ABSTRACT
The study investigated the level political participation of women in Uhunmwonde local government area of Edo State.The main purpose of the study was to know and address the issue that limits women participation in politics in Uhunmwonde local government area of Edo State.
On the course of this investigation five (4) research questions were raised to guide the study. A total sample of 120 respondents were selected using a stratified and proportionate sampling technique, whereby the whereby the political education were stratified into two namely Civic engagement and Community-Based initiatives. Thereafter, fifty percent (50%) of the population were adopted as sample size of the study. The descriptive survey research method was adopted for the research design and thus the data for the study were collected with the use of self-structured questionnaire. After expert's validation of instrument, internal consistency reliability was adopted. The reliability coefficient was determined through Cronbach alpha co-efficient of 0.71. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics which basically involve frequency count, simple percentages, as well as mean score analysis and standard deviation.
Based on the findings of the study, it was discovered that women in Uhunmwonde local government area of Edo State level of political participation has been increasing partially and specific policies are not in place to promote women participation in politics.The study also concluded that poor educational background, cultural and traditional norms,election violence and access to finance affect women who are willing to participate in politics in Uhunmwonde local government.The study then stated that when women in Uhunmwonde local government area of Edo state participate in politics it can can help break down stereotypes and gender based discrimination,promote peace and stability,help address gender inequality.
