The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) in Nigeria has said that it is seeking ways to mitigate violence against women in politics and elections in the country.
FIDA President in Nigeria, Mrs Amina Agbaje while speaking at a Capacity building workshop in Ilorin, Kwara state on Wednesday said that the Association is working on provision of evidence based data on incidences of violence that militate against participation of women at identified hotspots by field workers in some focal states in three zones in the country.
According to FIDA President, “This workshop is built on the premise that women constitute a powerful electorate with millions of votes in Nigeria. In the 2019 election, the votes of women accounted for about 47.14 per cent (39,598,645 million) of the 84,004.084 million registered voters nationwide. Comparatively In 2015, 3,667,076 housewives voted in the presidential election, placing next to students (4,480,708) and civil servants (4,628,433).
“Similarly, housewives rank third on the list of registered voters by group in the last 2019 election. They represented 14.10 per cent of the total registered voters by group, next to farmers/fishers (16.23 per cent) and students (26.57 per cent).”
She continued, “We have seemingly recognized that eradication of political violence is key in advancing women political participation as it is of paramount importance to condense political violence before and after elections so that women can fully participate in elections.
“The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in laying credence to this fact have clearly maintained that, elections have triggered outbreaks of violence in which women and girls were victimized which have made women a tool of political harassment and violence before during and after elections. This has made female voters continue to be disproportionately affected by various forms of election-related violence or threats of violence which has the effect of keeping them away from the polling stations more than male voters.
“This workshop will provide the basis for mitigating violence against women in politics and elections through provision of evidence based data on incidences of violence that militate against participation of women at identified hotspots by Field workers. This will be achieved through the deployment of a standardized field instrument known as the VAWE tool to measure safety and security threats against women pre and post elections”, she said.
She said that it is the expectations of Women Lawyers that the findings of the survey would be used as an advocacy tool to existent peace-building architectures in the focal states towards creating a peaceful environment to enable women participation in the general elections and serve as a catalyst towards providing enabling strategies for advanced women political participation in the country.
In her remarks, the Chairperson of FIDA in Kwara state, Mrs Gloria Okoduwa said that 20 field workers were selected to gather data in each of Kwara and Plateau states in North Central, Kaduna state in North West and Borno state in North East.
