Women’s participation in politics got a boost recently when the International Press Centre (IPC) and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) got together to strategize on how to position them for electoral victory.
The event brought together online publishers, participants from the Cable and Punch and IPC for a one day consultative meeting held at the Exclusive Serene Hotel, Wuye District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria as part of a serial engagement on the overarching objective of professionally empowering women journalists in particular, and Online media practitioners in general, for the purpose of elevating women’s voices in Nigeria’s political landscape and ensuring democratic accountability for women-focused campaign promises.
The consultative meeting was supported by the European Union through the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGNII) programme, with the theme “Advancing inclusive reporting of gender issues in Nigeria’s electoral and democratic processes”
The meeting was attended by the national leadership of GOCOP, online publishers and at least a media manager from the Print media. This was contained in a communique signed by the duo of Lanre Arogundade, Executive Director, IPC and Maureen Chigbo, President of GOCOP.
The GOCOP President, Maureen Chigbo, in her opening remarks set the tone and direction of the discourse by urging participants to develop actionable plans to effectively mainstream women electoral issues in the media and to boost positive electoral outcomes for female politicians.
The IPC Executive Director, Lanre Arogundade in his own welcome remarks provided a brief overview of the female-focused programme activities of IPC being supported by the European Union explaining that the expectation is that GOCOP and its members would not only commit to upscaling the coverage and reportage of women electoral and democratic issues but also provide the enabling environment for their journalists to investigate and report the issues in-depth for visible results.
In her lead presentation, the keynote paper, the Executive Director, Illuminate Nigeria Development Network, Ms. Anikeade Funke-Treasure, spoke on “Utilizing Media Power to Promote Electoral Outcomes and Reforms Addressing Women’s Issues: A Roadmap for GOCOP/Journalists.” She charged GOCOP and its members to adopt deliberate and positively disruptive measures to change the narrative about women’s electoral issues and political issues through intense reporting and advocacy in support of reforms and policies that would enhance women representation. She also made a point about the viability of female candidates for appointive and elective offices, stressing that the media should intentionally and proactively support the viability of women politicians as well as their continued visibility.
Following the opening statements and lead presentation, the participants made the following observations:
1) There is a disturbing poor attention to women’s issues in most national electoral dialogues with grassroots women particularly being denied of voice and representation;
2) Media coverage of women in politics and women aspiring to enter politics is still low;
3) The unusually high cost of obtaining forms to vie for offices from the political parties and campaigns for elective positions has made it almost impossible for many women politicians to participate;
4) Social and cultural practices and beliefs in some parts of the country continue to constitute obstacles to women’s full participation in political and electoral activities;
5) Due to patriarchal and societal biases, many women lack the courage to showcase themselves in open campaigns or press interviews. Those who do often require permission from male figures—sponsors, husbands, or parents.
6) In many parts of the country, women who want to participate in politics, especially in elections for any positions, are derided or viewed as “loose” or being too forward by society itself, thereby discouraging their participation.
7) The modest achievements of the past have therefore been eroded, with women’s representation declining by 19% in the current dispensation, leaving only 3% in the Senate and 4% in the House of Representatives.
8) However, the high level of women representation in State like Kwara and Ekiti is commendable and encouraging while it is disappointing that some states do not have women elected representatives at all.
After a thorough analysis of the challenges faced by women in participatory democracy and the negative factors militating against women’s participation in politics, especially in elective positions, the consultative meeting resolved as follows:
1) GOCOP and its members should utilize their power to promote and spotlight the electoral issues, fortunes and outcomes of women, change their narrative, and make their platforms available for women’s visibility in the nation’s electoral processes;
2) GOCOP and its members should play a lead role in the renewed campaign for women to participate fully in the electoral arena by highlighting the achievements of the few in elective positions and identifying and amplifying the voices of others still in the background;
3) In a specific attempt to bolster women’s participation in politics, the capacity of those already in elective positions should be enhanced so they can be knowledgeable, capable, and strong enough to serve as models for upcoming female politicians;
4) IPC/GOCOP should within a short period begin a series of interactive sessions with elected female legislators starting with Kwara State for dialogues that would elicit information that can be publicly projected as models for other states and also for appreciation of women contributions in the democratic space;
5) IPC and GOCOP working with other media interest groups like the Nigeria Women Association of Journalists (NAWOJ) should facilitate interactive sessions with community and religious leaders and other relevant stakeholders to sensitize them about the importance of encouraging women to enter politics.
6) GOCOP’s 120 members should create special sections for women-focused contents on their platforms and establish a partnership framework with IPC that generates content and information on women’s political participation while continuously highlighting the challenges facing female political actors.
7) GOCOP members should through their platforms promote advocacy for the fulfillment of the global 35 percent affirmative action target for women at the Federal, State and local levels;
8) GOCOP should support policy and legislative measures to reduce the burden of campaign finance on women while tabling the same issue before political parties;
9) GOCOP should encourage online journalists to continue to enhance their skills on inclusive reporting by availing themselves the opportunity of the virtual training platform to be established by IPC and CEMESO under component 4: Support to media of EU-SDGNII programme.