Gendered Democratic Participation on Social Media- Kenyas Social Media

Author(s)

Elias Odula Barasa ,

Download Full PDF Pages: 01-10 | Views: 195 | Downloads: 67 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.8218865

Volume 12 - July 2023 (07)

Abstract

Gender is an important consideration in development. It is a way of looking at how social norms and power structures impact on the lives and opportunities available to different groups of men and women. Globally, more women than men live in poverty. Women are also less likely than men to receive basic education and to be appointed to a political position nationally and internationally. Understanding that men and women, boys and girls experience poverty differently, and face different barriers in accessing services, economic resources and political opportunities, helps to target interventions.  Before undertaking a gender analysis, it is important to understand the concept of ‘gender’. The World Development Report (WDR) 2012 defines gender as socially constructed norms and ideologies, which determine the behaviour and actions of men and women. Understanding these gender relations and the power dynamics behind them is a prerequisite for understanding individuals’ access to and distribution of resources, their ability to make decisions and the ways in which women and men, boys and girls are affected by political processes and social development.  Compared with men, women control fewer political and economic resources, including land, employment and traditional positions of authority. Acknowledging and incorporating these gender inequalities into programmes and analyses is therefore extremely important, both from a human rights perspective and to maximize impact and socioeconomic development.  The WDR highlights the importance of directly targeting the persistent constraints and obstacles to women’s equality (especially in areas of economic empowerment, educational gaps, household/societal voice, and violence against women) in order to enhance productivity and improve longer-term development outcomes.  Gender equality is also important for sustainable peace, and there is a growing body of empirical evidence suggesting that a higher level of gender inequality is associated with higher risks of internal conflict.

Keywords

Gendered, Democratic, Participation, Social Media and Kenya

References

  1. World Bank. (2012). ‘Overview’ in World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development, World Bank, Washington.
  2. OECD. (2013). Gender equality and women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda: A foundation for sustainable development. OECD And Post-2015 Reflections. Element 3, Paper 1. 
  3. UN Women. (2013). A Transformative Stand-Alone Goal on Achieving Gender Equality, Women’s Rights and Women’s Empowerment. In the context of the Post-2015 Development framework and Sustainable Development Goals. UN Women.
  4. In Jones et al 2010, p.10). Formal institutions (economic, political, legal and social) include political systems and labour markets
  5. Jones, N. et al (2010). ‘Stemming Girls’ Chronic Poverty: Catalyzing Development Change by Building Just Social Institutions’, Chronic Poverty Research Centre
  6. Byerly, C. M. (2011). ‘Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media’, International Women’s Media Foundation, Washington DC http://www.iwmf.org/our-research/global-report/ 
  7. Hanitzsch, T., & Hanusch, F. (2012). Does Gender Determine Journalists’ Professional Views? A reassessment based on cross-national evidence. European Journal of Communication, 27(3), 257-277.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0267323112454804
  8.   David L. Richards and Ronald Gelleny, “Women’s Status and Economic Globalization,” International Studies Quarterly 51, no. 4 (2007): 855-76.
  9. Ingrid Bego, “Accessing Power in New Democracies: The Appointment of Female Ministers in Postcommunist Europe,” Political Research Quarterly 67, no. 2 (2014): 347-60.
  10. John Högström, “Do Development and Democracy Positively Affect Gender Equality in Cabinets?” Japanese Journal of Political Science 16, no. 3 (2015): 332-56.
  11. Caroline Beer, “Democracy and gender equality,” Studies in Comparative International Development 44, no. 3 (2009): 212-27.
  12. Elin Bjarnegård and Erik Melander, “Disentangling gender, peace and democratization: the negative effects of militarized masculinity,” Journal of Gender Studies 20, no. 2 (2011): 139-54.
  13. “Brookings Working Paper on Democracy and Gender Equality and Security,” (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2017).
  14. Grizzle, A. (2012). Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media: Framework of indicators to gauge gender sensitivity in media operations and content. UNESCO. 
  15. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1993 UNGA Resolution No. A/RES/48/104.
  16. Mary Caprioli, Valerie M. Hudson, Rose McDermott, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Chad F. Emmett, and S. Matthew Stearmer, “The Womanstats Project database: Advancing an empirical research agenda,” Journal of Peace Research 46, no. 6 (2009): 1-13. “Brookings Working Paper on Democracy and Gender Equality and Security.”
  17. Tia Palermo, Jennifer Bleck, and Amber Peterman, “Tip of the Iceberg: Reporting and Gender-Based Violence in Developing Countries,” Practice of Epidemiology 179, No. 5 (2014): 602-12; Cossette D. Creamer and Beth A. Simmons, “Ratification, Reporting, and Rights: Quality of Participation in the Convention against Torture,” Human Rights Quarterly 37 (2015): 579-608; Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, Making Human Rights a Reality (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013).
  18. Mary Caprioli and Mark A. Boyer, “Gender, Violence, and International Crisis,” The Journal of Conflict Resolution 45, no. 4 (2001): 503-18; Mary Caprioli, “Gender Equality and State Aggression: The Impact of Domestic Gender Equality on State First Use of Force,” International Interactions 29, no. 3 (2003): 195.
  19. Valerie M. Hudson, Mary Caprioli, Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, Rose McDermott, and Chad F. Emmett, “The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States,” International Security 33, no. 3 (2008): 7-45.
  20. The three measurements used by the authors for relative peacefulness: The Global Peace Index (GPI), States of Concern to the International Community (SOCIC), and Relations with Neighbors (RN).
  21. Erik Melander, “Gender Equality and Intrastate Armed Conflict,” International Studies Quarterly 49, no. 4 (2005): 695-714.
  22. Michael T. Koch and Sarah A. Fulton, “In the Defense of Women: Gender, Office Holding, and National Security Policy in Established Democracies,” Journal of Politics 73, no. 1 (2011): 1-16.
  23. Llanos, B. and Nina, J. (2011). ‘Election Coverage from a Gender Perspective: A Media Monitoring Manual’, UN Women http://www.idea.int/publications/election_coverage_gender_perspective/index.cfm
  24. Mikhail Balaev, “Improving models of democracy: the example of lagged effects of economic development, education, and gender equality,” Social Science Research 46 (2014): 169-83.

Cite this Article: