WOMEN’S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION IN HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY OF SELECTED STATES IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA, 1999-2019

Abstract

Democracy drives social development and enhances political participation. Women in Nigeria remain underrepresented in all levels of politics, especially the legislature. Existing studies have focused largely on Women’s Political Representation (WPR) at the national level, with little consideration given to state’s legislature and its contributions to women’s issues. This study was, therefore, designed to assess WPR in southwestern Nigeria from 1999 to 2019, a period that falls after the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 and the beginning of Nigeria nascent democracy. Factors that influence the selection of women into legislative Committees, women’s contributions to lawmaking with reference to women’s issues and constituency services were also examined. Anne Phillips’ Politics of Presence Theory was adopted as the framework, while exploratory and case study designs were used. Houses of Assembly (HoAs) in Ekiti (EKSHA), Lagos (LSHA) and Ogun (OGSHA) states were purposively selected based on more representation of female lawmakers than others. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 63 respondents. Key Informant Interviews were conducted with 18 lawmakers (15 females and three males), 21 party leaders and nine gender activists, based on their positions as constitutional representatives of the people, importance to political recruitment, and knowledge of women issues, respectively. In-depth Interviews were conducted with nine legislative support staff and six members of the Executive arm of government. Legislative and constituency records, as well as newspaper reports and journal articles, provided the secondary data. Data were thematically analysed. Only the LSHA had female representatives among the three HoAs as of 1999. The situation however improved when a female became the Speaker in OGSHA in 2003. The level of WPR in EKSHA rose from one in 2003 to four in 2011 and 2019. In LSHA, WPR witnessed a decline from seven in 2011 to three in 2019. In OGSHA, WPR maintained a steady increase from one in 2003 to four in 2019. However, these numerical increases fell below the number required as tipping point for women’s effective representation. Female representatives in the HoAs featured prominently in Committees normatively associated with women, such as women affairs, poverty alleviation, health, information, education and finance. Lawmakers’ policy preferences, academic backgrounds, as well as professional and legislative experience, were identified as factors that influenced selection of women into the Committees. Out of the 34 female representatives who served in the HoAs, only four (two in OGSHA, and one each in EKSHA and LSHA) sponsored bills, though none addressed women-specific issues. Constituency services carried out by female representatives revealed their policy preferences for health, education, women empowerment and financial support for widows and the elderly. Women’s political representation in Houses of Assembly in southwestern Nigeria from 1999 to 2019 was low with minimal impact on women’s issues. Hence, there is the need for women to contribute more to legislative policymaking.