The brazen legalisation of gender inequality in Nigeria

Yesterday, March 1, was a sad day for Nigerian women. Despite extensive backend work, lobbying, sensitization, consultation, negotiation, and advocacy, the 9th National Assembly joined previous ones to legislate over and legitimize the discrimination of women. It is particularly worrisome that this happened on the first day of international women’s month, and on the Zero Discrimination Day when the world commemorates and celebrates the right of everyone to live a full and productive life, and live it with dignity and free from discrimination.

Paradoxically, this year’s Zero Discrimination Day is themed “Remove laws that harm, create laws that empower”, highlighting the moral and legal obligation of states to expunge discriminatory laws and enact laws that protect people from discrimination considering that laws determine the different treatments of different people, sometimes resulting in the exclusion of certain people from essential services, coupled with the possibility of being subjected to undue restrictions on the ways they live their lives.

The ongoing review of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution has reached the stage whereby, following the transmission of the harmonised proposed constitutional amendment bills by the joint constitution review committee to both chambers, two-thirds of the total members of each of the senate and house of representatives (HoR) is required for each amendment bill to pass. This was the event that took place yesterday (March 1), as the upper and lower chambers of the national assembly (NASS) simultaneously conducted voting on these amendment bills. It is noteworthy that both chambers are required to vote the same way on a Bill for it to scale through the next stage of the constitutional amendment process, such that if a bill fails in one chamber but passes in another, the Bill still fails. 

Of the 68 Bills proposed for amending different provisions of the 1999 Constitution, five were directly related to gender equality, covering the following:

1. Reserved Seats: This Reserved Seat Bill is to amend, among others, Sections 48, 49, and 71 of the 1999 Constitution to create a total of 111 additional seats for women representatives of their senatorial districts and constituencies, both at the national and state houses of assemblies. With a current NASS of 95.9% men, the rationale for this is to increase the number of women in the NASS without threatening the existing structure. Aimed at increasing the number of women in legislative positions, this quota-type model is currently being implemented in over 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including 13 countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, and Tanzania where the reserved seats approach is adopted. One would think that the co-sponsoring of the Reserved Seat Bill in Nigeria by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, alongside over 100 co-sponsors, would guarantee success; yet the Bill failed to pass with voting recorded as: Senate – Yes: 30, No: 58; and HoR – Yes: 81, No: 208.

2. Citizenship: The amendment bill seeks to provide for citizenship by registration for foreign spouses of Nigerian women by amending Section 26 of the 1999 Constitution, which grants a foreign woman married to a Nigerian man the right to become a Nigerian citizen, whereas the same right is not extended to a foreign man married to a Nigerian woman. By implication, a Nigerian woman cannot transmit her nationality to her foreign husband same way as her male counterpart. With voting recorded as: Senate – Yes: 83, No: 2; and HoR – Yes: 135, No: 143, the Bill failed to pass.

3. Affirmative Action: This bill seeks to amend Section 223 of the 1999 Constitution to provide 35% affirmative action to ensure women occupy at least 35% in political party administration and appointive positions across Federal and State levels. A related provision is inserted in the bill that seeks to adjust the timeframe for submission of the names of ministerial or commissioner nominees, wherein it is proposed that Sections 147 and 192 of the 1999 Constitution be amended to provide a minimum of 20% for women as ministerial or commissioner nominees. In Namibia, for instance, the ruling party, SWAPO, ensures 50% of parliamentary seats is filled by women, thus guaranteeing a gender-equal parliament, while also ensuring gender balance in ministerial positions through their “zebra system” whereby if a Minister is a man, then the Deputy must be a woman and vice versa. For Nigeria, despite women constituting about 50% of the population, there is still struggle for 35% affirmative action. In fact, during the voting at the house of representatives, after the 35% proposition was vehemently voted against, Hon. Bamidele Salam and Hon. Dachung Musa Bagos suggested 15%, which, again, was rejected. At the Senate, despite being reduced to 10%, the clause was still rejected. However, while the Affirmative Action bill failed to pass as voting was recorded as: Senate – Yes: 34, No: 53, Abstain: 3; and HoR – Yes: 195, No: 107; the Bill providing at least 20% of women as ministers or commissioners nominees passed in both chambers.

4. Indigeneship: The Indigeneship Rights Bill is to alter Sections 31 and 318(1) (the Interpretation Section) of the 1999 Constitution to allow a woman to become an indigene of her husband’s state after at least five years of marriage. The inability of a woman to take up the indigeneship of her spouse from another state has had dire effects, including, but not limited to, the continuous practice of women being denied the opportunity to hold elective or appointive positions in their husbands’ states, while also limiting their appointments and promotions in their own States because of being married to a person from another State. This bill failed to pass as voting was recorded as: Senate – Yes: 90, No: 5; and HoR: Yes: 193, No: 98.

From time immemorial, women have continued to fight for the protection of their rights. That women have to always negotiate what should be a given, and men have to always vote and decide on whether they accept it or not, is a shameful pattern that must worry all of us. One thing is sure, there is no reasonable or cogent reason for this outright and brazen constitutional deprivation of the rights of Nigerian women to equality save for the patriarchal and misogynistic belief that women remain subjugated and relegated to the abyss of menial occupations. The overall implication of rejecting these gender equality-related constitutional amendments is simply the instrumentalization of the apex law – based on the abuse of positions, powers, and privileges – to legitimize gender inequality. Each Member of the National Assembly who rejected the gender Bills must look himself in the mirror and critique the real reason for being threatened by gender equality. Borrowing from the words of Hansatu Adegbite (Executive Director of WimBiz), these not-so-Honourable Members must recognize that women are not trying to ‘take over’ but to ‘make over’ Nigeria by equally contributing to her growth and development.

Women are, therefore, calling for a recommittal of these gender bills so they can be reconsidered and voted on again in the hopes of favourable outcomes. The task of challenging such laws that impede women’s rights, both at national and sub-national levels, is a collective responsibility. We must be deliberate, collaborative, and dogged in demanding for a Nigeria that is legally conducive for our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces by challenging limiting laws and holding our lawmakers accountable for making sure that every discriminatory legal provision is removed at all levels. Our female children must never have to wonder why they cannot equally access social, economic, and political goods, opportunities, and resources as their male counterparts. This is the least we owe the generations we are birthing and the ones yet unborn.

#BreakTheGenderBias

#BreakTheConstitutionBias

#BreakThePoliticalBias

Shonibare is the executive director of Invictus Africa. She holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law and Development from the University of Nottingham; and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. Bukky is a 2021 Ford Global Fellow.