Unveiling Inequalities: Gender-Based Discriminatory Practices and Women’s Political Engagement in Northern Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research on representative bureaucracy has focused on the integration of women and minority groups in public administration with less attention being paid to the challenges faced by differently situated women within specific contexts in getting effectively integrated into public administration. This study addresses this gap by exploring women’s participation in local governance in the Northern Region of Ghana, focusing on context-specific disenabling factors and how to undo these. Drawing on the theory of governmentality, we argued that these gendered constraints and norms constitute grave stumbling blocks to women’s effective participation in local governance.