ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the gendered impact of federalism. Various aspects of federalism such as intergovernmental relations, asymmetry, and multilevel federalism, affect the way women and women’s organisations engage with the state. While women’s organisations can benefit from federalism through forum-shopping, policy innovation, and experimentation, there are other aspects of federalism that affect women, which have not been addressed in literature. Territorial and constitutional asymmetry, for example, affects a woman’s ability to benefit from the law and policies of her native state upon marriage to a person from a different state. However, because intergovernmental consultations tend to be take place behind closed doors, it is difficult for women’s organisations to participate in these interactions. The chapter recommends that governments enable a greater number of women to participate in decision-making, and advocates for increased space for lobbying on women and gender issues, and maximising the sharing of ideas between subnational governments.
