Beyond Symbolism: A Critical Feminist Analysis of Female Presidential Leadership and Gender Policy Outcomes in Contemporary Africa
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Abstract
This article critically discusses how symbolic representation and substantive gender policy outcomes diverged under three African female presidents: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia, 2006-2018), Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania, 2021-present), and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (Namibia, 2025-present). Leveraging feminist institutionalism as the analytical formulation, the paper shows that gender-transformative leadership is systematically limited by patriarchal institutional structures, despite personal presidential dedication. By conducting comparative documentary analysis of legislative archives, policy reports, and indicators of governance, the study discloses some enduring gaps between policy rhetoric and action on gender across all three cases. The results dispute the celebratory accounts of female leadership by suggesting that unless institutions are fundamentally restructured, the rise of women to executive power creates more symbolic than substantive representations. The analysis is relevant to feminist political theory by illustrating the functioning of gendered institutions as structural obstacles to policy change and has implications on gender advocacy strategies in the Global South.
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