Women's leadership and participation: overview

Joanna Hoare and Fiona Gell

Contributors: Caroline Sweetman, Ines Smyth, and Anna Coates

Introduction

Why support women's participation and leadership?

Throughout both the developing and the developed world, women carry a disproportionately high burden of poverty. This poverty is experienced not just as material deprivation, but also as marginalization, which means that those living in poverty often have no, or little opportunity to influence the political, economic, and social processes and institutions which control and shape their lives and keep them trapped in a cycle of poverty.

For poor women, this experience of marginalization is effectively doubled: not only do they belong to communities that exist 'on the edges of society', but they are also often denied a voice within the states, markets, communities, and households in which they live, dominated as they are by men and male interests. This lack of voice functions as a critical factor in the maintenance of gender inequality and poverty, effectively blocking women's access to decision-making and agenda-setting processes, and beyond that, opportunities for leading these processes. This situation contributes to an invisibility of women as public actors and constitutes a negation of their rights to equal participation. It also perpetuates a decision-making process which is less likely to represent women's interests than a more representative system and which, therefore, possesses neither the vision nor the motivation to challenge or change unequal gender relations in society.

Women's equal participation and leadership in decision-making processes at every level and in every sector is therefore fundamental to attempts to eliminate gender-based poverty. In order to challenge the unequal and ultimately unsustainable economic and social systems in which we live, and to secure the essential resources they need for dignified and rewarding lives, it has been argued that women need 'to be visible politically as women and be empowered to act in that capacity, because ... they ... have needs and attitudes on vital issues which differ from those of men'. Women's presence in significant numbers in elected bodies and in economic institutions can result in more equitable policy outcomes because it is likely to encourage policy makers to give more attention to issues affecting women, such as equal pay, better conditions of employment, child-care, violence against women, and unpaid labour. And economic policies are also more likely to acknowledge the value of unpaid caring work (most of which is done by women) as an economic asset to be maintained and developed.

For instance, in Norway, women members of Parliament brought about the 'politics of care', which obligates the state to increase publicly sponsored child-care services, extend parental leave and flexible working, and improve pension rights for carers. In South Africa, women parliamentarians have led the world in the process of introducing gender budgeting to analyse state spending from a gender perspective and allocate resources to women's needs. While having more women in leadership positions does not guarantee women's concerns will be on the agenda, there is evidence that once a critical mass of women – over one-third – is in power, their shared interests as women start to come to the fore, as these two examples illustrate.

Not only is women's participation and leadership an essential prerequisite for poverty alleviation and tackling gender inequality, it is also a basic human right. 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 on gender equality, recognize that women have the right to participate equally with men at all levels and in all aspects of public life and decision-making, whether it is deciding how the household income is spent or determining how the country is run, and such conventions commit signatories to realizing this goal.

Despite these commitments to promoting gender equality in formal structures of representation and decision-making, women continue to be under-represented in all areas of decision-making and face significant barriers to their full and equal participation in the structures and institutions that govern, and directly affect, their lives.

Why women's participation and leadership is critical to Oxfam GB's work

As a rights-based humanitarian, development, and campaigning organization which works with others to overcome poverty and suffering, Oxfam GB has, for many years, sought to ensure that women's right to equal participation in the design and delivery of programmes is respected, so that they have greater influence over decisions affecting their lives. Increasingly there is a drive to go beyond this and support women's leadership of the institutions and processes that perpetuate the gendered inequalities of wealth and power that reinforce the denial of women's rights, giving particular support and encouragement to transformative leadership that seeks explicitly to challenge those inequalities.

This book documents learning from programmes that Oxfam GB and its partners have been supporting around the world. Case studies from the Philippines, Israel, and the UK detail projects which have sought to nurture and draw attention to women's participation and leadership in the economic sphere, through supporting their activities in civil-society organizations. Four chapters – from Sierra Leone, Honduras, Cambodia, and Haiti – describe programme work to encourage women's political participation in formal government structures. Finally, the case study from Chile makes the important link between increasing women's visibility in the economic and social sectors, and engaging in advocacy to promote women's employment rights at the political level.

Activities described here have taken place at all levels, from working with marginalized women to identify, articulate, and lobby on community-level issues of concern in the UK, to supporting elected representatives and ministers to incorporate a gender and poverty analysis into their work at senior government levels in Sierra Leone, Honduras, and Haiti. In all these case studies, no matter the level at which activities are taking place, what emerges strongly is the need to challenge actively the stereotypes, attitudes, and beliefs that continue to limit women's opportunities to realize their potential as active citizens and leaders. While all women are affected by these stereotypes, those living in poverty face further prejudice not just because of their gender identity, but also because of their class (or caste) identity, levels of education, and often racial or ethnic identity as well, all of which intersect to render them 'unfit' for positions of leadership and influence, in the eyes of powerful elites. These prejudices need to be challenged and addressed at every level, including by those women who do succeed in attaining formal positions of power and influence, and by male leaders. It is not enough just to 'get women into power'; once there, they need to be supported and encouraged to act in the best interests of all women, to be held accountable to this responsibility, and to influence their male peers to do the same.

This is not an arena of 'quick fixes' and instant impact, but one where change is happening gradually, as women leaders and would-be leaders are nurtured and supported to engage with and participate in decision-making processes in a way that challenges inequalities and injustice. Reflecting this, many of the programmes featured here are as yet unable to provide concrete examples of how women's increased participation and leadership have brought about positive changes for women living in poverty and marginalization, beyond the very local level (in the case studies from Israel and Cambodia, for instance). That said, we feel that these case studies present some useful examples of 'work in progress' towards enabling the active participation of women from all backgrounds in decision-making structures, and towards strengthening transformative and progressive leadership, that will, in the future, bring about real and positive change for women living in poverty and marginalization.

A snapshot of women's participation and leadership in the world today

Economic institutions

In the field of economics and finance, women remain sorely under-represented in decision-making in institutions at local, national, and international levels. At government level, only 14 per cent of finance ministers are female (28 across 193 countries). International institutions, which shape economic and social policy in developing countries, have few women leaders. For example, at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, women comprise around 20 per cent of leadership staff, and under 10 per cent of governors. And women are woefully absent at the top levels of business – just 25 out of the top 1000 multinational corporations are run by women. So the increasing role of the private sector in development is not showing promising signs of advancing women's empowerment.

At the household and community levels, despite women moving into many economic fields which were once male-dominated, the gender division of labour is still very real both within the home and outside it. Within the household, women carry the overwhelming burden of unpaid reproductive labour and caring work, which affects their ability to be active outside the home, and to influence economic decisions within it. In many poor rural households, women's role in agricultural production and processing often goes unrecognized or undervalued. And if women also work outside the home, they often find themselves in low-status, informal-sector jobs with few benefits and little protection. Even in the formal sector, women still earn considerably less than men. While women make up nearly 40 per cent of the global paid workforce, they earn only 26 per cent of the world's income. With little or no voice in the organizations and institutions which regulate or control the economic sector, the status of women will remain unchallenged.

On the positive side, women's income, and their career options in comparison to men's, have increased significantly over the past few decades, and they have shown spectacular success in running their own businesses across the world. But despite this, women are seldom found as managers, owners, and entrepreneurs in enterprises.

Even trade unions, co-operatives, and other producer associations, which are meant to uphold and represent the rights of all workers, often have few women in positions of power (unless they are dedicated women's co-operatives). Trade unions in particular are very male-dominated, with the result that the particular needs and priorities of women workers are often ignored. The types of work that women engage in, and the frequent precariousness of their employment situations, may also make it very difficult for them to obtain support from, and influence the policies of, traditional trade unions.

Political institutions

In almost all countries, women have now won the right to vote. Yet there are still scandalously few women in positions of political leadership. Globally, just 17.4 per cent of national political representatives are female, and only 15 out of 193 countries worldwide have achieved 30 per cent women in national governments. In addition, globally, just 3.5 per cent of senior ministerial positions are held by women, meaning that at the top levels of government, women currently have little opportunity to shape policy. Lower down, 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. Women coming from poor backgrounds, or belonging to ethnic or other minority groups (based for instance on their sexual identity, (dis)ability, or HIV status) are particularly under-represented in formal political structures.

However, there are signs of improvement. Since 1995, the average proportion of women in national assemblies has almost doubled. There has been considerable progress in some parts of Africa. Six African countries now have better profiles for women's representation than the Europe/OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) countries (excluding the Scandinavian countries). The recent arrival to power of women heads of state such as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia and Michelle Bachelet in Chile also indicates growing acceptance of the legitimacy of women leaders. Bachelet's election in particular provides hope, given that she campaigned on an openly pro-gender equality and women's rights agenda. This agenda is now being transformed into policy decisions strengthening the rights of women in Chile, such as increasing child-care provision for low-income mothers, and legislation to allow access to emergency contraception.

Civil-society institutions

Because of women's historic lack of presence in formal government and the structural barriers they face in entering the political sphere, many women have sought leadership positions within civil-society organizations, as a means of finding alternative ways to forge the changes and obtain the responses they seek. In an example from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories included here, poor Israeli-Arab women who are marginalized within their own communities, as well as within Israeli society more generally, have been able to secure influence through their activism within a civil-society organization campaigning on rights for the unemployed.

However, even in NGOs and community-based organizations which claim to represent 'the community', women are much less likely to be leaders than men, and women's shared interests are less likely to be on the agenda. Community-based organizations may also end up being dominated by the interests of more powerful, wealthy members of the community, again marginalizing poorer women's priorities and experiences. Women have founded their own organizations in response to this, yet these are often sidelined from policy processes involving civil-society organizations, and again, may reflect the interests of women who are already in relative positions of influence and power, rather than those lower down the social scale.

Barriers to women's participation and leadership, and strategies to overcome them

There are many factors which constrain women's ability to participate on an equal footing with men and to take up positions of leadership, regardless of whether they are poor or not, but these factors always impact hardest on poor women. Institutional gender bias represents a challenge to all women seeking equal participation and competing for leadership positions, as does the way that political and economic systems are organized. Scepticism and mistrust of women's ability to lead, and the stereotypes and prejudices about their role in society and their lack of suitability for leadership roles and decision-making, are other major challenges for all women.

Women living in poverty face a range of additional barriers. 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 whether at village, community, local, or national level. Lack of financial resources restrict poor women's opportunities and confidence to risk competing for, and maintaining, leadership positions, as well as not allowing them to purchase caring support for dependants, which is often crucial to enable them to combine active public and family lives. Women are also less likely than men to have the networks, contacts, and social and professional experience expected of public leaders. Women living in poverty carry the overwhelming burden of reproductive labour within families; in many contexts, this includes collecting fuel and water, and cultivating subsistence crops to feed their families. This means that time is a critical resource. For poor women, participating in public decision-making beyond their immediate needs for survival may seem like an impossible extra burden. Restrictions on women's mobility, be they cultural, legal, or the result of women's own fears of encountering violence and harassment if they leave the safety of their own communities, may make travelling to take part in meetings or forums very difficult. This also limits campaigning opportunities for women seeking election to formal positions of power. In addition, women living in poverty are subject to particular gender-related risks and vulnerabilities caused by factors such as HIV, disability, and gender-based violence, all of which compound their inability to participate on an equal footing with men.