Regional Social and Gender Governance

Abstract

Social and gender governance has emerged primarily at the national and global level, but more recently and to a more modest extent it has emerged at the regional level as well. Four regional social and gender regimes can be distinguished because regional organizations selectively have adopted and “regionalized” ILO and UN standards of gender equality, labor rights, and social protection. Against the background of mobilization against globalization and the “neo-liberal” character of regionalism, it is striking that there is only a piecemeal development towards more regional social policy-making. Sovereignty concerns of states, the lack of access for non-state actors, the weakness of regional institutions, and the strength or weakness of national welfare regimes all act as constraints on the development of more comprehensive and enforceable social and gender governance at the regional level.