Inclusive Places, Exclusive Spaces -Evaluating Female Councillors' Participation in Municipal Councils in Burkina Faso

Abstract: Processes of decentralization accompanied by electoral gender quotas have in many African countries increased women's opportunities for political participation at local level. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate to what extent the increased number of female councillors has resulted in women obtaining an efficient participation in the municipal councils. I have conducted a Minor Field Study in Burkina Faso, where I have conducted interviews with female and male councillors and conducted direct observations in municipal councils. My theoretical framework is mainly based on research on citizen participation. Female councillors' participation is evaluated in reference to the term efficient participation and its criteria on women's presence at different levels of decision-making and their active participation during meetings. I further applied the power cube model to analyse how structural and institutional power relations influence female councillors' participation. In this thesis I find that women's participation in the council is not efficient. The municipal councils are not neutral spaces, the replication of power relations from other spaces restrains the female councillors' participation. Their participation is reduced both by individual constraints (lack of education and economic resources) and by more informal institutional constraints (values and norms on behaviour).