Men are perceived to be better leaders than women - Afrobarometer report

Men are still viewed as more competent than women in leadership positions, according to a new Afrobarometer survey on gender and gender-related issues in Ghana.

The study, which sampled the views of 2400 respondents comprising adult citizens in both rural and urban across the country, found that, on average, women are more likely to perform abysmally in leadership

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Despite the perception that men are more capable, a significant number of the respondents believe women ought to be given the support in political leadership.

The researchers led by Josephine Appiah Nyameekye primarily attribute the gender gap to societal pressures that contribute to gender differences in personality traits as men tend to be more assertive and dominant, whereas women tend to be more communal and nurturing.

According to the study, 31 percent of men are of the view that men are better leaders than women, while 17 percent of women supported men in that regard.

Findings of the research were presented on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 during a CDD-Ghana forum on Feminism in Accra.

The event was under the theme, ‘Are there new approaches in the push for gender equality’?

However, other aspects of the survey which touched on financial autonomy, educational equality, digitization gap between men and women also revealed a more advantageous gap for men.

The methodology used in collating the data involved a face to face interactions, standard questionnaires and a +/-2 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Afrobarometer heads a pan-African, nonpartisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues across Africa.

Seven rounds of surveys were completed in up to 38 countries between 1999 and 2018.

Round 8 of fieldwork was conducted in Ghana between September 16 and October 2019.

Breakdown of the findings

Seven in 10 Ghanaians (72%) want women to have the same chance as men of being elected to political office.

Women are twice as likely as men to lack formal education.

Men are 10 percentage points more likely than women to say they make decisions themselves about how household money is spent.

Since 2008, the digital gap between men and women has consistently widened, even though women’s regular use of internet has increased.