There is persistent public concern with the skewed profile of figures in public life. The evidence shows with considerable consistency, over time and place, that women are under-represented in public life.
Anecdotal accounts of women who have succeeded in public life are often troubling in terms of the obstacles faced in the journey, difficulties in getting heard and the price that has been paid by individuals for raising their heads above the parapet. What remains little explored is an understanding of the journeys taken by women in high profile public life.
Through a combination of visiting fellows and interviews, the IPA will capture the experiences of high profile women who have shaped public life through exploring answers to questions on their way into those positions, hurdles they overcame or withstood and how the lessons learned from these experiences benefit women who follow. It is expected that many other experiences will be captured though website interaction and public events.
The IPA will thus become the repository of narratives which illuminate the public lives of women beyond quantitative measures of participation; rather we will be able to gather rich, personal reflections.
In the first phase we will focus primarily on sectors where having a voice is associated with having authority per se or having influence in public life – politics, diplomacy and the academy. Women leaders in civil society will also be invited to explore their search for a credible public voice.
This programme is at its core international in scope, in recognition both of the commonality of women’s accounts of challenges but also in order that a variety of contextual circumstances can be examined. It is expected that research participants will join us or participate from many different countries.