An Examination of Women Political Participation in the South West of Nigeria, 1999-2015

Abstract

The study examined trajectories of women political participation in Southwest, Nigeria from 1999-2015 and determined factors undermining and hampering women`s political participation in Southwest, Nigeria. It also examined the effects of women’s level of participation on the politics of South Western Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 and determined the nexus between women’s participation in politics and proper representation of the people at the constituency level and identified policy measures that engender optimum political participation of women of the South West region of Nigeria in politics beyond 2015. These were the view to examining women`s political participation in South West Nigeria between 1999 and 2015. The study utilized qualitative research design that was sourced through semi-structure interviews with participants, purposively selected from the six states in Southwest, Nigeria. In each state, a total of 8 participants were selected to make the total sample size 48. The inclusion criteria of participants were based on knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Results showed that the path of women to politics in terms of political participation in Nigeria and in Southwest in particular has been rough, tough, and limited and that factors such as religion, cultural beliefs, patriarchy, traditions and customs, as well as poor financial background, education, dirty politics nature, among others hampered and undermined women’s political participation in Southwest, Nigeria. Results also showed that the level of women’s participation has yielded little or no positive outcomes in politics and that their participation in politics does not necessarily translate to proper representation of the people at the constituency level as most women legislators ended up satisfying themselves at the expense of those they are representing. Further, results showed that policy measures such as the quota system, where certain number of seats or elective positions are reserved for women, empowerment of women, improved education of women, protection of women against intra-party discrimination, eradication of excessive conditions for women’s political participation among others, would go a long way to encourage more women to participate in politics in Southwest, Nigeria.

The study concluded that the inclusion and participation of more women in politics will enhanced rapid socio-economic development of the Southwest region and Nigeria as a whole.