Women as a Minority Group in Governance in Nigeria: A Critical Discourse

Abstract

This paper notes that women constitute part of the minority groups in Nigeria despite their numerical strength and contribution to national development. According to the paper the allusion that women play merely second fiddle in governance is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria. Since time immemorial women have contributed immensely to the development of their societies but
that has not translated into proportionate representation in governance. The feminist theory was used as an explanatory framework while the desk research method was employed to obtain secondary data. The paper has identified some of the factors responsible for inadequate representation of women to include and are not limited to cultural/religious factor, monetization of politics, patriarchy, political violence, first ladyism, godfatherism, consensus candidacy, constitutional provisions, among others. Based on the findings, the paper recommends possible ways of involving women in governance to include implementation of affirmative action, gender
character principle, desocialisation of negative attitudes that perpetuate gender inequality and unity among the women.