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Case Study Selection, Introduction & Methodology

2024 Case Selection: Why Rwanda, Mexico, and Croatia? 

Choosing cases that demonstrate unique historical contexts and a diverse implementation of WPS programming through a National Action Plan (NAP) in different regions of the world was a necessity. We wanted to look at the difference between representation quotas and actual power of women in these positions. We began with analyzing Rwanda, the country with the highest proportion of women in parliament in the world. Then we wanted to look at a country in the Latin America Caribbean (LAC) region that consistently reports some of the highest levels of gender-based violence (GBV) against women in the world. Because in 2023 alone, multiple female political candidates have been murdered while the first female president in history will take office in December 2024. Thus, we decided to take a closer look at Mexico. Lastly, we wanted to compare these two with a third country that is still recovering from a relatively recent civil conflict, so we dove into Croatia. While female representation in power positions, GBV and politicide/femicide, and post-conflict recovery all vary country to country, one similarity arose for all of our cases: civil society upholds the WPS agenda and movement in all three countries.

How cases are selected:

These cases are meant to be a snapshot of the country’s current WPS programming (or lack thereof) and its effect on women through five categories: cultural context and attaining power, NAP and legislation, political context and women in leadership roles, women’s rights and civil society, and gender-based violence (GBV) and security. These cases are meant to demonstrate the value of the WPS agenda when it is implemented and the (ideally) positive impact on women’s lives in that country. These cases are meant to simply represent snapshots of a country’s current WPS status, and attached to each case you will find linked resources on WPS and that case to continue your own research. These cases are illustrative examples of how to use our IWA WPS Research Tool and are not holistic.

How data are grouped:

We have taken available online data sets and existing regional resources and grouped them into five prominent categories to make these regional case comparisons more contextually significant. There are historical, regional, local, institutional, and structural factors that determine a woman’s safety, security, power, influence, and role in their society.  Because women’s leadership roles can be influential or ceremonial, it is important to understand how a country’s specific and unique context can further affect a woman’s ability to gain, have, keep, and/or yield power, as well as create meaningful impact in their country.

  1. Historical and cultural context and attaining power
    1. What is the historical background and cultural makeup of the country? What is the extent of tradition and custom on women’s roles?
    2. How do women gain and keep power? Is it influential, meaningful, or ceremonial?
  2. UNSCR1325, National Action Plans, and legislation
    1. Are they a signatory of UNSCR 1325?
    2. Does this country have a NAP or any national legislation focused on gender equality or WPS?
    3. What is the NAP implementation period, its effectiveness, and changes seen before and after its launch in this country?
  3. Political context and women in leadership roles
    1. Does the country have/enforce a quota system for women’s participation or are more women just elected because of political will?
    2. What leadership roles do women have? Are they meaningful action roles or are they ceremonial? What is the relationship between women in government and those not involved?
  4. Women’s rights and civil society
    1. What rights do women have in this country, how are they expressed, and are they guaranteed? How strong is their civil society?
  5. Gender-based violence (GBV) and security
    1. What are the current safety conditions for women in this country & what protections do they have that are state-provided?
  6. Lessons and key takeaways: At the end of each case study, we will provide a brief summary of key points that we find most relevant to the case. Please review the materials we have linked within each case and draw your own conclusions, as ours are not exhaustive. Further, some caveats are in order:
    1. A cross-country comparison is not necessarily an accurate representation of the state of WPS in a country. Rather, it is necessary to have the context from within a country. There are challenges when looking at broad statistics and trying to compare.
    2. Each case is not holistic, it’s illustrative.
    3. Our tool is to be used as a resource for research, as are the existing indexes online.
    4. There are many unanswered questions that remain.
    5. Our data set and the cases that follow can help provide guidance and suggestions as to how the IWA WPS Research Tool can be used.

Case Studies:

Rwanda

Mexico

Croatia