Investing in Women as Partners in Development Presentation to the 2 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Investing in Women as Partners in Development

Presentation to the 2nd Public Service Gender Indaba, Durban, 20‐21st August 2009 Alison Todes University of the Witwatersrand

Introduction

• Talk focuses on local government
• On what decentralisation and integrated

development planning have meant for women’s rights defined at national level

• Reflects a study undertaken with Dr. Pearl

Sithole (HSRC) and Amanda Williamson (Wits)

Introduction

• International pressure for decentralisation to local

government

• Assumes its good for women as local government is

closer and more accessible

• But questions raised:

– Local politics can be more conservative – Easier for women to organise at national level – Capacity/resources at local level may be too limited

• So research is looking at what happens to women’s

rights defined at national level in the context of decentralisation

Background

• Decentralization in SA takes form of

‘decentralized centralism’

– increased powers and functions in autonomous and democratically elected local government – along with a strong centre in terms of policy and guidelines, finances, and political processes.

• Reflects political history

Background

• After 1994, fragmented and racially based local government was

consolidated into large units.

• Two‐tier system of district and local government outside of metropolitan

areas (unitary local government )

• local government is now ‘developmental’: promoting social and economic

development, as well as democratic, participatory governance

• Local Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) introduced as strategic plans

for municipalities

• IDPs also to give direction to local work of other spheres of government
• But elements of centralization:

– Local government and IDPs expected to carry through constitutional principles and national policies – Political processes are centralized – Small local government budgets (15% of expenditure) and dependence on conditional national grants – outside of big cities

• Decentralisation is uneven: varying resources and capacities

Background and Context

• SA’s Constitution commits to gender equality
• Commitments carried through in several policies

(albeit uneven)

• National Gender Policy Framework and national

gender machinery

• Reflects strength of women’s movement

(national) in early 1990s and its impact on policy making processes

• But this organisation has subsequently declined

Key Questions

• What happens to women’s rights and entitlements defined

at national level in the context of decentralization to local government, and particularly through IDPs as a decentralised planning process?

• Sub‐questions:

– To what extent have gender equity and women’s rights been seen as key principles informing the design of the IDP process at the national level? – Do local participatory processes give women voice in the IDP? – Do municipal planning and budgeting processes reflect women’s interests, needs and rights? – Do projects and implementation processes take into account women’s needs and rights?

Key Findings

• Local government has been a sphere in which the
• bjectives of gender equity have been slow to take hold.
• Women’s organisations have largely focused on the

national level

• Gender machinery mainly national and provincial level –
• nly starting to be developed at local level, and only some

places

• Some support for mainstreaming gender in IDPs

(documents), but not carried through in practice

• Partly reflects crisis of local government
• Where gender is taken up, focus has mainly been on

representation of women

Key Findings

• In the first local government elections (1995) only 19% of

representatives were women, in contrast to 27.7% at national level.

• But has increased to 28.2% in 2000, and 39.7% in 2006.
• But women depend on political parties to get elected, and thus are

beholden to party interests.

• Local government representatives are divided between

Proportional Representation (PR) and ward seats.

• Women are more strongly represented in PR seats controlled by

political parties, yet ward councillors are seen as closer to communities, and as more representative

• Better representation and more inclusive politics in metropolitans

areas than in more conservative rural areas , where traditional leadership and political practices prevail

Key Findings

• Research conducted on 3 municipalities 2004‐6, but most

before recent rise in women’s representation

• Limited political pressure on local government to attend to

gender: absence of local organisations focused on gender, and CBOs not coming together around these issues

• Local gender structures only in stronger municipalities, and

still new

• Women were very present in the IDP participatory

processes, but real voice/impact shaped by local politics

• Even where women were vocal, the IDPs themselves are

largely silent on gender.

• Still, IDPs focus on basic services of importance to women

Key Findings

• But women benefiting at a project level in several

areas of infrastructure development and local economy – across municipalities.

• Women are involved in committees, as workers, and as

beneficiaries.

• Partly consequence of national guidelines which insist
• n the inclusion of women.
• But women continue to remain in marginal positions in

development projects

• Variations among municipalities – greater

transformation in bigger cities – more open politics, better resources and capacities

Implications

• Need both ‘top‐down’ and ‘bottom‐up’ approaches
• Importance of national frameworks, guidelines and

quotas for ensuring women’s inclusion at local level – even though these have limits

• In SA, where decentralization involves inter‐

governmental co‐ordination through IDP processes – are spaces to promote inclusion of women and gender

• Importance of increasing women’s representation and

participation

• Importance of promoting women’s organisation, and

drawing stronger links to local government

Implications

• Value of gender analysis within IDPs/municipal

planning – helps to understand the range of men and women’s needs in municipality

• Build on ‘good practices’ in projects
• Value of approaches that move beyond numbers of

women to empowerment:

Skills transfer Capacity building Mentoring Multi‐dimensional support