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This article studies the interactive effects of world society and cultural diversity on the gender gap in political empowerment. Focusing on the Women's Share of Seats in National Parliaments (WSSNP) and the Gender Gap in Political Empowerment (GGPE) Index as two main outcome variables, the analyses use a growth curve approach to estimate nations' trajectories of gender political inequality and explain them by time-invariant and time-varying independent variables. Overall, the results suggest that nations' level of embeddedness in the world society, measured by the political globalization index of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute, closes the gender gap in political empowerment. Nevertheless, more culturally diverse societies, in terms of the level of religious fractionalization, are more susceptible to the equalizing impacts of globalization on the gender gap in political empowerment. Conversely, culturally homogenous nations appear to show some level of resistance to adopting the gender-equitable values prompted by world culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dairy co-operatives provide a stable source of income for thousands of dairy farmers in Palakkad district of Kerala. The rural people are primarily involved in farming activities such as animal husbandry and dairying. The research was carried out with an objective to study the empowerment of dairy farmers who were members of dairy co-operatives in Palakkad district. The primary data were collected from 200 active members of the four dairy co-operatives, namely Moolathara milk producer’s co-operative society Ltd. No. P 65 (D), Kunnamkattupathy milk producer’s co-operative society Ltd. No. P 126 (D), Menonpara milk producer’s co-operative society Ltd. No. P 281 (D), and Attappadi milk producer’s co-operative society Ltd. No. P 558 (D). Structured interview schedule was used for data collection. The data were analyzed by using the index method.The selected dairy co-operatives in the Palakkad district play an important role in the economic, social, psychological, and political empowerment of its member dairy farmers. The dairy farmer members make significant contributions to dairy development in Palakkad. Their involvement in dairy farming is regarded as an important tool for alleviating poverty and improving the rural community’s quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are long ignored from the organized political arena across the world, but several initiatives have been taken for entrance of women in local-level politics. The main objective of the study is to provide an idea about effective and pseudo-participation of the women representatives and to bring out the factors responsible for kinds of participation. For that, district headquarters of West Bengal have been chosen. Two indices (political empowerment index (PAI) and political awareness index (PEI)) infer that the same category city has different degrees of women's awareness and participation. The rate of pseudo participation is much higher than the effective participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For centuries, centralisation was the dominant model of governance in most parts of the developing world. However, since the mid-1980s many countries in Africa have adopted decentralisation owing to the failure of centralisation to deliver public goods to citizens. In 1992, Uganda adopted decentralisation policy reforms to give ordinary citizens more control over their own administration and development agenda. This article reports case study research conducted in Karamoja, Uganda to establish the extent to which decentralisation reforms have indeed empowered local people. Research findings revealed mixed results. Although decentralisation resulted in the creation of the local government system, which in principle offers representational governance for different interest groups in local communities, ordinary citizens have fallen short of being politically empowered. State--society power relations have remained unaltered in favour of local elites. The authors contend that for political empowerment of citizens to be achieved, there is a need to devolve a considerable amount of autonomy to local governments and review the law to make local elites subordinate to citizen representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For centuries, centralisation was the dominant model of governance in most parts of the developing world. However, since the mid-1980s many countries in Africa have adopted decentralisation owing to the failure of centralisation to deliver public goods to citizens. In 1992, Uganda adopted decentralisation policy reforms to give ordinary citizens more control over their own administration and development agenda. This article reports case study research conducted in Karamoja, Uganda to establish the extent to which decentralisation reforms have indeed empowered local people. Research findings revealed mixed results. Although decentralisation resulted in the creation of the local government system, which in principle offers representational governance for different interest groups in local communities, ordinary citizens have fallen short of being politically empowered. State–society power relations have remained unaltered in favour of local elites. The authors contend that for political empowerment of citizens to be achieved, there is a need to devolve a considerable amount of autonomy to local governments and review the law to make local elites subordinate to citizen representatives.

With entry of the new millennia, Morocco enacted measures to improve women's political representation, perhaps the most prominent of which is the adoption of the quota system, which made it possible to improve women's presence in representative institutions prompting a quantum leap in the embodiment of their political rights. This study examines the evolution of the legal framework for women political empowerment in Morocco and concludes that legislating the political rights of women is still facing much resistance as there are several constraints that limit their representative weight and their influence in the political decision. This necessitates the enactment of an integrated approach that combines political, economic and social dimensions of empowering women politically and the advancement of their rights based on gender indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper’s aim is to check whether there is a relationship between the effectiveness of emotion management techniques and the protesters’ subjectivity level in Poland. In this case, it is necessary to analyse selected significant social protests in terms of the emotions felt by the ruling elites, the emotions they evoke among the protesters, and the level of political subjectivity possessed by the latter. In June 1956, the technique of masking emotion management was used effectively. The intensification technique in October was fully effective. In December 1970, only the use of the intensification technique brought results. In June 1976, the masking technique proved to be effective within a limited time range. In the summer of 1980, the party-state apparatus was not able to effectively manage emotions. The breakthrough was the introduction of martial law and forcing a significant part of society to be submissive and conformist. Managing emotions by intensifying them during the Women’s Strike proved to be partially effective. Crossing the threshold of subjectivity by opposition social groups makes the management of emotions generally ineffective. The paper offers an innovative research design for analysing the relationships between the management of emotions and the political subjectivity level.

Purpose – This study investigates the effectiveness of microfinance-backed entrepreneurship as a mechanism for the holistic empowerment of women. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs a mixed-method research-design consisting of quasi-experimental design (quantitative approach) involving women, both entrepreneurs (132) and non-entrepreneurs (238), as well as in-depth semi-structured interviews (qualitative approach). Findings – Quantitative analysis revealed that female entrepreneurs are better off than female non-entrepreneurs in terms of economic, social, political and psychological indicators of empowerment. However, relatively lesser impact was found in terms of political, and to an even smaller extent, social empowerment of women. Analysis of in-depth interviews corroborated these findings confirming that entrepreneurship serves as an effective tool for the holistic empowerment of women. However, non-entrepreneurs also exhibit social empowerment. Research limitations/implications – Given the restricted geographical ambit of the study, prudence ought to be exercised in drawing inferences applied to alternate contexts. That the vast majority of questionnaire respondents are illiterate presented a notable impediment in the process of collection of accurate responses. Practical implications – Microfinance intervention ought to be specifically directed to cultivating entrepreneurship among women; in particular, to achieve the full benefits of empowerment, women availing microfinance ought to exert full control over their own business ventures. Originality/value – In analyzing holistic empowerment through microfinance supported businesses set up by women, the study adds to the existing literature on women entrepreneurship and empowerment.

The present study attempts to examine the impact of microfinance on certain dimensions of women empowerment, namely economic, social, political and psychological. Quasi-experimental design comprising of control group (180) and treatment group (190) has been employed to assess the impact of microfinance on women empowerment. The findings revealed positively significant but moderate level of impact of microfinance on economic, political and psychological dimensions of women empowerment and only smaller overall impact on social empowerment. In addition, case studies further supported microfinance programme has substantially empowered women in terms of economic, political, social and psychological dimensions. More importantly, ambiguity over social empowerment was cleared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary advocates for food assistance programmes that support political empowerment and public policy participation among those experiencing food insecurity. This change will help transform hunger programmes from stigmatising support programmes into vehicles to end hunger. Food insecurity is not an isolated phenomenon, but a symptom of historical socio-political marginality such as settler colonialism, Jim Crow segregation, racial gerrymandering, anti-immigrant policies and neoliberal cutbacks to worker's wages and union organising rights. In sum, people are hungry because they are cut out of power, and for working people to be fed feeding lines must be transformed into spaces of empowerment and public policy voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent efforts to examine the political outcomes of social media use, little is known about the reinforcement of political empowerment and moderating effect of political interest. It is vital to understand the elements that influence the level of political empowerment. Therefore, this paper used a sample of Pakistani voters (n=410) aged 18-29 to offer insight into how social media use alongside other political behaviors, such as partisanship, political expression, and political interest, affect political empowerment. Social Identity Theory (SIT) and rational choice theory provided the theoretical underpinning for the variables of this study. The statistical analyses were performed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) to assess the effects of four variables i.e., social media use, political partisanship, political expression, and political interest, on political empowerment. This study made a significant contribution to the research literature by combining SIT and rational choice theory in one framework. This study also expands the literature on political interest by introducing political interest as a moderator between the inconsistent relationship of political expression and political empowerment. Our results demonstrated that partisanship and social media use positively influenced political expression among young voters. Moreover, political interest positively moderated the relationship between political expression and political empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering women is presented as a key strategy to achieve several goals of the sustainable development (SDG) agenda, including child health. However, the literature on the subject shows mixed results and is limited regarding political empowerment. Responding to this gap, we explore whether women's political empowerment is associated with positive health outcomes for children under 5 years of age. We use the V-Dem project's 'Women's Political Empowerment Index' (WPEI) in combination with selected SDG indicators of child health from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's 2017 Global Burden of Disease, for 161 countries, between 1990 and 2016. We estimate fixed-effects regressions for the WPEI against child mortality, stunting and immunisation coverage, controlling for structural and socio-economic indicators from the SDGs and potential lagged effects. The WPEI is associated with improved nutrition and immunisation but its substantive effect is small. High-, low-income and least developed countries benefit more from the effect of women's political empowerment on child mortality. The effect of women's political empowerment on stunting is stronger in middle-income countries while its effect on immunisation is more relevant to low-income and least developed countries. Our study demonstrates the complexity of the relations between women's political empowerment and child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civic education is associated with the development of democratic capacity. However, this concept is measured using a limited battery of metrics (e.g., trust in government) that do not adequately capture the political sentiments of racially marginalized youth. Drawing from conversations with Chicago high school students and their teachers, I argue that democratic capacity should comprise a broader set of attitudes and behaviors, including political empowerment and acts of public voice. In the process, I identify one pedagogical technique associated with the development of empowerment: historically grounded conversations about politics that validate students' distrust of government. Nationally representative survey data suggests that civic learning experiences of this kind are associated with feelings of political empowerment and that empowerment is associated with multiple forms of political participation, particularly among Black and Latinx youth. Overall, this study provides a path forward for those interested in reimagining civic education in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite the passing in 2015 of UNSCR 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security, the study of young people's political agency in conflict, and the possibilities for empowerment and transformative change, remains sparse. This article investigates generative processes of youth political agency in the Syrian war since 2011 and under what conditions conflict has politically empowered/disempowered youth. Drawing on 72 interviews carried out with youth inside the country in the period 2019–2021, the article conducts spatial analysis to assess how the different spaces the conflict has produced inform youth agency. The article finds that the different degrees of agency are mediated by space-specific logics of security, autonomy and control. While some youth have experienced political empowerment, this has been limited to zones of autonomous governance; meanwhile, in regime-held zones, the spatial logic of authoritarian consolidation mediates political disappropriation. The article argues that this divergence has important implications for Syrian youth's political subjectivities and the emergence of new inequalities that are further compounded by everyday tactics of movement restriction. Given the conflict's likely denouement, transformative potential appears dim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering women is presented as a key strategy to achieve several goals of the sustainable development (SDG) agenda, including child health. However, the literature on the subject shows mixed results and is limited regarding political empowerment. Responding to this gap, we explore whether women’s political empowerment is associated with positive health outcomes for children under 5 years of age. We use the V-Dem project’s ‘Women’s Political Empowerment Index’ (WPEI) in combination with selected SDG indicators of child health from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation’s 2017 Global Burden of Disease, for 161 countries, between 1990 and 2016. We estimate fixed-effects regressions for the WPEI against child mortality, stunting and immunisation coverage, controlling for structural and socio-economic indicators from the SDGs and potential lagged effects. The WPEI is associated with improved nutrition and immunisation but its substantive effect is small. High-, low-income and least developed countries benefit more from the effect of women’s political empowerment on child mortality. The effect of women’s political empowerment on stunting is stronger in middle-income countries while its effect on immunisation is more relevant to low-income and least developed countries. Our study demonstrates the complexity of the relations between women’s political empowerment and child health.

This study takes a novel attempt to examine the impact of women's empowerment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which has been prioritized recently by the country's leadership as a part of the Saudi Vision 2030, on women's intention towards entrepreneurship. A pre-examined survey was directed to the Saudi women working in KSA's food and beverage businesses. The structural equation modeling results showed a significant positive impact of psychosocial, economic, and political empowerment on Saudi women's intention to engage in entrepreneurship activities. However, the results confirmed a significant negative influence of social empowerment on entrepreneurship intentions. This is because Saudi women did not perceive the proper social empowerment by their community, which negatively influenced their entrepreneurship intention. Hence, interventions by decision-makers are crucial to adopt a media campaign regarding gender equality and the vital contribution of women in the labor market and entrepreneurship. Other implications were discussed for scholars and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Partial and perceived empowerment in the practice of public hearings, widely spreading across China since the late 1990s and still operating today, is puzzling. Citizens enjoy the right to participation, information, and formal equality but their political empowerment is constrained without the right to elect and dismiss officials there. This article examines the politics of 'authoritarian empowerment,' which combines partial empowerment and sophisticated control, and separates psychological empowerment from political empowerment. Through such a delicate combination and separation, citizens are partially empowered, paradoxically, to prevent their full empowerment. Our study is a supplement to the previous study of authoritarian deliberation (consultation) and phantom democracy, discloses the deficiency of the literature on local deliberative democracy in China, and enriches the literature on sophisticated authoritarian innovation in Southeast Asia. The article is based on documented research, interviews with 469 non-participants and 72 participants, and an in-depth case study in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates leadership dynamics in research teams. It studies how principal investigators (PIs) and team members cultivate their relationship through the lens of leader‐member exchange theory (LMX). Thirty‐one in‐depth interviews with both PIs and team members across 15 externally funded teams in the UK are analysed. The findings show that these relationships can be characterised along four influential dimensions: positional layer; informal layer; and the newly identified political layer and life domain. These layers show how PIs balance between formal and informal power structures, and, more broadly, how leadership dynamics go beyond the specific context in which a team is situated and members work. The notion constructing working relationships is proposed to stress on the need for both PIs and members to engage in a process of balancing potential tensions. Thus, the paper provides PIs with insights into the nature of leadership within a research team and recommendations regarding team design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to analyze the effect of the political empowerment of women on vulnerability to climate change in 169 countries for the period 1995–2017. The empirical evidence which is based on panel fixed effects regressions shows that (i) the political empowerment of women as well as its components (i.e., civil liberties of women, participation of women in civil society and participation of women in political debates) reduce vulnerability to climate change. (ii) The underlying effect is most pronounced in upper middle income, Latin American, small and fragile countries. (iii) Public spending on education, the effectiveness of governance and education are the real transmission channels through which vulnerability to climate change is affected by women’s political empowerment. The findings are robust to alternative estimation methods such as the Tobit, dynamic fixed effects, and generalized method of moments regressions. Policy implications are discussed, inter alia, the need for sampled countries to encourage women’s political empowerment in order to reduce risks linked to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Political Sciences is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The aim of this article is to study the effect of gender gap in economic participation and opportunities on growth and development of Asian Countries. Design/methodology/approach: Secondary data has been used in the analysis. Content analysis has been done by using Data Analysis method-PSPP: Correlation. Findings: According to the results, the correlation between gender gap in economic participation and opportunities and growth and development is 0.33. Due to the scarcity of data on access to women to economic opportunities the correlation was low. If study the table closely, it was determined that countries with low gender gap in economic participation were doing well in growth and development. Practical implications: The paper has guiding significance for the overall development of an economy by keeping in mind the importance of gender parity, and also provides the scientific reasoning that gender parity in economic participation can lead to higher growth and development levels. Originality/value: This paper has reviewed the degree of gender in economic participation, effects of it in development and the relationship between development and gender parity in economic participation and opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The birth of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa otherwise known as Maputo Protocol was meant to overcome the shortcomings of the African Charter on Human Rights. Despite Nigeria’s ratification of the protocol, little concrete achievements have been recorded. This study situates the right of Nigerian women to participate in political and decision-making process under the Maputo Protocol in the context of normative and hegemonic barriers in the country. Using analytical methodology, the paper argues that the underrepresentation of Nigerian women in public governance is a negation of human rights. The domestication of the Protocol is recommended.

Despite commitments by the Arabian Gulf countries to promote gender equality and policies of nondiscrimination against women, the underrepresentation of women in the political sphere remains unchanged. Using the case of the Sultanate of Oman, this paper endeavors to analyze the reasons behind the persistent political disempowerment of women in the Middle East and North African region through the lens of public opinion. The findings are based on 288 surveys conducted with two groups of participants -- a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in political science, and a group of Omani citizens with no political education. These findings confirm the impact of both formal (government driven) and informal (socio-cultural) factors resulting in the low level of political empowerment of Omani women. By exploring public opinion formed towards women's political empowerment in the country, it was observed that respondents who majored in political science demonstrated a lower degree of gender bias compared to citizens with no education in political science. Socio-demographic variables such as the age and level of education of both groups did not show any significant impact on either reducing or increasing gender bias. However, a positive correlation between gender and citizens' opinions was observed. While politically educated respondents, regardless of their gender, maintained a positive attitude towards women and their participation in politics, male respondents from the general public group exhibited elevated levels of bias against the need for women's political empowerment. The study shows that gender bias is neutralized when mediated by the variable of political awareness. The findings also suggest that an increase in the level of political awareness among citizens might be considered as a positive intervention needed for changing public opinion in favour of the political empowerment of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India was introduced with a stated legislative intent of reserving not less than a third of seats for women in institutions of local self-government, the three-tier panchayati raj institutions. That amendment is considered a milestone in India’s project of empowerment of women. This paper evaluates the power and prestige of the post of an adhyaksha (chairperson) of a zila (district) panchayat (council) in general, and in particular the status of women elected to the post during 2016 in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). Analysing the candidature, electoral success, electoral practices and subsequent functioning of zila panchayat adhyakshas (ZPAs), the authors argue that despite seats being reserved for women, no meaningful political empowerment of women has occurred in UP. The paper questions the efficacy of the indirect mode of election of ZPAs in bringing about empowerment of women, arguing that indirect elections enable powerful ruling elites to use women as proxies, subverting the legislative intent of the 73rd Amendment. The paper therefore proposes electoral reforms.

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According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), gender inequality is the loss in potential human development that occurs due to differences between the genders in achievements with respect to health, empowerment, and labor market participation. These differences in achievements typically favor men. Gender inequality is especially visible in the Arab world. We compare gender inequality in Arab countries with that in non-Arab countries, especially developed countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We argue that crossnational differences in gender inequality reflect cross-national differences in patriarchy, in particular differences in how men use their power over women to limit their agency or ability to make decisions for themselves. We set out a causal model to account for cross-national variations in gender inequality. Direct causes include fertility rate, per capita income, polygamy, OECD country, and corruption. Gender inequality in Arab countries is highly variable due to large differences in per capita income and is elevated because of polygamy and corruption. Arab countries can enact policies that would reduce gender inequality, especially improvements to women's secondary and higher education. We analyze gender inequality in the Arab world and address the following questions: Is gender inequality greater in Arab countries? Among countries in the world generally, what differences in patriarchal practices contribute to differences in gender inequality? Where are Arab countries found with respect to such practices? What policies in Arab countries would reduce gender inequality? Our focus is upon cross-national differences in gender inequality, not upon differences in gender inequality within societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing constraints Pakistani women legislators face despite their entry into politics on a 17 per cent quota in national and provincial assemblies, it is time to rethink how quotas can lead to their political mainstreaming. This article explores quota legislators' views on their own accountability and empowerment based on the first online survey in Pakistan with 200 women in the assemblies (2013-18). Findings show quota legislators resist classification as male proxies and view themselves as accountable to notional voters, although they are indirectly elected. Many report silencing and harassment by male colleagues. Cross-party women's caucuses in each assembly have a mixed track record of facilitating substantive representation, undermined by religious parties and class differences. Respondents favoured further affirmative action mechanisms to increase their political voice, e.g. additional quota requirements within parties, more tickets for general seats and participation in key decision-making bodies of parties. A trajectory for women in politics to move from quota seats (in local bodies and assemblies) to general seats is not yet in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the mutually empowering relations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his followers, and how Erdoğan’s charismatic leadership and image functioned to galvanize his followers on the night of July 15, 2016, when large numbers of them mobilized against the attempted coup. The article has three sections. The first is a theoretical discussion which sheds light on the concept and the underlying mechanisms of political empowerment and its effects on the relationships between leaders and followers. The second section evaluates Erdoğan’s characteristics and ruling style, which was instrumental in motivating resistance to the abortive coup. Finally, the third section analyzes the various means by which Erdoğan was able to inspire the masses to mobilize against the armed junta through interviews and observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Al Bashaer Economic Journal is the property of Al Bashaer Economic Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)