Constitution and Legislative Reform

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Udora Orizu chronicles the noteworthy strides being made by the 10th House of Representatives towards improving women’s political representation and end gender based violence in the country.

The 10th House of Representatives, is rekindling hopes of Nigerian women following assurances of legislative reforms to improve women’s political representation, one of which is to revisit the five gender bills rejected during the alteration of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), in  March, 2022.

In any country, the political empowerment of women is generally possible with two routes — the first is to reserve seats for women in legislature by means of legislation and the second is to have provision for quotas for women candidates within political parties while nominating candidates. There are examples for both that have been adopted in various countries, in turn helping women’s political empowerment.

The Indian parliament passed a historic bill that necessitates the lower house of the parliament and the state legislatures to earmark one-third of their seats to women. In terms of women’s representation in politics, India ranks 141 out of 185, marking this reservation bill as a significant reform.

Only 26.5% of the world’s parliamentarians are women, placing the world on the back foot in achieving gender parity, but Namibia could achieve its 50/50 target by 2025.

Gender equality minister Doreen Sioka is confident that this is achievable. 

Nearly 17 months after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, abortion rights supporters celebrated in Ohio after voters added the right to access abortion care to the state’s constitution.