The project aims to work hand in hand with political parties to mitigate low representation of women in political decision-making processes by creating and adopting a gender-responsive work plan for political parties and canvassing for the establishment of women’s wings in political parties.
Dinidari Africa’s Project Lead, Agnes Arong in a statement,bemoaned the current alarming statistical disparity in Female to male political candidates and its negative impact on policies intended to balance representation in all spheres of governance.
“Nigeria is plagued by a low representation of women in political decision-making processes. Currently, women’s political representation in Nigeria is abysmally low with 7.9% and 3.6% in the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively– the lowest figures for sub-Saharan Africa.
“The last two political cycles have seen a regression in the numbers which in 2015 stood at 6.4% and 6.7% in the higher and lower Houses of Assembly.
“Furthermore, women make up approximately 16% of ministerial appointments and in state legislatures only 4.43% of representatives are women”, Ms Arong said.
The Women Political Empowerment in Nigeria Project is a three-month project targeted at creating a network of women political leaders and key partners working to support a reversal of the low representation of women in politics. It is also aimed at capacity strengthening for women leaders across political parties and other party stakeholders.
In a meeting with the Kaduna State Inter-Party Advisory Council chairman, Mr. Mikailu Abubakar, the UN Women representative Ms. Chundung Ashely Dauda ,expressed the urgent need to address the decline of women’s participation in politics with the North-West as one of the regions with the lowest female political representation in Nigeria.
She said,“Since the Beijing conference of 1995, Nigeria has struggled to meet up with gender equality in politics, it has instead regressed over the last four years with less political representatives and even less female candidates vying for political positions”.
She emphasized that the greater effect of the project would be seen in the 2027 elections as women would be more knowledgeable of their political capacity and impact.
The project would be taking place in Kaduna and Plateau states with the cooperation and collaboration of different political parties, women leaders, and organizations to encourage the active participation of women in the political decision-making process and governance in Nigeria.
