SOCIAL CULTURAL PRACTICES AFFECTING THE LEVEL OF WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE OF TURKANA CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, TURKANA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Purpose: Women's participation in development is considered essential because it helps to achieve social justice and tackle poverty globally. However, women’s level of participation is still facing challenges and difficulties, especially in Africa. For instance, in Turkana County in Kenya, the status of women's success remains limited despite laudable efforts to promote their status in society. This is attributable to cultural factors, which often make women sidelined in productive and economic activities. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of social-cultural practices on the level of women's participation in development.

Methodology: Liberal feminist theory that believes gender inequality is produced by reduced access for women and girls to civil rights and the allocation of social resources such as education and employment was used to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was employed in the study to blend the quantitative and qualitative research approaches and for holistic investigation of the study problem. The study was a survey of the 31 women self-help groups in Turkana Central Sub-County and the elected women political leaders. The leaders of the women self-help organizations were randomly selected and women political leaders were purposively selected, where 98 study participants constituted a study sample. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using both descriptive (frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations) and inferential statistical methods (regression analysis and Analysis of Variance- ANOVA).

Findings: The study established that 62.9% of the respondents agreed that gender disparity affected women's participation in development. This implied that socio-cultural practices such as early marriages, polygamy, womens’ restrictions on owning land, marital status, and gender roles hindered women from participating in development.

Recommendations: The study recommends that government and privately-owned organizations collaborate with the Turkana Community leadership and development groups to create sensitization and awareness of the importance of women's participation in development activities. The study further recommended that the Turkana community needs to abandon some beliefs that hinder women from participating in development and embrace new paradigm shifts and good practices for their social mobilization and participation in issues of socioeconomic wellbeing.