Nigeria has long way to go in closing gender gap – Kolawole
By Zion Rufus
Chairman of the board of Akin Fadeyi Foundation and CEO, The Cable Newspapers, Simon Kolawole has shared that Nigeria still has a long way to go in closing the glaring gender gap that plagues the country particularly in the area of politics.
Kolawole who made this submission during a virtual conversation on What Women Can Do, a media conversation on gender inclusive governance launched by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation, buttressed the issue of the absence of women in the ongoing presidential race, tagging it unsatisfactory and discouraging.
He said: “It is as if when we take one step forward in terms of gender inclusion, we take several steps backwards. Everytime we look at what is happening in the political space, we can only try not to get discouraged by what we are seeing..”
It should be recalled that Nigeria ranked 128th out of 153 countries and 27th out of 53 countries in Africa, on the World Bank’s Global Gender Gap Index 2020 – which implies that the country still has a way to go to attaining gender equality and equal representation for women.
He continued: “It is quite sad that when many developed countries are talking about gender parity/equality, we are still discussing inclusion in Nigeria, especially in the political space. And so that is why I think this conversation is very important so that we can see how we can raise the volume of this debate so that those who are in a position to act will do things better. We can continue to speak to their collective consciences and put them on the spot to realize that this is not how things should be done. ”
In his argument, Kolawole pointed that although women may not necessarily have the required resources or structure to support their political aspirations, it is disheartening to see that the majority have pulled out altogether.
“When we look at the presidential race, there is no single female presidential candidate, I hope I’m not wrong. Because at least the last time I checked, we did not see a single female candidate. Compared to 2019, I think we had about 5 back then, although some of them withdrew from the election. So is it that women have given up, or they simply say “well, the society is not ready for us” or is it that the male gender is tightening the space such that the women are discouraged from signifying interest. It is not a good development.”
“These are the things that should worry us. On the world economic forum global gender gap report, Nigeria continues to drop and that is why I am happy the foundation has chosen this topic for us to adress and to launch the what women can do competition and I think whatever effort you put, no matter how little, it can go a long way.”
The What Women Can Do media conversation features media and public policy actors and practitioners, including feature editors of newspapers and online news platforms, alongside women leaders and other distinguished participants such as Executive Director and founder, Akin Fadeyi Foundation, Akin Fadeyi; OAP and morning show co-host at TVC, Mariam Longe amongst others.
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