Power, Gender and Social Change in AfricaGender plays a hugely significant and too often under-considered role in predicting how accessible resources such as education, wage-based employment, physical and mental health care, adequate nutrition and housing will be to an individual or community. According to a 2001 World Bank report titled Engendering Development—Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice, enormous disparities exist between men and women in terms of basic rights and the power to determine the future, both in Africa and around the globe. A better understanding of the links between gender, public policy and development outcomes would allow for more effective policy formulation and implementation at many levels. This book, through its discussion of the challenges, achievements and lessons learned in efforts to attain gender equality, sheds light on these important issues. The book contains chapters from an interdisciplinary group of scholars, including sociologists, economists, political scientists, scholars of law, anthropologists, historians and others. The work includes analysis of strategic gender initiatives, case studies, research, and policies as well as conceptual and theoretical pieces. With its format of ideas, resources and recorded experiences as well as theoretical models and best practices, the book is an important contribution to academic and political discourse on the intricate links between gender, power, and social change in Africa and around the world. |
From inside the book
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... of law and the structures of institutions; rather, they urged consideration of a
third part: legal culture. “Legal culture” reflected the idea that within their broader
culture, societies have attitudes, values and behaviors relating particularly to “law
.
... and 4) expanding public awareness.29 The project pillars for the World Bank's
Women and the Law in Africa similarly focus on government institutions and state
-based law: 1) institutional strengthening (primarily capacity of and partnerships ...
They also emphasize the “substantive” component of legal systems, i.e. laws,
with attention to the institutional ... women's rights programs have shifted their
focus to the people within the institutions who must implement and enforce the
laws.
Yet, as was discussed above, the institutions are often ineffective. Sometimes
inadvertently, but potentially quite purposefully, there may not be resources with
which to implement the new laws. Even when political leaders agree to revoking
or ...
Might the advocacy part of women's rights advocacy constitute an additional part
of the liberal legal model, relating perhaps more to legal culture than to the laws
and institutions? Even if not intentional, do women's rights programs seek to ...