What does it take for a woman to be in Politics?

It was not an easy task conceptualizing leadership training for young female activist and women in politics, having them sit together in a training geared at awakening interest of young females between the ages of 15 – 30, while strengthening the skills of the older women on lobbying and advocacy for political leadership, but it turned out to be an excellent strategy.

The older women were so excited and eager to share with the younger ones their experience in navigating the political space in Nigeria. A space clearly isolated for men but one that only accommodates women who are twice as tough.

There was no dull moment from the beginning of  the Leadership training of young women and Women in Politics which kicked off on the 9^th of December 2014. 15 young women activist and 10 women already in politics came together to enhance their knowledge on strategic leadership in the political, economic and democratic space. They discussed their challenges and tried to identify resources available to women and how to access these resources to enhance their political leadership. One big challenge the women identified was the lack of funds to finance their campaigns, while the men get support from each other because most of them hold influential positions, it is often difficult to find the very few rich women supporting other women to aspire to positions, and they would rather support men. 

So what does it take for a woman to be in politics and remain in it? The following are excerpts and quotes that have made such an impression on me that I will never forget.

“Men will intimidate, be determined”

“Politics is sweet”

“if you love politics, be a good mixer”

“Its free and fair is a lie, there will always be one gun shot or another”

“If you cannot stand challenges, don’t think about Politics”

“As a woman you must maintain your integrity and decency, else you will fail”

“Watch out for the men, they will harass you sexually, when  you resist they call you a stubborn woman, but then you earn their respect”

The three days interactive session ended on Thursday 11^th December 2014 with the women providing suggestion for taking this initiative forward by strengthening women’s followership and campaign structures.  The big unresolved issue is how more women will get funding for their campaigns as politicking and campaigning requires huge funding.

At the end of the meeting, each woman representing  a  state in Nigeria, developed a plan of action on how to widen their reach to other young women and pledged to mentor them. On the part of the younger girls, they strategized on how to get more of their peers involved in school leadership and other leadership positions open to young women. This is the first time an NGO would organise a training of women within this wide age bracket and it was a commended by all the participants. Amidst the several valedictory messages this one summed it all;

“ We  came in empty but we are going back fully armed not with guns but information for our communities, local government, state and nation’s good”