Gender and Social Capital: Implications for Women's Civic Engagement in Ecuador and Peru

Civic engagement is a fundamental component of a healthy democracy, contributing to higher government accountability and overall improvement in "good governance". Civic engagement is particularly critical to subgroups which are under-represented in formal political structures, such as women, as it affords these groups the opportunity to voice their unique concerns. However, women participate less in many important forms of civic engagement. The United Nations and other international organizations have emphasized the importance of increasing women's voice and empowerment in an attempt to improve women's overall well-being, particularly in the developing world. Individual and contextual factors have demonstrated contributions toward influencing levels of civic engagement, but these effects only serve in partially explaining why women are less engaged. This study adds to this discussion by examining gender differences in the development and contribution of social capital (measured by networks and trust) to civic engagement within two young and developing democracies; Ecuador and Peru. The study finds that gender differences exist in how social capital is formed, but these differences don't explain women's decreased likelihood for engagement. Thus, social capital can be used to build civic engagement among both genders.

Author dc:creator

• Medina, Pamela

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bryer, Thomas

• Civic engagement; latin america; social capital; women*s civic engagement
• Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration
• Dissertations, Academic -- Health and Public Affairs; Health and Public Affairs -- Dissertations, Academic

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

CFE0005842

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-2233