INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA; 2005-2014

Abstract

            This study is on women and political development in Nigeria and covers the period 2005 to 2014. In recent times, there have been a lot of calls to allow women take part in governance. It therefore became necessary to empirically discern whether women play any fundamental role in political development or if the clarion call for women participation in governance is a mere ploy to put in people that would not make positive impact on the society.

               The specific objectives of this study are: to determine how the service of female public office holders impacted on public policies made in Nigeria between 2005 and 2014 and to determine how the representation of women in politics impacted on the political orientation of Nigerian citizens between 2005 and 2014. Following these objectives, the following research questions are raised for this study: First, does the service of female public office holders impact on public policies made in Nigeria between 2005 and 2014? And second, does the representation of women in politics impact on the political orientation of Nigerian citizens between 2005 and 2014?

In our hypotheses we havenull and alternative hypotheses for each question thus; for the first, the hypotheses are: H0 (null): The service of female public office holders did not impact positively on policies made in Nigeria between 2005 and 2014. Hi(alternative): The service of female public office holders impacted positively on policies made in Nigeria between 2005 and 2014. For the second research question, the hypotheses are as follows: H0: The representation of women in politics did not impact positively on the political orientation of Nigerian citizens between 2005 and 2014. Hi: The representation of women in politics impacted positively on the political orientation of Nigerian citizens between 2005 and 2014.

The research design adopted is the survey design and the method of data collection involves the use of questionnaires and secondary sources of data. The Systems theory is the theoretical guide for this work. Quantitative measures like the one-way chi-square and qualitative descriptive measures are adopted for analysis of data.

From the research findings, the alternative hypotheses are upheld and the incorporation of more women into governance is recommended.