BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
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A one-day strategic meeting on Formation & Networking of Women in Politics Forum has ended in Enugu the Enugu State capital with participants decrying the challenges facing women in politics.
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The forum held on September 16, this year at Gold Value Hotel, Enugu was organised by the Women Aid Collective ( WACOL) in partnership with International Foundation For Electoral Systems {IFES} with support from the United States Agency For International Development {USAID} and the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office {FCDO} .
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The event’s aim was to sensitize and mobilize Women Political Leaders and Aspirants across parties to work together as a Network towards the goal of increased women’s representation in politics in the upcoming Local Government elections and subsequent elections in the state.
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The meeting featured insightful presentations, discussions, and collaborative brainstorming on strategies to increase women’s visibility and participation in the political landscape.
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Such presentation was from the WACOL’s Programme/HR Lead, Nkechi Igwe on Global and National Perspectives.
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Igwe presented alarming statistics regarding women’s political participation mentioning that only 18 countries (9.2%) have women serving as Heads of State or Government. Women represent 26.5% of parliamentarians globally, an increase from 25.5% in 2021. It will take approximately 130 years to achieve gender parity at the current rate.
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On the national perspective (Nigeria), she presented that Women’s representation remains below 10% in elective and appointive positions since 1999. Currently, women occupy only 3% of the Senate and 4% of the House of Representatives. In Enugu State, there are no female representatives in the House of Representatives or the Senate.
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She also highlighted several significant challenges faced by women in political participation, including Cultural Norms, Economic Disparities and Education and Institutional Barriers such as weak electoral systems and lack of gender-sensitive policies.
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Another Speaker at the meeting, Barr.Nnena Anozie, also made a presentation where she emphasized the need for strategic actions to enhance women’s visibility in politics, particularly with the upcoming local government elections.
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Key strategies discussed at the meeting included “Empowerment through education and mentorship, Pre-electoral training for women candidates, increased participation in political party structures and Advocacy for legislative action, including gender quotas.”
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Barrister Helen Kalu engaged the participants in group discussions according to their parties focusing on political parties’ commitments and action plans to support women’s participation in local government elections.
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These discussions, she explained wss aimed to develop actionable strategies for promoting women’s political involvement.
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The Senior Program Officer, Anulika Ezennia during the meeting made it known that the request of the participants will be presented in an advocacy visits to the leaders of various political parties who participated in the meeting.
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