Gender Disparity In Politics And Governance: Issues And Prospect

By Olowookere Hamidat

Gender is a socially constructed disparity of inequality of status between men and women.  Gender inequality comes in different shades. These include mortality inequality, basic facility inequality, special opportunity inequality, professional inequality, ownership inequality, household inequality, etc.

Today, the global concern is to advance equal opportunities for both men and women. That is the need for women and men to enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes, rights, and obligations in all spheres of life. This happens when men and women are able to share equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal opportunities enjoys equal access to education. However, in spite of the National Gender Policy developed towards addressing gender-related issues and concern to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, and the contributions of women in the election process, it has not yielded substantive results.

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Today women continue to be underrepresented in governments across the nation and face barriers that often make it difficult for them to exercise political power and assume leadership positions in public affairs..

Arguments for Women active participation in politics

1. The first argument for women’s inclusion in building successful democracies is that women do not only constitute the majority in terms of population, In fact, half of the world’s population.

1. Women’s equal participation with men in power and decision-making is part of their fundamental right to participate in political life and inclusive growth and sustainable development.

iii. The need for peace and sustainability. Without a substantial number of women in representation, there is little chance for women to have any distinct input in the shaping of the common good. As the saying goes, a democracy without women is just but half a democracy.

1. Another argument is poverty affects women in often-disproportionate ways and will not be removed without women’s full participation as agents in the process.

1. Furthermore, the welfare of children, for example, will not be improved without targeting women as critical agents of development.

1. Moreover, women have been recognized as having an untapped pool of resources, whose skills should be made better use of.

1. Women’s full and effective political participation is a matter of human rights, inclusive growth, and sustainable development.

vi.. The active participation of women, on equal terms with men, at all levels of decision-making and political involvement, is essential to the achievement of equality, sustainable development, peace, and democracy and the inclusion of their perspectives and experiences into the decision-making processes.

Constraints:

1. The marginalization from the political sphere often is a result of persisting gender stereotyping of politics as exclusively as a men’s activity and the perception of politics as ‘dirty business.’ Facing these deeply held stereotypes and beliefs is not easy for most women.

1. The disproportionate effect of poverty on women. Specifically, economic reasons, such as poorly paying jobs and limited access to large funds necessary for running successful campaigns put them in a disadvantaged position.

iii. Lack of political from the political parties who only think of how they can expand the power and win elections. Anything that does not give these is seen as impractical. It is within political parties that the marginalization of women’s rights, skills, and experiences has been most visible. This has jarred the confidence of women in their ability to participate in political processes.

1. Related to the above is the presence or absence of regulation such as the national quota for women. The presence or absence of gender equality perspective in the internal statutes and the presence or absence supportive framework for promoting women dictates the levels of women’s participation. This is to say that the opinions of the party leadership on gender equality and the style of decision-making processes they apply have a huge impact, especially during the selection process.

1. The few successful female politicians are seen as ‘un-feminine or perceived as ‘honorary men’. Thus women give up a chance of a political career very early on in the selection process, by losing the motivation to become a candidate.

1. The expectations placed on women to maintain all family order, provide care of both children and the household, make political career excruciating. In some cases, a decision to take up the office might end up in a divorce, and only those women who are older and have grown-up children or those few who have supportive partners can afford a smoother political career. The stress and guilt indirectly make it difficult and prevents women from taking up a political career.

vii. The media coverage of female versus male political candidates has recently been cited as another barrier in breaking the glass ceiling for women in politics. News coverage of women candidates running for election is often covered in a negative, stereotypical, and often sexist way. For example, Some women are portrayed as sex objects while others are attacked for their lack of femininity in print, television, and social media.

Way out

To understand the reasons and the existing opportunities for change, we need to consider several issues more thoroughly.

1. First, We need a good understanding of the barriers women face in a political system that prevents them from entering political-decision making in adequate numbers.

1. Secondly, there is a need to understand the history of women’s involvement in politics alongside the structural and cultural factors that have led to their marginalization. Understanding these issues will shed some light on the available solutions, help evaluate current proposals for action, and suggest an alternative strategy.

Given the above, there is the need for implementation of regulatory policies or concrete legal changes to determining the position of women on the party lists and to affirm the all-inclusive women in government. That is proportional Representative for women’s political participation.

The government could reward parties that have a critical mass of women on the lists or at the top of the lists with extra funding, higher thresholds for external funding, or extra campaign time on public television.

The incentive would be another way to persuade political parties to change their gendered selection practices.

Government national gender offices, Non-Governmental organizations, and women groups can improve the position of women in political parties.

Need for pre-election coalitions of Women groups and elect/vote for women campaigns with the main aim of getting more women elected and  Elect/Vote for women campaigns, which is a significant step.

Positive media attention is changing public perception of women in politics for leaders of political parties to promote women among their candidates.

More grassroots pressure for women’s groups to be persuaded that they are capable of holding public office and that women have the potential to be successful politicians.

Conclusion

The success of gender equality and strategy in politics requires:

The need to help more women overcome their personal lack of self-belief, Provide more pressure on the level of political leadership in order to include adequate numbers of women on electoral lists in the places where it counts, and Persuading the voters to further change their perceptions of women politicians so that more women would actually get elected.

Olowookere Hamidat is a Mass Communication student of Bayero University Kano, born in Ilorin, Kwara State.

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