Gender Parity and Gender Legislation in Nigeria: An Assessment of Descriptive Representation in the Kwara State Legislature

Abstract

Parliament across the world no doubt remained the cornerstone of all modern democracies. It is an avenue for all elected representatives to convene and deliberate on critical governance issues affecting their constituents. However, the composition of who makes up the assembly has called for concern. The primary objective of this study is to assess the extent to which women’s representation in the Kwara State House of Assembly during the 8th and 9th Assemblies impacted the promotion of gender-related legislation. The study adopted primary and secondary methods while the research design is qualitative. Primary data were obtained from interviews while legislative records, journals, textbooks, articles and surfing of the internet constitute the secondary data source. The total population for the study was 130 purposively sampled respondents. The research findings revealed that there is a strong nexus between female lawmakers and formulation of gender sensitive laws. It also observed that female potentials are not fully tapped as it obtained some other climes owing to some beliefs and practices held by electorates. The study concludes that female representation is essential for sustaining gender legislative priorities. In lieu of this, the research recommends the promotion of women’s political participation through adoption of non-elective seats for female lawmakers, vigorous sensitization to address various forms of myths and misconceptions, capacity building, and institutionalization of gender mainstreaming within legislative processes. The findings reinforce existing theoretical claims that women’s presence in political institutions is pivotal to achieving substantive gender equality in policy making.