ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the overall rationale for the book. It argues that while women’s increased representation in electoral politics is important, it is not enough. This is evidenced by the persistence of a complex range of gendered inequalities, marginalisations, discriminations and violence across the African continent. Two shortcomings to existing approaches to engendering democracy are identified. These include the incompatibility of Western liberal models with the more deliberative, consensus-based models which form the basis of everyday politics across many diverse contexts, and the limits of an ‘add women and stir’ approach to policy and programming in the context of gendered inequalities which are linked to the extractive globalised political economy. In order to address these shortcomings, the chapter argues for a renewed focus on the range of more informal spaces where women (and men) gather, organise and interact in a more regular and systematic manner in order to explore the opportunities they afford for political participation and influence.
The chapter also sets out the methodological and theoretical approaches employed in the book. This combines data from a series of interrelated research projects in Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Malawi and Rwanda with broader literature using a framework which draws from feminist political theory. The authors’ own positionality in this regard is discussed. The chapter concludes with a synopsis of the book’s chapters.
