Women's Leadership and Participation: Overview

This 19-page paper offers background, context, and motivation for the Oxfam Great Britain (GB) publication "Learning for Action on Women's Leadership and Participation". To begin, the authors explore the multiple dimensions of economically poor women's experience of marginalisation. They are often denied a voice within the already-disenfranchised states, markets, communities, and households in which they live, dominated as they are by men and male interests. This lack of voice, Oxfam explains, exacerbates gender inequality and poverty, effectively blocking women's access to - let alone opportunity to lead - decision-making and agenda-setting processes. Action to make women visible politically as women and empowering them to act in that capacity can, according to these authors result in more equitable policy outcomes because it is likely to encourage policymakers to give more attention to issues affecting women, such as equal pay, better conditions of employment, child-care, violence against women, and unpaid labour.

As the authors explain, international human rights treaties and conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action, and the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on gender equality, recognise that women have the right to participate equally with men at all levels and in all aspects of public life and decision-making. Despite these commitments, Oxfam indicates, women continue to be under-represented in all areas of decision-making and face significant barriers to their full and equal participation.

With these concerns as a driving force, Oxfam GB and its partners have been developing initiatives around the world, such as the 8 described in the publication that this overview chapter introduces. The authors offer a more detailed backdrop, starting with women's presence in economic institutions. Amongst the data provided in this section: 14% of finance ministers are female; at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, women comprise around 20% of leadership staff and under 10% of governors; 25 out of the top 1,000 multinational corporations are run by women; and, while women make up nearly 40% of the global paid workforce, they earn only 26% of the world's income. Furthermore, women "carry the overwhelming burden of unpaid reproductive labour and caring work". A similar situation characterises political institutions. While there are glimmers of hope, globally: 17.4% of national political representatives are female; 15 out of 193 countries worldwide have achieved 30% women in national governments; and 3.5% of senior ministerial positions are held by women. Even "in the regional and sub-regional government institutions which often play an important role in determining access to essential services and resources, women remain conspicuous by their absence." According to Oxfam, even in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations, "women are much less likely to be leaders than men, and women's shared interests are less likely to be on the agenda."

According to Oxfam, there are many factors which constrain the ability of women - particularly economically poor women - to participate on an equal footing with men. To cite only one example: Lack of education and low levels of literacy make access to information difficult and commonly undermine the confidence and skills needed to enter public life. Women are also less likely than men to have the networks, contacts, and social and professional experience expected of public leaders. Oxfam has learned that carrying out "gender audits" - for instance, research into how a particular issue or policy is impacting on women's well-being - are an important way of assessing what factors are limiting women's opportunities for participation. In broad terms, Oxfam has identified three areas which need to be tackled; the next sections of the document examine each of these aspects in greater depth, drawing examples from the case studies included in the series. In brief:

1) Overcoming structural barriers:

• Legislative reform - The implementation of quotas and reservation of seats have been the key instruments in increasing women's political representation, but "women's interests as a collective group have not necessarily been advanced by quotas....Because it is often easier for women to get elected at local level than at national level, decentralisation can give women real influence over decisions which will have a direct impact on the lives of members of their communities."
• Increasing visibility in the economic sector - "An important first step...is making their contributions to that sector visible..."
  
• Changing attitudes to women's leadership and participation - Any work in this field must include activities that challenge women's own perceptions about their suitability for leadership. Also crucial is identifying male "champions" in positions of authority, who will be prepared to speak out in support of women's right to political leadership and participation. As women move into leadership positions, their actions will speak for themselves.
• Dealing with constraints on women's time and mobility - "In the long term, [in order to ensure that women's heavy responsibilities do not make political participation impossible,] attitudes need to change, and household labour needs to be more equally divided among all household members, men included. But in the short term, many of the programmes described in these case studies made sure that leadership training did not add to women's already considerable workload."
• Addressing inequalities of wealth and power - "In Honduras, Oxfam GB's partner organisations are pressing for a reduction in the campaign period, again because this would cut down on the amount of money that women candidates would have to spend on campaigning. Ultimately, of course, the only sustainable solution will be an improvement in the economic status of all women."
  

2) Encouraging and supporting women to take up leadership roles or participate in decision-making on an equal footing with men: Providing targeted training to women who want to assume positions of leadership is one way of enabling more women to influence decision-making processes. Several of the papers in this collection give examples, and also highlight the importance of ongoing training, post-election. Oxfam asserts that, beyond developing women's capacities to lead, there is a need to transform models of leadership development so that they become more gender-responsive, and include issues such as participatory governance and inclusive dialogue.

3) Supporting women and men to carry out leadership roles which challenge inequalities of wealth and power and recognise and promote women's rights: As indicated by several of the case studies, increasing numbers of women in positions of power has had a direct, beneficial impact on the welfare of women living in poverty at the local level. But not all formal mechanisms to increase the profile of women automatically have this outcome. In addition, Oxfam cautions against assuming that all progressive women politicians are gender-aware, and/or that they will incorporate women's rights and gender-equality issues into their agendas in a meaningful way. Recognising this, Oxfam GB's partners' work in Honduras has included building alliances between those congresswomen who are keen to promote women's rights and gender equality, and women's rights organisations. Another approach has been the adoption of local "pacts", or "protocols". In Haiti and Honduras, Oxfam GB's partner organisations facilitated meetings between voters and female and male candidates, where the former had a chance to voice their concerns and demands. Representatives from women's rights organisations were also invited to attend. At the end of the meetings, candidates formally signed a pledge to address the priorities identified by their constituents in the event of being elected.

In conclusion, the authors stress that "Programmes aimed at strengthening women's leadership and participation will have limited impact unless the structures that uphold gender inequality, and other forms of inequality, begin to change." This requires bringing men on board at all levels to challenge: unrepresentative governance and electoral systems that are not accountable to voters; organisational structures that reinforce male control and influence; and the economic discrimination that women face.

Some of the principles that need to guide this work which have emerged through the experience of running the Oxfam programmes discussed in these case studies are:

• There needs to be a particular focus on supporting the participation and leadership of women living in poverty or who suffer discrimination on the basis of aspects of their social identity such as disability, ethnicity, class, caste, HIV status, religion, or age.
• Work to support women's leadership will only advance economically poor women's interests if accompanied by long-term support for claiming and exercising their rights in other areas such as access to and control over resources, access to public services such as education and health, or protection from violence.
• Any support provided to prospective or elected women politicians must be carried out in as non-partisan a way as is possible.
• Programme work should be based on an in-depth understanding of the particular gender issues facing a given community or organisation, and hence the particular barriers to women's participation and leadership in that context.
  

"Perhaps most significant to overcoming gender inequality, and the other forms of inequality and discrimination that keep women in poverty, is the work that feminist and women's rights organisations are already doing to articulate the needs of poor women, and to push for their strategic interests to be met."

This paper is part of a series of Programme Insights papers on Women's Leadership from Oxfam and is now available as a book. Click here to download the book.