No Political System Thrives Much Better without Women, Says Taiwo Dominic

Gender inequality is a universal challenge that continues to affect virtually every aspect of multifaceted society. Gender mainstreaming is a serious issue that begs for answers but how will the society understand the roles of women in politics and other strata of human endeavor when men failed to give them a chance. This resonate the words of Mr. Taiwo Dominic, the Head of Department, Politics and Human Rights of Justice, Development and Peace Movement (JDPM) Oyo who was the guest speaker at the Merit Award, Presentation and Public Lecture marking the First Anniversary of Golden Sisters Club held at the Iseyin City Hall on 21st September,2019.

According to him “as you all know, democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Both males and females could involve in democracy; politics and governance and decision making. However, the politicians of these days have eroded democratic institutions, democratic norms and democratic practices to a serious degree that would take decades to rebuild. But the rebuild starts with all of us here today”.

He said that Nigeria democracy is still weak because of some factors like exclusion, gender insensitivity, electoral malpractices that led to mob rule, corruption among others, adding that there are no two ways about the poor situation; rather there is a need to strengthen Nigeria’s democracy for our common good by stopping undemocratic attitudes.

The speaker alluded the female intellectual acumen citing the cases of Margret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , Dr (Mrs) Okonjo Iweala, late Dora Akunyili, Margaret Ekpo, Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti, Grace Alele Williams among others as part of women who distinguished themselves from the onlooker and shook their generation with dazzling feminine power.

Mr Taiwo maintained that democracy is a system of government that abhors gender segregation in politics, governance and decision making but the dominance of males in Nigeria’s politics, governance and decision making is an abnormality.

“Thousands of women effectively participate in the political party system as mobilizers, campaign officers and the so-called political foot soldiers during electioneering campaign; but marginally participate in decision making and governance processes. The bad attitude makes the nation lose the values of women’s contributions to the community building. In fact, the exclusion of women and any other group from the politics, governance and decision-making process is a negation of the true values of a democratic society”

He, however, suggested that for any society to run democracy successfully and productively, women should be visible and active in politics-as functional members of party executives at the Ward, Local Government, State and National Level beyond just being women leaders, women should be elected or appointed into the position of authority at the Ward, Local Governments, State and National Levels, they could be appointed Chairpersons or Secretary of a political party at the local governments, Supervisors of any department at the local government or Commissioner at the state level or Minister at the National Level.

He commended the organizers for the initiative where women from Iseyin, Iwajowa, Itesiwaju and Kajola LGAs come together to discuss ideas that could bring political and community development to the region. Mr Taiwo Dominic appealed to the male politicians and other invited guests to give women a chance rather than excluding them from various positions because no political system thrives much better without women.

While rounding off his lecture, he charged women who wishes to be elected(recognized) and appointed in politics, governance and decision-making process to be responsible wives, diplomatic and good leaders, get necessary education such as taking up public speaking classes, stayed updated on the latest happenings in their communities, state and national level, connect with community leaders, use social media politely, create political marketing and learn from successful and unfulfilled female politicians.

Recognizing women attitudes and zero tolerance for many things that men can do freely without much condemnation , Mr. Taiwo Dominic admonished the women to remain united. He added, women compete with themselves, dress for themselves, jealous of themselves and in fact look for easiest way to out-do themselves. You should do away with “Pull Him Down Syndromes” and the best way to achieve this is to keep connections alive; call up old friends and chat them up, organize picnic for relaxations, organize discourse or talk at intervals to be politically abreast of the trends.

He appealed to political parties to rewrite the “software” of their political logic and features in favor of women to change the “Print out” of the relevance of the parties because women possess an enormous reservoir of potentials that political parties could access to achieve a greater relevant extra-ordinary results.