An afrobarometer report to measure the level of interest expressed in politics and public affairs by Ghanaian women indicates an increasing interest between 2012 and 2015.
This is a reverse of a decade-long decline, a new analysis of Afrobarometer data indicates.
According to the report, an appreciation of the level of interest of women in politics was seen ahead of the December 2016, as a result of the intensified campaign for an increase in women’s participation and representation on the political scene.
The report, however, noted that, in spite of the progress, “Ghanaian women continue to trail men on indicators of political and civic engagement.”
Dr. John Osae-Kwapong, the Associate Vice President at the University of Findlay in the United States, during a seminar on “Women’s Perspective on Ghana’s 4th Republic Through the Eyes of Afrobarometer held at the Center for Democratic Development in Accra, revealed that, the interest of Ghanaian women in politics increased by about 12% since 2012.
Read the key findings below:
- A majority (54%) of Ghanaian women say they are “somewhat” or “very” interested in public affairs, an increase of 12 percentage points since 2012. Similarly, the proportion of women who say they discuss political matters “frequently” grew from 13% in 2012 to 21% in 2015 (Figure 1).
- Still, on both measures, women trail men by more than 10 percentage points.
- More than three-fourths (78%) of women say that many political parties are needed in order to give voters a real choice, an increase from 55% in 2002.
- Women continue to lag behind men in political and civic engagement, such as joining others to raise an issue, contacting leaders, or attending a demonstration.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in Africa.
Six rounds of surveys were conducted in up to 37 Africans countries between 1999 and 2016, and Round 7 surveys (2016/2018) are currently underway. Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples.
The Afrobarometer team in Ghana, led by the Center for Democratic Development, interviewed 2,400 adults in October 2016. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-2% at a 95% confidence level. Previous surveys have been conducted in Ghana in 2002, 2005, 2008, 2012, and 2015.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana