Governing Women: WomenÆs Political Effectiveness in Contexts of Democratization and Governance Reform

Though the proportion of women in national assemblies still barely scrapes sixteen per cent on average, the striking outliers ? Rwanda with 49 per cent of its assembly female, Argentina with thirty-five per cent, Liberia and Chile with new women presidents this year ? have raised expectations that there is an upward trend in women?s representation from which we may expect big changes in the quality of governance. Getting women into public office is just the first step in the challenge of creating governance and accountability systems that respond to women?s needs and protect their rights. What are the enabling conditions that enhance women?s political influence once in public office, that support the emergence of a voting constituency interested in gender equality, and that generate public sector management in women?s interests? The essays in this volume answer these questions from different angles, using case studies from around the world. They consider the conditions for effectiveconnections between women in civil society and women in politics, for the evolution of political party platforms responsive to women?s interests, for local government arrangements that enable women to engage effectively, and for accountability mechanisms that answer to women. Gender and Good Governance in the Tropics argues that good governance from a gender perspective requires more than just additional women in politics, it requires fundamental incentive changes to orient public action and policy to support gender equality.