This book analyses the diffusion of norms concerning gender-based violence and gender mainstreaming of aid and trade between the EU, South America and Southern Africa. Norm diffusion is conceptualized as a truly multidirectional and polycentric process, shaped by regional governance and resulting in new geometries of transnational activism.

“A very valuable and much needed book on a central element in the processes of social change: the construction and reconstruction of social norms as they move between global and local levels.” —Naila Kabeer, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK “This book explores how gender equality norms are ever-evolving and argues convincingly that we cannot take their effectiveness, nor their acceptance, for granted.” —Judith Kelley, Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, USA “In an era of increasing resistance to gender equality, this is a much-needed volume that attends to how gender equality norms are interpreted and contested in governance organisations ranging from the UN and the EU to Mercosur and women’s NGOs in India and Uganda.” —Ann Towns, University of Gothenburg, Sweden This edited collection provides a new theoretical approach to the study of how global norms influence social processes. It analyses the institutional and highly political processes whereby actors – be they local, national, regional or trans-national – engage with global norms of gender equality. The editors bring together key thinkers who emphasise how context and history effect norm engagement and how particular groups and actors tend to be marginalised from discussions of global norms. By proposing a situated approach that underlines the contingent, multi-level processes that occur when actors interpret, use, manipulate, bend, or betray norms, notions of norm diffusion are fundamentally challenged. This book makes a further crucial contribution to the study of norms and gender equality in global governance by analysing very different empirical contexts, from New Delhi and St. Petersburg to the Organisation of American States, and from Kampala and New York to the European Union.

Based on focus groups and interviews with nearly 4,000 women, men, girls, and boys from 20 countries, this book explores areas that are less often studied in gender and development: gender norms and agency. It reveals how little gender norms have changed, how similar they are across countries, and how they are being challenged and contested.

Gender inequality holds back not just women but the economic and social development of entire societies. This atlas presents a new measure of gender inequality which examines women’s status according to family situation, physical integrity, son preference, civil liberties and ownership rights.

The new Regional Gender Equality Strategy and Action Plan 2024–2027 for the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region aims to ensure its applicability across the diverse and complex contexts within the NENA region. Recognizing the multifaceted nature of the region, characterized by a spectrum of situations, the strategy incorporates a precise set of indicators that extend until 2027. This extended timeframe facilitates a systematic review of the strategy, allowing for adjustments and refinements to be made, ensuring its continued relevance and effectiveness until the targeted horizon of 2030. A collaborative agreement between FAO colleagues and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO) brought in experts in gender equality and results-based management to develop this strategy.

The EU likes to be seen as a normative actor, engaged in diffusing the norms and values enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. This book focuses on gender equality as one of these values. It shows that the EU, in implementing the mandate to promote gender equality abroad, is acting under distinctly separate sets of logic in the various policy fields and vis-�-vis different stakeholders. The same normative commitment to gender equality, when filtered through the particular logic of the various policy fields, leads to different types of external action with rather different outcomes. (Series: Gender Discussion / [Gender-Diskussion, Vol. 24) pSubject: European Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Public Policy, Politics]

This book explores and analyzes gender mainstreaming in South Asia. Gender mainstreaming as a concept is about removing disparities between men and women – about equal access to resources, inclusion and participation in the public sphere, representation in government, and empowerment, all with the aim of achieving equal opportunities for men and women in family life, society, administration, politics, and the economy. The challenges of gender mainstreaming in South Asia are huge, especially in the contexts of patriarchal, religious, and caste-based social norms and values. Men’s dominance in politics, administration, and economic activities is distinctly visible. Women have been subservient to the policy preferences of their male counterparts. However, in recent years, more women are participating in politics at the local and national levels, in administration, and in formal economic activities. Have gender equality and equity been ensured in South Asia? This book focuses on how gender-related issues are incorporated into policy formulation and governance, how they have fared, what challenges they have encountered when these policies were put into practice, and their implications and fate in the context of five South Asian countries. The authors have used varied frameworks to analyze gender mainstreaming at the micro and macro levels. Written from public administration and political science perspectives, the book provides an overview of the possibilities and constraints of gender mainstreaming in a region, which is not only diverse in ethnicity and religion, but also in economic progress, political culture, and the state of governance.

On Norms and Agency explores some of the power dynamics of gender relations within the household and communities in different contexts. These processes are analyzed from the perspectives of groups of men and women and boys and girls who participated in focus groups in 97 communities around the world. From gender differences and inequalities to intra-household decision making, more than 4,000 women and men in 500-plus single-sex focus groups reflected on how social norms that define what it means to be and act as a woman or a man affect their life outcomes and their access to opportunities. The analysis reveals not only how little gender norms have changed and how similar they are across countries, but also how change in norms and in individual empowerment and capacity to act and decide takes place. Change takes place at private as well as community and society levels -- and adjustments within one of these realms shape the pace and direction of change in the other. The process of gender-norm change appears to be uneven and challenging. The easy coexistence of new and old norms means that households in the same community can vary markedly in how much agency women can exercise; women feel less empowered when opinions and values of families and communities stay within traditional norms. This book seeks to understand the pathways toward greater gender equality by looking at the deepest constraints present for women and men alike. Unlike men, women are less dependent on the economic conditions of their environment. Men's power and agency are tightly intertwined with their identity and capacity as breadwinners. The main pathways for women to gain agency are education, employment, and decreased risk of domestic violence. A safer space encourages women to negotiate for more participation and equality in household discussions and decisions. Women's ability to contribute to family finances and to control (even partially) major or minor assets helps them gain more voice at home and in public spheres. Women's aspirations and empowerment to break gender barriers can be observed almost everywhere, even when economies are stagnant. These evident aspirations are partly due to women's perceptions of having more power and freedom in their lives and a greater ability to make decisions. Yet many women around the world, the study shows, still face norms and practices that limit them.

Until recently, few gender scholars took notice of the impact of state architecture on women's representation, political opportunities, and policy achievements. Likewise scholars of federalism, devolution and multilevel governance have largely ignored their gender impact. For the first time, this book explores how women's politics is affected by and affects federalism, whether in Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia or the US. Equally, it assesses the gender implications of devolution and multilevel governance in the European Union, including case studies of the UK and Germany. Globally, multilevel governance is providing new arenas for women's politics. For example, CEDAW (the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) has led most governments to adopt gender-equality norms while other UN instruments have supported Aboriginal self-government. Gender scholars will find especially valuable what is revealed about the impact of political architecture on a broad range of policy issues, including gay marriage, reproductive rights and childcare. Federalism scholars will benefit from the book's wide range of cases, comparative themes and combination of gender and federalism perspectives. Written by leading experts, this book fills an important gap in both literatures.