By Sandra Ijeoma Okoye
If there is any aspect of Nigeria’s electoral process that would make anyone to shudder, and say in pidgin, “Life Nor Balance”, it is unarguably the deepening exclusion of women from actively participating or contesting in electable positions by each passing electoral dispensation.
It is expedient to explain at this embryonic stage of this write-up that calling for women’s participation in Nigeria’s electoral process is not in any way about gender equality as some readers might have erroneously thought upon catching a glimpse of the headline of this piece. Rather, it is about having good leaders in Nigeria as evidences abound in research works that when you have more women in public decision-making, you get policies that benefit women, children and families in general.
So women are more inclined to be people-oriented than men, when they are in parliament, for example, to promote women’s rights legislation. When women are in sufficient numbers in parliaments they also promote children’s rights and they tend to speak up more for the interests of communities, local communities, because of their close involvement in community life.
In fact, good leadership enthusiasts will not so soon forget when in 2019 former American President, Barack Obama surprisingly said, “Women, You’re Better Than Us” at an event in Singapore. He excitingly said, “Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us (men).”
The Former US President Barack at the time said if women ran every country in the world, there would be a general improvement in living standards and outcomes. Speaking at a private event on leadership in Singapore, Obama said while in office he had mused what a world run by women would look like.
The former leader said women weren’t perfect, but were “Indisputably better” than men, adding that most of the problems in the world came from old people, mostly men, holding onto positions of power. He further explained what he meant by saying “Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us (men).”
He continued, “I’m absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything… living standards and outcomes.”
When asked if he would ever consider going back into political leadership, the former President said he believed in leaders stepping aside when the time came.
“It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there to prop up your own sense of self-importance on your own power.”
Against the foregoing backdrop, one cannot but wonder why it has become so difficult for patriarchal-disposed leaders in Nigeria to acknowledge the fact that women are better leaders?
Are you disputing the fact that women are better leaders? To disabuse your mind that it is not true, it is expedient to explain to you that Leadership is one’s ability to influence others to achieve common goals. To accomplish this, a leader needs to possess skills that can effectively communicate goals, motivate others, help others improve, give support when needed and ensure the well-being of their subordinates. And all this, as you and I know, are not lacking in majority of Nigerian women.
At this juncture, there is no denying the fact that you might have wondered why the Vice-Presidency position, or that of the Senate cannot constitutionally be reserved for women, even when they also have the constitutional right to vie for the position of the president. The foregoing cannot be farfetched as there is growing recognition of the untapped capacity and talents of women and women’s leadership. Over the last decade, the rate of women’s representation in Nigeria’s ongoing democratic dispensation has been appalling. While some States have seen improvement in terms of representation, the some States have not.
To me, the full and equitable participation of women in public life is essential to building and sustaining strong, vibrant democracies. Accordingly, the meaningful participation of women in national, local and community leadership roles has become an important focus of Nigeria’s development policy.
Still, some may ask why it matters if women become political leaders, elected policymakers or civil society activists. Why does the people need more women involved in all aspects of the political process, particularly in position such as Vice President in this context? In fact, women’s political participation will result in tangible gains for democracy, including greater responsiveness to citizen needs, increased cooperation across party and ethnic lines, and more sustainable peace.
Against the backdrop of Albert Einstein’s quotes that say “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”, and “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, permit me to say that it is high time Nigeria thought of considering empowering women with political positions at the top echelons of our political hierarchy, particularly by constitutionally leaving the Vice President position for them, while still giving them the opportunity to contest as President of the country.
Do you think this writer by virtue of being a woman has in this context has in a manner that is reminiscent of Oliver Twist been asking too much for women? To me, she is not as empowering a woman with a very high national position of authority such as the VP like she has repeatedly mentioned in this context will be of utmost benefits to the nation. In fact, Nigerians will benefit from female leadership at that level. Compared to male leaders, female leaders are more likely to attend to peoples’ personal needs, be open to new ideas and others’ opinions, and reward the satisfactory performance of the masses in a consistent manner. On the other hand, male leaders are statistically more likely to only stress meeting the standards, just as been witnessed, wait until problems become severe before attending to them, and/or withdraw or be absent during critical junctures.
Furthermore, studies show females are less narcissistic than males. Thus, female leaders tend to adopt democratic or participative style and a less autocratic or directive style than men.
Finally, as the general election scheduled to hold in 2023 beckons by each passing day, permit to advocate in this context that some political positions should be reserved for women as special constitutional rights.
