1. DISCLAIMER: The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UN Women, UNICEF or the
United Nations.
ADDRESSING INEQUALITIES The Heart of the Post‐2015 Development Agenda and the Future We Want for All Global Thematic Consultation
ADVANCING EQUALITY IN WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION AND INFLUENCE IN PUBLIC LIFE THROUGH THE POST‐2015 FRAMEWORK
Lisa Horner and Rachael Stokes VSO
November 2012

2. Summary
This paper explores how inequalities in women's participation and influence in political and public life can be addressed through the new global development framework that is expected to replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015. Drawing on lessons emerging from research and programming in this field, we argue that the post‐2015 framework must tackle discriminatory social norms that lie at the heart of inequality, and encourage actions that result in meaningful shifts in the balance of power between women and men. We propose that the framework should include a cluster of targets on women's representation in a defined set of local, national and international decision making bodies. This should sit under an overarching goal on women's empowerment, and be accompanied by quality indicators which provide insights into whether representation is translating into meaningful influence and positive outcomes for women most affected by poverty. We conclude with an appeal to the international community to make the most of the opportunity offered by the post‐2015 process to drive forward the step change that is urgently needed to tackle this fundamental and cross‐ cutting dimension of poverty and inequality.
About the authors
Lisa Horner is VSO UK's Policy Manager. Rachael Stokes is VSO International's Global Advocacy Adviser for Gender. VSO is an international development organisation that works through volunteers. We work in 33 developing countries, bringing people together to share skills and knowledge in the fields of education, health, livelihoods and governance. VSO volunteers work with local partners to respond to the needs of grassroots organisations and governments. We support a range of different volunteering partnerships, including international, national, south‐ south, diaspora, and corporate volunteering. For more information see http://www.vsointernational.org. VSO is a member of the Gender and Development Network, whose submission to this consultation we support.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Claire Baker, Tania Beard, Alyson Brody, Evie Browne and Rob O'Grady for their inputs and comments on this paper. We would also like to thank the VSO volunteers, partners and staff who agreed to be interviewed, and Emily Brown, Mariz Tadros and Colleen Lowe Morna for taking the time to speak to us.
1

3. 1) Introduction
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that 'the authority of government is grounded in the will of the people'. Half, even more than half, of ‘the people’ are women. Yet for far too long, women’s will, women’s voices, women’s interests, priorities, and needs have not been heard, have not determined who governs, have not guided how they govern, and to what ends. Since women are amongst the least powerful of citizens, with the fewest social and economic resources on which to build political power, special efforts are often needed to elicit and amplify their voice.”
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Co‐chair of the Post‐2015 High Level Panel .
Progress of the World’s Women Report 2008/09, p.30. (UNICEF, now part of UN Women).
The subject of this paper is one of the deepest and most persistent fault lines of poverty and inequality in the world today: the lack of power that women have to influence decision making compared to men. Our focus is on decision making in the public domain, whilst recognising that this is deeply intertwined with norms and power dynamics that also pervade the private sphere.
The current process to define a new global development framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015 presents a significant opportunity to mobilise the political support and partnerships that are needed to address this longstanding issue. This will require a balance to be struck between the need for a strong but simple framework that contains a discrete number of measurable targets with recognition of the complex and multiple causes of gender inequality. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion about how we can achieve this balance.
Following a brief discussion of why women's empowerment in public life is a fundamental to poverty reduction, the paper highlights some of the weaknesses of the MDGs which must be addressed in the post‐2015 framework, most notably their focus on intermediary indicators of poverty reduction rather than transformative outcomes. Drawing on a review of recent research and learning from programming in the field of women's participation, we argue that the post‐2015 framework must tackle discriminatory social norms that lie at the heart of inequality, and encourage forms of support that will result in meaningful and sustainable shifts in the balance of power between women and men. Whilst the new framework will not be able to provide a comprehensive roadmap or drive forward all of the changes that are required, we believe that it could make a powerful contribution if it is configured in the following ways:
Firstly, measures of women's empowerment must be mainstreamed across all of the goals and targets contained in post‐2015 framework. This is in recognition of the fact that gender 2

4. inequality spans across all dimensions of poverty, and that opportunities and capacities that women have to participate meaningfully in public life are affected by a wide range of issues, including in education, healthcare and livelihoods.
Secondly, in addition to this mainstreaming, the new framework must contain a standalone goal on gender equality and women's empowerment. This will not only help to foster the political will necessary to tackle the issues, but will also allow for the formulation of targets to spur progress on dimensions of disempowerment that do not fall into other goal areas1. The goal must include a cluster of targets to increase women's representation in a defined set of decision making institutions, from local to international levels.
Finally, it is important that the post‐2015 framework recognises that representation does not automatically translate into women actually having influence over decisions, or result in positive outcomes for women who are most affected by poverty. The indicators that accompany the cluster of targets on representation should therefore provide insights into whether transformative changes are taking place that genuinely empower women and give them more influence in society. For example, to fully assess a target on women's representation in local bodies, we should not only count the number of women present. We should also assess whether improvements in women's representation are helping to spur gender‐sensitive policy making that supports marginalised women, for example through asking women's groups to assess the quality and impact of policies. We should additionally assess whether discriminatory social norms are changing, for example through asking women and men themselves what they think a woman's role in society should be.
This paper is intended as a platform for further discussion and work on the post‐2015 goals, targets and indicators, rather than presenting a definitive way forward. Our ideas and arguments are based on VSO's own experience of working to support women and girls to participate in public decision making, complemented by a review of academic and practitioner research in this area. We have also conducted targeted interviews with VSO volunteers, partners and staff working in this field, and with external researchers and practitioners.
2) Inequality in participation and influence: a core dimension of poverty and a brake on development
It has long been established that human development is about more than access to income and basic resources. It is also about having opportunities and choices to fulfil our aspirations and take control of our own lives. An important dimension of this is the ability to have a say in decisions that affect us. We are at our most vulnerable when we are unable to shape new polices or push back against existing policy and behaviours that are harming us, and at our most 3

5. frustrated when people with power and influence do not listen to our ideas and insights about how things could change for the better.
The equal right of all people to participate in public affairs is protected by Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This is reinforced by Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), and by the commitments made under the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (BPfA, 1995) (see Annex 1). However, despite these protections, women continue to be marginalised within decision making institutions and processes across the world, from local to international levels. This is illustrated by statistics on women's representation in formal politics. Whilst the proportion of women parliamentarians is currently at an all time high, the global figure still only stands at approximately 20%2. Only 17% of ministers in governments across the world are women3.
This is not only a fundamental violation of women's rights. It also represents a missed opportunity to build healthy, vibrant and balanced societies that are informed by the experiences and expertise of all of their citizens. Gender inequality in public life means that women ‐ who are most affected by poverty and comprise the majority of the world’s poor4 ‐ have the least access and influence over decisions being made to tackle it. Women's representation in leadership roles can also help to shift discriminatory attitudes and perceptions of women at household and community levels5.
3) An opportunity to build on the MDGs and drive forward action through the post‐2015 framework
Whilst the direct impact that the MDGs have had on development policy, practice and outcomes is difficult to discern6, they have at least had two important effects. Firstly, through setting internationally agreed targets and indicators, the framework has prompted coordinated data collection and reporting that allows us to monitor change and progress in unprecedented ways. Secondly, this reporting and international benchmarking has provided governments and other development stakeholders with incentives to drive forward change.
Assuming that the post‐2015 framework will wield similar power, it is vital that its goals, targets and indicators drive action on the most critical issues and measure the right dimensions of change. The MDG framework contains a standalone goal on gender equality and women's empowerment, broken down into a single target on education and three accompanying indicators (see Box 1). This was important, helping to establish gender equality as a critical area of development policy and practice, provide a hook for advocacy work and spur investment7. 4

6. Box 1 ‐ MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
Target 3.A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015
Indicators:
3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education 3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non‐agricultural sector 3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
However, the MDG framework has a number of weaknesses from a women's rights perspective which must be addressed in the post‐2015 framework. The need for more gender sensitive indicators across the different dimensions of poverty addressed by the framework is widely recognised8. Most of the targets and indicators in the framework focus on intermediary outputs which are necessary for poverty reduction but do not definitively show that it is actually happening. For example, the framework contains targets and indicators on gender parity in access to education. The indicator for this target is limited to school enrolment rates, which say nothing about whether the education received has given girls confidence, skills and networks that would give them meaningful choices in life or equip them to exert influence in public affairs. It also says nothing about whether discriminatory social norms are being tackled that cause girls to achieve a lower quality of education or that dissuade them from pursuing certain career paths.
Of the three MDG3 indicators on gender equality and empowerment, 3.3 on parliamentary representation arguably holds the greatest potential for transformative changes in women's capacities to participate in political and public life9. However, it is a necessary but insufficient measure. National representation is important, but participation in decision making at local levels is equally important, if not more so. From a poverty reduction perspective, it is often local institutions and decision making processes that have the most direct impact on the lives of women affected by poverty and marginalisation, and participation in them may be easier by virtue of their geographical proximity (see section 5). Moreover, whilst formal parliamentary politics is important, equality in representation and participation in other spheres of political and public life is also critical, including the judiciary, executive, public administrative bodies, political parties, traditional governance institutions and many aspects of civil society.
Finally, indicator 3.3 does not provide any insights into whether those women who are represented are able to participate meaningfully and exert any influence over decisions that are made10. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that women's representation in formal institutions does not by itself necessarily increase their influence or gender‐sensitive policy making. Unless social and cultural norms that lead to gendered stereotypes and discrimination are tackled, women's representation can be ineffective, tokenistic and even damaging for women's rights11 (see sections 4 and 5). 5

7. 4) What issues need to be tackled to advance women’s participation and influence?
In recent years, academic researchers and development practitioners have developed a growing body of evidence and experience concerning the barriers that prevent women from participating meaningfully in public life. We now have a fuller and richer understanding of the issues than ever before. It is critical that this knowledge and evidence is taken on board in the process of defining the post‐2015 development framework. Only then can the right issues be targeted and measured through the framework.
a) Discriminatory social norms affect women's opportunities and choices
Deeply entrenched attitudes about the role and abilities of women lie at the heart of their unequal power in political and public life, affecting women’s own choices about whether to participate, the opportunities or resources that they have to do so, and whether their participation actually influences decision making. A comparative quantitative study of more than seventy societies comprising 80% of the world’s population shows a statistically significant relationship between public attitudes to women in politics and the number of women represented in parliament12.
The Chinese dictum “Men rule the outside, women rule the inside”13 is representative of the assumption in many societies around the world that the public and political sphere is the preserve of men14. As one VSO volunteer working in southwest Bangladesh commented in an interview we conducted for this paper, "People learn from an early age what a 'proper' woman is, and the community punishes her if she steps outside of this clearly defined role". Such beliefs are often as widely held by women themselves as they are by men. For example, in research in Sierra Leone, would‐be candidates cited hostility from women as the most significant barrier that prevented them from running for office, with women candidates being told by female voters that they should go home and look after their families15.
b) Unequal access to the money, education and social resources needed for participation
A lack of access to financial resources at the household level or through patronage networks at the community level can either prevent women from running for political leadership positions or land them in debt for doing so. As one Kenyan VSO volunteer working in Zambia commented, "One big barrier to participation in elections and becoming candidates is access to funds. It is an expensive business, and in most cases women just don't have access to money".
Women also often lack the social networks that they need to run for public office, to gain support from constituents or make the most of other opportunities to participate in public life. This is sometimes compounded by marriage practices, for example with the Chinese practice of 6

8. women leaving their home village to live in their husband’s causing them to lose networks that they built before marriage16.
Inequalities in access to education and learning outcomes can not only undermine women’s confidence to participate in decision making, but also their opportunities to do so. When women in Sierra Leone asked for public meetings to be conducted in local languages instead of English, they were refused17. Similarly, women councillors in Uganda experience ‘fear and shyness’ due to their lack of mastery over English alongside cultural factors that limit their participation18. A lack of experience in participating in public meetings, exacerbated by negative perceptions of women's ability and role and compounded by inexperience, often further undermines confidence. Referring to young women's participation in local youth associations, a VSO volunteer in Bangladesh commented, "They are very animated meetings, with lots of side conversations. It's quite overwhelming for someone low on confidence".
c) The double burden of private and public responsibilities
In many contexts, women’s ability to participate in public life is more indirectly affected by norms that give them a high burden of unpaid care‐work in the household. Research into the Philippine fisherfolk movement revealed that women are reluctant to take on public leadership roles as they do not want to add to their substantial burden of work in the home19. Xiaoxian (2010) cites the case of one woman in China who refused to run for office despite having popular support as she did not have the time or energy left after fulfilling her household responsibilities20. Even when women do wish to participate, inflexible meeting times that do not fit around women’s childcare and homecare responsibilities often prevent them from doing so21.
d) The difficulties of translating participation into influence
Negative perceptions about the ability of women to perform leadership roles not only prevents many women from pursuing opportunities to participate in public life, but also often undermines the impact that those women who do take them up have on decision making. In Kenya, female MPs complain of being relegated to more lowly jobs in parliament such as taking minutes. The Hon Margaret Kamar explains that when chairing meetings in male‐dominated milieus, male colleagues interrupt to offer to explain to other members what she means; they had never imagined a woman could occupy the speaker’s chair in parliament22.
These dynamics echo the experience of many VSO volunteers working to support women's participation outside of the formal political realm. As one VSO volunteer that we interviewed working in Nepal commented, "When women do hold leadership positions, they often worry they don't have anything to say. On top of this men will interrupt them and hold private 7

9. conversations whenever a women raises her voice to speak". A volunteer working to support local youth clubs in Bangladesh to advocate for the rights of female shrimp farmers explained that, whilst there are weekly club meetings in which decisions are formally made, in reality decisions are arrived at informally in tea shops where men meet during the week where women are not welcome.
5) Supporting women's participation and influence in public decision making
The body of academic and practitioner research into ways to support women's participation and influence in public life has been growing since the MDGs were established in 2001. A large proportion of the literature is focused on formal political representation, exploring the efficacy of affirmative action policies that aim to increase number of female leaders and representatives. Whilst these are critical, they are by themselves not enough. Additional efforts are required to ensure that equality policies are implemented, damaging social norms are tackled, women have the confidence, skills and resources they need to participate, and that decision makers will respond. This section explores these issues in more depth, drawing on external research and complementing it with VSO's experience of working in this area.
a) Increasing representation through affirmative action: important, but not sufficient.
Proactive policies and legislative reform in a range of areas are often necessary to protect and advance women's right to participate in public affairs, from formalising property rights through to outlawing discrimination. However, many direct interventions focus on the introduction of quotas or other measures to increase women’s representation, particularly in national parliaments. Quotas have helped to increase women's parliamentary representation in countries across the world. The majority of countries with women in 30% or more of national assembly seats have applied quotas in some form23. Countries using quotas in 2011 saw women take an average of 27% of seats, compared to 16% in those that did not24.
However, whilst quotas and other policy measures have had a demonstrable value in increasing female representation, they alone are insufficient to bring about meaningful and lasting changes in women’s political influence. Recent research25 identifies two broad limitations.
Firstly, Advances in women’s representation do not automatically translate into women’s increased influence. In essence, having a seat round the table does not guarantee that you will have the opportunity to speak, or that you will be listened to. Women's representation is not an indicator of how gender‐sensitive decision‐making institutions are or whether women possess the requisite skills and resources to perform in their roles. As one VSO volunteer working with the Ministry for the Promotion of Women in Burkina Faso commented, "there may be a quota for representation, but there isn't one for participation and influence". 8

10. Secondly, Women who seek and gain public office as a result of quotas do not necessarily support a women’s rights agenda or represent the poorest or most marginalised women in society. Quotas are not necessarily an indicator of a government's or parliament's commitment to gender equality, women's empowerment or democratisation. Indeed, quotas can be used as tools to serve a less progressive political agenda, for example with parties often selecting candidates to run for elections who they know will tow the party line or act as proxies for their husbands or fathers26. This was captured succinctly in our interviews by the leader of a VSO partner women's organisation in Nepal: "women who are actually present at the table will all be known to the male leaders ‐ they are placed there and tend to be women that the men think will do what they want. They are only there to fill the quota and give a veneer of participation".
As we saw in the previous section, women themselves often hold conservative beliefs concerning women's roles and position in society. One illustrative example comes from Costa Rica, where the President of the Congressional Women's Commission argued against a 2007 Bill to Criminalise Violence Against Women, stating that women often provoke violence themselves, and that preserving the sanctity of family is more important27. Furthermore, women likely to benefit from affirmative action policies are usually the urban elite and educated professionals who have the resources and networks they need to run for office. Women who are most affected by poverty are least likely to run, and it cannot be assumed that their interests will be represented by those that do. Again, experiences in Costa Rica illustrate this point. Women parliamentarians opposed legislation that would restrict domestic workers to eight hour work days, arguing that they themselves would not be able to work in politics if domestic workers did not work long hours28.
In short, representation by itself is not enough. This is not to say that quotas are not important. As one VSO volunteer in Bangladesh commented in relation to quotas, "this gives them access to the meetings but does not give them a right to speak or make decisions...but at least they are in the door". However, in addition to increasing numbers of women represented, we need to ensure that women affected by poverty and marginalisation can reach doors to influential positions in addition to more privileged women. We also need to increase the connections between women's constituencies and decision makers, and ensure that the decision makers are receptive to women's demands.
There is a growing body of research and analysis that has helped to increase our understanding of effective approaches to pursue these goals. Of particular note is the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Consortium which, between 2006 and 2011, sought to discover the factors and interventions that work to bring about positive change in women's lives29. This approach starts with the realities of women's lives, looking at the underlying causes of women's marginalisation and poverty and the ways in which these can be overcome. It underscores the 9

11. importance of understanding women's empowerment as a journey or pathway. As the synthesis report argues, "Understanding what enables women to embark on these journeys, what pathways are available to them, which routes they take, and what assists them along the way is essential if we are to support women to empower themselves"30.
Whilst participation in public and political life was only one of a range of issues examined by the consortium, many of the obstacles and opportunities along pathways to empowerment more broadly are the same or similar to those to influence in public affairs more specifically. Combining the outcomes of this and wider research with VSO's own programme experience, a number of key lessons stand out.
b) The need for direct support to mentor women and support women's organisations
Direct support to women should not be short‐term, one‐off interventions built around election cycles but should take a long‐term approach that extends long before and beyond the point at which women are appointed into positions of influence. In practice, this means that women need to be supported through different forms of "political apprenticeship" that give them skills, confidence and networks to participate effectively in formal and informal decision making31. It also means that they need to receive ongoing support once they have access to decision making spheres. In Southwest Bangladesh, for example, one VSO volunteer is providing mentoring support to women and girls involved in local youth clubs and citizen committees. She reported that, through one‐to‐one support, girls have gained confidence to speak up in public meetings, stand for senior roles and challenge men when they talk over them in meetings.
Interventions also need to support women’s organising. A wide range of research studies reveal how women’s groups and associations not only enable women to advance their rights and agenda collectively, but also help women to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence, networks and supportive relationships necessary to exercise political agency at an individual level32. This echoes VSO's own experiences, for example in Malawi where members of women’s committees within Milk Bulking Groups have gone on to form their own groups to engage more effectively with local government. VSO partner, the Women's League of Burma, has been hosting political forums as part of its No Women No Peace campaign, supporting women to understand their rights and how to claim them, and develop their political networks with local women's groups and political organisations.
c) The need to focus on local decision making
Whilst participation in national decision making is important, greater attention should be given to increasing women’s influence in local decision making at community, village and district levels where it often has the most direct impact on women’s lives33. Measures should include 10

12. strengthening linkages between state and civil society organisations at the local level, and the channels through which local actors and institutions can influence national level decision‐ making. One VSO volunteer in Zambia highlighted the lack of linkages between national and local women's groups. "We need to link up women's associations and bring them together with national groups. What women really lack is a proper channel to influence policies". VSO’s Strengthening Communities Rights and Empowerment (SCORE) Project in Bangladesh, for example, has changed the working practices of Union Parishads in the South West region to enable women representatives to have a more active role in local decision‐making. As part of this, it has worked to strengthen the linkages between the Union Parishads and local civil society organisations, and establish citizen committees at municipal and local level to provide a platform for members of the community to voice issues and influence local planning processes.
d) The need for direct action on discriminatory social norms
Any interventions designed to support women's participation must tackle the negative attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate myths that women cannot or should not take on leadership roles or deny them the necessary authority or status to perform in those roles. Research suggests that strategies should combine more traditional training and education approaches with increasing the profile and positive representation of women in political and public life through the media and popular culture34. VSO has been working with the Kenyan Parliamentary Women’s Association to raise the public profile of its members, promote their achievements in office, and develop members’ media skills.
Involving women themselves in the identification of problems and the implementation of solutions has been shown to be critical for helping women to challenge their own beliefs about women's roles in society and expand their own pathways to influence35. However, it is also critical to work directly with men. As a VSO staff member in Burkina Faso commented, "This is perhaps the most important aspect of gender work; that men must be involved at all stages in order for anything to change". VSO partner, the Zambia National Women’s Lobby’s, runs community workshops and drama performances as part of its civic education programme, providing an invaluable forum for communities in remote areas to challenge negative attitudes and consider the role of men in bringing about change.
6) How should women's participation and influence be incorporated into the post‐2015 framework?
The post‐2015 framework cannot provide a blueprint for tackling gender inequality, or drive forward all of the changes in beliefs, policies and practices that are required. However, if configured correctly, the framework could help to bolster the political will that is desperately needed, foster better understanding and appreciation of the issues, and encourage support for 11

13. the right kinds approaches to address them. At the same time, it is important that the framework retains the characteristics that gave the MDGs their power and strength. These include their focus on a relatively small number of easy to understand goals, the inclusion of concrete targets which have helped to spur action, and the use of measurable indicators to gauge and incentivise progress. Balancing the need for simplicity and measurability with the need for recognition of the complex, multiple and interlinked causes of inequality is not an easy task. However, we believe that it is possible, and suggest the following as a starting point for this work.
A standalone goal on gender equality and women's empowerment
The post‐2015 framework should promote a holistic approach to advancing gender equality, ensuring that discrimination is tackled across health, education, livelihoods and other goal areas. Gender equality must therefore be mainstreamed across all goals36. However, to foster the necessary political will and action, gender equality and women's empowerment must also stand as a goal in its own right, as in the current MDG framework. This will additionally allow for the formulation of time bound targets that tackle specific dimensions of disempowerment that do not fall into other goal areas37. These should focus on addressing the root causes and manifestations of the power imbalances that lie at the heart of gender inequality.
Clustered targets on women's representation
As a fundamental violation of women's rights and a brake on other dimensions of empowerment and development, women's participation and influence in public life must be included under the gender quality goal. The most obvious selection of target for women's participation and influence is to increase women's representation in decision making bodies. As representation in national legislatures is an indicator for the MDGs, a target in this area would help to maintain continuity between the MDGs and post‐2015 framework. International data is already being collected for representation in a range of national institutions. Moreover, a target on women's representation in decision making would build on existing human rights standards and associated commitments, namely those laid out in CEDAW and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action38. It would help to strengthen and advance those standards, avoiding the creation of parallel or duplicating targets that would fragment efforts and require additional political negotiation. Moreover, the Beijing Platform was developed through a consultative, broad‐based process that has lent it legitimacy amongst donors, governments and women's organisations and movements.
However, it is important that the post‐2015 target goes beyond the current MDG measure of the number of women in national parliament. At the very minimum, representation in local as well as national legislatures should be addressed. The framework would be even stronger if it also encompasses other decision making bodies that have impact on women's lives, including 12

14. executive bodies and public administration at local and national levels, and those that act as stepping stones or amplifiers of voice and influence such as civil society organisations39. We therefore recommend that a small cluster of targets is defined, covering representation in a set range of bodies in key sectors such as education, health and public finance. We also believe that the cluster of targets should include representation in international governance institutions as well as at local and national levels.
Beyond representation to influence: accompanying targets and meaningful indicators
Whilst a cluster of targets on women's representation would be an improvement on the current MDG framework, it would not address one of the key issues raised in this paper, namely that representation does not automatically lead to women having more influence, or to positive outcomes for poor and marginalised women. It would be difficult to address these issues through concrete targets, particularly if we are to build a framework that is simple and coherent enough to gain political traction. However, this challenge could be addressed in two main ways.
Firstly, progress against the other targets under the goal on gender equality and women's empowerment should help to assess whether an enabling environment is being fostered that is helping to increase women's influence as well as their representation. For example, targets on, inter alia, the quality of education that women receive, on gender based violence and on access to quality sexual and reproductive health services will help to build the capacities of women to participate effectively in public life whilst, to a certain extent, also helping to tackle some of the discriminatory norms that lead to tokenistic representation.
Secondly, the indicators that sit underneath the targets can help to flesh out the kinds of changes that we want to see and how we intend to achieve them. The MDG framework contains 60 indicators which either measure one of the 21 targets or provide insights into progress achieved in a related area. These are often overlooked; it is the simple overarching goals and incentivising numerical targets that receive the most attention. However, the indicators are extremely important. They give the framework its quantitative teeth and provide a measure of progress. They also help to translate the goals and targets, shedding light onto how they should be interpreted and the approaches that should be pursued to achieve them.
Quality indicators to accompany the cluster of targets on representation could provide insights into whether representation is tokenistic and highlight the areas where action is most needed. Drawing on the analysis of barriers and pathways to influence in sections 4 and 5 of this paper, the post‐2015 target on women's representation should be accompanied by indicators that:
•
not only measure representation, but also participation and influence;
•
assess shifts in norms, values and perceptions of women and men; 13

15. •
capture whether participation is having positive collective outcomes for women affected by poverty;
•
capture whether pathways to participation and influence are open to marginalised women.
The indicators that are best placed to meet these criteria should be defined through a rigorous process that draws on expertise from across UN member agencies, academia and civil society, including women's groups. Whilst not wishing to pre‐empt this process, some suggestions of indicators that could meet these criteria are presented in Box 340.
Box 3: Potential indicators of women's influence in public decision making
Example indicators
•
The proportion of seats held by women from low income households and marginalised groups
•
Women's groups assessment of the number and quality of gender‐sensitive policies passed and implemented at national and local levels
•
Membership by poor and marginalised women in women's groups and other local voluntary organisations
•
Women's confidence in speaking in public
•
Women and men's perceptions of gendered roles in political and public life, and of women's capacities and opportunities to participate and influence
•
Additional indicators specified for other gender equality targets (e.g. on gender based violence and sexual and reproductive rights).
The process to define the indicators should take the following considerations on board:
The need for self‐reported and objective indicators
Objective indicators are those that allow progress to be assessed by an external party with minimal interaction with the subjects that are being monitored. Self‐reported, also known as subjective, indicators are those which provide insights into how people themselves perceive and feel about the issue that is being assessed41. The current MDG framework does not contain any self‐reported indicators. This is a weakness that the post‐2015 framework must address. How people feel about their own lives and opportunities is a critical dimension of poverty. People may have access to the resources and opportunities that they should in theory need, but whether they are actually able or willing to make use of them is a different matter. It is difficult to gauge these issues through objective indicators alone.
This is particularly true for women's participation and influence. As previous sections of this paper have discussed, many of the barriers that women face relate to their own confidence and 14

16. perception of their role in society, and to the perceptions and behaviour of men. It is therefore critical that the post‐2015 framework contains both self‐reported and objective indicators for the target on women's representation. These should encompass (a) what men and women believe women's roles in political and public life should be and (b) how much influence they perceive women to have currently. Such data should be triangulated with objective indicators that provide insights into the enabling environment for participation, such as levels of membership in local organisations and/or the number of active women's organisations.
Combining universal indicators with a toolbox of measures that can be tailored to context
We have argued in this paper for a universal cluster of targets for women's participation and influence, covering a defined set of decision making bodies from local to national levels. A discrete set of universal indicators will be needed to measure representation these institutions. However, the post‐2015 framework will be stronger if countries are also able and supported to build on this universal set of indicators with additional measures that are relevant to specific institutions and contexts. A toolbox of different indicators could be defined, allowing countries to select and adapt those that are most relevant to their national strategies.
Supporting women's participation and influence throughout the post‐2015 process
The processes of selecting indicators and collecting data for the post‐2015 framework should be as broad‐based and participatory as possible, involving women's organisations and civil society groups from local to international levels. This is so that those women who the framework seeks to support are not only treated as active partners rather than passive beneficiaries, but through their participation also develop their own understanding of the issues and how they can be tackled. Participation in the post‐2015 process could be an important step for individual women along pathways towards greater participation and influence in public life more broadly.
It is also critical that the post‐2015 framework contains mechanisms that enable women to hold leaders to account for progress. As the UN Post‐2015 Task Team stated, “Mechanisms should be established for civil society groups to both participate in the setting of priorities, strategies and allocation of resources and in the monitoring of disaggregated goals and targets – including at district and municipal level – and for them to hold governments to account”42.
7) Conclusion
This paper has argued that the post‐2015 framework should contain a strong cluster of targets on women's representation in political and public life. This should sit under an overarching goal on gender equality and women's empowerment, accompanied by complementary targets and quality indicators which measure the nature of women's participation and the impact it is having. 15

17. Systems to collect the data that is needed to assess real progress in these areas are not currently in place. This poses the problem of not already having baselines against which to measure progress. It also means that we will need significant investment in appropriate data collection and processing systems43. This will not be cheap or easy; the kinds of data that are needed will require extensive and in‐depth research and significant capacity building in data collection at national and local levels.
However, if we do not invest in measuring the right things, there is a danger the post‐2015 framework will create the opportunity for ‘easy wins’ for development practitioners without providing any incentive to develop deeper, more nuanced and longer‐term strategies for tackling gender inequality. If we have a target on women's representation without an accompanying set of quality indicators, we risk driving forward increases in the number of women in decision making roles without parallel improvements in women's influence and in decision‐making outcomes for women affected by poverty and marginalisation.
Meaningful progress to support women's empowerment across all of its dimensions in the post‐ 2015 era will not only require shifts in how we measure change, but also in how we support and fund it. It is worrying, for example, that donor support for women's organisations ‐ shown to critical components of pathways to participation and influence ‐ has declined over 40% since 200844. Targeted, as opposed to mainstreamed, support continues to make up a small fraction of overall funding for women's equality and empowerment, standing at only 12% of the total allocated in 2009‐1045.
These challenges are significant, but they must be tackled head on. There is an urgent need for a step change in efforts by the international community to tackle the fundamental injustice and brake on development that women's unequal influence in public life represents. The post‐2015 process presents an opportunity for this that we cannot afford to miss.
16

18. Annex 1: International commitments to women's equal participation and influence in political and public life
International commitment to ensure that women can participate in public affairs on an equal basis to men is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979). The majority of UN member states have ratified CEDAW, which means they have legal obligations to implement the measures contained within it.
Article 7: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right:
•
To vote in all elections and public referenda and to be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies;
•
(b) To participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation thereof and to hold public office and perform all public functions at all levels of government;
•
(c) To participate in non‐governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.
Article 8: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure women, on equal terms with men and without discrimination, the opportunity to represent their Governments at the international level and to participate in the work of international organisations.
CEDAW's definition of political and public life is broad. As General Recommendation 23 (1997) states:
The obligation specified in article 7 extends to all areas of public and political life and is not limited to those areas specified in subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c). The political and public life of a country is a broad concept. It refers to the exercise of political power, in particular the exercise of legislative, judicial, executive and administrative powers. The term covers all aspects of public administration and the formulation and implementation of policy at the international, national, regional and local levels. The concept also includes many aspects of civil society, including public boards and local councils and the activities of organizations such as political parties, trade unions, professional or industry associations, women's organizations, community-based organizations and other organizations concerned with public and political life.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (BPfA, 1995) reaffirms the commitments contained within CEDAW and provides guidance on how its provisions can be implemented. Strategic Objective G on ‘women in power and decision‐making’ commits signatories to: 1) take measures to ensure women’s equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision making; and 2) increase women’s capacity to participate in decision making and leadership.

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1 Woodroffe, J. and Smee, S. (2012) Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality in the Post‐2015 Framework. Gender and Development Network (GADN) submission to the Addressing Inequalities consultation.
2 UN (2012) The Millennium Development Goals Report 2012. New York: UN.
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/MDG/english/The_MDG_Report_2012.pdf
3Ibid.
4 UN Women (2011) In Pursuit of Justice. Progress of the World's Women 2011‐12 New York: UN. http://progress.unwomen.org/pdfs/EN‐Report‐Progress.pdf
5 For further analysis see Brody, A. (2009) Gender and Governance: Overview Report. BRIDGE Cutting Edge Pack. Brighton: IDS
6 Given that the MDGs themselves grew out of previous commitments and priorities, it is difficult to link any changes over the past decade definitively to the framework. A number of analysts suggest that the MDG framework as a whole has had most impact on a rhetorical level, helping to spur debate, attract funding and to a certain extent influence national development policy. However, in an analysis of 20 PRSPs conducted by Fakuda‐ Parr (2010), gender equality is the least cited MDG area, and women's political representation the least often cited standalone priority. The power and influence of the framework should therefore not be overstated. See Sumner and Kenny (2011) and Woodroffe and Smee (2012) op.cit. for further discussion.
Fukuda‐Parr, S. (2010) ‘Reducing Inequality: The Missing MDG’, IDS Bulletin 41.1: 26–35 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1759‐5436.2010.00100.x/abstract
Kenny, C. and Sumner, A. (2011) More Money or More Development? What have the MDGs achieved? Working Paper 278. Washington DC: Center for Global Development. http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1425806
7 Ibid.
8 OECD‐DAC, 2010, Investing in Women and Girls: the Breakthrough Strategy for Achieving All the MDGs;
UN Women, 2011, op. cit.;
United Nations Development Group. (2010) Thematic Paper on MDG 3, March 2010. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/62/62/45341361.pdf ;
Nicola Jones, Rebecca Holmes and Jessica Espey (2008), Gender and the MDGs: A gender lens is vital for pro‐poor results, Briefing Paper 42, IDS, September 2008 http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/3270.pdf
UN Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality (2005). Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women. London: Earthscan http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/Gender‐ complete.pdf
9 Kabeer, N. (2005) ‘Gender equality and women's empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal’. Gender & Development, 13:1, pp13‐24 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13552070512331332273
10 Buvinic, M. et al. (2009) Equality for Women: Where Do We Stand on Millennium Development Goal 3? World Bank.http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTGENDER/Resources/EqualityforWomenfinal.pdf
Grown, C., Rao Gupta, G., Khan, Z. (2003) Promises to Keep: Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. A Background Paper for the Task Force on Education and Gender Equality Of The Millennium Project. Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women http://www.princeton.edu/rpds/seminars/pdfs/grown_promises_to_keep.pdf
11 Tadros, M. (2011). Women Engaging Politically: Beyond Magic Bullets and Motorways, Pathways Policy Paper. Brighton: Pathways of Women’s Empowerment RPC http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/Women_and_Politics_Policy_Paper.pdf
Cornwall, A. and Goetz, A. (2005) Democratizing Democracy: Feminist Perspectives Democratization 12(5) pp783‐ 800.
12 Inglehart, R., and Norris, P. (2003) Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
13 Xiaoxian, G. (2010) ‘From the Heyang Model to the Shaanxi Model: Action Research on Women’s Participation in Village Governance’ The China Quarterly, 204 870:898

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14 For example, in northern Ghana, tradition dictates that women must not sit with men at community meetings but sit behind them (Akapire et al.). In Kenya, women who dare to speak in public are met with abusive language from their communities (Mburia ey al., 2011:38). In India, women who try to participate in village meetings are perceived as ‘modern’ and ‘aggressive’ (Singh 2007:76). One male interviewee from another study in India explained, ‘They don’t discuss; they are not allowed to discuss’ (Geetha and Indira 2010:431).
Akapire, E., Awal, A.M., and Fuseini ‘Catch them young: the young female parliament in northern Ghana’ http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/14607IIED.pdf
Mburia,P., Thuo, J. and Nyambala, M. (2011)’Journeys to Leadership: Women Legislators in Kenya’s Tenth Parliament’, UN Women
Singh, N. (2007) ‘Transgressing Political Spaces and Claiming Citizenship: The Case of Women Kendu Leaf‐Pluckers and the Community Forestry Federation, Ranpur, Orissa’ 62:81 in Krishna Geetha, G. and Indira, R, (2010) ’Women, Income Generation, and Political Capital in the Silk Industry in Karnataka’, Technology and Development 14 (3) 423:440
15 Hoare, J. (2009) ‘Breaking the barriers: Sierra Leonean women on the march’ in Hoare and Gell 2009 51:60
Additional examples come from Zimbabwe where Chabaya et al. (2009) have shown that female teachers tend not to apply for headship positions because to do so would put a question mark over their ‘moral uprightedness’. In India, similar beliefs are held with women expressing concerns that ‘If women participate in politics, they get a bad name [because] politics is dirty’ (Geetha and Indira 2010).
Chabaya, O. Rembe, S. and Wadesango, N. (2009) ‘The persistence of gender inequality in Zimbabwe: factors that impede the advancement of women into leadership positions in primary schools’ South African Journal of Education 29 235:251
Geetha, G. and Indira, R, (2010) ’Women, Income Generation, and Political Capital in the Silk Industry in Karnataka’, Technology and Development 14 (3) 423:440
16 Xiaoxian, G. (2010) op.cit.
17 Castillejo, C. (2009) ‘Women’s participation and political influence in Sierra Leone’ Fride Working Paper 83
18 Johnson, D., H. Kabuchu and S.V. Kayonga (2003) ‘Women in Ugandan local government: the impact of affirmative action’, Gender and Development 11(3) 8:18
19 Urgel, A., and Tanyang, G. (2009) ‘Creating the space to empower women fishers: lessons from the Philippines’ 29:39 in Hoare, J. and Gell, F. (Eds.). (2009). ‘Women’s Leadership and Participation: Case studies on learning for action’ Practical Action Publishing Ltd.
20 Xiaoxian, G. (2010) op. cit.
21 For a discussion of the lack of female representation in the Indian union movement see Batliwala et al. (2004) Batliwala, S. and Rao, A. (2004) ‘Conversations with Women on Leadership and Social Transformation’ Gender at Work http://www.vawnet.org/assoc_files_vawnet/conversationswithwomen.pdf
22 Mburia,P., Thuo, J. and Nyambala, M. (2011) op. cit. Further examples come from Uganda, where one study details the sexual harassment directed at women MPs in government as a matter of course (Tamale 2010). Similarly, when female MPs in Bangladesh enter parliament they are often asked why they have come alone, unaccompanied by their husbands (Prothom Alo 2006 cited in Panday 2008:505).
Tamale, S. (2000) ‘Point of order, Mr Speaker: African women claiming their space in parliament’ Gender & Development, 8(3) 8:15
Panday, P., (2008) ‘Representation without Participation: Quotas for Women in Bangladesh’, International Political Science Review 2008 29 (4) 489‐512
23 UNIFEM (2009) Progress of the worlds women 2008/09 http://www.unifem.org/progress/2008/index‐2.html?
24 UN (2012) op.cit. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202012.pdf
25 See for example Goetz, A. and Musembi, C. (2008) Voice and Women's Empowerment: mapping a research agenda. Pathways Working Paper 2. Brighton:IDS; Tadros, M. (2011) Op. cit. Vetten, L., Makhunga, L. and Leisegang, A. (2012) Making Women’s Representation in Parliament Count: The case of violence against women. Braamfontein: Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre to End Violence Against Women
http://www.tlac.org.za/wp‐content/uploads/2012/01/Womens_Representation_Web1.pdf Goetz, A. M. (2009) ‘Governing Women: Will New Public Space for Some Women Make a Difference for All Women’ in Anne‐Marie Goetz (ed.) Governing Women: Women’s Political Effectiveness in Contexts of Democratization and Governance

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Reform. 1‐25. London: Routledge; Devlin C. and Elgie, R. (2008) ‘The Effect of Increased Women's Representation in Parliament: The Case of Rwanda’. Parliamentary Affairs 61(2): 237‐254
26 Cornwall, A. and Goetz, A. (2005) op. cit.; Tadros, M. (2011) op. cit.
27 Sagot, cited in Tadros, M. (2011) op. cit.
28 Ibid.
29 See http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org
30 Pathways of Women's Empowerment (2011) Empowerment: A journey not a destination. Pathways synthesis report, p.8.
31 Cornwall, A. and Goetz, A. (2005) op. cit
32 For example, in studies by Mathrani and Periodi (2007) and Sharma and Sudarshan (2010) , participants in women's collectives and networks in India report increased influence over decision making in the household and community; In Dhaka, Bangladesh, women participating in local advocacy networks have reported improved mobility outside of the household and influence over community affairs (Banks, 2008); in Kenya(Asaki and Hayes, 2011) and Namibia (Crone, 2010), women have risen through leadership roles in local networks of community caregivers to sit on government decision making bodies; in the Niger Delta, women's groups are active in traditional governance and in protest on environmental and social issues (Ikelegbe, 2005).
Mathrani V. and Periodi V. (2007) ‘The Sangha Mané: The Translation of an Internal Need into a Physical Space’ 289:317 in Krishna
Sharma, D. and Sudarshan, R. (2010) ‘Towards a Politics of Collective Empowerment: Learning from Hill Women in Rural Uttarakhand, India’ IDS Bulletin, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 43–51
Banks, N. (2008) ‘A tale of two wards: political participation and the urban poor in Dhaka city’, Environment and Urbanization 20 (2) 361‐376
Asaki, B. and Hayes, S. ‘Leaders, not clients: grassroots women's groups transforming social protection’ Gender and Development 19(2) 241:253
Crone, T. (2010) ‘Transforming the National AIDS Response Advancing Women’s Leadership and Participation’ (UNIFEM and ATHENA)
Ikelegbe, A. (2005) ‘Engendering Civil Society: Oil, Women Groups and Resource Conflicts in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 43(2) 241:270
33 Corner, 2008; Goetz, 2009; Grown et al., 2008; Kabeer, 2005a; World Bank, 2007; UN Millennium Project Task Force, 2005 op. cit.
34 In China, combining public awareness campaigns with training and education helped to contribute to a 4% increase in female village heads in Shaanxi province (Xiaoxian, 2010 op.cit.); In Cambodia, public concerts to showcase stories of the positive impacts of female leadership effected positive changes in men's attitudes (Oxfam, 2012); in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, training with leaders and officials combined with public education campaigns helped to shift attitudes and increase cooperation between local authorities and women leaders (Ahern et al., 2000).
Oxfam (2012) ‘Women leading change: Experiences Promoting Women’s Empowerment, Leadership, and Gender Justice’ http://policy‐practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/women‐leading‐change‐experiences‐promoting‐womens‐ empowerment‐leadership‐and‐ge‐216290 Accessed 13/10/86
Ahern, P. Nuti, P. and Masterson, J. (2000) ‘Promoting Gender Equity in the Democratic Process: Women’s Paths to Political Participation and Decision making’ International Center for Research on Women and The Centre for Development and Population Activities
35 Pathways of Women's Empowerment (2011) op. cit.
36 For further discussion see Woodroffe and Smee (2012) op. cit.
37 The UN System Task Team on the Post‐2015 UN Development Agenda has noted the need for a wider set of indicators and targets than those contained in MDG 3. UN Task Team (2012) Realizing the Future We Want For All: Report to the Secretary General New York: UN.
Woodroffe and Smee (2012) propose that targets should be selected according to whether they reflect the priorities of marginalised women; address the structural causes of gender equality; are politically feasible and likely to be adopted by governments; and whether they are best placed under another goal. A target on women's participation and influence meet these criteria.

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38 The Beijing Platform for Action helped to concretise the ECOSOC endorsed target of a minimum of 30% representation of women in decision making positions as an international minimum standard. Many countries have already adopted into their quota systems and other affirmative action policies. Adopting this target for the post‐2015 framework would therefore build on existing human rights commitments and align the framework with many governments' existing policies
39 As discussed in this paper, research shows that women's participation in organisations outside of formal politics and administration can be extremely important, both in terms of influencing decisions and providing stepping stones to participation in other decision making bodies. As the MDG framework is likely to be focused on the roles and responsibilities of governments, it may not be realistic to propose targets for representation outside of the formal political and administrative realm. However, targets for other institutions could be set if the framework is open to other signatories, or could take the form of commitments by governments to support participation through funding and partnership. Another option would be to include participation in these bodies as an indicator of overall levels of participation, rather than as targets.
40 The Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index contains indicators on women's membership in economic or social groups and their confidence in speaking in public. See http://www.ifpri.org/publication/womens‐ empowerment‐agriculture‐index
41 For further discussion see Alkire,S., Meinzen‐Dick, R., Peterman, A., Quisumbing, A., Seymour, G. and Vaz, A. (2012) The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative Research Paper: 35a http://www.ophi.org.uk/ophi‐research‐in‐progress‐35a/
42 UN Task Team (2012) op.cit. p15.
43 We would, however, not be starting from scratch. There are opportunities to align efforts with, and strengthen, existing systems and initiatives such as the Afrobarometer and World Data surveys, the African Peer review Mechanism, the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index and the USAID/Hewlett Foundation Data 2X initiative.
44 Alpizar Duran, L. (2012) Strengthening financing for gender equality and women's organizations. Presentation to the UN Commission on the Status of Women 56th Session Interactive Expert Panel. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/panels/panel‐4‐Alpizar.pdf
45 Ibid.