Kalu assures women constitution review will tackle gender imbalance

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has assured women in Nigeria that the ongoing Constitution review by the 11th National Assembly will address all issues of gender imbalance being experienced in the country.

Kalu, who is also chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, gave the assurance in Abuja while addressing participants at the ongoing Roundtable on Women Inclusion in Politics.

The lawmaker said countries like Rwanda had implemented a constitutional provision mandating at least 30% of parliamentary seats to be reserved for women, with women now holding an unparalleled 61.3% of seats in the lower House of Parliament in the East African nation.

“What the best performing African countries regarding female representation have in common is the adoption of electoral quotas for women; a system that is not present in the nations at the bottom of the ranking. Unfortunately, Nigeria happens to be one of them. The last position is Nigeria, with only 4% of women holding seats in the House of Representatives, and 3.6 percent in the Senate. That is sad,” he remarked.

He suggested that seat reservation and the adoption of electoral quotas for women would greatly increase Nigeria’s ranking among the Commonwealth of Nations.

Mr Kalu, however, said with the ongoing constitution review exercise and the “body language” of President Bola Tinubu, the inclusion of Nigerian women in politics will be achieved, as he is a president who admires women’s contributions a lot.

Kalu maintained that “comprehensive gender equality requires a multifaceted approach that addresses deeply rooted barriers including discriminatory laws and practices, cultural biases, patriarchal attitudes, entrenched gender stereotypes, and unequal access to resources and opportunities, which are formidable challenges that demand our collective attention.”