Women and Leadership: Contributions of Women in Nigeria’s Political and Sociological Landscape

Abstract

There is no gainsaying the fact that today, women are playing significant an increasingly
prominent role all over the world. Women have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they
are not a second class to their male counterparts. In Pre-colonial era those women like
Moremi, Queen Aminat and Efunsetan Iyalode of Ibadan land were women that have
contributed to nation building particularly in Nigeria. Even in the Post-Colonial era they
encouraged children to relate positively to each other and to take responsibility at family,
local and national levels. Similarly, they inspire them to participate fully in the community
and help to develop an understanding of citizenship. At the societal realm, women are
known to constitute the bulk of traders, farmers, while some engage in politics and others
in technical professions. In the religious sphere, specifically in the traditional religion of
the people, they serve as priestesses, diviners, healers, praise-singers, etc. In Christianity,
women are known as evangelist, preachers, choristers, as well as constituting a good
proportion of other church workers. This paper adopted survey and purposive method by
conducting questionnaire of 150 out of which 108 were recovered. This work noticed that
African women are not given total freedom to display their God giving talents yet the view
that are at the helm of affairs have proven that gender has nothing to do when it comes to
responsibility. It was recommended that both men and women should be given equal
opportunity to serve.