EKPOMA REVIEW

This paper examines how women's participation in Nigeria politics creates negative popular narratives about women's political participation. It is generally believed that women involved in politics mirror shady sexual objecti?cation. This narrative engenders apathy among women who would have otherwise participated in politics. This narrative also reveals how Nigerian women's personal lives shape arguments about their political potentials and also show a deep continuous denigration of women as objects of sex and weak entities, and how these limit political participation among women. Using hermeneutical analysis, this paper seeks to understand and interpret these narratives in the construction of gender identity in Nigeria, the relationship between individual agency and personal encounters and the power of popular narrative in shaping political behaviour. Also, this analysis will broaden our understanding of Nigerian women's contributions to the development of politics in Nigeria.

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