Topic: Encouraging Political Participation by Women
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Kate Loope
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Nigeria position papers GLIMUN 2017 committees
Many believe that more women should be involved in national or even international governments, but the countries who have stated these opinions are large, wealthy, First-world nations. For developing countries, such as Nigeria, we view this issue in a different way. My nation is split politically into the North and South. Southern Nigeria is predominantly Christian, and women have a large role in the economic system. This places them in a spot where they are important towards the government, which is very progressive to Nigeria. In the North, the major religion is Islam, and most still follow Sharia law, which subjects women to a lower social status. As the world around us develops, our nation will too, but until Nigeria is as wealthy as Britain for example, these religions are the foundation that hold Nigeria up. In 1982, a feminist movement began at Ahmadu Bello University. These progressive are very positive for Nigeria, but until we can become stronger economically, we cannot work the large feminist movements in until later. Some women that can begin to create small ripples in the role of women would be the elite, high class Islamic and Christian women. These women can change the 4% in Nigeria’s government to a much larger number. To solve this issue, education of women should be improved for third-world countries once they are steady economically and politically. Once again, religion will be a stronghold until Nigeria is able to stand high among other first-world nations.
