Part 11
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) promotes good governance through its programmes of lending
and technical assistance. Its approach to combating corruption emphasizes prevention, through
measures that strengthen governance. The IMF encourages member countries to improve
accountability by enhancing transparency in policies, in line with internationally recognized standards
Women's Studies as an Academic Discipline Concept of Good Governance, Gender and Citizenship, Gender Budgeting, Mirror Representation, Gender Responsive Governance
Women's Studies
and codes. In its work with poor countries, the IMF emphasizes adequate systems for tracking public
expenditures relating to poverty reduction. In its regular consultations with its members, the IMF also
provides policy advice on governance-related issues.
The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), established in 2005, supports projects that strengthen
the voice of civil society, promote human rights and encourage the participation of all groups in
democratic processes. The bulk of its funds go to local civil society organizations, both in the transition
and consolidation phases of democratization. In these ways, it complements the UN's work with
governments to strengthen democratic governance worldwide.
The United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) was created to set up an internet-based
network to link regional and national public administration institutions. Its facilitates the exchange of
information and experience, as well as training in the area of public sector policy and management. Its
long-term goal is to build the capacity of these regional and national institutions, with the aim of
improving public administration overall.
Through such measures as these, the promotion of good governance now runs like a thread through all
UN system activities
The weakness of the good governance concept, however, calls into question each of these projects.
Without stronger concepts, donor agencies have no clear basis upon which to argue the merits of one
measurement versus another or to evaluate the relative importance of various components of
governance in any classification. Without better measures, donor agencies cannot, in a rigorous
manner, empirically test hypotheses about how political and economic institutions change, much less
develop evidence-based strategies about how to positively influence this change. Nor can they be very
convincing about the rigor of quantitative findings suggesting a causal relationship between (weakly-
conceptualized) measures of governance and development outcomes.
Women's Studies as an Academic Discipline Concept of Good Governance, Gender and Citizenship, Gender Budgeting, Mirror Representation, Gender Responsive Governance
Women's Studies
For example, Rwanda provides just one illustration of some of these issues. As many observers note,
Rwanda has made clear progress in terms of economic growth, public sector management and
regulatory reform since the genocide in 1994. As many other observers note, its record with respect to
democracy and respect for civil and political rights has been extremely problematic. Should Rwanda be
considered well governed because of its economic progress, or poorly governed because of its
democratic deficits? The UK's Department for International Development (DFID), for instance, has
been the largest bilateral donor in Rwanda, effectively arguing the former. Human Rights Watch,
among others, sharply criticized DFID policy last year, effectively arguing the latter.
The major question of "how to improve governance?" is, of course, the most pressing from a policy
perspective. However, this question cannot be rigorously answered without better addressing the
concept of good governance: "how to improve what exactly?"
The relationship between democracy and good governance is also complex in practice. Many
Latin American countries have democratic institutions yet show high rates of corruption, low levels of
transparency, and other dimensions of bad governance. Some East Asian countries have demonstrated
that it is possible to have relatively good governance with very little democracy.
Neither is good governance consistently associated with good public performance. By most measures
of governance, for example, the United States scores high. Its macro economy is relatively well
managed, government action is for the most part fairly transparent, and its government is accountable
to its citizens.
Therefore it can be said that Good governance is important; it is a condition that we can hope all the
world's people can enjoy. At the same time, there is much to be understood about the concept and
about how it is achieved in practice. Good governance is important; but like many other good ideas, it
is not a panacea. Finally, the nature of governance – both the means and the ends – needs to be
understood. Only then does it make sense to elaborate the principles in order to create a meaningful
analytical tool to achieve the desired goal of good governance.
Women's Studies as an Academic Discipline Concept of Good Governance, Gender and Citizenship, Gender Budgeting, Mirror Representation, Gender Responsive Governance
Women's Studies
References
Mukhopadhyay, M.. 'Situating Gender and Citizenship in Development Debates: Towards a
Strategy' in Gender Justice, Citizenship and Development, eds. M. Mukhopadhyay and N.
Singh, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa,2007
Meer, S. and Sever, C. 'Gender and Citizenship: Overview Report', BRIDGE Development-
Gender, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton,2004
Goetz, A.M.. 'Gender Justice, Citizenship and Entitlements - Core Concepts, Central Debates
and New Directions for Research', in Gender Justice, Citizenship and Development, eds. M.
Mukhopadhyay and N. Singh, International Development Research Centre, Ottawa,2007
Mahmud, S. and Musembi, C. N. 'Gender and Citizenship at the Grassroots: Assessing the
Effect of NGO Initiatives in Social Mobilization and Political Empowerment in Kenya and
Bangladesh', Citizenship, Participation and Accountability – Development Research
Centre,2011
Caiazza, A. 'Called to Speak: Six Strategies That Encourage Women's Political Activism'
Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington DC,2005
Pitkin, Hannah F.,"Formalistic views of representation", in Pitkin, Hannah F., The concept of
representation, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.1967
Bashevkin, Sylvia ,"Introduction", in Bashevkin, Sylvia, Women, Power, Politics: The Hidden
Story of Canada's Unfinished Democracy, Oxford University Press,2009
Women's Studies as an Academic Discipline Concept of Good Governance, Gender and Citizenship, Gender Budgeting, Mirror Representation, Gender Responsive Governance
Women's Studies
Kittilson, Miki C.; Fridkin, Kim (2008). "Gender, candidate portrayals and election campaigns:
a comparative perspective". Politics and Gender 4 (3): 373.2008
MacIvor, Heather,"Women's participation in politics", in MacIvor, Heather,Women and politics
in Canada: and introductory text, Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press,1996
Gidengil, Elisabeth; O'Neill, Brenda; Young, Lisa, "Her mother's daughter? The influence of
childhood socialization on women's political engagement". Journal of Women, Politics &
Policy 31 (4): 1. 2010
Newman, Jacquetta; White, Linda A. Women, politics, and public policy: the political struggles
of Canadian women. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2012
Newman, Jacquetta; White, Linda A. Women, politics, and public policy: the political struggles
of Canadian women. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2012
Parliament of Canada. "40th Parliament, 3rd Session". October 18, 2010. RetrievedJune
3, 2013.
L. Grossman, 'Enough is Enough! Guatemalans protest violence against women', Global Fund
for Women Newsletter, 2003,
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Development/GoodGovernance/Pages/GoodGovernanceIndex .aspx
World Bank Annual Report 2007, http:/go.worldbank.org/k40JW601P0.
World Bank (n.d.) "Good Governance and Its Benefits on [sic] Economic Development: An Overview of Current Trends," http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/pdf/eduardpresentation_munich-inwent.pdf
Women's Studies as an Academic Discipline Concept of Good Governance, Gender and Citizenship, Gender Budgeting, Mirror Representation, Gender Responsive Governance
Women's Studies
Gender Budgeting
Dr.Punita Pathak
Introduction
Gender budgeting exercises now take place in more than forty countries around the world, originally inspired by the early experience of countries such as Australia and given further momentum by the United Nation's commitment to gender budgeting in the Beijing Platform for Action. They take place both inside and outside government and there is a wide diversity in the ways in which they are conducted and their scope. A gender budget is not a separate budget for women; instead it is an approach which can be used to highlight the gap between policy statements and the resources committed to their implementation, ensuring that public money is spent in more gender equitable ways. The issue is not whether we are spending the same on women and men, but whether the spending is adequate to women and men's needs
Gender Budgeting has become an integral part of the development policy as it needs a special focused attention, for the reason that the women are oppressed from womb to tomb. The term "gender budgeting" has become a catch all phrase to describe various government initiatives that seek to address gender issues in the domain of public expenditure and policy. Two definitions are quoted to introduce the concept 'Gender-sensitive budgets', 'gender budgets', and 'women's budgets' refer to a variety of processes and tools aimed at facilitating an assessment of the gendered impacts of government budgets.
In the evolution of these exercises, the focus has been on auditing the government budgets for their impact on women and girls. This has meant that, to date, the term 'women's budget' has gained widest use. Recently, however, these budget exercises have begun using gender as a category of analysis so the terminology 'gender-sensitive budgets' is increasingly being adopted. It is important to recognize that 'women's budgets' or 'gender-sensitive budgets' are not separate budgets for women or for men. They are attempts to break down, or disaggregate; the government's mainstream budget according to its impact on women and men and different groups of women and men, with cognizance being given to the society's underpinning gender relations."
"Gender budget initiatives analyze how governments raise and spend public money, with the aim of securing gender equality in decision-making about public resource allocation; and gender equality in the distribution of the impact of government budgets, both in their benefits and in their burdens. The impact of government budgets on the most disadvantaged groups of women is a focus of special attention."
The above definitions underline the fact that gender budgeting is now seen as a socioeconomic tool for ensuring gender equity in the development process and lays a strong emphasis on engendering public expenditure and policy. Critical activities constituting the gender budgeting exercise would include:
a) Addressing gap between policy commitment and allocation for women through adequate resource allocation and gender sensitive programme formulation and implementation
b) Mainstreaming gender concerns in public expenditure and policy
c) Gender audit of public expenditure, programme implementation and policies – relating to public expenditure, fiscal & monetary matters etc.
Objectives of gender budgeting
Expenditure and taxation policies have different implications for, and impacts upon, women and men in terms of their contributions to both the paid and unpaid spheres of work. Gender budget initiatives can reveal these discrepancies and provide governments with the opportunity (in partnership with other actors) to integrate a gender analysis into economic policy. Sharp and Broomhill explain that most gender budgeting initiatives have three core goals. They seek to:
(1) Mainstream gender issues within government policies;
(2) Promote greater accountability for governments' commitment to gender equality; and
(3) Change budgets and policies. They go on to define success of gender budgets as being contingent upon their record in changing budgetary allocations and policies in a way that promotes gender equality. And at times this can be demonstrated - for example the UK Women's Budget Group was able, through gender budget analysis and lobbying activities, to contribute to the reversal of a proposed change to the tax benefit system that would have shifted money from the 'purse to the wallet'. Other times the results of gender budgeting are less tangible.
Susan Himmelweit embraces both the equity and the efficiency arguments for gender budgeting. She argues that it is important to understand and make visible the different effects of policies on women and men in order to make outcomes fairer between women and men. And additionally it is necessary to utilise the efficiency argument which incorporates the different responses of women and men to policy and proposes that this behavioural aspect should also be analyzed and monitored if policy is to meet its objectives. For example, the UK WBG found that the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC) which was introduced to encourage 'welfare to work' in the UK, will reduce gender inequality between households, since women predominate in those households receiving WFTC. However, the behavioural effects of the WFTC will have the unintended consequence of reinforcing the gendered division of labour since WFTC creates disincentives to employment for the partners of poorly paid men.
Methodologies for gender budgeting
It should be noted that gender budgeting is a relatively new concept and as a result the tools and techniques used to apply the theory are still evolving. Additionally, methodology should and will differ internationally, as it is adapted to the national or even regional context.
Basically gender budgeting can involve analysing any form of public expenditure, or method of raising public money, from a gender perspective and identifying the implications and impacts for women and girls as compared to men and boys. Several toolkits for gender budgeting have been developed - most prominently by Debbie Budlender and Ronda Sharp, Diane Elson and Katherine Rake - examples of which can be found in the appendix.
One key tool is gender impact assessment (GIA). GIA focuses analysis beyond the family or household level, looking at the individual and extends beyond the public, paid economy to the more private, unpaid sphere in which women and their caring work predominate at present. It gives consideration to the longer-term consequences of policy and takes account of the differentials in women's and men's responses to economic incentives.
Gender budgeting approaches
There are no standardised tools for the implementation of gender budgeting. This is mainly due to the extremely different national and local conditions governing budgetary and resource-related decisions. Therefore, translation of the given experiences into other contexts is limited. The different base lines and questions of gender budgeting initiatives require a customised adaptation and harmonisation of tools to the relevant needs.
In the context of various gender budgeting initiatives, a whole range of approaches have been developed that Budlender, among others, compiled in a set of seven tools.
These tools are not to be directly integrated into the work of an administrative authority; however, they do offer important guidance
1. Gender-equality-oriented evaluation of political / economic strategies (by gender equality players)
2. Gender-sensitive check and analysis of individual financial priorities Both approaches ensure the inclusion of the gender perspective in budget-relevant processes at the level of players.
3. Gender-oriented breakdown of the use of public funds (expenses)
4. Gender-oriented breakdown of public revenues
5. Gender-oriented breakdown of the impact of public funds on time management
6. Gender-equality focus in medium-term financial planning
These four approaches (3–6) enable a comprehensive analysis of the implications of budgetary processes on social gender relations. These four approaches help to make genderspecific consequences of allegedly neutral budgetary activities visible.
7. Gender-equality-oriented explanation of budgets. The gender-equality-oriented explanation of budgets includes accountancy and is therefore already a form of controlling.
Tools and steps for action that are based on these gender budgeting approaches have to be tailored to national and regional conditions and to the individual fields of action, subjects and specialised departments in administrative authorities. Already existing GM tools are all also to be considered in order to avoid double work. For example, in the case of legislative procedures for a gender-oriented impact assessment of resource distribution, it would be possible to build on the 'GM-Arbeitshilfe Rechtssetzung' (support document on 'Gender Mainstreaming in the Preparation of Regulations') of the German Government.
Stages in the Budget Cycle
Gender budgeting can be used in any phase of the budget cycle, from planning and identifying objectives and identifying the financial allocations to meet these objectives, to an evaluation of the extent to which these objectives have been met.
Gender Budget Statements
A gender budget statement, like that prepared by the UK Women's Budget Group (external to government) following both the Pre Budget Report and the Budget statement by HM Treasury, is effective in bringing together information on the implications of government expenditure and taxation for women. In countries such as France and Austria, the government produces a gender budget statement alongside their national budget.
Policy areas covered by gender budgeting
Gender budgeting theory and practice has grown out of a widening understanding that economic policy can contribute to narrowing or widening gender gaps across a broad spectrum of policy areas including health, education, welfare, transport and development - hence gender budget initiatives can be applied to any policy area. Additionally gender budgeting is applicable to both macro and micro level economic policy and to both public spending and revenue. Most initiatives around the world have focused on public expenditure, but the UK WBG has spent considerable time analysing tax credits. In practice the extent of gender budget initiatives vary from the broadest analysis of the entire national budget to the more narrow expenditure of selected government departments or programmes or more narrow still, the expenditure on new projects, selected forms of revenue, changes in the tax system or the implementation of new legislation. The extent to which the practice is applied will depend upon government commitment to gender budgeting, resources and expertise available, national and international pressure etc..
The National Budget
One of the most important areas of government macroeconomic policy is the national budget, which deals with both public revenue and public expenditure across all policy areas and expresses the social and economic priorities of the government. The national budget is therefore a key opportunity for carrying out a gender budgeting initiative.
The Gender Machinery of Government
Gender budgeting does not focus solely on gender specific programmes, rather it aims to expose assumptions of gender neutrality across the policy spectrum. However it does have a useful role to play in assessing the funds spent on the gender machinery of government comparative to other ministries or departments. For example analysis conducted in South Australia in 1985/86 revealed that resource allocation to programmes aimed at women and girls was minimal compared to total resource allocation.
Audit of Distribution of Actual Inputs, Activities, Outputs
This kind of analysis links expenditures actually made to the actual participation in the activities provided and enjoyment of the outputs. It is useful where individual participation can be identified. It can be presented in a variety of ways, focussing on distribution of outputs, or funding, or both.
Implementation in the Context of Specialised Tasks
The main steps for implementing gender budgeting need to be taken in the context of specialised tasks:
a) Analysis of the actual situation
What does the actual situation regarding the distribution of resources between men and women look like? Who contributes to the services / revenues of a community, and to what extent? What are the reasons for the unequal contribution of women and men to revenues / services? Who benefits from services / expenses?
b) Gender-equality-oriented assessment of resource distribution
Do women and men benefit equally / differently (in the case of the latter, how) from the actual distribution of resources? Have gender-related differences in the needs been sufficiently / reasonably taken into account? Can an unequal distribution be justified as compensation for specific discriminations? What is the root causes for gender-related disparities concerning the different resources? What are the next specific goals that may contribute to a reduction of a gender-related unequal distribution of resources?
c) Participation-oriented development of measures for gender equality in resource distribution
Whose interests will prevail in the existing budgetary procedure? How powerful are the different interests when it comes to the distribution of resources? Who needs to be taken onboard in order to avoid gender-specific distortions?
These questions can only be answered in the context of specialised tasks tailored to the individual subject areas. Many of these questions have already come up in the framework of implementing gender mainstreaming in different fields. Gender budgeting is about systematising a gender-based analysis and gender-equality-oriented evaluation with regard to the distribution of resources. As a rule, the working method tools that have been developed so far for gender mainstreaming can be amended or specified accordingly without any significant degree of effort. Working methods and tools that serve to evaluate or analyse the cost impact and consequences for the distribution of resources have to incorporate gender at an analysis level and gender equality as an assessment benchmark. This applies, for instance, to the assessment of follow-up costs of bills, economic impact analyses or the evaluation of programme expenses.
The actors involved in gender budgeting
The nature of gender budget initiatives varies internationally. They have been undertaken at national, provincial or local levels and have been coordinated and led by both governments and civil society groups. There are advantages and disadvantages of each type of exercise. Inside government groups (for example, Australia, Barbados and France) have the benefits of access to government information and the capacity to make direct contributions to the budgetary and economic policy decision-making process. Outside civil society initiatives (for example in the UK, South Africa and Tanzania) may suffer resource and data constraints, but their distance from government allows them to take a critical stance and encourage public debate.
a) International Agencies
A number of multiand bi-lateral agencies have expressed support of gender budget initiatives, including: the Commonwealth Secretariat; the International Development Research Centre (IDRC); the European Union (EU); the Nordic Council (of their own budget); the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA); the Swiss Development Corporation; German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ); the UK Department for International Development (DFID); the Governments of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, and the United Nations Development Programme. Most significantly the United Nations' Beijing Platform for Action called for the integration of a gender perspective into budgetary decision-making and called for governments to be accountable for their gender equality commitments. Additionally the World Bank has promoted the idea of gender budget analysis through its gender publications, in particular the models used in Tanzania and South Africa. And the UN European Economic Commission also has plans to support work on gender and budgets.
b) National Actors
At national level a range of actors can play a role in gender budgeting. Initiatives should engage across as many of these groups as possible. The most important actor is, obviously, the government.
c) Government
Experience has shown that gender budget initiatives are most effective when the Ministry of Finance (due to its role in the budgeting process) takes the lead in a government initiative - ideally with close engagement with the Ministry for Gender or Women's affairs. However Budlender et al note that due to absence of established working relationships between the two ministries, some countries have experienced a sidelining of the latter - and so valuable gender expertise is lost from the process. Although the Ministry of Finance is likely to take the lead, other ministries should also play a significant role in the process as it should not be assumed that any government policy is gender neutral. At the outset of the gender budgeting process most governments involve just two or three other key departments - typically health and education – departments that account for a large proportion of government expenditure and have particular relevance for women and those experiencing poverty. Another sector such as agriculture or transport may also be selected to demonstrate that gender budgeting has a role to play outside of the social sector. Within each ministry it is important that the more senior civil servants understand the need for gender budgeting initiatives and support them in principle and that there are civil servants who are equipped with the skills to carry them out.
d) Parliament
Gender budget initiatives are also likely to engage with parliamentarians - particularly women members - for example through lobbying activities, awareness raising seminars and fact sheets for their reference and use in the scrutiny and audit of government's public expenditure and revenue plans. However Budlender et al suggest that the effect of this methodology is limited - most parliamentarians are likely to have little or no powers to amend the national budget, although there is unrealized potential in their powers to audit the national budget. However parliamentarians have had a prominent role in both the South African and the Ugandan initiatives - but a few key individuals have led this participation. The Swiss parliament has a high level of budgetary power, but this is set to decrease dramatically with the introduction of New Public Management.
e) Civil Society groups
As the Australian example proved, the success of gender budgeting initiatives is limited without the involvement of civil society groups to keep up the pressure and provide expertise.
Often the people involved in these groups are the contemporaries of the government officials so have a good working relationship. They are drawn upon to conduct research and even provide training for Government officials. In the South African, Tanzanian and Ugandan examples, NGO groups work alongside the government, acting as 'critical friends' and nudging the government further in the direction of a gender equality agenda. In the UK, the Women's Budget Group has been instrumental in encouraging the Government to commit to a gender budgeting approach. In an OECD questionnaire on Gender Mainstreaming, Competitiveness and Growth, October 2000, HM Treasury described the UK WBG as a key feature of the consultation process with respect to gender. However there can be scepticism among some external gender economists about the ability of government to tackle gender issues adequately and, conversely, governments can be suspicious of NGOs. Additionally NGOs have concerns about maintaining their independent voice and critical distance. In the Tanzanian example, in which NGOs have worked especially close to government, this was a particular concern amongst the activists. Some of the NGO initiatives draw on the expertise of academics, particularly feminist economists. Several initiatives, such those planned in Bangladesh and Italy are led by academics. Other initiatives, such as the UK Women's Budget Group are led jointly by academics and others from NGOs and trades unions. It is useful for these groups to come together to ensure that research is focused on what is useful for advocacy purposes and so that advocates have enough depth of knowledge to pursue their gender budgeting objectives.
f) Individuals
Individuals in key positions have been essential in ensuring the success of many projects - for example in Barbados, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Namibia. But ideally initiatives should not be reliant on the support of individuals, as once these key players move on or are replaced the project may suffer setbacks - as in South Africa and Mozambique. Initiatives should aim to build up a firm support base and institutionalize gender budget processes while these people have power and the climate is favourable.
g) Regional and Local Actors
An increasing amount of gender budgeting work is being done at the sub-national level, encouraged by the international trend to decentralise budgeting functions and power. Chile, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Spain (in the Basque Country) are among the countries to already have initiated work at this level. Of particular interest are the UNIFEM-supported participatory budget initiatives running in Latin American countries. There are benefits to the decentralisation of both the budgets and the gender budget projects - with the public becoming more engaged with the process now they can see the direct impact of budget decisions. The Ugandan Forum for Women in Democracy argues that local level interventions are most appropriate in their country where women are unlikely to have the resources to engage with decision making outside of their own locality. However, Budlender et al advise gender budget activists to be wary of decentralisation. Inequality can grow between regions, functions may be decentralised but not the spending power and it can mean the state is absolving itself of responsibility of the budgeting function and hence nationally agreed gender budgeting arrangements.
Despite all legislations and policy commitments and planning, women remain a vulnerable group. If we are to translate the policy commitment of Women's Empowerment in to a reality we would have to go beyond the current outlook on gender budgeting which excludes several
dimensions of the problem. We have to go in for a more broad based approach that addresses planning, adequate resource allocation, programme design and formulation, targeted intervention and implementation based upon the requirement of women residing at the field level with their participation. This has to be supplemented by relentless reality checks at the field level. Gender mainstreaming has to be a guiding force in all these activities to maximize outreach of public expenditure and benefits for women. Further universalizing access is very important for meaningful outcomes. Inter-state and intrastate imbalances have persisted for a long time and need to be addressed more forcefully. Some overlap of gender and developmental issues will take placethis is inevitable given the wide gap in availability and requirement of socio-economic infrastructure in the country.
The strategy of macro level planning for micro needs and the Strategic Map for gender budgeting as a tool for women's empowerment has been proposed keeping in view the need for a holistic approach to empowerment of women. Any successful strategy for women's empowerment will have to account for the fact that
a) Empowerment cannot be successfully achieved till all aspects social, economic and political are addressed.
b) Empowerment should cover women in all regions of the country
c) Gender concerns have to be mainstreamed in all aspects of public expenditure and policy as women are equal citizens in the country
d) Participation of women in decision making is necessary given their specific needs and to recognize them as equal members of society
e) Societal attitudes have to be re-engineered
Resource Allocation and public expenditure are important inputs in the empowerment process and thus Gender Budgeting has a very critical role to play. However, the tool of gender budgeting has to lend itself to this process based upon the requirements of women's empowerment. The allocation and expenditure process has to be focused and appropriately prioritized. The tool should not become an end in itself. The gender budgeting tool thus has to be honed through
a) Spatial mapping of status of women and resources to ensure progressive universal coverage.
b) Coordination of the flow of public resources to facilitate and ensure convergence of resources with synergy across and within various levels of government
No doubt the resource allocation involved would be of a high order. However, this investment itself could contribute to gender empowerment if utilized in an efficient outcome oriented manner with more involvement of the stakeholders (women) in decision-making and implementation. Further this would lay the foundation for other women specific interventions to be effectively implemented.
References:
Budlender, Debbie and Rhonda Sharp with Kerri Allen, How to do a gender sensitivebudget analysis: Contemporary research and practice, Commonwealth Secretariat, AusAID, 1998
Budlender, Debbie, Diane Elson, Guy Hewitt, Tanni Mukhopadhyay, Gender Budgets Make Cents, Commonwealth Secretariat, IDRC CRDI, UNIFEM, 2002
Elson, Diane, 'Tools for gender integration into macroeconomic policy' in Link in to Gender and Development, 2, Summer , p.13, 1997
Elson, Diane, 'Integrating gender issues into national budgetary policies andprocedures; Some policy options', Journal of International Development, November, 1998
Elson, Diane, 'Gender Budget Initiatives as an aid to Gender Mainstreaming',paper for the Ministerial Conference on Gender Mainstreaming, Competitiveness andGrowth, OECD, Paris 23-24 November, 2000
Elson, Diane, 'Gender Responsive Budget Initiatives: Some key dimensions and practical examples' paper for the UNIFEM-OECD-Nordic Council Conference hosted by the Belgian Government on Gender Responsive Budgeting, Brussels October 16-17th, 2001
Himmelweit, Susan, 'Making visible the hidden economy: the case for gender-impact analysis of economic policy', Feminist Economics, 8 (1), 49-70, 2002
Hunt, Karen and Debbie Budlender (eds.) Money MattersWomen and the Government Budget, Idasa, Capetown, 1998
Rake, Katherine, 'Into the mainstream? Why gender audit is an essential tool for policymakers', New Economy, Vol. 7 No. 2 (pp107-110), June, 2000
Rake, Katherine, 'Gender Budgets: The experience of the UK's Women's Budget Group', A paper prepered for the conference 'Gender Balance – Equal Finance', Basel, Switzerland, March, 2002
Sharp, Rhonda & Ray Broomhill, 'Budgeting for equality: The Australian experience', Feminist Economics, 8 (1), 25-47, 2002
St Hill, Donna Gender Analysis of the National Budget: 1998-99, Barbados Pilot,, Draft, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 1999
Gender Responsive Governance and Mirror Representation
Dr. Punita Pathan
The definition of Governance cannot be explained in a simple manner as it has various definitions depending on who is talking about it and what is the context in which it is used. In simplest way governance refers to decision making by a range of interested people or stakeholders including those in the positions of power and the powerless. The need of effective and working governance, underpinned by the proper principles is utmost for proper functioning at all levels – from the global to the local, in developed and developing countries. To be an effective governance the choices and rights of women's should be preserved along with considering and responding to the differing needs and priorities of women and men in public spending, policies, legislation and treaties.
Gender responsive governance is a concept in which the processes can be understood through a gendered framework. It discusses the evolving and expanding notion of governance. It deals with gender concepts and includes the latest insights in gender responsive governance. Gender responsive governance identifies and implements strategies to increase participation and representation of women and the marginalised groups in an organisation or society at large. It also adopt tools for conducting gender analysis, gender responsive budgeting and mainstreaming gender in programmes or projects It is important to know that the interpretations of gender responsive governance depend upon the institutions concerned and their understanding of governance. In broader terms, gender responsive governance begins with putting gender equality and social justice issues at its core. It is needed to recognise the different needs, interests, priorities and responsibilities of not only women but also men and challenge entrenched gender inequalities. Gender equality issues, such as equal pay, women's right to participate in decision-making, domestic violence, and the recognition of unpaid care work, are to be focused. Institutions and processes are needed to be designed to identify and integrate gender differences into all aspects of decision-making so that policies, plans and programmes equally benefit all women and men across societies. Importantly, gender responsive governance means women and men must have equal involvement in planning and implementing these institutions and processes. The work on gender and governance tends to equate increased representation of women in government with more gender responsive governance.
If agencies towards 'good' and institutions at any level are serious about achieving a more gender responsive approach governance, they need to start with the concepts of defining gender responsive governance and framing their goals. Second, they need to critically analyse the various elements that constitute the governance and the mechanisms through which governance is done. These elements can be broken down broadly into: institutions and processes of governance and the human relationships within and between institutions. The understanding and putting principles of accountability, responsiveness and so on into practice reflect the situations of men and women. Finally, governance institutions and agencies need to consider the practical approaches they will use to bring greater gender equality to their institutions and practices, including gender aware principles to bring about effective governance.
Gender Responsive Governance: Challenges
Government has failed to tackle the entrenched gender inequalities while there has been some progress, policies and legislation which are still not eliminating gender inequalities. For
example, trade liberalisation policies led by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) may have led to more employment for some women in developing countries, but these women are often denied their labour rights. Another is the continuing failure in many countries to recognise rape within marriage as a crime. While the international frameworks exist to challenge these gender inequalities – in the form of the UN's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other human rights instruments – signatory countries are not putting their commitments into practice, and others are failing to ratify them. Decision-making is dominated by men. There are still far fewer women than men with the power to make decisions in governance institutions. In 2008, the world average of women in Parliaments was only 17.8 per cent. In the highest decision-making bodies of European Union central banks, there are five times as many men as women. Governance processes often exclude people with caring responsibilities – primarily women. The working arrangements of governance institutions are usually inflexible, making it difficult for women to balance their work with unpaid caring responsibilities. In turn, the processes designed to engage citizens in decision-making – such as participatory budgeting can exclude women by failing to provide crèches or other facilities. Women are not treated equally in governance institutions and processes. Even when women are involved, they are often kept on the margins of decision-making or are confined to 'soft' policy areas such as health and education.
Gender Responsive Governance: Look like
Gender responsive governance requires that gender equality and the realisation of women's rights should be the core of the goals and practices of governance. Policies and legislation should address the differing needs, interests, priorities and responsibilities of women and men, as well as their unequal economic and social power. As already noted, establishing clear, gendered understandings of the principles associated with effective governance is important, but few principles are needed to be incorporated. To enable women to participate more in governance rather than only "adding women". Gender responsive governance reforms in national and local government in the form of electoral quota systems and the establishment of women's ministries have helped to achieve a better gender balance. For example, at 56.3 per 3 cent, the Republic of Rwanda has one of the highest figures in the world for women's representation in national assembly – in large part due to a quota system. A thorough gender analysis of everyday institutional practices is a good way to uncover attitudes, behaviour, thinking and policies that are discriminatory or gender-blind. Likely institutional changes needed include: making rights more central to governance institutions and processes, with stronger systems of accountability for honouring international commitments such as CEDAW; ensuring that policies are responsive to all citizens, informed by participatory processes that identify the different needs of women and men; ensuring that all governance processes are transparent and accountable on gender inequality; building the capacity of women and men in governance institutions to understand gender issues– in turn developing the political will needed to bring about change; and promoting greater flexibility around working hours and ensuring free or affordable childcare facilities are available and accessible. Finally, we need to break down existing ideas of governance as the domain of privileged men removed from the realities of ordinary people and inspire both women and men to identify their own potential roles in bringing about a transformed, more equal society.
Gender Responsive Governance: Institutions and Processes
It is difficult to generalise but certain markers indicate that, despite governance reforms, there has been a fundamental failure to challenge entrenched unequal gendered power relations and
other forms of exclusion that have been inbuilt in governing processes and institutions. Such markers include: Gender-responsive reforms in national and local government in the form of electoral quota systems and the establishment of women's ministries have resulted in some progress in achieving a better gender balance in governance such as in Rwanda women's representation in its national assembly is largely due to the application of quotas. However, there are still far fewer women than men in decision-making positions at global, national and local levels of governance including the micro-levels of the community and household. The world average of women in parliaments in April 2008 was only 17.8 per cent, with the highest number in Nordic countries (41.4 per cent) and the lowest in the Pacific and Arab states (IPU website 2009). There were nine female presidents (in India, Ireland, Finland, the Philippines, Liberia, Chile, Argentina, Bosnia Herzegovina and Reunion) and five female prime ministers (in New Zealand, Mozambique, Germany, Ukraine and Moldova) as of 2008 (IPU website 2009). In the highest decision-making bodies of EU central banks there are five times as many men as women (European Commission 2008). Across UN agencies, between 1999 and 2007, the share of female Secretariat staff in professional and higher categories increased by an average of only 0.35 per cent per year between 2004 and 2006, in spite of the UN‟s commitment to a 50–50 gender balance in its staff (UN News Centre 2007). (See the Supporting Resources Collection for further statistics.) Women are not treated equally in governance institutions and processes. Even when women are actively involved in governance, their struggle for equal treatment and recognition is not over. Women are often kept on the margins of decision making in government, confined to soft policy areas such as health and education. Existing systems of governance reinforce this marginalisation, with important decisions often made between men in closed inner circles. Governance institutions fail to take women's 'double burden' into account. The working arrangements of governance institutions are usually inflexible, making it very difficult for women to balance work with the additional caring responsibilities they are often expected to take on. This is as true for citizen-focused participatory processes as it is for state-level and global institutions. Governance policies fail to challenge gender inequalities and to take the different needs of men and women into account. As a result of these inequalities in decision making, governance policies often remain blind to the different needs of men and women. For example, there is a vast amount of evidence indicating that women and other marginalised groups have been negatively affected by trade policy led by the WTO. While many reasons have been identified for the gender imbalance in governance, the most common argument is that the division between public and private spaces has created a barrier to women's participation in governance. Politics has traditionally been considered a male arena because it operates in the public domain, while in many societies women are expected to restrict their activities to the household and immediate community. It is important to bear in mind that these distinctions between private and public are not givens – they are themselves part of a set of accepted ideas about the male and female place in society that have been frequently used as a justification – often by partners, families, communities and women themselves – for women's absence from public life. The public–private argument does little to counteract fixed views on female and male social roles, and may conceal gender inequalities within household or „family‟ governance that may prevent women from becoming involved in more formal governance institutions and processes. These inequalities may be reinforced by cultural or religious practices.. There are other external constraints that prevent women from being fully integrated into governance structures, including lack of financial resources, lack of confidence and a lack of personal or family contacts. Gender-responsive governance reforms, such as gender quotas, have facilitated women's entry into politics to an extent, but are considered by many to be an imperfect and superficial solution that does not tackle the
roots of unequal access. Existing social inequalities and unequally gendered power relations at the micro level also present barriers to change within these institutions.
Gender-Responsive Governance: Need
There are five basic reasons linked to development-focused goals and to broader goals of social justice.
a) Governance cannot be effective unless it has gender equality at its centre Governance must lead to a more equitable world, where women also have choices and their rights are realised. It cannot be effective if there is no understanding of the differing needs of women and men in public spending, policies, legislation and treaties. Nor can it be effective if women cannot exercise their right to participate equally in the decisions that affect their lives. In short, governance cannot be effective, or 'good', unless it is gender responsive.
b) Women have a right to participate in the decisions that affect their lives. Women remain under-represented at all levels of decision making in governance institutions and less engaged in governance processes more broadly. Achieving greater gender equality in governance is an important end in itself quite simply, those who have traditionally been excluded because of their gender, sexuality, race or for other reasons have the right to play an equal part in governance institutions and processes. For this reason the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) devotes one of its 12 critical areas of concern to Women in Power and Decision, making its strategic objective to take measures to ensure women's equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making.
c) It will result in policies that promote gender equality and women's rights. While governance institutions can reinforce gender inequalities, they can also challenge them. So ensuring that women play an equal role in shaping the decisions, rules and structures that influence our lives is likely to lead to long-term, sustainable changes. For example, if more women are involved in developing school curricula, there is a good chance they will challenge the gender stereotypes often reinforced through school textbooks. If they have an equal voice in developing legal frameworks, it is likely they will ensure laws do not discriminate against women and that international, gender-focused legislation such as CEDAW is honoured. This could result in greater equality for women in the workplace and a greater commitment to addressing the problem of gender based violence.
d) It is a means to shifting gender norms. Governance institutions can reinforce or challenge ideas of what it is to be a woman or a man in any society or community. Statutory or customary laws lay out what is acceptable female behaviour – they can constrain women's freedom of movement and participation in public life but they can also enable greater recognition of women's rights as equal citizens with a potential role in governance. Strategic legislative changes could therefore provide the foundations for shifts in social expectations about the roles and responsibilities men and women should take on and the rights they should enjoy. A higher profile of women as decision-makers in governance would also contribute to a transformation in attitudes towards women in households and communities and provide positive role models for both girls and boys. The increased representation of women in governance institutions has also been shown to increase numbers of women voters strengthening citizenship. Similarly, governance institutions and processes can determine whether gay or transsexual men and women can exercise their citizenship without persecution.
e) It is a means to more effective, equitable resource allocation Governance institutions determine how public resources are allocated and whether services take account of women's needs – for example, few governments fund childcare facilities, making it easier for women to take on paid work. A greater recognition of women's as well as men's needs and situations is likely to result in better and more equal allocation of public financial resources – including subsidies for childcare – and more targeted delivery of services such as water, education and health services.
Mirror Representation
The interpretation of political representation as mirror representation of women has gained strength over the last two decades in India. New political parties have emerged, mobilising people through a discourse that appeals to collective identities - be they based on caste, class, tribe, religion, region or language. The fact that gender is now acknowledged as a major social division, testifies to the impact of the second wave of the Indian women's movement. Indian feminists, it seems, have managed to assert sexual difference as one major "principle of vision and of division of the world". Mirror representation involves both identity politics and group representation - which is doubly problematic as far as women are concerned. Three types of arguments were put forth, since 1996, trying to overcome the difficulty of justifying a policy that treats women as a group, when the heterogeneity of women is so obviously at odds with very notion of group. Firstly, it was said, since women constitute half the population, it is only just that some affirmative action be taken to ensure a fair place for them in political assemblies. We must have more women if we want democracy to flourish", was declared, for instance by Najma Heptullah, the deputy chairperson (Congress (I)) of the Rajya Sabha. The invocation of gender equality, however, obviously stumbles upon the figure of 33 per cent, which conflicts with the notion of proportional representation. A few voices were heard, claiming that the logical consequence of demanding justice for women would be to grant them reservations in proportion to their importance in the population, but most participants in the debate seemed to be satisfied with 33 per cent. A Scandinavian social scientist showed that 33 per cent is the proportion at which a minority constitutes a 'critical mass', and is thus able to have an impact on the decisions of the assembly. It is also important to know that 33 per cent represents an acceptable compromise between 10 per cent (i.e, the number of women in parliament - Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha - today), and 50 per cent. The second argument is that a strong presence of women in political assemblies would ensure that issues concerning women would be more adequately dealt with. The concern for womenrich or poor is for an environment of security, free of criminals, free of violence, for raising families; their domestic responsibilities generate primary concerns for access to water, healthcare, schools for children and in the case of the masses, for income and assets, for shelter and cooking energy. Women's participation in politics is necessary for holistic development and they are bound to have a better perspective on vital issues such as environment, healthcare and education. The third argument is that a massive presence of women in political assemblies would automatically transform the functioning of political life and make it more peaceful, more, honest, more sincerely devoted to the common good. Women's participation in contemporary formal politics is low throughout the world. The argument put forth by scholars Jacquetta Newman and Linda White is that women's participation in the realm of high politics is crucial if the goal is to affect the quality of public policy. As such, the concept of Mirror representation aims to achieve gender parity in public office. In other words, representation of women is linked to their proportion in the population. Mirror representation is premised on the assumption that elected officials of a particular gender would likely support policies that seek to benefit constituents of the same
gender. A key critique is that mirror representation assumes that all members of a particular sex operate under the rubric of a shared identity, without taking into consideration other factors such as age, education, culture, or socio-economic status. However, proponents of mirror representation argue that women have a different relationship with government institutions and public policy than that of men, and therefore merit equal representation on this facet alone. This feature is based on the historical reality that women, regardless of background, have largely been excluded from influential legislative and leadership positions. As Sylvia Bashevkin notes, "representative democracy seems impaired, partial, and unjust when women, as a majority of citizens, fail to see themselves reflected in the leadership of their polity." In fact, the issue of participation of Women in politics is of such importance that the United Nations has identified gender equality in representation (i.e. mirror representation) as a goal in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action. Besides seeking equality, the goal of mirror representation is also to recognize the significance of women's involvement in politics, which subsequently legitimizes said involvement. Social and cultural barriers to mirror representationUnlike their male counterparts, female candidates are exposed to several barriers that may impact their desire to run for elected office. These barriers, which hinder mirror representation, include: sex stereotyping, political socialization, lack of preparation for political activity, and balancing work and family. Sex stereotypingSex stereotyping assumes that masculine and feminine traits are intertwined with leadership. Due to the aggressive and competitive nature of politics, the belief is that participation in elected office requires masculine traits. Hence, the bias levelled against women stems from the incorrect perception that femininity inherently produces weak leadership. Sex stereotyping is far from being a historical narrative. To be sure, the pressure is on women candidates (not men) to enhance their masculine traits in electoral campaigns for the purpose of wooing support from voters who identify with socially constructed gender roles. Political SocializationThe concept of political socialization rests on the concept that, during childhood, women are introduced to socially constructed norms of politics. In other words, sex stereotyping begins at an early age. Therefore, this affects a child's political socialization. Generally, girls tend to see "politics as a male domain." Socialization agents can include family, school, higher education, mass media, and religion. Each of these agents plays a pivotal role in either fostering a desire to enter politics, or dissuading one to do so. Newman and White suggest that women who run for political office have been "socialized toward an interest in and life in politics. Many female politicians report being born into political families with weak gender-role norms." Lack of preparation for political activityThis builds upon the concept of political socialization by determining the degree to which women become socialized to pursue careers that may be compatible with formal politics. Careers in law, business, education, and government appear to be common occupations for those that later decide to enter public office. People feel as if women cannot do both things at one as if being a mother and women of high power. Employment as a lawyer or a perhaps as a university professor is significant due to the potential political connections, known as "social capital," that these occupations create. The assumption is that women in such occupations would acquire the necessary preparation and connections to pursue political careers. Balancing work and familyThe work life balance is invariably more difficult for women as they are generally expected by society to act as the primary caregivers for children, as well as for maintenance of the home. Due to the demands of work-life balance, it is assumed that women would choose to delay political aspirations until their children are older. Research has
shown that new female politicians in Canada and the U.S. are older than their male counterparts. Conversely, a woman may choose to remain childless in order to seek political office. Institutional barriers may also pose as a hindrance for balancing a political career and family. For instance, in Canada, Members of Parliament do not contribute to Employment Insurance; therefore, they are not entitled to paternity benefits. Such lack of parental leave would undoubtedly be a reason for women to delay seeking electoral office. Furthermore, mobility plays a crucial role in the work-family dynamic. Elected officials are usually required to commute long distances to and from their respective capital cities, which can thus be a deterrent for women seeking political office.
References
Ashworth, G. (1996) Gendered Governance: an Agenda for Change
Tambiah, Y. (2003) „The Impact of Gender Inequality on Governance‟, in Nussbaum, M., Basu, A., Tambiah, Y. and Jayal, N.G. (eds) Essays on Gender and Governance, New York: UNDP
Mishra-Panda, S. (2008) „Engendering Governance Institutions: an Introduction‟, In Mishra-Panda , S. (ed.) Engendering Governance Institutions: State, Market and Civil Society' , UK: Sage Publications
Baden, S. (2000) „Gender, Governance and the "Feminisation of Poverty"‟, Women‟s Political Participation and Good Governance: 21st Century Challenges, New York: UNDP
Elson, D. (2006). 'Budgeting for Women's Rights: Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW', United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), New York
Gender and Governance: Concepts and Contexts. Essays on Gender and Governance, UNDP India.
Clots-Figueras, I. (2007). 'Are Female Leaders Good for Education? Evidence from India' Working Paper 07-73, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU). (2008). 'Equality in Politics: A Survey of Women and Men in Parliaments', Reports and Documents No. 24, IPU, Geneva
Hoare, J. and Gell, F. (eds). (2009). 'Women's Leadership and Participation: Case studies on learning for action', Oxfam, Rugby
Elisabeth Gidengil, Brenda O'Neill, Lisa Young, "Her mother's daughter? The influence of childhood socialization on women's political engagement". Journal of Women, Politics & Policy 31 (4): 1. 2010
Jacquetta Newman, Linda A.White, Women, politics, and public policy: the political struggles of Canadian women. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2012
Parliament of Canada. "40th Parliament, 3rd Session". October 18, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
UNFPA and UNIFEM. (2006). 'Gender Responsive Budgeting and Women's Reproductive Rights: A Resource Pack', UNFPA, UNIFEM, New York
Hannah F. Pitkin, "Formalistic views of representation", in Pitkin, Hannah F., The concept of representation, University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles,.1967
Gender, Citizenship and Governance
Dr. Punita Pathak In recent years many development actors have used citizenship rights and responsibilities in order to address development goals such as poverty eradication, discrimination and democratisation. Alongside this, women's rights activists, feminist academics and women's social movements have drawn ideas of citizenship in order to achieve greater gender equality. The interaction between development workers, activists and civil society in promoting the rights of citizens can be a powerful force. The concept of citizenship by definition means that some are included and some excluded; and for people the world over, citizenship has been about exclusion. We only have to look at the experiences of migrants in all societies to see how certain groups are excluded from the benefits of membership of nations and communities and the effects that this can have. Such exclusion has served as the basis of citizenship struggles – for example past anti-colonial struggles to include the colonised as full and equal citizens and more recent citizenship struggles to include the right of poor people to basic resources. Exclusion and marginalisation from full citizenship is not only about being an outsider in a geographical sense. Groups such as women, ethnic minorities and the poor can fall outside full citizenship. Experiences of citizenship are therefore also dependent on societal position and rolesroles that are dictated by social relations of unequal power formed on the basis of race, ethnicity, caste, class and gender. The roles and relationships within society's dictate who is "inside" and who is "outside" and which activities are valued. They lead to different types and levels of exclusion from the advantages that membership incurs.
Citizenship is the status of a person who is recognized under the custom or law as being a member of a country. Citizenship is gained by meeting the legal requirements of a national, state or local government. A nation grants certain rights and privileges to its citizens. In return, citizens are expected to obey their country's laws and defend it against its enemies.
Definition
Citizenship is about 'membership of a group or community that confers rights and responsibilities as a result of such membership. It is both a status (and an identity) and a practice or process of relating to the social world through the exercise of rights/protections and the fulfilment of obligations. This person who is entitled to enjoy all the legal rights and privileges granted by a state to the people comprising its constituency and is obligated to obey its laws and to fulfil his/her or duties as called as citizen of that state. The value of citizenship varies from nation to nation. In some countries, a citizen has the right to vote, the right to hold government offices, and the right to collect unemployment insurance payments. Living in a country does not mean that a person is necessarily a citizen of that country. Their rights and duties are determined by political treaties and by the laws of the country in which they stay.
Citizenship is about belonging to a group or community and about the rights and responsibilities associated with such membership. In addition to being about a status, that confers rights and obligations, citizenship is also a practice whereby people are able to participate in shaping their societies. It implies not only rights and responsibilities, but also interaction and influence within the community. The concept originated in western political thought on liberalism and democracy and is based on the notion of the individual as member of a democratic nation state. It describes the relationship between the individual and the state
in which the individual was able to secure protections and participate in the public life and decision-making of the nation. The "true citizen" was originally conceived as one who was able to fight and die for his country. In changing historical contexts this warrior citizen became the democratic voter in the context of struggles for universal suffrage and, in the past century, into the individual who could exchange contracts in the market place – now the citizen-consumer. All these "citizens" have been at different times the "true" and "full" members of the community or group – those whose roles indicated membership and who are most highly valued or recognised. Citizenship rights in western thought were traditionally conceived as civil and political rights that enabled people to engage in political debate and decision-making in the public arena. Citizenship bestowed a legal status on such rights, thus giving the individual the means of claiming them and also an avenue by which to seek redress should they be violated.
Gender and citizenship
Feminist scholarship has criticised liberal, republican and social-democratic approaches to citizenship from a gender perspective. Liberalism is based upon the public/private dichotomy, which is premised on individual freedom/right of citizens against the state and on private virtues. The feminist critique argues that one of the implications has been a tendency to exclude motherhood and care work from citizenship. Republicanism is also based upon a public/private dichotomy, which in contrast to liberalism is premised on the political community, participation and public virtues. The feminist critique argues that one of the implications has been a tendency to exclude women and issues of everyday life from the public dialogue. Social Democracy is based upon social equality and on the universal citizenworker model. The feminist critique argues that it has reproduced paternalism, because it is premised on a split between the citizen-worker and citizen-mother. What do the feminist theories and models of social and political inclusion have to offer? One influential model focuses on social inclusion of women citizens and family issues in social politics through "the politics of motherhood" Another more recent model has conceptualised "the right to be cared for and the right to care, e.g. for children and the elderly" as a way to re-integrate care work and family responsibilities in public life. There are two different models of political inclusion: One focuses on the inclusion of women and marginalised groups through "a politics of presence" in political institutions, e.g. gender quotas or parity The other model focuses on the inclusion of women and oppressed groups "from below" through "politics of difference" e.g. voluntary associations in civil society. The feminist approaches to citizenship thus have different vocabularies of gender and citizenship, competing visions of the good citizen and strategies to include women in citizenship. The key concepts are contested, and the discussion is centred round three main issues: (a) equality and difference, (b) work and care, and (c) participation and power. I argue that the potential of the different feminist paradigms is to establish the link between the political and social dimensions of citizenship and to place women's concerns on the public agenda. The challenge is to avoid essentialism by including women's agency in the deliberation about the common good without defining what women's substantive interests are. Carole Pateman's analysis of women's second-class citizenship based upon the public/private divide has been important for the feminist theory of democratic citizenship. The recent French debate about parity, i.e. perfect gender equality in representation, illustrates the ambivalence of Pateman's vision of a 'sexually differentiated' citizenship that recognises biological sex as a basis for citizenship but ignores differences based on ethnicity and colour. From this perspective, the critical question is whether a permanent institutionalisation of gender difference is possible without essentialist
perspectives? The materialist-communitarian approach has conceptualised women's caring work in the family and the object of feminist communitarianistmodels is to include caring as a central political value. The models are premised upon a normative assumption about the value of women's caring responsibilities in the family, and for democracy. The idea rests on a belief that women have substantive interests "as women" based on their obligation to care for dependants. I find that the emphasis on caring as the key notion is problematic as a universal strategy, because it is often linked to essentialist divisions of male and female interests and identities. I suggest that there is a need to deconstruct the family and to differentiate between different kinds of care work, for children, the elderly and the handicapped and mentally disabled. The critical question confronting feminists is how care should be organised, and whether women should have the monopoly as caregivers? The pluralist feminist approach has conceptualised women's active citizenship in politics through a 'politics of presence' based upon an equal representation in the political elite or through 'a 'politics of difference' based upon the organisation of oppressed social groups in civil society. The pluralist approach emphasises the connection between the empowerment of women and that of marginalised and oppressed social groups. The vision is a 'pluralist and differentiated citizenship' that includes difference in democracy based upon gender, ethnicity and class.
For some people, citizenship is a site of achievement, of power and validation of their place in the world - a way of achieving positive change and gaining a better standard of living for all groups. For others it can be a malign concept - exclusive, alienating or threatening - serving only to marginalise and exclude by allowing some in and expelling those who do not fit on the basis of gender, class or race. Some may say citizenship has "no relevance" to their lives, lives that are already too full with the pressures of daily life to consider participating in broader decision-making or struggles over rights. Yet many development workers have argued that using the language and the arguments of citizenship is a powerful way of working in development programmes that seek to bring about gender equality through focusing on people and how they interact with institutions.
Citizenship should be inclusive, incorporating the interests and needs of all citizens. A gender perspective on citizenship begins with an assertion of the rights of all women and men to equal treatment. This needs to be enshrined in constitutions, laws and legal processes. Applying equal standards to all citizens may be insufficient, however, if different groups of citizens face particular challenges and have distinct needs. Women and men may have distinct needs, and women of different ages, classes or ethnicities may also have varying needs that require specific attention. The focus on rights thus requires distinguishing between formal and substantive equality, highlighting outcomes for different groups of women, and tailoring rights construction to the needs of women who are most adversely affected by the lack of rights which the particular reforms target.
Citizenship should also be an active concept, beyond mere status and formal rights. Under such a view, citizenship is seen as a relationship that promotes participation and agency. The focus is on how individuals and groups, particularly marginalised groups, claim their rights and pursue social change. It is important to explore and promote forms of dialogue, association and collective action that can provide the space for women's active participation and mobilisation.
Applying a gender perspective, citizenship goes beyond a relationship between the citizen and the state. It extends to a range of other social institutions, such as the family and the household, traditional systems, civil society organisations, economic and other institutions
that affect women's and men's lives and opportunities. Although being a citizen allows women to make claims as a citizen in their own right, the identity ascribed to them is still in reality often in relation to a man, whether as a daughter, sister or wife. It is thus important to address not only state-level formal institutional arrangements but also informal institutions in order to improve and guarantee women's entitlements as citizens.
Grassroots citizenship: Much of the literature on gender and citizenship discusses the structural constraints that women face in exercising citizenship rights, in terms of laws, policies and formal public institutions. Active citizenship can also be expressed, however, through micro-level, informal community life.
The effective promotion of agency and rights-claiming by civil society actors through various initiatives can result in shaping active citizenship at the grassroots level. The formation of associations, in particular, has been successful in promoting agency. In some instances, women have facilitated community members' access to services. They have also taken up leadership roles in religious and kin-based institutions. The persistence of male social advantage in more formalised spaces of public life, however, suggests that greater work is needed in order to challenge networks of exclusion.
Caiazza, A. (2005) described 'Called to Speak: Six Strategies That Encourage Women's Political Activism' Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington DC This report explores the values, experiences, and leadership development of women involved in religious, and particularly interfaith, social justice organising. It aims to show how women's religious activism intersects with women's organising, and to contribute to a greater understanding of the values women share in support of social justice issues and causes. The six strategies are:
Provide political role models of women who break the mould Provide space for women to address their fears and embrace their anger Build connections across lines of race and class Gently push women into political leadership (with force if necessary) Develop mentoring programs with activist components Meet women where they are
'Raising Her Voice' (RHV) is a global programme from Oxfam GB to promote poor women's rights and capacity to participate effectively in governance at every level: raising women voices, increasing their influence, and making decision-making institutions more accountable to women. This article is based on the findings of a case study of the Bolivian RHV project. The case study was developed using participatory methods to encourage a wide range of perspectives and deep, collective reflection on the challenges and achievements, to date, of the Cochabamba Platform of Women for Citizenship, and the contribution of RHV to these achievements.
F. Jahan focused on agency and citizenship from the point of view of Bangladeshi immigrant women who have been living in UK for the last two generations. They have a transnational identity, living between two cultures, which often have contradictory elements. The article challenges the notions that immigrant women shaped by Bangladeshi culture are victims of patriarchal ideologies, and that Bangladeshi culture hinders women from development. It rather suggests that it is not Bangladeshi culture or religion that hinders women from exercising agency, but their identity as immigrants.
A full and active citizenship does not limit itself to solely having access to formal rights; rather; it relates to the deep understanding of the quality of the democracy, consequently building a society which places people at the core of decisions and eliminates discrimination based on stereotypes and economic, social, cultural or territorial differences. The right of women and men to participate in an egalitarian manner in all spheres of life, namely in defining the priorities which orient political decision-making processes, is not only a requisite of justice, but equally an integral part of a person's fundamental rights, as it is underlined in the Beijing Platform for Action (UN, 1995) which Portugal undersigned, and where it is considered that "without the active participation of women and the incorporation of women's perspectives at all levels of decision-making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved". A balanced participation and representation of women and men in public and political lives implies the empowerment of women in the public sphere and the empowerment of men in the private one. This capacity involves critical action applied to relational models between men and women. In this context, language plays a central role as a structuring element of thought and action. In fact, language is fundamental in the building of identities and in the reproduction of gender-based social representations. The prevalence of masculine over feminine and the frequent invisibility of women in language, reflect effective power inequalities in the relations between both sexes, constituting an obstacle to the development of gender equality that translates into discriminatory practices and inequalities. The media and all of its agents, due to the impact of their influence, may be the indirect representatives of change and the drivers of cultures based on gender equality, as recommended in several community-documents concerning this matter that alert to the role the media may play in maintaining stereotypes that generate limitations on the freedoms of both women and men in several dimensions and roles played throughout their lives. In this manner, it is critical to make the media aware of the role they may play in breaking down gender stereotypes, in view of valuing civic participation as a factor of individual and collective growth; and consequently, their responsibility in encouraging the existence of an active and equal citizenship. In this context, it is important to highlight the role of the Media Regulating Body which is statutorily obliged to ensure respect for the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens.