The Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun, has secured a sub-grant of N3 million to deepen women’s participation in politics and democratic governance, as well as to end discriminatory tendencies against them.
This is contained in a statement by the institution’s Protocol, Media and Public Relations Officer, Mr Sola Lawal, on Thursday in Osogbo.
Lawal said the grant was secured through a project entitled: “Impact of Citizenship Laws, Practices and Policies On Women’s Rights To Participate in Politics and Governance in Oyo and Osun States”.
He said the project was sponsored by National Women Trust Fund and Ford Foundation, with Dr Jade Mohammeda, a Chief Lecturer and Director of Legal Services of the institution, as the Principal Researcher and Coordinator of the project.
Lawal quoted Mohammed as saying that ”the concept of ‘Citizenship’ encompasses a sense of solidarity beyond difference in either ethnicity or religion.
”Discriminatory citizenship/Indigeneship is a major bane of women’s participation in politics. It triggers the feeling of alienation from a community, weakens social cohesion and promotes tension.
“Existing works on women’s political participation have focused on education disadvantage, job stereotyping, unemployment, cultural stereotype and political perception in Nigeria.
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“Obviously, less attention has been given to discriminatory citizenship laws, policies and practices affecting women’ s participation in politics and governance in Nigeria.
“There is thus the urgent need to break all barriers militating against women’s participation in politics and governance, including discriminatory Citizenship/ Indigeneship practices in order to attain Sustainable Development Goal( SDG5),” she said.
She added that at the recently organised maiden stakeholders’ workshop on the project, participants agreed that the prevalence of discriminatory citizenship/indigeneship against women remained violence against them.
She said women politicians at the workshop noted that a new barrier was being created each day to exclude women from governance, with political parties demanding for PhD, MSc certificates as part of the conditions for nomination of women into positions.
“There was an eloquent call at the workshop to stop Discriminatory Citizenship/ Indigeneship and other forms of discrimination against women and to also strengthen women voices and participation in current democratic dispensation.
“Changing the mindset and removing all barriers hindering nomination of women for elective and appointive positions is also being advocated”.
