•Akpabio
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said today, Monday, July 29, that notable barriers deeply rooted in culture, religion, economy, and society have been against the passage of gender-related bills by the National Assembly.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day workshop on gender-responsive budgeting and the role of the legislature in advancing gender-responsive legislation in Nigeria, the Senate President said unless these barriers are broken, it will be difficult to eliminate gender gaps that exist in the country, reports The Nation.
Akpabio spoke just as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen assured that the House will ensure that all gender bills that failed passage during constitutional amendment in the 9th Assembly are passed.
Represented by Senator Sunday Karimi, the Senate President regretted that the most recent interventions that could have made significant contributions to gender equality/equity, namely the five Gender Bills that were presented to the 9th National Assembly in 2022, were all rejected.
He said: “Breaking these barriers demands huge investments in gender-responsive legislation and budgeting as the take-off point. And we must be intentional about it. This is because the role of gender-responsive legislation and budgeting in addressing gender gaps in governance and development cannot be overemphasised.
“On the one hand, gender-responsive legislation deals with strategies that make legislation to work for both men and women. In other words, gender-responsive legislation makes legislative systems more responsive to explicit and implicit gender issues.
“It facilitates accountability – in legislative and policy implementation – to the specific needs of different sexes and different gendered perspectives on pivotal social, economic and political issues.
“Gender-responsive budgeting, on the other hand, is a strategy that creates budgets that work for everyone in a fairly equitable manner –male and female. It must be without any forms of discrimination, marginalisation or exclusion. In both instances, the main emphasis is on paying adequate attention to the unique and diverse needs of every person in law-making and budgeting.
“By implication, gender-responsive legislation and budgeting can help to identify gender gaps and inequalities and create opportunities for addressing them. If attained, both can engender a sense of fairness, equity and justice, generate a sense of belonging among all; and contribute to the alignment of national budgets with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Akpabio said the focus on possible legislative interventions for redressing this intractable and seemingly endless challenge of gender equity, or better still, women’s political participation and representation in governance in Nigeria is pivotal.
He said the outcomes of the workshop will help shape conversations about gender issues before the Constitution Amendment Committee.
According to him, promoting gender-responsive legislation and budgeting is an expression of genuine commitment to gender mainstreaming, adding that gender issues, being a governance and developmental concern can never be exhausted by any single gathering.
He said the gender question has been on the front burner of academic, policy and advocacy engagements for decades and may continue for years ahead because of longstanding gender gaps in governance and development. While most of the countries of the world claim to be democratic, the level of inclusion has been very poor for most countries.
He said the National Assembly is interested in advancing gender equity because they understand its ramifications for sustainable governance, security and development, saying they will deploy all available legislative tools and resources at our disposal to support the actualization of this lofty goal.
He assured of the speedy passage of gender Bills whenever we receive them, saying, “We also have the capacity and connections to lobby the executive on this all-important matter. I can assure you that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is conscious of these realities.
“Moreover, gender equity is a critical component of the overall priority of the Renewed Hope Agenda of his government. In the agenda, gender equity is considered as one of the long-term, lasting solutions to the political, economic and social challenges facing the country. The government is on course in this regard.
“As a responsible parliament, the 10th Assembly under my leadership will also act in solidarity with women caucus of the National and State Assemblies in their rightful demand for improved representation in governance, both symbolically and substantively.
On his part, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen said the current drive by the House committee on review of the constitution is providing a platform and opening discussions on the same theme to recommend the best possible model for Nigerian legislature on women’s representation and participation in governance.
He said the agitation by women for equal representation in governance has been an age-long debate that became more ignited after the 1995 Beijing Conference, which demanded thirty-five percent (35%) representation of women in governance.
Since then, he said, many countries across the globe have adopted different approaches to meet or surpass the goal of affirmative action. Gender-responsive budgeting is part of the strategies to advance the course of gender-responsive legislature.
Abbas said: “Nigeria joined the rest of the world to ensure women’s inclusion in governance with the National Gender Policy (NGP) initiated in 2006 with a Strategic Implementation Framework from 2008 to 2013.
“The main objective was to ensure gender equality, the empowerment of women and women’s human rights. For the last nine years, there has been a deliberate policy and focus on gender issues by the government.
For instance, the gederal government of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari before leaving office in 2023 approved a new gender policy to span 2021 to 2026 which sets new minimum standards expected to be attained by the Nigerian government to meet the mandate for gender equality.
“It must be noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is making conscious efforts to align with the new gender policy, especially with the number of women appointed into Executive Council and Department and Agencies of government, while it is hoped that new appointment of women will further expand the inclusion of women in the governance process.
“This government has been very deliberate on this and it is reflected in all government programmes and activities that women are taking the center stage.
“However, despite the notable successes in mainstreaming gender equality in Nigeria, the number of women participating in the decision-making process at formal and informal levels still needs more attention.
“Women are not only underrepresented politically but equally continue to hold the shorter end of the stick even in the private sector, religious organisations, and community and village governance. Male chauvinism continues to derail the democratic ethos of inclusion and participation.
Gender equality, especially the political inclusion of women, is a critical issue worldwide, and Nigeria is no exception. Despite progress made in recent years, very significant gender disparities persist in various aspects of our society.
“Women and girls still face challenges in accessing education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and political representation. Discriminatory cultural norms and practices, limited access to resources and decision-making processes, as well as violence against women, contribute to these inequalities.
“When we thought that the new gender policy was already receiving attention from the government for improved participation of women in decision-making processes, the 2023 general election was a major setback.
“How do we explain that out of the 469 seats in the National Assembly, the 10th Assembly has only 3.91% women’s representation? This is significantly low when compared to other African countries.
“It is, therefore, a matter of urgency to advance gender-responsive Legislature and the 10th House of Representatives is taking this seriously. It requires increasing female participation in democracy and the Legislature and for female legislators to play strategic roles in the parliament.
Chairman of the House Committee on Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Kagilat Ogbara said women have continued to face challenges concerning our social, economic and political well-being.
She said the Human Development Index of women is lower than that of men, the labour force participation rate of women is lower, the average income of women is lower, and education attainment and access to resources and opportunities are also limited.
She stressed that the declining trend of women’s participation and representation in governance continues to undermine our efforts to influence policy decisions and get our interests incorporated in government policies.
