Democratic institutions do not operate independently of the social practices, community structures and gendered traditions that organise everyday life. Across the Global South, women’s access to political power, livelihoods, land, mobility, public space and decision-making is shaped by the interaction between formal democratic institutions, community-based economies and longstanding social norms.
This panel examines how inherited gendered practices influence women’s experiences of everyday democracy in African and South Asian contexts. It approaches communities not only as sites where inequality and marginalisation are reproduced, but also as political and economic spaces in which women negotiate authority, sustain livelihoods, exercise agency, organise collectively and challenge exclusionary practices. Particular attention is given to women in marginalised occupational and community settings, including fishing and coastal communities, whose contributions and concerns often remain peripheral to mainstream political and development agendas.
The panel invites papers addressing women’s political participation, local government, gender mainstreaming, customary and community authority, informal and community-based livelihoods, fishing communities, access to land and natural resources, urban mobility, unpaid care, and women’s pathways into public leadership. It also welcomes intersectional analyses of how gender interacts with class, caste, race, age, geographical location and occupational identity.
By bringing African and South Asian scholarship into conversation, the panel asks how inherited practices shape women’s democratic citizenship, material conditions and livelihood security. How do women navigate formal institutions, customary practices, community authority and gendered economies? How effectively do local governance, public policy and public action respond to inequalities experienced by women in marginalised communities? Under what conditions can longstanding practices be transformed while recognising community knowledge, identity and women’s own forms of agency?
The panel advances a comparative, feminist and Global South-centred understanding of democratic governance. It argues that democratic resilience must be assessed not only through elections and national institutions, but also through women’s everyday ability to participate, sustain livelihoods, move safely, access resources and influence decisions affecting their lives and communities.