When do quotas meet reality?
Source: Business Day
Across West Africa, women leaders and legislators are intensifying calls for ECOWAS to enforce laws mandating gender quotas in politics. The demand, freshly echoed at the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA) Forum held during the Parliament’s 25th anniversary Extraordinary Session in Abuja, rests on a compelling argument: women make up more than half of the population, yet occupy only a fraction of parliamentary and executive seats across the region.
From Senegal, where women occupy over 40 percent of parliamentary seats due largely to strong quota laws, to Nigeria, where women account for barely 6 percent of legislators, the disparity is both glaring and persistent. The appeal by ECOFEPA president, Veronica Sesay, for member states to legislate reserved seats and proportional representation has revived a long-standing debate on legal fixes for political inequality.
Across West Africa, women leaders and legislators are intensifying calls for ECOWAS to enforce laws mandating gender quotas in politics. The demand, freshly echoed at the ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA) Forum held during the Parliament’s 25th anniversary Extraordinary Session in Abuja, rests on a compelling argument: women make up more than half of the population, yet occupy only a fraction of parliamentary and executive seats across the region.
From Senegal, where women occupy over 40 percent of parliamentary seats due largely to strong quota laws, to Nigeria, where women account for barely 6 percent of legislators, the disparity is both glaring and persistent. The appeal by ECOFEPA president, Veronica Sesay, for member states to legislate reserved seats and proportional representation has revived a long-standing debate on legal fixes for political inequality.