Not just quotas: The complex forces driving women's political ambitions
The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association, led by chairperson Leah Sopiato Sankaire (centre), addresses the media at Parliament Buildings in Nairobi on January 16, 2025.
What you need to know:
- Women in politics are motivated by global gender policies, activism, role models, quotas, technology, personal experiences, political culture, and community development.
- Women’s political participation stems from international rights awareness, gender movements, inspirational figures, quotas, digital platforms, personal injustices, and community-driven aspirations.
More often than not, gender discourse focuses on barriers to women’s participation in political and other decision-making platforms. Few discussions ever look at what motivates them into politics. This is what makes unique the 2014 book The motivation for women in politics: The contemporary politics of women’s participation and representation in Africa, written by Annie Barbara Chikwanha and Theresa Moyoand published bytheInternational Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
The book starts by outlining the current status of women in political leadership in Africa, which it notes to have kind of stagnated. Referring to Africa Barometer 2024, it observes that women’s representation increased by “just one percentage point in the four years to 2024” and that majority “holders of the highest political positions in African countries have remained mostly men over the last five decades”. Countries that have significantly contributed to increases in women’s presence in politics are Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa.
The publication decries the “sluggish pace of growth for women’s political leadership” on the continent, manifested in the fact that of the influential elective and appointive positions by 2024, “only electoral management bodies had reached 30 per cent, the target set by the African Union and its subsidiary bodies”.
On elective positions, women mayors featured at 29 per cent followed by parliamentarians (25 per cent), local councillors (23 per cent) and political party leaders (13 per cent). The dismal picture in Africa reflects the global situation where women constitute only 22.5 per cent of legislative seats.
In the view of the authors, eight factors motivate women’s political participation. First is the changing global and regional environment, specifically the international normative frameworks on gender equality, which have shaped “African countries’ legislation and policies with respect to women’s rights and participation in politics”. This has resulted in increased awareness among women of their rights and “the opportunities they have in politics”.
Building onto this is the women’s movement that has demanded inclusion as a human right and advocated with the states parties to the treaties to fulfil their commitments.
Third is the emergence of a less chauvinistic political culture. In this context, women’s participation and presence in politics is more conspicuous in countries that mounted often violent liberation struggles against colonialism and apartheid, in which women participated alongside men and hence had a justifiable claim to leadership positions in the aftermath. Gender equality thus became one of the pillars of democratisation, with the relevant countries readily adopting electoral systems that guaranteed women significant levels of inclusion.
Gender quotas have also played a significant role in this menu. They have mainly been adopted to meet the requirements of international and regional treaties. The book notes that quotas “motivate women to contest elected posts” because they are certain of the reserved seats.
Fifth is technology, specifically social media, which has widened the space for aspirants to “exercise their rights to freedom of expression and to participate in public life”.
The most significant thing about this is that social media is much cheaper than conventional channels of communication, hence addressing the often-cited barrier of lack of resources for campaigns. Such media enables wider outreach to the electorate, reduces physical distances and guarantees an instant connection with the electorate.
Then comes in the role modelling effect of women who have become successful in politics. By demonstrating their capabilities, such women inspire other womenfolk to venture into politics.
Personal experiences of injustice have also motivated women to join politics where such changed their outlooks and propelled them to seek improvements by becoming part of the decision making systems and structures. An example cited is that of Margaret Dongo of Zimbabwe who formed her political party in response to expulsion from the country’s ruling party.
Women are also motivated by the desire to contribute to community development, specifically by focusing on issues that inordinately affect their kind for biological or social reasons, such as basic health services. This angle speaks to the idea that women are surrogates of gender issues and believed to be best placed to articulate them because of their lived experiences.
These factors constitute a checklist against which to assess the women’s fidelity to the pull factors in their legislative agenda. They also create ground for further research on the weight of each cited variable in motivating women across the continent.
Scholars would also wish to verify the claims made about each factor. For instance, how many new women politicians peg their ascension to inspiration by older colleagues? To what extent do women in politics actually address the injustices that propelled them? In essence, the central issue is on how the motivators inform the agenda and performance of women politicians.
The writer is a lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at South Eastern Kenya ([email protected]).