Monday 24 November 2008, San José, Costa
Rica
POLITICS:
Decentralization, a
Double-Edged Sword for
Women
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY (IPS)
- Decentralized
governments have often
been presented as a
formula for
strengthening democracy
and citizen
participation, and
giving women greater
access to power. But
experiences like that of
Eufrosina Cruz, who was
denied the right to run
for mayor of her Oaxaca
village, on the argument
of "uses and customs" of
her indigenous
community, show that
this is not always true.
There are similar
stories from other
countries as well. Even
when decentralization
policies have given rise
to gender quota laws
that require a certain
percentage of candidates
for local governments to
be women, they often are
only the figurehead in
posts that are actually
under the direct control
of male relatives.
This was one of the
conclusions of a
research study by the
Canada-based
non-governmental
International
Development Research
Centre (IDRC), which
convened 300
policy-makers, academics
and women’s rights
activists from around
the world for a Nov.
18-21 international
conference in Mexico
City to explore the
impact of decentralized
governments on women’s
right to education,
health, security and
political representation
and present the main
findings of its
research.
The event was organized
by the IDRC in
partnership with the
Mexican government
through the Status of
Women Mexico (INMUJERES)
and the Foreign
Ministry, the United
Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), and
the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT).
Aída Reynaga, a Peruvian
activist from Lima, told
IPS how she has been
fighting for more than
20 years against the
corruption of her own
neighbours, some of whom
are small-time drug
dealers but at the same
time sit on local
government.
"Decentralization in our
case has turned out to
be a trap, but now we’re
finally getting
somewhere," added
Reynaga, president of
the Association of
Settlers of the Quinta
Francia Estate, an
organization that brings
together 149 low-income
families.
The association, whose
members are occupying
32,000 square metres of
an old Lima estate, has
been fighting for 40
years for the titles to
the land and for basic
public services, such as
running water,
electricity and a sewer
system.
"Despite the corruption
of some of the
presidents who have led
our group and the Lima
municipal authorities
that supported them, we
were able to obtain
running water and
electricity, but only
because the women have
stood up and organized,"
said Reynaga, who used
to be a newspaper street
vendor.
According to Cruz,
"decentralization can
make our lives even
worse, and that’s what
happened in my
community, but you still
have to fight."
This indigenous woman
from Santa María
Quiegolani, a Zapoteca
village in the
impoverished southern
state of Oaxaca, was
forced out of her
community when the men
who control the local
assemblies prevented her
from running for mayor
in 2007. She reported to
IPS that after she filed
formal complaints for
discrimination with
several authorities she
has been harassed by and
received death threats
from men in her village.
The IDRC identified the
impact on women of
decentralized services
and decision-making as
an important and timely
research topic, and
since 2004 it has
supported studies in
countries of Asia,
Africa and Latin
America.
According to the
Conference’s background
paper, decentralization
has "given rise in some
places to new forms of
political representation
and participation, such
as local elections and
village development
committees. Such reforms
are intended to make
government more
accessible and
responsive, and to give
marginalized groups more
of a say in decisions
that affect their lives.
"Over the past two
decades,
decentralization has
been widely promoted as
a magic bullet for both
development and
democracy, and most
countries in the
developing world have
undertaken related
reforms."
However, new findings
from the research
supported by the IDRC
show the outcomes may be
quite different.
In the case of Nepal,
for example, the study
reveals that while
obligatory quotas for
the participation of
women in all levels of
government have been
established by law, this
has not translated into
greater involvement by
women in general in
decision-making
processes.
Instead, IDRC
researchers have found
that a "new political
class of socially
powerful and elite women
has emerged, but these
same elite women often
sit on multiple
committees, blocking
access by women of lower
status," and both women
and men tend to think
the participation of
women should not go
beyond their attendance
of meetings.
In Pakistan, "where
local government reforms
include mandatory
representation of women
-- establishing a 33
percent quota -- most of
the 345 elected
councilwomen who were
interviewed turned out
to be representatives
selected and controlled
by a man in their
family," according to
the IDRC.
The councilwomen and the
female mayor of the
small community of Nabón,
Ecuador, tell how
whenever they have to
deal with male personnel
they have to "raise
their voices and put up
with the men’s jokes and
their resistance to
having to respond to a
woman in charge."
"In southern Sudan,
where 48 percent of
women give birth without
attendants,
decentralization of
health services has led
to the introduction of
user fees at health
clinics, a move that has
been linked to increased
maternal mortality among
poor women," the report
says.
Neither does
decentralization give
any guarantees in terms
of empowerment of women.
In the southern Indian
state of Kerala, where a
third of the seats in
the local parliament are
held by women, most of
the female legislators
see themselves as social
workers, and very few of
them move on to higher
political positions.
In some regions of South
Africa, where women
receive government
funding for community
development projects,
they do not hold posts
of importance in public
office and their
participation is often
limited to traditional
domestic roles.
Reynaga, who had never
before attended a
meeting like the one
held in Mexico City,
found the experience
very productive, as it
gave her an opportunity
"to learn about other
countries and see how
there’s corruption there
also, just like in my
country," and that
decentralization "is not
what they said it would
be."
Cruz, for her part, said
that "exchanging points
of view is useful, but I
can still see how some
people are afraid to go
against uses and customs
like those of my people,
because they fear that
it could be interpreted
as attacking indigenous
autonomy. We shouldn’t
be afraid of touching
the issue of uses and
customs. We are not
against it, we’re only
against those who abuse
it to trample women’s
rights, like what
happened to me."
After Cruz filed formal
complaints, the Oaxaca
legislature passed a
number of legal reforms
aimed at preventing
indigenous uses and
customs from being
employed as an argument
to exclude women from
political participation.
Oaxaca is one of the
poorest states of Mexico
and has one of the
largest indigenous
populations. Of the
state’s 570
municipalities, 418 are
governed by what they
call "uses and customs."
At the conference,
several women
participants agreed to
use the Internet to
network and share
information, keep in
touch and support each
other in their efforts
to make decentralization
work in their favour, as
according to Cruz, "it
could become a trap if
we don’t know how to use
it and are not aware of
its limits."
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