To what extent is the concept of global governance gendered Essay

To what extent is the concept of global governance gendered - Essay Example For instance, in a government, the politicians of the country usually influence the decisions that are made on a day to day basis while the normal citizen is influenced by the decisions that are made by the political leaders whether directly or indirectly. Needless to say, these kinds of decisions usually impact on both men and women. It follows without say that most of the times; the decisions are made by men since they hold most of the powerful positions almost in all of the countries the world over. In the past few decades, the advent of technological advancement has to the growth of a new kind of economy-a global economy. The internet has reduced the entire globe to nothing but a global village. The global economy has also given rise to a new system of governance which is referred to as global governance. There is a need to have a means of controlling the integrated nations. Different bodies have been setup to achieve this and the different bodies that have been setup have also c ome up with different policies. Quite unfortunately, the balance of women to men in the global government is anything but balanced. This is an important concern since women are the majority in the population and it seems not right to let the minority make decisions that affect the majority without involving the majority at some stage. This is the main reason why there has been a growing concern for gendered governance. Global governance There are many transformations in leadership and generally in society most of which can be traced to the activities and campaigns of human rights movements. Gender equality is one of the most important of the reforms that is sweeping across most modern societies today. As Rawls (2003) state, â€Å"A gendered analysis of global governance can enhance our understanding of the key concepts and frameworks as well as institutions and strategies of transformation? (p17). There are two important spheres that need to be studied to understand the concept of gendered governance since they directly influence the issue of gender and governance in the world. The first is the United Nation and how it approaches the issue of human rights and secondly is the trade policies and institutions. The concept of global governance is at best very fragmented and is therefore hardly traceable not only to agencies but even to individuals. In fact, Rosenau (2003) defines global governance as â€Å"governance without government. â€Å" however, global governance can be looked at in terms of the institutions that processes, rules and the different frameworks that help in the establishment of internationally recognized policies (Hassanali, 2000). The international policies that are often crafted are in most of the cases results of negations from a variety of parties including representatives from different countries. The stakeholders of global governance are usually drawn from different governments across the world. Apart from political leaders, there are usually members from transnational companies, global financial and trade organizations under the WTO, IMF and World Bank as well as various chapters of the UN and other relevant regional associations like the EU .Some experts believe that global civil societies which include internationally recognized NGOs that have the function of lobbying in conjunction with international gender groups like the International Trade and Gender Network (ITGN) are part and parcel of the