CC BY
7политология
(POLITICS)
DOI: 10.12731/2070-7568-2015-3-44-64 UDC 327.7
THE world GENDER order: problems and prospects of the creation
Pantserev K.A., Vinogradova s.M.
The purpose of the paper is to present a scientific assessment of the major activities that have been organized over the last twenty years by the international community to achieve genuine equality between women and men. the gender theory applies the methodology and methods specific to the allied fields of knowledge. Nevertheless, the scientific literature describes approaches that are specific to women and gender studies. These are, for example, the empirical, normative and analytical approaches. The first regards feminism as a purely empirical measurement of international relations; the second includes the feminist research in the agenda for social and political development in the international arena; the third considers gender as a scientific category and uses it in identifying the
gender dimension of the theory of international relations and to better understand all components of these relations. The latter analytical approach is pursued by the authors of this paper. The authors proved that many provisions of Action Plan adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Council in Paris (1994), as well as the Beijing Declaration and the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing, 1995), have not yet been implemented, although certain positive shifts are already evident. In a number of European, Asian and African states, women have become more involved in domestic and foreign policy of their respective countries. The article demonstrated how the women's participation in public life, particularly in the area of decision-making, is expanded and how the principle of equal division of powers and responsibilities between men and women is implemented in everyday life, at work and in the public realm. The authors concluded that we can hardly expect any substantial changes in this sphere in the foreseeable future and that the new international gender order is a form of social utopia that is unlikely to be realized in the nearest future. Article submissions may be used in the educational process, as well as the formation of a gender policy of our country.
Keywords: gender; globalization; gender inequality; the world gender order; equal representation; equal sharing of powers and responsibilities between men and women; political process; political participation; decision-making.
тендерный мировой порядок: проблемы и перспективы формирования
Панцерев К.А., Виноградова С.М.
Цель статьи - дать научную оценку основных мероприятий, которые за последние двадцать лет были организованы международным сообществом в целях достижения подлинного равноправия женщин и мужчин. Вопрос о методологии и методике гендерных исследований в области международных отношений представляет существенный интерес. В научной литературе выделяются подходы, которые характерны исключительно для женских и гендерных исследований. Это, например, эмпирический, нормативный и аналитический подходы. Первый расценивает феминизм как сугубо эмпирическое измерение международных отношений; второй включает феминистские исследования в повестку дня борьбы за социально-политические изменения в международной жизни; третий рассматривает гендер как научную категорию и использует ее, чтобы выявить гендерный ракурс теории международных отношений и лучше понять все компоненты этих отношений. Именно этого, аналитического подхода придерживаются авторы данной статьи. Авторы доказали, что многие положения Плана Действий, принятого Межпарламентским советом в Париже (1994), а также Пекинской Декларации и Пекинской Платформе Действий
(Пекин, 1995) пока еще не реализованы, хотя определенные позитивные сдвиги уже очевидны. В ряде европейских, азиатских и африканских государств женщины стали принимать более активное участие во внутренней и внешней политике своих стран. В статье продемонстрировано, как расширяется участие женщин в общественной жизни, в частности в области принятии решений, и каким образом реализуется принцип равного разделения полномочий и ответственности мужчин и женщин в быту, на работе и в публичной сфере. Авторы пришли к выводу, что вряд ли можно ожидать каких-либо существенных изменений в этой сфере в обозримом будущем, и что новый гендерный мировой порядок пока является лишь формой социальной утопии и вряд ли будет реализован в ближайшее время. Материалы публикации могут быть использованы в учебном процессе, а также в ходе формированиягендерной политики нашей страны.
Ключевые слова: гендер; глобализация; гендерное неравенство; мировой гендерный порядок; равное представительство; политический процесс; политическое участие.
The World gender order is a hierarchically organized system of gender relations encompassing all aspects of the social life, both private and public (1; 5). At the same time, this system is not constant. It undergoes profound qualitative transformations and the extent of changes correlates with changes in mentality of the entire society.
The so-called gendered division of labor has long persisted in the society, which «in its simplest form means the distribution of certain types of jobs among the specific categories of people. It is a social structure to that extent, to which this distribution serves as restriction to the further practice. This occurs in several interrelated ways. Firstly, the antecedent division of labor becomes a social rule, under which the job is assigned to certain categories of people. An employee that comes to work at a company gets the job X, if he is a woman, and the job Y, if a man» (2).
However, since the mid-20th century, women demonstrate prominent results in those areas of activity that have long been considered a masculine domain, including politics. Nevertheless, despite the fact that over the last century women have proved that they are capable of working on par with men and doing the man's work, they are not inferior to men either in the intellectual or educational level, they can't be accused of lack of motivation or the improper performance of their job duties, only an insignificant percentage of women breaks into the top echelons of power and gets the opportunity to influence the course of the global political process (3).
Men still hold key positions in the management of large corporations and governmental bodies. According to statistics for 1996, men occupy a total of about 93% senior management positions in business and civil service. Men continue to control technology and defense sectors of the economy. With rare exceptions, these are men who head power departments of their countries, such as the army, internal affairs divisions and the legal system. The key positions in international agencies and organizations are mostly headed by men, too. Until recently,
this situation was considered to be «natural», as prescribed above or as a biological consequence (4).
The latter circumstance forces the international feminist organizations and all concerned parties to initiate an international negotiation process aimed at expanding women's representation in the political systems of their countries. As a result, the rise of the women's movement aimed at providing them equal rights with men in all sectors of social life, has led to a substantial change in a deeply-rooted gender order based on the masculine domination and brought the gender issue onto the agenda as one of the greatest challenges facing the global community.
When reviewing the current phase of struggle for genuine gender equality, we should not disregard such important documents as the Plan of Action adopted by the Inter-Parliamentary Council in Paris (1994), which was aimed at the elimination of existing imbalances in the participation of men and women in political life of their countries, as well as the Beijing platform for Action. It was adopted at the 4th World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), together with the Beijing Declaration. When analyzing these documents, we are bound to ask, how they were implemented and whether they were imple-mentable in principle.
Obviously, the Constitutions of many countries contain the principle of equality of all citizens residing in the territory of this or that state, both women and men. Under the Basic Law, women's rights are not placed in a special category, implying that every person should enjoy the same set of rights, irrespective of the gender. In this regard, we can't state that significant changes in relationships between the gen-
ders have emerged globally after the adoption of the above-mentioned documents.
Naturally, a pivotal transformation of gender relationships can't be implemented instantly or in a historically short time period. On the contrary, it became evident that the respect for women's rights is a problem that should not only be discussed, but also be addressed at the international and national levels.
It is remarkable that no significant changes were registered in the proportional number of men and women engaged in political process in the western countries, despite the fact that the impetus to discussions about the extent of women's involvement in decision-making in the global political discourse was given exactly there. However, the total percentage of women holding top government positions in the West still varies between 20-25%. Against this background, the situation in the countries of the World, which until recently have been called the «Third World» is particularly impressive. Therefore, referring to gender policies in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, Central and South America contributes not only to a better understanding of paths to achieve gender equality, but also clarifies the current trends of the global development.
The Inter-Parliamentary Council adopted a Plan of Action aimed at eliminating the existing imbalances in participation of men and women in the political life of their countries (March 26, 1994, Paris).
This document contains a set of recommendations that should guide the State to increase the presence of women in governance structures. At the same time, the above guidelines are not limited only to reforming the legal framework but also imply certain reforms in edu-
cation and health care system. According to the authors of this Plan of Action, a qualitative improvement in education, especially in the less developed countries, can facilitate women's participation in political life. In this regard, the State should promote equal access to primary education for boys and girls. Moreover, the document emphasizes specifically that every country should establish a single common education period for boys and girls. However, providing universal access to primary education is not the only challenge in this area. In addition, there is a need to develop specialized educational programs for adults, in order to improve the literacy rate among the whole population.
The need to reform the health care system is primarily concerned with the fact that women, mostly in developing countries, often die from complications related to pregnancy, childbirth, or failed abortions. According to the developers of this Plan of Action, this problem does not only prevent women from participating in political life, but also represents a major obstacle to their participation in any area of public life (5).
In this regard, national governments are recommended to undertake such health care reforms that would minimize ultimately the risk of maternal and child mortality, and mothers could focus on the more active participation in public life.
The authors of the document under review pay special attention to the need of reforming the national legislation in such a way that the principle of gender equality in all spheres of public life is originally ensured in the key regulatory acts of the country. Thus, the Plan of Action recognizes that the rights of women, which should be regarded as an integral part of human rights, is guaranteed by the Constitution,
which provides the basis for special laws to be adopted for the legislative recognition of women's rights. When elaborating these draft laws, the state authorities are particularly recommended to cooperate closely with women's organizations and associations, as well as with other stakeholders, to ensure that the new laws meet the interests of the general public to the fullest extent possible.
As follows from the analysis of the document, the legislation and education systems represent the essential foundation and equal participation of women in political process in their countries is virtually impossible in its absence. The regulatory legal acts provide guarantees for women to vote and be elected to the representative government bodies, as well as to hold high public office. The education system helps women to know their rights and raises their civil consciousness, i.e., those important qualities that should encourage their active participation in political life both at national and international levels.
However, any principles guaranteed by the Constitution or other key regulatory and legal acts need to be supported by real guarantees to these rights. In this context, women's rights should be promoted by the Government (the key actor), the national Parliament, political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, and mass media, which should work in close cooperation.
Raising public awareness about the adoption of new regulatory and legal norms that establish equality between women and men, as well as exercising control over their execution should become one of the priorities to the Government. It is particularly emphasized that the Government's policy on providing women with equal rights to be involved in public life should be developed in close cooperation with
political parties, as well as with professional and social organizations. Using the mass media channels, the Government should deliver to the general public its messages about the goals and real achievements ensuring women's equal rights to participate in political life of the country.
In addition to the above listed measures, the Government should also provide women's training in public participation. Moreover, the Government should offer various training courses to the administrative staff (male and female), in order to promote positive changes in its image related to the fact that now both men and women have equal employment opportunities in civil service jobs.
Political parties and non-governmental organizations, for their part, should conduct public awareness campaigns to emphasize the need for and the importance of women's participation in political life by highlighting the fact that this makes an integral part of the process of strengthening democracy.
The mass media plays a substantial role in promoting equal rights of women in political life. The media should contribute to the full elimination of discrimination and prejudice against women and encourage them to improve their professional skills and participate actively in governance and decision-making. In this regard, the media are recommended to publish materials highlighting the women's role in the development of human civilization and theprocesses of world history.
In 1995, the Fourth International Conference on Women was held in Beijing (China), where the UN Member States confirmed the particular importance of addressing the «women's issue». The participants
of the meeting underlined their desire to « view women less as victims and more as important agents of change, and to further study the relations between women and men, and re-evaluate women's traditional roles in society» (6, p. 11).
By the number of participants, the Beijing Conference proved to be the most representative event of this profile ever held under the auspices of the UN. It was attended by 17 thousand people including ca. 5 thousand official representatives of 181 states, ca. 450 representatives of the UN, 26 - of the intergovernmental organizations and 4,035 delegates accredited by non-governmental women's organizations (NGWO).
The main objective of the Conference was to review the activities on implementation the «Forward-looking Strategies for the advancement of women for the period up to the year 2000» undertaken since 1985, in line with the core document adopted at the III World Conference on Women's Rights held in Nairobi (Kenya) in 1985. Summarizing the outcomes of the Beijing conference, a special Platform for Action for the period of 1996-2001 was adopted. The overarching implementation of the main provisions of this document was intended to contribute to the qualitative enhancement of the women's role in the modern world.
«Concurrently with the Beijing Conference (from 30 August till 8 September, 1995) the NGO Forum was held in Huairou, which was attended by more than 31 thousand participants including 200 women delegates from Russia. <...> The objective of the Forum in Huairou was to discuss the amendments of the participants to the draft documents of the Beijing Conference, which proved to be more resolute
than the position of official delegations. It should be noted that the largest group at the Beijing Conference was composed of representatives of 132 developing countries but the most influential was the group of the EU Member States jointly with the USA, Canada and Australia. The Eastern European States formed a special group of countries with economies in transition» (7).
Unfortunately, many of the provisions adopted at the conference and embodied in the Beijing Platform for Action, remained only on paper. The total share of women providing influence on the development of the global political process is relatively low (20-25%), as well as the proportion of women holding top management positions in large corporations (about 15%, according to the data of 2011) (8).
Nevertheless, it should be recognized that over the past two decades, certain positive shifts in this direction are evident.
In a number of European, Asian and African states, women have started participating in political life of their countries. In some cases, they have achieved very good progress. Here is an example of Angela Merkel, who became the first female Chancellor of Germany. Besides, the Ministry of Defence of Germany is headed by a female (Ursula von der Leyen). It is noteworthy that the USA - the country with the extremely high rate of women's emancipation, occupies the modest 84th position in the general rating, which measures the proportion of women in political process of their countries (as of February 1, 2014). In the Congress, women take only 79 out of 432 seats, i.e., 18.3%. A slightly better situation is demonstrated in the Senate, where women hold 20 mandates out of 100 (20.0%) (9).
At the same time, the proportion of women-politicians in the countries of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America increases steadily. Thus, the current President of Argentina is a female (Kristina Elisabet Fernandes de Kirsner).
But special attention should be paid to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia, who became the first woman - the head of a state in Africa and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Nowadays in many African countries women are heads of departments and agencies. For example, in Ghana, women hold the post of Minister of Tourism (Juliana Jocelyn Azumah-Mensah) and Minister of Education (Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang).
African women enjoy a fairly wide representation in representative bodies of their countries. Apart from Rwanda, which occupies the first place in the world rating (by this indicator), the overall proportion of women in parliament is 44.8% in Republic of South Africa, 43.8% - in the Seychelles, 43.3% - in Senegal, 39.2% - in Mozambique, 36.8% - in Angola, 36.0% - in Tanzania, 35.0% - in Uganda, 31.6% - in Algeria, 31.5% - in Zimbabwe, 31.1% - in Cameroon, and 30.5% - in Burundi (9).
Of all the countries mentioned in this study, the most interesting and indicative is the experience of Rwanda - a country that, despite the tragic events of the early 1990s (the Rwandan Genocide of 1994), today holds firmly the world leadership in the overall proportion of women involved in politics.
Surprisingly, but the tragic events of 1994, when nearly 1 million males (according to various estimates) were massacred, explain why women are firmly established in top echelons of power in this country.
As a result of the genocide, the Rwandan male population had dropped dramatically and women just had to replace men in many key positions.
Back in 2003, the total percentage of women in the national parliament did not exceed 15%. However, on July 30-31, 2003, in Kigali, Rwanda, with the support of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in cooperation with the National Assembly of Rwanda and Forum of Rwandan Women Parliamentarians, the National Seminar «Rwandan Women and the Electoral Campaign» was organized. This seminar was a huge success because it brought together women from various parts of the country, representatives of different professions willing to become more involved in political process in their country. The participants discussed a wide range of issues including the constitutional guarantees of the right of women to be elected, the right to vote, the electoral process as a whole, the financing of election campaigns, advertising in mass media and how women can meet the expectations of their voters. The seminar was held on the eve of parliamentary and presidential elections and women took a very active part in them (10, p. 5).
Thus, we can say with certainty that one of the direct implications of this seminar was the rise in self-awareness and civil activity of Rwandan women, which led to the logical results. Today, according to official statistics, more than half of deputies of the Lower House of the Parliament of Rwanda are women (63.8%). Women are well represented in the Senate (they account for 38.5%) and in local authorities (42%). Rwandan women often serve as police officers (30%) but their largest representation is observed in non-profit organizations (NPOs),
where women account for 90% of the NPO managers. Bearing in mind the important role played by NPOs in the development of the national economy and improved living standards, we can conclude that real power is concentrated in the hands of Rwandan women, despite the fact that the President of this country is a male.
In particular, NPOs implement a nationally important «Clean Water» program intended for providing purified drinking water to the population of the post-genocide country. NPOs also contribute to the implementation of the universal primary education program, which gave access to primary school for 97% of girls and 95% boys. For comparison, in 2005, this opportunity was accessible to only 87% of girls and 84% of boys. However, it should be noted that the overall level of education in Rwanda is slightly higher in girls than that in boys (by 2-3%), which may provide additional explanation as to why Rwandan women often make more successful political career than men.
Another example of developing country - Trinidad and Tobago is also indicative, in our point of view. In 2010, for the first time in the history of this country, the female Prime Minister was elected - Kamla Persad-Bissesar, who proclaimed the struggle for gender equality to be one of the top state priorities at the national and international levels. A special national Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development was established for that purpose, which is engaged in development of the national agenda aimed at overcoming gender disparity and protection of children's rights. Besides, Ms. Prime Minister has instituted a new state award - the Medal for the Development of Women. This recent initiative of Ms. Persad-Bissesar makes it clear that she sees a
primary solution to gender disparity in a revolutionary increase in the educational level of women, which in her opinion, still leaves much to be desired.
Drawing on her personal experience, Ms. Prime Minister gives the following example. When she was 16, she was eager to get good education and to go to London for study. But her uncle was unalterably opposed to the plan. His reasoning was that Kamla being a girl should first get married, give birth and raise children (11, p. 3).
Unfortunately, this argument is often voiced by the heads of government bodies and largely for this reason they do not want young women in their offices, even if they have a full set of competitive advantages against the male employees.
But Kamla Persad-Bissesar disobeyed her relative. She went to study in London, got a good education and managed to take the top post in her state. Now Ms. Prime Minister is convinced that if a woman receives good education, it would inevitably open lots of opportunities to her career.
Thus, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago can be attributed to the active supporters of the idea of a new international gender order, which should represent a situation where women make up half of the legislative branch, half of the government employees, half of the civil and community leaders, and half of decision-makers in all spheres of public life.
Despite the fact that the implementation of international programs in gender policy still encounters serious difficulties, we can observe that women get increasingly involved in public life. In the 1990s, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands were the leading
countries by the number of women in their parliaments. However, by that time, a phenomenon of the «third world» has already declared itself, which denies to some extent the Fukuyama's forecast that this «masculine» region will be headed exclusively by vigorous young males. As early as 1990s, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Argentina, Bolivia, Haiti, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador demonstrated the most vivid examples of women's «entry into power». This list has expanded considerably in recent decades, in particular, due to African countries. It should be noted that the progress achieved by women in Rwanda and some other developing countries, turns out to be inaccessible for representatives of the Western civilization, despite the apparent recent activation of feminist movement in the West.
So far, it is hard to predict whether this trend is sustainable. We can hardly expect any substantial changes in this sphere in the foreseeable future. According to our estimates, the new international gender order is a form of social utopia that is unlikely to be realized in the nearest future.
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DATA ABoUT THE AUTHoRs
Pantserev Konstantin arsenyevitch, Professor, PhD (Philology), Doctor of Political Sciences
St.-Petersburg State University
Universitetskaya nab., 7-9, St.-Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: pantserev@yandex.ru
Vinogradova svetlana Mchailovna, Professor, PhD (History), Doctor of Political Sciences
St.-Petersburg State University
Universitetskaya nab., 7-9, St.-Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation
E-mail: vinogradovasm@inbox.ru
данные об авторах
панцерев константин Арсеньевич, доктор политических наук, доцент
Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет
Университетская наб., 7-9, г. Санкт-Петербург, 199034, Российская Федерация
E-mail: pantserev@yandex.ru
виноградова светлана михайловна, доктор политических наук, профессор
Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет
Университетская наб., 7-9, г. Санкт-Петербург, 199034, Российская Федерация
E-mail: vinogradovasm@inbox.ru
