Decentralizing Government and Decentering Gender: Lessons from Local Government Reform in South Africa

Jo Beall
Additional contact information
Jo Beall: Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) at the London School of Economics, J.Beall@lse.ac.uk

Politics & Society, 2005, vol. 33, issue 2, 253-276

Abstract: Localization and decentralization are frequently presented as good for women. However, the reality is not so clear cut. Local government is the tier that is closest to people, but relationships, structures, and processes of local governance can limit both the space for women’s participation and the policy potential for addressing gender issues. The experience of democratic reform in South Africa is invariably held up as an example of good practice in advancing gender equity in governance. Critically drawing on this experience, the article points out some of the paradoxes for women and gender equity that arise from decentralization strategies and governance at the local level.

Keywords: decentralization; local governance; traditional authorities; gender; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032329205275194 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:33:y:2005:i:2:p:253-276

DOI: 10.1177/0032329205275194

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Politics & Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().