Times when issues of gender equality are raised, like the
proverbial dry bone story that gets the elderly agitated, it is usually greeted
with disdain and so, considered contemptible.

While some people see the idea as ambiguous, with a disguised
posture that renders its supposed and potential embracers a bit skeptical about
its workability, others consider it an aberration which, of course, should be
nipped in the bud, so that it does not corrode the system eventually.

And like the slave master that would stop at nothing to
ensure the retention of his slaves against the popular clamour for freedom from
slavery and injustice, the whole idea of “gender equality,’ seems to smack of
‘rebellious revolution’ hence condemnable in its entirety.

Perhaps, this distorted notion of an idea devoid of any
sinister suggestion, may have immensely contributed to the delay in adopting a
course that had been ratified some decades ago by the United Nations and
African Union for the good of our polity.

Against this background, the National Coalition on
Affirmative Action (NCAA) Rivers State branch, recently organized a one day
constituency forum on Gender and Equal Opportunities bill basically to
interpret and explain to an understandable term, what the bill represents.

The one day meeting which was graced by Non-governmental
organizations, civil society organisations, politicians, the press and
different women groups brainstormed on the facilitation of the passage of the
Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill in Rivers State, a bill that had already
been passed into laws in many other states of the federation.

The National Coalition on Affirmative Action’s NCAA
sponsored Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, is not introducing an entirely
strange agenda or doctrine into the system, rather it seeks to incorporate the
provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the protocol to the African charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Both documents
clearly promote the principles of equality and non-discrimination on the basis
of sex. Once domesticated, they both will have the same force of law in
Nigeria.

CEDAW is a 30-article convention which seeks to implement
the principles set forth in the declaration on the elimination of
discrimination against women and to adopt measures required for the elimination
of such discrimination in all its forms and manifestations.

It defines minimum standards and norms for achieving equal
status of men and women and urges government to adopt measures to speed the
attainment of equality and balance between men and women in all spheres of the
society.

The underlying motivation of the convention is to draw
special attention to the disadvantages suffered by women over the years and to
seek specific priority measures to address the imbalances.

As a strategy to address the long history of discrimination
against women and close the historic gap of imbalance between men and women,
CEDAW recommends affirmative action.

The protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women
in Africa on the other hand, is a special agreement adopted by African
countries under the African Union. It draws inspiration from the African
charter provisions that enshrine the principle of non-discrimination and
provides for the elimination of discrimination against women and ensure the
protection of the rights of women.

The 32-article document amplifies CEDAW’s provisions and
goes beyond them to expand as well as add to the provisions.

The challenge therefore, is to ensure the domestication of
the two instruments in line with section 12 of the constitution of Nigeria
1979.

Hence the purpose of the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill
is primarily to give effect to chapters II and IV of the 1999 constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the International Conventions on Human
Rights which affirms the principle of non-discrimination and proclaim that all
humans are born equal, in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to
all the rights set out without distinction of any kind including distinction
based on sex.

The bill is also expected to give effect to the
domestication of certain aspects of the convention on the elimination of all
forms of discrimination against women and the protocol to the African Charter
on the Right of Women in Africa and the National Gender Policy.

To press home the recommendation of an affirmative action by
CEDAW, as a strategy to address discrimination against women and close the
historic gap of imbalance between men and women, the bill provided that it
shall be mandatory for all organs or agency of government, public or private
institution, commercial or corporate body, community or other entity to ensure:
(1) in the case of political and public sphere, that a minimum of 35 percent of
all offices, positions or appointments is reserved for women.

In the case of employment, credit or other economic sphere
in the public or private, a minimum of 40 percent of all offices, facilities,
positions or appointments is reserved for women.

In the case of educational placement and school enrollment,
including award of scholarships, bursaries or such allocations, a minimum of 50
percent is reserved for women.

In the case of primary school enrolment, all eligible girl
children are to be compulsorily enrolled and retained in school throughout the
school age. In all other cases, a minimum of 35 percent is reserved for women,
etc. As a matter of fact, affirmative action is not new to Nigeria.  there are many forms of affirmative action
which are simply planned action of intervention aimed at redressing any
observed and acknowledged imbalance in any given instance. The federal
character and the geographical spread principles which are already entrenched
in the Nigerian constitution were conscious policies to address the perceived
imbalance in the public administration and governance of Nigeria.

Today, the gains of Federal character affirmative action are
evident in spite of the alleged gross misapplication and abuses along the line.

The demand for 35% affirmative action for women is simply
intended to ensure proportionate representation of the marginalised gender (the
women). This implies that the operation of 35% affirmative action for women in
Nigeria will be discontinued as soon as equitable gender balance in governance
is achieved.

It is no gainsaying therefore the fact that affirmative
action has been a popular government instrument and is very democratic in as
much as it is aimed at ensuring equity, justice and development of all
stakeholders in the policy.

So, the 35% (political) affirmative action for women is not
a novel idea and its benefits will not be gender-specific, all Nigerians will
be the better for it in the long run. Its efficacy as an instrument of growth
and development had been attested to by countries which have adopted it.

Therefore, given the anticipated impact of an equitable
women representation in governance, the quick passage of the Gender and Equal
Opportunities bill in Rivers State becomes imperative.

Top on the way forward is the inclusion of female
politicians into the mainstream of the party structures, male dominance of
party structures due largely to the patriarchal and undemocratic nature of
political parties notwithstanding.

Given the central place of the political parties in the
actualisation of this 35 percent representation of women, it becomes important
that parties be lobbied and duly sensitised to see the need to entrench it
within the party so it could be easier to get the National Assembly to include
it in constitutional and electoral reforms.

The task to get the parties to buy into this agenda as well
as lobby for reforms of electoral laws to include proportional representation
thus has to be intensified now if possible outcomes are to be achieved by 2015.
Strategic also is the idea to have women join political parties en masse and
being very knowledgeable about affirmative action so as to be advocates of it
within their parties as well as seek party posts.

The importance of financial empowerment for women cannot be
overemphasised to enable them vie for political offices and moreso, an
intensified advocacy as well as re-orientation of women’s focus from being mere
followers to being decision makers, so they can have a voice on how their
affairs could be handled.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi