Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

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ence of a supportive family has often been cited as the reason for their active participation. This dependence syndrome often means that those who do not have this support system may not be able to enter local politics even if they have the qualities and inclination to do so. ´ Absence of support from political parties: Political parties have historically acted as gatekeepers to political participation and there is considerable evidence from South Asia that when it comes to giving tickets to women at any level a clear bias exists in favour of male candidates. Due to the rhetoric around gender equality political parties field some women candidates but often these are more signs of tokenisms. It does not necessarily come out of a change in gender ideology that regards equal participation as a norm. “The informal factors that enable women to succeed to political positions cannot be discussed in isolation from the formal processes.” WHAT DIFFERENCE DO WOMEN MAKE IN LOCAL POLITICS Research appears to indicate that women in local government believe they can make a difference as women leaders by bringing a different style to local government and approaching the job in a different way. Drage (2001) indicates that increasing the number of women in local government will “accelerate the pace of change, promote collaborative styles of leadership and decision-making, broaden perspectives and move communities forward.” The report on Comparative study of Women in Local Government in Asia and the Pacific make the following points about the changes that women can bring to local politics. According to the report women have a greater sense of the social issues and the well being and welfare of their communities and factor these into the decisionmaking process; promote policies and activities which strengthen communities; encourage participation; emphasise the importance and the practice of good communication with the community; have a different approach to the way their local authority is governed; develop a team approach; set different priorities; bring the mediation skills that they have developed as mothers, the ability to have clear goals, to juggle many tasks at once, and to be practical; are dedicated, responsible, practice what they preach and show a great deal of spirit and stimulate and encourage other women to be part of development. The study further elaborates: “Women’s concerns and priorities are more likely than are those of men to center on people’s needs for safety and clean water supplies and for community facilities rather than just the traditional roads, rates and rubbish. Women also have a strong focus on women’s issues and a human rights flavor in their goals for local government, suggesting that changes in local politics will lead to changes in society, less discrimination against women and greater flexibility in work and childcare. By bringing a grassroots perspective to local government, women make it more people orientated and closer to the community it serves.” WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 30
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL For women to make a real difference at the local level not only must they enter the system but must also be prepared to take on the mantle of political leadership. As Pant and Farrell (2009) point out “the pedagogy for empowering women politically for leadership roles aims to enhance the capacity of women leaders to understand, organise and act upon their needs, priorities, and makes demands upon the system for better service delivery.” Drawing on the experience of women being elected through three terms of local rural and urban elections in India they point out that in the first term women got elected with no precedence or role models and since governance was new to them women stepped back, allowing the men to provide guidance including male members of the family. 7 In the second term however the community was more accepting of women in leadership roles with women now using the legitimacy of their elected position to address several critical issues such as children’s education, drinking water facilities, family planning facilities, hygiene and health, quality of healthcare, roads and electricity in the village areas. They also took the initiative to bring alcohol abuse and domestic violence on to the agenda of political campaigns. 8 The third term of women’s participation in rural and urban local bodies in India saw women leaders become more visible as they became more familiar with the processes of governance. Despite this change in leadership roles however, women continued to lack an effective participation base due to gendered identity practices and institutional inadequacies. “Provision of quotas for women in local government has not necessarily created a culture open to facilitating the participation of women.” The Indian experience of local elections over the last three decades showed that while numbers may indicate presence it does not necessarily translate into meaningful inclusion in the political process as women can be deliberately excluded from the political process through force or covert strategies. In this connection a recent study indicates that an increase in female representation in local government in India appears to have induced a significant rise in documented crimes against them, but argue that this is driven by greater reporting of the crimes rather than an increase in the crimes per se. 9 In another significant finding they point to the fact that large scale membership of women in local councils also affects crimes against them more than their presence in leadership positions. However there is little doubt that violence against women in politics particularly at the level of local politics has been endemic in not just India but other parts of South Asia as well. In fact within the community and political parties as well there have been backlashes for women who exercise their decision making power and the resistance often from upper caste males can range from threats to attempts of bribery, charges of 7 Pant and Farrell (2009). 8 Nambiar and Bandyopadhyay (2004). 9 Iyer et al. (2011). WOMEN IN POLITICS DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY PAGE 31
Page 1 and 2: DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DE
Page 3 and 4: DANISH INSTITUTE FOR PARTIES AND DE
Page 5 and 6: Of course this search will also bui
Page 7 and 8: CONTENTS 9 Young women in politics
Page 9 and 10: YOUNG WOMEN IN POLITICS From househ
Page 11 and 12: litical parties ‘rely on the stat
Page 13 and 14: ing able to keep up with and ‘bei
Page 15 and 16: youth population. Overall, it could
Page 17 and 18: dialogue across party lines. It als
Page 19 and 20: The program was broadly understood
Page 21 and 22: BIBLIOGRAPHY Ann, Teo Sue and Shuib
Page 23 and 24: WOMEN IN LOCAL LEVEL POLITICS Socia
Page 25 and 26: While contesting the post of an ele
Page 27 and 28: In fact training and capacity build
Page 29: enforcing these norms in ways that
Page 33 and 34: amidst a scenario where only 0.6% w
Page 35 and 36: Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2006. M
Page 37 and 38: WOMEN IN TRANSITION COUNTRIES Strug
Page 39 and 40: A year later, women in the Arab Spr
Page 41 and 42: INSTITUTIONALISED MALE DOMINANCE AN
Page 43 and 44: OPENING SPACES AND INCREASING ACCES
Page 45 and 46: GENDER AND DEMOCRACY Danish democra
Page 47 and 48: ulation were now able to read about
Page 49 and 50: y American, French, German, and Bri
Page 51 and 52: THE STRUGGLE FOR WOMEN’S REPRESEN
Page 53 and 54: On the municipal level, development
Page 55 and 56: and set new standards of female cit
Page 57 and 58: NETWORKS AND TOOLKITS Some resource
Page 59 and 60: EMPOWERING WOMEN FOR STRONGER POLIT
Page 61: MAKING DEMOCRACY WORK FOR WOMEN: IN
Page 64: CHRISTIANSBORG SEMINAR The ’Chris

Background Document - Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy

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