Gender and governance

7.Conclusion

Ultimately, gender-sensitive governance will mean a world with better choices, opportunities, access to resources and life outcomes for women, through governance policies and actions that challenge entrenched gender inequalities in society and are supported by strong accountability mechanisms. Changes in governance approaches over the past few decades, with their emphasis on decentralised, democratised processes and principles of accountability, responsiveness and inclusiveness, have great potential to enable this vision to become reality. However, as this report has shown, much of this potential is unrealised. There has been some progress in redressing the gender imbalance in national and local governance processes and institutions – most notably, electoral reform has meant the inclusion of more women in government institutions, particularly at a local level. These reforms are a good start, but they need to be viewed as one part of a far more comprehensive process that involves governance institutions addressing ways in which they reinforce gender inequalities through their own practices and policies and thinking carefully about how to achieve the long-term goals of equality and social justice. A vital message is that increasing the number of women in positions of authority will only result in a more equitable system of governance if the quality of their participation is guaranteed. This requires a shift in assumptions about the roles women and marginalised men should play in governance processes, and the creation of an environment where people are viewed in terms of their capacity rather than their gender or sexuality. It requires the critical assessment of institutions and institutional relationships at global, national and local levels, the introduction of new, gender-equitable ways of working, and a commitment to monitoring their effectiveness.

Identifying barriers to gender equality in institutional culture and relationships can provide entry points for change, but without the will for transformation, gender-sensitive policies and mainstreaming strategies can soon evaporate. Therefore, it is important to enable clear, shared understandings around the need for gender equality across governance institutions on global, national and local levels. These understandings need to go beyond instrumentalist arguments about women’s capacity to reduce corruption or contribute to economic growth through their participation in the workplace. They should also reinforce women’s right to be active partners in governance processes – particularly those who have been traditionally excluded because of ethnicity, poverty or other forms of marginalisation.

These processes of awareness-raising and transformation need to happen at all levels of governance, not only in local and national government institutions. At a global level, institutions such as UN organisations and the WTO should not only be examining their own practices through a gender lens but ensuring that gender policy is consistent across all institutions, given their influence on national and local governance. At the same time, better processes of accountability are required for national and local governments around the implementation of international human rights instruments such as CEDAW that could facilitate gender-sensitive governance and respect for rights. The potential of strong states to endorse and finance far-reaching, centralised policy that can reshape public perceptions of men and women, their roles in public life and in the household and community should also not be underestimated, particularly in situations of fragility and fragmentation such as conflict or post-conflict.

At a local level, as we have argued in the report, participatory, citizen-focused and other local governance processes are not always as gender-inclusive as they outwardly appear and should be critically assessed with the aim of identifying and addressing the root causes of exclusion. CSOs, including women’s organisations, have an important facilitating and mediating role at all levels of governance, but they also need to examine their own internal governance practices and ideas about gender to be as effective as possible in these roles.

However, real change needs to start with the conceptual foundations of governance. It is crucial to acknowledge the points of tension between notions and practices of governance, challenging, for example, assumptions about the capacity of decentralisation and other aspects of governance to be intrinsically more inclusive and gender-aware. At global, national and local levels, all governance institutions need to contribute towards the creation of revised ideas about governance at the level of the public consciousness by demonstrating good practice and by effectively communicating – through the media and other channels – the transformatory potential of governance processes. Their messages should challenge existing ‘common sense’ perceptions of governance as the domain of privileged males, removed from the realities of ordinary people. They should enable women everywhere to identify and claim their place in governance institutions and processes that are designed with, not for, them.