scholarly journals Women’s Movement for Gender Quotas in Nigeria and Ghana

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Ronke I. Ako-Nai ◽  
Babatunde F. Obamamoye
Keyword(s):  
Women's Movement ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Precipitating Factors ◽  
Comparative Dynamics ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The third wave of the international women’s movement expressly broadened the focus of women’s activism to incorporate the clamour for more political representation of women. Within the confines of the struggle, women in Nigeria and Ghana have initiated a movement for gender quotas that will improve their inclusion in decision-making processes. However, there is a paucity of scholarly work on the patterns and precipitating factors of the movement in the context of both states. Against this background, this article draws on interview data to examine the comparative dynamics of the women’s movement for gender quotas in Nigeria and Ghana. It specifically offers explanations of why and how women channel their struggle for political emancipation in both states.

The Representation of Women in Turkish Local Governments

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Pinar Savaş Yavuzçehre ◽  
Mısra Ciğeroğlu Öztepe
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Significant Issue ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
The World ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Political Decision Making

Turkey is one of the countries which has the lowest representation of women in local governments (LGs) in the world. While in many countries, women are more successful to participate in local political decision-making processes, the situation is vice versa in Turkey. The tendency of women to participate in politics at both national and local level is quite low in the country and this arises from several reasons such as the cultural and patriarchal structure of the country, the roles attributed to women by society, the insufficiency of women's education level etc. In this framework, this study aims to evaluate the representation of women in the LGs in Turkey. In this context, the theoretical framework is examined and the data and statistics regarding the issue are analyzed. Our analysis reveals that despite the efforts to increase the political representation of women in LGs, the invisibility of women in LGs is still a significant issue in the country.

scholarly journals Women in Arab Parliaments: Can Gender Quotas Contribute to Democratization?

1970 ◽  
pp. 28-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drude Dahlerup
Keyword(s):  
Arab World ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Arab Region ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
The World ◽  
Women In Parliament

The Arab region has the lowest representation of women in parliament in the world: ten percent. Yet, seen in a ten-year perspective, the Arab region has witnessed the highest rate of increase, having started from a very low position. All over the world gender quotas are being adopted in order to rapidly increase women’s political representation. The Arab world is part of this new trend, and today eleven Arab countries have adopted electoral gender quotas. Globally, women are still vastly underrepresented in politics. Only 19 percent of the seats in the world’s parliaments are occupied by women, 81 percent by men (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2010).

The Representation of Women in Turkish Local Governments

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Pinar Savaş Yavuzçehre ◽  
Mısra Ciğeroğlu Öztepe
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Significant Issue ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
The World ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Political Decision Making

Turkey is one of the countries which has the lowest representation of women in local governments (LGs) in the world. While in many countries, women are more successful to participate in local political decision-making processes, the situation is vice versa in Turkey. The tendency of women to participate in politics at both national and local level is quite low in the country and this arises from several reasons such as the cultural and patriarchal structure of the country, the roles attributed to women by society, the insufficiency of women's education level etc. In this framework, this study aims to evaluate the representation of women in the LGs in Turkey. In this context, the theoretical framework is examined and the data and statistics regarding the issue are analyzed. Our analysis reveals that despite the efforts to increase the political representation of women in LGs, the invisibility of women in LGs is still a significant issue in the country.

Political Representation of Women in Northern Ireland

Politics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Porter
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Participation ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Political Pluralism ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
The Church

Increasing the political representation of women in Northern Ireland is part of fostering political pluralism. First, the political representation of women requires democratic participation and a justification of ‘women’ as a category. Second, specific factors of culture and the church unique to Ireland hinder women's participation in elected politics, and there are additional factors of class, violence, and nationalism that are peculiar to Northern Ireland. Third, gender quotas are successful elsewhere, but alone will not alter the powerful resistance to feminist change in Northern Ireland. Structures to encourage inclusionary politics must create spaces for political women to be transformative agents.

Layers of Activism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrine M. McConnaughy
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Women's Movement ◽  
Social Identities ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Civic Organizations ◽  
Interest Organizations ◽  
American State

The women’s movement of the nineteenth century emerged within a context of proliferating civic organizations making demands on the American state. This chapter considers how this era of activism shaped the development of social movements for women’s rights and policy demands, arguing that social identities were influential determinants of the paths that women’s activism took through a web of organizational possibilities. The chapter first discusses how membership, organizational structure, and repertoires of activism were produced by the layers of identities and organizations from which they were built. It then turns to how coalitional strategies emerged, including the importance of bridge actors across layers of interest organizations. Finally, it highlights how the varied policy outcomes of women’s activism across both time and states within the layered era have enabled conditional explanations of activism’s effectiveness, including new understandings of when gender worked as a constraint and when it facilitated success.

scholarly journals Women Mayors in Portugal: A Case Study in Political Representation and Citizenship

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (68) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Antónia de Figueiredo Pires de Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Positive Effects

Abstract Introduction The article presents a historical analysis of the participation of women in Portuguese politics and reveals the positive effects of the introduction of the parity law in 2006. In the 2015 national elections, for the first time one third of the elected the Members of the Portuguese Parliament were women. However, in municipalities there is still a long way to go to reach this level of female political representation. Does the political system limit women’s access only to elected positions? Thus, important questions remain: why are women still a minority in local politics? What obstacles do they encounter? And what can be done to improve the situation? Materials and Methods For this investigation, data were collected on the electronic pages of municipalities and political parties, as well as in the press, to monitor the evolution of the presence of women in Portuguese local government, initially as members of the administrative commissions appointed to manage municipal councils from 1974 to the first elections that took place on December 12, 1976 and then as elected representatives from 1976 to the latest 2017 local elections, comparing this level with central government. Results The study of this group reveals higher educational levels and more specialized jobs among women than among men, particularly in teaching and management. There is also discussion of partisan membership and it is revealed that left-wing parties invest more in women for local government than do right-wing parties. Discussion Although four decades have passed since the democratic regime was established, the representation of women in politics is still incipient. We present some examples of policy actions that can encourage the presence of women in local government and increase their role as active citizens.

scholarly journals THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN’S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION: AN ANALYSIS OF WOMEN’S EXPERIENCE IN FORMAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN TURKEY FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-129
Author(s):  
Ayşe GÖNÜLLÜ ATAKAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Women And Gender ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Women And Gender Studies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Developed Countries

Today, the necessity of addressing development not only with its economic dimension but also with its social and environmental dimensions has been accepted by the international community. Alternative Women and Development approaches that emerged in the 1970s also emphasized that the idea of development without women would not be possible, and that the main development is possible with the empowerment of women as important actors of development. It is a dominant view that is agreed in the literature on women and gender studies that one of the most important tools for achieving empowerment, which is conceptualized as “gaining the ability of women to make strategic life choices”, is their participation in decision-making mechanisms. In this context, it is vital for women to participate in formal politics with their own perspective in order to solve their own problems based on their own gendered experiences. In this study, inadequate political representation of women in Turkey, as a candidate to be among the developed countries, is discussed from a gender perspective in terms of reasons, results and solutions. Keywords: Political participation, gender, women and development, empowerment.

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