Democracy and developmentOne of the debates raging at the center of globalization studies is how to increase the share of voice for women. If democracy and development is to succeed in the developing world it must give greater power to the other half of the population. How can a nation claim to be democratic while half of its citizens fear for their security and well-being? This is the question many have been asking in the wake of the rape crisis in India?
I heard many African women ask similar questions at a panel on "women activists and leaders" during a conference focused on Global Africa. How can African women, and African Muslim women in particular, draw upon their local traditions to transform their societies from within?
Many of the traditional societies embracing development programs tend to have powerful women at the center of the domestic sphere. By transforming their lives, it is possible to transform the lives of the next generation of young girls. Early education - primary and secondary schooling - offers one of the "cultural pathways" through which to navigate some of the complex challenges of development, while drawing upon local role models for women's lives without disrupting the social and moral order.
Thus, it is not a coincidence that many of the early post-colonial reformers, such as Mahatma Gandhi, made the campaign for the improvement of women part and parcel of the national development.
Dinesh Sharma is the author of Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President, which was rated as a Top 10 Black history book for 2012. His next book The Global Obama: Crossroads of Leadership in the 21st Century is due to be published with Routledge Press.
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