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Independent candidacy is a major way for more women to be elected into political offices, a former minister has said.

Olufunke Adedoyin,
a former minister of state on Youth Development, said this in a paper
she delivered at the Annual Press Week organised by the Ogun State
Chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, in Abeokuta on
Monday.

Titled ‘Role of
Women in Stabilizing Democracy in Nigeria 2011 and Beyond’ Ms. Adedoyin
at the Iwe Irohin Press Centre further noted that economic power is
also critical to the ability of women to participate in democratic
governance.

She said from the
statistics available over the years, women and the youth represent more
than 70 to 80 per cent of committed voters in every election, lamenting
that, “with this compelling figure women have ended up holding the
short end of the stick when the elections are concluded and political
offices and political patronage are being dispensed”.

According to her,
this may have been influenced by culture and traditions which have
always kept women queuing behind the men in almost everything.

“Women at all levels must brace up to the challenges and demands that these opportunities will create,” she said.

“Women must
therefore break out of the cocoon of subservience and/or relegation
they have been consigned either unconsciously or by design and brace up
to save the Nigerian nation from the present day political oppressors”
Adedoyin stated.

The former minister urged that women “must begin to build war
chests, which we can deploy to advance our own agenda and we must be
ready to support party activities and fund women who are actively
seeking political office”.