Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy Department of Political Science
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VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND DIPLOMACY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE IBORO OKON UDO International Practices Empowering Women Political Participation Tarptautinė praktika, suteikianti moterims politinį dalyvavimą Master Thesis Diplomacy and International Relations, State Code 621L20004 Political Science Study Field Supervisor Dr. Ieva Karpavičiūtė Defended prof. dr. Šarūnas Liekis_____________________ Kaunas, 2019 CONFIRMATION OF STUDENT WORK AUTHENCITY I Iboro Udo hereby confirm that my submitted Master’s Thesis with the topic International Practices Empowering Women Political Participation is done independently by me, all references from the works of other authors are properly cited and the full literature list is provided at the end of the paper. 1 CONTENTS ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... 5 SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 6 SANTRAUKA .................................................................................................................................. 7 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 8 1. CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL EXPLORATIONS OF GENDER AND POLITICAL DISCOURSE AND VIEWS FROM THE THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 16 1.1. The overview of International Relations Theories ...................................................... 16 1.1.1. Feminists Approach in International Relations ........................................................ 16 1.1.2. Institutionalists Approach in International Relations ............................................... 19 1.2. Gender in International Relations ................................................................................ 22 1.2.1. Factors affecting women participation in political activities.................................... 23 1.2.2. Gender and the Glass Ceiling Issues ........................................................................ 24 1.2.3. Examining the political participation of women ....................................................... 27 2. THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: EMPOWERING WOMEN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION THROUGH VARIOUS PRACTICES ................................ 30 2.1. The UN and its Role in the Empowerment of Women Participation in Politics ....... 30 2.1.1. The role and practices of USAID in International Relations to empower women in political participation .............................................................................................................. 32 2.2. Diplomatic encounter between International Organisations and Countries to empower women and curb Gender Inequality ....................................................................... 40 2.2.1. International Organizations (the UN and USAID) and Women Political Empowerment in Lithuania ..................................................................................................... 41 2.2.2. International Organizations (the UN and USAID) and Women Political Empowerment in Nigeria ......................................................................................................... 45 2.2.3. The major Challenges faced by IOs (and other donor institutions) in their practices to empower women in political participation in Lithuania and Nigeria ................................. 48 3. EMPIRICAL STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (UN AND USAID) PRACTICES AND THE PROSPECT TO INCREASE WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN LITHUANIA AND NIGERIA ............................................................... 51 2 3.1. Analysis of Strategic Documents of UN and USAID ................................................... 51 3.1.1. United Nations (entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment) Annual Reports 51 3.1.2. USAID – Summary Report of the WiP Project .......................................................... 56 3.2. Analysis of the prospect to increase Women’s Political Participation in Lithuania and Nigeria ........................................................................................................................................ 57 3.2.1. Analysis of Speeches made by presidents of Lithuania and Nigeria during the UNGA world leaders general debates ................................................................................................ 57 3.2.2. The methodology of speeches analysis ...................................................................... 59 3.2.3. Survey Analysis .......................................................................................................... 60 4. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................................................... 69 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................ 71 RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................................................. 74 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 75 ANNEXES ...................................................................................................................................... 80 3 ACRONYMS ACWF – All China Women’s Federation CEDPA – Centre for Development and Population Activities CIS – Commonwealth of Independent States DLM – Diamond Leadership Model DRG CENTRE – The centre of excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance EIGE – European Institute for Gender Equality FGM – Female Genital Mutilation HI – Historical Institutionalism ICRW – International Centre for Research on Women IFES – International Foundation for Electoral Systems ILO – International Labour Organization IPU – Inter-Parliamentary Union IRI – International Research Institute NDI – National Democratic Institute for International Affairs NGOs – Non Governmental Institutions OECD – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OSCE – Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe PRADAN – Professional Assistance for Development Action PROWID – Promoting Women in Development SMWF – Sirleaf’s Markets Women Fund UN – United Nations UN Women – United Nations Women UNDP – United Nations Development Programme UNGA – United Nations General Assembly USAID – United States Agency for International Development WIG – Women in Government WiP – Women in Power WPL – Women Political Leaders 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Share of elective offices held by the U.S. Women ...................................................... 27 Figure 2: Factors influencing the Supply and Demand-side of increased women political presence which requires transformation ..................................................................................... 35 Figure 3: The Diamond Leadership Model (DLM) .................................................................... 37 Figure 4: Share of seats held by Afghan women in the national parliament .......................... 39 Figure 5: Global Share of Men and Women in Political Positions (in %) ............................... 42 Figure 6: Respondents’ Gender (from survey) ........................................................................... 61 Figure 7: Respondents’ age .......................................................................................................... 62 Figure 8: Respondents’ occupation .............................................................................................. 62 Figure 9: Rate of respondents interested in politics ................................................................... 63 Figure 10: Respondents’ response on whether or not gender matter in politics ..................... 64 Figures 11a & 11b: Women and Men opinions on political participation ............................... 65 Figure 12: Respondents’ opinion regarding areas of women empowerment .......................... 65 Figure 13: Do women have the right to advocate for equal seats in the Parliament? ............. 66 Figure 14: The rate of respondents’ satisfaction with the world’s leadership system ............ 67 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Women in Parliament in the Republic of Lithuania and World Rank between 2000 and 2016 .......................................................................................................................................... 42 Table 2: The number of women per 1000 men in Lithuania ..................................................... 43 Table 3: Women in both the Lower and Upper House of the National Assembly in Nigeria and World Rank between 1999 and 2015 (a period of 5 terms) ....................................................... 45 Table 4: Nigerian Women in other top political positions in the country ................................ 46 Table 5: The current population of Nigeria and the percentage of men and women ............ 46 Table 6a & b: World and