Money politics, use of thugs, cultural bias, unholy meeting hours are some of the impediments against women in the Nigerian political terrain.  These hindrances to women in politics were identified at an annual seminar held by Women for Democracy, a group of women professionals in USA.
Held in Beltsville, Maryland USA, the women  faulted the 35 percent allocated to women in the Goodluck Jonathan administration saying whatever positions are allocated as compensation for those in the inner circle.
Relating her experience in the April 2011 general elections, Dr Mercy Obamogie, a health practitioner in the United States said that the reality of the enormous financial resources needed to contest political position is outlandish and geared towards discouraging the women fold.
Obamogie who was a Senatorial aspirant for Edo South Senatorial District with the ACN  ticket,  regretted that although the people at the grassroots want change, the powers that be do not want change.
“In the United States where democracy thrives, candidates do get donations from all and sundry, but I was shocked when I realized that I have to spend and spend to be voted for back home and I just wonder where the representation lies,” she said.
According to her,”  the party agents were bought over by my opponent who is an incumbent thereby giving room for ballot stuffing; there was no voting, everybody both the contestants and the electorate were short changed. Narrating that she was motivated by the Edo State Governor’s mantra of one man one vote before the elections, , she stated that it turned out a big disappointment because what eventually happened was selection and not election. Besides lack of financial resources by women to contest political offices, Obamogie listed security challenges, dealing with political party bureaucracy as other top challenges.
She disclosed that based on all the electoral malpractices associated with elections in the country, a group of Nigerians in Diaspora with interest in the electoral process are working on coming together to educate and empower the masses on their right in an electoral process.
Also relating her experience in the political race, Stella Lebi said that “ in Nigeria, people do not just want women, even family members discourage them.”
Said her, “as it is now, the playing field is not level, you need thugs, Police, money and with the level of poverty in the country, I wonder which woman can effectively fund an election or  an electoral appeal.”
Lebi a nine years veteran of the US military,  said she contested as the ACN candidate for the Ondo South Senatorial district in 2007 said that women in the country need to be empowered and some political positions specially dedicated to the women fold.
Corroborating the assertion that women have not met their allotted 35 per cent under the current dispensation, Mr. Shola Onadipe, Minister (Political) Embassy of Nigeria in Washington D.C counseled that “nobody gives up power, and the onus is on women to get their 35 per cent.”
Going into the history of women representation in politics in the country Onadipe said that the first Republic did not have any woman representative, while only one woman was elected into the second Republic.
In the current 7th Republic, he said there are seven women in the Senate and 24 women in the House of Representatives, adding that although it falls short of the much avowed 35 per cent, President Jonathan must be commended for initiating devoting a certain percentage to women.
To encourage and increase women participation in the electoral process, the Diplomat said there should be  uniform policies at all levels while  deemphasizing money politics.
In his presentation, Professor Joe Ifedi warned women not to internalize ideas that they are inferior to their male counterparts.
According Ifedi who is a Professor of Political Science at Howard University  women should  do more coalition building to support their own in political contests as recent events show that most women do not even vote for their fellow women.
In his presentation,  Dr Marcellus Unaegbu pointed out that a recent study on the role of Nigerian women in education, politics and ethics shows that while the gender gap was at fairly fast pace in education and work in the southern states of the country the gap was comparatively still much wider in the northern states.