GENDER AND DEMOCRACY A SURVEY OF WOMEN AND MEN REPRESENTATION IN NIGERIA’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (1999-2009)

Abstract

This article interrogates the issue of gender and political participation in politics in Nigeria with a particular focus on the National Assembly from 1999 to 2009. Adopting Marxist feminism as its theoretical framework of analysis and documentary method of data collection, the article notes as follows: (i) politics in Nigeria has been predominantly a male affair; the number of women in elective positions still falls far below the target of 30% representation of women in elective posts and decision making positions by 2005 set at the Fourth world conference on women held in Beijing in 1995; and (ii) despite the relatively insignificant number of women in politics in Nigeria, available data show that a constant increase of about 2.3% of women voted into the national assembly at every general election since 1999. The article argues that contemporary gender inequality in political participation in Nigeria is determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production and not by socio-cultural and biological factors as scholars contend. It argues that only a replacement of the existing capitalist mode of production with a socialist oriented one will guarantee greater participation of women in politics.