Politics under gender lens } CNS and SHE & Rights leader Shobha Shukla calls for justice in political power and representation of women and gender diverse communities
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In a forceful address ahead of Nigeria's 2027 elections, gender justice leader Shobha Shukla declared that inclusive democracy is not a side issue - it is a core gender justice demand. Women form roughly half of humanity and a large share of voters, yet they hold only a fraction of real political power. Speaking at a session organised by the Moment for Women Alliance and African Girls Empowerment Network (The AGE Network), Shobha warned that formal voting rights mean little when women remain locked out of the rooms where laws are written and budgets decided.
The numbers that shame democracy
Shobha opened with the hard data. Globally, women occupy just 27.5 percent of parliamentary seats and 22.4 percent of cabinet positions. Of 193 countries, only seven have reached 50 percent women in parliament and just 14 have achieved gender parity in cabinets. Only 28 countries currently have a woman as head of state or government. More than 100 nations - half the world - have never had one. At the present pace, true parity at the highest levels of political power will take more than 130 years.
These figures, she stressed, are not abstract. They represent the systematic exclusion of half the population from decisions that shape healthcare, education, wages, land rights, violence against women, childcare and access to justice. When women are missing from those rooms, policies are incomplete and often harmful.
Voting rights were never enough
Shobha reminded the audience that the right to vote itself was hard-won. New Zealand became the first country to grant women parliamentary suffrage, the product of long feminist struggle. Yet even today, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Vatican City deny women the right to vote. In most democracies, numerical strength at the ballot box has not translated into power in decision-making.
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