Democracy and the Struggle for Political Empowerment of Women in Nigeria

This paper discusses women's participation in politics and governance in Nigeria, in order to unravel the dynamics and factors that limit their visibility in the political system. Women's participation in politics in Nigeria has remained a contentious issue, despite many decades of struggle to improve their lot politically. Following an analysis of the ways in which gender relations shapes the lives of Nigerian women, and an extensive review of the trajectories of women's political participation in Nigeria, it is contended in this paper that a conundrum of factors, including contestable notions of citizenship, monetization of politics and poor socio-economic conditions of women, prevailing cultural attitudes towards women in politics, militate against women’s advancement. Other factors like corrupt, violent and prebendal electoral officialdom and a state-centered policy of quotas, collude to limit women's political advancement. Noting the role of unfavourable gender relations and state-centered structures and institutions in the political exclusion of women, it is suggested that a core group of women political activists mobilize around a vision of radical transformation and pursue incremental access to political power beginning at the local government level