Why More Women Aren’t Venturing Into Politics – Ezekwesili

Obiageli Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, says the reason behind increasing palpable apathy by many Nigeria women towards politics is not unconnected to  ‘self-imposed’ barriers.

She averred that participation of women in politics and economic activities has a wider and encompassing positve effects on the overall growth and development of the society.

Ezekwesili spoke on Monday at a virtual conference organised by the Lead Generation Initiative (LGI) on Monday.

Ezekwesili noted that aside from such impediments, there are cultural and “institutional barriers”.

“I would not want to rehash that the barriers to full participation of women in society range from social norms and culture, barriers that are economic, barriers that are political, barriers that are network-related, barriers that are self-imposed, barriers that are pretty institutional, and such like,” she said.

“Analysis tells us already that the full participation of women, whether in economic activities or in political activities, improves the wider state of society.

“We know reasons why we have less than seven percent of Nigerian women participating in the political leadership process in the country, where the indicator that is used to approximate this is the number of women in parliament. In our own case, it is less than seven percent in the current assembly. Africa-wide number is between 22 and 23 percent; it is slightly below the global (figure) of 25 percent”

She noted that no matter the efforts and arrangements put in place to get more women in politics, progress may not be made if women do not disentangle them from self-inflicted hindrances as many women believe dabbling into some activities is practically impossible for them.

“I want to talk about the barrier that is self-imposed — the barrier that leads women to suffer from imposter syndrome, where even if you removed all the barriers and say we would like more women in leadership, or you did public financing of elections and women don’t show up, that happens in a number of some cases.

“It is because there is this self-imposed limitation that women sort of carry. They simply say to themselves, ‘certain things are not for me’. So, no matter how you persuade them, they are saying ‘I’m not simply interested’, and that we must do something about.”

Ezekwesili said the capacity of women to make quality decisions must be enhanced before they occupy public offices.

“We can’t afford to walk into leadership unprepared. A lot of men that have failed in leadership failed because they weren’t prepared,” she said.

“If we are coming late to the game, we must invest; we must improve their capacity to make quality decisions.”

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