Europe

The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and the Geopolitics of Gender

Dr. Cinzia Solari

October 24, 2023

Hybrid - Ballroom A (U03-3550A Campus Center), University of Massachusetts Boston

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The Impacts of Large-Scale Biofuel Production in Rural Communities

Citation:

Clancy, Joy, and Jon C. Lovett. 2012. "The Impacts of Large-Scale Biofuel Production In Rural Communities." In Biofuels and Rural Poverty, 50-68. Abingdon: Routledge.

Authors: Joy Clancy , Jon C. Lovett

Annotation:

Summary: 

Large-scale biofuel production offers the prospect of product diversification based on either traditional or new crops. Selling a crop to a new market can help spread the risk of price fluctuation on commodity markets and it can provide an outlet for surpluses. These opportunities are seen as particularly important for many of the traditional sugar-producing countries of the Caribbean and Africa since they offer a means to compensate for the lost revenue due to the loss of preferential quotas and a 36 per cent reduction in guaranteed prices under EU sugar reform. There is also the prospect of refining the biofuels in rural areas, hence the value added by converting the raw material into the final product remains local. The delivery path for large-scale production can be on the basis of agri- business plantation grown crops using wage labour or a central processing plant based on outgrowers or a mixture of the two. Refining first generation biofuel crops needs to take place close to the growing sites since the biomass material generally begins to deteriorate rapidly after harvest. This chapter looks at the socio-economic impacts that large-scale biofuel production is bringing to rural areas, in particular impacts on the assets of small-scale farmers and landless people in rural areas who rely on selling their labour, as well as the distribution of benefits in respect of gender. The focus is on biofuels for export markets, while Chapter 6 looks at the possibilities for serving local markets. One of the major criticisms directed at biofuels has been the vulnerability of the poor to rapid expansion by large-scale biofuel programmes, in particular how this expansion affects their access to land. This chapter, therefore, examines the institutional issues related to biofuels and land tenure. (Summary from Original Source)

Topics: Agriculture, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Africa, Americas, Caribbean countries, North America, Europe

Year: 2012

Gender Dimensions of Sustainable Consumption

Citation:

Weller, Ines. 2017. “Gender Dimensions of Sustainable Consumption.” In Routledge Handbook of Gender and Environment, edited by Sherilyn MacGregor, 331–44. London: Routldege.

Author: Ines Weller

Annotation:

Summary:

Sustainable consumption and production patterns have been prominent issues from the very start of the sustainable development debate. In fact, Agenda 21, the plan of action adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro stated that ‘the major cause of the continued deterioration of the global environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and production, particularly in industrialized coun-
tries . . .’ (UN 1992:31). Although the urgent need for fundamental changes in consumption and production patterns, which would transform societies and push them in the direction of sustainable development, has been recognized since that time, particularly in the Global North, there are still very few signs that any such transformation is taking place. World energy consumption grows unabated as global carbon emissions continue to rise. The fundamental inequalities between the Global North and South also remain, despite very high rates of growth in the newly industrialized and developing countries of the Global South in particular (IEA 2013). In this context, and especially in the context of sustainable patterns of consumption and production, the attitudes and behaviours of private citizens and consumers, their perceptions of environmental problems, and associated use of resources all play an important role. Hitherto, however, these debates have neglected the significance of gender, gender relations, and gender justice for sustainable consumption.

In this chapter, I will focus on debates and research in Germany/Western Europe. I begin by introducing the definitions, objectives, and areas of responsibility of various actors for sustainable consumption. This compact overview focuses in particular on the relationship between production and consumption as gendered societal spheres. I then move on to consider the tension that exists between the theory of privatized environmental responsibility, on the one hand, which criticizes tendencies to overstate and moralize the power of private consumers to shape change and, on the other, women as change agents for more sustainable consumption. The next part of the chapter is organized around the distinction, which is useful for analyzing the gender aspects of sustainable consumption, between explicit and implicit gender dimensions. With reference to feminist theorist Sandra Harding (1986), I draw together the individual and structural levels of gender as explicit gender dimensions. Both of these are for the most part based on statistical data and empirical findings, particularly concerning gender differences and, in this respect, link to ambivalence between the analysis of gender and gender hierarchies, on the one hand, and the reproduction of traditional gender images and dichotomies on the other. The discussion focuses in particular on the symbolic conceptual level of gender, which I consider in detail in relation to a specific example. The background is the feminist critique of the claim of the natural sciences to objectivity (Orland and Scheich 1995). Drawing on the example of a study on the volume of food waste, I draw attention to several gender-related ‘blank spaces’ and gaps in the data that have been produced in this field. This emerges more clearly from closer consideration of the treatment given to male-coded production and female-coded consumption. (Summary from original source)

Topics: Development, Environment, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Justice Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Germany

Year: 2017

Gender, Resistance and Human Security

Citation:

Hoogensen, Gunhild, and Kirsti Stuvøy. 2006. “Gender, Resistance and Human Security.” Security Dialogue 37 (2): 207–28.

Authors: Gunhild Hoogensen, Kirsti Stuvøy

Abstract:

In the debate on human security, the leading question for many is ‘where do we go from here?’ Through this article, the authors contribute to the discussion by exploring both the extent to which gender approaches have been relevant to the human security debate thus far and how they can offer some directions forward. They argue that gender approaches deliver more credence and substance to a wider security concept, but also enable a theoretical conceptualization more reflective of security concerns that emanate from the ‘bottom up’. The authors therefore incorporate gender theory to develop human security as an epistemological perspective to security studies. Gender theory claims that security must be linked to empowerment of the individual, as well as to the capabilities to create positive environments of security. They employ the tool of resistance as one crucial example of human agency in security. Practices of resistance, in the latter’s various empirical forms, are present in all social contexts. Such a perspective on security directs attention to the practices of agents and provides a basis for exploring contextually dependent insecurities and securities.

Keywords: security, human security, gender, resistance, dominance/non-dominance

Topics: Gender, Security, Human Security Regions: Americas, North America, Europe, Nordic states Countries: Canada, Norway

Year: 2006

Green New Deal - or Globalisation Lite?

Citation:

Salleh, Ariel. 2010. “Green New Deal - or Globalisation Lite?” Arena, no. 105 (May): 15-9.

Author: Ariel Salleh

Annotation:

Summary:
"In response to the global climate crisis and the breakdown of international financial institutions, green new deals are being discussed in local, national, regional and international settings. But the word ‘deal’ gives the lie to new, for these are mostly trade-off packages designed to hold together the narrow political arena of business-as-usual. The Transatlantic Green New Deal, the Global Green New Deal, as well as British and Australian versions, look rather like a revved-up Hobbesian social contract, drafted in the realisation that life under global capitalism is more ‘nasty, brutish and short’ than ever before. The outline of the contract is on the table, but only one voice is represented in the text. Class difference appears only as an employment statistic and the systematic exploitations of race and gender that underpin the global economy are ignored. The neocolonial South, the domestic North, and material nature at large, remain sites of subsumption in green new deal discourse" (Salleh 2010, 15).

Topics: Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Post-Conflict, Race Regions: Americas, Europe Countries: Australia, United Kingdom

Year: 2010

How Women Can Save the Planet

Citation:

Karpf, Anne. 2021. How Women Can Save the Planet. Hurst Publishers.

Author: Anne Karpf

Annotation:

Summary: 
Here’s a perverse truth: from New Orleans to Bangladesh, women—especially poor women of colour—are suffering most from a crisis they have done nothing to cause. Yet where, in environmental policy, are the voices of elderly European women dying in heatwaves? Of African girls dropping out of school due to drought? Our highest-profile climate activists are women and girls; but, at the top table, it’s men deciding the earth’s future.
 
We’re not all in it together—but we could be. Instead of expecting individual women to save the planet, what we need are visionary, global climate policies that are gender-inclusive and promote gender equality.
 
Anne Karpf shines a light on the radical ideas, compelling research and tireless campaigns, led by and for women around the world, that have inspired her to hope. Her conversations with female activists show how we can fight back, with strength in diversity. And, faced with the most urgent catastrophe of our times, she offers a powerful vision: a Green New Deal for Women.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe

Year: 2021

Women in Peacebuilding: A Criticism of Gendered Solutions in Postconflict Situations

Citation:

Erzurum, Kemal and Berna Eren. 2014. “Women in Peacebuilding: A Criticism of Gendered Solutions in Postconflict Situations.” Journal of Applied Security Research 9 (2): 236–56.

Authors: Kemal Erzurum, Berna Eren

Abstract:

Women are the most suffering part of populations in conflicts. They are required to fulfill different responsibilities during and after conflicts. Considering this fact, participation of women at peacebuilding efforts in postconflict areas has been considered as sine qua non requirement. However, active participation of women at these efforts, particularly decision-making activities, has been hampered due to diverse reasons. The barriers that block women involved in peacebuilding processes as decision-makers should be reexamined and eliminated by eradicating inequalities. In this article, gender-based violence, underestimated plight of women in conflicts, gendered approach of peacebuilding efforts, and the barriers in front of women's active participation in decision-making processes are examined.

Keywords: women, peace, peacebuilding, conflict, decision making, gender

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Women, Peacebuilding, Political Participation, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone

Year: 2014

Gender and Climate Change Research : Moving Beyond Transformative Adaptation

Citation:

Santos, Pablo Romero-Nieva, Nikolai George Lewis Holm, Julia Olsen, and Grete K. Hovelsrud. 2020. “Gender and Climate Change Research : Moving Beyond Transformative Adaptation." Arctic Yearbook 2020: 189-218. https://nordopen.nord.no/nord-xmlui/handle/11250/2728589.

Authors: Pablo Romero-Nieva Santos, Nikolai George Lewis Holm, Julia Olsen, Greta K. Hovelsrud

Abstract:

Research on how communities in the Arctic can overcome the challenge of climate change have traditionally employed adaptation frameworks. The ability of these groups to continue thriving in the Arctic is complicated by historical, social, economic, and political complexities - issues thoroughly addressed through the postcolonial feminist concept of transformation. This article critically examines contemporary research on climate and gender, and the extent to which feminist transformative concerns are addressed, thereby challenging systems and promoting power structures that recognize or benefit all segments of society. The article adopts an analytical strategy which combines two parallel instances of critical reflection on climate research, specifically, a systematic literature review of climate and gender studies in the Canadian Arctic, and the results of a round-table workshop of international climate experts and researchers on the state of climate change, adaptation and gender research in the Arctic. The article explores the results of these analyses and distinguishes those strategies that represent a continuation of status-quo power relations and climate adaptation processes from those that account for current economic and socio-political factors.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations Regions: Europe, Nordic states Countries: Canada

Year: 2020

Las Violencias Sexuadas de La Guerra Civil Española: Paradigma Para Una Lectura Cultural Del Conflicto

Citation:

Joly, Maud. 2008. “Las Violencias Sexuadas de La Guerra Civil Española: Paradigma Para Una Lectura Cultural Del Conflicto.” Historia Social, no. 61 (2008): 89–107.

Author: Maud Joly

Abstract:

SPANISH ABSTRACT:

El artículo propone una lectura cultural de la Guerra Civil que tenga como objeto de estudio las violencias sexuadas dirigidas contra las mujeres republicanas. Esta aproximación se inscribe en la voluntad de superar los límites cronológicos y epistemológicos de la interpretación histórica del conflicto. Tras hacer un balance historiográfico, la reflexión se dirige a las modalidades, significados y genealogía del "saqueo del cuerpo" perpetrado durante la Guerra Civil. Más adelante se analiza la dimensión pública, espectacular y escatològica de las violencias sexuadas, entra la sumisión y la reconquista de la retaguardia. Por último, la aproximación cultural del fenómeno guerrero invita a reflexionar sobre las experiencias femeninas de la violencia de guerra.

 

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:

The article puts forward a cultural interpretation of the Civil War which covers the aspects of sexed violence suffered by Republican women. This approach arises through the wish to go beyond the chronological and epistemological limits of the historical interpretation of the conflict. After making a historiographie appraisal, the reflection goes on to tackle the modalities, meanings and genealogy of the "body looting" perpetrated during the Civil War. Then an analysis is made of the spectacular and eschatological public dimension of sexed violence, with the submission and the reconquest of the rearguard. Lastly, the cultural approach of the warrior phenomenon leads readers to a reflection on the female experiences of war violence.

Keywords: Spanish Civil War, Spain, conflict-related sexual violence, conflict-related sexual violence against women, rape

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Spain

Year: 2008

The Challenges of Gendering Genocide: Reflections on a Feminist Politics of Complexity

Citation:

Helms, Elissa. “The Challenges of Gendering Genocide: Reflections on a Feminist Politics of Complexity.” European Journal of Women’s Studies 22 (4): 463–69.

Author: Elissa Helms

Keywords: genocide, Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia

Annotation:

"When feminists and activists tackle the gendered dynamics of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and contemporary armed conflict, it seems safe to assume that their analyses and interventions are rooted in solidarity with the victims and survivors, in a desire to understand in order to contribute to the eradication of such violence and suffering. Yet some feminist or women-centered positions have sparked serious anxiety and anger among women war survivors and their advocates, rifts in feminist alliances, as well as disturbing political and material consequences for survivors and for the wider societies in which they live. The very collective nature of genocide and ethnicized violence makes them resistant to feminist critique – to scrutiny of the ways in which (ethno-) national collectivities create, and mask, power hierarchies within purported unity (McClintock, 1993) (...) This essay is a reflection on some of the issues and challenges for feminist scholarship and activism that emerge out of critical study of gendered war violence and the politics of collective ethnic and gender victimhood in a postwar setting" (Helms 2015, 463).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender-Based Violence, Genocide, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2015

Pages

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