Ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 vote, Shobha Shukla argued that women’s underrepresentation—about 27.5% of parliamentary seats, 22.4% of cabinets, and few female heads of government worldwide—means voting rights have not become real power.

She listed barriers as patriarchal leadership norms, unpaid care work, male-controlled parties, and political violence, and said token seats without agenda-setting power change little.

Demands include well-designed quotas plus equal nominations and campaign money, childcare and parental leave, and treating inclusive democracy as core gender justice, not a side issue.

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........

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