CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background To The Study

Nations worldwide are very much involved in politics. And literature has shown that those participating in politics are mostly men (Bjarnegard, 2009). Globally, politics carries the notion of masculinity and the belief that men are better leaders than women. Even though the number of female leaders has risen over the years, they are often considered as an after-thought. According to Bochaberi (2014), the societal beliefs and practices regarding leadership and gender, traditionally exclude women. However, in the last two decades, issues related to women have taken different perspectives and received varied treatment by specialized agencies of the United Nations (Goetz, 2013).

Women’s full and effective participation in politics is a matter of human rights, inclusive growth and sustainable development (OECD, 2018). Women’s participation in politics is a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. As noted in the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2019), women’s equal participation with men in decision-making and political life, is part of their fundamental rights and is at the core of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Ensuring gender equality in political participation is therefore an important step to making sure that the human rights of both men and women are respected. Participation rights, like all human rights, are for all people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation (Yogyakarta principles, 2007).

Moreover, females are better leaders than men (Radu, 2017). The need for women’s participation in politics has become very essential at the international, national, and community levels respectively. Why the need for women’s participation in politics? Women, when given the opportunity, encouragement and empowerment, will better build the political sector.

This is because, women’s participation in politics results in tangible gains for democracy, greater responsiveness to citizen’s needs, increased cooperation across party and ethnic lines and a more sustainable future (Pepera, 2018). Women’s participation in politics is very important because when they make decisions, they consider its effects on their children, and the future generation.

Looking at the above, certain questions will come to mind such as what has been done to ensure the full and active participation of women in politics?  Are women substantially represented in politics? If yes, how are they represented?  If no, what are the factors that affect the participation of women in politics? Background knowledge to answering the above questions is therefore of great importance so as to broaden one’s understanding on why women are represented in politics yet are not fully and actively involved in politics, which could be as a result of certain factors preventing them from participating fully and actively in politics.

At the international level, the United Nation’s International Year (1975) and the International Decade for Women (1975-1985) has been a stepping stone to ensuring women’s participation in politics (Fonjong, 2001). There were equally some world conferences held in line with promoting women’s inclusion in the political sphere.

The First World Conference on women was held from the 19th June-2nd July 1975 in Mexico City and had as a clause “the integration and full participation of women in development”, the Second World Conference on women was held from the 14-30 July 1980 in Copenhagen, the Third World Conference on women was held from the 15-26 June 1985 in Nairobi and had as a clause “equality in political participation and decision-making”. After the third conference, governments adopted the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of women, which outlined measures for achieving gender equality at the national level and for promoting women’s participation in peace and development efforts. The Fourth World Conference on women was held from the 4-15 September 1995 in Beijing and had twelve (12) critical areas of concern, one of which was “women in power and decision-making”.

According to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the rate of women’s representation in national parliament globally has increased from 15% in 2002 to 19.8% in 2012. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of women in parliament has risen from 13.7% to 19.8%. In the Arab States, the increase is from 6.1% to 14.7%, and at the level of Cameroon, the figures of women’s representation in the National Assembly have risen from 8.9% in 2007 to 31.1% in the last ten years, with 8% of female local councilors, less than 2% of women political leaders, and approximately 31female Mayors out of the total 370 in the country.

Celestine Ketcha, Mayor of Bangante’ in western Cameroon encourages women to use their numerical strength to promote other women by helping them register to vote (Kindzeka, 2017). Still in Cameroon, efforts such as the creation of the ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, encouragements of Women’s Movements and attempts to consider some degree of gender balance in appointments and employments, are very visible (Geographical Journal, 2001).

Still in Cameroon, local and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have moved beyond the design of top-bottom policies to “grassroot” approaches in helping women participate fully in public life. These NGOs dealing with women’s wellbeing, the creation of the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family by the Cameroon Government, the Cameroon Gender Policy which is aimed at ensuring gender equality in the development process by redressing the existing gender imbalances, and many others have all served as positive measures/factors to the participation of women in politics. Despite all these efforts by international, national and local bodies, there still exist certain factors affecting the participation of women in politics.

Globally, women’s low rate of participation at the highest level of politics is an enduring problem in gender stratification (Paxton & Kunovich, 2003). Women within a particular society are affected by : the business environment including taxes, procedures, corruption, labour , competition and finances (World Bank, 2007:Bertrand, Djankov, Hanna, & Mullainathan, 2007), fundamental social and developmental considerations like education, health, and physical environment (Fagerberg, 1994), technological and distributive infrastructure (Chan &Qingyang, 2006: UN, 2005), the political rights and civil liberties within a country, the beliefs, norms and expectations of the individuals within a particular culture (Singelis, 2002).

In the twenty first century, women are facing obstacles in their political participation worldwide (Kumar, 2018). Women around the world at every socio-political level find themselves under-represented in parliament and far removed from decision-making levels. Half of the world’s population are women, but today women only hold 23% of all the seats in parliaments and senates globally (Chalaby, 2017; Radu, 2018). According to Rop (2013), many African states sign and commit themselves to promoting gender parity in political participation, but end up shelving the agreement.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

Literature has shown that the factors that hamper or facilitate women’s political participation vary with levels of socio-economic development, geography, culture and the type of political systems to which they belong (Shvedova, 2005; Alzuabi, 2016).

In many African states, politics comes with violence, persecution, intimidation and torture. While both genders are victims of this, it presents particular barriers to women’s engagement and participation in politics. Thus, according to the United Nations (2015), an Afrobarometer survey showed that women feel “a sense of vulnerability to political intimidation and violence”.

There equally exist institutional constraints to women’s political participation, some of which are political systems that operate through rigid schedules that do not take into consideration women’s domestic responsibilities and the type of electoral quotas used (if any) (Kangas, Haider, Fraser, &Browne, 2015). Taking Cameroon’s political scenario, influence of culture, tradition and other social values have limited women in participating fully in politics within the nation. As a result of these, women find it difficult to push through with their political aspirations. This in tend, continues to make women the minority in the political sphere, and because of this, most decisions made are often not in their favor.

Therefore, this research study seeks to examine the factors that affect the participation of women in politics with emphasis on local politics, specifically local government administration. With an understanding of the problem, certain questions would come to mind through which the researcher seeks to provide answers to. This then leads us to the following research questions and objectives.

1.3 Research Questions

1.3.1 Specific Research Questions

1. What is the socio-demographic profile of respondents?
2. What are the political factors affecting the participation of women in politics?
3. What are the socio-economic factors affecting the participation of women in politics?
4. What are the cultural factors affecting the participation of women in politics?

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