Abstract
Empowerment is the most recent policy approach to women
in development. It takes into account not only both the
practical and strategic gender needs of women but also
recognizes their triple role in development. In doing so it
follows a bottom-up approach. Empowerment has a number
of dimensions with political participation as being one of
them. The political presence of women in politics, however,
has a disappointing track record. This is because a number
of existing structural, institutional and cultural factors offers
constrain to their participation in politics. Women’s political
presence and empowerment have some obvious links e.g.
by having political presence in decision-making structures,
women can influence the formulation of policies affecting
other women in society. Decentralization provides greater
opportunities for the citizen to participation in governance at
the local level and hence could be a good policy option for
enhancing women’s political participation. It does so by
increasing descriptive representation of women, which in
turn leads to women’s responsive policies.
Key words: Decentralization, gender, governance, participation and
empowerment
Sajjad Ali Khan. (2011) Decentralization and Women Empower, Journal of Political Studies, Volume 18, Issue 1.
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