Patriarchy and the state of Women participation in Governance in Edo State of Nigeria

Despite the freedom to participate in governance by both eligible men and women in Nigeria, the political scene in Edo State has been highly dominated by men-folk at all levels of governance due to the patriarchal social system in the State. Patriarchy as a concept, symbolizes a hierarchical structure that encompasses political, economic, social, religious, cultural, industrial and financial spheres, under which a large proportion of upper echelons in society are controlled and dominated by men. Thus, any system that perpetrates men’s undue advantage over women is considered patriarchal. This paper analyzed the relationship between patriarchy and women participation in the governance of Edo State and found that there is low participation in the state politics and governance on the part of Edo women; that there is discrimination against women in governance in the state, and that patriarchy remains a factor that limits women participation in the governance of Edo State. The implication of the study is that there is need for policy action on the part of the state government to enable more women to be included in the governance of Edo State. The paper recommends the need to address the low participation of women in the governance of Edo State by allocating political positions to women on quota basis. Also, societal obstacles of patriarchy, custom, religion, tradition and other obnoxious beliefs found to be responsible for low women political participation must be set aside in the State.


INTRODUCTION
Women participation in governance in Nigeria and Edo State in particular, remains a burning issue in nearly every political discourse.For years, it has been obvious that women have been relegated to the background in governance in Nigeria and Edo State in particular.In Edo State of Nigeria, the political arena is not different from other parts of the world where political participation is imbalance in favour of men.Women are rendered nearly invisible and excluded from the political space which is often regarded as the male preserve, thereby depriving the state from benefiting from their potentials and contributions to development.Oronsaye-Salami [1] observes that one of the greatest challenges of the Edo woman today, as with all Nigerian women, is her exclusion from the political space and her invisibility in political affairs.Arising from this invisibility, it is obvious that only few Edo women have actually gained access to the political arena in Edo State.Since the creation of Edo State in 1991, women representation in governance has always been minimal below 30% affirmative action as against 50/50 in other parts of the world like Germany.
Oronsaye-Salami [1] even went further to state that male politicians characterize politics as patriarchal and excessively masculine.Their ideological aim is to perpetuate and legitimize patriarchy in the political system.To her, women political participation in Edo State is peripherilized.Unfortunately, Edo politicians have little regard for the position of women in that cuts across political, economic, social, religious, cultural, industrial and financial spheres, under which the overwhelming number of upper positions in society are either occupied or controlled and dominated by men.Thus, any system that enforces an order that accords men undue advantage over women is considered patriarchal.
In the Nigerian context, Ejumudo [3:62] contends that the culture which emerged in our society requires women to take care of the home, their husbands and children.It needs to be said that the lowly position of women was more importantly inspired by the scriptures which states that: the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a help meet for him; I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house and give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully; thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over you, and wives submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the Head of the church.
The above scriptural injunctions have further justified the fact that men occupy a superior position over women.To Ejumudo [3], apart from using the scripture to explain maledomination over the female, most societies, particularly in Africa, are innately patriarchal in nature.Because of the natural responsibilities of women, they are not naturally or traditionally predisposed towards socio-political activities.The patriarchal nature of the African culture is one that promotes the exclusion of women from political domain and is considered to mean a demonstration of their passion, love and care for their families.
Bunwaree [4:2] contends that "women are often not treated as full-fledged citizens.Having equal rights on paper does not necessarily translate into effective practices on the ground.Subtle discriminatory mechanisms rooted in patriarchal norms and values continue to pervade people's lives".
Also, opinion poll of 50 women conducted by Okpalike and Abamba [5] as to whether they would vote for a woman candidate as Nigeria's president, shows that none of them was inclined to do so.The respondents were required to answer 'Yes' or 'No' as to whether they would vote for male or female presidential candidate in an election.The response from both males and females not only confirms the resilience of patriarchal attitude but also brings to the fore that even women are not yet ready to give support to their gender type.
Agbalajobi [6] argues that some general opinion has been that Nigerian politics is based on high political virility.That is, politics is for those who have all it takes to compete in the turbulent environment; those who have the wherewithal or financial muscles to take it by force when force is required; those that can march violence with violence.That it is also generally believed that men possess the superiority, strength, competitiveness and self reliance, and are prepared to engage in a political tussle, whereas women are considered too docile to participate in politics and governance.This consensus is also constructed by societal norms and values, which through socialization has defined different gender roles according to biological differences.Women's belief that politics is a dirty game and their continued fright whenever the thought of violence comes into them, has further alienated them from mainstream politics.
Campaigns for political office according to Odhiambo [7],.are routinely violent affairs, physically and verbally, even for men.The violence that women experience emanates from two levels; first from a generally violent political culture and secondly, from a patriarchal society that does not believe in leadership by females.The political rules of engagement formulated as they are by men, reflect and respond to men's experiences thereby locking out women.Unless the law tackles the structural and institutional impediments that limit women in engaging fully in political activities, no equality will be achieved [7].
Ojo [8] has posited that in Nigeria, the roles of women in the political process are restricted, due to the patriarchal nature of our society.The patriarchal, traditional and socio-political systems do not recognize the role of women in politics hence the presence of male domination in the Nigerian democratic governance.He argues further that in one hand, the political naivety of the Nigerian society does not encourage women political participation, and the antagonistic imbalance between men and women on the other hand, has continued to impede women's political advancement [8].
Thus, it is the view of Ogunye [9] that our society is patriarchal in nature, and most of the parties are established by men who merely recognize the contributions of women.Also, because our political system has been largely infiltrated by "money bags" politics, a lot of women do not have the financial wherewithal to operate in most of these political parties.To Ojo [10], although the liberal democracy allows full and unconditional participation of women in politics through voting and holding of elective and appointive positions, but women are still at the background in the arena of real politicking.One obvious reason for this alienation of women from the mainstream of politics, despite the demands and expectations of liberal democracy for gender parity in politics, is gender stereotypes and predisposition towards women participation in politics [10].
UNDP [11] believes that patriarchy is a very strong factor that explains male dominance over female, and as a result, it is believed that men will sit back in the family to keep the family name and lineage growing while women will be married out.Thus, while men are being trained for leadership activities, women are confined to household responsibilities; roles ascribed to them by culture which affect them later in life, thereby making them to lose selfconfidence/worth and have low self-esteem in their career in adult life, politics inclusive.Despite the pronounced commitment of the international community to gender equality and to the bridging of the gender gap in the formal political arena, reinforced by convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform of Action, women are highly marginalized and are poorly represented in governance and other political activities [11].
In support of the above position, Michelle [12] observed that since the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action in 1995, the governments of different countries vowed to include in their priorities to address gender inequality and the increased access of women in politics and decision-making.It has been 12 years since this international commitment; many countries have strides in opening the political arena to more women.Yet, in some societies (such as Edo State), the patriarchal system still prevails and limits the participation of women in national, state and local governments, and the goal set for women to achieve 'parity', defined as at least 40% representation by 2025, is still far from being reached.
In a survey carried out by Tong [13] in a study titled "the Gender Gap in Political Culture and Participation in China", it was found that there is a continuous gender imbalance in many facets of political culture and participation, with female respondents scoring significant lower, compared with males.Tong's survey reported that women respondents were more passive towards achievement, were more accommodating in conflict situations and had a higher preference for conflict mediation by traditional authority than men, and that these traits were further negatively correlated with political culture and participation measures.Shvedova [14] in her study "Obstacles faced by women in parliament, using Sweden and India as case studies, identified four major political hurdles that curb women's political representation and growth.They include lack of party support, for example, limited financial support for women candidates, limited access to political networks, and the more stringent standards and qualifications applied to women; lack of sustained contact and cooperation with other public organizations such as trade (labour) unions and women's groups; lack of access to well-developed education and training systems for women's leadership in general, and for orienting young women towards political life; and the nature of the electoral system, which may or may not be favourable to women candidates.
The main culture that pervades the entire Nigerian society is patriarchal in nature.This maledominated culture, relegate women to an inferior and second position in society.The patriarchal culture of male supremacy still remains embedded, obscured and protected within traditional institutions and structure held in abeyance and relative utmost sacredness.A major obstacle to the task of executing gender-sensitive and gender-parity policies in Nigeria, therefore, is the patriarchal cultural norms, attitudes and practices, which have been accepted as the natural order of things.This culture is still ingrained in men and it is demonstrated both consciously and unconsciously, despite the general drive for a meaningful change in gender relations through policy initiatives and actions as well as sundry international conventions and accords to which Nigeria is a signatory [3].
Nwankwo [15] has rightly observed that the various Nigerian constitutions guaranteed the rights of women to participate in active politics as the last decade appeared to have witnessed a relative increase in women's participation in governance.This is only when we measure increase in participation with certain standards like the number of women who vote in elections; the number of public offices held by women; number of women-related policies implemented by government etc.To her, over the years, there has been a remarkable increase in women's participation in politics in Nigeria considering these standards; yet, there is inherently a pronounced level of underrepresentation of women in politics and governance when compared with their male counterparts.
In line with Nwankwo [15], United Nations Children and Education Fund UNICEF [16] stated that the involvement of women in governance at the micro and macro levels is not only a moral but legal and constitutional right.And that Chapters 2 and 4 of the 1999 constitution safeguard civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights and protect all citizens against discrimination, although Chapter 2 on socio-economic and cultural rights is not justiciable.Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), also make provisions for these rights.However, available records from the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (2006) show an unacceptable level of discrimination against women [16].
Available records by UNICEF [16] point to the fact that gender gap in governance is fast changing even though variations exist across the nation.The national gender gap average is 16.59 percent but it is as high as 48 percent in Sokoto and Zamfara states.The trend of slight improvement in some segments of the country is certain to have positive effect on women as they now have role models of their gender in those who have attained prominence in politics or business.
Despite the improvements in statistics of women in governance, traditional gender stereotypes, threats of violence and poverty are factors still accounting for low participation of women in governance in Nigeria.Women are traditionally seen in Nigeria as caregivers and are 'expected' to remain at home caring for both the husband and children.They are seen within the purview of custom, tradition and religion.Surprisingly, some women believe and encourage this stereotype.Besides, violence in Nigeria's political culture discourages women from participating.Despite these challenges, some women in Nigeria have excelled in politics and public life culminating in the election of the first female Speaker of the Sixth Legislative Assembly [16].
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) [17], notes that gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men.To ensure this fairness, measures must often be available to make-up for historical and political disadvantages that limit women from otherwise operating on a level-playing field with men.Equity leads to equality.Gender equality implies that women and men enjoy the same status.Gender equality means that women and men have equal opportunities for realizing their full human rights and potential to contribute to political, economic, social and cultural development, and to benefit from results thereof.Gender equality includes both quantitative and qualitative aspects.The quantitative perspective focuses on equal distribution of power for both women and men.
On the whole, the above arguments explain why Edo women like their counterparts in other parts of the world, have not shown much of enthusiasm to compete or struggle with men in an attempt to occupy political positions in the governance of the state.The crux of this paper therefore, is to find out what has been responsible for the lack of interests shown by Edo women whenever the need to compete with men for political positions in the governance of the state arises.

THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING
The study is anchored on the theory of patriarchy.The theory of patriarchy was popularized by Goldberg [18], one of the conservative theorists, who expressed strong doubts about how far traditional gender roles could, and should be transformed.Other early advocates of patriarchy were Beauvoir [19] and Millet [20] who argued that patriarchy laid emphasis on maledominance of female folks as men are seen to control access to institutional power (governance), mould ideology, philosophy, art and religion to suit their needs.
In his work, "the inevitability of Patriarchy", Goldberg [18], argued that authority and leadership are and always have been, male-dominated.The basis of this theory is the assertion that sexual/physiological differentiation leads inevitably and universally to differences between males and females.Therefore, if this assertion remains the truth, it means that nowhere are most women going to change traditional sex-roles to attain equality with men in public power, status and rewards [18].This rightly explains the political governance in Edo State which has been dominated by men to the disadvantage of women due to the patriarchal nature of Edo people.

METHODOLOGY
The population of this study is four thousand, six hundred and twenty-five (4,625) key politicians (holding political positions) across the three senatorial districts in Edo state, and were selected from each of the eighteen (18) local governments areas located in the three senatorial districts.These politicians comprise the state executive council members, local government chairmen, vice-chairmen, secretaries, councilors, supervisory councilors, party executive members of political parties in the state and the state House of Assembly members.This category of politicians is considered as stakeholders in the business of politics and governance in the state.Hence they are well situated to adequately respond and contribute to the issue being investigated.

DETERMINATION OF SAMPLE SIZE
In determining the sample size for this study, Taro Yamani formula cited in Shaib and Momoh [21] was used to get the sample size as follows:   As to whether there has been discrimination against men in the governance of the state, the table showed that 309(84%) respondents expressed their views that there has been no discrimination against men in the governance of the state.While 278(75.6%)respondents agreed that men have always been more than women in the legislative arms of state and local governments across Edo State, 74(20.1%)respondents did not agree.243(66%) respondents agreed that men have always been more in the executive arms of state and local governments across Edo State while only 83(22.5%)respondents did not agree.From the above revelations, it therefore implies that there is discrimination against women in the governance of Edo State, as men have always occupied political positions more than women in the governing bodies (executive and legislature) of Edo State.Source: Ainabor's Field Survey, 2016 Table 5 showed the frequency of respondents to the relationship between patriarchy and women participation in the governance of Edo state.From the Table, 241(65.5%)were of the view that there is a relationship between patriarchy and women participation in the governance of Edo State while 104(28%) respondents did not agree.The Table revealed that patriarchy (male authority or domination) was responsible for under-representation of women in the governance of Edo State.This was indicated by 233(63.3%)respondents while 117(31.8%)respondents did not agree.On the whole, the finding implies that patriarchy is mainly responsible for low participation of women in the governance of Edo State.

Hypotheses Testing
Hypothesis One: H0: There is no significant association between the sex of the respondents and their perception of gender discrimination against women in state governance in Edo State.
In order to test this hypothesis, data collected on sex were cross-tabulated with those obtained on the respondents' opinion on discrimination against women in political governance in Edo State and analyzed, using Chi-Square.The result of the test is shown below: The Chi Square analysis showed that there is no significant association between sex and respondents' opinions on discrimination against women in governance in Edo State, with Chi Square value (3.151) not significant at 5% level since the P Value(.533**)=0.05.The null hypothesis under test is thus accepted.The implication of this finding is that the respondents' opinion on the issue of gender discrimination against women in political participation in Edo State is independent of sex.This means that both men and women significantly agreed that there is discrimination against women in governance in the state.

Hypothesis Two:
H0:There is no significant relationship between patriarchy and women participation in state governance in Edo State of Nigeria.
In order to test this hypothesis, patriarchy was selected and tested for its effect on the level of participation of women in political leadership in the study area using the Chi-Square test of goodness-of-fit.A summary of the result is presented as follows:

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
The study reveals that there is gender discrimination in the governance of Edo State as both men and women significantly agree that women have been discriminated against in politics and governance in Edo State.This is understood in terms of holding key governing positions in the state as no Edo woman has ever been governor, deputy governor, speaker or deputy speaker of the legislative arm, secretary to the state Government etc since the creation of the State.There appears to be no conscious efforts being made on the part of men to concede these key positions in governance to women in the near future.The implication is that women continue to suffer discrimination or marginalization or male dominance in the political governance of the state.This is corroborated by the scholarly works of Tong [13], UNDP [11], UNICEF [16], Epelle and Oriakhi [22], Ihemeje [23] which stated that women have been discriminated against in governance and that it is high time they started becoming active participants rather than portray apathy or play passive roles in government practices as done in the past.This, no doubt, falls in line with the trend in Edo State.
The study revealed as well that patriarchy which emphasizes male authority or male dominance in every social organization or institution is responsible for the underrepresentation of Edo women in the state governance of Edo State.Also, patriarchy which promotes division of traditional gender sex roles puts governance in the domain of men.This goes to explain why many women in Edo State have not been aspiring to political or appointive positions in the governance of the state.The patriarchal nature of Edo people, poses obstacles to women's political aspirations hence the dominance of males in the political scene to the detriment of women.This agrees with the findings of Ogunye [9], Bunwaree [4], Odhiambo [7] and Shvedova [14] that our society is patriarchal in nature and that a traditional, strong patriarchal value system favours sexually segregated roles, and the so-called 'traditional cultural values', militate against the advancement, progress, and participation of women in any political process.
The study is also in consonance with the works of Ojo [10] and Okpalike and Abamba [5] which found that the Nigerian society like many other societies of the world is patriarchal.Right from the formation of the different political parties, men take the lead; hence there is no political party which has a woman as its chairperson, secretary or even holding any sensitive office in the party.This is a reflection of the cultures of the various ethnic groups in Nigeria.Since the creation of Edo State, there is no political party which has had a woman as its chairperson, secretary or has given the opportunity to hold a sensitive position in the party.Due to this attitude, men are expected to be pacesetters for women to follow, not the other way round.FINDINGS 1.That both men and women significantly agreed that there is discrimination against Edo women in governance in Edo State.2. That patriarchy limits women participation in the governance of Edo State.

CONCLUSION
It is an empirical fact that governance in Edo State has been dominated by men to the detriment of the women.It therefore means that politics and governance in the State will continue to be the domain of men until something is deliberately done to strike a balance on gender representation.It is concluded that patriarchy which emphasizes male dominance or male authority constitutes a cog in the wheel of women participation in the state governance in Edo State.Thus, the participation of Edo women at the macro level of decision-making which is supposed to be an essential ingredient that ensures that policy-making takes into account women's perspectives and experiences, has remained elusive.If men in Edo State continue to monopolize the political process, passing laws which affect the state at large, the decisionmaking process will not always balance the interests of the male and the female populations.
However, effective formulation and implementation of deliberate policies towards the attainment of gender equity in political representation can be a panacea to the continuous downward trend in the political participation of Edo women in governance.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings, the following recommendations are made: 1.There is need to address the discrimination against women in the governance of Edo State by allocating political positions to women on quota basis.A gender quota or representative law that will help the state to achieve this and be committed to the Affirmative Action on women representation should be passed by the State House of Assembly.This will enable more Edo women to participate in the governance of Edo State.2. In line with the above, political parties in the state must change their programmes and attitudes that tend to perpetuate discrimination against women, if gender equity in political participation in Edo State is to be achieved.There is need to allow women to occupy sensitive positions in the party structure, such as chairpersons, secretaries and other key positions in the party as against their traditional position of 'women leader'.
Giving them opportunity to hold some key positions in their parties will give them a sense of belonging and rekindle the interest of more women in politics and governance in the state.3. Societal obstacles of patriarchy, custom, religion, tradition, and other obnoxious beliefs, which have been found to be responsible for the low (women) political participation, must be broken in Edo state.This can be achieved by regular training and awareness creation through mass media to sensitize the Edo people who hitherto believed that politics and governance were exclusive preserve of the men.Women in Edo State should not be domesticated in terms of gender roles.This will encourage more women to show interest in politics and governance of the state.

Table 4 : Gender Discrimination in State Governance
Source: Ainabor's Field Survey, 2016

Table 4
above showed the frequency of respondents to the issue of gender discrimination in state governance in Edo State.It revealed that 273(74.2%)respondents were of the opinion that there has been gender discrimination in the governance of Edo State while 85(23.1%)respondents were of the view that there has been no gender discrimination in state governance in Edo State.The table also showed that 262(71.3%)respondents agreed that there is discrimination against women in the governance of Edo State while 90(24.5%)respondents disagreed that there is discrimination against women in the governance of Edo State.

Table 2 : Chi-Square Test on Patriarchy and women's participation in governance in Edo State
The results showed that patriarchy significantly influences women participation in political governance in Edo State with Chi square value (330.630)significant at 5% level since the P-Value(0.00*)<0.05.The null hypothesis under test was thus rejected.The conclusion is that patriarchy limits women participation in political governance and general participation in leadership in Edo State.This explains why the governance of Edo State has been dominated by men to the detriment of Edo women.