ASSESSMENT ON WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN CENTRAL ETHIOPIAN REGIONAL STATE OF GURAGE ZONE: THE CASE OF MESERAK MESEKAN WOREDA

Abstract

This study is intended to assess women's political participation in Meserak Mesekan Woreda. For this, a qualitative research approach was followed. The researcher has collected both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was collected through interviews with purposefully selected respondents, and secondary data was analyzed from documents. In doing so, this study was critically analyzed based on the objectives of the study. The study identified that the political participation of women in Meserak Mesekan Woreda is low when compared with men and Women's political participation is not being done at the social level, and there is no activity to increase women's participation at the institutional level in Meserak Mesekan Woreda. Besides, there is no activity to promote women’s political participation and decision-making processes. Besides, there is no legal document prepared to promote women's political participation in Meserak Mesekan Woreda. At the national level, guidelines are prepared by the Federal Prosperity Bureau and implemented in a hierarchical manner, and women's political participation is improving at the federal level. However, the political participation of women in Meserak Mesekan Woreda is still very low. On the other hand, the study found that there were challenges that hindered women’s political participation in the study area; these included educational challenges, economic challenges, socio-cultural challenges, and institutional challenges. Thus, the government should confirm equal rights for women based on their competency, experience, and educational background at different levels of government, particularly at the local level, and the local government body should ratify the community awareness training policy.