Gender Machinery Research Articles

The advancement of Industry 4.0 and the transformations in the labor market Closing gender gaps? Policies under debate

The writing aims to share the progress of a research project that analyzes three strategic economic sectors for Argentina's sustainable and inclusive development, such as the Science and Technology sector, the Popular Economy, and Industry 4.0. We will focus on the latter, one of the economy's most dynamic sectors and with great capacity for expansion and job creation. In dialogue with profound changes being carried out aimed at promoting gender equality, and in line with the presence of gender machinery at the highest state levels, we propose to account for the policies and actions being carried out at the National level, at the level of the Province of Buenos Aires, in Córdoba and Santa Fe, which seek to close inequality gaps in the sector. These provinces were selected based on having Women's Ministries where one of their objectives is to mainstream the gender perspective in state management. Along these lines, the programs and actions carried out by the aforementioned ministries will be presented, as well as those specific to the sector, typifying them based on what type of gender gap they are addressing. Whether it addresses labor segmentation or, on the other hand, addresses other issues linked to violence, care, participation and promotion, and income.

The Influence of Culture and Participation of Women in the Malian Political Landscape: Implications for Equal Opportunities in Education

The central focus of this study was to enhance gender equity in the Malian political and education sector. Since the era of the League of Nations, there has been recognition of women in the political arena, and there has been a cocktail of legal and institutional frameworks for advancing gender equality. However, women are not equally participating in the political landscape and in the key sectors of the economies. Limited participation of women in politics could be responsible for the widespread conflict, unequal opportunities in the education sector, and the absence of development. However, women political leaders have a crucial role to play in building peace and ensuring sustainable development. There were three specific research questions: The first question focused on the significance of women's participation in the Malian political landscape. The second question was on the extent to which limited participation of women in politics affects equality of opportunities in the Malian educational sector. The last question was on the possible options for addressing equity and access challenges in the Malian educational sector. The study was guided by the Socio-Ecological Framework, supported by the Social Perception Theory. A qualitative research approach was applied in carrying out this research. The population comprised institutions in the National Gender Machinery (NGM), which include the Mali National Gender Commission and the Ministries responsible for Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. The legislative body (Parliament) in Mali, the Women's Coalition, and political parties are also part of the research. Traditional leaders, who are central to the transformation of customary laws, development partners, and non-governmental organisations, and whose focus area is gender and development, were also part of this study. The study used quota and purposive sampling techniques, with data being collected using in-depth interviews. The data were analysed thematically, with the findings presented in line with the research questions. The study showed that the importance of improving the gender balance in senior positions include improvement in performance due to fewer pilferages, access to a wide pool of talent, and improved decision-making. Female leaders take their duties and responsibilities more seriously than men do and can do multiple tasks. Women also bring different perspectives to debates, which were hitherto male domination, and gender balance in senior management improves the quality of decisions. However, because of limited participation, Malian women and girls are among the poorest in the world, and they have the highest rates of illiteracy. Therefore, there is a need to ensure that women are equally represented in the political landscape. Ensuring equal participation of women in politics could be possible if there are changes in terms of the customary laws, legal framework, participation of the local communities, assumption of leadership positions by women, and having women role models. The proposed changes in the social systems could be possible if there is education and capacity building. Education and capacity building is essential for changing the mindsets of people.

Pan-African gender governance: The politics of aspiration at the African Union

Abstract The African Union (AU) has developed an elaborate gender governance architecture, including gender machineries and women’s desks, policy frameworks, path-breaking women’s rights laws, and ongoing campaigns on women’s rights–related issues. At the same time, the member states’ engagement with this architecture is at best lukewarm, with a lack of domestication, compliance, and accountability. This paradox is addressed in this article by developing the theoretical thinking around aspirational politics (Martha Finnemore and Michelle Jurkovich, ‘The politics of aspiration’, International Studies Quarterly, 64:4 [2020], pp. 759–69) and political brokers (Stacie E. Goddard, ‘Brokering change: Networks and entrepreneurs in international politics’, International Theory, 1:2 [2009], pp. 249–81), showing the social and relational origins of pan-African gender governance. In doing so, the article examines how ‘aspirational politics’ can be operationalized to examine the sociocultural and political production of shared future imaginaries. The paper focuses on AU femocrats as the key actors for AU’s aspirational gender agenda and argues for their importance as political brokers between AU member states, donors, UN agencies, and civil society organisations. By mobilizing actors and facilitating common ground and agreement, their institutionalized broker position allowed for various political entrepreneurs to emerge and thrive. At the same time, their pursuits are met with ‘aspirational fatigue’ or outright contestation by the member states. The case of the AU demonstrates how aspirational politics is not a ‘phase’ leading to norms governance but part and parcel of normative negotiation and engagement.

GENDER POLICY AND LEGISLATION DURING THE FIRST 20 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY

1. Introduction South Africa's progressive legal framework, which provides for both the protection and promotion of the rights of and attempts to address their historically disadvantaged and subordinate position, has been hailed by both politicians and scholars as one of the country's success stories. Central to this is the South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), which gives unprecedented rights, particularly in its Bill of Rights (chapter 2). In addition, the Constitution makes provision for a Commission on Gender Equality (chapter 9) to promote the attainment of and respect for gender equality. (1) Numerous laws have also been promulgated to ensure that proactive measures are taken to protect women's constitutional rights. (2) Labour laws are specifically 'women-sensitive'. The Labour Relations Act of 1995 (section 203(2)) makes provision for Codes of Good Practice. Such a Code on the Handling of Sexual Harassment Cases was issued in 1998 by the National Economic Development and Labour Council. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 (amended in 2002 to include the domestic worker sector) guarantees, among other things, maternity leave, job security during pregnancy, minimum wages, housing and health care for previously excluded groups, such as domestic workers, while the Employment Equity Act of 1998 includes as a 'designated group' to which affirmative action measures apply. In addition, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 (2) demonstrates its commitment to black in its aim to increase the ownership and management of existing and new enterprises and increasing their access to activities, infrastructure and skill straining. In the socio-personal realm, important legislation includes the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996 (which recognises women's right to abortion without the consent of another person), the Maintenance Act of 1998, the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act of 1998, and the Domestic Violence Act of 1998 (which defines violence as encompassing various forms of abuses and gives broad power to courts to shape the conditions of a protection order). The introduction of gender machinery (structures in the state mandated with monitoring legislation and policy for gender equality in line with the Beijing Platform for Action, article 201), championed by the National Women's Coalition (NWC) in the early 1990s, has also been noted as a significant milestone in the quest for women's rights in South Africa's early years of democracy. Hailed as one of the most advanced and integrated structures in the world (Gouws 2006: 143), it consisted of a set of which the Office of the Status of Women (established in 1997 and located in the President's Office) formed the apex with Gender Focal Points (GFPs) in National and Provincial Departments at the operational level. The Commission for Gender Equality and the Parliamentary Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women (JMC) formed the other components of the 'gender machinery'. However, although placing equality on the statute book does serve a normative function, it does not inevitably lead to a change in lived experience. Thus, despite the above robust legal achievements, actual implementation of these measures has not readily occurred (Fester 2004). Notwithstanding women's empowerment on paper and the removal of de jure inequalities, economic and social injustices have to a large extent remained deeply entrenched within the broader societal framework (Hames 2006: 1317). In addition, it has been argued that despite the nuanced gender rights 'culture' on paper, still comprise the majority of the poorest and most marginalised in South Africa, and that patriarchal power underlies the marginalisation of women (Bentley 2004: 248). Several scholars have also pointed to the potential tension in the Constitution in which the Bill of Rights (chapter 2) on the one hand preserves gender equality, but simultaneously guarantees the protection of chieftainship and respect for traditional authority (chapter 12). …

The Bureaucratisation of the National Gender Machinery, Circumventing the ‘Red Tape’

The bureaucratisation of the National Gender Machinery (NGM) in South Africa is discussed with a specific focus on documenting the historical formation thereof. This article addresses the barriers to implementation and explains the evolution of gender mainstreaming as a strategy for gender equality. Key recommendations for the effective use of the structures of the NGM are provided with an emphasis on an integrated strategy for the furtherance of gender equality within the South African public service.

Kenyan women in androcentric political culture: from Julia Auma Ojiambo to Affirmative Action

This paper presents the oral history of Julia Auma Ojiambo as representative of the struggles of Kenyan women in androcentric politics and a reflection of their subordinate position in the state and post-colonial society. The oral history is derived from a series of interviews conducted with Ojiambo by the author in 2012. It also traces the development of formal and informal women-centred initiatives like women’s self-help groups and the National Gender Machinery as coping mechanisms adopted by women to subvert gender discrimination in politics from the colonial era to date. Further, it evaluates how provisions in the Constitution of Kenya like the one-third gender principle and Affirmative Action have impacted on political practices regarding women. The paper postulates that women display strong leadership in women’s movements that is not reflected in national politics. Their presence in national politics is low compared to men, mainly due to the destabilisation of the women’s movement in the post-colonial era, through co-optation and gender discrimination that prevents women from forming a strong force to combat androcentric politics. Therefore, women’s political participation is hampered by the androcentric nature of Kenyan politics and culture, but also patriarchy and gender and class inequalities in the social sphere.

The Politics of Promoting Gender Equity in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh there is a paradox when it comes to securing gender-inclusive development outcomes. Since 1991, women have occupied the highest political office and women’s presence is increasing, due to the existence of gender quotas. Women’s movement actors have a long history of mobilisation for women’s rights and securing progressive changes. However, this overlooks the complex ways in which power and politics operate in Bangladesh, including the difficulties of mobilising women as a political force in a patriarchal, informalised, clientelist context. Women, as a political group, have little to offer the ruling elites in Bangladesh: they do not vote as a block; gender equity concerns have little currency in mainstream politics; and women’s organisations are weak actors in the formal political arena. This paper investigates two successful policy cases – the Domestic Violence Act 2010, and the expansion of access to primary education for girls – to investigate what led the state to address gender equity concerns successfully in some policy areas in a competitive clientelist context? What role, if any, did women and their allies play to make these changes happen? Why do some failures in implementation persist? Findings indicate that the alignment between each policy reform and the dominant interests and ideas of the ruling coalition influenced the capacity and commitment accorded to each agenda. Progress on passing the Domestic Violence Act was made through the high degree of personal, historical and informal relations with supportive people in government. Opportunity was created by a key moment of state formation which opened up an absence of partisan politicking and a supportive advocate at the centre of government. Expansion of girls’ access to primary education was carried along by a wave of political support for the expansion agenda, which fitted closely with powerful political logics concerning ideas, patronage, distribution, legitimacy and international support. In both cases, transnational actors, events and discourses are able to tip the balance in favour of women’s rights, and South-South exchanges can play a vital role in promoting women’s rights. Both cases reveal how the political settlement has shaped the promotion of gender equity in Bangladesh, and the value of moving beyond the usual focus on the impact of gender quotas and the effectiveness of state gender machinery, to the deeper forms of politics and power relations that shape progress on this front.

Gender machineries vs. feminist movements? Collective political subjectivity in the time of passive revolution

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article is to pose some questions concerning kairos and feminist activism. In recent years state feminism in Spain has been presented as a ‘success story’ of legislative victories and policy programmes regarding women’ equality and equal opportunities. Only two years ago, feminist movements in Spain showed unexpected vitality in forcing the government to withdraw the intended reform of the abortion law. However, relations between state feminism and feminist movements in Spain are weak and ambivalent, and feminism in Spain, as in other parts of Europe, is said to be in crisis. I refer to ideas elaborated by Antonio Gramsci in order to identify possible barriers to the formation of relationships between state feminism and feminist movements that could impact favourably upon possibilities of collective political subjectivity and social transformation. Education plays a two-fold role in this argument. In its formal manifestations, it is a component of the institutional feminism that this article critiques, and as a series of informal pedagogical networks, education is understood here as entangled in the different expressions of feminist activism and can thus contribute significantly to the development of feminist aims.

Translations of Gender Equality among Rural Arsi Oromo in Ethiopia

ABSTRACTHow are global policies on women's rights and gender equality translated into local contexts and who are the translators in this process? This article describes and analyses contradictory and competing translations of gender equality in two districts in Ethiopia. Two main strands of translations are identified: ‘gender experts’ in the government's gender machinery emphasize the importance of changing the gendered division of labour while the ‘grassroots’ underscore the importance of collaborative work and mutual agreement through conjugal dialogue. Although these translations are similar in terms of their focus on labour, they represent fundamentally different visions of gender equality, the first reflecting a vision of equality as sameness, the latter ideals of gender complementarity. Rather than presenting one or both translations as examples of resistance against or misinterpretation of gender equality, I argue that contemporary theories of translation and discursively informed theories on global norm diffusion offer perspectives that allow us to recognize the potential of contestations in meaning creation. This opens up the translational space as the ‘grassroots’ are recognized as translators.

English

This study focuses on Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) as an alternative approach for equitable allocation of gender resources for men, women, boys and girls in Rwanda. This study uses purposive sampling technique to identify 115 respondents from institutions and gender machineries in Rwanda. Face to face interviews and focus group discussions were utilised to gather primary data base. The empirical results indicated that Rwanda government has integrated and adapted GRB methodology into national accounting system to allocate gender resources. This study found that there are distortions of information and inconsistency in preparation of gender budget statements as well as imbalance of allocation of gender resources at micro-level in Rwanda. This study suggests the need for capacity building to strengthen skills of economists, planners and budget officers bestowed with the obligation of engendering the national budget. This study further opines that the government of Rwanda should set benchmarks to guide allocation of gender resources at macro, mezzo and micro-level. Key words: Gender responsive budgeting, national budget, gender equality, impact.

Getting the Institutions Right for Gender Mainstreaming

Getting the Institutions Right for Gender MainstreamningThe article focuses on processes of translating the global strategy of gender mainstreaming into practice at the local, Ghanaian level. Analysing mainstreaming from an institutional perspective, the roles of the national gender machinery and the gender desk officers in sector ministries are scrutinised according to critical elements for their functioning. The main finding suggests that successful mainstreaming processes to a large extent depend on individual women at the state level (femocrats) as a onsequence of a low level of institutionalisation of the strategy.

Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: contesting authority (review)

Reviewed by: Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: contesting authority Lisa Brownbrownl1@ukzn.ac.za Shireen Hassim (2006) Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: contesting authority. Pietermaritzburg: Univeristy of KwaZulu-Natal Press. In Why Read the Classics, Italo Calvino (2001) notes that 'Diderot had worked out that actually the most rigidly deterministic conceptions of the world are the ones which generate in the individual will an urge to move forward, as though will and free choice can only be effective if they carve out their openings against the hard rock of necessity'. In South Africa, women anti-apartheid activists found themselves in a politically schizophrenic world of rigid conceptions. On the one hand, women formed a key constituency in the struggle against the racial determinism of the apartheid regime; on the other hand, issues important to them as women were seen as divisive to the national liberation cause. The fact that there is a now a comprehensive gender machinery in place including a Women's Charter for effective equality, proportional quotas for women in government and an independent Gender Commission is testament to women's creativity and determination to take up the challenge against some of the most deeply embedded conceptions in the world. The ways in which women struggled to vociferate their needs and to organise themselves as a viable political constituency is the subject of Shireen Hassim's book, a much needed tract on the consolidation of democracy from a gender perspective. The book focuses on two key moments in the history of women's organisations in South Africa: the first begins in the late 1970s with the inception of the civics movement and women's involvement at the local level. The second part focuses on the shift from apartheid to democracy, and [End Page 201] in particular women's involvement in the machinery of the state. Throughout this trajectory there is a constant tension between the need of women's organisations to maintain a degree of autonomy while forming part of wider political alliances. However, rather than set up a polar debate between the struggle for autonomy and political dependency, Hassim fruitfully interrogates the tension between these. She finds that nationalism provided spaces for the politicisation of women, even when it oppressed them. This was particularly evident during the years of exile where women had to compete with the 'heroic masculinity' ideals of political involvement. For women relegated to the kitchen or to the role of helpers and auxiliaries in the struggle, it became obvious that there was a need for transformation not only in the formal political system, but also in the notion of the political itself. Similarly, with the rise of the civics movement women become increasingly involved in bread and butter issues at the grassroots level. Criticised for addressing concerns specific to women such as rape and abortion, women pointed out that it is them that feel the pain. From this 'pain' an indigenous feminist consciousness emerged. Women demanded not only a regime change but also a revolution in gender relations. The theme of a revolution within the revolution reaches a climax at the end of the 1980s, when, for the first time, women openly employ feminist discourse, and agree that there is no liberation without women's liberation. However, the transition to democracy is replete with dangers for women's organisations. In all other liberation struggles they have either been marginalised or co-opted into political elites. The South African case is no exception. Women's voices are represented by political elites rather than by a bottom-up process of participation. At this juncture Hassim mobilises a feminist framework to interrogate what democratic participation in the new South Africa means. She finds that though there are significant gains in formal equality this has often been at the expense of substantive equality: women's political inclusion is not tantamount to transformation. Indeed, gains in formal equality are largely at the expense of a transformation in the social and economic conditions that produce gender inequality. Despite South Africa's national gender machinery, which has sought to mainstream gender in the political system, its political leverage is fragile. Moreover, its ties to...

Changing Women's Exclusion from Politics: Examples from Southern Africa

AbstractThis article analyses different dimensions of institutional politics, such as women's representation in government and state structures such as National Gender Machineries, as well as the impact that institutionalization has had on women's organizations. To improve women's representation in government the acceptance of quotas to increase the number of women in legislatures has made a difference, but it is still unclear if women's presence leads to power and policy influence. National gender machineries have not really changed conditions of inequality due to their cooptation by the state and their general dysfunctionality. The reliance on institutional politics has lead to a fragmentation and in some cases a demobilization of women's movements that has a negative effect on keeping governments accountable for women's equality. I conclude by arguing that direct action should shift to the transnational level, where feminist solidarity on that level can lead to changes on a local level.

Challenging the margin: Gender equality and the UN reform process

In 2006 the Secretary General's High-Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence called for a dynamic new gender entity led by an Under-Secretary General. The follow-up to this recommendation is still ongoing, leaving the UN gender machinery in its current fragmented and weakened state. This enduring dilemma has its origins in bureaucratic incoherence, lack of senior management support for UN gender equality efforts, the failure of member states to support the Beijing Platform for Action, the impact of conservative regimes, and recent US dominance over the UN reform process. Is a new women's agency, with increased authority, new staffing and significantly increased resources possible, or should transnational feminists seek to establish an autonomous women's agency outside the UN system to provide better leadership for gender equality efforts world-wide?

Engendering Democracy: Domestic Labour and Coalition-Building in South Africa

This article examines aspects of social change in South Africa through an analysis of paid domestic labour after the 1994 inception of a new democracy. Race, class and gender divisions continue to define this social institution as the ‘last bastion of apartheid’. Sharp power asymmetries between women positioned as either domestic workers or employers present distinctive challenges to the accessibility of gender rights that remain central to South Africa's democratisation. Although domestic workers comprise one of the largest sectors of working women, their location in private households poses severe obstacles to formalising this particular labour. In the South African case, domestic work continues to reinforce social constructions of the household as a feminised and racialised space, through the paid labour of black women. While domestic workers face severe marginalisation as a result of continuing social inequalities, women are also actively confronting barriers to democracy in the private employment sphere. Drawing upon 85 interviews and extensive field research, this article explores how domestic workers have collectively organised through unionisation and coalition-building to restructure the apartheid legacies contained within this institution. By aligning with South Africa's Gender Machinery, the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers' Union realised pivotal social security policy change through the first formal inclusion of the domestic work sector in unemployment insurance. This legislative victory emphasises the importance of engendering democracy at both the public and private levels to enhance the accessibility of women's rights, particularly within this isolated and highly gendered labour sector.

Women, gender and policy‐making in the South African context

Equality, including gender equality, is a fundamental principle of the South African constitution. This article is intended as a briefing document for researchers and policy‐makers on some of the more qualitative gender considerations involved in policy‐making and analysis. The article is not based on original research or data analysis, but is informed by a range of papers and studies which throw up gender questions about conventional ways of seeing. The article starts by dealing briefly with the distinction between ‘equity’ and ‘efficiency’ arguments for gender equality. After summarising past and current developments in establishing gender machinery within government, it goes on to suggest how traditional economic theory obscures or distorts gender issues. Finally it discusses the use and abuse of concepts commonly encountered in both poverty studies and discussions of gender.