain elected office. https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2004/women-break-african-politics. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Ogbonna, N. (2016). Women in Nigeria make up 49 per cent of the population, but only four per cent of lawmakers. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2016/03/08/women-in-nigeria-make-up-49-per-cent-of-the-population-but-only-four-per-cent-of-lawmakers/. Accessed 30 November 2018.
Okogba, E. (2017). Monetisation of politics is eroding our political system- Bisi Akande. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/07/monetisation-politics-eroding-political-system-bisi-akande/. Accessed 30 November 2018.
Okogba, E. (2018). Monetisation of politics is eroding our political system- Bisi Akande. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/07/monetisation-politicseroding-political-system-bisi-akande/. Accessed 27 November 2018.
Onyeji, E. (2018). Profiling 2019 female aspirants: Why political space dwindles for Nigerian women. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/277002-profiling-2019-female-aspirants-why-political-space-is-dwindling-for-nigerian-women.html. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Otu, E., Okechukwu, E. I., & Emmanuel, O. A. (2015, May). Politics in Nigeria: To what extent has The gender agenda gained momentum? IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), 20(5), Ver. 1, 1–10. www.iosrjournals.org.
Parliament of Australia. (2018, November). No. 3-Women in the Senate (Senate Brief No. 3). http//:www.aph.gov.au. Accessed 3 December 2018.
Pearson, M. (2015, December 12). Polls open in Saudi Arabia, first time women allowed to vote. CNN.
Perkins, A. (2018). Women in politics Almost half of women in politics have faced abuse or violence Global survey ahead of London summit finds 44% faced serious abuse, including threats of murder, rape and assault. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/19/almost-half-of-women-in-politics-have-faced-abuse-or-violence. Accessed 30 November 2018.
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre. (2016). Women in politics. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/183932-only-7-female-senators-in-8th-national-assembly.html. Accessed 2 December 2018.
Radu, S. (2018). Women still a rare part of world’s parliaments: Newer governments do more to include women in their legislatures than countries with older institutions. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-09-04/women-are-still-underrepresented-in-parliaments-around-the-world. Accessed 29 November 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ajodo-Adebanjoko, A. (2021). Giving Voice to the Voiceless: The Challenges of Women Legislators in Nigeria’s National Assembly. In: Aremu, F.A., Bakare, A.R. (eds) Two Decades of Legislative Politics and Governance in Nigeria’s National Assembly. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4455-6_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4455-6_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-33-4454-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-33-4455-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)