The concepts of democracy and governance are a highly contested terrain and they mean different things to different people and their meanings have shifted historically.  Although the concepts of democracy and good governance are considered as two sides of the same coin, the two concepts are different.  While democracy deals with the form of government, governance deals with its substance. 

In Marxist tradition, considers democracy is located with in a broad historical and material framework which entails people’s struggles for their material existence.  Marxists emphasize economic equality, and collective rights, including the right to development and self-determination.  In the same vein, they consider governance a process that allows the majority, particularly the labor masses, to control state power. 

If democracy is thus considered to be a product of a historical process, it has to be an internal force the agents can only be the internal force trough whose struggles it can be attained.  Historically, movements for democracy have also been inspired and at times supported by external forces.  The content and direction of the movement, however, have to be determined by the people themselves who struggle for their democratic rights.  It would follow from this that a genuine democratic movement can neither be inpated or defined by external forces.  In an ideal situation, it could be assumed that the external forces can inspire and support the movement on conditions defined by the people who ultimately shape the direction of the movement and finally determine its outcome.

The liberal perspective, on the other hand, considers democracy to be a system of government which allows popular participation in the decision-making processes.  Democratic governance in the liberal context has the following attributes: rule of law, popular participation through fair and free elections, transparency and openness.  It emphasizes individual civil and political liberties, and respect of individual human rights.  This paper intends to take issue with the liberal perspective because most of the political transformations taking place in Africa have been guided by it and, conversely, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the seemingly corresponding defeat of world communism,  little effort has been made to analyze issues of democracy and governance from a Marxist perspective.  The discussion will use gender as the analytical framework. 

Within the liberal framework, governance is defined as a process which entails how power and authority are exercised in the determination of policy.  It is largely relational; people, that is men and women, exercise their influence in private as well as public institutions.  In this context, such influential men and women are also affected by the process differently due to the sexual division of labor which allocates different social positions to men and women in the socio-economic and political context of a given society.  Government, the public sphere, is constructed as a male sphere, which makes authoritative decisions in the allocation of goods and services, while the private sphere which is constructed as female sphere is responsible for the biological and social reproduction of the society. 

Historically, people, both men and women, have fought and struggled to have good governance.  In Western Europe it constituted part of the struggles which inter-alia led to the separation of the king’s personal accounts from public accounts, demanded that public officials be held accountable for their acts, demanded transparency and effective management of accounts and effective methods of communication among the various interact groups. The struggle for good governance also entailed demand for a clear separation of powers, duties, and responsibilities between the various state institutions.  The thrust was to establish institutions which will not only deliver services efficiently and effectively, but also limit the power of the state over individual rights and freedoms in accordance with the bourgeois ideology.

Source:             Inter Parliamentary Union.  Quoted by Hon. Philip Marmo, Deputy speaker, Parliament of Tanzania.

Liberal democracies have always been exclusionary.  Earlier in history, in the Greek City states, where the concept is believed to have originated, it excluded aliens, slaves, women and propertyless classes.  In liberal democracies, women were excluded in most of the victories gained during the bourgeois revolutions.  In Belgium, however, the socialist party voted against female voting rights.  In Switzerland, there was resistance against women voting rights. 

For countries which had been subjected to colonial rule, the struggle for democracy and good governance necessarily meant, in the first instance, winning their own right to self-government.  The problems with colonial rule were many, not the least of which was that it was fundamentally illegitimate since it was occupation and perpetration of oppression and exploitation by a foreign power.  Colonial administrations answered to colonial powers in Europe; within colonies, it was government by bureaucracy which alienated the colonial peoples.  Women in the colonial countries suffered from multiple forms of oppression, first as part of the colonial people whose land was forcefully occupied by foreign powers and whose rights to self-determination were denied by those same powers.  They also suffered as women under the oppressive patriarchal relations, and finally suffered from class oppression in the colonies.  Indeed, women constituted a significant part of the social forces in the anti-colonial struggles and in the wars of liberation despite the fact that they suffered from a combination of class and gender oppression. 

In brief, problems of governance in different forms are not new; they are contextually specific; people devise widely different kinds of institutions to cope with governance problems derived from their own history and culture.  Governance in the liberal context has three aspects, namely,  the form of political regime, mechanisms through which power and authority are exercised and capacities to formulate and implement policies.  The exercise of power and authority on the other hand has several dimensions in the liberal framework: the rule of law, predictability, openness and transparency each of which is considered by liberal scholars as a major contributor of good order and effective management. 

Within the liberal framework, good governance is supposed to result from internal forces which pressurize and at times force the state to allocate resources “rationally”, and to establish a management system which is “effective” and “transparent”.  The internal forces do pressurize government to be responsive to the internal demands of its various constituencies.  The guiding question is ‘who constitutes these internal forces which are able to influence the allocation of resources in their favor?’  In other words, who governs in our varied contexts?  Who has the power and authority to allocate resources?  Men or women and of what social position? 

It could be argued that regardless of the social class that governs, power and authority in our African context is also determined by existing patriarchal ideology which vests more power and authority on men, and relegates women to a subordinate social position. The sexual division of labor and the corresponding sexual division of power and authority, and the gendered nature of rights and duties, are a colonial legacy which have also been perpetuated by the post-colonial states.  In both politics and economy, the colonial relations had introduced a sexual division of labor and authority which supported patriarchal power over women’s labor.  Colonialism constructed a private sphere which was associated with women and accorded them lower status according to the value of rationality of capitalism. (Ramsay and Parker: 1992).  In the administration of the colonies, the colonialists used direct and indirect methods of rule and recruited black men into the colonial administration once they acquired little formal education.  Colonial administration undermined and ignored the political roles which some African women had played in the pre-colonial era.  The dichotomy between private and public, political and apolitical, religious and secular, were essentially western constructs which were imposed on the colonies. 

Although some pre-colonial African states had in-built patriarchal structures which undermined women’s rights in areas of land rights, control over property and in decision making processes, most did not exclusively discriminate against women’s participation in politics.  History informs us of powerful women who led wars of resistance against colonial rule and colonial penetration.  Nehanda the Spirit medium led the famous Ndebele wars of resistance against British occupation in Zimbabwe.  Kinjikitile in Tanzania, led the famous Maji Maji wars or resistance.  Kimweri, the Chief of Shambala, in Tanzania had women as his chief security officers and informers of his empire.  Unfortunately, the political roles of women in this era were unwritten by colonialists and later by the black male nationalists who pioneered the re-writing of the African history from an African “male” oriented nationalist point of view. 

In the liberal context, effective management of resources and rational allocation of such resources demand, among other things, the establishment of the rule of law.  The rule of law means “equality of laws to all persons”.  It further means that all acts of states are grounded in legal foundation.  The substantive aspects of the rule of law concept are closely identified with liberal democracy as it upholds the principles of equality before the law and separation of powers which are at the roots of democratic values.  But equality before the law assumes that the structural inequalities existing in our societies, including class, race and gender will not affect the administration of justice, within the context of the rule of law. 

The Rule of Law and Gender Dynamics In African Societies 

Liberal scholars define the rule of law, as a system based on objective rules which are actually applied on institutions which ensure the appropriate application of such rules.  Both a legal framework and an independent judiciary capable of enforcing the law without regard to person are required.  The rule of law is both the course and consequence of the legitimacy of government.  Much of that legitimacy is brought about by the behavior of those in power towards protecting life and property.  The rule of law is said to ensure that everyone, “citizens” and government alike, is subject to the same predictable norms instead of the wishes of powerful individuals.  It is therefore the antithesis to governmental arbitrariness.  The rule of law stands for the supremacy of law, equality before the law and the certainty of law.  Its function is to create stability and instill confidence and the perception of fair and non-discriminatory treatment. 

The Rule of law is not a gender neutral concept and process.  Invariably, all African states have established legal systems which discriminate against women.  All countries embraced customary laws in their constitutions which have not only complicated administration of justice as regards inheritance, marital rights, succession rights, but legitimated blatantly discriminatory practices against women in marriage, in property/inheritance rights, and in maintenance.  Mainstream struggles for constitutional reforms have mainly focused on the need to incorporate the Bill of Rights in the constitutions and also where this had been achieved, efforts have been directed towards ensuring congruency of the Bill of Rights and the laws of the land without addressing gender-biased laws which treat women and men unequally before the law. 

Political independence did not therefore guarantee women equal treatment before the law, equal citizenship rights and equal rights to property.  In Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, and Botswana, women were treated as minors, who could not enter into contract as independent persons, who could not borrow from banks without the approval of their spouses.  In Tanzania, customary law has been incorporated in the constitution in order to defend some cultural and traditional practices which defend male supremacy in all spheres, specifically in the areas of ownership of property, inheritance, succession rights and citizenship rights.  Many African constitutions do not guarantee women equal citizenship rights, even though it grants them equal citizenship obligations and duties. 

Consequently, feminist and women’s movements continued to struggle for their rights during post-colonial period, thus forcing some governments to pursue some intervention strategies that attempted to either appease women or transform the power relationship between men and women. 

The liberal definition of the rule of law, has three major aspects.  First, the instrumental notion, which has five formal elements listed in the World Bank Task force study (1990).  The elements include: a set of rules known in advance, rules that allow departure from them, conflict resolution through binding decision of an independent judiciary and known procedures for amending the rules.  These elements assume a gender-neutral context which does not exist in our context. 

Both men and women in many African states are not aware of most of the rules which are in force due to a number of factors.  First, the high degree of illiteracy in this continent hinders women and men from accessing information on existing rules which are in force.  Women are more disadvantaged because they constitute the majority of the illiterates in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

In addition, existing mechanisms, including the courts of law, the police, and other law enforcement organs have in-built gender biases which affect women negatively in the administration of justice.  Most courts of law, for instance, pursue their day-to-day activities in a foreign language which is not fully understood by the majority of the people.  Women are particularly disadvantaged due to their low educational status. 

Court procedures are cumbersome and unnecessarily complicated for ordinary men and women.  Again, due to the existing sexual division of labor which overburdens women, many women would rather settle their cases out of the court system where cases drag for too long and take too much of their time.  Very few women would report or take legal action when their rights are violated by close relatives or spouses, especially in cases such as battering and rape. 

The police force which is essentially male dominated is also quite gender insensitive when it comes to handling cases involving women as victims or as offenders.  For instance, prostitution is considered illegal in most countries in Africa, but women are the only victims when the police rounds up prostitutes in the name of “cleaning up the cities”.  Cases of rape and sexual violence in custody and in prisons are not unknown. 

Given the fact that women and men play different roles in the existing social and political institutions, and since both men and women enjoy different rights, and have different obligations defined by a patriarchal ideology, there can be no gender-neutral law which will be fair to both men and women.

The second is the substantive aspect of the rule of law:  This is linked to the concept of justice (for example the element of due process) fairness (the principle of equality) and of liberty (civil  and political rights).  According to this view, the formal elements enumerated have to be complimented by the substantive principles of the rule of law to create a “fair” legal system.  In the African context, we cannot claim to have established a “fair legal system” from a gender perspective.  Many of our legal systems for instance have not been structured to deal with issues of domestic violence or gender-specific violence which affects women in their ‘private lives’.  Such violence is considered as an act of private individuals for which the state is not to be held accountable.  This perception has handicapped the legal system in its attempt to deal with such cases as rape, genital mutilation and incest. 

The third aspect is the procedural and institutional aspects of the rule of law. This demands: A set of rules known in advance.  The phrase comprises three elements: the existence of rules (denoting coherence): that they have been communicated with precision, clarity and effectiveness; and that the rules be known in advance (non- retroactivity of law).  These elements assume that there is the capacity to make such rules, to communicate them and to understand them.  Existing data indicate that on the average, women in Sub-Saharan Africa have less schooling than those in any other regions of the world.  Women in this region have an average of one year schooling compared to two years for men.  Also Sub-Sahara Africa is said to have the second lowest literacy rates (after South-East Asia which has the lowest literacy rate and largest gender gap).  The literacy rates of women and men in Sub-Saharan Africa is 36 percent and 59 percent respectively (E/ECA/ACW/RC.V/CM/3/20: Jan. 1995).  Illiteracy is a constraint to both men’s and women’s understanding of existing rules, and women are more affected due to their higher level of illiteracy. 

Communication systems in most of our African states are a nightmare.  The media reach a very small proportion of the population.  The media in liberal democracies are a linkage institution which links the state and civil society.  Because of its limited coverage, the media cannot be relied upon in communicating existing rules to civil society.  Women are particularly disadvantaged due to their higher levels of illiteracy, which limit their ability to access the print media, and also due to the existing sexual division of labor which constrain their ability to have time for reading, discussion or listening. 

But rules can also be communicated by political parties and other civic organizations. Most of our countries have not developed strong political parties with strong social bases which can act as a linkage between the state and civil society.  And to make matters worse, the associational life lacks the type of vibrancy needed to play such a linkage role. 

Procedurally and in terms of institutional framework, the rule of law in the liberal context has had discriminatory elements against women which are often worsened when combined with the patriarchal cultural context and environment.  In African societies, customary laws and practices which have been allowed to function and which go hand in hand with civil law, either prohibit or discourage women from taking legal measures against their spouses when their rights are abused at the domestic and public arena. 

The Rule of Law, Legitimacy and Gender Implication 

Liberal scholars believe that legitimacy of governance is generated over time by the belief among citizens that those exercising power do so within the law rather than arbitrarily and that the law is well founded, merging values and achieving best results.  The assumption is that men and women experience and are influenced by power in the same way and, as citizens, have the same rights, obligations and duties.  In actual practice, however, women have lesser citizenship rights in all spheres of the society.  Most women, therefore, particularly the poor, comply with existing rules for fear of the state’s coercive instruments and not because they believe that the exercise of power is legitimate.  Women who experience rape do not always report because the existing procedures and mechanisms of dealing with this crime traumatize them more than the actual rape experience.  Women who are battered by their spouses, guardians and or close relatives will hesitate to take legal measures because of the existing perceptions that such crimes are private and should be handled by existing private structures and institutions.  This is what has legitimized the perpetuation of gender violence in our society as reviewed in the section which follows. 

Gender Conflict and Governance Issues 

Violence against women takes many forms around the world; it includes: battering, rape, incest, suttee, foot binding, infibulation, clitoridectomy, dowry death, selective malnourishment, emotional abuse, bride burning, child sexual abuse, female infanticide, prostitution, international sexual trafficking and slavery, homicide, sexual harassment, degradation, circumcision, widow abuse, violent pornography, human sacrifices, and so forth. Gender violence is a governance problem because, despite its magnitude, there is a high degree of official and social tolerance of violence against women.  Violence against women has been a secret crime which is committed by men of varied social standing against women of varied social backgrounds and social status.  Some of these crimes include: 

Wife Battering 

Wife abuse is the most endemic violence against women.  Its frequency and magnitude have never been established because it is often under-reported.  And yet, this is one of the secret crimes which do not attract the attention of mainstream academics or human rights activists.  Domestic violence is kept invisible because of the existing perceptions that women are minors, who have to be disciplined, punished and forced to accept their social position when they attempt to challenge the patriarchal authority.  The absence of national data on crimes against women is in itself telling because many states choose not to acknowledge the existence of such crimes.  Wife abuse is an expression of the unequal power relationship between men and women and particularly the expression of male power over women.  Through domestic violence, women learn the art of submission to male authority, and this is what makes domestic violence a governance issue. 

Family violence which affects women in a more negative manner than men is legitimized by the state through the provision of a legal environment which does not punish perpetrators, some of whom are the policy makers at the national level.  Many existing cultures have legal, religious and historical practices which reinforce the legitimacy of wife battering and other forms of violence which affect women in their socially constructed ‘private’ life. 

Sexual Mutilation 

Genital mutilation has its origin in male desire to control female sexuality.  This has taken many forms throughout the history of human society.  During the Roman period, the Romans slipped rings though the labia majora of their female slaves to prevent pregnancy, the Crusaders in the 12^th Century designed the chastity belt to control unsanctioned sex.  And in the present day Africa, young girls are mutilated to dampen their sexual desires (MacFadden: 1992).  Genital mutilation continues to date with little condemnation from the political elite or academicians despite the fact that it threatens the lives, the physical welfare and the sexual health of women.  Other than the medically related literature, the mainstream academic disciplines have never attempted to analyze the politics of genital mutilation. 

Rape 

Although many countries do consider rape as a crime, the legal system and the administration of justice is part of the problem.  Going through a rape case in the court system is worse than the rape itself. 

Sexual Exploitation 

Women are vulnerable to a variety of sexual abuses due to poverty.  Such abuses include prostitution, trafficking of women which takes several forms.  With regard to exchange and sale of women/girls, female prostitutes are exchanged to other countries and have no say in the move, female children are sold like any commodity to turn them into prostitutes by their families, poor women are recruited under false pretense while they offer sexual services.  Despite the existence of this problem, there is an aura of silence in mainstream debates on politics of sexual exploitation and sexual violence. The problem is compounded by the existing disparities on the legal and constitutional rights of men and women.  Although there exists in many countries theoretical rights for women, practically, women do not enjoy equal rights with men.  Gender conflict is therefore not merely a legal question, it has socio-cultural aspects as well.  Being a social problem, the laws alone cannot eliminate it.  Existing literature points to the fact that around the world, at every level, police, prosecutors, as well as judicial interpretation of the laws are problematic for female victims of violence.  There are hardly any countries (which I am aware of in this continent) which have seriously prosecuted assailants of women.  Most of the existing legal systems have failed to respond seriously and to prosecute assailants of women.  Most of the existing legal systems have failed to respond adequately to gender-related conflict and particularly in areas where women are victims.  Gender conflicts, particularly those which lead to acts of violence against women, are rooted in the discriminatory practices and norms in many cultures and traditions.  The main cause of gender conflict is the unequal power relationship between men and women which has assigned the latter an inferior position in society and made them assume more duties, responsibilities and have less rights.  The problem is compounded by the fact that the state has not assumed responsibility and nobody is being held accountable for the existence of gender-based conflicts which have led to various forms of violence against women.  While, women, globally carry a heavier burden in production and reproduction, they have less access to property, less education, less health facilities and less rights as citizens of any country. 

Gender-based forms of conflicts also cause poverty.  The majority of the world’s poor are women.  This makes them vulnerable victims of various forms of abuses.  And yet, women perform two-third of the work for the reproduction of the human capital. 

Gender-based violence in many societies is violence against women.  This in turn affects their ability to perform their productive and reproductive functions in the society.  Violence against women does inflict physical torture and mental stress which require the use of medical and other forms of human and material resources for the healing processes.  Such resources could otherwise be channeled to assist other areas or to invest in productive activities, an investment that cannot be rationalized for good governance exercise. 

Violence against women affects their physical health, disrupts their daily lives and hence narrows the scope of their activities directly and indirectly.  It undermines both their self- esteem and confidence.  Indeed, violence constrains women’s full participation in the community as free citizens.  Worse still, violence can lead to death or permanent deformity.  In other words, violence against women contributes to under-utilization of human capital resource.  There seems to be a direct relationship between gender inequality, sexual violence and the underdevelopment of our continent. 

What to be Done? 

The state has to acknowledge the existence of the problem, and it has to assume the primary responsibility of preventing conflicts which lead to various crimes against women.  Human rights activists have to fight against gender-based conflict through empowering women to resist and protest against such violence, demand state accountability and demand for the mainstreaming of women’s specific rights in the core human rights provisions of their respective national legislative processes. 

Mainstream academic disciplines including criminology, economics, sociology and political science have to analyze the causes, nature and effects of gender-based conflict on the individual, the economy, social relations and the political development process.  This will in a way create consciousness and awareness of the magnitude of the problem and hence necessitate interventions aimed at its prevention.  Multiple intervention strategies should include: legal, health, education, media, religious and political measures.  Multiple approach to the problem underscores the fact that gender-based conflict and particularly those leading to violence against women should be the responsibility of every member and institutions in a given society.  It is the responsibility of the legal system, health personnel, educators, politicians and economists.  But in the final analysis, however, the victims of gender-based violence, that is women themselves, have to fight against discriminatory practices which cause gender conflict and the resultant violence against them.  It is in this context that women’s organizations have to hold public office holders accountable for their failures to address the issue of gender-based violence and particularly domestic violence.  Accountability is another important attribute of liberal democracy and an aspect of good governance. 

Gender Concerns and Accountability 

Accountability can be defined as the way in which the rulers and state officials in a country are held to be accountable for their performance.  It also means holding individuals and organizations responsible for performance measured as objectively as possible.  The objective of accountability is to ensure the congruency between public policy and public actions and services to promote effective and efficient use of public resources.  The major institutional mechanism for holding those in power accountable is the legislative and budgetary process.  In a popularly elected government, the representatives of the people do demand accountability for the tax payers money.  Governments are normally forced by tax payers to be accountable for their services and performance.  The major mechanism  for holding public office holders accountable is “voice” or “exit”.  The use of voice assumes that there is popular participation in the decision making processes and that the electorate can influence decisions through voicing their concerns directly, through participation in various forums, or indirectly through their elected leaders.  In the African context, women are constrained in using “voice” as an instrument of holding public office holders accountable for their service due to their numerical under-representation in key decision making organs. 

Similarly, the option of exit assumes that there are choices, and options, and that men and women are able to use available choices as a mechanism to pressurize for accountability.  This further assumes that if one exits, it will or it might paralyze state organs, and that public office holders will have to respond promptly to avoid a major catastrophe.  Underlying this assumption is that those who have the power to exit, control resources.  Again the problem with this option is that in the African context, women do not have access to and control over resources in the same way as men.  Exit as an instrument of holding public officials accountable might not be a politically feasible choice for women because, relative to men, they do not control resources which will have otherwise empowered them to use exit as an instrument to influence policy or implementation of policies in their favor. 

Historically, governments are forced by various constituencies upon which they depend for finances to be accountable for their deeds!  In the African context, the condition is complicated by the fact that the major source of finance has been external donors.  Foreign agencies and donors who are financing our governments have been a major force in demanding governments to be accountable.  But accountability has to be generated from an internal force.  The ruled have to demand accountability from those who govern them.  Aid officials from both recipient and donor countries are busy meeting the demands of the donor countries in accounting for the use of aid money. Women are particularly  vulnerable because, many times, their position and condition is used as an excuse to solicit funds for purposes other than redressing the historical imbalances which has placed them in a subordinate social position in many African societies. 

Men and women have to demand accountability of public office holders, including aid officials from donor agencies.  In this context, women should participate not as passive actors but effective actors who are able to determine their own problems and identify their own needs. 

But governments can only be made accountable for their actions if there are mechanisms which allow citizens to have access to information.  That is, if there is transparency.  For effective citizen participation, and for them to be able to hold office bearers accountable for their actions, they need to have access to information.  Again, this is an area which women are relatively disadvantaged due to high rate of illiteracy and also due to the unequal division of labor. 

Summary and Conclusions 

In the foregoing brief presentation, we have made several observations.  African peoples should realize that liberal democracy and democratic victories have been achieved through intense peoples’ struggles.  African women have to particularly understand the limitations which liberal democracy offer in order to struggle for gendered democratic victories.  In the same manner, African people, men and women have to understand that good governance has to come about as a result of the struggle’s of democratic forces.  Owing to the subordinate position which women occupy, the African women elite have to provide an intellectual leadership which will enable the rest of women to hold governments accountable for activities which continue to legitimize discrimination against them.  Good governance will be a distant dream if women do not participate effectively in demanding efficiency and rational allocation of resources from their own point of view.  Similarly, democracy which excludes women from political and social participation is defective democracy.  And sustainable democracy has to result from a collective and effective participation of men and women in demanding rights, in defending rights and in protecting them. 

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