Governance is a sure way of building stronger communities and forms an avenue for the poor, women and minorities to participate in the development of their communities and influence the decision-making process that matters in the development of the communities. However, Nigeria records poor governance index as evidenced by the Worldwide Governance Index (WGI). In addition, there is a clear gender inequality in local administration over the years. This paper was aimed at searching empirically the factors that militate against women’s participation in local governance in South-East Nigeria using a structured questionnaire. The study affirmed that there is low participation of women in local governance and found that the major factors inhibiting women participation in local government include the existing patriarchal system; lack of resources available to women; discriminatory customs, laws and religion; nature of Nigeria’s political system; and poor networking among women. It was thus recommended that for increased participation of women in local government, there is need to remove all these barriers that discourage and prevent women from full participation
Keywords: Gender disparity; Political participation; Women empowerment
