WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION IN LOCAL LEVEL GOVERNANCE IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF WA MUNICIPALITY OF THE UPPER WEST REGION

Abstract

The quest for increased female participation and representation in district assembly governance process is a critical concern in Ghana. This is because, it is a fundamental right of women to be given equal chance to contest for political office. In this paper, the study seeks to contribute to the debate on challenges which hinder women's active political participation and representation in district assembly governance process in the Wa municipality. To achieve this goal, purposive sampling technique was used to select the sixty-one respondents for the study. Data for the study was collected through the use of in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. The study showed that socio-cultural practices, inadequate access to financial resources for political campaigns, lack of capacity and confidence coupled with the perceptions that politics is '”a dirty game” are the challenges that hinder women's participation and representation in local governance in the Municipality. The findings suggest that the introduction of affirmative action by government and political parties, provision of financial support to potential women candidates who are interested to contest district assembly elections, training and educating women to improve their political consciousness, as well as the introduction of outreach programmes to intensify advocacy on the issue of gender equality in society are likely to improve women's participation and representation in local politics in the Wa Municipality. Keywords: Political Consciousness, Local Governance, Affirmative Action, Political Participation, Political Representation.