Abstract
Women continue to experience political, social, and economic inequality around the world. Despite Ghana’s democratic credentials and varied encounters with elections, women have struggled to achieve greater legislative representation in eight consecutive electoral cycles. The situation of women legislative representation in Ghana contradicts the comparative analyses of elections, and the claim that women gain legislative strength with increasing experience obtained through consecutive electoral cycles. Using qualitative methodology, this paper examines gender inequality in legislative representation in Ghana and challenges to achieving equality. Based on a critical review of the literature on gender and politics, the paper draws insights and makes arguments from the critical mass theory. Findings from the study show that there are factors such as inadequate financial means, activities of political parties, and the nature of Ghana’s patriarchal society that account for the low representation of women in Ghana’s Parliament. More importantly are the absence of gender quota laws, and the electoral system that determines the allocation of seats in the legislature. The paper identified that affirmative action laws have achieved remarkable results in women legislative representation in other countries from which Ghana could learn.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed in this study are available in the IPU parline repository, https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?month=9&year=2023 and https://data.ipu.org/women-averages.
Notes
Providing training of best practices such as communication skills, raising of funds, as well as mobilising resources for women candidates for elections.
The Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, Educational Attainment gender gap, Health and Survival gender gap.
From 1996 to 2001. Even though the gap has narrowed over the years (1996–2015), it still remains the widest compared to the other gender equality indicators.
An improvement in the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, Educational Attainment gender gap, and Health and Survival gender gap.
From 1996 to 2015.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s 1977 workplace environment study which discusses differences in behaviour in cooperate organisations resulting from skewed sex ratio. Her aim was to ascertain what happens to women who occupy ‘token’ or minority status and are alone or almost alone in a group of men. The theory discusses assumptions concerning connections between numbers and outcomes.
There is a vast difference between male and female contestants for political positions in Ghana over the years. For instance, in the 2016 general elections, out of the 1158 candidates who contested to be elected into parliament, only 136 of them were females. Even though it is an improvement from the previous years, the difference is still high.
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Amoah, D.K. Gender inequality in legislative representation: the case of women representation in Ghana’s Parliament. SN Soc Sci 4, 138 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00936-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00936-3