Assessing women‘s participations of political parties in Gondar town,

Abstract

Women equal participation in local government plays a vital role in the general processes of the advancement of women. In Ethiopia, although women are granted constitutional rights to take part in any affairs affecting their life, they do not exercise equal rights of participating in politics. The general objective of this study was to assess women‘s participations in political parties in Gondar town. To achieve the objective of the study qualitative approach was used. Primary and secondary source of data was used from both women and men of the town and government officials. Both in-depth interview and FGD was used. Result the study identified that the political participation of women in Gondar town was low as compared to men except for their equal participation in election. The study found that women were underrepresented in local power structure, decision making body and political parties. This was mainly due to factors like community related, economic, cultural, and political and women commitment factors. Conclusion and recommendation: the range of women leaders and decision makers in Gondar town was very low. The study indicates that there are numerous challenges that hinder women to participate in politics. Based on this, the ruling party, stakeholders should work to bring women in leadership and political participation. Women should struggle for their participation in political parties and other leadership positions.