Views on public participation: a gendered analysis on local development

As South Africa moves towards democratic consolidation and deepening of democratic spaces, wide-based participation in decision making and planning at local levels not only becomes desirable but also critical from a deliberative perspective. Various processes and mechanisms implemented by Government seem not to have the desired outcome of facilitating effective participation, as evidenced by the increasing levels of local participation in alternate or preferred spaces. Furthermore, the reality of increasing inequality reflected in macro socio-economic trends and national development indicators, requires disaggregation for understanding local participatory processes and its impact on development. Inclusive planning at a local level thus implicitly implies that expressions and views need to be measured, interpreted, and applied within specific contexts, to address relevance and priority setting within the planning framework. This paper draws on empirical evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council since 2003 on the public's attitudes, beliefs, behavior patterns and values on selected issues, with specific inquiry into participatory issues in the 2009 survey. Findings on attitudes towards planning processes and mechanisms; attention to political news; views on actual participation in government decision making and degree of satisfaction on consultative efforts are gendered in that men and women have different views on these and other social issues, resulting from differing experiences. The impact of these findings on local development is explored thus from a gendered lens, aiming to deepen understanding of the causes of social inequality.