Women's participation in local government : a case study of Akatsi South District Assembly of the Volta region of Ghana

Abstract

Decentralization is acknowledged to be one of the most suitable forms of governance that makes room for greater participation of the citizenry for good governance and participatory democracy worldwide. Equitable participation of both genders in politics and governance is essential to building and sustaining this democracy and Ghana is not an exemption. However, this equitable participation of women in local governance in Africa is disheartening. This thesis was conducted to examine the extent of women participation in local governance in the Akatsi South District of Ghana. Mixed methodology was employed in the study with 8 semi-structured interviews and 28 administered questionnaires. Liberal feminist theory was used to put the research into its proper theoretical framework. The adoption of the liberal feminist theory as the theoretical framework for this study augmented our understanding of the extent of women participation in local governance in Akatsi South District, Ghana. Findings revealed that the women participation in local governance in Akatsi South District is very low. This is supported by the fact that over the years, number of women elected to the Assembly is on the decline. The current Assembly comprises of twentyeight elected members and none is a woman; buttressing low level of women participation in local governance in the District. In addition, the study identified financial and monetization of the political space, lack of education and higher education, cultural and religious factors, inferiority complex on part of the women, lack of community support among others as the reasons for low participation of women in local governance in Akatsi South District. Furthermore, the respondents revealed that education and awareness creation, financial support, family/husband support, introduction of quota system for women and support from NGOs and women groups as strategies for increasing women participation in local governance in Akatsi South District