A Comparative Analysis of Women's Caucus Efficacy in Nigerian and Ghanaian Ruling Parties

This study examines the effectiveness of women’s caucuses within ruling political parties in Nigeria and Ghana, with the aim of explaining why similar institutional structures produce different gender representation outcomes. The study is anchored on Kanter’s theory of tokenism and proportional representation, which emphasizes how minority numerical strength influences organizational influence and policy outcomes. A qualitative comparative case study design was adopted, employing process tracing to analyse women’s caucus activities within Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress (2015–2026) and Ghana’s New Patriotic Party (2017–2024). Data were drawn from party documents, parliamentary records, advocacy reports, and secondary scholarly sources. The findings revealed that women’s caucuses in Nigeria largely operate through strategic inaction due to patronage dependency, limited financial autonomy, and weak alliance-building capacity, resulting in minimal influence over candidate selection and gender-related legislation. In contrast, Ghanaian women’s caucuses demonstrate gendered resistance through partial institutional autonomy, strategic civil society alliances, and selective public advocacy, which contributed to moderate gains in female political representation and policy reforms. The study recommends institutional reforms that guarantee financial autonomy for women’s caucuses, enforceable gender quota mechanisms, and stronger collaboration between political actors and civil society organizations to enhance women’s substantive political representation.