Women in Politics: Implications for Credibility of Future Democratic Governance

Abstract

This paper interrogates women's participation in politics against the background of the 2019 general elections. The paper utilized theories on descriptive representation to buttress submissions on the need to promote women's involvement in the democratic process. Secondary method is used to generate data from extant literature for this work. Specifically, the influence of certain socio-cultural, economic and political factors that account for women's low participation and representation in governance is examined. Findings from the study revealed that while some African countries in the likes of Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa seems to be making giant strides and great progress in the political sphere, Nigeria has achieved little progress with worrisome results recorded during the just concluded 2019 general elections. The work finds that unequal political representation in Nigeria is the bane of socio-economic development hampering the nation's development practices among other things. The paper recommends a careful paradigm shift in terms of the over- bearing roles of men in the Nigeria political climate to strict compliance and practical implementation of international best practices as prescribed by the United Nations Organization as well as other relevant lawsto include gender mainstreaming which involves making the concerns and experiences of women and men an integral component of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all development processes so that women and men can benefit equally.