Community perception and attitudes towards women participation in politics and effects on women political empowerment: a case study of Ilala municipality, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
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Date
2015
Authors
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
A lot of strategies have been formulated both nationally and internationally to make it possible for women to participate in politics, yet the level of women’s participation in this field remains low not only in Tanzania but the world over. Tanzania remains challenged in ascendancy of women in political leadership. This challenge inspired the researcher to conduct this study with the main objective of assessing community perception and attitudes towards women participation in politics and effects on women political empowerment inIlalaMucipality. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources using interviews, FDGs and questionnaire administration. Three wards in Ilala Municipality were purposively selected and used as a source of primary data. A total of 90 respondents were involved in the study, including local leaders, councilors and political party leaders who were purposively sampled and ordinary citizen who were randomly selected. The study used exploratory qualitative design. Results from this study point that there are still negative perceptions on women who participate in politics. On one hand, manywomen do not believe in themselves or their fellow women as capable of participating in politics and even holding leadership positions. On the other hand, there are reasons behind the minimal participation of women in politics, includingpatriarchal ideology, poor economic status and low level of education. Although majority of respondents perceived women in a negative way, there were some respondents who viewed women as intelligent, courageous, trustworthy and considerate and so they deserve to be and are capable of being leaders.It is therefore, a call for the government, political parties, NGOs together with the community members to bring gender balance by facilitating social and cultural transformation so as to end negative perception on women and increase their participation in politics.
Description
Available in print form, East Africana Collection, Dr. Wilbert Chagula Library, Class mark (THS EAF HQ1236.5.T34J84)
Keywords
Women in politics, Ilala municipality, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Citation
Julius, R. K. (2015) Community perception and attitudes towards women participation in politics and effects on women political empowerment: a case study of Ilala municipality, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Master dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam