DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESS AND THE UNFOLDING HISTORICAL DIALETICS OF WOMEN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Abstract

The main thrust of this paper is centered around examining the historical challenges confronting women political participation in the democratization process of the Sub-Saharan African countries. In the past, indeed, women were never equal to men in the political sphere, because in the precolonial Africa, they were being allowed by men to ruled kingdoms, established cities, launched military conquests, and formed states. However, they unfortunately lost out in such arrangements and the social status with the coming and spread of Islam and Christianity and later colonization. Although women are key actors in the democratization process world over, they have now been politically, socially and economically marginalized especially in the Sub-Saharan African region. Marginalization has been a great challenge to the women of the region due to some socio-religious beliefs that came to the fore particularly with the emergence of Islam and Christianity. Likewise, in the contemporary African politics women are relegated to the background, hence sidelined, without tolerable and equal participation in the governance of their own social formations. The paper, therefore, adopts historical and descriptive approaches to argue that despite the increasing number of women in politics, the political landscape is still largely occupied by men. This is seen in the challenges facing the active political participation of women in the process such as cultural factors, lack of adequate representation and consultation in the political parties’ decision-making processes, gender discrimination, lack of fund and so on which the paper revealed. The paper concludes that the involvement of West African women in the democratization process would provide a new track in the developmental agendas of the entire region. And, a specific step to promote gender equality which would advance the status of women and young girls in the process of democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa is greatly needed.