Women representation in Buhari’s Cabinet: Any improvement?

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday sent a 43- person list to the senate for screening and confirmation as ministers.

A look at the list shows that seven women may make the cabinet if they all scale through the screening and confirmation process; which means that Buhari’s second term will have seven women out of 43 cabinet members, a mere 16 per cent.

They are Sharon Ikpeazu, Maryam Katagun, Zainab Ahmed, Rahmatu Tijjani, Paullen Talen, Sadiya Umar Faruk, and Gbemisola Saraki.

His first tenure’s cabinet which started in 2015 was slightly better. The proportion of women was 19 percent, which was only seven women out of 36 cabinet members who were sworn in November of 2015 after almost six months into the commencement of his administration.

SEE ALSO: Data Visualisation: 2015 Vs 2019 Buhari’s Ministers

The women were Zainab Ahmed, Aisha Alhassan, Amina J. Mohammed, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Zainab Ahmed, Aisha Abubakar and Kemi Adeosun.

Prior to the end of his first tenure, three out of the seven women resigned. One of them was replaced with a man.

The then minister for women affairs, Aisha Alhassan resigned to contest gubernatorial election in her home state.

Amina Mohammed, the then minister for environment resigned to take up a UN appointment.

While Kemi Adeosun, the then minister for Finance resigned after a certificate scandal.

The executive is not the only arm of government suffering dearth of women as a look at the last three election cycles shows that in the 7th Assembly, the Red Chamber had eight women out of 109 senators. The 8th Assembly had seven female senators while the 9th assembly maintained the same number of seven female senators.