The fact is despite the waivers by political parties to encourage women to seek elective Positions,
Despite the International funding by gender-sensitive NGO’s and partners to encourage women to participate in politics,
Despite the UN quest towards MDGs support of ensuring women participation in Governance,
It seems the Women are the ones that have held their political destiny into their own hands since the Advent of democracy.
In Nigeria, anytime a woman steps out to get involved in the Murky Waters of Politics, other women view her differently.
Since 1999, only a few women have mustered the courage to vie for key elective positions, oftentimes they don’t even get the votes of the womenfolk when it matters most.
“The Righteous Woman is an ideal, a belief that women have a distinct moral obligation to have one another’s backs.
This kind of sentiment is best typified by Madeleine Albright’s now-famous quote,
“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”
The basic idea is that since all women experience sexism, they should be more attuned to the gendered barriers that other women face. In turn, this heightened awareness should lead women to foster alliances and actively support one another. If women don’t help each other, this is an even worse form of betrayal than those committed by men. And hence, the special place in hell reserved for those women.
The Queen Bee belief, on the other hand, argues that in reality women just can’t get along. As Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant pointed out in their essay in The New York Times on the myth of the catty woman, this belief rests on the erroneous idea that there is something inherent to the female sex that causes women to undermine each other on the job all the time.
The idea of a Queen Bee syndrome dates to research first done in the 1970s. The syndrome encompasses a set of behaviors ranging from women disparaging typically feminine traits (“Women are too emotional”), to emphasize their own “masculine” attributes (“I think more like a guy”), to seeing claims of gender discrimination as baseless (“The reason there are so few women at the top is not because of discrimination. It’s that women are just less committed to their careers”), to being unsupportive of initiatives to address gender inequality. The ultimate Queen Bee is the successful woman who instead of using her power to help other women advance, undermines her women colleagues.”Marianne Cooper,2016
The positive impact of women in politics is undeniable. Kofi Annan noted, “study after study has taught us, there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women. No other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity or to reduce child and maternal mortality. No other policy is as sure to improve nutrition and promote health, including the prevention of HIV/AIDS. No other policy is as powerful in increasing the chances of education for the next generation.” Further, as Madeleine Albright has stated, the world is wasting a precious resource in the dramatic underrepresentation of women in leadership positions, often resulting in the exclusion of women’s talents and skills in political life.
Male and female legislators must work together in order to solve the myriad of problems in their countries. In order to meet worldwide development goals and build strong, sustainable democracies, women must be encouraged, empowered, and supported in becoming strong political and community leaders.
The big question is, are women ready to help themselves?
Are women ready to support, campaign and vote for their own?
Are the women ready to go out and stake a claim for a position that they are convinced to Represent their Constituents?
It’s not enough to say women are marginalized and for gender equality, they should be given key Positions on a platter of gold just because they are women.
We want to see women that will stand up, dust their shoes, hang their bags and set out to compete for leadership positions because they are convinced and qualified to do so under the Constitution of our land.
Written By Munatare Munashak