Gender Mainstreaming in Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections: Evidence and Perspectives from Kano and Oyo states
Nigeria’s politics have been accused of gender imbalance since independence, and scholarship is replete with discussions of factors responsible for the low level of women’s participation and representation in politics, and women’s poor showing in electoral contests. Most studies of women’s political participation in Nigeria have taken a unidirectional approach of analysing or discussing women’s marginalisation in both appointive and elective offices. This study replaces the unidirectional approach with a multidirectional and multistakeholder analysis of the gender mainstreaming effort in Nigeria’s 2019 general election. With a focus on Kano and Oyo states, we argue that increased gender consciousness has not translated to any significant improvement in women’s representation in politics, thus implying that mainstreaming gender is of no effect if women’s participation in politics does not translate to a substantial representation of women in both number and influence.
Understanding Election-Related Violence in Africa: Patterns, Causes, Consequences and a Framework for Preventive Action
From Algeria to South Africa, passing through Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, election-related violence has imposed itself as a full component of Africa’s political landscape in the past two decades. The prevalence of such violence in Africa has led to the production of abundant literature dedicated to the matter. This […]
‘Why participate in elections if we’re not properly represented?’ Women’s political participation and representation in SADC countries
Increased democratisation in Southern Africa might suggest that gender equality no longer matters in the politics of countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Yet the political participation and representation of women remains controversial owing to gender stereotypes, rhetoric, tokenism and patriarchy. Critically examining the political processes in the SADC region, specifically elections, […]
Gender and Elections in Botswana
There can be no real democracy without political parties – the lubricant that oils the engine of democracy. However, the dichotomy between political parties and democracy remains uncertain. The same is true of the relationship between democratic theory and party organisations. The concept of intraparty democracy centres on the idea of including party members in […]
La Guerre, la Paix et la Democratie au Congo
Quelle est la nature du conflit armé en République démocratique du Congo? S’agitil d’une guerre civile, comme les médias internationaux persistent et signent ou avons-nous affaire à une guerre d’agression extérieure, comme l’affirment les autorités de Kinshasa et les patriotes congolais? Indépendamment de la position qu’on prendrait vis-à-vis du régime instauré par Laurent-Désiré Kabila au […]
Intra-Party Democracy and the Inclusion Of Women
The inclusion of women in decision-making is a fundamental human right and an issue of social justice. There can be no democracy where ‘decisions about changing the lives of people are taken without the participation of more than half of the very lives that have to be changed. It cannot be participatory democracy when decisions […]