Political participation of women: with special reference to the Pottuvil divisional secretariat area

Abstract

In a parliamentary democratic set up, politics, political parties, and political participation on the basis of social positions are the main components of common talks. Political participation has come to occupy an important place in the life style of all the people to gain their political rights properly. As it is the main key for the people to open the door of political program and propose political demands. So, this paper manly deals with women political participation in Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat area. Therefore, this study is significant as it explores why women has limited participation in politics, although they have been given many opportunities such as higher education, employment, administrative power and political opportunities and rights to develop their capacity for best contribution of the society. The main objective of this study is to examine women's political participation in the Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat area concerning their different types of socio-economical and cultural backgrounds. And also this study attempts to investigate the conceptual and material bases of women's historic exclusion from the formal arena of politics to identify internal and external conditions and factors that facilitate or hinder the creation of an enabling environment for women's political empowerment; and finally draw some recommendations for the national and international actors. This is primarily a qualitative study. Data was collected from primary as well as secondary sources. The primary data was collected through questionnaire, key informant interview, direct observation and focus group discussion (FGD). The secondary data was collected from the profile of the Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat Finally, this research found the result as the political participation of women is limited in the Pottuvil Divisional Secretariat area due to the socio, cultural, personal and religious circumstances