1st Edition
Governing Women Women’s Political Effectiveness in Contexts of Democratization and Governance Reform
Though the proportion of women in national assemblies still barely scrapes 16% on average, the striking outliers – Rwanda with 49% of its assembly female, Argentina with 35%, Liberia and Chile with new women presidents this year – have raised expectations that there is an upward trend in women’s representation from which we may expect big changes in the quality of governance. But getting women into public office is just the first step in the challenge of creating governance and accountability systems that respond to women’s needs and protect their rights.
Using case studies from around the world, the essays in this volume consider the conditions for effective connections between women in civil society and women in politics, for the evolution of political party platforms responsive to women’s interests, for local government arrangements that enable women to engage effectively, and for accountability mechanisms that answer to women. The book’s argument is that good governance from a gender perspective requires more than more women in politics. It requires fundamental incentive changes to orient public action and policy to support gender equality.
Introduction:
Overview of issues and themes (Anne Marie Goetz)
Part I: Women in National Politics: Obstacles, Triumphs, and Influence
Chapter 1: Political Parties and Gender in Latin America (Teresa Sacchet)
Chapter 2: Women, Political Parties and Social Movements in South Asia (Amrita Basu)
Chapter 3: Women and Political Engagement in East-Central Europe (Eva Fodor)
Chapter 4: Gender and Party Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa: Women’s Access and Influence Since Beijing 1995 (Onalenna Selolwane)
Chapter 5: Filipino Women's Participation in Politics and Governance (Carolyn Israel-Sobritchea)
Chapter 6: Women in politics and reproductive rights in legislation: from presence to influence? (Hanny Cueva)
Part II: Women in Local Government: More Room for Maneuver at the Local Level?
Chapter 7: Women in local government in Uganda (Josephine Ahikire)
Chapter 8: Women in local government in India (Jana Everett)
Chapter 9: Decentralizing Government and Centralizing Gender in Southern Africa?: Lessons from the South African Experience of Local Government (Jo Beall)
Part III: Women’s Civil Society Mobilization: New Spaces, New Issues
Chapter 10: Women’s Mobilization In The Context Of Economic globalization: West Africa (Fatou Sow)
Chapter 11: Women’s Social and Political Mobilization in Algeria, Egypt and Jordan (Marnia Lazreg)
Chapter 12: Crossing the lines: Women’s Social Mobilization in Latin America
(Virginia Bouvier)
Part IV: Governance as if Gender Equality Mattered
Chapter 13: For or Against Gender Equality: Evaluating the Post-Cold-War Rule Of Law Reforms In Sub-Saharan Africa (Celestine Nyamu)
Chapter 14: Women in the Transition to a Market Economy in China (Du Jie)
Chapter 15: Gender and Good Governance: Liberal reforms and their implications for gender relations (Anne Marie Goetz)
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Anne Marie Goetz is a Professor of Political Science at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, currently on leave and working as an advisor on governance, peace and security to the UN Development Fund for Women. She is the author of five books on the subjects of gender and politics in developing countries, and on accountability reforms.
