What Are They Speaking for: The Relative Participation of Female Councillors on Influencing “Health Related Female Interests” in the Decision Making Processes

Abstract

The usefulness of the increased number of women in the decision making bodies is seen when female interests are voiced in the decisions of the council. This implies that female interests may be better served if women are given decision making capabilities to raise their voice in the decision making bodies. This paper seeks to answer the question that “how and to what extent female councillors participate on health related female interests during decision making processes”. The data used in this paper were collected from 2012 to 2014 for the PhD thesis titled “The relative participation and influence of female councillors in the decisions of the councils in Tanzania”. The study involved a total of 128 councillors from the four LGAs and three methods of data collection that are the review of minutes of meetings, observation and interview were used. Quantitative and qualitative analytical methods were performed to acquire a better picture of the differences in councillors’ participation, their perceptions, practice and experiences in the council. Although female councillors tried to promote health related issues in the council, there is no significant difference when compared to male councillors. Health related issues are not only a concern of female councillors, but also male councillors although their intentions may differ. The hypothesis that female councillors will participate more in health issues than male councillors is not supported. This concurred with the observation and interviews results except in some few scenarios where tension rises when women councillors tried to promote health related female interest but opposed by male councillors. Based on these results, the paper concludes that being female or male does alter the amount of councillors’ participation in health issues. There were differences noted among the councillors concerning their assessment of councillors’ participation in health that the majority of councillors expected female councillors, especially the special-seat councillors, to participate more in health related issues than male councillors. However, this was not confirmed and therefore there is no deviation on the participation in health related issues among the councillors. This indicated that health related issues are not only of interest to female councillors, but also to male councillors. Confidence building workshops for women political aspirants as well as the women who are already in the decision making organs are recommended to build their confidence and possibly increase participation of female councillors in the male dominated decision making bodies.