WOMEN SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: A STUDY OF IMO STATE (2015 – 2019)

Abstract

This study focused on women’s socioeconomic status and political participationin Imo State (2015–2019). The study was carried out to identify the extent of women’s politicalparticipation. Two research objectives, two research questions and two research hypotheses,guided the study. For the methodology, a survey research design was used, and a questionnaireserved as the instrument for data collection. The population of the study covers all 150 politicalparty executives—50 each from the 3 major political parties (APGA, PDP, and APC) in ImoState and the entire CGC principal executives in the 671 autonomous communities in ImoState, from which 180 were sampled (out of 180 copies of the questionnaire distributed, only170 were properly filled and returned). The data collected are presented in tables and wereanalysed via simple percentages, and hypotheses were tested via chi-square tests. Low incomediscourages women’s political participation, and women’s educational levels affect theirability to stand for an election. On the basis of these findings, it is recommended that theincome of women in Nigeria be improved so that women can be financially viable toparticipate in politics. Moreover, women should be allowed to engage in corporateoccupations, which will give them the needed prestige and financial improvement to participateactively in politics.