4. Principles of Gender-Just Governance Gender is constructed through relations of power—not as a fixed category but as a dynamic set of roles, expectations and hierarchies entrenched in social, political and economic institutions(Radtke and Stam, 1994). Inequality is thus produced through systems and attitudes that assign more social and economic power to one gender over another (Ridgeway, 2011). In order for governance to be gender just, decision-making power needs to be dispersed so that agenda setting and accountability are anchored in the lived realities of vulnerable communities typically sidelined by gendered hierarchies(Lambert et al., 2023). Representation is insufficient if the governance structure does not distribute power-with and power-to across vulnerable sectors. This section outlines the two structuring principles advanced by this paper for implementing gender-just governance reforms in the Philippines: Upward Agenda Setting and Horizontal Accountability. Together, they provide a framework for redistributing decision-making power and ensuring that governance delivers tangible improvements in the lives of women and other marginalized groups. These principles transform governance from a top–down exercise into a collaborative system where decision making, implementation and oversight are co-managed by government, civil society and communities—resulting in equitable and responsive everyday governance practices. 4.1. Upward Agenda Setting Upward Agenda Setting redefines how governance priorities are established. It entails a structural shift from viewing civic participation as virtue or goodwill to establishing it“as a form of labour that is distributed in society, and whose terms need to be renegotiated”(Holdo, 2023, p. 57). Civic participation is necessary democratic work that sustains governance itself, requiring institutional support and compensation. Citizens’ political activity is often limited to voting in elections or attending rallies, consistently positioned outside the locus of actual decision making(Veneracion-Rallonza, 2008). This restricts vulnerable sectors to symbolic rather than substantive political presence and reproduces exclusion rather than dismantling it. To center gender justice in governance, Upward Agenda Setting must anchor marginalized communities directly within decision-making spaces, not at their periphery. Traditional consultations and town halls frequently reproduce paternalistic dynamics where elite voices dominate and the concerns of women, LGBTQIA+ communities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, youth and senior citizens are made secondary(Porio, 2015). In these arrangements, vulnerability is obscured rather than engaged. Diffusing authority from elite centers to marginalized groups requires a relationship between the state and citizens that prioritizes and channels fiscal and temporal resources toward the lived problems of those at the margins. Ignoring the inherent vulnerabilities of these groups risks intensifying them, turning programs that should alleviate inequality into instruments of oppression. Vulnerability, then, must be understood not only as a barrier but also as a potential driver of democratic participation. Veloso et al.(2025) argue that vulnerability is relational and evolving, requiring constant and ongoing interaction and deliberation between marginalized groups and the state and not limited by static, checklist-style approaches. Vulnerability is a political resource for collaborative action to achieve power-with and power-to: To be vulnerable is to be at risk and in a position to demand care, attention, and transformation(Velicu and Garcia-Lopez, 2018). Mobilized effectively, vulnerability can become a foundation for empowerment, enabling marginalized communities to reorient governance priorities toward equity. This requires deliberative processes designed with explicit attention to power dynamics: Who is present? Who speaks? Who is silenced? Who remains excluded? And whose voice can actually shape the agenda? Upward Agenda Setting insists that co-creation processes privilege plural forms of knowledge, especially those rooted in lived experience rather than institutional expertise alone. This means recognizing domestic labor, care work and embodied risks as policy concerns on an equal footing with infrastructure or economic growth. Governance becomes transformative when it incorporates the daily realities of intersecting vulnerabilities into its agenda. In practice, this principle would shift governance priorities. Programs shaped by equitable and impact-oriented resource allocation would be designed to reduce unpaid care burdens, enhance safety and accessibility and build resilience against environmental and economic shocks. This means moving beyond“women’s issues” as defined by 12 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.