Young Women and Political Participation: Exploring Gender Differences in the Awareness, Knowledge and Support for Political Restructuring among Youths in Nigeria

The young women among the agitators

Abstract

Political restructuring can create new political spaces for young women or facilitate an opposite trend. Yet, no study has examined the role of young women with respect to the current agitations for political restructuring in Nigeria. With a focus on the role of young women, the present study explored gender differences in the awareness, knowledge and support for political restructuring among youths in Nigeria. Participants were 575 youths (372 males, 180 females, M = 25.62, SD = 5.51) drawn from the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. Data was collected using a questionnaire assessing awareness, knowledge and support for political restructuring in Nigeria. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and chi square (c2) were used to analyse the data. The results show that there was no statistically significant relationship between gender and awareness of political restructuring. However, females had higher knowledge of and support for political restructuring than males. The discussion of the findings highlights implications for young women in terms of political participation, research and policy.