PERCEPTION OF SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPEDIMENTS TO WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This study examined the socio-cultural impediments to women active participation in politics in selected communities in Edo State, Nigeria. The objectives were to investigate the effect of social stigma on women participation in politics in the area; ascertain the effect of cultural factors on women active participation in politics; examine the impact of religious belief on women active participation in politics; explore the impact of male preference as leaders of “political parties on women participation in politics and elucidate the effect of self-inflicted limitations and learned helplessness occasioned by patriarchy on political participation of women “in the study area.”

The study adopted the cross-sectional survey research design to examine the socio-cultural impediments of women active participation in politics in the selected communities in Edo State, Nigeria because it” helped to assess how often individual and group of people perform specific behaviour or to help identify the number of people who hold certain attitudes or beliefs.This study utilized the qualitative and quantitative research approach in the collection of data. Thequestionnaire was used to collect the quantitative data and the In-depth Interview (IDI) was used to collect qualitative data.Triangulation enhances knowledge on different levels which means that they go beyond the knowledge made possible by one method of data collection “and thus contributes to promoting quality in research. The population for the selected communities was 151,562 and 66,121 females 18 years and above for Egor and Ovia North East Local Government Areas respectively as at the year 2018. The sample size for the study was 621 i.e. 599 for the quantitative data which was drawn from the population using the application of modified Slovin (1960) formula for calculating sample size, and 22 participants that participated in the in-depth interview to generate the data for the qualitative data and study adopted the multi-stage sampling techniques. The data collected were subjected to different statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics and the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression statistical techniques. After subjecting the research instruments to reliability and validity test, the Cronbach Alpha value of 0.8 was adopted as the acceptable value of reliability.

            The findings show that only Religion (RLG) did not pass the significant test as indicated by it corresponding t-statistic value of 0.274 and the probability value (Sig.) of 0.784 > 0.05. FSS, PI and SLH pass at 1% level while PFML passed at 1% level as shown by the probability values (Sig.) that is < 0.05. This means that the variables (except RLG) are significant socio-cultural impediment factors that explained 71% changes in women participation in politics in Nigeria. Consequent upon the above findings we recommend that the patriarchal society should look inward without any feelings of failed integrity or superiority and men should drop the bloated ego and partner with their female counterparts to build problem solving and decision making team rather than holding on to the age long cultural deceitful belief that the men have it and know it all and that the women are only good for the kitchen, bearing and rearing children. Also, the study recommends a policy framework to help mitigate the use of dehumanizing words and behaviour against women in politics.