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The Role of Women’s Participation in Effective Decision-Making in Politics at the Local Level: The Experience of Ghana
A number of research confirms the idea that women's status and national security are correlated, and that unstable states are more likely to have weak women's and girls' rights. This article is aimed at assessing the relevance of women participation in effective decision making at the local level of Ghana. The major concerns of this paper were to examine whether women representatives at the local government level participate effectively in decision making and to assess whether women’s participation in effective decision-making results to development of the local areas as well as promote gender issues and interest or otherwise. The study employed a mixed method approach with the use of QCA and content analysis. The key findings of the study include the following: though the number of women representation in politics at the local government level has increased, women leaders or representatives are often nor in charge nor involve in effective decision making at the local level because most women leaders occupy grassroots positions and not executive positions and therefore, difficult for women leaders to influence policy decisions. Notably among the areas where women leaders contribute significantly as revealed by the study include the provision of jobs to women, the youth and the vulnerable in society, advocate for gender issues (GBV, gender discrimination, women empowerment, girl child education, etc), credit facilities for startups, safety nets for the aged, school projects, health facilities among others.
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