Men without women: an analysis of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria

Abstract

Women do not often receive the support and mentoring they need to compete with their male counterparts in politics. Even voters do not fully appreciate the benefits of having a mix of men and women in government, often saying that women are over-ambitious when they aspire for any political position. As a result, there is currently a low representation of women at all levels of government in Nigeria. In the 2011 general election, female candidates fared poorly, with only 32 women elected to the national parliament out of 469 members, which is barely 8% representation. This paper examined the level of women participation in the 2015 general elections. Qualitatively driven with reliance on secondary sources of data; it argued that women’s political involvement in that election was very low in spite of decades of struggle for gender equity and women’s empowerment. The paper equally identified and discusses the issue of the patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society, lack of internal democracy, political violence among others as the challenges faced by women in their quest to participate in politics. The paper discussed the theoretical perspective of the discrimination and inequality suffered by women; and lastly suggested possible measures that could aid their political participation and empowerment.

Keywords: Men, Women, Elections, Political Participation