Nigerian women are still sidelined in the country’s politics and leadership positions because of predominant cultural and religious beliefs, a lecturer at Bournemouth University, United Kingdom, has said.
Ms Wonu Okunnu disclosed this at a conference tagged “Women and Electoral Outcomes in Nigeria: North-South Variations” which was held in Lagos.
Okunnu who is also the convener of the conference said Nigerian male politicians in the north and south were still keeping women in the backseats using religious and cultural beliefs.
“In the north, women vote in large numbers more than southern women, but they have the least representation in government because of cultural and religious beliefs. Though in the south, the percentage is somewhat more than that of the north, it is still low because of cultural beliefs”, she said.
According to her, more qualified women should be given leadership positions at federal and state levels to fill the 35 percent quota reserve for them.