| dc.description.abstract | The study was conducted in Mabera division, Kuria west, Migori County to investigate the factors that influence to progression of women to leadership positions. The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, for example, emphasized that 'women's equal participation in decision making is not only a demand for justice or democracy, but can also be seen as a necessary condition for women's interests to be taken into account. The result of the stu,dy would be useful to the county government in addressing the challenges faced by women in their efforts to develop themselves socially, economically and politically.
The other beneficiaries will include the Local Government Authority, the NGOs and many other development partners and more specifically the women themselves . Good practices discovered during the study can be embraced by the community, and individuals interested in improving the economic well being of women. It investigated how factors such as culture, family size, marital status and level of education can affect the progression of women into positions of leadership in the division.
The study was guided by The Classical Liberal Theory of Equity of Opportunity (Classical liberalism or libertarianism) that holds that women and men are self-owners capable of acquiring property rights over things. This right to freedom from coercive interference consists in, at least, rights to freedom of conscience and expression, freedom to control what happens to one's body, freedom of association, freedom to acquire, control and transfer property, freedom of contract, as well as the right to compensation when rights are violated. The study used descriptive survey that targeted a population of9523 women from different households within the division.
The Krejcie, Robert V Morgan table was used to calculate the sample population size and that gave the researcher a sample size of373 women interviewed. This was to ensure the effectiveness of the research work, since involving all the population would have been impossible due to the largeness of the population. The three hundred and seventy three (373) persons were to provide a larger sample in order to reduce the level of error and increase the level of precision. Questionnaires were used as research instruments which the respondents filled during the survey.
Data collected from the field was coded and ultimately analyzed by performing several descriptive statistical computations such as frequency distribution tables and measures of central tendencies. Frequency tables were used to present data. The study revealed that majority of women interviewed 48.4% had primary level of education and only 35.8% managed to reach secondary level. Generally, this implies low levels of education in the area as far as women education is concerned. On the influence of culture quite a number of women still believe in FGM because 91(32%) percent of the respondents still believe in the practice. As far as the influence of family size is concerned, majority of the respondents strongly agree that family size can hinder women progression to positions of leadership.
On marital status most women strongly agreed that those who are married have limited opportunity to get leadership positions because of their husbands' control over them. The researcher discovered that 114 (40010) of the respondents strongly agree that marital status is an impediment to women progression to leadership positions. The researcher concluded that there is need to educate girl child in the division so that they can participate in leadership. The researcher recommended that Leadership Forums & Social Networking gatherings should provide opportunities for women to exchange experience and wisdom with other women in equivalent positions. | en_US |
