GENDER AND DECENTRALIZATION

GENDER AND DECENTRALIZATION PDF Author: Simi Afonja & Monica Alagbile
Publisher: ChudacePublishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
GENDER & DECENTRALISATION Gender and Decentralization in Nigeria is a product of two years’ research sponsored by the Gender Unit of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, as part of its Gender and Decentralization Program for sub-Saharan Africa. The overall objective of the program was to document and analyze specific state decentralization reforms that have worked to promote women’s rights, and/or reforms that have created barriers to the protection and realization of these rights. At the core of the Nigerian project were women’s representation and political effectiveness in local administration. The issues transcended the usual structural analysis of the political, administrative and fiscal changes associated with decentralization and a breakdown by gender. Given the centrality of equity and accountability issues in current good governance debates, a feminist perspective on voice and action was inserted into the traditional public administration perspective. Going beyond numbers, description of gender inequitable electioneering processes, poor accountability of the state, of political parties and the women’s constituency, the book also focusses on feminist political activism at the grassroots level. The authors also document the potential impact of re-politicizing civil society, and restructuring of gender ideologies to achieve self determination and increase women representation and political effectiveness.

GENDER AND DECENTRALIZATION

GENDER AND DECENTRALIZATION PDF Author: Simi Afonja & Monica Alagbile
Publisher: ChudacePublishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
GENDER & DECENTRALISATION Gender and Decentralization in Nigeria is a product of two years’ research sponsored by the Gender Unit of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, as part of its Gender and Decentralization Program for sub-Saharan Africa. The overall objective of the program was to document and analyze specific state decentralization reforms that have worked to promote women’s rights, and/or reforms that have created barriers to the protection and realization of these rights. At the core of the Nigerian project were women’s representation and political effectiveness in local administration. The issues transcended the usual structural analysis of the political, administrative and fiscal changes associated with decentralization and a breakdown by gender. Given the centrality of equity and accountability issues in current good governance debates, a feminist perspective on voice and action was inserted into the traditional public administration perspective. Going beyond numbers, description of gender inequitable electioneering processes, poor accountability of the state, of political parties and the women’s constituency, the book also focusses on feminist political activism at the grassroots level. The authors also document the potential impact of re-politicizing civil society, and restructuring of gender ideologies to achieve self determination and increase women representation and political effectiveness.

Empowered by Design

Empowered by Design PDF Author: Margaret Eileen Rincker
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 1439913978
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
Using three case studies, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Pakistan, Rincker shows how decentralization reforms lead to women's empowerment create new institutional offices as power shifts from the national level to a meso-tier level, which is located between the national government and local municipalities. She indicates that three conditions, "the gender policy trifecta," need to be met to achieve this: legislative gender quotas, women's policy agencies, and gender-responsive budgeting.

New Lamps for Old?

New Lamps for Old? PDF Author: J. Devika
Publisher: Zubaan
ISBN: 9381017395
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
Based on a large number of interviews with women politicians of many generations and women who have entered the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions since the mid-1990s in Kerala, this book tries to initiate fresh debate on the impact of the large-scale induction of women into the institutions of local self-government in India. The State of Kerala has been hailed as a success story in accommodating gender concerns in local-level planning and political decentralisation; this conclusion has been based on relatively simple evaluative exercises that ask whether women of diverse backgrounds have gained entry into formal institutions of governance or not. This book seeks to place political decentralisation and its possibilities for women within the historical and contemporary contexts. Against the popular assumption that the liberal feminist promise made by the state will be delivered, say, once the noxious influence of male relatives is removed, the book points to the multiple social forces that shape possibilities and hindrances for women, and reshape gender divisions in the political field. The book thus pays attention to women in both local governance and politics. Secondly, it examines how women have utilised, extended, survived within or subverted these spaces. In the present context in which fifty per cent of the seats in the institutions of local self-government are being reserved for women, and there exists considerable skepticism about reservations for women in the Parliament, this book offers reflections on both local governance and ‘high’ politics. Published by Zubaan.

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State?

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State? PDF Author: Shirin Rai
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719059780
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the interests of women are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia.

Gender Quotas in South America's Big Three

Gender Quotas in South America's Big Three PDF Author: Adriana Piatti-Crocker
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 149850017X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the return of democracy to Latin America, policies intended to promote the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups have been increasingly adopted throughout the region. Gender quotas have been one of the most popular and effective mechanisms employed in elections and other contexts in Latin America. This volume begins with an introduction to gender quotas, including discussion of the types and merits of gender quotas, alternative approaches to the study of quotas, and their interactions with different kinds of electoral systems. Successive chapters examine the adoption of gender quotas and their impacts in the three largest South American countries by area—Argentina, Brazil, and Peru—at both national and subnational levels. These chapters also focus on specific topics that stand out in the unique experiences of these countries: substantive representation in the case of Argentina, gender and campaign finance in the case of Brazil, and regional differences in the impact of electoral rules in the case of Peru. Through careful analysis, this volume presents a nuanced picture of how different types of electoral systems may affect the election of women and the effectiveness of quotas.

Dangers of Decentralization

Dangers of Decentralization PDF Author: Remy Prud'homme
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN:
Category : Central-local government relations
Languages : en
Pages : 43

Get Book Here

Book Description
Demand for decentralization is strong in most parts of the world. This close look at the negative side effects of improperly appled decentralization is not an attack on decentralization but an effort to prevent its misapplication -- and to promote fuller understanding and wiser use of this potentially desirable policy.

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa

Democracy and Decentralisation in South Asia and West Africa PDF Author: Richard C. Crook
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521636476
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is an in-depth empirical study of four Asian and African attempts to create democratic, decentralised local governments in the late 1980s and 1990s. The case studies of Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Karnataka (India) and Bangladesh focus upon the enhancement of participation; accountability between people, politicians and bureaucrats; and, most importantly, on whether governmental performance actually improved in comparison with previous forms of administration. The book is systematically comparative, and based upon extensive popular surveys and local field work. It makes an important contribution to current debates in the development literature on whether 'good governance' and decentralisation can provide more responsive and effective services for the mass of the population - the poor and disadvantaged who live in the rural areas.

Gender, Governance and Empowerment in India

Gender, Governance and Empowerment in India PDF Author: Sreevidya Kalaramadam
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317246837
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the mid-1980s, the presence of women in governance has become a major marker of successful democracy in global and national discourses on the democratization of society. A diverse set of nation-states have legislatively mandated gender quotas to ensure the presence of elected women representatives (EWRs) in various rungs of governance. Since 1993, the Indian state has legislated a massive program of democratization and decentralization. As a result, more than 1.5 million EWRs have taken office within the lower rungs of governance or the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI). This book is an ethnography of the Indian state and its policy of legislated entry of women into political life. It argues that political participation of women is necessary to change the political practices in society, to make institutions more gender, class and caste representative, and to empower individual women to negotiate both formal and informal institutions. Its locus is the everyday life contexts of EWRs in the southern Indian state of Karnataka who negotiate their own meanings of politics, state, society, empowerment and political subjectivity. Analysing three factors – structural boundaries, sociocultural divisions and conjunctural limitations imposed on the participation of EWRs by political parties – the book demonstrates that the social embeddedness of PRIs within everyday practices and social relations of identity and power severely constrain and shape the political participation and empowerment of EWRs. Providing a valuable insight into contemporary state and feminist praxis in India, this book will be of interest to scholars of grass-roots democracy, gender studies and Asian politics.

Gender in Local Government

Gender in Local Government PDF Author: Prabha Khosla
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Case studies
Languages : en
Pages : 164

Get Book Here

Book Description
"This sourcebook aims at providing local governments with the tools to better understand the importance of gender in the decision-making process and to reach better solutions for the communities they serve. For this publication the following key issues of local governance have been selected: participation in local government, land rights, urban planning, service provision, local government financing, violence against women and local economic development. Each of these issues is introduced by a brief gender analysis. Numerous case studies illustrate what local governments can do. Reflection questions and training exercises help trainers to develop successful training events. [...] [The manual] is designed as a companion to other UN-HABITAT training tools, providing local government trainers with the background and tested training methods they need to strengthen the gender dimension in their day-to-day training activities. The source book may also be used as a stand-alone tool, introducing local governments to gender issues and their importance for local government policy-making and project implementation." -- P. iv.

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America PDF Author: Benjamin Goldfrank
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271074515
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called “the Pink Tide.” In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin America for many years, and this book represents the culmination of his empirical investigations in Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In order to understand why participatory democracy has succeeded better in some countries than in others, he examines the efforts in urban areas that have been undertaken in the cities of Porto Alegre, Montevideo, and Caracas. His findings suggest that success is related, most crucially, to how nationally centralized political authority is and how strongly institutionalized the opposition parties are in the local arenas.