The Local Public Sector Alliance is a global alliance of advocates for inclusive governance and sustainable development. As central governments are often far removed from people’s day-to-day lives, local governments provide a key mechanism to ensure that the public sector is responsive to their constituents’ needs, hopes, and aspirations.
While women belong in all places where decisions are being made, women are often significantly underrepresented in both national and subnational political decision-making bodies. Although often overlooked in the decentralization and localization literature, targeted efforts are needed to ensure that governments at all levels are responsive to the needs, hopes, and aspirations of all their constituents–including both women and men–and that the public sector works to remove the significant barriers that women and girls continue to face in terms of access to education, access to health services, access to economic opportunities, access to safe transportation, and access to justice, to name a few. Addressing these challenges often requires stakeholders at different government levels to work together as part of an effective multilevel governance system.
The equal rights of men and women and the need to ensure the political, social, and economic empowerment of women are fundamental principles of human rights. Gender equity is also essential to economic growth and development, democracy and political stability, and the security of nations across the globe. Ensuring that all people, regardless of gender, have the opportunity to realize their full potential is thus both a moral and strategic imperative.
Given the important and often overlooked role of local governments and multilevel governance arrangements in promoting gender equity and women’s empowerment, there is a need to ‘elevate the policy debate’ at the intersection of decentralization and local governance on one hand, and gender equity and women’s empowerment at the other. LPSA’s Working Group on Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment aims to provide an opportunity for exchange between stakeholders from these–often quite stove-piped–practice communities.
Working group leadership: Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment
The LPSA Thematic Working Group on Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment is co-chaired and coordinated by Jacqueline Muthura (Gender and WASH Governance Expert). The Alliance is currently in the process of identifying additional co-chairs for the LPSA Thematic Working Group on Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment.
Please contact the Working Group Co-Chair and Coordinator at women@decentralization.net if you are interested in becoming a Co-Chair or regular contributor of the Working Group on Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment.
If you are not already a member of the Local Public Sector Alliance, register as an LPSA member (and opt into the Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment Working Group) to receive updates about the Local Public Sector Alliance and its working groups.
Register now for the upcoming gender equity working groups open meetings:
LPSA Working Group meetings are free and open to the public. Register now for the upcoming gender equity working groups open meetings:
- Wednesday, November 29, 2023 – 3 pm Nairobi (7 am NY/DC/Montréal; 1 pm The Hague; 7 pm Bangkok) – Register Here
- Wednesday, February 28, 2024 – 3 pm Nairobi (7 am NY/DC/Montréal; 1 pm The Hague; 7 pm Bangkok) – Register Here
- Wednesday, May 29, 2024 – 3 pm Nairobi (8 am NY/DC/Montréal; 2 pm The Hague; 7 pm Bangkok) – Register Here
What questions in the field of gender equity, social inclusion and women’s empowerment will the working group explore?
The LPSA Thematic Working Group on Local Women’s Empowerment seeks to assess, advance, and share the state of global knowledge on the role of multilevel governance and subnational governance on gender equality and inclusive governance. In other words, the Gender Equity and Women’s Empowerment Thematic Working Group seeks to elevate the global debate on local women’s empowerment in countries around the world, including by considering:
- Women’s voice and political empowerment at the local level;
- Women in local administration;
- Gender responsive subnational services and finance;
- Gender in the context of crisis; and
- Effective multilevel governance as an opportunity to women’s empowerment.
Anticipated working group output (by June 2024)
At the end of the year, the working group aims to produce a working paper or primer that captures the subnational and multilevel governance aspects of gender equity and women’s empowerment based on the key topics noted above.
Audience: who are the thought leaders around the world that should be part of this conversation?
- Citizens and civil society advocates for women’ empowerment, including international, national- and local-level NGOs and foundations
- Development partners interested in promoting gender equity, social inclusion and women’s empowerment
- Local government officials and local government associations
- Researchers, scholars and students in a wide variety of fields, including women’s studies, political science, public administration and governance
