By Adaora Onyechere
Nigeria’s first constitutions were enacted by an order in council during the colonial era, when the country was administered as a Crown Colony. The constitutions enacted during this period were the Clifford Constitution in 1922, the Richards Constitution in 1946, the Macpherson Constitution in 1951, and the Lyttleton Constitution in 1954. all Male.
To avoid the pitfalls of the First Republic, the constitution mandated that political parties and Cabinet of Nigeria positions reflect the “federal character” of the nation, This was a demand for fairness and “equal”distribution of power, right? well let’s continue to read.
Fast-forward to the 1993 constitution which came and was intended to see the return of democratic rule to Nigeria with the establishment of a Third Republic which was never fully implemented because the military resumed power until 1999.
Then came the The 1999 constitution of the Fourth Republic which “allegedly” restored democratic rule to Nigeria.
Now to the highlight some of these aforementioned analysis, let’s review the preamble below and evaluate if truly nigerian women even stood in the consideration and the design of our current constitution and the preamble reads-
“We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Having firmly and solemnly resolved, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding
now here’s our pointer-“And to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice” (Equality and justice? really?) and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves ( who are the selves? where women even allowed in the constitution review at the time ).
Over the years research has shown that even the invisibility of women in language,thought and reality has been so carefully constructed that reference to them is so totally submerged and subsumed in reference to men in our constitution even when the principle of federal character was afore mentioned,an ideal that is meant to aid equality and justice, however which is totally oblivious about the need for a collective drive by both gender even for the sake of democratic interpretations.
The schema of the female gender ingrained in our short term and long term memories see culture as part of our knowledge base and has perpetuated a patriachial regime of male dominance which has often been reflected in texts even in our constitution which is supposed to be a constitution without deliberate leanings or preferred/dominant masculine connotations.
Even in a country like India where Out of 389 members of the Constituent Assembly at-least 15 women had a hand in creating the Constitution of India. seventy five countries undertook constituion reform in the wake of conflict between 1990 and 2015, but only 1 in 5 constitution drafters is a woman.
Women are the single largest group excluded from constitution-making processes. Just 19 percent of members of constitution-reform bodies between 1990 and 2015 were women. Despite increasing attention to women’s roles in processes in recent years and mounting evidence of positive outcomes when women exert influence yet women’s roles in constitutional reform remain poorly understood.
The limitation of the nigerian women has time immemorial been both contextual and sociological which makes it even more difficult to summarily adjudge it as just a problem of exclusion in the political space but even more so an excommunication of a minority group and a disadvantaged population.
With the interpretation of our constitution, the fervent call of bridging the gap by looking at its nomenclature obviously is founded on the precedents and not just the bias.
On march 8th 2020 The theme for that year’s International women’s day(month) in march was #EachforEqual and i recall the ceremonial statement by the senate president Fr Ahmed Lawan, who said it is only fair that women get the fairest share of participation in governance with the kind of percentage of the population they occupy.
Before that we have had several commemorations for the international women’s day and the call to open the space and create an enabling environment for women as far back as 2016 with recent themes that included, #ChoosetoChallenge 2021, #EachforEqual in 2020, #BalanceforBetter in 2019,In 2018 was #PressforProgress, 2017 theme was #BeBoldforChange, and the 2016 theme was #PledgeforParity. Yet over the years with all the demands made by the Nigerian women and the emphatic interventions and engagements made these commemorations for Nigeria and the parliament has been nothing but cosmetic and a day for gender appropriate statements.
March 8th 2022, the year women marched to demand their stakes in a democracy that was skewed against them, a march that commenced demystification of the cowardice in the outcome of the presentation of the gender bills, is one of the most unprecedented unified call by the nigerian women to demand that their rights and their lives count, this was not just a solidarity march but a march to demascluinize our constitution and the Nigerian parliament to rescind and recall the 5 Gender bills as a whole which bothered from the extra seat bill, 35% affirmative action for women in political party structure and also in appointive positions, Citizenship and indigenship bill and the Gender and equal opportunities bill.
Lessons to be learned going forward it is important that women must begin to mobilize early, the rules for electing or appointing members to a constitution-making body are frequently established early in a transition process. Women typically succeed in gaining access when they present a joint front and advocate for inclusion long before the election or nomination process begins.
Women must also understand the negotiating context and get creative.
When women have a clear understanding of the constitution-making process, key actors, and major interests, they will frequently find creative ways to overcome obstacles to their influence from convincing dominant players that their interests are aligned to blocking procedures until negotiators agree to include women in their delegations.
it is also important for international donors and those offering technical assistance to support more inclusive constitution-making processes by providing flexible funding and support for women’s early mobilization initiatives. They should also increase assistance for training initiatives focused on advocacy and strategic messaging and these should accommodate a range of women’s perspectives, while facilitating consensus on shared priorities.
As we continue to hold up the conversation, interrogate the odds and break the biases that limits women in Nigeria , it is note worthy to commend the nigerian women on all fronts for their resilience,
their indefatigable spirit to dismantle the bonds of patriarchy on our democracy.
For reviews and comments
Email: askgenderagenda@gmail.com
Instargram @talk2adaora
facebook@Adaora onyechere
Twitter@talk2adaora.
