Socio-cultural factors affecting women participation in elective leadership positions in Homabay county, Kenya

ABSTRACT Globally, studies have shown that women’s participation in elective leadership positions is low. In Kenya, the Constitution of Kenya of 2010 provides for equal opportunities for both men and women in elective positions. However, in the general elections of 2013, no single woman was elected as a member of the County Assembly or National Assembly in Homa Bay Town and Rangwe Constituencies, Homa Bay County. Although other studies attribute non-election of women in political positions to lack of awareness among the electorate about policy changes, a lot of sensitization has been going on and it is not known whether it is due to persistence of negative community attitudes, cultural beliefs or gender roles which hold back women from competing effectively with men. Therefore, specifically, the study investigated community attitudes towards women’s participation in elective leadership positions, examined cultural beliefs that affect women’s participation in elective leadership positions, and lastly to assess whether gender roles in the family influence women participation in elective leadership positions in Homa Bay Town and Rangwe Constituencies, Kenya. The study was guided by the social constructionism theory by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman (1966). The study adopted descriptive research design. The study population was 194,408 men and women of Homa Bay Town and Rangwe Constituencies in Homa Bay County. Using Kothari’s formula, a sample size of 395 respondents was picked using cluster and simple random sampling techniques as well as purposive sampling technique. Structured interviews and key informant interviews were conducted to collect primary data while secondary data were also obtained from journals, books and Daily Newspapers. Quantitative data were analysed using of descriptive statistics with aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Qualitative data were analysed thematically. The study findings revealed that community members’ negative attitudes towards women’s elective leadership have changed. The community members felt women have the potential just like men and should compete on the same front. Although 59.2% community members had a feeling that women do not support fellow women, 40.8% rejected that notion saying they vote according to the qualities exhibited by individual aspirants and not on the basis of gender. More so, no cultural beliefs hinder women from electives positions. Although the study found out that women take care of families and children, there was no significant relationship between gender roles and women’s elective positions. However, experiences of former aspirants were that women lack finances and faced with violence and humiliation by their male opponents.