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’The Women are Coming’: Women’s Participation in Lesotho Local Governance
... The knowledge of gender differences in participation and in the local management as a whole could help us to explore and enhance forms of women participation and empowerment in local organizations for sustainable resource development. The cultural practices and traditions are restricting women's participation at most levels of decision making (Tanga, 2006). The cultural orientation of women through the process of socialization goes throughout their lives. ...
... Women were involved in subsistence agriculture for food supplies while men did hunt and rearing of cattle and domestic animals. Through marriage, new households were formed, normally headed by the husband, who managed new units of production and reproduction (Tanga, 2006). With this arrangement, the care and guardianship of the woman was transferred from her father and brothers to the custody of her husband and his male relatives (Davids and Driel, 1994). ...
... This paved the way for women to live a rather self-reliant life. Tanga (2006) further elaborates that Christian churches offered women Western style ideals such as individualism and personal autonomy, opportunities for leadership and self-expression, education and so on. ...
Women in every society play a significant role in households and community for socio-economic development of the society such that national development is not possible without developing this important and substantial segment. Considering the reality of women in decision making, this study attempted to examine the present status of participation and decision-making role of women in households and community level. As all households (122 HHs) from the Butkesal village under Dang district, Nepal, were included in unit of analysis. Necessary data for the study were collected with questionnaire by personal interviewing of the respondent men and women covering all types of families. Result showed that women’s participation in each and every types of activities either household's level or community level was relatively lower. Finding also showed that in most of the cases women’s participation in decision making process regarding various family affairs is lower than their male counterpart. Moreover, it was found that despite the equity of relative power and freedom, women in the rural villages are lag behind by structural constrains based on gender and negative ideologies. This attitude, together with numerous other factors, is causing low negotiating power of women. Evidence shows, a main obstacle in decision making is the limit set of gendered and its determined task. So far, the study emphasized about the moving beyond essentialism. Moreover, it points towards bringing change in perception to change the structures and ideologies that keep one gender subordinate of other. Therefore, women should be empowered in a holistic way so that women themselves become conscious to cross the boundary created by socially constructed gender ideology and negotiate in order to reduce the existing gender gap to make themselves free for participation in decision making level. In the meantime, governance has been appreciated to include the women in decision making process. Gender-sensitive governance is a best possible to make equitable, sustainable and effective role of women. Participation and engagement from all strata of the society are critical determinants of good governance, a concept which addresses issues of social equity and legitimacy and not merely the efficient management of family and community development process. In every society, there are different ways in which women and men are thinking and participated in the decision-making process. Normally, women’s participation is much more passive and far away to put their views in decision making. Gender sensitive governance creates an enabling environment to the women to meet and share their expectations and institutional expressions. A gender-sensitive approach to governance has two principal objectives; firstly, to increase women's participation in households and community development and, secondly, to foster gender-awareness and competence among both women and men in the development spheres. Finally, conclusion was drawn about the requirement of approach to the issue of participation, including an improvement in women's representation in development structures and their active involvement in advocacy and lobbying for equal opportunities.
... In analysing women's access to leadership positions and responsibilities of authority in community development committees in Ghana, Opare (2005) concluded that women are generally poorly represented in executive positions and even where women do achieve leadership positions, they are assigned nominal ones at lower levels of the hierarchy which are less visible or influential, such as women's organisers and ordinary executive members. Tanga, (2010) in his study of women's participation in politics in South Africa, notes that before women are expected to fully participate in local governance, they must begin at the top. Political parties need to reserve a quota of their seats to women in party constitutions to correct the male dominance. ...
This study was conducted to assess the participation of women in the local governance of the Kassena Nankana Municipality in the Upper East Region of Ghana, taking a specific look at women participation in the municipal assembly, the existence of opportunities for women participation, the challenges confronting women participation and also the strategies towards addressing the situation. A case study of the Kassena-Nankana Municipality was undertaken and a mixed research method employed. As such both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were used. Specifically, a cluster sampling and purposive sampling procedures were used to obtain 100 stakeholders from the municipality. Survey responses from questionnaires administered to the stakeholders were quantitatively analysed. Key informant interviews with key officers of the municipality were also carried out. It was found that there is very low level of women participation in the local governance of the Kassena Nankana Municipality. Further, not many opportunities have been created for women participation except a few manifesto promises which were hardly fulfilled. There was however the presence of some women activist groups in the municipality. Perceptions, unfavourable political climate, and low level of education, amongst others were notable factor affecting women participation in local governance. AFRICA DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ADRRI) JOURNAL ADRRI JOURNAL (www.adrri.org)
... 13 Under this arrangement, the care and guardianship of the woman was transferred from her father and brothers to the custody of her husband and his male relatives, who now cared for the wellbeing of the wife, who had few, if any rights beyond the conines of the family unit. 14 he people of the DRC in general and the generic family unit in particular: 15 …began witnessing changes with the arrival of missionaries in the middle of the nineteenth century. All these historical events, enforcing societal shifts, brought in new norms and values which led to changes in gender relations, and the division of labour. ...
One of the central demands of the feminist movement (which started in the 1880s globally [but first arose in France in 1870]) has been and continues to be women’s exercise of their full and active citizenship, which they consider was denied them as a result of not being recognised as equals at the moment of the definition and construction of citizenship in the eighteenth century. Since then, the women’s movement and feminist movement have denounced this exclusion, calling for equal citizenship for women. At first, between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the feminist movement demanded the right to vote along with other civic, civil, and political rights, considered as a first wave of feminism.1 The second wave of feminism during the 1960s and 1970s continued to demand the expansion of women’s citizenship in the case of the African continent as a whole, and called for a redefinition of the private sphere in which women were isolated. In this sphere they were excluded from certain human rights and were thus unable to fully exercise rights expressing an equal citizenship.2 In for example the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as the focus for this discussion, the participation of Congolese women in the decision making of the country by 2011 was supported by the recently promulgated constitution of the DRC in 2006. The constitution promotes equal opportunity for men and women, but the current government has to date not yet achieved what was promised then. This paper is a critical historical reflection of women’s status and political participation in the DRC. It also argues that the DRC government should encourage women to become actively involved in political parties so that they are eventually able to achieve the highest office in the country in order to serve justice to human rights. Furthermore, the government should take the initiative to introduce a quota system for women in the different state structures. The paper also calls upon political parties of the DRC to encourage the participation of women in party politics.
Recently, there has been growing attention to the need to include girls (and boys) more prominently in poverty reduction and development agendas. How to do this effectively, however, remains an under‐researched subject, especially in debates around chronic poverty, that is, the experience of severe, multidimensional poverty for an extended period of time. Although the Chronic Poverty Research Centre has spotlighted the often overlooked social and nonincome dimensions of poverty traps, including social discrimination and limited citizenship, in general scholarship has paid relatively limited attention to the interplay between gender, poverty reduction and governance institutions. To address this lacuna, this article draws on recent research by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Overseas Development Institute that highlights the key role context‐specific social institutions play in informing and determining the life opportunities and agency of girls and young women. To more effectively address the governance challenges involved in tackling such deprivations, the article discusses three key measures that can support the eradication of gendered experiences of poverty: the importance of involving local community leaders, working with men and boys to raise awareness about girls' and women's rights, and promoting collective action and voice among girls and young women. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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