Ensuring Equality after Suffrage

August 26, 2010 — “There never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers,” said Susan B. Anthony while fighting for women’s suffrage in the United States. Ninety years ago today, the passage of the 19th Amendment realized her dreams. The amendment came after decades of struggle, but all of the efforts paid off as women were finally able to vote.

This was a great stride for women in the United States, but in many countries around the world women continue struggling to make their voices count. In Nigeria, women were granted suffrage in 1960, but in many areas of the country their status prevents them from exercising that right.

In many states in the north of the country, women endure harmful traditional and cultural practices such as forced marriage, female genital cutting and purdah (forced seclusion), which contribute to and are a result of women’s low societal status.

While having the right to vote is an important first step in improving women’s lives, many more steps must follow. Gender and cultural considerations need to be included in all policies that the government implements.

CEDPA continues to work in Nigeria to ensure all women are able to exercise their voting rights.

CEDPA is working in partnership with RTI International to strengthen the advocacy ability of women’s NGOs and the capacity of other local NGOs to work on gender issues in northern Nigeria through USAID/Nigeria's Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development (LEAD) cooperative agreement. CEDPA’s role will be to help local governments be more responsive to women and gender considerations and, through training and technical assistance, make their budgeting processes more gender sensitive.

The project will work in Bauchi and Sokoto states in northern Nigeria to improve local governance and responsiveness to the needs of women. CEDPA’s role will be to help local governments be more responsive to women and gender considerations and, through training and technical assistance, make their budgeting processes more gender sensitive.

With this project, CEDPA builds on decades of work towards increasing women’s participation in decision making in Nigeria. Since 1985, CEDPA has improved the lives of women and their families in the country.

CEDPA/Nigeria partnered with local community activists to mobilize and register more than 750,000 people to vote in the first Nigerian election in 1999, nearly a third of all the country’s voters. In 2003, CEDPA led a consortium that deployed 4,620 election monitors in 19 of Nigeria's 36 states in the 2003 elections. And, CEDPA/Nigeria led voter education and training in the April 2007 presidential elections in the country.

We celebrate Women’s Equality Day today by recognizing the struggle it took to gain suffrage for women in the United States, but more importantly, we recognize the continued struggle for women’s voices to be heard around the world.

Learn more about CEDPA’s work in governance and in Nigeria.

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