Education

Hashtagging Girlhood: #IAmMalala, #BringBackOurGirls and Gendering Representations of Global Politics

Citation:

Berents, Helen. 2016. “Hashtagging Girlhood: #IAmMalala, #BringBackOurGirls and Gendering Representations of Global Politics.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 18 (4): 513–27.

Author: Helen Berents

Abstract:

This article explores how gendered, racial and youth-ed concepts of girlhood shape the way conflict, violence and the lived experiences of girls in conflict-affected environments are understood globally. In particular, it examines the broader context and effect of social media campaigns that specifically invoke a concept of “girlhood” in their responses to crisis or tragedy. It focuses on two hashtags and their associated social media campaigns: #IAmMalala, started in response to the attempted killing of Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012 by Taliban gunmen, and #BringBackOurGirls, started by Nigerians and adopted globally in response to the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by terrorist group Boko Haram. In both instances, understandings of the broader political context are shaped by the focus on girls. Both hashtags also appropriate an experience: claiming to be Malala and claiming the Nigerian girls as ours. Through this exploration, I argue that particular ideals of girlhood are coded within these campaigns, and that these girls’ experiences are appropriated. I critique the limited representations of girlhood that circulate in these discussions, and how these limited representations demonstrate the problematic narrowness of dominant conceptions of girlhood.

Keywords: Girlhood, activism, social media, Malala Yousafzai, Chibok girls

Topics: Age, Youth, Education, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Media, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Race, Terrorism, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: Nigeria, Pakistan

Year: 2016

Gender-Related Contemporary Challenges in the Transport Ecosystem and Women’s Mobility Needs TinnGO (special session on ‘Women in Transport – EU Projects for Change’)

Citation:

Woodcock, Andree, Lena Levin, Miriam Pirra, Cathleen Schöne, and Esti Sanvicente. 2020. “Gender-Related Contemporary Challenges in the Transport Ecosystem and Women’s Mobility Needs TinnGO (special session on ‘Women in Transport – EU Projects for Change’).” In Proceedings of 8th Transport Research Arena TRA 2020, April 27-30, 1-8. Helsinki: Transport Research Arena.

Authors: Andree Woodcock, Lena Levin, Miriam Pirra, Cathleen Schöne, Esti Sanvicente

Abstract:

TinnGO addresses contemporary challenges in employment, education and male-domination, through an intersectional analysis applied to examine inequality and privilege in transport and mobility. The European transport sector is marred by strong, persistent biases, which produce gender and other inequalities, permeating the sector whilst having wider repercussions in relation to quality of life, accessibility and inclusivity. The TinnGO project will create a framework and promote mechanisms for sustainable change in gender and diversity sensitive smart mobility through the development of a Pan European TinnGO observatory. This will lead, coordinate, and be fed by hubs across EU (UK, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Baltic states, Denmark/Sweden, Italy) providing leadership, innovation and critique of smart mobility innovations. The ambition is to become a template for further observatories monitoring and addressing barriers to women’s mobility through gendered, culturally sensitive smart mobility innovations. This paper provides an overview of the concepts and initial results.

Keywords: Europe, co and participatory design, gender mainstreaming, gender and diversity sensitive, smart mobility

Topics: Education, Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Infrastructure, Transportation Regions: Europe

Year: 2020

Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia

Citation:

Khoja-Moolji, Shenila. 2018. Forging the Ideal Educated Girl: The Production of Desirable Subjects in Muslim South Asia. Oakland: University of California Press.

Author: Shenila Khoja-Moolji

Annotation:

Summary:
In Forging the Ideal Educated Girl, Shenila Khoja-Moolji traces the figure of the ‘educated girl’ to examine the evolving politics of educational reform and development campaigns in colonial India and Pakistan. She challenges the prevailing common sense associated with calls for women’s and girls’ education and argues that such advocacy is not simply about access to education but, more crucially, concerned with producing ideal Muslim woman-/girl-subjects with specific relationships to the patriarchal family, paid work, Islam, and the nation-state. Thus, discourses on girls’/ women’s education are sites for the construction of not only gender but also class relations, religion, and the nation. (Summary from UC Press)

Topics: Class, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Development, Education, Gender, Girls, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India, Pakistan

Year: 2018

O processo pedagógico da luta de gênero na luta pela terra: o desafio de transformar práticas e relações sociais

Citation:

Schwendler, Sônia Fátima. 2015. "O processo pedagógico da luta de gênero na luta pela terra: o desafio de transformar práticas e relações sociais." Educar em Revista 55, 87-109.

 

Author: Sônia Fátima Schwendler

Abstract:

PORTUGUESE ABSTRACT:

O presente artigo analisa o processo pedagógico da luta de gênero que ocorre dentro da luta pela terra a partir do protagonismo das mulheres trabalhadoras do campo. Com base na literatura da temática da educação, gênero e movimentos sociais e, a partir de extensa pesquisa de campo desenvolvida no Sul do Brasil com mulheres e homens do Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST) e com o Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas (MMC), este estudo evidencia os principais elementos que contribuíram para o empoderamento das mulheres camponesas e a mutação das relações de gênero na luta pela terra. Ao examinar o impacto da intencionalidade socioeducativa na transformação das relações de gênero, argumenta-se que o saber social produzido na luta político-organizativa, a partir de uma leitura de classe e da influência da teoria feminista, promove a organização das mulheres camponesas em torno das demandas estratégicas de gênero com vistas ao enfrentamento das desigualdades e da subalternização da mulher. Evidencia-se, no entanto, que apesar de sua importância, este processo pedagógico que emerge na dinâmica da luta social não é o suficiente para a transformação das relações de gênero. Há a necessidade de leis e políticas afirmativas que garantam à mulher condições efetivas de participação política, econômica e social.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:

This paper analyzes the pedagogical process of gender struggle that takes place within the struggle for land from the agency of rural workers’ women. Based on the literature on education, gender and social movements and, from extensive field work carried out in southern Brazil with women and men of the Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra – MST) and the Peasant Women’s Movement (Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas – MMC), this study highlights the key elements that contributed to the empowerment of rural women and the shifting of gender relations within land struggle. When examining the impact of socio-educational intention in changing gender relations, it is argued that the social knowledge produced within the political-organizational struggle, from a class consciousness and the influence of feminist theory, promotes the organization of peasant women around strategic gender demands aiming to confront inequality and women’s subordination. It is evident, however, that despite its importance, this pedagogical process which emerges in the dynamics of social struggle is not enough for the transformation of gender relations. There is a need for laws and affirmative action policies that guarantee effective conditions for women’s political, economic and social participation. 

Keywords: education, gender, women, land reform, social movements, educação, género, mulheres, reforma agraria, movimentos sócias

Topics: Class, Education, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Roles, Men, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Brazil

Year: 2015

Mobility, Education and Livelihood Trajectories for Young People in Rural Ghana: A Gender Perspective

Citation:

Porter, Gina, Kate Hampshire, Albert Abane, Augustine Tanle, Kobina Esia-Donkoh, Regina Obilie Amoako-Sakyi, Samuel Agblorti, and Samuel Asiedu Owusu. 2011. “Mobility, Education and Livelihood Trajectories for Young People in Rural Ghana: A Gender Perspective.” Children’s Geographies 9 (3–4): 395–410.

Authors: Gina Porter, Kate Hampshire, Albert Abane, Augustine Tanle, Kobina Esia-Donkoh, Regina Obilie Amoako-Sakyi, Samuel Agblorti, Samuel Asiedu Owusu

Abstract:

This paper examines the gendered implications of Africa's transport gap (the lack of cheap, regular and reliable transport) for young people in rural Ghana, with particular reference to the linkages between restricted mobility, household work demands, access to education and livelihood potential. Our aim is to show how mobility constraints, especially as these interact with household labour demands, restrict young people's access to education and livelihood opportunities. Firstly, the paper considers the implications of the direct constraints on young people's mobility potential as they travel to school. Then it examines young people's (mostly unpaid) labour contributions, which are commonly crucial to family household production and reproduction, including those associated with the transport gap. This has especially important implications for girls, on whom the principal onus lies to help adult women carry the heavy burden of water, firewood, and agricultural products required for household use. Such work can impact significantly on their educational attendance and performance in school and thus has potential knock-on impacts for livelihoods. Distance from school, when coupled with a heavy workload at home will affect attendance, punctuality and performance at school: it may ultimately represent the tipping point resulting in a decision to withdraw from formal education. Moreover, the heavy burden of work and restricted mobility contributes to young people's negative attitudes to agriculture and rural life and encourages urban migration. Drawing on research from rural case study sites in two regions of Ghana, we discuss ethnographic material from recent interviews with children and young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants, supported by information from an associated survey with children ca. 9–18 years.

Keywords: school distance, child labour, transport gap, load-carrying, educational access

Topics: Age, Youth, Education, Gender, Girls, Infrastructure, Transportation Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2011

Women and Climate Change - Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security, and Economic Development

Citation:

Alam, Mayesha, Rukmani Bhatia, and Briana Mawby. 2015. Women and Climate Change - Impact and Agency in Human Rights, Security, and Economic Development. Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. doi:10.1163/9789004322714_cclc_2015-0019-008.

Authors: Mayesha Alam, Rukmani Bhatia, Briana Mawby

Annotation:

Summary:
This report comes at an important time of international observance when new commitments to action will be made, coinciding not only with the fifteenth anniversaries of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) and the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, but also in anticipation of the Conference of Parties (COP) 21 conference in Paris in late 2015. In an effort to remedy the dearth of existing literature on women and climate change, this report makes an important contribution by covering a wide variety of issues; highlighting both impact and agency; mapping examples of solutions that have proven to be successful; and holding relevance to policymakers, practitioners, scholars, and students. The findings of the report are based on and buttressed by a thorough examination of international conventions and protocols; national action plans; journal articles and other scholarly publications; reports by government and multilateral agencies; policy briefs and guidance notes, as well as civil society reports. The analysis is also informed by and draws upon a series of consultations with experts from around the world in research, advocacy, program design and implementation, and global leadership positions. As a result, the study represents an interdisciplinary endeavor with far-reaching practical applicability.

The report frames climate change as a universal human rights imperative, a global security threat, and a pervasive economic strain. Cataloguing the effects of climate change, the study examines the gendered dimensions of sea level rising and flooding; deforestation and ocean acidification; water scarcity; energy production and energy poverty; and climate-related displacement and migration. As part of this analysis, the report not only identifies how women are strained differentially and severely by the effects of climate change, but also how women have, continue to, and could serve as agents of mitigation and adaptation. For example, the section on water scarcity details how climate change causes droughts and soil erosion, which not only disenfranchises women farmers, who are the majority of the agricultural workforce in Africa and elsewhere, but also undermines hygiene and sanitation, affecting maternal health, women’s economic productivity, and girls’ education. Similarly, the section on energy identifies the gendered health, economic, and human security consequences of unmet energy needs of families that lack access to affordable and dependable energy sources. It also highlights the solutions that are working, such as the work of Grameen Shakti to provide clean, renewable energy to rural communities in Bangladesh, in doing so building a new cadre of women solar engineers and technicians.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Climate Displacement, Education, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Girls, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Health, Infrastructure, Energy, Water & Sanitation

Year: 2015

Electrification and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from Rural India

Citation:

Samad, Hussain A., and Fan Zhang. 2019. “Electrification and Women's Empowerment: Evidence from Rural India.” Policy Research Working Papers, World Bank Group, Washington, D.C.

Authors: Hussain A. Samad, Fan Zhang

Abstract:

Electrification has been shown to accelerate opportunities for women by moving them into more productive activities, but whether improvements in economic outcomes also change gender norms and practices within the household remains unclear. This paper investigates the causal link between electricity access and women's empowerment, using a large gender-disaggregated data set on India. Empowerment is measured by women's decision-making ability, mobility, financial autonomy, reproductive freedom, and social participation. Using propensity score matching, the study finds that electrification enhances all measures of women's empowerment and is associated with an 11-percentage point increase in the overall empowerment index. Employment and education are identified as the two most important causal channels through which electrification enables empowerment.

Topics: Economies, Education, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2019

Decolonization and Afro-Feminism

Citation:

Tamale, Sylvia. 2020. Decolonization and Afro-Feminism. Ottawa: Daraja Press.

Author: Sylvia Tamale

Annotation:

Summary:
Why do so many Africans believe they cannot break the “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” cycle?  Six decades after colonial flags were lowered and African countries gained formal independence, the continent struggles to free itself from the deep legacies of colonialism, imperialism and patriarchy.  Many intellectuals, politicians, feminists and other activists, eager to contribute to Africa’s liberation, have frustratingly, felt like they took the wrong path.  Analyzed through the eyes of Afro-feminism, this book revisits some of the fundamental preconditions needed for radical transformation.

The main focus of Decolonization and Afro-feminism is unlearning imperial power relations by relearning to “shake off” the colonial filters through which we view the world, including the instruments of law, education, religion, family and sexuality.  It re-envisions Pan-Africanism as a more inclusive decolonizing/decolonial movement that embraces Afro-feminist politics.  It also challenges the traditional human rights paradigm and its concomitant idea of “gender equality,” flagging instead, the African philosophy of Ubuntu as a serious alternative for reinvigorating African notions of social justice. (Summary from original source)

 

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The Basics of Decolonization and Decolonial Futures

2. Feminists and the Struggle for Africa’s Decolonial Reconstruction

3. Challenging the Coloniality of Sex, Gender and Sexuality

4. Legal Pluralism and Decolonial Feminismn

5. Repositioning the Dominant Discourses on Rights and Social Justice

6. Rethinking the African Academy

7. Decolonizing Family Law: The Case of Uganda

8. Towards Feminist Pan-Africanism and Pan-African Feminism

Epilogue: Decolonizing Africa in the Age of Big Data

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Education, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Religion, Sexuality Regions: Africa

Year: 2020

Gender and Climate Change in Latin America: An Analysis of Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience Based on Household Surveys: Gender and Climate Change in Latin America

Citation:

Andersen, Lykke E., Dorte Verner, and Manfred Wiebelt. 2017. “Gender and Climate Change in Latin America: An Analysis of Vulnerability, Adaptation and Resilience Based on Household Surveys: Gender and Climate Change in Latin America.” Journal of International Development 29 (7): 857–76. 

Authors: Lykke E. Andersen, Dorte Verner, Manfred Wiebelt

Abstract:

This paper analyses gender differences in vulnerability and resilience to shocks, including climate change and climate variability, for Peru, Brazil and Mexico, which together account for more than half the population in Latin America. Vulnerability and resilience indicators are measured by a combination of the level of household incomes per capita and the degree of diversification of these incomes. Thus, households which simultaneously have incomes which are below the national poverty line and which are poorly diversified (Diversification Index below 0.5) are classified as highly vulnerable, whereas households which have highly diversified incomes above the poverty line are classified as highly resilient. The analysis shows that female headed households in all three countries tend to be less vulnerable and more resilient than male headed households, despite the fact that the former usually have lower education levels.

Keywords: Brazil, external shocks, livelihood diversification, mexico, Peru, resilience, vulnerability

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Education, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Households Regions: Americas, North America, South America Countries: Brazil, Mexico, Peru

Year: 2017

Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Women's Poverty and Domestic Burdens: A Bolivian Case Study

Citation:

Escalante, Luis, and Hélène Maisonnave. 2020. "Assessing the Impacts of Climate Change on Women's Poverty and Domestic Burdens: A Bolivian Case Study." Working Paper, Archive Ouverte de la Communauté Scientifique Normande, HAL Normandie Université, Normandy, France.

Authors: Luis Enrique Escalante, Hélène Maisonnave

Abstract:

Climate change affects men and women differently and pre-existing gender disparities may be worsened. In Bolivia, high vulnerability levels and gender disparities exist in terms of education, access to employment, and poverty, making women a highly vulnerable population group. Our analysis uses a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model that explicitly incorporates household production with a gender focus, linked with micro-simulations to assess the effects of climate change on poverty and inequality in Bolivia. Two scenarios are evaluated. The first scenario refers to damages and losses of capital and land in the agricultural and livestock sector due to climatic events, while the second scenario analyses the decrease in agricultural production yields.

The simulations reveal that the climatic scenarios have negative impacts on the Bolivian economy, with the agricultural sector being the most affected. The results also reveal that climate change affects employment negatively in both simulations, and further increases the burden of domestic work, especially for women thus increasing their vulnerability. Furthermore, both simulations reveal negative impacts on poverty and inequality, with women being more affected than men. The results reveal that Bolivian women are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than men.

Keywords: CGE, climate change, 'gender', unpaid work, poverty, Latin America, Bolivia

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Education, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Men, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Bolivia

Year: 2020

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