Troubled Sisterhood: Women and Politics in Southern Africa

Geisler, Gisela

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098873

Cited by 81 publications

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“…5 In still other cases, women's pretransition mobilization was stifled by authoritarian governments, and the patterns of female exclusion carried over into new democratic regimes. In many African cases, authoritarian governments dictated the activities of women's organizations using coercion and control over resources (Geisler 1995;Tripp 2000;Waylen 1996), and in Eastern Europe, the Communist Party's ironhanded control over political organizing stifled women's pretransition mobilizations (Einhorn 1993). These predemocratic legacies of exclusion left new democracies adept at co-opting women's activism and left women poorly organized at the critical moment of transition.…”

Section: --American Sociological Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison

2008

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W ith the recent wave of democratization across Eastern Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, scholars have begun to explore how democratic changes affect women. Like other analyses of gender and the state (Brush 2003;Eisenstein 1988;MacKinnon 1989;Orloff 1996;Pateman 1988), these studies examine how states create and govern gender relations among their citizens through institutions, laws, and legal discourses (Jaquette and Wolchick 1998;Stephen 1997;Waylen 1994Waylen , 2000. Importantly, they extend previous gendered state literature by asking what happens to the political institutionalization of gender when a state is transformed by democratic transition.There are strong theoretical reasons to anticipate that democratic transitions will create more gender equitable states. First, democratic transitions provide women (and men) with new opportunities for political participation. Second, new participatory opportunities typically coincide with the negotiation and implementation of new state institutions and policies.There is a rich collection of case studies examining the relationship between democratization, women's movements, and gendered state outcomes, but the variation across cases is still poorly understood. In response, this article develops a theoreticallygrounded comparative framework to evaluate and explain cross-national variations in the gendered outcomes of democratic transitions. The framework highlights four theoretical factors-the context of the transition, the legacy of women's previous mobilizations, political parties, and international influences-that together shape the political openings and ideologies available to women's movements in transitional states. Applying the framework to four test cases, we conclude that women's movements are most effective at targeting democratizing states when transitions are complete, when women's movements develop cohesive coalitions, when the ideology behind the transition (rather than the ideology of the winning regime) aligns easily with feminist frames, and when women's past activism legitimates present-day feminist demands. These findings challenge current conceptualizations of how democratic transitions affect gender in state institutions and provide a comparative framework for evaluating variation across additional cases.

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Section: --American Sociological Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison

2008

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“…Perhaps South Africa has 'got the balance right' at least in the 'body counting' sense, despite its unimpressive record in relation to the disabled in many departments' staff profiles. In terms of numbers, the country might have surpassed the records of some of its neighbours on the representation of women in public institutions, but much still needs to be done on gender especially to increase the number of women officials at or above the Deputy Director-General levels as well as to ensure that women are trained in skills that are often required for them to function effectively at these levels (see Geisler 1994;Maphunye 1996: 10). In her Budget Speech to Parliament in June 2003, the Minister of Public Service and Administration (Fraser-Moleketi 2003) emphasized this when she said, 'we need to enable those women who have joined the public service to move from their traditional roles in the caring professions to become leaders and managers'.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards redressing historical inequities?

Maphunye¹

2006

Public Management Review

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This article examines women's positions at senior management levels of South Africa's civil service given its affirmative action policy that attempts to tackle women's historical marginalization in public sector organizations. It examines 'women's empowerment', gender and race inside the public service within the context of South Africa's historical inequities within the civil service, and the post-apartheid government's attempts to correct these. It concludes that women's positions inside the civil service have improved gradually since the demise of apartheid, an initial step towards substantive equality with their male counterparts, but recognizes that much still needs to be done if women are to be represented proportionately in senior civil service positions. It argues that this might help to improve the implementation of gender sensitive programs at various policy levels. Information for this article was gathered from various sources including interviews with civil servants in selected national and provincial departments.

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“…So it certainly looks like you have to be outside of politics in order to be truly radical. 23 It is apparent here that the austere and rigid discipline of formal political parties ensures that many women remain largely outside these systems, choosing instead to engage with informal community activism (Geisler 1995). As noted by Alison (2009), some Republican women feel that they experienced far more equality and political space within the military side than compared to the political wing.…”

Section: 'Resisting Populist Positions': Republican Women and Electormentioning

confidence: 97%

‘Negotiating New Roles'

Gilmartin

2013

International Feminist Journal of Politics

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Based on in-depth interviews, this article critically assesses the current roles that Republican women occupy as the North of Ireland continues to emerge from conflict. In doing so, it argues that women's political mobilization during the conflict period can be carried forward into post-war scenarios; however, it is the nature of that activism that proves problematic. The conflict transformation period witnessed a more highly formalized role for Republicans that contrasts sharply with radical spaces opened up during the conflict; in particular, the re-emergence of rigid state institutions coupled with formal political parties appears to severely restrict women's sense of political mobility. As Republicans move away from 'revolutionary agitation' into more formalized politics, many Republican women are encountering cultural and structural barriers to their involvement within that realm. This research finds that while some women are participating within the sphere of formal politics, many are continuing their political activities within the community and voluntary sector, which they view as a far more effective mechanism for exerting political agency.---

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Troubled Sisterhood: Women and Politics in Southern Africa

Cited by 81 publications

References 0 publications

Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison

Democratization, Women's Movements, and Gender-Equitable States: A Framework for Comparison

Towards redressing historical inequities?

‘Negotiating New Roles'

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