In a forceful address
ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 elections, gender justice leader
Shobha Shukla declared that inclusive democracy is not a
side issue – it is a core gender justice demand. Women form
roughly half of humanity and a large share of voters, yet
they hold only a fraction of real political power. Speaking
at a session organised by the Moment for Women Alliance and
African Girls Empowerment Network (The AGE Network), Shobha
warned that formal voting rights mean little when women
remain locked out of the rooms where laws are written and
budgets decided.
The numbers that shame
democracy
Shobha opened with the hard data. Globally,
women occupy just 27.5 percent of parliamentary seats and
22.4 percent of cabinet positions. Of 193 countries, only
seven have reached 50 percent women in parliament and just
14 have achieved gender parity in cabinets. Only 28
countries currently have a woman as head of state or
government. More than 100 nations – half the world – have
never had one. At the present pace, true parity at the
highest levels of political power will take more than 130
years.
These figures, she stressed, are not abstract.
They represent the systematic exclusion of half the
population from decisions that shape healthcare, education,
wages, land rights, violence against women, childcare and
access to justice. When women are missing from those rooms,
policies are incomplete and often harmful.
Voting
rights were never enough
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Shobha reminded the audience
that the right to vote itself was hard-won. New Zealand
became the first country to grant women parliamentary
suffrage, the product of long feminist struggle. Yet even
today, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Vatican City deny women the
right to vote. In most democracies, numerical strength at
the ballot box has not translated into power in
decision-making.
“It is we women who have to speak for
ourselves and make others speak too,” she said. A
democracy that asks half its citizens merely to vote while
keeping them underrepresented in law-making and policy
spaces fails its own claim of equality. Political equality
cannot stop at the ballot box.
Presence without power
changes nothing
Shobha rejected the idea that simply
adding more women to existing structures will solve the
problem. Representation is not only about numbers; it is
about rights, agency and the redistribution of power.
Quoting the late US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg, she recalled Ginsburg’s reply when asked what
number of women on the Supreme Court Bench – out of total
nine seats.- would be ‘enough’ for her. Ginsburg replied
that she would be happy when all nine judges were women,
because men had dominated the institution for so
long.
Presence without real influence, Shobha argued,
delivers neither equality nor justice. The goal is not token
seats. The goal is to ensure that women’s lived realities
shape the political agenda itself.
The barriers that
keep women out
Shobha identified interlocking
structural obstacles. Patriarchal norms still equate
leadership with masculine traits – authority, aggression,
public command – while associating women with caregiving.
Women are judged more harshly on appearance and family
status. The same behaviour praised as decisive in a man is
often labelled aggressive in a woman. Ambition in men is
celebrated; in women it is frequently criticised as
selfishness.
Unpaid care work forms another powerful
barrier. Women still shoulder a disproportionate burden of
childcare, elder care and domestic labour, leaving less time
for political organising and campaigning. Political parties,
which control nominations, funding and support, remain
male-dominated in many places. Women who do enter politics
face harassment, intimidation and online violence designed
to silence them rather than simply disagree with
them.
What must change
Shobha outlined
concrete demands. Quotas and reservations, where
appropriate, can disrupt systems that repeatedly favour men.
But numbers alone are insufficient. Institutions must become
places where women can speak, lead and influence outcomes
without punishment. Political parties must give women equal
access to nominations, leadership roles, campaign finance
and training, and confront internal discrimination and
harassment.
Societies must also tackle the unequal
distribution of care. Public investment in affordable
childcare, parental leave and social protection is a
political necessity. As long as care work remains heavily
feminised, women’s equal participation in public life will
stay out of reach.
A critical moment for Nigeria and
beyond
The African Girls Empowerment Network (AGE
Network) session took place as Nigeria prepares for its 2027
elections – an important window for advocates to push for
stronger inclusion. Shobha, founder-Executive Director of
CNS is known for her leadership role at SHE & Rights
global campaign for gender equality and human right to
health. She also authored the 2026 book “Justice Unbound:
Feminist Voices on Gender Equality, Health Rights, and
Inclusive Futures,” linked political representation to wider
struggles for health equity and social justice.
Her
message was unambiguous. A system that leaves half its
population underrepresented in the institutions that decide
the policies for everyone is not yet a full democracy.
Inclusive democracy is a gender justice issue because the
exclusion of women systematically shapes laws, resources and
priorities in ways that disadvantage women and
girls.
Until political power is redistributed – not
merely complemented with a few more female faces – the claim
of equal citizenship will remain incomplete. Half the world
continues to wait for its fair share of power.
– Bobby
Ramakant – CNS (Citizen News Service)
– Shared
under Creative Commons
(CC)
