The Politics of Gender Discrimination in Nigerian Fourth Republic: A Gender Analysis

The vicious circle of men-women dominance in political leadership has been the major attraction of most studies on gender politics in Nigeria. Women constitute a substantial percentage of the country’s population, yet they occupy a secondary place in relation to men politically, economically, socially, and culturally. This study departed markedly from this research bias and delved into the proportion of males to females in public agencies of the federal government in the Fourth Republic. The framework of analysis in this study was the Gender and Development (GAD) model which emerged in the 1990s as a grassroots-based framework. The case study research design was adopted with a qualitative approach which enabled data to be derived from a variety of sources, including documentary records and semi-structured elite interview. The findings reveal that women make up a huge population, but they are not heard politically in terms of elective and appointive positions in Nigeria due to certain structural and cultural impediments, ignorance, and poverty. The results confirmed patriarchal dominance as a reality in federal government agencies with evidence in both number and occupation of managerial leadership positions. The study, therefore, advocated investment in women administrative leadership by reserving some managerial positions exclusively for women, as well as building confidence and courage in the women to eliminate the inherent fear of male dominance. Also, government should review all discriminatory practices, the economic empowerment of women, support from family, fellow women, and media, equal representation in governance, and proper perception of women in politics.