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Gender Equality And Women Representation In The Governance
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This describes women’s
significant presence and participation in the high level public
decision- making positions (Lawal and Ojo, 2008:331). It is now
generally accepted that women constitute a key national resource, whose
ideas, creative solutions and concerns for cohesiveness of the social
fabric can help change the quality of life and society at large. But to
do that their participation in public decision- making roles is
essential (Nzomo, 1994:203). In this study, women representation as a
concept connotes significant involvement of women in public decision-
making positions.
Gender Equality/ Inequality
Gender
equality in this study just as gender parity describes the equality or
sameness of all human being irrespective of sex. It describes the fact
of being equal in rights, status, and privileges. It is an idea that
emphasizes treating all human beings the same way; whether male or
female. On the other hand, gender inequality connotes those stereotypes
that tend to treat men and women as unequal. According to Lawal and Ojo
(2008:335), gender disparity in politics is basically gender stereotypes
and attitudes towards women. Gender stereotypes mean thinking and
perception about people primarily in terms of gender group membership.
These stereotypes tend to reflect men and women as belonging to opposite
ends of bipolar adjectives in which men have desirable qualities while
women have undesirable ones. Such category-based thinking, as pointed
out by Ogwu (1996:35-42), tends to exaggerate similarities within women,
thereby minimizing their individuality and also exaggerates the
differences between men and women. This prevents women from being
perceived as capable decision- makers in many societies or as equal
participants in public governance (Udegbe, 1997:31).
Affirmative Action
This is regarded as special measure taken to redress racial or gender
disparities that exist in the society. Affirmative Action, sometimes
confused with discrimination, is usually a measure intended to
supplement non- discrimination; it is a broad terms encompassing a host
of policies that seek to support weak groups in the society (Agina- Ude,
2006:23). Such policies include dissemination of information;
consciousness- raising; faith- based efforts to recruit and mobilize
women for greater participation in public governance, and other
deliberate actions that are used to stop discrimination.
A policy
process of this kind, as noted by Ojo (2001: 27), allows rules that have
the objectives of enhancing equal opportunity for individuals and the
improvement in the situation of marginalized groups. In this study,
preference is given to gender-based affirmative action that includes
measures such as the use of quotas to ensure significant positions for
women in public governance. This measure aims at increasing women’s
representation especially because it addresses the under-representation
of women given the fact that women constitute 50 percent of the
population of most countries (WARDC Report, 2003:17).
It is a
principle describing the measures to redress the imbalance imposed by
centuries of discrimination against women. It is aimed at accelerating
gender equality and also serves as a temporary catch- up strategy, which
can result from voluntary compliance or enforced by local legislation.
Gender imbalance
This describes the situation of women in the society especially in
public decision- making positions. In politics, for example, and in
other sectors of public life women has been the disadvantaged group. As
asserted by Nwankwo (2006:18), the number of women in high- level
decision- making positions does not correspond with the reality of their
population strength. It calls attention to the unequal representation
of the two genders in the decision- making process.
Women Empowerment
Women empowerment in this study connotes increasing access for women to
fully partake in the decision- making process especially those ones
that directly affect their lives. Empowerment can be in many forms; it
could be economic, financial or political empowerment. But the main
issue involved has to do with removing barriers and other stumbling
blocks from the path of women in their quest to be effective player in
the scheme of things just as their male counterparts. Women empowerment
specifically describes increasing opportunities and access for women to
enable them realize their God- given potentials and assume their
rightful place in the society.
1.12 Organization of the Study
The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one is the
introduction, which consist of the statement of the problem, research
questions, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, and methodology
of research. Also included in this chapter is the significance of the
study, scope of the study, theoretical framework, expected contribution
to knowledge, definition of major terms and synopsis of chapters.
Chapter two covers a review of relevant literature on the specific
issue of gender equality and women representation in Nigeria. It also
undertakes an historical examination of women political participation in
Nigeriafrom the pre- colonial era to the electoral contest of 2003.
Chapter
three locates the issue of women participation in politics within the
context of the affirmative action, using the gender action plan of Osun
state from 2003 to 2010. Chapter four consists of presentation and
discussion of findings of the study while chapter five which is the
conclusion, comprises summary and recommendations of the study,
including proposals for enhancing women representation in public
governance.
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