Non – Governmental Organizations and Women Political Participation in Ondo State, Nigeria

Women political participation in Nigeria has been peripheral. This is despite arguments by some scholars that women like men are free to take active part in politics. Men through maintaining cultural stereotypes and socialization processes have confined women to the private spheres while they predominate in the public sphere. The consequence is that women shy away from operating in the public sphere including in politics. This is despite government’s commitment towards redressing gender inequality in Nigerian politics. The wide disparity between men and women in electoral offices has contumaciously remained apparent. However, some Non -Governmental Organizations have endeavored to contribute their own quota towards improvement of women political participation. This study therefore examined the role of NGOs in enhancing women political participation. The study explored both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data were obtained through key informant interviews from the operators of these NGOs and interviews of beneficiaries of their services. It had a sample size of 30. Akure, the capital of Ondo state in Nigeria was purposively selected as a case study state because most of the NGOs are active there being the capital of Ondo State. Country Women Association of Nigeria (COWAN) and National Council of Women Society (NCWS) were purposively selected. This is because these two NGOs are very prominent in Akure, Ondo State. This study concludes that NGOs have impacted positively on women political participation and it recommends that NGOs should devise means of changing their leaders or management. The founder should not continue to be the leader who takes major decision until he/she dies. This is because this may not encourage innovative new ideas to be injected into the organization. NGOs should also allow people in the rural areas to feel their impact instead of operating mostly in the urban areas