Will Nigerian women get additional seats in parliament?
Source: The Nation
In the 9th Assembly, a constitutional amendment bill to create special or reserve seats for women in parliament failed to see the light of day as both the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to vote positively for the bill. This attracted protests from women’s groups at the gate of the National Assembly for about a week. The bill, which was reintroduced in the 10th Assembly, has continued to generate serious attention from members of the House of Representatives, with the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, being the chief driver. Unfortunately, it has not gained the same momentum in the Senate. This has raised a series of questions about whether or not the bill will sail through when the lawmakers vote on the bill. TONY AKOWE reports
For several years, Nigerian women have clamoured for what they called equal representation in the political affairs of the country. Beginning from the 35 percent affirmative action canvassed at the Beijing conference, the agitation has grown by the day. With less than 20 women out of about 469 lawmakers in Nigeria’s National Assembly, the under-representation of women has continued to grow. Incidentally, this number has been on a downward trend since 1999. With only 3 women in the Senate and 13 women in the House of Representatives in 1999, the figure rose to 4 Senators and 21 Representatives in 2003 and 9 female Senators in 2007, with 27 House members becoming the highest ever women representation in the National Assembly. The figure dropped to 7 Senators and 26 House members in 2011. While the number of Senators increased to 8 each in 2015 and 2019, the number of House members continued to drop, dropping to 22 in 2015 and 13 in 2019.
In the 9th Assembly, a constitutional amendment bill to create special or reserve seats for women in parliament failed to see the light of day as both the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to vote positively for the bill. This attracted protests from women’s groups at the gate of the National Assembly for about a week. The bill, which was reintroduced in the 10th Assembly, has continued to generate serious attention from members of the House of Representatives, with the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, being the chief driver. Unfortunately, it has not gained the same momentum in the Senate. This has raised a series of questions about whether or not the bill will sail through when the lawmakers vote on the bill. TONY AKOWE reports
For several years, Nigerian women have clamoured for what they called equal representation in the political affairs of the country. Beginning from the 35 percent affirmative action canvassed at the Beijing conference, the agitation has grown by the day. With less than 20 women out of about 469 lawmakers in Nigeria’s National Assembly, the under-representation of women has continued to grow. Incidentally, this number has been on a downward trend since 1999. With only 3 women in the Senate and 13 women in the House of Representatives in 1999, the figure rose to 4 Senators and 21 Representatives in 2003 and 9 female Senators in 2007, with 27 House members becoming the highest ever women representation in the National Assembly. The figure dropped to 7 Senators and 26 House members in 2011. While the number of Senators increased to 8 each in 2015 and 2019, the number of House members continued to drop, dropping to 22 in 2015 and 13 in 2019.