On March 19 2009 One World Action and Pathways of Women’s Empowerment held a Roundtable, “Women in Politics”, to explore what kind of support elected women need to be effective policy-makers and remain in formal politics.
One World Action believes that alongside strategies to strengthen representation of marginalised women in political spaces and processes, it is vital to provide support to those women, once elected, to ensure that they can act effectively to deepen democracy and transform politics.
The report that emerged out of the Roundtable discusses examples of what has worked to enable women to be effective in politics. International support mechanisms, mentoring schemes, the role of the media and, not least, linkages and knowledge-sharing between women parliamentarians and women’s networks were found to be among the strategies that helped improve women’s political efficacy.
To download the summary of the meeting, please click here.
"This is an important summary of some of the key challenges facing women in terms of accessing and using political spaces to further the agenda of gender equality . Critical advances have been made in the last few decades in terms of advancing the position of women in politics, and the contributions and dedication of organisations such as One World Action and their partners deserve to be recognised and celebrated" Ivin Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DFID
Policy strategies, grassroots initiatives and failures in the campaign for gender equity and inclusion: contributions from the workshop on Strengthening Women's Political Participation and Influence" held at the Asia Europe People’s Forum (AEPF-7).
Three decades after the women's movements won key battles for legal equality, the neo-liberal model of globalisation has increasingly contributed to the feminisation of poverty: building on a panel on women's political participation held as part of the AEPF-7 conference, the report explains that over-reliance on markets and widespread cutbacks in social security measures shifted the welfare functions of states onto households. As a result, caring responsibilities have been disproportionately borne by women.
Further, the de-politicization of governance created a chasm between governments and civil society, drastically reducing opportunities for women to engage in political action and promote gender-responsive agendas. Worse still, the women who do make it to public office are subject to defeminisation and tokenism.
Over 80 women leaders and activists recommend that national and international institutions use the policy tools of gender quotas, democratic decentralisation and gender-sensitive budgeting to implement the gender equity agenda. Political groups and movements are invited to strengthen popular politics and engage in building women’s leadership.
To view the report, please click here.
To view the accessible version of the report, please click here.
"Just Politics offers practical, tried and tested, steps that donors such as DFID can learn from to improve women's rights and opportunities. It is an inspiring piece of work that provides positive examples and hope for a fairer and more inclusive political system at local, national and international level." Gillian Merron MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DFID
In November 2007, One World Action brought together 40 women and men for a unique dialogue on women's political participation. The participants drew from their experiences as women politicians, grassroots leaders, NGO and policy staff, and explored what difference women in power can make, and how women's involvement in various aspects of politics can be supported.
As part of our contribution to global celebrations of International Women's Day 2008, we published the report on the dialogue. The report focuses on two main themes: one, ways to increase women's political participation and two, strategies for transforming political spaces.
Please note that this is a PDF version of the 51-page printed report and is 1.8 MB in size. You will need Adobe Reader to open the file. You can download Adobe Reader for free from the Adobe website.
To view the accessible version of this report, please click here. This is a stripped down layout with large text for people with a visual impairment.
To view the Spanish version of this report, please click here.
New strategies for transforming governance: women's political participation and social movement-based political parties
"Through organising we get growing confidence and strength and can put our demands before government because we know our legal rights.’ Geeta, SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Organisation) India, speaking at One World Action seminar in March 2007.
Activists from the forefront of democracy building in India, Indonesia, Guatemala, Malawi, Nicaragua, Zambia, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil and the UK came together with policy-makers, researchers, trade unionists and NGOs to talk about how poor and marginalised people are organising to have their voices heard, their rights respected and to influence and shape decisions.
In Malawi, MANET+ is working with people living with HIV/AIDS to enable them to articulate their needs and challenge stigma and discrimination. In Nicaragua and Guatemala, Grupo Venancia and Tierra Viva, feminist political organisations, are developing advocacy agendas to increase women’s political participation and address issues of reproductive rights and gender violence. In Zambia, the National Women’s Lobby has mobilised to increase the number of women representatives in government. In India, SEWA is enabling poor women workers to learn about and exercise their rights. In Thailand, the Campaign for Popular Democracy has set out an alternative constitution establishing a progressive social contract. In Indonesia and the Philippines, civil society activists have taken the route of establishing new social-movement-based political parties to represent the interests of the poor and marginalised.
"It is an excellent report... There are many ways in which DFID will be able to draw on these lessons in our work." Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DFID
How to strengthen citizens' voices, responsiveness and accountability in service delivery.
This 2002 Report, Influence and Accountability, covers two core political issues relevant to service delivery. The first is citizens’ right to participate in a meaningful way in ensuring the delivery of appropriate services available to all. The second is the public sector’s willingness and ability to respond to and to deliver services in an accountable and sustainable way.
It draws on case studies from India, South Africa, the Philippines, Uganda to explore what channels exist for exercising political influence, the politics, bureaucracy and governance of service delivery, and how to build or rebuild the relationships between people and government institutions. It concludes by identifying some areas for action.
Report of One World Action Seminar, London, 2002
Written by: Prof. Carole Rakodi
Report of 2002 One World Action seminar on gender-sensitive service delivery. These are quite difficult issues, and in the end they concern practice – what happens on the ground, how services are delivered? The overarching question is: What can we do to make services not only affordable, accessible, and appropriate – the three As of service delivery – but also gender sensitive?
Report of Seminar 1999 which examines the links between local democracy and basic service provision. It explores the view that if women and men from the poorest and most marginalised communities had a say in decision-making, they would be more likely to get access to appropriate and affordable services, such as water, health care, education. In short, it explores power relations, and all the factors which shape those relations locally in order to see how these could be transformed and democratised, and what outcomes would follow for the poorest women, men and children. The Report contains views from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.
IDASA’s Governance and AIDS Programme’s new paper explains why IDASA - an institute promoting democracy – is involved in the field of HIV/AIDS, and elucidates the nexus between HIV/AIDS and the electoral process, a core component of democratic practice and order.
Aids and Electoral Democracy: Insights into impacts on Africa’s democratic institutions, by Kondwani Chirambo, August 2005.
The principal objectives of the paper are to:
• Set out the implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for sustaining democracy in Africa, with specific focus on the electoral process;
• Clarify the implications of HIV/AIDS for electoral systems; and
• Demonstrate that electoral engineering in Africa may be inadequate if critical political and economic issues around the replacement of elected representatives are not taken into account.
Many of One World Action’s partners are engaged in awareness raising and campaigning for rights of people living with HIV/AIDS: Idasa in South Africa, Development Workshop and Rede Mulher in Angola, Women for Change in Zambia, Manet + in Malawi, and CEM-H in Honduras.
Good governance
Report of seminar, March 1994
Good governance is about the relationship between government and those governed: it involves a number of inter-linking and mutually supporting elements: legitimacy, accountability and transparency, respect for political, civil, social, economic and cultural rights, and a strong civil society. The report presents the views of One World Action, a number of our Southern partners, and others involved in human rights and development work.
1994 ISBN 1 898 776 06 8 £5
