Toward Aligning with International Gender Goals? Analysis of the Gender Equality Landscape in Japan under the Laws on Women’s Economic and Political Participation and Leadership

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako Hatano
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
International Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Legal Frameworks

Abstract Gender equality and women’s empowerment is taken as an important precondition and driving force for the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite its highly developed economy and democratic governance system, Japan’s record of gender equality, in particular, women’s political and economic leadership, has stalled for a number of years. Even after the promulgation of laws for promoting economic and political participation and leadership of women, namely, the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (2015) and the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field (2018), Japan’s global ranking on gender equality was lowered further by a widening of the political gender gap and remaining dearth of female managers. This study analyses the effectiveness of the legal frameworks aimed at improving gender equality, through assessing their regulatory design, compliance, and implementation. It also highlights how gender norms underlining the international human rights law and international development agenda have affected the development and implementation of those legal frameworks. The paper concludes that the laws aimed to promote women’s leadership in the economic and political spheres have not fully performed to achieve intended goals because of their weak enforcement mechanism, the lack of strong political will as well as insufficient awareness raising and advocacy to bring about transformative changes of gendered practices embedded in social context and practice. The partnerships among global and local stakeholders including international organisations, governments, business, media, civil society, and people with diverse backgrounds are essential to provide the necessary momentum to drive the laws to work effectively on the ground, through transnational and local advocacy. Japanese society is standing at a critical juncture to advance equal voice in economic and political decision making, which is a core of democratic governance and sustainable development based on the principle of leaving no one behind.

scholarly journals The Implementation Challenges to Women Protection Laws in Pakistan

2018 ◽  
Vol III (I) ◽  
pp. 253-264
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zubair ◽  
Syed Imran Haider ◽  
Farhana Khattak
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
International Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Normative Structure ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Political Interests

Gender equality and the elimination of violence against women has been taken a high priority on the international development agenda. Pakistan has introduced different laws from time to time for the safety and protection of women across the country including the different provinces. The paper analyzed pro-women and girl laws in the provinces of Sindh and tried to find out the barriers in the implementation of such laws. The major barriers found include the structural barriers at the level of judicial, police and the system of prosecution. In addition, the socio-cultural normative structure of society is strongly patriarchal. The political interests of different leaders, as well as political parties, also get the issue of implementation compromised.

Gender Inequality and Sustainable Development

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-145
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Regional Performance

The chapter argues that inequality between men and women has led to the gap in income and poverty for women. Gender inequality and women's empowerment have, therefore, become one of the 17 pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030. This chapter, therefore, examines the global performances on gender inequality index (GII) and the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030, regional performance and the Sustainable Development Goals, the top best performers on gender gap parity versus the worst performers on gender gap parity, and sub-national performances and global rankings. Also, this chapter examines the challenges of achieving gender equality by 2030 along with policy options for achieving gender equality in the year 2030.

scholarly journals Assessment of Political Participation and Democratic Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fuad Othman ◽  
Victor Vincent Okpe
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Fourth Republic

Generally, this study examined the state of political participation and democratic governance in Nigeria’s fourth republic. It relied mainly on descriptive qualitative research approach and secondary sources of data such as journal articles, books, reports from political parties amongst other works from scholars on politics, democracy and governance in the fourth republic. The study equally adopted the liberal democratic theory as its framework of analysis. The emerged result revealed that political participation and democratic governance in the fourth republic had not been in the favor of the populace. It further revealed negative indices against the system such as political and electoral violence, corruption, weak institutions of democracy, godfatherism, poor provision of positive leadership, poverty, inequalities, political intolerance, manipulation of electoral processes, blatant act of impunity, lawlessness, selfish interest and militarization. They have led to lack of trust on the political leaders, and by implication, remains a huge challenge against popular participation, democratic governance and consolidation. These ills are in sharp contrast with the tenets of the liberal democratic theory. Based on the above revelations, therefore, the study believes that it is pertinent that the political leadership must not only practice what is obtainable in the fourth republic constitution but must equally adhere to the doctrines of a liberal democratic system. The political system and the electoral processes must be violent free to encourage popular participation and consolidation of democracy. The citizens must also endeavor to hold their leaders accountable.

Gender Assessment of Political Parties' Internal Regulations in Sudan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha K. Elkarib
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Women's Political Participation

Political parties are considered gatekeepers for women’s access to political positions, as they play an important role in institutionalizing women’s inclusion in politics. Ensuring that political parties in Sudan play an active role in the advancement of gender equality and the enhancement of women’s political participation is particularly important as Sudan prepares for its transition to democracy. This Report examines political parties’ internal policies and structures and their impact on women’s access to positions of power and decision-making at all levels, starting from within the political parties themselves. By scrutinizing parties’ constitutions, manifestos and various policy documents, the report highlights how women participate in political parties and the extent to which political parties support gender equality.

scholarly journals Empoderamiento político de las mujeres: una estrategia integral para políticas públicas = Political empowerment of women: a comprehensive policy strategy for public policies

2017 ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Patricia Fernández de Castro
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Political Empowerment ◽  
Policy Strategy ◽  
Action Strategy ◽  
Las Mujeres ◽  
Individual Dimension

RESUMEN: La dificultad de elaborar políticas públicas capaces de integrar una estrategia de acción dirigida a la participación política y el ejercicio de una ciudadanía activa por parte de las mujeres obliga a recapacitar sobre modelos de actuación cuyo objetivo contemple al mismo tiempo la dimensión colectiva y la individual del empoderamiento político, como clave estratégica para el diseño de políticas de igualdad de género que pretendan tal finalidad. El presente trabajo ofrece una propuesta de medidas para las políticas de igualdad que, combinadas unas con otras atendiendo a la situación actual del panorama político, responden a una estrategia de acción integral para el empoderamiento político de las mujeres.ABSTRACT: The difficulty of developing public policies capable of integrating an action strategy aimed at political participation and the exercise of active citizenship by women forced to rethink models of action aimed at the same time contemplating collective and individual dimension of political empowerment as a strategic key to the design of gender equality policies that seek this purpose. This work presents a proposal of measures for equality policies, combined with each other in response to the current situation of the Spanish panorama, reflect a comprehensive action strategy for the political empowerment of women.PALABRAS CLAVE: empoderamiento; políticas; ciudadanía; participación; igualdad. KEYWORDS: empowerment; policies; citizenship; participation; equality.

scholarly journals Single Women Involved in Entrepreneurship Negatively Affected by Gender and Marital Status as Entrepreneurs

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-207
Author(s):  
Brown Chomba
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Single Women ◽  
The Political ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The People ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Full Participation

Issues to do with gender imbalances and inequality of women in general and single women in particular in the political arena and entrepreneurship are nowadays a burning issue in all the countries worldwide. This is a major aspect of modern democratic governance such that low levels of female participation in politics are a major concern worldwide. The steps were taken by the United Nations Convention on stopping all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other international organizations have laid the concrete basis for the emergence of women’s participation in politics and entrepreneurship. In Lusaka, Zambia, women’s political participation is not proportional to the 50% of the country’s population which women represent, thereby not translating into equal representation in political leadership positions. The study employed questionnaires to collect data. The findings demonstrate that there exists a significant gender gap in the political participation of women in all the wards in the Lusaka district and that factors affecting their effective participation were social, economic, political, cultural, and religious-based. The study, therefore, recommended the change of perception of the people, equal representation in governance, support from everyone, and also stopping of discriminatory practices to ensure the equal and full participation of women.

Interactive Political Leadership

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Interactive Governance ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
Political Entrepreneurship

In what this book boldly defines as the age of governance, citizens and other relevant and affected stakeholders are active partakers in governing Western liberal societies. This reality is out of tune with traditional sovereign perceptions of political leadership. Drawing on recent theories of interactive governance and political leadership, Eva Sørensen develops a concept of interactive political leadership that aims to capture what political leadership looks like in a society of active, anti-authoritarian, and politically competent citizens. The key message is that although interactive political leadership is no panacea, it is a step forward in developing a mature perception of what political leadership means in a democratic society with a strong participatory political culture. Hence, interactive political leadership stands out as a promising way of promoting the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic governance by establishing a bridge between representative democracy and emergent forms of political participation, promoting political learning and accountability, strengthening the political entrepreneurship of elected politicians, and mobilizing relevant resources in society. The book develops twenty propositions that sets the agenda for a new and much-needed field of empirical research into political leadership in the age of governance.

Achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from the Experience of Selected Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-281
Author(s):  
Theresa Moyo ◽  
Rogers Dhliwayo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Gender Disparities ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
2030 Agenda ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Ssa Countries

Despite the progress that has been made towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), evidence shows that gender disparities remain persistent in most countries. The aim of the article is to identify lessons from the experiences of those countries which have made considerable progress in bridging the gender gap. More specifically, the article seeks to identify strategies that will enable SSA countries to achieve the gender equality goal in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Does gender equality bridge or buffer the entrepreneurship gender gap? A cross-country investigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 1827-1844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veselina Vracheva ◽  
Irina Stoyneva
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Female Entrepreneurship ◽  
Female Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Regulation ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeGender equality levels opportunities for men and women and reduces the initial capital constraints women often face, and yet as entrepreneurship opportunities for women open up in more developed and egalitarian societies, fewer women are choosing entrepreneurship. This paper explores this contradiction as it relates to female economic and political participation in the context of business regulation efficiency.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on panel data from 89 countries from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey and the Global Gender Gap report, we use random effects regression to examine relationships. Analyses included 252 country-years, and all data used during analyses were at the country level.FindingsResults suggest that equality in economic participation narrows and political participation widens the entrepreneurship gender gap, but a country's business regulation efficiency moderates both relationships negatively.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not distinguish opportunity- and necessity-driven entrepreneurship, and does not consider the survival rates of enterprises and their industries.Practical implicationsFindings are pertinent to policymakers interested in advancing female entrepreneurship. They also apply to female entrepreneurs who must begin to recognize the diversity in work-life preferences among women and men.Originality/valueA theoretical model is informed by two competing theories, suggesting that in the context of female entrepreneurship, removal of economic and political participation barriers, combined with business regulation efficiency, intensifies the entrepreneurship gender gap.

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