Women’s groups threaten to use vote to gain political empowerment

Women’s groups have said that the presidential candidate who pledges most to empower women will win their vote, AFP reported. “Women have been excluded from this transition, at every stage so far, by our male politicians,” Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi, executive director of the Women’s Consortioum of Nigeria, told AFP. The women’s groups are seeking written pledges on affirmative action from the two presidential candidates, Olateru-Olagbegi added. Less than five percent of the politicians who have contested local, state and parliamentary elections are women and to ensure change, women’s groups are threatening to use their vote to pressure male politicians to use their influence to name women politicians, AFP reported.