Partner News

By Luis José Consuegra

Education, increased awareness on the need to have women running for political leadership positions, overcoming traditional challenges based on stereotypes and understanding the difference between having quotas and having substantive participation of women are some of the main challenges and opportunities that men and women are identifying for the advancement of gender equality and political empowerment in Africa.

These issues, together with the lack of male full support to women and the reduced financial resources allocated to provide women with the tools needed to move forward, are the basis for the discussions that is taking place among the participants of the African Consultation on Gender Equality and Political Empowerment of Women.

The African Consultation took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 9-10 March 2017, as part of a joint initiative between International IDEA, the Community of Democracies and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), aimed at analyzing the main policy and legal instruments that are in place at the global and regional levels to advance gender equality and promote the political empowerment of women. The Consultation also has the purpose of identifying the main successes, challenges and opportunities at the regional level for the advancement of goals; 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Inequalities) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Participants highlighted the relevance of having a renewed strong global commitment to advance gender equality and to reduce all inequalities worldwide with the Sustainable Development Goals, supported and enabled in Africa by a strong array of legal and policy instruments that, when adopted by the national governments and accompanied by key stakeholders, result in instrumental opportunities for women advancement. These instruments include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW-1979);
• The African Plan of Action to Accelerate the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women (1999);
• The Outcome Document of the Twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (2000);
• The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003);
• Cairo Declaration for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (2003);
• The Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004);
• The Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children (2006);
• The Maputo Plan of Action for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2006);
• The Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007); and
• Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development (2008)

The African Consultation counts with the participation of representatives of government officials from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda. International IDEA, the UNDP and the Community of Democracies where represented by Ambassador Maria Leissner, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies;  Gram Matenga, Senior Programme Officer at International IDEA/Africa Programme, and Nelly Mwaka, Gender Manager at UNDP South Africa. The Commonwealth Secretariat was also present at the Consultation.

The meeting is also attended by civil society organizations that include the Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED,) the Emerging Leaders Forum, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the ANC Youth League, the Pan African Parliament, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), CIVICUS South Africa, from throughout Africa. The countries represented in this Consultation were Botswana, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The programme of the consultations intends to emphasize the needs of each region and allow the participation of relevant actors. Consultations have already being conducted in Asia, Europe and South-East, and two additional consultations will take place with a focus on the Middle East\North Africa region and the Americas. The results of the regional consultations will be captured in reports summarizing the final recommendations. The key components of the regional reports will be integrated into an Inter-Regional Policy Guidebook on Gender and Political Participation of Women.

Source: International IDEA

By Luis José Consuegra

Education, increased awareness on the need to have women running for political leadership positions, overcoming traditional challenges based on stereotypes and understanding the difference between having quotas and having substantive participation of women are some of the main challenges and opportunities that men and women are identifying for the advancement of gender equality and political empowerment in Africa.

These issues, together with the lack of male full support to women and the reduced financial resources allocated to provide women with the tools needed to move forward, are the basis for the discussions that is taking place among the participants of the African Consultation on Gender Equality and Political Empowerment of Women.

The African Consultation took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 9-10 March 2017, as part of a joint initiative between International IDEA, the Community of Democracies and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), aimed at analyzing the main policy and legal instruments that are in place at the global and regional levels to advance gender equality and promote the political empowerment of women. The Consultation also has the purpose of identifying the main successes, challenges and opportunities at the regional level for the advancement of goals; 5 (Gender Equality), 10 (Inequalities) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Participants highlighted the relevance of having a renewed strong global commitment to advance gender equality and to reduce all inequalities worldwide with the Sustainable Development Goals, supported and enabled in Africa by a strong array of legal and policy instruments that, when adopted by the national governments and accompanied by key stakeholders, result in instrumental opportunities for women advancement. These instruments include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW-1979);
• The African Plan of Action to Accelerate the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action for the Advancement of Women (1999);
• The Outcome Document of the Twenty-third Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (2000);
• The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003);
• Cairo Declaration for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (2003);
• The Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (2004);
• The Ouagadougou Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children (2006);
• The Maputo Plan of Action for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (2006);
• The Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (2007); and
• Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development (2008)

The African Consultation counts with the participation of representatives of government officials from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda. International IDEA, the UNDP and the Community of Democracies where represented by Ambassador Maria Leissner, Secretary General of the Community of Democracies;  Gram Matenga, Senior Programme Officer at International IDEA/Africa Programme, and Nelly Mwaka, Gender Manager at UNDP South Africa. The Commonwealth Secretariat was also present at the Consultation.

The meeting is also attended by civil society organizations that include the Gender Centre for Empowering Development (GenCED,) the Emerging Leaders Forum, the Centre for Democracy and Development, the ANC Youth League, the Pan African Parliament, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), CIVICUS South Africa, from throughout Africa. The countries represented in this Consultation were Botswana, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The programme of the consultations intends to emphasize the needs of each region and allow the participation of relevant actors. Consultations have already being conducted in Asia, Europe and South-East, and two additional consultations will take place with a focus on the Middle East\North Africa region and the Americas. The results of the regional consultations will be captured in reports summarizing the final recommendations. The key components of the regional reports will be integrated into an Inter-Regional Policy Guidebook on Gender and Political Participation of Women.

Source: International IDEA

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

New York, 20 March - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is joining forces with the Wilson Center to provide extensive data on women’s leadership in public administration for The Center’s Women in Public Service Project.  

By collecting, analyzing, and disseminating sex-disaggregated data that previously did not exist, UNDP and The Center’s Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will highlight challenges and best practices in achieving gender parity in public administration, particularly at decision-making levels.

The WPSP will collect data on women’s political and policy leadership across countries and government, aggregated on a publicly-accessible online platform and published in an annual index and report.

“In order to ensure more women are in leadership positions and drive institutional change, we need to know what the landscape looks like today. This is a truly groundbreaking partnership that will help us determine where the barriers and pathways to leadership exist in public administration”, commented Gwen K Young, Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Initiative and Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center.

Patrick Keuleers, Director of UNDP’s Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, added: “This partnership will elevate the women’s leadership discourse by bringing the often neglected public administration element to the forefront. UNDP is excited to work with the Wilson Center on building the evidence-base that will accelerate women’s access to decision-making roles of the civil service.”

A Memorandum of Understanding will be formally signed at a ceremony during the Commission on the Status of Women on March 20 at the UNDP headquarters in New York City.

The new MOU between the Project and UNDP marks a collaborative effort to develop a global dataset and framework specific to public administration leadership roles. UNDP’s Gender Equality in Public Administration (GEPA) initiative is collecting data on gender parity in public service leadership in over 130 countries. This evidence will substantially inform the WPSP’s new platform, index and report.    

Contact information: Christina Pascual, christina.pascual@undp.org; Tel: +1 212 906 5324

Source: UNDP

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA

By iKNOW Politics Expert Rumbidzai Kandawasvika-Nhundu

International Women’s Day (IWD) provides an ideal opportunity to look back on the gains made and the challenges that women of the world continue to face across all regions. Equally important, the IWD commemoration is about harnessing transformative initiatives and stepping up of global efforts to end all forms of discrimination against women from different backgrounds and identities.

There is a global consensus that the empowerment of women in all spheres of life is fundamental for any well-functioning, participatory and representative society and democratic governance. Yet, women’s empowerment remains elusive and the discrimination against women spans across the regions of the world from highly developed countries to developing countries.

In order to ensure that women’s empowerment is translated into substantive reality, the conceptual clarity on what empowerment entails and what women are up against is key-in other words how they can be resilient and resist the erosion and backlash of their empowerment. With the understanding that “women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”, such processes of change from disempowerment to empowerment require critical changes in socio-cultural and political processes.

Women’s empowerment inevitably threatens the status quo in all patriarchal societies and it is bound to meet with all forms of resistance at different levels in societies.  For example, the views expressed by a Member of the European Parliament on 1st March 2017 attests to the persisting resistance and struggles to dismantle patriarchy. Patriarchy which can be best described as a social system with social relations based on hierarchical relations between women and men and solidarity among them which enables them to dominate and control women. Not only are women controlled by dominant men using hierarchical social power, they are also controlled by non-dominant or less powerful men.  

The Member of the European Parliament emphatically stated that, “and of course women must earn less than men because they are weaker, they are smaller, they are less intelligent and they must earn less, that’s all.”

As the struggle for recognition of women’s rights and empowerment continues to face different forms of resistance, women have not given up and dare not to give up their visions for transformative change by pushing for substantive gender equality in all spheres of life. An important dimension for dismantling traditional patriarchal values, systems and practices requires an “unpacking” of power in gender relations, social norms and structural causes of women’s subordination and marginalisation.

It is evident that women’s empowerment is a political process, hence, women’s capabilities in dealing with encountered  resistance needs  women’s individual and collective action  to organise themselves and act in line with their  practical needs and strategic interests. Although historical and political periods as well as socio-cultural and economic differences exist in the lives of women across the world, there are common factors that drive resistance to women’s empowerment. These are for instance, gender norms and expectations that are at the heart of the continued subordination and marginalisation of women in all spheres of life across the world.

Gender norms are rooted in complex multiple factors often due to socio-cultural, economic, political, structural and legal dimensions that are driven by patriarchal and cultural attitudes as well as religious based interpretations and value systems. Deeply rooted inequalities such as strong gender stereotypes about women not being as good as men in positions of political leadership persist around the world.

Legal systems and legislation have been the focus of women’s empowerment advocacy because they have the potential to promote women’s empowerment and if they are discriminatory, such laws can also reinforce the unequal power relations between women and men.  Across the world, laws which establish that women and men have equal rights provide an important basis for demanding and pursuing women’s empowerment in practice. Knowledge resources and tools such as the Constitution Assessment for Gender Equality which was developed by International IDEA outlines the fundamental issues that affect women’s rights and gender equality which should be guaranteed in national constitutions and be implemented. Constitutions are therefore a significant bedrock in the struggle for greater women’s empowerment and gender equality, especially within the context of the adoption and ongoing implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

In spite of the existence of laws that outlaw violence against women, including-domestic violence, political violence and sexual harassment, provide guarantees for equal pay, women’s equal property rights and women’s right to vote and to be voted for, these gains remain under consistent threats and the  struggles for protecting them are unending. This is because the resistance to women’s empowerment tends to defy legal and constitutional guarantees on equality. Therefore the various forms of patriarchal resistance must be tackled systematically and consistently.  It is a fact that the effective tackling of patriarchal resistance is strongly influenced by women’s self-esteem as this determines their adaptive capacities and strategies of their resilience towards the persisting resistance to the achievement of their empowerment.

Source: International IDEA