24
Nov
2011
How to translate rights and legal entitlements into reality for many rural women who do not know how to claim their rights nor how to seek redress over unfair treatment? Credit: Suleiman Mbatiah/IPS
Agriculture is key to women’s livelihoods in rural West Africa and to the survival of the national economies. But despite women’s crucial work on the farms women’s rights to land ownership, control and access to land continues to be neglected.
The importance of African women farmers has been long recognized in international development since the famous study by Ester Boserup in 1970 a message that continues to be underlined in major reports such 2010-2011 UN State of Food and Agriculture Report on ‘Women and Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development’. More »
22
Nov
2011
OWFI women demonstrate in Baghdad raising slogans of change, right to work, and equality.
Whereas the world in 2011 has heard of the Arab Spring and the thousands who gathered in Cairo, very few have heard of the Feb. 25, 2011 Day of Anger in the other Tahrir Square – in Baghdad.
Nor do people follow this weekly Friday gathering of Iraqi women and men who demand their basic rights to work, water and electricity – along with the establishment of true democracy and an end to corruption and the occupation.
The Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) has been among those demonstrating at high risk to their own security. On Jun. 10 of this year, 100 days after the government promised to meet pro-democracy demands, activists who gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square were brutally attacked by plainclothes forces. Women meeting under the OWFI banner were sexually assaulted.
More »
15
Nov
2011
Granada, Spain, is hosting a ten-days seminar on the key role of women in the “Arab Springs”. The seminar is organised by the Fundacion Euro-Arabe, the Universidad de Granada, and the Licee Francais. Background and agenda are below, in Spanish.
Del 14 al 24 de noviembre se celebra en Granada las jornadas ´Mujeres en las primaveras árabes: presente y futuro’, jornadas que responden a la necesidad de conocer de primera mano, los procesos de refundación que se están dando en muchos de los países del marco árabe desde el punto de vista de las mujeres. ¿Cuál ha sido el papel de las mujeres en estas dinámicas de reivindicación de justicia y dignidad colectiva? ¿Cuáles son sus expectativas? ¿Cómo se ha representado, cómo se ha ‘nombrado’ este protagonismo por parte de instituciones nacionales e internacionales y los medios de comunicación, propios y ajenos?
You can find more information here.
14
Nov
2011
11 days away!
If you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow this list of organisations that are planning events around the world for this year’s campaign and use #16days2011 to share what your group is doing!
(Click to access list)
Are we missing anyone from the list? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter at @thegenderwire, on our Facebook page or shoot us an e-mail at mdg3 [at] ips.org.
14
Nov
2011
JASS Mesoamerica Regional Allies
Latin America is a region where the global community is increasingly looking for leadership in the search for alternatives to neoliberal capitalism. The term buen vivir, or ‘good living’, is at the heart of efforts in the region to forge a more democratic and just development that rejects the violence of modern economic and militarised development. The region has suffered a violent, racist and sexist past in the name of modernity.
Rejecting this, countries like Ecuador and Bolivia are trying to balance indigenous ways of living with community and nature and local and global notions of economic progress. Throughout the region, governments are learning – painfully at times – that it is crucial to work not just with powerful international forces but also with their own civil society, listening to the voices of the poor men and women. More »
11
Nov
2011
14 days away!
Here’s a great resource for online activism specifically for women’s organisations from the Association for Progressive Communication Women’s Networking Support Programme and Violence is not our Culture.
Their guide, below, offers tips for online campaigning, harnessing social networks and minimising security risks.
What is your group planning – online or off? Tell us in the comments below, on Twitter at @thegenderwire or on our new Facebook page.
Click to download.
09
Nov
2011
We are happy to share with our readers AWID’s most recent publication: “Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation for Women’s Rights: Thirteen Insights for Women’s Organizations“.
The publication presents thirteen key insights into how women’s rights organizations and movements can strengthen capacity to track and assess the contribution of their organizations and interventions.
These thirteen insights stem from AWID’s intensive research into the challenges faced by women’s organizations in effectively monitoring and evaluating women’s rights work, and the ways to enhance the collective capacity to assess the influence and impact of such work. More »
07
Nov
2011
Women protesting in Syria. Credit Karama
The world continues to watch the Arab Spring as we head for 2011/12 winter, with some trepidation. Although one woman Tawakkul Karman of Yemen from the Region has been honoured with a Noble Peace Prize, all those women who took to the streets, blogged, tweeted, risked lives and made the revolution happen may well find themselves struggling against a backlash. During the revolution activists such as Esraa Abdel Fatah (known as “Facebook Girl” after organizing a nation-wide strike through her page in 2008) commented on how women were not violated during the protests. But now there are stories of women harassed and attacked once more post revolution the fight to end violence against women has to be an ever-vigilant demand. More »
02
Nov
2011
Advancing gender equality means a shift in thinking — from seeing boys and men as part of the problem, to including boys and men as part of the solution. (Credit: Sujoy Dhar/IPS)
Dear Editors,
Thanks for the story on working with males and females on gender equality.
You may also be interested in work that ICRW has done in this area. We developed and evaluated a program called “Gender Equity Movement in Schools” that is now being scaled up to 250 schools in Mumbai. Additionally, the project team has traveled to Vietnam for discussion on adapting the program to the Vietnamese setting.
…
Ellen Weiss
Senior Technical Advisor
Research Utilization and Development
International Center for Research on Women
Out of 157 countries, India ranks in the bottom three for girls’ and women’s education, economic participation and empowerment in the latest Gender Equity Index compiled by international NGO Social Watch, followed only by Côte d’Ivoire and Yemen.
ICRW’s two-year programme uses games and role-play to engage 12- to 14-year old boys and girls in fostering equitable relations and scrutinising the social norms that construct gender roles. The students also learn how to spot and combat gender-based violence.
How are you advancing the third millennium development goal? We want to hear from you! Send us your ideas, examples and comments for making the world more gender equitable: mdg3 [at] ips [dot] org.
