Gendered Institutions and Women’s Political Representation in Africa

Gendered Institutions and Women’s Political Representation in Africa
Author: Diana Højlund Madsen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-12-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1913441172

During the course of the past three decades efforts of democratisation and institutional reforms have characterised the African continent, including demands for gender equality and women's political representation. As a result, some countries have introduced affirmative action measures, either in the aftermath of conflicts or as part of broader constitutional reforms, whereas others are falling behind this fast track to women's political representation. Utilising a range of case studies spanning both the success cases and the less successful cases from different regions, this work examines the uneven developments on the continent. By mapping, analysing and comparing women's political representation in different African contexts, this book sheds light on the formal and informal institutions and the interplay between these that are influencing women's political representation and can explain the development on women's political representation across the continent and present perspectives on an 'African feminist institutionalism'.

Engendering Democracy in Africa

Engendering Democracy in Africa
Author: Niamh Gaynor
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2022-06-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000597067

This book investigates women’s political participation in Africa. Going beyond the formal institutions of electoral politics, it explores a range of spaces where everyday politics take place, at national and at local levels. In recent years there have been significant improvements in the number of women elected to parliament in Africa. However, there is little indication that this is translating into better developmental outcomes, and indeed there is mounting evidence that it could in fact help to bolster some authoritarian regimes. Starting from the premise that politics is a far broader project than securing a seat in national or local legislatures alone, this book explores the opportunities for women’s political participation across a number of informal spaces where women and men gather, organise and interact in a more regular and systematic manner. Combining insights from political science, sociology and feminist theory and drawing on detailed cases from the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda, it examines how power in its multiple dimensions circulates across a range of everyday political spaces, while drawing attention to the links between domestic gender inequalities and the global political economy. Inviting scholars, practitioners and activists to broaden their focus beyond formal electoral institutions if they want to support women to become more politically active, this book provides fresh insights into major issues at the heart of African studies, development studies, gender and development, democratisation, and international relations.

The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies

The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies
Author: Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2021-10-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 9783030280987

This definitive handbook is the first reference of its kind bringing together knowledge, scholarship, and debates on themes and issues concerning African women everywhere. It unearths, critiques, reviews, analyses, theorizes, synthesizes and evaluates African women’s historical, social, political, economic, local and global lives and experiences with a view to decolonizing the corpus. This Handbook questions the gendered roles and positions of African women and the structures, institutions, and processes of policy, politics, and knowledge production that continually construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct African women and the study of them. Contributors offer a consistent emphasis on debunking erroneous and misleading myths about African women's roles and positions, bringing their previously marginalized stories to relief, and ultimately re-writing their histories. Thus, this Handbook enlarges the scope of the field, challenges its orthodoxies, and engenders new subjects, theories, and approaches. This reference work includes, to the greatest extent possible, the voices of African women themselves as writers of their own stories. The detailed, rigorous and up-to-date analyses in the work represent a variety of theoretical, methodological, and transdisciplinary approaches. This reference work will prove vital in charting new directions for the study of African women, and will reverberate in future studies, generating new debates and engendering further interest.

Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism

Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism
Author: Dr. Richard Munang
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2018-05-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 154629239X

While Africa has long been referred to as the dark continent, its shown itself to be a bearer of light to the world. Leaders such as the late former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Nobel laureates Wangari Maathai and Desmond Tutu, and others have inspired the world with their words and actions. But more work needs to be done. Richard Munang outlines practical policies that countries in Africa should take to accelerate socioeconomic transformation and achieve ideals of sustainable development goals. He highlights how the pace of economic development in Africa has lagged other nations with fewer natural resourcesand what we can do about it. Unlike other books, this one presents a novel-strategic approach to building an economy that can thrive amid climate change. The paradigm he proposes incentivizes actions that stem climate changes most harmful effects. Find out how climate change can be a master key that unlocks the door to accelerated socioeconomic transformation in Africa and how it applies to development economists, politicians, and everyday people with the insights in Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism.

Political Parties in Africa Through a Gender Lens

Political Parties in Africa Through a Gender Lens
Author: Rumbidzai A. Kandawasvika-Nhundu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-03
Genre: Africa
ISBN: 9789187729058

One of the persistent democratic deficits throughout the world is women’s lack of influence in politics. In relation to political parties in particular, the voice of women in decision-making remains insufficient, and, in some cases, is nonexistent. This report is based on the findings of a two-year project implemented by International IDEA, aimed at analyzing the commitments of political parties to gender equality in 33 countries in Africa. One of the key findings from this research is that, although political parties’ constitutions and manifestos contain general gender equality commitments, their utility is limited by the lack of concrete measures to ensure that commitments are translated into effective actions and outcomes.

Women in Parliament

Women in Parliament
Author: Julie Ballington
Publisher:
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2005
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

This updated edition of Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers Handbook covers the ground of women's access to the legislature in three steps: It looks into the obstacles women confront when entering Parliament be they political, socio-economic or ideological and psychological. It presents solutions to overcome these obstacles, such as changing electoral systems and introducing quotas, and it details strategies for women to influence politics once they are elected to parliament, an institution which is traditionally male dominated. The first Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers handbook was produced as part of IDEA's work on women and political participation in 1998. Since its release in English in 1998, there has been an ongoing interest and demand for the handbook, and responding to the request for the translation of the handbook, IDEA has produced Spanish, French and Indonesian language versions and a Russian overview of the handbook during 2002-2003. Since the first handbook was published, the picture regarding women's political participation has slowly changed. Overall the past decade has seen gradual progress with regard to women's presence in national parliaments. This second edition incorporates relevant global changes in the past years presenting new and updated case studies.--

The Impact of Gender Quotas

The Impact of Gender Quotas
Author: Susan Franceschet
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2012-03-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199830096

The Impact of Gender Quotas is a theory-building and comparative exercise in elaborating concepts commonly used to analyze the broad impacts of gender quotas. Using a conceptual framework based upon descriptive, substantive and symbolic dimensions of representation, the book presents case studies from twelve countries in Western Europe, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.

Causes of War

Causes of War
Author: Jack S. Levy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2011-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1444357093

Written by leading scholars in the field, Causes of War provides the first comprehensive analysis of the leading theories relating to the origins of both interstate and civil wars. Utilizes historical examples to illustrate individual theories throughout Includes an analysis of theories of civil wars as well as interstate wars -- one of the only texts to do both Written by two former International Studies Association Presidents

Women, Gender, and Politics

Women, Gender, and Politics
Author: Mona Lena Krook
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2010
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0195368800

Six areas of research of the subjects of women, gender and politics are debated: social movements, political parties, elections, political representation, public policy, and the state.

Gender and Informal Institutions

Gender and Informal Institutions
Author: Georgina Waylen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2017-05-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786600048

Informal norms and political practices can act to facilitate or block changes to formal rules, with important consequences for efforts to promote gender equality. In this book, leading scholars develop sophisticated analytical frameworks and provide detailed empirical knowledge to further our understanding of the gendering of informal institutions. The book begins by assessing our current theoretical and empirical knowledge and outlining the remaining gaps in our understanding around the way gender interacts with informal institutions. It takes up the challenges of gender equality in informal institutions though a feminist institutionalist lens. The empirically based chapters explore the role of informal institutions in three areas of concern for feminist scholars: political recruitment; the executive; and policy and practice; and examine the practical and methodological challenges of researching informal institutions. Using the insights generated in the volume, the final chapter develops a research agenda for future work on gendering informal institutions, considering the potential to design or alter informal institutions, and of different approaches and methodologies.