CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND STUDY

Women's involvement in politics and governance has had little impact over the world. This is because of men's attitudes about women, which are founded on theological placing of women as men's companions rather than figure heads, female are referred to as 'Weaker Vessels.' As a result, some responsibilities, such as growth, accomplishment, and choice, have traditionally been assigned to men, while lesser responsibilities, such as cooking, family care, typing, and teaching, have been assigned to women.

In recent years, technological advancements have enabled women to join in previously male-dominated activities. And a lot of time and effort has gone into making females more visible in terms of its contribution to their countries' economies and growth, thus their involvement in politics has been seen as a major goal in country. Women's interests have been pushed to the background, serving as a supportive agent for men, proving the saying that "there is a woman behind every famous man." Because of the aforementioned reasons, society continues to exclude them from certain vocations, believing that as lower beings, they can only be reckoned with after the males. This has had a significant impact on women's engagement in most development programs, particularly politics and governance.

In Nigeria, as in the rest of the globe, society is hesitant to assign women to higher-ranking posts, but latest events have demonstrated that females can perform just as well as their male counterparts. And data demonstrate that some women are more capable than most men, particularly in managerial roles, including politics. Women's education, which had previously been disregarded by community, has gotten greater attention, and this has sparked a greater awareness of the roles women can play in improving the country through active engagement in politics, as they have flocked to vote and be elected for en masse.

The only method for women to achieve self-fulfillment has been via education.

 According to General Babangida (1992) "The main aim why women must be included in the planning process is their numerical power, they are diligent and ambitious, and they are great leaders and helpers especially in government," a former military president of Nigeria said at a conference held. In this context, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, during the Ibrahim Babangida rule in 1988, indicated that the country intended to establish a Women Council to manage women's issues. However, Nigeria did not begin to make systematic attempts to include women affairs and economic planning until the inaugural International Year for Women in 1985.

Admiral Aikhomu's aim was realized in 1988, when the central government established the National Commission for Women by decree No.30 of 1988. The main goal was to eliminate repetition of programs and attempts to increase inter-agency links and supplement similar programs while also establishing sectoral duties to improve Nigerian women's overall wellbeing. States were also told to create women's affairs directorates.

The gender gap in political involvement in the Kogi state legislature remains an undisputable fact of every current societal political structure, and the legitimacy and stability of democracy appear to be in jeopardy unless it is decreased. Even though the raise in proportional representation the process of acting or speaking for the rights and interests of a specific group of women in legislative bodies and other higher levels of government around the world is admirable, it has not resulted in equal political participation and meaningful representation the procedure of acting or talking for the legitimate interests of a specific group of women everywhere.

For example, countries with larger descriptive representations of women in their Houses of Representatives than the United States have substantially lower political engagement from females and rank lower on the women's rights chart than the United States (UN Dispatch, 2018). As a result, research on the gender imbalance in substantive representation and political engagement of women should be conducted. Nigeria, as one of the working to develop countries with a lower rate of female political participation especially in Kogi state despite affirmative action programs such as gender quotas, which require a certain proportion of members of a particular group to be in political positions, provides an ideal political atmosphere in which to investigate the potential explanations for this disparity. Women's lesser political involvement in the country could be due to a gender disparity in political ambition. When scholars look at how gender relates with political involvement, they typically focus on finding evidence of gender bias in electoral processes or harping on the lack of options and funds accessible to women who would like to run for office of the parliament in Kogi state.

However, in their haste to identify structural, social, and organizational hurdles to women's political engagement at the candidacy level, they frequently overlook "ambition," which is what draws a female to politics in the first place. A woman will only have to face the hurdles that arise throughout the process of a campaign once she has developed and acted on such aspiration, presuming there are some obstacles on her road to the office

A strong desire to run for political office creates the framework for a person's eventual election. Such a thing is completely ruled out by a lack of ambition.

Queen Amina of Zaria, a 14th-century Nigerian woman, defined a new role for women by her courage and exceptional leadership. Nigerian women were aware of the political and administrative responsibilities they could play. As a result, many women have participated in politics in the past, particularly during the current administration. It is crucial to recognize that women rising to positions previously held by men is a global phenomena.

These females, along with a few powerful women from many fields of human endeavor, make up a small percentage of the female population who are still uninformed of their rights and the responsibilities they can play in society that are not defined by males. However, efforts to open up the majority of areas, where women are concentrated, have proved extremely difficult.

As a result, even women in Kogi state are aware of what's happening taking place around them. Kogi state under study, through concentrated efforts, established programs to combat violations of women's rights, and a significant number of elective and appointive positions (parliament) were held by women. To further strengthen women in politics, the government led by Olusegun Obasanjo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) abolished all fees imposed on female political candidates in order to allow them to run in coming elections. Females have been encouraged by the Nigerian government, which is still under the 4th Republic system, to come out of their shells and join other females throughout the world in full engagement in party politics. This needed the dispatch of roughly 30 women to Delhi to observe and learn how to build a small-scale industry that would contribute significantly to the country's economic progress. Egonmwan (2014) confirmed developing nations' efforts to include women's involvement in politics as part of the sustainable development plans. The Nigerian government's various programs, such as the Economic Structural Adjustment Program and the Family Support Program (FSP), have greatly aided in advancing the women's cause. Ene (2011) The Better Life Programme's efforts to support the amount of understanding giving women about what their position should be in politics were emphasized. The concept that information dominates the universe has been emphasized since the government's ability would be futile if these ladies did not have access to the necessary information. As a result, President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration made a concerted attempt to reach out to women by younger woman to significant posts at the federal level, such as ministers and director generals. Others, including as state house of assembly members, Speakers, and others, have elective posts in the Legislative Assembly etc. Therefore the study centers on political ambition gap and low representation of Kogi state women in parliament.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The primitive notion of gender relations has harmed women's participation in growth, notably in democratic institutions, in Kogi state in our day. Despite the fact that there are many women in governance, industry, and academia in Nigeria, there is still a historical reluctance among Nigerians, particularly in rural regions, to send their female children to school. Many girls are unskilled and under qualified to hold public office as a result of this situation; however, the opportunity provided by democratic regime has yielded little or no results. It is on this that the study centers on political ambition gap and low representation of kogi state women in parliament.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major purpose of this study is to examine political ambition gap and low representation of kogi state women in parliament. Other general objectives of the study are:

1 To examine gender inequality in Nigerian politics

2 To examine how socio-cultural factor has an influence on the gap of political ambition of women in Kogi state.

3 To examine the relationship between financial and low political representation of women in Kogi state

4 To examine the challenges faced by women participation in politics in Kogi state.

5 To examine possible ways of encourage women participation in Politics in Kogi state.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions shall guide this study and in the course of this research, we shall attempt to find answers to the following questions:

1 what is gender inequality in Nigerian politics?

2 how does socio-cultural factor influence the gap of political ambition of women in Kogi state?

3 What is the relationship between financial factor and low political representation of women in Kogi state?

4 what are the challenges faced by women participation in politics in Kogi state?

5 what are the possible ways of encourage women participation in Politics in Kogi state?

 1.5HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

Hypothesis 1

HO: socio-cultural factor has no significant influence on the gap of political ambition of women in Kogi state

H1: socio-cultural factor has a significant influence on the gap of political ambition of women in Kogi state

Hypothesis 2

HO: there is no significant relationship between financial factor and low political representation of women in Kogi state parliament

H1: there is a significant relationship between financial factor and low political representation of women in Kogi state parliament

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS STUDY

The significance of this study is to encourage women to participate fully in politics. And major problems militating women participation in politics were listed and how these problems can be reduced to enable women full participation in politics were proffered.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study would cover

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The researcher was faced with the following constraints in carrying out this study:

Time: The time within the researcher is too short to carry on the detail study on this topic.

Resources: Another constraint of the researcher is financial resources to carry on the detail study of this topic. Data: Another limitation to this study will be lack of data to make valid study on the research problem.

1.9 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

POLITICAL AMBITION: Political ambition typically means the desire for officeholders to run for a higher office or for those who do not hold office the desire to run. Having ambition is the precursor to exercising ambition; that is, actually running for office

PARLIAMENT: an assembly of the representatives of a political nation or people, often the supreme legislative authority.

WOMAN: A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl. The plural women is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardless of age

PARTICIPATION: the act of joining with others in doing something Class participation counts toward your grade