Women’s Participation in Local Government: An Assessment of Enhancers and Inhibitors in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality
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Published:
Aug 30, 2021
Keywords:
Women, Participation, Local Government, Assembly Members
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Abstract
The participation of women in local government is one of the burning governance issues in the world today. Such participation is expected to serve as a springboard to propel women to participate at the national level. However, an analysis of women’s participation in local government reveals that women are grossly underrepresented. This study assessed the factors that enhance and inhibit women’s participation in local government as elected representatives in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. The qualitative approach was used to conduct in-depth interviews using a census of all the elected past and present assembly members in the Municipality. The study revealed that women's participation at the household level, training and education by Non-Governmental Organizations, and cordial working relationship with male colleagues in local government were the main enhancers of women's participation in local government. The inhibiting factors revealed by the study included financial constraints, unreasonably high expectations, and the non-cooperative attitudes of community members. It is recommended that women and girls be made an integral part of household decision-making. Women who contest local elections should be supported financially. The NGOs that ran programs to empower women to participate in local government should be encouraged and supported.
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Raymond Kwasi Boasinke. (2021). Women’s Participation in Local Government: An Assessment of Enhancers and Inhibitors in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipality. PanAfrican Journal of Governance and Development (PJGD), 2(2), 146-169. https://doi.org/10.46404/panjogov.v2i2.3234
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in Cape Coast-Elmina area of the central region of Ghana. Oguaa Journal of Social Sciences 5(1): 64-86.
Adu-Okoree, B. I. (2012). Enhancing women’s household reproductive roles through
microfinance: A study of women traders in Tema. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 2(6):261-272.
Ahikire, J. (2003). Gender equity and local democracy in contemporary Uganda: Addressing the
challenge of women's political effectiveness in local government. In Goetz A. M., Hassim S. (eds.). No shortcuts to power: African women in politics and policymaking. London and New York: Zed Books, pp. 213-39.
Akita, E. (2010). Hegemony, Patriarchy and Human Rights: The Representation of Ghanaian Women in Politics. (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation).https://etd.OhioLINK.edu/
(Accessed 29 December 2020).
Allah-Mensah, B. (2005). Women in politics and public life in Ghana. Accra: Friedrich-Ebert Foundation.
Awumbila, M. ((2001). Women and gender equality in Ghana: a situational analysis. In Tsikata
D.(ed.). Gender training in Ghana: Politics, issues and tools. Accra: Worli Publishing Service, pp.33-59.
Boateng, J.S. (2017). Women in District Assemblies in Ghana: Gender construction, resistance
and empowerment (Unpublished doctoral dissertation Edith Cowan University, Western Australia). Retrieved from HTTPS:// ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2048.
Boateng, J.S. & Kosi, I. (2015). Women’s representation and participation in District Assemblies
in Ghana: Analysis of supply-side and demand-side framework. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications 5(10): 1-6.
Benneh, G. (1996, December 14-18). Keynote address on family and development, delivered at
the research and training workshop on family held at school of administration, university of Ghana, Legon.
Broughton, A., & Miller, L. (2009). Women in senior management: Is the glass ceiling still intact?’ ISGUC: The Journal of Industrial Relations & Human Resources 11(4): 7-23. DOI:10.4026/1303-2860.2009.0122.x.
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case study of central region. Accra: Freidrich Ebert Foundation.
Chikulo, B. (2010). Democratic local governance in Southern Africa Development Community
region: Some emerging issues and challenges. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance 5: 145-157. DOI.org/10.5130/cjlg.voi5.1479.
Cusack, K. & Manuh, T. (eds.) (2009). The architecture for violence against women in Ghana,
Accra: Ghana Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation.
European Union (2013). Women and men in leadership positions in the European Union 2013: A
review of the situation and recent progress. European Commission- Directorate-General
for Justice DOI: 10.2838/50821.
Ghana Statistical Service (2012). 2010 Population and Housing Census: Final Results. Accra,
Ghana: Ghana Statistical Service.
Hamel, S. (2009). Exit, voice, and sense-making following psychological contract violations.
Journal of Business Communication, 46(2): 234-261.
Horowitz, K. (2009). Getting good government for women: A literature review. Agriculture and
Rural Development Discussion Paper 43, The World Bank.
International Labour Organization (2018). World employment and social outlook: Trends for
women 2018 Global Snapshot. International Labour Office-Geneva https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/-dgreports/-dcomm/publ/documents/ publication/ wcms_619577.pdf (Accessed on 12 November, 2020).
Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women (2015). Women in politics: Situation on 1 January
2015. http://www.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/ sections/news/stories/2015/femmesenpolitique_2015_web_anglais.pdf (Accessed on 20 November, 2020).
Jaggar, A.M. (1983). Feminist politics and human nature. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Jayal, N. G. (2006). Engendering local democracy: The impact of quotas for women in India's
panchayats. Democratization 13: 15-35.
Kudva, N. (2003). Engineering Elections: The experiences of women in the Panchayati Raj in
Karnataka, India. International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 16: 445-63.
Madsen, D. H. (2019). Gender, power and institutional change: The role of formal and informal
institutions in promoting women’s political representation in Ghana. Journal of Asian
and African Studies 54(1): 70-87. DOI: 10.1177/0021909618787851.
Nwagbara, U. (2009). Changing Canon: Chinua Achebe’s women, the public sphere and the
politics of inclusion in Nigeria. The journal of pan African, 3(3): 3-22.
Odame, F.S. (2010). Women in politics in Ghana: A study on local government in the Greater Accra Region. Ghana Journal of Development Studies 7(1): DOI:
10.4314/gjds.v7i1.61401
Ofei-Aboagye, E. (2000). Promoting women’s participation in local governance and
development: the case of Ghana. Accra: Institute of Local Government Studies.
Ofei-Aboagye, E. (2004). Promoting gender sensitivity in local governance in Ghana. Development in practice 14:753-60.
Parpart, J.L., Connelly, M.P., & Barriteau, V.E. (eds.) (2000). Theoretical perspectives on
gender and development. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.
Paxton, P., & Kunovich, S. (2003). Women’s political representation: The importance of
ideology. Social Forces 82: 87-114.
Rowe, G. and Frewer, L. J. (2004). Evaluating public-participation exercises: A research agenda. Science, Technology and Human Values, 29 (4): 512-556.
Schwanke, D. (2013). Barriers for Women to Positions of Power: How Societal and Corporate
Structures, Perceptions of Leadership and Discrimination Restrict Women's
Advancement to Authority. Earth Common Journal 3(2): 15-28. DOI: 10.31542/j.ecj.125
Tamale, S. (1999). When hens begin to grow: Gender and parliamentary politics in Uganda.
Boulder Colorado, USA: Westview Press.
United Nations Report on Women (2010) UN Women: Facts and figures on women worldwide. http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/UNWomen- FactsAndFiguresOnWomen-20100702.pdf (Accessed on 4 April, 2019).
Westminster Foundation for Democracy (2018). The costs of politics in Ghana. http://www.wfd.org (Accessed on 24 June, 2021).