Table 4. “Do women and men have the necessary qualities for leadership in equal measure?”
Yes No, men more No, women more Do not know
Women (n=89) (%) 41.6 40.4 15.7 2.2
Men (n=66) (%) 36.4 53.0 9.1 1.5
Total (n=155) (%) 39.4 45.8 12.9 1.9
Table 5. “If you could vote for a new traditional leader in your village, would you prefer a headman or a headwoman?”
Headman Headwoman No preference
Women (n=92) (%) 37.0 26.1 37.0
Men (n=66) (%) 57.6 7.6 34.8
Total (n=158) (%) 45.6 18.4 36.1
Table 6. “It would be good if more traditional leaders were women”
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Mean
Women (n=90) (%) 12.2 31.1 7.8 47.8 1.1 2.94
Men (n=67) (%) 3.0 20.9 16.4 44.8 14.9 3.48
Table 7. “Men generally make better leaders than women” Women (n=92) (%) Strongly agree (1) 27.2 Agree (2) 17.4 Neutral (3) 3.3 Disagree (4) 42.4 Strongly disagree (5) 9.8 Mean 2.90
Men (n=67) (%) 41.8 20.9 1.5 25.4 10.4 2.42
Total (n=159) (%) 33.3 18.9 2.5 35.2 10.1 2.68
60
With regard to the latter two statements, “It would be good if more traditional leaders were women” and “Men generally make better leaders than women”, the gender of the respondents accounts for a substantial deviation in opinion.57 When the gender of the village leader was taken into account, the data show that male respondents living in villages led by a headman were significantly more negative towards increased women’s leadership than the female respondents in the same villages,58 and more negative than male respondents in villages headed by women59 (Table 6b). Similarly, with regard to the statement “Men generally make better leaders than women”, both male and female respondents in villages headed by women scored significantly higher (indicating a lower agreement with the statement) than respondents in villages headed by men, 60 with significantly lower scores from male respondents (Table 7b).61