Abstract

The issue of gender disparity and political participation though not a new phenomenon confronting women in the society, it is however a disturbing situation when such become a constraint towards economic empowerment of women in the society. This position, alongside the Universal Declaration of Human Rights suggests that every human being has the right to aspire for political power of his or her country. Even though most democracies of the world are moving toward democracy, the participation of the women especially in Africa, remains very low. What most economies has offered more is appointable positions but has made negligible progress in having more of the women in electable positions. The question this work probes is why has the women continued to suffer decline in the level of participation in Nigeria politics. Of greater interest is to establish the effect of this on the development on National development. . Hence, this study recommends that the United Nations should do more in promoting the 35 percent women inclusion in politics millennium development goal by finding ways and mean of enforcing the goal. This could be by way of sanctions. Let us be deliberate and get the women to participate in politics not as spectators of transitional actors, but indeed as gladiators. However, a number of actions must be taken to empower the Nigerian women to reach her full potential as far as political participation and development in Nigeria is concerned and these include but not limited to organizing regular conference of forum were the sensibility of the women folk toward political participation will increasingly developed. Lastly, women groups should be deliberate in building political structures that will get them into political relevance instead of asking for handout that won.t last long.   

Keywords: Gender, Political Participation, Development, Postcolonial and Nigeria