IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v7y2023i6p509-529.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Contextual Factors Influencing Women’s Participation in Political Leadership in Kakamega County, Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Mukhwana Laura Nasimiyu

    (PhD Candidate, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique)

  • Mukhwana Eugine Sundays

    (Lecturer, Chuka University, Kenya)

Abstract

Women are still underrepresented in positions of political leadership despite making up half of the world’s population. Numerous conventions, protocols, and international agreements exist for gender mainstreaming, along with advancements in tactics to boost women’s political engagement, but all must demonstrate their efficacy in achieving gender parity in political representation. The state of affairs is especially appalling in developing nations. The lack of equal representation of women in leadership positions creates deeper, non-gender-based disparities that prevent women from participating in decision-making, participating in governance, and devising policies that address women’s issues. Kenya has made efforts to establish gender equity in political leadership, although little progress has been made.This study sought toexaminehowselected contextual factors influence women’s participation in political leadership in Kakamega County in Kenya.The study adopted a cross-cultural study design with a mixed methods approach.Structured Questionnaires were used to collect data from 160 respondents randomly selected from the study area. 16 key informants purposively selected for the study were also interviewed using Key informant interview guides. The data collection tools were pretested in Bungoma County and a reliability coefficient (r) of 0.78 attained. Quantitative data obtained was analyzed using the Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 23. Both descriptive statistics (means, modes, medians, standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Chi-Square and ANOVA) were used to analyze the data.Qualitative data obtained was analyzed thematically. The results revealed that the predominant patriarchal culture and the electoral system were un favorable to women in electoral politics and attainment of political leadership. Additionally, unfriendly rules at formal institutions of Political parties, limited access to financial resources for political campaigns for women political aspirants, biases in the selection processes from political party candidatesand the media were all an impediment for women political aspirants. The study recommends that the government and civil society launch civic education campaigns emphasizing the importance of women’s participation in political leadership and representation. The government and civil society organizations should also organize tailored training and capacity building for female candidates on effective strategies for raising funds, as well as effective ways to use those funds. The media professionals should also be sensitized on the importance of equality in media coverage, as well as the need to portray women as capable leaders. Finally, the government should enforce electoral laws governing political violence, campaign spending limits, and the conduct of political parties.

Suggested Citation

  • Mukhwana Laura Nasimiyu & Mukhwana Eugine Sundays, 2023. "Contextual Factors Influencing Women’s Participation in Political Leadership in Kakamega County, Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(6), pages 509-529, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:6:p:509-529
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-7-issue-6/509-529.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/contextual-factors-influencing-womens-participation-in-political-leadership-in-kakamega-county-kenya/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fox, Richard L. & Lawless, Jennifer L., 2014. "Uncovering the Origins of the Gender Gap in Political Ambition," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 499-519, August.
    2. Richard L. Fox & Jennifer L. Lawless, 2011. "Gendered Perceptions and Political Candidacies: A Central Barrier to Women's Equality in Electoral Politics," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(1), pages 59-73, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pate, Jennifer & Fox, Richard, 2018. "Getting past the gender gap in political ambition," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 166-183.
    2. Donato Masciandaro & Paola Profeta & Davide Romelli, 2023. "Women and Governance: Central Bank Boards and Monetary Policy," Trinity Economics Papers tep1123, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    3. Cella, Michela & Manzoni, Elena, 2023. "Gender bias and women’s political performance," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Jayme L. Neiman, 2017. "Jackie (and Jill) Robinson in the Statehouse: Gender and Educational Attainment Influences on Office-Holding and Leadership Positions in the U.S. States," International Journal of Social Science Studies, Redfame publishing, vol. 5(6), pages 15-20, June.
    5. Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Hessami, Zohal, 2022. "The gender recontest gap in elections," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    6. Paola Montilla & Magda Catalina Jiménez, 2020. "Elecciones 2018 en Colombia: la competencia política en un escenario de paz," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1176, htpr_v3_i.
    7. Davide Cipullo, 2021. "Gender Gaps in Political Careers: Evidence from Competitive Elections," CESifo Working Paper Series 9075, CESifo.
    8. Hessami, Zohal & Khasanboev, Temurbek, 2024. "Gender Bias in the Reelection of Politicians (When a Crisis Strikes)," IZA Discussion Papers 17081, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. D’Attoma, John & Volintiru, Clara & Steinmo, Sven, 2017. "Willing to share? Tax compliance and gender in Europe and America," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 89397, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Lippmann, Quentin, 2023. "Persistence of incumbents and female access to political positions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 327-349.
    11. Labonne, Julien & Parsa, Sahar & Querubin, Pablo, 2021. "Political dynasties, term limits and female political representation: Evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 212-228.
    12. Lindgren, Karl-Oskar & Oskarsson, Sven & Persson, Mikael, 2016. "How does access to education influence political candidacy? Lessons from school openings in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2016:7, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    13. Nicole R. Foster Shoaf & Tara N. Parsons, 2016. "18 Million Cracks, but No Cigar: News Media and the Campaigns of Clinton, Palin, and Bachmann," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-15, September.
    14. Preece, Jessica & Stoddard, Olga, 2015. "Why women don’t run: Experimental evidence on gender differences in political competition aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-308.
    15. KASUYA Yuko & MIWA Hirofumi & ONO Yoshikuni, 2022. "Why are There More Women in the Upper House?," Discussion papers 22094, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    16. Lena Winslott Hiselius & Annica Kronsell & Lena Smidfelt Rosqvist & Christian Dymén & Olga Stepanova, 2023. "Gender Representation and Leadership in Local Transport Decision-Making Positions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-13, July.
    17. Lassébie, Julie, 2020. "Gender quotas and the selection of local politicians: Evidence from French municipal elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    18. Lindgren, Karl-Oskar & Oskarsson, Sven & Persson, Mikael, 2019. "Access to education and political candidacy: Lessons from school openings in Sweden," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 138-148.
    19. Paryavi, Maliheh, 2024. "Women lean back when representing others in competitions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    20. Mourelatos, Evangelos & Krimpas, George & Giotopoulos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Sexual identity and Gender Gap in Leadership. A political intention experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1187, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:7:y:2023:i:6:p:509-529. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.