EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper conducted an empirical analysis of women’s political empowerment and its impact on their participation in politics of Plateau State, Nigeria. Three research questions were formulated to guide the study. Cross-sectional mixed survey method was adopted in the study. The population of the study was made up of 219 respondents comprising 51 elected political party executives (both men and women), 5 women who have contested for electoral positions in Plateau State and 135 women leaders and 24 elected representatives in the Plateau State Assembly. The sample of the study was 170 respondents comprising of 44 elected party executives, 97 women leaders, 24 State Assembly members and 5 women who have contested for elections in Plateau State. The sample size was determined using  Krejcie and Morgan table for determining sample size from a given population and was drawn using the stratified random sampling method. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was determined by one expert from Research, Measurement and Evaluation Unit of the Faculty of Education and two experts in Gender and Women Studies of the University of Jos. The reliability of the questionnaire was computed using Alpha Cronbach method.  The reliability co-efficient of the questionnaire was 0.80. The data collected in the study was analysed using mean scores. The findings of the study revealed that women’s political participation in Plateau State is low as there are very few women in elective and appointive positions. It was however discovered that women political empowerment through education, financial empowerment, legislation and policies can improve women political participation in Plateau State. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended among others that the Plateau State government through the Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission should make and implement a policy on inclusive equal gender leadership at the Local Government Councils that will empower women politically. This will ensure that every candidate for Chairmanship position chooses another gender as a running mate. This will empower women to participate in politics and contribute meaningfully to the development of the State.