Many male Nigerian senators, Tuesday, voted to oppose including gender parity in the Nigerian constitution.
Despite their opposition, however, the Senate resolved to ensure that gender equality is a priority in the next constitutional amendment.
During the debate on the matter, none of the male senators who voted against it spoke against the proposal. The few who spoke supported the proposal.
The voting was also done by a voice vote, thus making it difficult to identify which particular senators opposed the gender equality proposal.
The eventual resolution of the senators was one of the six resolutions adopted by the lawmakers during plenary.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, ruled that the motion to including gender equality in the next constitutional amendment be adopted despite ‘nays’ from many male senators when the prayer was put to vote.
It was alleged that the ‘nays’ were louder and appeared the majority, suggesting majority of the male-dominated Senate rejected the gender equality proposal.
Less than 10 per cent of the 109-member Senate are women.
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