Socio-economic Factors associated with Gender Gaps in politics in the Southern Senatorial District of Taraba State

Abstract

The domination of women by men in political positions and offices undermines
the tenets of democracy by posing a serious threat to the assertion and belief of
inclusivity of all genders. This paper aims to examine factors associated with the
gender gap in politics in the Southern Senatorial district of Taraba state. The paper
utilized a sequential mixed-method, descriptive cross-sectional survey research
design. The sample size was 384 out of 660,220 men and women of voting age. The
study respondents were made up of electoral officers, party officials, and party
members. A validated structured questionnaire and key informant interview (KII)
were used for data collection. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics of
mean and standard deviation, and thematic analysis of KII, and the mean score
was set at 2.50. The study's findings revealed that socio-cultural factors, religion
mean value (4.41), culture, customs, norms, and traditions (4.39), patriarchal party
structure (3.75), electoral violence and threat (3.83), and lack of women's interests
(4.41) are responsible for gender gaps in politics. The researcher recommends that
the government should make a law that certain elective positions be reserved
exclusively for women at all levels, be it federal, state, and local government areas.