Women In Decision-making Bodies Research Articles

What are the drivers of sustainable development web-reporting in Portuguese local governments?

Purpose Local governments (LGs) play a crucial role as policymakers and catalysts for change at the local level, making them well-positioned to connect the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda goals with local communities. Therefore, LGs should collect and analyze data to monitor progress toward the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and report on the outcomes. In this regard, webpages on the internet stand out as a valuable tool to enhance accountability in LGs and to promote stakeholder engagement with the community. Thus, this paper aims to analyze whether Portuguese municipalities disclose information regarding the SDGs on their websites, and to identify the main drivers of SDG web-reporting. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the theoretical foundation of legitimacy theory, this study examines the relationship between SDG reporting and the characteristics of several municipalities (such as geographical location, municipality size, financial performance, political ideology and gender), as well as adherence to some programs/networks/platforms (such as CESOP_Local and ODSLocal). The websites of 306 Portuguese municipalities were analyzed using the content analysis technique. A bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis was applied. Findings Bivariate analysis shows that coastal, larger and financially efficient municipalities are more likely to disclose SDG information on their websites due to visibility and stakeholder pressure. Contrary to extant literature, left-wing municipalities are not necessarily more inclined to embrace the 2030 Agenda. However, the presence of women in decision-making bodies and adherence to networks and sustainable programs positively influence SDG disclosure. In multivariate analysis, logistic regression identifies two significant factors impacting online SDG disclosure: the representation of women in municipal plenaries; and adherence to the CESOP_local network. Other factors show no significant influence, highlighting these two variables as the main drivers for SDG information disclosure. Practical implications The findings are in line with the literature review and lead us to conclude that SDG reporting in LGs is still in its infancy. Therefore, policymakers and regulators need to work together to implement and standardize sustainability reporting within LGs. Social implications Considering the significance of the gender variable, the findings could have implications for policy formulation, promoting gender diversity and its impact on the quality of SDG reporting. Originality/value Empirical research on SDG reporting remains limited, particularly within the context of LGs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have delved into the reporting of SDGs specifically in this Portuguese context.

Regulating board gender diversity in Europe: The influence of cultural, governmental, and women’s institutions

This study empirically explores the formal and informal institutional antecedents of the enactment of quotas and codes to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. A panel of 30 European countries and 510 observations from 2002 to 2018 reveals that formal and informal national institutional contexts affect the likelihood of board gender codes and quotas. The presence of women in decision-making bodies is the most powerful driver of quotas and codes. Countries with better governance quality and longer maternity leave are less likely to have board gender quotas. High power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, restraint, short-term orientation, and individualism all increase the likelihood of quotas. A country’s female participation in the labor market is also associated with the regulation of board gender diversity. In contrast to previous theoretical propositions, other institutional factors, such as the current presence of a left-wing government, are not related to gender diversity regulations.

Natural resource rents and public spending on education in Africa: Does women's political empowerment matter?

The increase in the number of women in political office is one of the most significant social trends of recent decades. Although still underrepresented, women's participation in decision-making bodies is increasing. This paper analyzes the moderating effect of women's political empowerment on the relationship between natural resource rents and public spending on education in a sample of 47 African countries over the period 2003–2020. This study employs several recent methods to effectively address the endogeneity issue, including the Generalized Method of Moments in System (GMM-S) and the Two-stage Instrumental Variables (2SIV) approach. Overall, the results show that natural resource rents reduce public spending on education, but their interaction with the index of women's political empowerment in composite and disaggregated form increases public spending on education in Africa. These results are tested at four levels of robustness, including the inclusion of additional control variables, the exclusion of outliers, and the use of alternative dependent and independent variables. We suggest improving the representation of women in African political decision-making. This could include quotas for women in decision-making bodies, mentoring programs for women leaders, and financial incentives for political parties that promote women's participation. Steps must also be taken to address structural barriers that prevent women from fully participating in political life, such as discrimination and violence against women.

Equality at the Polls: Female Representation Challenges in Musi Banyuasin Regency in 2019-2024

In Musi Banyuasin Regency, the quest for gender equality in political representation faces multifaceted challenges. This study explores the barriers hindering female participation and representation in local electoral processes. Through qualitative analysis, interviews with key stakeholders including female candidates, local officials, and community leaders were conducted to uncover underlying issues.The findings reveal several critical challenges. Firstly, structural barriers such as entrenched patriarchal norms and limited access to financial resources significantly impede women from contesting elections on an equal footing with their male counterparts. Secondly, despite legal frameworks promoting gender equality, cultural perceptions and societal expectations often undermine women’s political ambitions. Thirdly, the role of political parties emerges as pivotal, with varying levels of support and nomination opportunities affecting women’s candidacy viability. Moreover, the study highlights community attitudes towards female leadership, where biases and stereotypes persist, shaping voter preferences and electoral outcomes. These dynamics perpetuate a cycle of underrepresentation and marginalization of women in decision-making bodies like the local legislative council. Ultimately, achieving gender equality at the polls in Musi Banyuasin Regency necessitates concerted efforts from various stakeholders to dismantle barriers, reshape cultural narratives, and advance inclusive governance practices

IMPACT OF WOMEN'S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION ON GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NASARAWA STATE (2012-2023)

This study investigates the impact of womens political participation on good governance in Nasarawa State using a case study period between 2012 and 2023. The objectives of the study were; to examine the extent of womens representation in Nasarawa States political institutions, to evaluate the influence and impact of these women in policy making, budgetary allocations, and the implementation of programs that address gender-specific concerns within the state, and to analyze the socio-economic implications of womens political participation. The theoretical framework employed for this study is Kanters Glass-Ceiling Theory (1977). Citing specific literature and empirical studies on womens political participation and governance, and consulting scholarly articles, policy briefs, and reports published in reputable academic journals and accessible databases, the analysis was bolstered with evidence-based findings. Study revealed that in Nasarawa State as in other parts of Nigeria and the world, patriarchy has over the years dominated the political landscape, leading to significant challenges and barriers for women seeking political roles. However, findings suggest that womens political participation in Nasarawa State positively impacts good governance. Increased representation of women in decision-making bodies improved policy-making processes, prioritized gender-sensitive sectors, and enhanced accountability and transparency. The Study therefore advocated for increase in the number of women in political offices in Nasarawa state which could potentially contribute to better governance by reducing corrupt practices and promoting transparency in decision-making processes. KEYWORDS: Politics, Political participation, Governance, Gender Equality

Women Representation in the Electoral Office: Progress and Challenges.

Over the past three decades, there has been a rise in efforts to increase the percentage of women in decision-making bodies across the globe including representation of women into electoral office. This was done through quotas, constituency elections, regulations, and party lists. Yet, women's representation in the electoral office globally is still low. There are different contributory factors to the aforementioned progress and challenges. The challenges are caused in the main by cultural and religious conditions. There are countries that are globally recognised for achieving parity in the election of women into parliaments, The Nordic states and Rwanda in Africa have done well in this regard. Yet, the achievement of equal representation does not translate into gender equality within their society and institutions. This study evaluates women's representation in the electoral office in selected countries.

SDG5 Gender Equality during the COVID-19 pandemic: an international comparative policy assessment

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions in healthcare systems and societies and exacerbated existing inequalities for women and girls across every sphere. Our study explores health systems responses to gender equality goals during the COVID-19 pandemic and which role these goals play in pandemic recovery policies. Methods We apply a qualitative comparative approach. Country case studies (expert information, secondary sources) were collected in March/April 2022. The sample comprised Australia, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom and USA, reflecting conditions of high to upper-middle income countries with established public health systems, democratic political institutions and gender equality policies. Selected topics: maternity care/reproductive services, violence against women, and gender equality/female leadership. Results All countries tried to keep essential maternity and reproductive services open, but strong limitations applied especially for prevention and counselling services; at the same time, digitalisation/telemedicine supported service expansion. Violence against women and children strongly increased during the pandemic. Routine services were partly kept open and new helplines occasionally established, but no action was taken to scale-up mental health support and respond to new demand. A push-back of gender equality was observed across countries in all areas of health and social care, often coupled with strong increase in intersecting social inequalities; participation of women in decision-making bodies was generally weak and not monitored. Conclusions Across countries, gender equality policies cracked under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic; this is true for countries with male and female political leaders, and for different areas of SDG5 and health. There is an urgent need for more effective intersectional gender equality policies and improved participation of women in global health and in health system recovery plans. Key messages • Health systems failed to take action to protect SDG5 goals; gender and intersecting inequalities strongly increased during the pandemic. • Building back better after COVID-19 will only be possible with an intersectional gender equality programme and feminist policy approaches.

The Place of Women in Places of Decision in the Public and Private Sector: Case of Senegal

The issue of greater representation of women in decision-making bodies is a recurrent issue in corporate governance in general and in the management of diversity in particular, which companies are now confronted with. On the other hand, in Senegal, there is little written on the question but a lot of debates and good political intentions.
 The purpose of this article is to show from an empirical study that women still have failed to move beyond the "glass ceiling" that prevents them from reaching the highest positions. Through our study, based on a methodology of a qualitative and quantitative nature, we carried out semi-structured interviews (10), then administered questionnaires (60 and 39 selected) to some members of the decision-making bodies of companies in Senegal. .
 The results show that preconceived ideas remain far from the reality on the ground. They especially underline that the presence of women in decision-making bodies can have a positive influence on the performance and governance of organizations.

Gender quotas in corporate decision-making bodies – regulatory promotion of equality of results in the EU

ABSTRACT EU and its member states utilise the paradigm of equality of results in the area of gender equality. In addition to preferences in standardised jobs, states have also been using quotas in corporate and political bodies. Those seem to be best testing grounds, as the arguments supporting their use of quotas are non-controversial. The nature of their work also allows for a laxer application of formal equality, originally tailored to highly competitive activities that necessarily hinge on merit. Regarding quotas in decision-making bodies generally, the argument from democracy stresses the lack of legitimacy for decisions reached by unbalanced representation of genders. This attenuates the normative strength of adopted policies and regulations and renders their acceptance and enforcement difficult. A supporting argument is one from diversity, positing a greater quality of decisions reached and better business performance due to greater responsiveness to the need of the voting/consumer base. The democracy and diversity arguments both are not grounded in distributive justice. However, their utilitarian logic appeals to a market democracy and makes them forerunners in terms of quota justifications. Arguments that, in turn, are based on distributive justice echo anti-subordination theory and stress the quotas’ impact on rebalancing of power. A critical mass of women in decision-making bodies should enhance female social capital. This should symbolically spill over into a newfound self-respect for the whole community, and lift women up through ancillary instruments such as female professional networking, mentoring and sponsorship. One of the main reasons for this that the bluntness of the quota system severs the informal social phenomenon of networking. The ‘gatekeeper’ phenomenon is based on the homophily principle that has traditionally hindered women from ‘rising through the ranks’. In this way, quotas also protect from unconscious bias, which influences social solidarity and disrupts reproduction of set centres of power.

The struggles for land rights by rural women in sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of how rural women in Tanzania have addressed land rights challenges, showcasing three interventions implemented by Tanzanian Civil Society Organizations. It demonstrates that women have used both legal and traditional systems to negotiate and mediate their claims to land. Although the interventions featured have been greatly shaped by the work of civil society organizations, they have equally been influenced by rural women movements and individual rural women. The cases selected provide understanding of women’s land rights issues in both privately and communally held property/land. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents literature review of the existing secondary data on the subject coupled with the interviews. Findings Informal and formal approaches have been used by rural women to negotiate their claims on both communal and private lands. CSOs have equally shaped the approaches employed by rural women. Research limitations/implications This research was mainly based on the secondary data and few key interviews. There is a need to conduct further analysis of the issues. Practical implications This paper highlights the role of CSOs in improving the participation of women in decision-making bodies. The wave of large-scale land-based investments has caused insecurity of land tenure for women. The paper shows some ways to address the problem in communal lands. Social implications Socially, the papers shows the power relations involved in the struggles over land, as well as the role of traditional systems and bylaws in protecting the rights of women. Originality/value The paper provides dynamics of gendered approach used by women to negotiate their claims in communally held lands. It also highlights the role and space of local and international CSOs in shaping the local context of resistance on land rights. It is a very useful paper for academics and practitioners working on land rights.

(Egalitarinė) socializacija vaikystėje kaip sėkmingos moters karjeros biržinėse bendrovėse prielaida

[only abstract and keywords in English; full article, abstract and keywords in Lithuanian]
 Globally, gender equality in the boards continues on an upward trajectory with slow but positive progress – in 2016, nearly 19% of seats on the boards of the largest companies globally were held by women, up from about 14% in 2012, with 3 percent of this growth coming in just the last two years (Zehnder 2017). A leading country in this matter, Norway, has introduced its quota law in 2007 requiring boards of listed companies to have a gender balance of at least 40/60. The ten years result of this quota happens to be an increase in female board members from 6 percent in 2002 to 42 percent in 2016 (CORE 2017). The EU also tries to push for a quota for women on company boards so as to address the slow progress toward gender equality in the senior ranks of publicly listed businesses. Although 62.7% of new university graduates are women (graduating with Master’s degrees – 66.5%, and 58.9% graduating with doctorates) in 2014, they are outnumbered by men in leadership positions in the corporate sector in the Lithuania. When looking at the top executive positions, there are no women CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) in the listed companies in Lithuania. From December 2013 to September 2014, the share of women on boards (executives) in Lithuania increased by 2.8% (Šidlauskienė, Pocevičienė 2015). Thus, the current moment offers a strategic opportunity to proactively enhance gender equality and prevent any more widening of the gender and skills gaps. This research was aimed to analyze the theoretical aspects of gender balance on the executive boards of the listed companies and to explore childhood socialization predictors that impede (or facilitate) the increase of successful participation of women in decision-making bodies in the listed Lithuanian companies. The successful career women, or the high flyers theory, has been used to argue that childhood socialization, education, personality and motivation indicated personal traits needed for board level roles (White et al. 1992). Second, the individual career capital theory argues that taking up such a role consists of three ways of knowing: knowing-how, knowing-whom and knowing-why. Research results shows that egalitarian childhood socialization influences successful women’s careers in the listed company boards. Certain individual characteristics, such as integrity and honesty, accountability, result-orientation, being a team player, a relationship builder, a good listener and communicator, and genuine commitment and energy, are in demand in such companies as PANDORA A/S, Spencer Stuart, Board Succession etc.

Women’s Participation in Panchayati Raj– An Analysis

Women have been struggling for self-respect and autonomy. Although women constitute one half of the population, they continue to be subjugated, unequal in socioeconomic and political status.There have been several attempts to improve the position of women since India got independence in 1947. Since mid-1980 owing to questioning by women themselves about their oppressed status and plight through varied women’s movements, the issue of ‘women empowerment’ came into focus. The Government of India declared the year 2001 as year for the ‘Empowerment of Women’, but the struggle to reach this stage has been long and arduous. . It has also resulted in the entry of a large number of women in decision-making bodies in rural areas, who were otherwise homemakers. Political participation and grassroots democracy have been strengthened considerably by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment that has created new democratic institutions for local governance yet t women are facing the various problem in the functioning of panchayats. After getting the reservation in the panchayats, they are still depending on their husband or other male members of their family. So for knowing the status of women in the all level of panchayats in India, this paper is based on the secondary data and deals with the political participation and representation of the rural women in the panchayats in India. The theoretical perspective of the evolution of the panchayati raj system in India and the journey of the women in the local governance has also been explained in the study.Several factors which responsible for women’s low participation have been dealt with.In this context, the paper tries to analyse the government initiative for women’s empowerment in the Panchyats, an opportunity to come forward through reservation and highlighting the factors which overtly or covertly tend to prevent women members from performing their roles. Some necessary steps for empowering the women have been suggested.

Women's participation in REDD+ national decision-making in Vietnam

Numerous conceptual and empirical studies have been undertaken on the participation of women in decision-making bodies related to forestry. However, very little of this knowledge and experience has been applied to REDD+ decision-making at the national level. This study uses Vietnam as a case study to analyse factors that influence women's participation in national level REDD+ decision-making processes. Although large numbers of women participate in REDD+ meetings, and women at the national level are less affected by discriminatory cultural and social norms, considerable obstacles remain to the full participation of women. The recruitment protocol of Vietnam's forestry sector is not favourable to women, they are rarely appointed to leadership positions and their participation in REDD+ working groups is often nominal. In addition to weak capacity to implement gender strategies, a lack of concern for gender issues prevails among national organizations working on REDD+ in Vietnam.

The board of directors and dividend policy: the effect of gender diversity

In this article, we aim to study the impact on dividends policy of gender diversity on the board of directors (hereinafter BD). We hypothesize that the proportion of women directors, the proportion of independent, institutional, and executive female directors, and the percentage of shares held by female directors on BD, have an impact on the dividends policy of Spanish companies. Our findings, analyzing the whole sample, show that the proportion of female directors and shares held by female directors are positively associated with dividend payout, while the percentage of institutional female directors has a negative impact. The percentage of independent and executive female directors has no effect on dividend payout. When companies with losses are removed from the sample, the findings report that the percentage of female directors on BD and the percentage of independent female directors impact positively on dividend policy, while the percentage of institutional and executive female directors has a negative effect. The proportion of shares held by female directors on BD does not have an effect on dividend payout when only companies with profits are examined. Thus, the results confirm that gender diversity has an influence on dividend payout, so the existing legislation should encourage more participation by women in governing bodies. Our evidence supports the Act for Effective Equality between Women and Men, which establishes that listing companies have to achieve a quota of 40% of women in decision-making bodies by 2015.

Potential Future Managers and Their Opinion on the Issue of Diversity, Inclusion and Their Possible Use in Management

Abstract This paper refers to the issues of diversity and inclusion because they represent a possible innovation in the field of management and business. Over the last years, there have appeared some organizations that take care of justice and supporting diversity in employment. This phenomenon is applicable to strategic management, human resource management and business, too. The labour market situation is ever-changing and brings new problems but also new challenges and opportunities for companies and their management how to increase their competitiveness. The main aim of this paper is to describe the opinion on diversity and inclusion of young people, specifically university and high school students of economic disciplines because they are potential managers or workers to occupy higher positions and their attitude could influence the future state of using diversity management and fair treatment with employees. Further aim is to work out a brief theoretical framework and to describe the current state of diversity and inclusion in the Czech Republic. In this paper, there are used methods as literature review, questionnaire survey, frequency comparison, Chi-squared test, and Mann-Whitney test. The paper includes work with secondary (statistical and theoretical) data but especially with primary data based on a questionnaire survey conducted by the author that is focused on exploring student’s opinion on diversity, diversity management and benefits of using diversity in business, opinion on discrimination in the Czech Republic, or quotas for women in decision-making bodies.

Double-Speak: The European Union and Gender Parity

Ideas about pursuing a more equal balance between men and women in decision-making bodies and ‘parity democracy’ have been promoted by both the Council of Europe and the institutions of the European Union for nearly 20 years. In the early 1990s, the institutions of the EU played an important role in providing a platform for discussion and debate and thus brought these notions into mainstream political discourse in some of the member states. In response, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, several member states implemented policy to encourage more balanced participation for men and women in national and sub-national decision-making bodies. However, despite its own policy statements to the contrary, the EU decision-making bodies themselves remain male-dominated. This article asks how the EU on the one hand provided an impetus for some of the member states to take action to increase gender balance in decision-making while, on the other hand, its own institutions have remained largely unchanged.