Brokerage, power and gender equity: How empowerment-focused civil society organisations bolster women's influence in rural Indonesia

Abstract

This article explores how empowerment-focused Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) traverse scales and perform brokerage functions in helping rural women from marginal groups to connect to and influence powerholders in Indonesia. It identifies three brokerage mechanisms activated by these CSOs: brokering marginal groups' power bases through strengthening organising structures and sources of knowledge/resources; brokering spaces for women's influence on powerholders; and brokering networks with other women and authoritative actors to build supporting coalitions. The article also illustrates that contexts shape how CSO interventions affect change: heavy, resource-intensive ‘thick’ brokerage strategies were important in deeply patriarchal contexts, whereas ‘thin’ brokerage strategies had some effects in places already more conducive to improving gender equity.