Social Construction of Gender Roles and Participation of Women in Ghanaian Parliamentary Politics

Abstract

This paper is the result of an observation of the imbalance in the representation of men and women in the parliament of Ghana. Studies (Manuh, 1985; Dolphyne, 1991; Tsikata, 1998; IPU, 2014) have shown that Ghanaian women have never been adequately represented in political decision-making processes in the country over the years.  The call for political partnership between men and women is based on the presupposition that the complementary roles of both sexes can boost the welfare of society.  In spite of this realization, women have not been significantly represented in the in the Ghanaian Legislature.  It is important that reasons are explored to explain the poor representation of women in Ghanaian politics at parliamentary level.

This phenomenon of poor representation of Ghanaian women in the legislature is explained by some theories. The theory of discrimination against women for instance attributes the problem of low participation of women in decision making process to social construction of gender roles. Society in this instance uses feminine and masculine attributes in assigning social roles to both sexes. On the other hand the theory of patriarchy regards women as inferior to men and therefore regarded as politically inferior as well.