Gender and governance
What questions does this report answer?
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- 1.3What does this report contribute to debates
- 1.4Who is this report for
- 1.5Scope and structure of the report
1.2What questions does this report answer?
1.3What does this report contribute to debates?It discusses that governance cannot be effective if it does not advance gender equality and the realisation of women’s rights, and fails to equally engage women and men in decisions. To achieve these goals, significant changes are needed at the level of institutional goals and within governance institutions and processes – addressing deep-rooted, implicit prejudices that affect women but can also affect men. Broader shifts at the level of the public consciousness are also needed in order for these institutional changes to result in transformation. Governance institutions and those reflecting on governance processes, such as the media and educational establishments, need to better communicate what potential democratic governance processes hold in terms of enabling gender equality, as well as demonstrating this through their own practices. This will help to challenge associations of governance with male-dominated institutions ‘up there’, removed from ordinary people, and will enable women to identify their own potential roles in these processes. While a significant amount of literature is now available on gender and governance, it usually focuses on gender equality in national – and sometimes local – government, often with an emphasis on increasing women’s representation in government institutions through electoral reforms such as quotas, which stipulate that women must constitute a certain percentage of the members of a governance body. This report takes government as an entry point for talking about gender-sensitive governance, because of the extent to which government institutions and processes affect our lives, and because this is where most of the current work and resources lie. Yet it goes further, presenting the ‘bigger picture’ of governance through a gender-focused examination of some of the institutions that influence government. These include global governance institutions such as the UN, as well as CSOs at the global and local levels, and informal citizen-led participatory governance processes. 1.4Who is this report for?This report is for a broad audience of those interested in and working on governance and gender issues – gender equality, social justice and human rights advocates, as well as decision-makers in mainstream government ministries, donor agencies and CSOs – who are seeking to understand the ways in which governance and gender intersect. The report speaks to both gender specialists and those with no or little knowledge of gender issues. Equally it does not pre-suppose a prior knowledge of governance, recognising that even those who are experts on governance will benefit from a clear, gender-focused mapping of this complex field in order to consider the implications for policy and practice. 1.5Scope and structure of the reportWe focus on three key, interlinked levels of governance: government, and influencers of government – that include global institutions, civil society and citizen-focused participatory processes. In each chapter, key issues and concerns are raised and potential strategies for enabling gender equality and women’s empowerment in governance are outlined. The sites of governance explored in the report provide useful entry points for considering the gender implications of governance, and the links between them are emphasised. For example, the report considers how global policy increasingly shapes national and local imperatives, which in turn affect levels of gender-sensitivity in policy making. At the same time participatory processes at the local level are often intended to ‘feed upwards’, influencing national and global decision-making and policy implementation – though the extent to which this is true in practice is explored in the report. The report is also concerned with the relationship between the household3 and community4 – which are themselves places where governance happens – and national and global governance institutions. For example, when women enter the ‘public’ sphere of politics, the way they are treated is often affected by social gender ‘norms’ – the expected roles of men and women that are reinforced within the home and the community. The report also recognises the significance of markets, and the enormous influencing power of trade and finance institutions such as the WTO and the World Bank, but does not focus on these. Case studies from different global regions and cultural settings illustrate the report. Recommendations for achieving more gender-sensitive governance at different levels are presented, as well as more cross-cutting approaches. The Supporting Resources Collection that accompanies this Overview Report provides insights into useful approaches, tools and frameworks, while pointing to further related resources through an annotated bibliography. Chapter outline
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