ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS IN KATSINA-ALA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE THROUGH THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF EDUCATION

Abstract

This study is an assessment of the improvement of women participation in politics in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State through the instrumentality of education. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses formulated for the study. The population for the study comprised all the 224, 718 citizens in the urban and semi-urban areas of the study area. The sample size for this study is 400 respondents which was 0.18% of the population which is 224,718 respondents from the study area drawn through multistage sampling technique. A structured questionnaire titled “Education and Women Participation in Politics Questionnaire, (EWPPQ) was used for data collection. The descriptive statistics of Mean Score was used to answer the research questions while Chi Square statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found out that there is significant influence of illiteracy on women’s participation and that there is significant impact of higher educational attainment on women participation in politics in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State. The study recommended that more women should be given ample opportunities to develop and empower themselves through the instrumentality of education as this will pave ways for their active participation in politics and national development and that more women should be given opportunities to acquire higher education as higher education has been found never to act as a barrier towards women participation in politics.