Ever been in traffic and inside a bus in Nigeria and you see someone not driving expertly or smartly? The next thing you hear from the driver and passengers (even women) is “Na woman o!”

It’s been tagged a given that once a car isn’t driving well in traffic, it must be a woman. Amazingly, I’ve seen men driving nastily, too. These stereotypes and narratives are forged strongly in the society.

In certain churches, men quote Apostle Paul and women are kept from climbing the pulpit and talking to the congregation. It’s an abomination. 

In our villages, women can’t be found near the men during meetings. Should they be needed, they have to genuflect and nearly prostrate to be able to talk to the men. I see it always in my pwn village.

At certain car parks, it’s taboo that a man should sit inside and a woman sits near the door. To them, it’s emasculation. 

Is it now any wonder that women feel subjugated and can’t rise to lead in positions of governance? 

Reading the book titled LOVE DOES NOT WIN ELECTIONS by Ayisha Osori I’m left in tears. From the outset Osori feels the need to include trading sex for access on her “will not do” list. This female holder of three degrees (two of them from Harvard), a legal practitioner, well-known media commentator, and head of an organisation promoting women’s political participation, repeatedly finds herself kneeling on the floor, seeking the blessing of those with different types of power, especially men.

Ayisha Osori narrates in occasionally hilarious detail exactly what it takes to get the endorsement of all those who need to back her (extreme grovelling), to “settle” those who need to receive some compensation for their endorsement (almost everyone), and to ensure that the final vote is at least vaguely clean (impossible, it seems).

Her main issue is that she’s a woman.

Can women not lead politically? In the history of Nigerian democracy, we’ve had only one happenstance Governor in the person of Dame Virginia Etiaba. 

All over universities in Nigeria, SUG President’s have been largely males. I’ve not heard of a female SUG President. Women are left angling for second-best which is the VP.

I want this to change. I just wish women can dare more.