Across Africa, concerns about the growing influence of money in politics have become central to democratic reform.
Political parties, governments, election management bodies, civil society organisations, and development partners increasingly recognise that political finance shapes transparency, accountability, electoral integrity and public trust.
This issue was at the heart of the recent High-Level Regional Convening on the Financialisation of Politics in Africa, held in Accra and convened by the African Union Advisory Board Against Corruption (AUABC), the Community of Practice on Political Finance in Africa, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Transparency International, the Open Society Foundations, and other partners.
Discussions focused on strengthening political finance systems through greater transparency, accountability and oversight.
These are essential priorities, but one important question deserves greater attention: What is missing from the conversation?
Answer
The answer is a gender perspective.
Political party financing is often discussed as a technical issue involving campaign expenditure, fundraising, disclosure requirements, and regulatory compliance.
While these are important, they do not tell the whole story. Political finance also determines who can access political opportunities, compete on equal terms, and ultimately gain representation in decision-making.
Because women and men enter politics from different economic and social realities, financing systems that appear neutral often reinforce existing inequalities.
Much attention has rightly focused on visible financial barriers such as nomination fees, campaign costs, fundraising demands, and the monetisation of internal party elections.
Yet another layer of costs remains largely invisible.
A gender perspective, informed by feminist political economy, encourages us to examine the hidden economic and social costs that disproportionately affect women seeking political office.
These include unpaid care responsibilities, time poverty, lost income during campaigns, personal security expenses, expectations to support families and communities financially, reputational attacks, online abuse, and the emotional labour of navigating male-dominated political spaces.
These costs rarely appear in political finance laws or party regulations, yet they significantly shape who enters politics, who remains active and who ultimately reaches leadership positions.
GenCED’s recent research, The Price to Participate: How Money in Politics Undermines Women and Youth Political Participation in Ghana, illustrates this reality.
Based on interviews with ninety-nine key informants across four regions, the study found that women face financial barriers extending far beyond filing fees and campaign expenditure.
Hidden costs associated with unpaid care work, transportation, personal security, lost income, social obligations, and persistent gender stereotypes often determine whether capable women can sustain political ambitions long before voters cast their ballots.
This evidence challenges us to rethink political party financing.
If reforms focus only on regulating campaign expenditure, improving disclosure requirements, or limiting illicit financing, they address only part of the problem.
Political finance systems may become more transparent without becoming more inclusive.
Gender perspective
A gender perspective asks whether political financing systems create equal opportunities for participation or merely regulate unequal systems more efficiently.
This is particularly important because political parties remain the principal gatekeepers to political office.
Their internal rules determine who contests elections, who receives financial support, and how resources are distributed.
When these systems fail to recognise structural gender inequalities, they can unintentionally exclude women despite commitments to equality.
As African countries pursue political finance reforms, gender should not be treated as an afterthought. Instead, it should be integrated into financing frameworks from the outset.
This means reviewing party financing rules through a gender lens, promoting equitable allocation of party resources, reducing unnecessary financial barriers, strengthening financial support for women candidates, and incorporating gender impact assessments into political finance reforms.
It also means recognising the hidden costs of political participation as legitimate public policy concerns rather than private burdens women must bear alone.
Conversation
For Ghana, this conversation is particularly timely.
The passage of the Affirmative Action (Gender Equity) Act, 2024, demonstrates a national commitment to increasing women’s representation in leadership and public decision-making.
However, legal reforms alone will not achieve inclusive representation if political financing systems continue to reproduce structural inequalities.
Political finance reforms should therefore complement the implementation of the Act and broader democratic reforms.
The discussions in Accra reminded us that money in politics is not only about corruption or campaign spending.
It is fundamentally about power, access and representation.
If Africa is to build democratic systems that are truly free, fair and inclusive, we must ask not only how political parties are financed but also who is able to participate under existing financing arrangements.
Only then can political finance reforms expand democratic opportunity and ensure that leadership reflects the diversity, talent, and aspirations of all citizens.
The writer is the Executive Director, GenCED
