CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 General introduction

This chapter deals with the background of study, statement of the problem, research questions, research objective, delimitation of the study, limitation of the study, significance of the study and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the study

Gender inequality in leadership positions is commonly place in public and private institution the world over. The ongoing issues in institutions in the world is lack of women in senior leadership position (Molly, 2015) while 40% of 500 fortune chief executive officers (CEO’s), have an MBA, women make only about 25% of business school population. Thus gender diversity is much more than an issue of social justice, this is because it can be very difficult to assemble the best talent of an organization without drowning from a complete talent pool that is equal representative of men and women. Statistics show that women worldwide take more unpaid works like care giving and household chores (Ikkim, 2016) on average worldwide, while men only do 34% of unpaid work that women do this is due to their childhood socialization where girls in most cases turn to spend more than 30% of their time doing domestic  house work than boys. In the world of political representation and policy decision making, research shows that for the last 50years, women have only made up 23% of the political power than men have worldwide.

Furthermore, reference shows that in terms of pay gaps, it will take at least 170years for women to have equal salaries or earnings for the same work done with men worldwide. Women earn less than 50percent the total earning of what men earn worldwide. Though in Cameroon there are no earning disparities by gender, findings show that women turn to work or occupy public sphere positions which extensions to their household unpaid activities such as nursery attendant, administrative assistant, assistant nurses in the hospitals or health centers etc. This equally creates a situation of gender equalities, where the superior who in most cases are men turn to earn higher than women. In addition, women’s relation to labour market remains largely mediated by men. The labor market still favor men over women and reflect and reinforces men’s and women’s perceived role in the home, hereby polarizing existing division.

As such women representation at the local, regional and national levels are largely affected by tremendous resistance in their effort to gain more influence (Basu 2003) due to the fact that societal stereo types turn to limit women access to the public sphere arena. For instance, certain cultures prohibit women from going out in the public without being accompanied by male relatives but such restrictions are not imposed on men. In some cases women’s representation is limited by the private and public divide where authority and power are reserved in most cases only for men in the public and even in the private sphere where the men still dictate on the activities of a woman. In addition, the public private divide produces women’s powerlessness in the realms of governance and political life while men are brought up with the idea that women belong at home and are fit to be home makers and reproducers (Nussbaum, 2003).

Thus, men look women with disdain and consider women to lack mental and physical ability and educational qualifications for political participation. Statistics from the Cameroon national gender policy 2011 /2020 show that the involvement of women in decision making is at three levels; the family, the public and the community. Women are always underrepresented in these different sphere of decision making. In the family, men fully and totally enjoy their status as family heads and are at the centre of all decision making. Thus at the family level gender disparities are the results of burden of traditions, low educational level of most women, their low economic power and ignorance leading to their lack of self-confidence.

Also men are in control of public sphere while women are responsible for the reproductive and communal roles which in most cases are confined in the private sphere,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           due to the fact that women have been socialized to be subordinated and to obey men.

An understanding of representation for both women and men requires that actors should study domains other than that exclusively formally institutionalized political and administrative structures and recognize that governance concern encompasses a variety of sphere which include, political, economic civil society etc. (Jayal, 2003) gender disparity in public decision making and leadership ability of women as compared to men is due to lack of the state to enforce laws that can give women more economic, social, political powers to move out of the private domestic sphere to public. State laws are in most cases generic in nature and not gender specific, also customary laws have a lot of influence on women public participation when laws prohibits women’s pubic or to talk where men are it will limit her interest to want to take initiatives of representative of her community. Thus, for women’s representation to be effective, certain theories such as the critical mass theory, theory of the politics of presence have to be initiated in order to increase women’s representative and to incorporate women’s issues into decision making policies.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Gender equality is a globally postulated principle. The universal declaration of human rights (1948) proclaimed the equal entitlements of women and men to the rights contained in it without distinction of any kind such as sex. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women equal opportunities in politics and public life. The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights commits to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and continue accelerating efforts to promote gender equality.

In Cameroon, the government commits to principles of gender equality as it is signatory to all the above mentioned institutions and conventions. Cameroon has gone further in promoting gender equality through the creation of the Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family in addition the government advocates for gender equality as it insist on at least a 30 percent representation of women in all the electoral list of all political parties that seek to participate in elections.

Consequently, Councils serving as government’s extended arm at grass root levels are to ensure gender equality as they solicit women and men’s participation in local decision making so as to ensure better conditions of living of its population and promote good governance. In spite the attempts at promoting gender equality, there still exist gender gaps at the level of local administration which have potentials to promote gender inequality in councils. This work seeks to identify gender gaps in council management and determine their effects on women’s effective participation in governance. Consequently, answer to the following research questions will be sought.

1.3 Research Question;

1.3.1 General Research Question

Which are the gender gaps in Council personnel management and the effects on women’s effective participation in local governance

1.3.2 Specific Questions

1. What gender gaps exist in council personnel and elected officials representation?
2. What are the barriers to women’s effective participation in local governance?
3. What are the implications of these challenges to women’s political aspirations?
4. What instrument can be used to propose an inclusive strategy for gender mainstreaming in local governance?

Check Out: Gender Studies Project Topics with Materials