Effective Leaders?

A survey of people's views on the effectiveness of their political leaders, men and women, in improving the lives of ordinary women

"Women leaders are better than men because they go the field more and because they are mothers, they know what the communities need. Men only like to drink beer."

James N A Mukupa, Headman of Mungu village, Kafue, Zambia

"We want women at the top but should not genetically engineer them ... we want women with footprints ... people who have history."

Cecilia Ogwal, MP, Uganda

These are some of the views collected by the British Council in East and Central Africa when we set out to find out what people think of the effectiveness of their political leaders, men and women.

Interviewees, ranging from farmers to Ministers, told the eight women researchers that they think:

• the quality of leadership in their country is generally poor
• women leaders are less corrupt than men and care more about basic community needs
• women political leaders generally perform just as well or better than men, but some women leaders, especially those who get into power through affirmative action, such as quotas, lack accountability to the electorate and cling on to power too long. Many people think that affirmative action in this region has proved counterproductive
• Religious organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) do most to improve the lives of ordinary women. Some governments are thought to lack political will to improve women's lives and enhance women's leadership.

A report, Effective Leaders? Views from East and Central Africa, and photo exhibition capture the results from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and Eritrea. They present a snapshot of views from over 800 people in the region. The research was carried out by eight women researchers, all from East and Central Africa, who each visited one country, not their own, to canvas views, in September 2001.

This research is really significant because, for the first time, we have asked ordinary people in eight African countries what they think about their leaders. But it is also important because we are moving away from questions of simply how to increase the numbers of women in politics, to look at women leaders' capacity to change things once they achieve power.

Helena Kennedy QC, Chair, The British Council

The British Council tested the results with a questionnaire survey at the report launch in four countries. The samples were small and not representative but the respondents were very much in agreement with the findings of the report. See survey statistics available separately.

The British Council commissioned MORI to do a poll in Britain on views of the effectiveness of men and women politicians, to compare with the Africa results. MORI interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,002 people aged 16+ by telephone between 5 and 7 April 2002.

Points of similarity are that

• the majority believe that women politicians are equally effective (56%) or more effective (32%) than men in improving the lives of women. The reasons for this are broadly similar to those cited in Africa - people believe women politicians are more in tune with women's thinking and that they know what women want. People in England and Wales are more positive than those in Scotland about the effectiveness of female politicians in improving the lives of women.
• The main challenges faced by women politicians in improving the lives of women in Britain are thought to be barriers posed by men, such as the male dominance of politics, women not being taken seriously and women's low numbers in politics
• Pressure groups and charities are identified as doing most to improve the lives of ordinary women in Britain (chosen by 29% and 22% respectively from a list of groups). This echoes the endorsement of NGOs and religious organisations as doing most to improve the lives of ordinary women in East and Central Africa.
• Seven in ten of the British public say that there are too few women MPs in the House of Commons, though their knowledge of how many women MPs there are varies considerably.

In contrast to the findings in East and Central Africa:

• more than half (59%) of people in Britain believe that in general there is no real difference between the quality of lives of men and women in Britain. In East and Central Africa inequality between men and women is well documented and generally accepted.
• views on the effectiveness of British politicians in improving the lives of men and women are fairly balanced between effective and not effective. This suggests a slightly more positive view of political leaders than in East and Central Africa, but does not seem to be a strong endorsement of their effectiveness
• 82% of people in Britain said that men and women politicians should be equally responsible for improving the lives of women, while in East and Central Africa the task of addressing inequalities between men and women is thought to fall on women leaders alone.

What next?

Having listened to people's views, British Council now plans to start a two-way exchange between women political leaders in the UK and in East and Central Africa to address the mismatch of expectations between political leaders and the people they represent, plus an exchange of ideas on how to improve affirmative action programmes and work towards levelling the playing field for women leaders.