The Contrasted Performances of Women’s Political Representation: A comparative Study of Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal

Details

Supervisors

Rihoux, Benoît

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences politiques, orientation relations internationales, à finalité spécialisée: diplomatie et résolution des conflits

Abstract

For the past decades, many sub-Saharan African countries succeeded in considerably improving women’s political representation, thus outperforming Western countries. Yet, little attention has been given to them. The objective of this master’s thesis is to shed light on this phenomenon of progress in a continent that is nevertheless always portrayed as underdeveloped. It consists of a comparative study of the elements that led to or prevented the improvement of women’s political representation in the respective National Assembly of Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. The purpose is to explain the contrasted performances between the three case studies and to attempt to systematize the factors impeding women’s political empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa. It is assumed that the different level of representation is the result of violence as defined by the Peace Research approach which constitutes the theoretical framework of this study. Using Peace Research enables to give an overview of the issue of gender inequality. It emphasized the intertwinement of the different factors influencing women’s empowerment, which all need to be addressed to achieve a genuine political representation of women.