Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Glass Ceiling is Concrete: Women in Politics from Margaret Ekpo to the 35% Affirmative Action

The Glass Ceiling is Concrete: Women in Politics from Margaret Ekpo to the 35% Affirmative Action

The story of Nigerian women in politics is written in the stubborn grammar of resistance—a syntax of struggle against systems designed to exclude, diminish, and silence. From the market squares of Aba to the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly, women have consistently demonstrated that political participation isn't a privilege to be granted but a right to be claimed. Yet the journey from Margaret Ekpo's defiant activism to the contemporary battle for the 35% affirmative action reveals a troubling truth: the glass ceiling in Nigerian politics isn't made of fragile transparency but of reinforced concrete, fortified by patriarchal traditions, institutional barriers, and systemic indifference.

Historical Foundations: The Pre-Colonial Legacy

Long before colonial administrators drew arbitrary lines across maps, women across Nigeria's diverse societies exercised significant political influence. In the Igbo land, the Omu (female counterpart to the Obi) held veto power over decisions affecting women and controlled markets—the economic lifeblood of communities. Among the Yoruba, the Iyalode served as the supreme female chief, representing women's interests in the highest councils. These traditional systems recognized that governance without women's voices wasn't just incomplete but fundamentally flawed.

"The Omu of Onitsha held authority that complemented rather than competed with male leadership. Her decisions on market regulations, women's affairs, and community welfare carried the weight of law, demonstrating that pre-colonial societies understood the necessity of gender-balanced governance." —

The colonial encounter systematically dismantled these indigenous political structures, replacing them with patriarchal systems that marginalized women from formal political participation. British indirect rule privileged male traditional rulers, effectively writing women out of the political script. This historical erasure created a foundational imbalance that continues to shape Nigeria's political lands Pioneers: Margaret Ekpo and the First Generation

Margaret Ekpo's political awakening came not from academic theory but from lived experience of injustice. When her husband, a doctor, was denied promotion in favor of a less qualified European colleague, she understood that political power was the key to challenging systemic discrimination. Her journey from the Women's Wing of the NCNC to becoming the first woman in the Eastern Regional House of Assembly exemplifies the strategic navigation required of women in a male-dominated arena.

The Aba Women's War as Political Genesis

The 1929 Women's War, often mischaracterized as a simple tax protest, represented a sophisticated political mobilization that combined traditional protest methods with emerging nationalist consciousness. Women across southeastern Nigeria organized across ethnic lines, using traditional signaling systems to coordinate simultaneous actions in multiple locations. Their demands went beyond immediate grievances about taxation to question the fundamental legitimacy of colonial authority.

"We didn't make war with guns and bullets. We made war with our bodies, our voices, our cooking pots. When the white man thought he could tax our lives without our consent, we showed him that Nigerian women are the foundation upon which society stands." — Oral history account from participant's descendant

The colonial response—shooting unarmed women—revealed the depth of threat that organized female political power represented to patriarchal systems. This violent suppression established a pattern of responding to women's political mobilization with force rather than dialogue.

The Post-Independence Retreat: Constitutional Exclusion

Independent Nigeria's constitutional framework systematically excluded women from political participation. The 1960 and 1963 constitutions contained no provisions for gender equality, while the political parties that emerged operated as boys' clubs where women were relegated to auxiliary roles. The few women who broke through, like Wuraola Esan who became the first female senator in 1960, faced constant questioning of their legitimacy and capability.

The Military Interregnum: Further Marginalization

Military rule from 1966 to 1999 exacerbated women's political exclusion. The authoritarian nature of military governance privileged masculine notions of authority and decision-making. While a few women like Ebun Oyagbola served as ministers, their appointments often reflected personal connections rather than systematic inclusion.

The structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s had particularly devastating effects on women's political participation. As economic crisis forced women into survival mode, political engagement became a luxury few could afford. The contraction of the public sector, where women had found some professional advancement, further limited pathways to political influence.

The Democratic Era: Progress and Persistent Barriers

The return to democracy in 1999 created new opportunities but also revealed the resilience of patriarchal resistance. The number of women in the National Assembly has never exceeded 7%, placing Nigeria among the worst-performing nations in Africa for women's political representation. Comparative analysis reveals stark contrasts:

The 35% Affirmative Action Struggle

Yet, the campaign for 35% affirmative action represents the most organized effort to dismantle the concrete ceiling. Originating from Nigeria's commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action, the demand for 35% women in appointive positions has become a central feminist political objective. Yet implementation has been consistently sabotaged through various mechanisms:

Legal Frameworks and Loopholes
The National Gender Policy (2006) explicitly recommends 35% affirmative action, but its non-binding nature renders it largely symbolic. Political parties routinely ignore their own constitutional provisions regarding women's representation, knowing there are no meaningful consequences.

Financial Barriers and the Political Economy of Exclusion
Indeed, the monetization of Nigerian politics creates insurmountable barriers for most women. Primary nomination forms for major parties can cost between ₦20-50 million for presidential aspirants—sums that reflect deliberate exclusion rather than mere revenue generation.

"When they told me the expression of interest form was ₦22 million, I laughed. Then I realized they weren't joking. They've priced women out of the market because they know we don't have access to the kind of money men can raise from government contracts and questionable sources." — Former female senatorial aspirant

Violence and Intimidation
Women candidates face unique forms of political violence beyond physical attacks. Character assassination, cyberbullying, and threats to family members create a hostile environment that discourages participation. The normalization of this violence reflects deeper societal tolerance for suppressing women's political ambitions.

Case Studies in Breakthrough and Backlash

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala: The Exception

Okonjo-Iweala's trajectory demonstrates both the possibilities and limitations of women's political leadership in Nigeria. Her international credibility and technical expertise forced open doors that remain closed to most women. Yet her experience as finance minister also revealed the particular scrutiny and resistance women leaders face:

"Every decision I made was questioned not just on its merits but through the lens of my gender. When male colleagues made tough economic decisions, they were being 'firm.' When I did the same, I was being 'difficult' or 'emotional.' The vocabulary of evaluation is never gender-neutral." — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Her eventual departure from Nigerian politics for international roles reflects the "brain drain" of female political talent when domestic systems prove too resistant to change.

The #Women4Women Campaign: Collective Action Innovation

The 2019 elections saw the emergence of innovative strategies to overcome financial and structural barriers. The #Women4Women crowdfunding initiative supported female candidates across party lines, gender struggle transcends political affiliations. This approach challenged the individualistic, money-driven model of Nigerian politics:

While the initiative achieved limited success in terms of electoral victories, it demonstrated the potential of alternative political financing models and created networks of solidarity that continue to shape women's political organising.

The Intersectional Dimension: Multiple Marginalizations

The experience of women in Nigerian politics can't be understood through a single-axis gender analysis. The intersection of gender with ethnicity, religion, class, and disability creates compound barriers that require nuanced responses.

Northern Nigeria: Navigating Patriarchy and Religion

Women in northern states face unique challenges rooted in conservative interpretations of religion and stronger patriarchal traditions. Yet leaders like Senator Aisha Alhassan demonstrated that these barriers aren't insurmountable. Her political success in Taraba State, while controversial, revealed the complex negotiation women must undertake between cultural expectations and political ambition.

• The baobab's deep and ancient roots
• Hold fast the soil of old commands.
• Yet green shoots break the sun-baked ground,
• A stubborn hope in dusted lands.
• The wind may twist the tender form,
• But can't stop the coming storm.

ce and religious authorities in northern states often serve as instruments for limiting women's public participation. yet, women's groups like the Federation of Muslim Women's Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) have developed sophisticated strategies for working within religious frameworks to expand political space.

Women with Disabilities: Double Invisibility

The political exclusion of women with disabilities represents one of the most severe democratic deficits. Physical inaccessibility of political spaces combines with societal prejudice to create near-total marginalization. Organisations like the Disability Rights Advocacy Centre document how women with disabilities are systematically excluded from party politics, electoral processes, and political appointments.

Economic Dimensions: The Cost of Political Participation

The financial barriers to women's political participation reflect broader economic inequalities. Women's concentration in the informal sector and limited access to capital create structural disadvantages that political parties exploit through exorbitant nomination fees.

The Care Economy as Political Barrier

Indeed, the unequal distribution of domestic and care work creates temporal constraints that limit women's political participation. While male politicians can devote unlimited time to political activities, women must balance political ambitions with societal expectations regarding childcare and household management.

"I had to choose between being present for my children's formative years and pursuing my political career. My male colleagues never faced that choice—their wives handled the domestic sphere while they focused on politics. The system is designed for men who have women supporting them." — Former female House of Representatives member

Generational Shifts: Youth and Digital Mobilization

Young women are deploying digital tools to circumvent traditional barriers to political participation. Social media platforms have become alternative political spaces where young women can build followings, articulate agendas, and challenge established narratives without going through gatekept traditional media.

The Feminist Coalition and New Political Imagination

The 2020 #EndSARS protests showcased a new generation of women political actors. The Feminist Coalition's coordination of protest logistics and funding demonstrated organizational capability that shamed established political institutions. Their approach—transparent, efficient, and inclusive—offered a glimpse of an alternative political culture.

Comparative Perspectives: Learning from African Success Stories

Nigeria's abysmal performance on women's political representation stands in stark contrast to progress in other African nations. Rwanda's 61% female parliamentary representation demonstrates that rapid transformation is possible with political will and appropriate mechanisms.

Rwanda's Lesson: Constitutional Engineering

Rwanda's post-genocide constitutional reforms included mandatory gender quotas that have produced the world's highest percentage of women in parliament. This achievement reflects not just numerical compliance but substantive representation, with women driving legislative agendas on health, education, and family law.

"The Rwandan experience proves that when you design political systems intentionally to include women, you get better governance outcomes. Our recovery from genocide required all our talent—male and female. Nigeria with its enormous population can't afford to exclude half its brainpower." — Rwandan women's rights advocate

The 35% Affirmative Action: Implementation Challenges

The struggle for 35% affirmative action has exposed the gap between rhetorical commitment and practical implementation. President Muhammadu Buhari's first-term cabinet included only 15% women, while his second term began with just 14%—less than half the promised target.

Resistance Strategies and Countermeasures

Opponents of affirmative action deploy various strategies to maintain the status quo.

The Smokescreen**
The argument that appointments should be based on "merit" ignores how the current system routinely privileges connections over competence. The definition of merit itself reflects masculine norms and excludes qualities associated with feminine leadership.

Federal Character as Obstacle
The federal character principle, designed to ensure geographical representation, often works against gender equity. Political negotiations over regional balance typically occur entirely among male power brokers, with women treated as afterthoughts.

Pathways to Transformation: Beyond Symbolic Inclusion

Achieving meaningful women's political participation requires moving beyond tokenism to transform political culture and institutions. Several strategic pathways show promise:

Constitutional and Legal Reform

Amending the constitution to include gender equality provisions and make affirmative action mandatory would provide the legal foundation for transformation. The ongoing constitutional review process represents a critical opportunity that women's groups are strategically engaging.

Political Party Transformation

As the gatekeepers to political office, parties must be compelled to reform their internal processes. Legislation requiring parties to achieve minimum gender thresholds in candidate selection could leverage their self-interest in electoral success to drive change.

Economic Empowerment Linkages

Connecting political participation to economic empowerment initiatives recognizes that women can't compete in monetized politics without financial resources. Microcredit programmes specifically for women politicians and businesswomen interested in politics could help level the playing field.

The Democratic Imperative: Why Women's Participation Matters

The exclusion of women from political power isn't just a women's issue but a democratic deficit with consequences for governance quality and development outcomes. Research consistently shows that women's political participation correlates with:

• Increased education spending and outcomes
• Improved healthcare access, particularly maternal and child health
• Reduced corruption and enhanced transparency
• More inclusive policy-making that addresses community needs

"When women lead, they bring different priorities and approaches to governance. The concrete ceiling in Nigerian politics isn't just holding back women—it's holding back the entire nation from achieving its potential." — Governance researcher

The Party Structure: Gatekeepers of Political Power

Nigerian political parties function as the primary gatekeepers to elective office, yet their internal structures remain overwhelmingly hostile to women. The major parties APC and PDP both contain constitutional provisions nominally supporting women's participation, but these clauses lack enforcement mechanisms and are routinely ignored. Party primaries, where candidates are actually selected, operate as opaque transactions dominated by male elders and moneyed interests.

The delegate system itself disadvantages women. Most delegates are long-standing party members, a demographic skewed heavily toward older men who have controlled party machinery for decades. Women who join parties hoping to contest elections often find themselves shut out of delegate selection processes, unable to build the relationships necessary to secure nominations. A 2023 survey by the Centre for Democracy and Development found that 78% of female aspirants reported encountering "unofficial" financial demands from delegates demands that far exceeded official nomination fees and operated as deliberate exclusion mechanisms.

Party women's wings, intended to support female candidates, often function as ornamental rather than instrumental bodies. They organise rallies, coordinate women's votes for male candidates, and mobilise support during elections, but rarely control resources or influence candidate selection. This auxiliary role reflects a broader pattern in Nigerian politics: women are welcomed as foot soldiers but barred from the general staff.

"The party women's wing gave me a uniform and a title, but when I asked for support to contest the House of Representatives, they told me to wait my turn. I've been waiting fifteen years. My turn never comes." — Former party women's leader, Enugu State, 2023

Media Representation: Framing the Female Politician

The Nigerian media plays a contradictory role in women's political participation simultaneously amplifying and undermining female candidates. Coverage of women politicians consistently emphasises personal appearance, marital status, and maternal qualities over policy positions and legislative records. A 2024 media monitoring study by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism found that coverage of female candidates contained 3.2 times more references to physical appearance and family life than coverage of male candidates.

This framing has real electoral consequences. Voters exposed to appearance-focused coverage rate female candidates lower on competence and leadership scales, even when identical policy positions are presented. The media's obsession with "likeability" for women while accepting abrasive behaviour from men creates a double bind: women who project toughness are criticised as unfeminine, while those who emphasise warmth are dismissed as insufficiently commanding.

Social media has complicated this landscape. While digital platforms allow women to bypass traditional gatekeepers and communicate directly with voters, they also expose candidates to unprecedented levels of harassment and abuse. Female politicians report that social media attacks focus disproportionately on their sexuality, appearance, and family choices tactics designed to intimidate and delegitimise rather than debate policy differences.

Legislative Performance: Beyond Numbers

The debate over women's political participation often focuses on numerical representation, but the quality of that representation matters equally. The few women who have secured seats in the National Assembly have compiled a remarkable legislative record despite operating in hostile environments. Senator Abiodun Olujimi's sponsorship of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, Representative Nkeiruka Onyejeocha's advocacy for constituency development funding, and Senator Stella Oduah's interventions on infrastructure policy demonstrate that women legislators bring substantive priorities that differ from their male counterparts.

Research on legislative behaviour confirms this pattern. Women parliamentarians in Nigeria are significantly more likely to sponsor bills on health, education, and social protection, while their male colleagues concentrate on infrastructure and defence. This difference is not biologically determined but reflects the different life experiences that women bring to policymaking. A mother who has navigated Nigeria's failing healthcare system approaches health policy with different urgency than a man whose family uses private hospitals.

Yet measuring legislative performance is complicated by the informal power structures that dominate Nigerian politics. Much of the real decision-making occurs in party caucuses, committee chairmanships, and backroom negotiations from which women are often excluded. A woman may sponsor excellent legislation, but if she lacks the relationships to move it through committee, the bill dies. This invisible dimension of political power means that increasing women's numbers without transforming political culture may produce symbolic rather than substantive change.

Electoral Violence and Women's Safety

Physical violence represents the most direct barrier to women's political participation in Nigeria. Election periods see heightened gender-based violence, with female candidates, campaign workers, and voters facing targeted intimidation. The 2023 elections recorded over 340 verified incidents of violence against women in politics, ranging from physical assault to destruction of campaign materials to sexual harassment at polling stations.

This violence serves a deliberate political function. By creating an environment of fear, perpetrators aim to deter women from contesting elections and discourage female voters from exercising their franchise. The message is unmistakable: political participation is dangerous for women, and those who persist do so at their own risk. Unlike male candidates who face primarily political opposition, women encounter violence designed to remind them that they have transgressed gender boundaries.

Security agencies have proven largely ineffective in protecting women candidates. Police response to reports of gender-based electoral violence is often slow or nonexistent, with officers sometimes dismissing complaints as "domestic matters" unworthy of serious attention. The lack of specialised training for election security personnel on gender-sensitive protection leaves women vulnerable at the precise moments when democratic participation matters most.

"They burned my campaign posters, threatened my children, and slashed the tyres on my car. When I reported to the police, the officer asked what I expected since I was a woman trying to do a man's job. The state that should protect me blamed me for seeking office." — Former local government aspirant, Kogi State, 2023

Building the Pipeline: From Student Politics to National Office

Nigeria lacks the structured political apprenticeship systems that prepare women for national leadership. In many democracies, student government, local council service, and civil society activism create pipelines that feed talented individuals into higher office. Nigerian women are systematically excluded from these developmental pathways at every stage.

University student politics remains overwhelmingly male-dominated, with women often confined to "social secretary" and "welfare officer" positions rather than president or speaker. These early exclusions have long-term consequences: research shows that student political experience significantly predicts later electoral success. By denying women leadership roles in campus politics, Nigeria effectively filters out potential female candidates before they ever enter the formal political arena.

Civil society offers an alternative pathway, and Nigerian women have built remarkable organisations that advocate for gender equality, human rights, and social justice. Yet the transition from civil society activism to electoral politics remains rare and difficult. The skills that make an effective advocate, fundraising, media engagement, coalition-building, differ from those required for party negotiation, constituency service, and legislative manoeuvring. Without structured bridging programmes, talented women activists remain outside the political institutions they seek to transform.

International Partnerships and External Pressure

International development partners have increasingly made gender equality a condition for aid and investment, creating external pressure that Nigerian institutions cannot entirely ignore. The World Bank's Gender Strategy 2024-2030 explicitly ties lending to measurable gender outcomes, while the African Development Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative channels capital to female entrepreneurs. These programmes represent a form of external conditionality that supplements domestic advocacy.

The European Union's Gender Action Plan III requires that 85% of all new EU external actions contribute to gender equality and women's empowerment. For Nigeria, which receives significant EU development assistance, this target creates incentives for government agencies to demonstrate gender-responsive programming. Similar conditions attach to funding from the United Nations, bilateral donors, and private foundations. While critics decry this as foreign interference, advocates argue that external pressure fills the gap left by weak domestic accountability mechanisms.

Yet international partnerships also carry risks. Gender programmes designed in Washington, Brussels, or Addis Ababa may fail to account for Nigerian specificities, producing cookie-cutter interventions that ignore local power dynamics. The most effective partnerships combine international resources with Nigerian expertise, allowing local women's organisations to design and implement programmes while external funders provide flexible, long-term support.

The Cost of Exclusion: Measuring What Nigeria Loses

Women's exclusion from political power carries quantifiable costs that extend far beyond abstract democratic theory. The Inter-Parliamentary Union's research demonstrates that parliaments with higher female representation spend more on education, health, and social protection, the very sectors where Nigeria performs worst. The underrepresentation of women in Nigeria's National Assembly thereby translates directly into underinvestment in human development.

Economist Dr. Ngozi N. has calculated that Nigeria's gender gap in political representation costs the economy approximately $15 billion annually in foregone productivity and inefficient resource allocation. This estimate reflects the lower prioritisation of health and education in male-dominated budgets, the reduced foreign direct investment that gender inequality signals to global markets, and the brain drain of talented women who emigrate rather than fight for recognition in a hostile system. Political exclusion is not merely unjust; it is expensive.

The security implications are equally significant. Research from the United Nations Development Programme confirms that gender inequality correlates strongly with state fragility and conflict risk. Nations that systematically exclude women from governance experience longer, more destructive civil wars and slower post-conflict recovery. Nigeria's ongoing security crises, from Boko Haram in the Northeast to banditry in the Northwest to separatist tensions in the Southeast, cannot be fully understood without examining how the exclusion of half the population from political problem-solving has limited the state's capacity to respond.

"When women are absent from peace negotiations, the agreements fail. When women are absent from security planning, the intelligence gaps multiply. Nigeria cannot stabilise itself while excluding the very people who understand community dynamics best." — Dr. Funmi O., conflict researcher, Abuja, 2023

Conclusion: From Concrete to Catalyst

The journey from Margaret Ekpo to the 35% affirmative action struggle reveals both the resilience of patriarchal resistance and the determined ingenuity of women's political organising. The concrete ceiling remains formidable, but cracks are appearing—opened by legal challenges, digital mobilization, intergenerational solidarity, and persistent advocacy.

Still, the transformation of Nigerian democracy requires nothing less than the dism. Not through gentle persuasion but through strategic pressure, legal compulsion, and cultural transformation. The full participation of women in political life isn't a concession t

Political power shapes the laws, but laws alone cannot shield women from the violence of customary practice. The 35% affirmative action debate rages in Abuja while, in village squares across Alaigbo, widows still face property grabbing and humiliating rites. The distance between legislative ambition and lived reality has never been greater, and bridging it requires confronting the customs that statutory law has yet to touch.

Sources

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