Gender Advocates Want Tinubu to Redress Female Marginalisation in 10th N’Assembly Leadership with Executive Appointments

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to revisit pending legislation that cover women and give nothing less that 35 per cent to women in appointive positions.

This is coming on the heels of the 10th National Assembly elections which produced only males in key positions of speaker and deputy speaker despite the call for fairness and equity.

Gender advocate, Dr. Ene Ede who made the call during a one-day gender sensitive reporting training for key media personnel to support women’s political participation in Abuja, said with another injury done to women, there’s a need for harmonisation as the President prepares to announce his cabinet members.

She emphasized that the 35 per cent affirmative action for women should not just be symbolic, but functional in the representation of women.

“The political parties are the only vehicles through which we can get elective positions, yet, these parties do not have structures that adequately include women. We need to work in the parties and this is a call for women involvement in the political parties.

“Despite the ruling party’s zoning of key
positions, a woman would have still won the seat of at least the deputy speaker, but again, we lost out. We call on the president to as a matter of necessity appoint a good number of women in his cabinet into functional positions. He did that in Lagos when a woman was his deputy governor and we’re hoping that there will be a replication in his appointment of ministers.

“We have legislation that are pending that cover women in the urban, pre- urban and rural areas. We are asking all women not to be silent. We need concerted voices to have these legislations passed” she said.

In her contribution, team leader of Kimpact Development Initiative, Bukola Idowu, enumerated factors fighting against women in the political space to include violence, media bias, ignorance of the constitution and what it entails as well as religion.

Others are patriarchal society, systemic issues, culture and tradition and with men as enablers and the attitude of not catching the younger generation early enough to make them understand what politics entails and the need for female involvement and its advantages