ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates that further attention to the role of women and a gender analysis of African politics can contribute to a deeper understanding of broader democratization processes. It reviews the changing gender configurations in contemporary African politics, and the critical role that African women and women's movements have played in regional political development in the post-Cold War period. The chapter supports the view that democracy cannot be fully understood without attention to the various social forces involved in bringing it about–what J. S. Saul refers to as 'democratization from below'. It argues that many of the constraints to women's political participation lie within the gendered construction of political institutions and processes, so that women are faced with the dual task of entering and working within male-dominated arenas. The broad global scenario of gender politics has emerged following several decades during which women's movements made important inroads at many levels of international governance and politics.
