SOCIO-CULTURAL DETERMINANTS ON VOTING PATTERNS IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION IN GOMBE STATE

Abstract

Nigeria has played a lip service to the gender equality and women empowerment agenda. Hence, Nigerian women have continued to face a mirage of dehumanizing socio-cultural and religious practices as well as barriers to full participation in the public sphere especially in national government and party politics; in order to address the issues identified therefore, there is need to understand the socio-cultural determinants of voting patterns in Nigeria and Gombe state in particular with a gender lens. This study is therefore aimed at providing insights into this critical area of socio-cultural issues of voting and political processes. It intensively assessed the overall voting patterns with special reference to women involvements as voters and candidates, and the challenges and impact of overall socio-cultural determinants on voting, parties’ nominations and support from both formal and informal authorities. Methodologically, both primary and secondary sources of data were employed in the study. The primary sources include field work that involved interview with some selected Key Informants (KIs), and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with selected stakeholders. It also includes the administration of structured questionnaires to the target population. The secondary source of data involved data collection through literature assessment on. This study employed multi-stage sampling technique. A total of 1,100 questionnaires were administered in the state. At first stage, the three senatorial districts of the state were identified. At the second stage, one local government each is selected randomly from the three senatorial district of the state; totaling three in all.