Tackling the legislative underrepresentation of women in Ghana: Empowerment strategies for broader gender parity
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Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
Social Sciences & Humanities Open
Abstract
The question of women’s legislative underrepresentation is an enduring problem which continues to garner
considerable scholarly attention all over the world. Whereas the burgeoning literature on the subject has largely
focused on impediments to gender parity in representation in parliament, the interest of this paper is somewhat
different. In an effort to make an original contribution to the discourse, the starting point of this paper is the
argument that women can be politically empowered to achieve greater representation in parliament. Conse quently, in this paper – which draws on empowerment theory as theoretical lens – we present a snapshot of the
views of 22 women parliamentarians from Ghana, with the aim to exploring empowerment strategies for
attaining greater gender parity in representation in the legislature. They emphasize the importance of affirmative
action policies, funding, inclusive political party structures, education, and societal re-socialisation in addressing
women’s legislative underrepresentation in Ghana. These findings may have some important implications for the
nature and scope of interventions targeted at women for the purpose of promoting an inclusive political
environment.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Legislature, Gender parity, Gender diversity, Legislative representation, Politics