Women

Citation:

McIlwaine, Cathy, and Kavita Datta. 2003. “From Feminising to Engendering Development.” Gender, Place and Culture 10 (4): 369-82.

Authors: Cathy McIlwaine, Kavita Datta

Abstract:

Feminists have been crucial in challenging the gender-blindness of development discourse & practice. In the process, they have shaped the move from the feminization to the engendering of development over the last three decades. This article explores this broad shift, focusing on the recent transformations within gender & development discourse & feminist approaches to development relating to diversity & representation, human rights, & the incorporation of men & masculinities within the development agenda, all set within the context of a globalizing era. It highlights how women from the South have been critical in reshaping contemporary feminisms to celebrate difference & plurality & challenge Western hegemony. At the same time, feminists have also emphasized the commonalities among women in the name of addressing gender inequalities, evidenced in a recent upsurge in forging transnational alliances facilitated by the contradictory processes of globalization.

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 2003

Citation:

Chingono, Mark F. 1996. “Women, War and Change: An Ambiguous Legacy.” In The State, Violence and Development: The Political Economy of War in Mozambique, 1975-1992, 209-43. Aldershot, UK: Avebury.

Author: Mark F. Chingono

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Political Economies Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 1996

Citation:

Viseus, Patricia. 2002. “International Crimes Against Women - Sexual Violence and Peremptory Norms: The Legal Value of Rape.” Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 34 (3): 287-303.

Author: Patricia Viseus

Abstract:

This lecture was delivered by the Legal Adviser for Gender Related Crimes and Trial Attorney, Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law on March 2, 2002. The lecture addresses whether sexual violence is a peremptory norm under international law. It inquires just how high up the legal hierarchy rape has traveled, and more specifically, what the legal value that international law attaches to the act of rape is now considered to be.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Europe, Balkans Countries: Rwanda, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 2002

Citation:

Kalosieh, Adrienne. 2002. “Consent to Genocide?: The ICTY’s Improper Use of the Consent Paradigm to Prosecute Genocidal Rape in Foca.” Women’s Rights Law Reporter 24: 121–36.

Author: Adrienne Kalosieh

Topics: Gender, Women, Genocide, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 2002

Citation:

Bacchetta, Paola. 1999. “Militant Hindu Nationalist Women Reimagine Themselves: Notes on Mechanisms of Expansion/Adjustment.” Journal of Women’s History 10 (4): 125-47.

Author: Paola Bacchetta

Abstract:

This article explores modes in which women militants from India's most extensive Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have used Hindu nationalist discourse to produce themselves as political agents. The author compares personal narratives of three Hindu nationalist women militants from three different generations to the official discourse of the RSS and its affiliated women's organization, Rashtra Sevika Samiti. Notwithstanding the diversity of the women's life trajectories, identities, perspectives, and modes of political engagement, there are also some commonalities. All three women selectively modify official Rashtra Sevika Samiti discourse to justify their personal, intellectual, emotional, physical, and spatial expansion as new political agents. Simultaneously, they reproduce official RSS anti-feminist and anti-Muslim stances, thereby ensuring their own confinement within the Hindu nationalist order which ultimately men dominate. Thus, the women end up adjusting to their (newly conceptualized and expanded, albeit still subordinate) place within that order.

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Nationalism, Political Participation, Religion Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 1999

Citation:

Sung, Hung-En. 2003. “Fairer Sex or Fairer System? Gender and Corruption Revisited.” Social Forces 82 (2): 703-23.

Author: Hung-En Sung

Abstract:

Two recent influential studies found that larger representations of women in government reduced corruption. Assuming that the observed gender differentials were caused by women's inclinations toward honesty and the common good, both studies advocated increased female participation in government to combat corruption. This study argues that the observed association between gender and corruption is spurious and mainly caused by its context, liberal democracy– a political system that promotes gender equality and better governance. Data favor this "fairer system" thesis.

Topics: Corruption, Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Political Participation

Year: 2003

Citation:

Cervenak, Christine M. 1994. “Promoting Inequality: Gender-Based Discrimination in UNRWA’s Approach to Palestine Refugee Status.” Human Rights Quarterly 16 (2): 300-74.

Author: Christine M. Cervenak

Abstract:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), an influential body with the power to regulate access to health and social services, has established a patrilineal model for establishing refugee status. Palestinian refugee women who marry non-refugees may maintain their status, but their children cannot be considered as refugees and all family members are ineligible for most UNRWA benefits. In contrast, refugee men who marry non-refugees may pass on refugee status to their children and the family is eligible for UNRWA services, even if they are not needed. In addition to medical and social welfare benefits, UNRWA refugee status confers the right to residence in Lebanon which is not available to stateless Palestinians. Of concern is the perpetuation of gender discrimination if the UNRWA definition of Palestinian refugees forms the basis of a comprehensive peace settlement. Moreover, there are legal concerns as to whether UNRWA's standard violates international human rights codes, including those established by the UN. UNRWA apparently justifies its gender discrimination on the basis of the assumption that refugee women married to non-refugee men will follow their husbands; as in Arab culture, the system is structured around the male head of the family. The emerging Palestinian women's movement is espousing an alternate model based on the ideals of gender equality outlined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the UN in 1979. The UNRWA has justified its standard on the grounds of budgetary limitations. More appropriate would be restrictions on assistance to those who are not in need and an extension of services to non-refugees without other sources of access to essential services. Attention to UNRWA's discriminatory policies is essential at this time since the infrastructure of the future Palestinian state is being developed.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Humanitarian Assistance, International Organizations Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories

Year: 1994

Citation:

Strand, R. T., L. Fernandes Dias, S. Bergström, and S. Andersson. 2007. “Unexpected Low Prevalence of HIV Among Fertile Women in Luanda, Angola. Does War Prevent the Spread of HIV?” International Journal of STD & AIDS 18 (7): 467–71. doi:10.1258/095646207781147300.

Authors: R. T. Strand, L. Fernandes Dias, S. Bergström, S. Andersson

Abstract:

We studied HIV prevalence and risk factors for HIV infection among fertile women in Luanda for the purposes of obtaining background data for planning of interventions as well as to look into the association of armed conflicts and HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. The HIV-1 prevalence was 1.7% in an antenatal care group (n = 517) and 1.9% in a family planning group (n = 518). Socioeconomic and sexual background factors did not significantly differ HIV-positive from HIV-negative women. Data on armed conflict factors were matched with HIV prevalence figures among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. The level of armed conflicts was found to be inversely related to HIV prevalence. The low HIV seroprevalence in Luanda is in sharp contrast to the capitals of neighbouring countries. While the spread of HIV may have been hampered by the long armed conflict in the country, it is feared to increase rapidly with the return of soldiers and refugees in a post-war situation. The challenge for preventive actions is urgent. This example may be relevant to other areas with a recent end-of-war situation.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, HIV/AIDS, Mental Health, Reproductive Health Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Angola

Year: 2007

Citation:

Kalajdzic, Jasminka. 1995. “Rape, Representation, and Rights: Permeating International Law with the Voices of Women.” Queen’s Law Journal 21: 457.

Author: Jasminka Kalajdzic

Abstract:

The mass rapes of Bosnian women by Serb soldiers were a tool of war specifically used to systematically drive away women and their communities. This paper examines that phenomenon in light of representations of rape in current literature and the effort to develop a feminist understanding of rape. It considers the feminist debate over whether the mass rapes in Bosnia should be seen as a crime perpetrated against the women as female individuals or against the Bosnian community. The foundation for this examination is  adiscussion of three normative conceptions which affect international treatment of rape as a war crime - rape as part of the game of war, as an attack on community, and as terrorization and retailiation. The author then documents the exclusion of any conclusive mention of rape from the Hague Conventions (1907) and discusses the repercussions of its eventual definition in the later Geneva Conventions (1949). Finally, the author calls for gender-sensitive approaches to humanitarian assistance, for sensitive treatment of rape survivors, and for the injection of a female voice into humanitarian law.

Keywords: International Humanitarian Law, rape, Bosnia

Topics: Gender, Women, International Law, Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape

Year: 1995

Citation:

Abel, Marijke, and Annemiek Richters. 2009. “Memory, Suffering, Survival Tactics, and Healing among Jopadhola Women in Post-War Uganda.” Development in Practice 19 (3): 340-49. doi:10.1080/09614520902808050.

Authors: Marijke Abel, Annemiek Richters

Abstract:

This ethnographic case study addresses the question of how women in Jopadhola patriarchal society in Eastern Uganda remember three decades of civil war and violence and survived its aftermath. When the war ended, little changed for these women, who are still exposed to a continuum of gender-based violence and continue to use the same tactics that, during the war, enabled them somehow to live with their suffering. Local NGOs, with the support of the government, have started to assist Jopadhola women to improve the quality of their present-day lives. By rebuilding their human and social capital, these NGOs are also creating the space for women to heal their war memories.

Keywords: gender-based violence, healing, civil society, conflict and reconstruction, gender and diversity, Rights, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Patriarchy, NGOs Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2009