Participation: Structural and relational power and Maasai women’s political subjectivity in Tanzania

Abstract

Across the world, women remain seriously underrepresented in governmental politics. Moreover, limited opportunities for political participation and decision-making reflect a widespread societal problem substantiated and perpetuated through gender inequities that operate at numerous levels of society. Challenging and ending systemic gender-based power imbalances is critical to understanding the potential for women’s political participation worldwide. The current study uses a liberation psychology approach to test a model that examines how the dynamics of structure, power, and agency enable (or limit) women’s political participation. In particular, the study examines how women’s landownership influences the dynamics of relational power and individual agency that enable political participation among Maasai women in Tanzania. Surveys conducted among 225 women in northern Tanzania revealed that landownership was related to relationship power which predicted individual agency and, in turn, higher levels of women’s participation at political meetings. The findings suggest that when women have access to structural resources, they gain power within their marital relationships and are thereby more likely to become engaged in political participation and decision-making. Implications for the discussion of women’s political participation worldwide are addressed.