According to the report of its findings released on Tuesday in Abuja in commemoration of this year’s International Women’s Day, NOIPolls, which reflected on some critical findings from its past poll on gender equality, 29 percent of Nigerians polled affirmed the prevalence of these challenges.
In the report, which gauged the general perception of Nigerians about gender inequality, especially in political representation, 17 percent of the respondents stated that gender inequality is obvious in Nigeria because women are perceived to be weak and lack the capacity to lead amongst other reasons.
The poll, which was conducted last year revealed that 91 percent of adult Nigerians admitted that there is a huge gap in gender equality, especially in political representation in Nigeria, mainly due to cultural norms and religious beliefs (29 percent).
It noted that certain historic values shaped by societies, passed on from generations have over the years spelt out specific expectations from women in terms of attributes and behaviours such as the creation of gender specific roles.
“This has led to the labelling of some jobs and/or roles as ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work’ both in the household and in the wider community such as in workplaces, as well as in leadership, governance and politics,” it said.
It added that further findings from the poll revealed that most Nigerians (85 percent) acknowledged that women make great leaders and this affirmation cuts across gender, geo-political zones and age-groups.
On the other hand, respondents who were of the opinion that there is gender equality gave reasons for their assertion and most of these respondents (37 percent) stated that there is gender equality because there are lots of women in politics in Nigeria.
In conclusion, the poll results revealed that there is a significant gap in gender equality in Nigeria and therefore calls for an urgent action to be taken in order to attain more women representation in the political sphere in Nigeria.
For instance, the National Assembly should consider passing the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill (GEOB) as this will greatly balance the gender gap currently existing in the Nigerian political sphere.