Area of Inquiry 5: Claiming Rights and Meaningful Participation in Public Decision-Making

Beyond accessing services and spaces, it is important that people know their rights and exercise them without negative repercussions or fear of backlash. This is critical for individuals and groups to be able to claim their rights effectively. As equal members within a community, it is important that groups and individuals have the space and standing to be able to participate meaningfully in public decision-making. These spaces may include village committees, government administration and political offices, village savings and loans groups in addition to other public groups and forums. The ability to participate meaningfully in public spaces and claim one’s rights goes beyond token representation and quotas for under-represented groups within a forum or association. Meaningful participation involves environments where individuals may actively contribute to decisions, where their ideas are heard and considered, and where they can take part in leadership or decision-making.

Agency	Structures	Relations	Related Tools
What specific attitudes, information, knowledge, skills and capacity are necessary to claim rights and meaningfully participate in public spaces and community decision-making? And how do men and women compare? What roles are women taking in various village, district/regional, or national levels of decision-making in institutions (both formal and non-formal)? Are women and girls in leadership positions? Collectively what are women’s groups doing to support women and girls to participate in the public sphere?	How are women and men represented as participants within markets, community forums, cultural rituals, government, etc.? To what level are women and women’s interests represented in each of these spaces? What are policies, programs or strategies that promote women’s and children’s’ participation in public policy, planning and decision-making? How is it budgeted, staffed, funded or advertised?	Do family members or neighbors encourage or support participation? Do husbands support wives? Do parents support daughters? How do power dynamics in the household or community prevent or facilitate meaningful participation in community forums? Do women support one another across classes or caste or ethnicity? Which social support networks facilitate meaningful participation and leadership opportunities in public forums by members of the marginalized group (women/girls/other)? How effectively do women and girl leaders negotiate their interests and remain accountable to those that they represent? Collectively – how do women and men mobilize or advocate around this issue and with whom? How are CARE’s programs relating to groups’ goals and actions? How are these groups related to other key stakeholders/institutions (private enterprise, government, religious institutions, etc.)?	Higher Level Conditions Macro-Secondary Analysis Policy Analysis Governance Analysis Mapping Institutions/ Stakeholders Key Informant Interviews Gender Norms and Trends Community Dynamics Network Analysis Exploitation Analysis Dependency/Influence Mapping Key Informant Interviews Power Mapping Measuring Attitudes toward Women and Gender Equality Community, Social and Resource Mapping Field Observation Class/Mobility Matrix Household Dynamics Intra-Household Decision-Making

 

Special Consideration for Children and Adolescents

Children and adolescents are rarely encouraged to participate in community discussions and decisions.

• How are school and home settings fostering the developmental skills necessary for children to increasingly participate in community discussions and decisions as developmentally appropriate?
• How are adolescents’ leadership skills fostered and encouraged, and mentored ?
• What limitations are put on the types of public engagement (e.g. voicing ideas or opinions) that is acceptable for girls? For boys?
• What opportunities exist for children and youth to participate in public fora on issues of concern to them?
• How are girls and boys treated differently in this regard in this context?

 

Reminder: Situating Analysis in Broader Context

Across each area of inquiry, consider how gender relations interact with the analysis of broader context in relation to gender:

• Cultural norms and values
• Policies and laws related to human rights, especially implementation pertinent to women’s rights
• Broader Development: Information on edu. attainment, literacy, incomes and livelihoods, mobility, workload, health, nutrition, morbidity/mortality, violence, etc., by sex.
• Experiences, attitudes, opinions of critical groups and actors in the context, and their relations with one another as well as with groups of women.