Laurie-Ève Beauchamp is a fourth-year student at the University of Ottawa. She is completing her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Modern Languages and plans to continue her studies by pursuing a Master’s degree in the political field. As an intern with the Forum of Federations during the Winter 2021 semester, she deepened her knowledge in gender equality, decentralization and federalism through her work to support the Forum’s Empowering Women for Leadership Roles in the MENA Region project.
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The Middle East and North African (MENA) region is characterized by low participation of women in decision-making processes. Women face multiple challenges when they seek recognition as active political actors. This article examines the obstacles to women’s political participation in the MENA region and how the mechanisms of decentralized and multilevel governance can better support their political participation.
Gender-based challenges in women’s political participation in the MENA region
The equal representation and participation of men and women in governance is a prerequisite for democracy. However, women start with disadvantages. Many countries in the MENA region do not legally state that there is equality between men and women. Tunisia and Morocco, however, were some of the first countries to include the principle of gender equality within their Constitutions.
For instance, Article 19 of the Moroccan Constitution of 2011 recognizes that “men and women benefit equally from the rights and liberties in the civil, political, economical, social, cultural and environmental spheres”. Article 21 of the Tunisian Constitution of 2014 highlights that “all citizens, male and female, have equal rights and duties, and are equal before the law without any discrimination.”[1]
Enshrining equality between men and women within their constitutions demonstrates a willingness to make progress in terms of gender equality, but it is also important to recognize that legal equality is an extremely recent condition in Tunisia and Morocco. In this context, a profound lack of institutions, reforms, and concrete measures to facilitate meaningful gender equality outside of the legal framework restrain its achievement. The specific steps required to address the underlying causes of the exclusion of women from decision-making, including prevailing social and cultural attitudes, remain untouched. Therefore, women are not being offered fair opportunities in the political and social spheres. Furthermore, they remain subject to the judgemental stereotypes of male-dominated society.
Additionally, women living in rural areas are less likely to have access to the necessary information to be active political actors. Illiteracy[2] represents a crucial disadvantage for citizens, and particularly for women. If they are unable to read, they are more likely to be unaware of their rights and unfamiliar with political mechanisms (e.g. elections). Women belonging to disadvantaged or marginalized groups have lower chances of being elected in national elections[3]. They do not possess the financial resources[4] to organize a campaign, nor the educative resources to be electorally credible in the eyes of the public. Moreover, they are forced to develop great resilience in the face of the stereotypical adversity women endure as political participants. Studies have shown that women, because of their gender and the stereotypes attached to it, encounter more judgment and scrutiny than men when they occupy influential positions. Those stereotypes are especially reinforced in the media[5].
Multiple gender inequalities remain in the political field. Women are victims of all types of violence. The fundamental need for security has not been achieved for women. They can easily be dissuaded from being politically active if they fear for their life. A study undertaken by UN Women indicated that in Egypt:
- 99% of women have suffered from a form of sexual harassment.[6]
- 47% of women married, divorced, separated, and widowed stated having suffered from domestic violence.[7]
- 91% of women and girls have been victims of sexual mutilations.[8]
The author of “Feminists in the Arab world”, Charlotte Bienaimé (2014), suggests that violence and harassment are forms of discouragement to women’s political participation. She argues that violence towards women reaffirms some men’s virility and superiority in society. Many men justify their violent behaviour by claiming to protect their culture. They argue that they only punish sinful women who disrespect the Sharia[9] by notably defending feminism. Feminism, which can be described as the achievement of equality between men and women without discrimination in all spheres, is defined differently by these men. They assert that feminism unwelcomely transfers the values of Western countries, a social deviance that is opposed to the traditional Arabic-Muslim identity, to women in the Arab world. However, if discriminations persist towards a specific gender, women cannot be freely politically active and democracy cannot be achieved.
Decentralization: a democratic concept
Democracy aims to create an equal relationship between the government and the citizens, where the citizens and their interests are represented by those that govern. Democratizing the state includes achieving responsiveness and transparency.[10] Decentralization aims to deepen democracy by facilitating the representation of citizens through the creation of multiple orders of governance (local, regional, national etc.), each with their own functions and responsibilities. It also implies creating more direct forms of representation. Based on Slack, Spicer and Montacer’s research in 2014, decentralization can be effected through three different approaches: delegation, deconcentration and devolution. Devolution is the “true decentralization”, where “the central government transfers authority for decision-making, finance, and management to local governments”.[11] Multiple orders of governance are created to distribute resources and responsibilities to reinforce effectiveness.
Supporting women’s political participation through decentralization
Decentralization has been defended by multiple authors (e.g. Mill, Rousseau, Tocqueville), because lower levels of governance are more likely to be accessible for civil society.[12] Decentralization and political participation are two related mechanisms. Having beneficial effects on poverty and inequality, both foster some of the necessary conditions for a stable democracy.[13] Therefore, decentralization is likely to benefit women’s political participation and increase the focus on local needs, particularly women’s needs. In the Forum’s Gender Equality and Federalism report, author Christine Forster argues that
“subnational units create entry points for women that are more attractive to women candidates because they are located close to home, they enable women to work at local and community level, and they enable them to develop confidence, skills and experience.”[14]
Women members of local councils in Pakistan have claimed that the decentralized system has been effective in mobilizing women in society, allowing them to express their viewpoints and participate to decision-making.[15] However, decentralization and multilevel governance do not guarantee high rates of women’s political participation.[16] Drawing on Williams’ research, Forster proposes that “multiple subnational units create multiple access points for women to lobby for reform measures in multiple forums, for example local parliaments, unions, courts, and political parties”. [17] Therefore, decentralization creates favourable conditions for women’s political participation and representation.[18]
Conclusion
Feminist researchers now increasingly consider the architecture of the state as a powerful factor in gender equality dynamics.[19] In our case, we analyzed how decentralization and multilevel governance can impact women’s political participation. These mechanisms support women’s access to decision-making processes, primarily due because they increase accessibility in terms of proximity, costs, resources, and confidence. Political participation and representation are indicators of gender equality in societies. Decentralization and multilevel governance facilitate these gender-based processes, ultimately strengthening democracy.
Endnotes
[1] Free translations from the Tunisian and the Moroccan Constitutions.
[2] 37.3 %: rate of Egyptian women and girls older than 10 years that are analphabetic.
CAPMAS, “Public indicators”, Statistical Yearbook 2013 (Numbers from the census of 2006. The agency has not published the numbers for 2014).
[3] Maclean, Melissa. « La parole aux femmes – Représentation politique et participation dans les systèmes décentralisés », Centre de recherches pour le développement international, 2010, p.2.
[4] Enid Slack, Zachery Spicer and Makram Montacer, “Decentralization and Gender Equity Occasional Paper Series”, Forum of Federations, Number 14, 2014, p.7.
[5] United Nations. « Déclaration présentée par le Centre égyptien pour les droits des femmes, organisation non gouvernementale dotée du statut consultatif auprès du Conseil économique et social », 2015.
And
Devin Joshi, Meseret F. Hailu, and Lauren J. Reising, “Violators, Virtuous, or Victims? How Global Newspapers Represent the Female Member of Parliament”, Feminist Media Studies, 2019.
[6] The study is based on a sample of 2 332 girls and women, and 1 168 boys and men between 10 and 35 years old, in the Egyptian governorates of Caire, Alexandrie, Dakahleya, Gharbeya, Ismaïlia, Assiout and Qena.
UN Women. « Entité des Nations Unies pour l’égalité des sexes et l’autonomisation des femmes, Étude sur les moyens et méthodes pour éliminer le harcèlement sexuel en Egypte (Rapport de l’ONU) », 2013.
[7] El-Zanaty, Fatma and Ann Way, “17. Domestic violence” in Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 2005, ministère de la Santé et de la Population, Assemblée générale du peuple, El-Zanaty and Associates and ORC Macro, 2006, p.221-222.
[8] El-Zanaty, Fatma et Ann Way, “15. Circoncision féminine”, Enquête démographique et de santé menée en 2008 en Egypte, p.197 (Table 15.1).
[9] The Sharia is the Islamic Law.
[10] Goldfrank, Benjamin. Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left, United States: Penn State Press, 2011, Chapter 1.
[11] Enid Slack, Zachery Spicer and Makram Montacer, “Decentralization and Gender Equity Occasional Paper Series”, 2014, p.1
[12] Williamson, Amanda, Sithole, Pearl and Todes, Alison. « Décentralisation et participation des femmes aux plans de développement intégré (PDI) en Afrique du Sud ». Afrique contemporaine, n° 221 (1), 2007, p.126
[13] Goldfrank, Benjamin. Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America: Participation, Decentralization, and the Left, 2011, p.18
[14] Forster, Christine. “Gender Equality and Federalism: Opportunities and Challenges in Multilevel Governance.” Forum of Federations, 2020, p.145
[15] Maclean, Melissa. « La parole aux femmes – Représentation politique et participation dans les systèmes décentralisés », p.4.
[16] Ortbals, Candice D., Rincker, Meg, and Montoya, Celeste. « Politics Close to Home: The Impact of Meso-level Institutions on Women in Politics ». Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 42 (1), 2012, p.107.
[17] Forster, Christine. “Gender Equality and Federalism: Opportunities and Challenges in Multilevel Governance.”, 2020, p.47.
And
Susan Williams, “Federalism and Gender Equality”, Federal Law Review 2018, 46(4), p.495.
[18] Marian Sawer and Jill Vickers, ‘Introduction: Political Architecture and its Gender Impact’ in Melissa Haussman, Marian Sawer and Jill Vickers (eds) Federalism, Feminism and Multilevel Governance (Ashgate, 2010), p.5.
[19] Vickers, Jill. « Gender and State Architectures: The Impact of Governance Structures on Women’s Politics ». Politics & Gender, 2011, 7 (2): 254‑62.
Liam Whittington contributed to this article.
References
Bienaimé, Charlotte. “Féministes du monde arabe”, Paris : Les Arènes, 2014, 293 pages.
CAPMAS, “Public indicators”, Statistical Yearbook 2013, [online]. [bit.ly/168AGHH] (Consulted on April, 20th, 2021).
Devin Joshi, Meseret F. Hailu, and Lauren J. Reising, “Violators, Virtuous, or Victims? How Global Newspapers Represent the Female Member of Parliament”, Feminist Media Studies, 2019, p.1-21.
El-Zanaty, Fatma et Ann Way. “15. Circoncision féminine”, Enquête démographique et de santé menée en 2008 en Égypte, p.197 (Table 15.1).
El-Zanaty, Fatma and Ann Way. “17. Domestic violence”, Egypt Demographic and Health Survey 2005, Ministère de la Santé et de la Population, Assemblée générale du peuple, El-Zanaty and Associates and ORC Macro, 2006, p.221-222.
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Vickers, Jill. “Gendering federalism: Institutions of decentralization and power-sharing.” Gender, politics and institutions, 2011, pp.129-146.
Williams, Susan. “Federalism and Gender Equality”, Federal Law Review, 46(4), 2018, pp.491-519.
Williamson, Amanda, Sithole, Pearl and Todes, Alison. « Décentralisation et participation des femmes aux plans de développement intégré (PDI) en Afrique du Sud ». Afrique contemporaine, n° 221 (1), 2007, pp.107‑30.
