{"id":51352,"date":"2023-03-13T11:11:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T10:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/?p=51352"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:11:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T10:11:18","slug":"lack-of-support-few-resources-and-cultural-beliefs-the-main-reasons-for-the-low-number-of-women-candidates-in-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/lack-of-support-few-resources-and-cultural-beliefs-the-main-reasons-for-the-low-number-of-women-candidates-in-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Lack of support, few resources and cultural beliefs the main reasons for the low number of women candidates in elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

ElectHER, a non-governmental organisation that champions the inclusion of women in politics, has said it is disappointed by the number of women who ran for parliamentary seats in the recent general elections, saying the number was lower than in previous years.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It said for the Senate, the percentage of women running decreased by 4% and that only 8.6% of the candidates were women.<\/p>\n

Only one woman candidate stood for the presidential election and there were no women running mates.<\/p>\n

In the governorship elections, which are being held on Saturday, March 18, of the 416 candidates, only 6% are women.<\/p>\n

In the northeast of the country Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed is running for governor in Adamawa state. She is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is expected to win the seat.<\/p>\n

Kaltum Ja\u2019afaru, a women\u2019s rights activist in Maiduguri, told RNI that few women took part in politics, particularly in the northeast region. She said women did not get the support or resources needed and there were cultural factors that also played a part.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery few women get involved in politics. They don\u2019t buy or get tickets to contest an election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf women do participate, they are normally from the smaller political parties. Women who stand for election in the larger parties tend to be sidelined and do not get the same kind of support that men get.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome years ago, I stood as a candidate for the house of assembly in Borno State. Unfortunately, I did not have enough support and I did not succeed. I just had to accept it.<\/p>\n

\u201cResources play a key role. You see an able woman who has what it takes to lead and is perfectly fit for a job in politics, but that journey requires capital and most women do not have the funds to sponsor themselves and political parties prefer to support male candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cA woman cannot do it alone, she needs the support of men. If she has that support, she can succeed in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur culture also does not support women in leadership positions and this discourages women from taking part in politics and elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bauchi Sheikh Idris Abdul-Aziz, a scholar in Bauchi, said: \u201cReligion does not recognise women as leaders. There were no women leaders in the time of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and that cannot be changed now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A scholar in Kano, Dr Sheikh Sani Umar Rijiyan Lemu, said: \u201cIn history, women are not recognised as leaders who can rule a huge crowd of people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory has shown that women have contributed to the successes and development of society in different roles \u2013 just not leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He advised the public to support and encourage women in the things they did but said that women should not be further burdened by having to focus on leadership roles.<\/p>\n

Residents of Maiduguri had mixed feelings about women getting involved in politics and many still believed that politics should be left to men to handle.<\/p>\n

Muhammad told RNI reporter Rukaiya Ahmed Alibe that it was important for women to have a say in the running of the country because they were more peaceful and understanding by nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen can vote but I don\u2019t think it is in their nature to become politicians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fanna said: \u201cIn my opinion, a woman can\u2019t do what a man is able to do. A man should lead because when a woman leads no one takes much notice of her. A woman\u2019s job is to cook and look after the family because that is what women are good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muhammad M Kolo said: \u201cWoman leadership can be a problem although in some situations they are able to find solutions. But politics is really a man\u2019s world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bintu Bukar said: \u201cI don\u2019t believe women should take on leadership roles. How can a woman lead society? No, definitely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hajja Yana disagreed, saying: \u201cIt is possible for women to lead and I would be happy for a woman to take power. Once a person has been elected, even if she is a woman, I will follow her lead. If she wins an election, it shows that she can lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hajja Falmata said: \u201cIt is good if a woman is able and is given the opportunity to rule because it will be an advantage for all the other women in society. Women know and understand the problems that affect us. Women are more likely to understand, listen and provide solutions. There should be more women in leadership roles so that they can fight for the rights of all women.\u201d<\/p>\n

AISHA SD JAMAL<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ElectHER, a non-governmental organisation that champions the inclusion of women in politics, has said it is disappointed by the number of women who ran for parliamentary seats in the recent general elections, saying the number was lower than in previ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":51128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51352"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51353,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51352\/revisions\/51353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ndarason.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}