Exploring Africa Political Structure and the Effort to Improve Women's Struggle for Representation in Politics

Exploring Africa Political Structure and the Effort to Improve Women's Struggle for Representation in Politics

Author: 
Enaifoghe, Andrew Osehi
Publisher: 
Adonis & Abbey
Date published: 
2019
Record type: 
Region: 
Journal Title: 
Journal of Gender, Information and Development In Africa (JGIDA)
Source: 
Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa (JGIDA), Vol 8, No. 1, 2019, pp. 257 - 277
Abstract: 

Most Africa countries today are faced with enormous socio-political and economic challenges as a result of the colonial legacy. Apparently, these African countries have wriggled over the past recent decades to find both economic development and political stability. Previous research focused on providing solutions to 'Africa's democracy problem,' which raises the argument that 'if these countries were to include more women in politics, democracy could become a reality in order to close the gap of gender disparity'. There are few factors identified in this study that may have hindered or contribute to the low representation of Africa women in political matters of their countries, these factors may have a close link to Africa socio-cultural development and beliefs. It was noted that South Africa in 1994 for instance, have merely only 2.7% representation of women in parliament just before the emergence of democracy. However, things have changed since then. The United Nations report shows that some sub-Saharan countries has significantly increased the number of women in parliament, and national assemblies than unlikely, 'democratic' countries. Rwanda as a practical example in-spite of being one of the poorest country in the world, has a great number of women represented in the parliament of 68% in its political structure. This is recorded to be higher than many wealthier nations around the world. The constitutional quota, electoral law, and Political assembly standards are three fundamental share frameworks in Africa which are responsible for the achievements of more women in parliament. This study qualitatively utilized a content data analysis.

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CITATION: Enaifoghe, Andrew Osehi. Exploring Africa Political Structure and the Effort to Improve Women's Struggle for Representation in Politics . : Adonis & Abbey , 2019. Journal of Gender, Information and Development in Africa (JGIDA), Vol 8, No. 1, 2019, pp. 257 - 277 - Available at: https://library.au.int/exploring-africa-political-structure-and-effort-improve-womens-struggle-representation-politics