Complicating the public: enabling young women's participation in public engagement initiatives

Abstract

Despite growing attention to both public engagement in policy development, and youth civic engagement, the engagement of young women and young mothers receives little attention. This article proposes guidelines for engaging with young women in provincial public policy development via their participation in public engagement initiatives. Developed in the context of a small Canadian province, the guidelines are based on an existing public engagement framework, modified to consider young women's identities and engagement strategies. The guidelines are presented relative to the context, process, tools, and outcomes of public engagement initiatives. In presenting the guidelines, this article grapples with paradoxes of young women's engagement, including the role of policy and policy discourses in creating and governing their identities, the role of public engagement in upholding and dismantling neoliberal policy agendas, and the challenges and benefits of reconciling appropriate conceptualisations of young women with a positivistic, masculine engagement framework.