With the exception of few isolated cases, the participation of women in African politics is marginal but things are beginning to change, somehow. Currently, women constitute 49% of the parliament in Rwanda, the highest percentage in world rankings of women in national parliaments. The world average is about 15% women.
The video below shows how some women in Nigeria are hoping to change the statistics in the West African country.
“Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role,” says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. When women are fully involved, he notes, the benefits are immediate – families are healthier and better fed and their income, savings and investments go up. “And what is true of families is also true of communities and, in the long run, of whole countries.”
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