Feminism in Public Administration

Women are often considered to be " nurturing, interactive, intuitive, sharing and more personalized in their dealings with their fellow employees and organizational public customers".

Women's presence in public administration on some quota basis is often advocated on the notion of a ' representative bureaucracy' which was first articulated by Donald Kingsley in 1944.

Historically, feminism emerged as a political movement on the belief in equality of women and men committed to the elimination of gender based injustice.
Specific rights, immunities, previleges and opportunities were granted to men and systematically denied to women.

Waves of Feminism
It was by the late nineteenth century that the organised feminist movements became really visible.

First wave of feminism:- Strange though, women were considered as private properties to be purchased in marriage and they had no right to vote in a democratic setup or any right to property. That was the time for the rise of ' first wave ' , seeking equal rights for women, exemplified by the Suffragettes who sought the vote for women and were against abortion.

Second wave of feminism:- In 1980's it came as an explosion in America. The movement was especially vocal in matters like Civil Rights, sexual liberation, childcare, health, welfare, education, work and reproductive rights including the right to abortion.

Third wave of feminism:- It actually continued the second wave of feminism in early 1990s. It focuses on the perceived failures of the second wave. It focuses on issues like race, gender and feminism. Further to movement broadens and was easily visible globally.

Women's role, in a wide range of traditions and in theoretical work influenced by them, has typically been associated with the private realm and men's role with the public realm. The public - private distinction has been thoroughly criticized as being in many ways misleading and untenable.

To be feminist in public administration, according to Camilla Stivers , binds one to three things:-
(A) To the idea that gender is a crucially useful category of analysis, a framework that enables one to see important things that otherwise remain invisible or obscured;
(B) To a critical perspective on women's current status and prospects and
(C) As Gerda Lerner once put it, to "a system of ideas and practices which assumes that men and women must share equally in the work, in the previleges, in the defining and dreaming of the world".

When it comes to conventional studies of public administration or public organisations, the feminist approaches to administration/ organisation have been generally concerned with two basic issues:-
I. identifying and reducing gender based inequalities and
II. promoting more egalitarian workplace.

Women's scholarship and experiences, within the discipline of public administration, have still largely remained on the periphery with discussions limited to a rather narrow range of topics.
Usually, most common themes have been:-
(A). Numerical representation in public organisations,
(B). Comparable worth,
(C). Affirmative action
(D). Equal opportunity
(E). Subordination to men.

Types of Feminism:- Basically there are two types of feminism namely

Liberal Feminism:- It is the dominant ideology of modern society and is grounded in classic liberal thinking that individuals should be free to develop their own talents and pursue their own interests and should be treated according to their individual merits rather than on others basis's such as in the feminist's case, sexual characteristics but liberal feminism evolved in a context in which the private sphere was excluded from the political demands for equality therefore a distinction between the public and the private, relegating women's problems to the private sphere.

Radical Feminism:- The main goal for radical feminists is not to introduce equal rights; they do not want women to become like men, but to free women from patriarchal control - the main challenge to patriarchy being in the form of separatism.

The third group of feminists envisions an encounter, a strategic engagement between feminism and post structuralism that transforms both sides in significant ways. The attempt here is to meld the analytical and critical power of both strands, to " combine a postmodern incredulity toward meta - narratives with the social - critical power of feminism".

Equity Feminist literature, discussions usually resolve round issues like the number of women participating in various levels of government, alleged biases against them and the conditions preventing them from increased participation ....etc

There is urgent need, therefore, for a careful analysis of these qualities in the interest of their effective utilisation in the contemporary public administration.
By promoting integration, diversity and cultural and behavioural pluralities public administration can definitely enhance the quality of human resources and hence increase its productivity.