Sylvia Ngige Where women’s power meets real life
By : money.
“When these committees are chaired by women, a gender-sensitive budget becomes a reality,” Sankaire said, calling for women to lead parliamentary committees responsible for budget allocation.
This conversation is happening because global progress has stalled. According to the latest Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women data released in March 2026, women hold just 27.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, an increase of only 0.3 per cent from 2025 — the slowest growth since 2017. Only 28 countries in the world are led by a woman, and women hold just 22.4 per cent of cabinet posts globally, down from 23.3 per cent in 2024.
What This Means for Nigeria
This matters for Nigeria women politics because Nigeria cannot afford to watch from the sidelines. Uganda celebrates 35 per cent and Kenya fights for its constitutional threshold, Nigeria’s National Assembly has less than 5 per cent women. In the 10th Assembly, only 4 of 109 Senators and 16 of 360 House members are women. Anambra State, despite producing strong female leaders, still has only a handful of women chairing critical House Committees.
The Mongolia message is clear: If women are not chairing Finance, Appropriation, and Security committees, they are not shaping the budget that
determines market women’s loans, girls’ education, and maternal healthcare.
Rwanda shows it is possible. The East African nation leads the world with 63.8 per cent women in its lower house. Namibia and 12 other countries have achieved gender parity in cabinets, according to UN Women. Eight countries in the world, however, still have no women ministers at all.⁹
For Anambra, the lesson is immediate and local. The 8th Anambra State House of Assembly has only 2 women out of 30 members, less than 7 per cent. Yet the state boasts accomplished women leaders in markets, universities and business. The Mongolia model challenges Anambra political parties to go beyond giving women Deputy slots. Will Anambra women chair the Finance, Appropriation, and Health Committees in the next session? Will they control the budget lines for Onitsha market traders’ access to credit, maternal health in Awka, and girls’ education in Anambra South? That is the shift from seats to power.The Real Question
The question for Nigerian political parties ahead of 2027 is no longer “how many women did we give tickets?” but “what real committees and ministries will women control?”
As Mongolia’s Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh noted, the gains so far reflect the determination of women who challenged limitations placed on them since the 1995 Beijing Conference.
Nigerian women have challenged limitations for decades. It is time for the system to move from representation to influence, from giving women seats to giving them the power to write the budget. The future of Nigeria women politics depends on this.
This is where women’s power meets real life.
Sylvia Ngige (Sylvia Tochukwu-Ngige) is a journalist covering governance and Nigeria women politics from Anambra. She is the founder of sylviangige.com, where women’s power meets real life, and a member of the NUJ, Anambra State Council, focusing on inclusive governance and women leadership.
