Women and Political Participation in Namibia and Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis of Women in Elective Positions
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Date
2018
Authors
Quadri, M.O
Thomas, E.K
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
While women in Namibia have made successful inroads into the country’s parliament despite gender barriers in the country, Nigerian women are yet to make any noticeable progress in their efforts to achieve political power. Women’s agitation for increase political participation over time has received backing from international instruments. The 1979 UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development are some of these international instruments. They emphasize that member nations, who signed and ratified these documents, put in place necessary mechanisms needed to eliminate gender discrimination and promote women’s cause generally. Nigeria just like
Namibia has signed these documents and has even incorporated some provisions in its National Gender Policy. In comparison with Namibia, women in Nigeria still have a long way to go in politics. The question is what accounts
for the slow progress of Nigerian women in gaining political power? This paper examines the trend in women’s political participation in Namibia and Nigeria by exploring and discussing those factors that engender increase in participation in Namibia and those that constrain the female politicians in Nigeria.
Description
Staff publication
Keywords
Political participation , Electoral system , Democracy , Gender , Women empowerment , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Political science
Citation
Quadri, M. O., and Thomas, E. K. (2018). Women and political participation in Namibia and Nigeria: a comparative analysis of women in elective positions.