| INTRODUCTION In
spring 2000, US Women Connect launched an online working group on women in power and
decision-making to discuss progress that has been made since the UN Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. Throughout the five weeks, the participants
were encouraged to discuss the following topics:
Women's equal access to power structures
and decision-making
Women's participation in power structures
and decision-making at all governmental levels
Women's capacity to participate in
decision-making and leadership
Key social, economic, political and
cultural obstacles to women's equal access to and participation in decision-making
Strategies that have been implemented since
1995 and why they have succeeded or failed
Goals:
To assess progress in the U.S. toward the
goal of promoting women 's equal participation in governmental decision-making (Strategic Objectives
G.1. and G.2. in the Platform for Action)
To share strategies that have been
successful
To identify obstacles, barriers, and
challenges and ways to overcome them
To connect ongoing work and strengthen the
national women's movement in the context of the Beijing +5 process
Scope:
In operation for about 5 weeks (May 1 B June 4, 2000).
More than 60 individuals registered for the
Working Group.
More than 65 messages were posted by women
from 10 states plus the District of Columbia. Regional representation was especially
strong with participants from the Far West, Southwest, Midwest, South, Mid-Atlantic and
the Northeast.
Participants identified themselves as in
different generations and of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.
Most women who posted messages were
activists; a few were university-based.
Results:
Obstacles,
Barriers, Challenges:
Women's NGOs and gender-based subgroups within parent
organizations may seem to have achieved access to governmental bodies and other national
and international entities, but marginalization and co-optation of these groups undercut
their capacity to make meaningful and substantive contributions to decision-making
processes.
Women's groups are not yet working together enough in
coalitions, collaborations, and partnerships across different policy issues, governmental
levels, and national boundaries.
Younger women political activists identify a need for
more mentorship opportunities, especially around the realities of current inequities and
ways to develop political space in existing arenas of power where women can articulate
alternative points of view and be heard.
For many women, the tension remains unresolved between
pushing for change within inherited structures and processes of power and creating new
visions of how systems of political decision-making could be organized.
As women we must take responsibility for every aspect
of creating the society we want to live in. That means being involved politically not just
in so-called women's issues, but taking responsibility and being politically
involved in every aspect of life - trade, foreign policy, defense policy, economics, city
planning, agriculture, etc. All of these are women's issues because they affect women as
citizens just as much as they affect men.
Future
Directions and Strategies for Action
1. CONTINUE BUILDING TOWARD ACHIEVING GENDER BALANCE, REAFFIRMED BY THE PLATFORM
FOR ACTION TO HAVE WOMEN IN 30% OF ALL POSITIONS AT ALL GOVERNMENTAL DECISION-MAKING
LEVELS.
Strategies
Create coalitions of women's groups specifically targeted
to increasing women's political participation at every level.
Develop inclusive teams for the purpose of moving women
into powerful decision-making positions. Support women in these positions; hold them
accountable; brief them continuously on substantive issues.
Replicate the national model of women-run campaign funds
to support women candidates at the local and state levels.
Put pressure on the media and on women in office to
achieve more press coverage of women leaders' actions.
Get out the vote (GOTV).
Involve, educate, and train more women in the political
process and political activism.
Push political parties to allocate funds equally between
women and men candidates.
One of the participants wrote, The same way that the
old boys' put there money, patronage and pressure where the mouths are, we have to do the
same to elect strong women centered women candidates to decision making and powerful
positions. The other piece that has to be a part of any women's party, power seeking, etc.
is truth between each other and reconciliation between women of different social, ethnic
and geographic groups.
2. TARGET STATES WHERE GENDER BALANCE HAS NOT BEEN ACHIEVED
IN ELECTED OR APPOINTED DECISION-MAKING POSITIONS.
Strategies
Direct financial support to women in targeted states
through women-centered, women-driven campaign fund-raising.
Push more states to pass rules requiring gender balance
in appointments.
Develop a nonpartisan Women in Power scorecard that
measures, monitors, and publicizes track records of political jurisdictions for their
Women in Power scores.
If national organizations take the lead, keep local
community involvement a priority.
We need to support women candidates. It is critical to
understand what's at stake in upcoming elections...we have to work harder at making the
connections between politics and the women's vote.
3. CREATE NEW FORMAL AND INFORMAL MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
FOR YOUNGER WOMEN AND DISCONNECTED WOMEN.
Strategies
Harness the power of women teaching and encouraging one
another through women's circles and other models.
Provide environments in which women can learn about their
own authentic leadership and changes over time in that leadership.
In this day and age, constantly upgrading skills is very,
very important, even if it just by going to the local library and beginning a self-study
program. The more we know, the more we pass on to our young women, whether it concerns
environmental issues, or just plain issues of survival. Another crucial issue is [to]
enable women in poverty (e.g. women on TANF, women among the Working poor, elderly and
disabled women on low fixed incomes) [to participate] in the decision making process
concerning poverty alleviation programs at all levels of government and [to participate
in] decision making processes addressing basic needs, such as housing and transportation.
[Too often] policies are formulated, debated, enacted, and implemented without the input
of those who are affected.
4. WORK TOWARD CREATION OF ALTERNATIVE
STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES OF POWER.
Strategy
Through new Theatres of leadership,@ new party
structures, new educational programs, and new electronic technologies, create
opportunities for women and those who share their goals to envision new ways of how
political institutions, structures, and processes might be organized.
Submitted by: Judith R. Saidel, Ph.D.,
Working Group Moderator
Executive Director
Center for Women in Government*
University at Albany, SUNY
* Organizational names are listed for
identification purposes
US Women Connect P.O. Box 33847 Washington, DC 20036 uswc@uswc.org
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