RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO PARTICIPATE IN ELECTIONS VIS-À-VIS THE ELECTORAL ACT 2022: MYTH AND REALITY

Abstract

The bane and clog in the wheel of women socio-political and socio-economic development had surfaced since antiquity of patriarchal hegemony. Even as organization and government of human society has been bedeviled with series of transformations and much now is the democratic setting, the problem subsists. The prospect is believed to have anchorage on women’s engagement in government leadership through the electoral process. However, the prospect is short-lived with a less viable electoral law in addressing women’s participation in the electoral process. Stakeholders from different quarters have identified the loopholes in the electoral laws and espoused the call for amendment, just like the case of the recent electoral law amendment. However, unsolved puzzle is whether the new electoral law would address this problem of poor women participation in the electoral process. Therefore, the broad aim of this study was to examine the rights of women to participate in elections vis-à-vis the new Electoral Act based on the myth and reality. The main sources of data collection were various legal documents and materials, both from the library and internet. The finding of the study, among others, was that the new electoral law, though in perspective, has not made any remarkable input to the perennial agitations of women for effective and increase participation in elections. Recommendations followed, among others, that obnoxious legislation, judicial decisions reached per incuriam, and customary law repugnant to natural justice should be manifestly jettisoned and a new course of action and approach be taken to effectively combat women’s challenges in politics and practically integrate them accordingly. It was concluded that women on their own should play their roles with all sincerity of purpose and they should be able to give good and qualitative leadership when called upon to take positions of power just like they are expected to do in the home front. Finally, this study was not just significant to scholars of jurisprudence, feminism and human rights, but also to legal practitioners, politicians and socio-political scientists, as well as the judges/justices in any case relating to women electoral rights.