Edo: As The Clock Ticks Toward September 29, Where Are The Women? -By Isaac Asabor

There is no auspicious political dispensation that can be considered to be apt for the foregoing question than now that the literary political cauldron in Edo State is at its boiling point. This is more so as the political drumbeats for gubernatorial election scheduled to hold on September 29, 2020 is by each passing day since the past few months been emitting staccato sound.

But alas! Despite the charged political milieu in the State, some concerned Edolites are routinely asking why only few women are participating in the upcoming election that is majorly dominated by male political aspirants. Without sounding exaggerative, it has being a pervasive political problem since the proverbial democratic ship berthed in Edo’s political shore since 1999. The retrogressive situation, no doubt, compelled the former president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2006 to somewhat append his signature to Nigeria’s National Gender Policy highlights which focuses on women’s right to equality in economic, social and political life, with provisions to increase the number of women in elected and appointed positions to 35 per cent, but that has not happened even as you read this.

As an Edolite that is unarguably obsessed and passionate about the ongoing electioneering ahead of the gubernatorial race to Osadebey Avenue come September 19, 2020, I ran through the final list of candidates that contained 28 names of gubernatorial aspirants; that is aspirants for the governorship seat and aspirants vying for the deputy governorship position of the 14 political parties that were registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest for the exalted governorship position in Edo State. What I observed no doubt got me flabbergasted as out of the 48 aspirants only few females were in the race. The females in the race are Mabel Akomu Oboh who is the gubernatorial flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Omogbelehan Edomoina Pauline who in the same vein flies the deputy governorship ticket of the Labour Party (LP), Agol Ebun Tracy, representing the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as the gubernatorial candidate in the race and Omim Omonye who will be contesting for the governorship position under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

It is shocking that 21 years into its democracy, Edo is yet to be blessed with a female governor; not because candidates are lacking, but because of a structure that has continued to omit the voices of a reckonable demographic segment in the State.

There is no denying the fact that since 2006 that Nigeria’s National Gender Policy highpoints women’s right to equality in economic, social and political life, with provisions to increase women in elected and appointed positions to 35 per cent that it has not being realized, even in the ongoing political dispensation. Alas! The ongoing electioneering in Edo State further buttressed this view.

There is no denying the fact that women in Edo State have been making remarkable progress accessing positions of power and authority since the 1970s and 1980s but that progress, as evidenced in their low representation in the ongoing political dispensation in the state can be said to have considerably slowed down. Who do we blame in this context? Is it that Edo women are averse to partisan politics or that they are being hindered by misogynists in the State?

As agreed by some political observers, they are been hindered by misogynists. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English succinctly defines misogynist as “hater of women”. There is no denying the fact that many misogynists have been waging several wars and equally campaigning against women’s freedom, emancipation and empowerment.

A misogynist does not believe that women should be given formal education beyond the secondary school level. He does not believe that a woman should inherit the property of her late husband. He equally does not believe that women should work in offices or engage in other businesses. Rather, he is often driving his point home on why women should remain in the kitchen and be absolutely domesticated. He does not even think of anything good on women sexual life. It is therefore not surprising that he has remained an ardent crusader of women circumcision.

According to Blessing Obidiegwu, Director and Head of the Gender Division of INEC, at a media parley, “There have been so many protocols, conventions, amendments of the Nigerian Constitution, which support providing a quota system, but in reality, women are excluded in politics. She added that “Such problems as patriarchy, violence in elections and their economic situation serve as barriers to women’s participation.”

Analyzed from the foregoing perspective, the tripartite issue that border on patriarchy, violence and economic situation has truly being the challenge Edo women are facing in politics in the State.
In the same vein, while representing the Commission at a ‘Consultative Forum on Sharing Experiences for the Conduct of the 2nd Peer Review’ in Abuja, she expressed concerns over the limited roles and opportunities offered to women in the country, especially when it comes to politics.

While noting that the barriers women are facing in politics were man-made, she said: “In 2019, women who won primaries, for some reasons, were set aside. A lot happened especially the killing of a women leader in Kogi State. I was there. I sensitized women and told them everything would be okay. You can imagine my pain when I saw that woman died.”

Optimistic about the future and the role the proposed electoral act could play in making that a reality; she encouraged more women to get involved and fight to be a part of the decision-making process regardless of the bottlenecks they will have to navigate.

“We know that when we have men and women at the table taking decisions, we will achieve better and our country will progress better and faster,” she said.
There is no denying the fact that the reprehensible level of discrimination against the woman by the misogynist is so pervasive that it is at the moment negatively reflecting on the proportion of women holding political offices across various tiers of government in the State. It is unarguable that the handful number of them that are today holding various political offices in the State were appointed, and not elected.

The reason why women hold positions of appointment more than elective positions cannot be far-fetched. Most women are seemingly afraid to vie for elective positions because as it were, they would not be voted for by all the misogynists among the electorates. Most women that are today in active politics are the ones that can be considered to be bold and brainy. They can in this context be referred to as Amazons.

Another political barrier that faces the female gender in the state is that of being married to a man from a different state of origin, and by that she would automatically find herself in a Catch-22 situation. She cannot easily declare her intention to run for any elective political position within the political constituencies of her husband as she would be rejected by her in-laws who are invariably misogynists on the ground that she is not a direct indigene or “daughter of the soil”. On the other hand, her relations or rather her kinsmen would also reject her from vying for any political office in her own homeland for the mere fact that she is married to a non-indigene. When viewed from the perspective of Steve Maraboli’s quote that “Love has no limitations.

It cannot be measured. it has no boundaries. Although many have tried, love is indefinable,” it will be right to ask in this context, “When has it become a crime that a woman marries a man that is not in any way affiliated to her homeland?

Without doubt, the foregoing aptly encapsulates the many challenges that have being the barriers that are shrouded in misogyny, and which to a large extent are being exacerbated by the menfolk who are in partisan politics.

In this nexus, it is germane to ask, “Are Edo Misogynists holding back the womenfolk from vying for elective positions in the governance of the State?”

If the answer to the foregoing question is in the affirmative they should please leave the women alone for them to also contribute their quotas to the development of the State as Edo are in dire need of credible and efficient leaders. Who knows, we might find the caliber of leaders we are yearning for among the womenfolk. After all, Tabby Biddle, a human rights activist, reputed to have beautiful blend of storytelling along with tools, resources and leadership practices, specifically designed for women, and with that take them off from the sidelines, beyond their fears and into action said “The world is aching for feminine wisdom to come forward.” In the same vein, Edo is aching for feminine wisdom to be brought to bear at Osadebey Avenue. We should begin to give them the chance; even when they are reluctant to do so, we should encourage them.