WOMEN AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN CROSS RIVER STATE: THE CROSS RIVER SOUTHERN SENATORIAL DISTRICT EXPERIENCE IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC
Abstract
This study examines women’s participation in the political process in a rather patriarchal setting using the Cross River Southern Senatorial District women’s experience in the Fourth Republic. Discrimination against women is exhibited in all aspects of human relations and manifests in different forms including socio-cultural, economic, religious, and most significantly political. Democratic development requires active political engagement. Consequently, democracy entails ensuring equal opportunities for men and women to cultivate their abilities. Politics is a game of numbers and women have numerical superiority that transforms into electoral victory. However, despite the numeric advantage, women are consigned to subordinate positions. The work adopts a multilateral approach to historical reconstruction relying on both primary and secondary sources. The study observes that the history of political transformation in Nigeria is brimmed with problems of male dominance and women's tokenism in involvement in public dealing. This paper concludes that Nigerian women especially those in the study area, are defying the glass ceiling hitherto inhibiting the mainstreaming of women in the political process.