Men, women and democracy in Ghana: Are their experiences different?

The year is ending and soon Ghana’s transition to democracy will be entering Year 31.

In my recently published book 5 Presidents, 8 Elections, 30 Years Later: How Ghanaians See Their Democracy, one of the themes looked at gender differences in attitudes towards democracy and democratic norms. 

Here are four key observations of my findings based on data from nine rounds of the Afrobarometer survey as I look back on thirty years of uninterrupted multiparty democracy in Ghana.

Observation 1: Overall, both genders are certain that they prefer democracy to any other form of government, although significant gaps existed between them at a point in time.

Survey

In the Afrobarometer survey, respondents do have the option of answering “don’t know” to all the questions asked.

When I speak of democratic certainty in Ghana, I refer to the percentage of Ghanaians who, throughout the nine rounds of the Afrobarometer survey, respond with “don’t know” when asked whether they preferred democracy to any other form of government or not.

 The higher the percentage, the greater the uncertainty.

The lower the percentage, the greater the certainty.

For context there is certainty among Ghanaians about their support for democracy although that has not always been the case.

 Ghanaians have moved from a period of democratic uncertainty to one of certainty.

From a high of four out of ten (37 per cent) in 2002 expressing uncertainty about their preference for democracy, that uncertainty completely vanished in 2022.

In that year, one out of ten (1per cent) responded “don’t know” to the question of preference for democracy to any other form of government. 

Are there significant differences between the two genders?

On two occasions (2005 and 2014), men were more certain about their preference for democracy than women.

In 2005, among women, 15 per cent were uncertain compared to only six per cent among men. 

In 2014, among women, 17 per cent were uncertain compared to nine per cent among men.

Since then, both men and women have become certain about their preference for democracy with just about one per cent responding with “don’t know.”

Observation 2: Overall, both genders show strong support for democracy.

 Over time, there has been no significant change in support for democracy among women while there has been a significant change in support for democracy among men.

In 1999, men 82 per cent expressed significantly greater support for democracy than women 72 per cent.

The gap vanished in 2002, only to re-appear in 2005 (78 per cent-71per cent).

There were no significant gaps till 2014, where again men 71 per cent expressed greater support for democracy than women 66 per cent.

 Since then (2017, 2019, 2022), there have been no significant gender gaps in support for democracy.

When the year-to-year patterns are examined, overall, support for democracy among women remains unchanged.

However, support for democracy among men has declined by five percentage points from 82 per cent to 77 per cent.

Observation 3: Over time, women have become more satisfied with the way democracy is working than men.

Between survey round one in 1999 and round four in 2008, on average, men 66 per cent expressed more satisfaction with the way democracy was working in Ghana than women per cent.

In survey round 5 2012, there was no difference between the extent to which both genders expressed satisfaction with the way democracy was working in Ghana.

 Since 2014, the trajectory has changed.

On two occasions (2017, 2019), there was no difference between the genders. 

However, in 2014 and 2022, the gaps were different.

In 2014, men 58 per cent expressed higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy was working than women 53 per cent.

In 2022, for the first time, women 54 per cent expressed higher levels of satisfaction with the way democracy was working than men 47 per cent.

Over time, satisfaction with the way democracy is working has declined among men by ten percentage points (57 per cent to 47 per cent), while among women, it has improved by five percentage points (49 per cent to 54 per cent).

Observation 4: In years of democracy deficits, there has generally been no difference between men and women.

Both genders support democracy in greater percentages than they are satisfied with the way democracy works.

Democracy deficit

The democracy deficit calculates the difference between support for democracy and satisfaction with the way democracy works.

A positive number (democracy surplus) means that citizens’ satisfaction with the way democracy works is higher than their support for democracy.

A negative number (democracy deficit) means that support for democracy is higher than satisfaction with the way democracy works.

There have been nine rounds of the Afrobarometer survey in Ghana.

Eight out of the nine times, Ghana has experienced a democracy deficit. 

On seven out of those eight occasions, there has been no significant differences between the genders.

However, in the most recent round (2022), the democracy deficit was significantly higher among men than women.