Northern Europe

Women, Violence, and Social Change in Northern Ireland and Chiapas: Societies Between Tradition and Transition

Citation:

Hoewer, Melanie. 2013. “Women, Violence, and Social Change in Northern Ireland and Chiapas: Societies Between Tradition and Transition.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence 7 (2): 216–31.

Author: Melanie Hoewer

Abstract:

Violence against women occurs in peacetime, intensifies during wartime, and continues in the aftermath of armed conflict. Women sometimes make gains during conflict and their efforts to break the pattern of violence have led to a greater awareness of gender-based violence. However, a lack of acknowledgement of transformations in gender identity at the macro-level during peace processes may create conflict in intimate partnerships. This study brings to light the complexity of changes occurring during peace processes in a multi-level analysis of women’s perceptions and positioning towards the state, their community, and their intimate partnership. This comparative analysis of fifty-seven female activists’ narratives from Chiapas and Northern Ireland demonstrates how a one-dimensional peace process (Northern Ireland) can limit the space for addressing women’s concerns, while peace processes that transcend the ethno- national dimension of conflict (Chiapas) can open a dialogue on issues of contention in male-female relationships.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, National Liberation Wars, Combatants, Domestic Violence, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Paramilitaries, Non-State Armed Groups, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Violence Regions: Americas, North America, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Mexico, United Kingdom

Year: 2013

A Grounded Theory Investigation Into the Experiences of African Women Refugees: Effects on Resilience and Identity and Implications for Service Provision.

Citation:

Sherwood, Katie, and Helen Liebling-Kalifani. 2012. “A Grounded Theory Investigation Into The Experiences Of African Women Refugees: Effects On Resilience And Identity And Implications For Service Provision1.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 13 (1): 86-108.

Authors: Katie Sherwood, Helen Liebling-Kalifani

Abstract:

The current study aims to explore African women’s experiences of violence during conflict. The research was undertaken in 2009 in part fulfilment for a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology. Previous research on women refugees’ experiences has focused on the negative impact on psychological functioning despite indications that they show great strength and resilience. Using qualitative methods the study sought to identify the impact of violence on mental health as well as develop a greater understanding of the roles of resilience, coping and identity. Women from Somalia and Zimbabwe who attended a refugee centre in the UK were interviewed; analysis of the results identified a relationship between resilience, access to rights and support and identity. It also recognised cultural and societal influences and experiences in the United Kingdom as contributing factors. Findings support the move toward a more holistic model of understanding refugee women’s experiences. However, the study also reveals the importance of support and treatment assisting women to utilise their resilience in reconstructing their identities from traumatic events and recovery process.

Keywords: women, refugees, trauma, Africa, gender based violence

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, Rights, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, Northern Europe Countries: Somalia, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe

Year: 2012

The Precarity of Feminisation: On Domestic Work, Heteronormativity and the Coloniality of Labour

Citation:

Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, Encarnación. 2014. “The Precarity of Feminisation: On Domestic Work, Heteronormativity and the Coloniality of Labour.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 27 (2): 191–202. doi:10.1007/s10767-013-9154-7.

Author: Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez

Abstract:

Despite women’s increasing participation in the labour market and attempts to transform the traditional gendered division of work, domestic and care work is still perceived as women’s terrain. This work continues to be invisible in terms of the organisation of production or productive value and domestic and care work continues to be unpaid or low paid. Taking domestic and care work as an expression of the feminisation of labour, this article will attempt to complicate this analysis by first exploring a queer critique of feminisation, and second, by situating feminisation within the context of the coloniality of power. Drawing on research conducted in Austria, Germany, Spain and the UK on the organisation of domestic work in private households, the article will conclude with some observations on the interconnectedness of feminisation, heteronormativity and the coloniality of power in the analysis of the expansion of precarity in the EU zone.

Keywords: coloniality, feminisation, Europe, heteronormativity, precarity

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Households, Livelihoods Regions: Europe, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Austria, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom

Year: 2014

New Steering Methods in Regional Policy — Transforming the Alliance of ‘State Feminism'

Citation:

Hedlund, Gun, and Malin Lindberg. 2012. “New Steering Methods in Regional Policy — Transforming the Alliance of ‘State Feminism.’” Women’s Studies International Forum 35 (3): 166–72. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2012.03.005.

Authors: Gun Hedlund, Malin Lindberg

Abstract:

In this article, the theory of ‘state feminism’ is applied on the area of regional development policy, supplementing existing research about state–citizen relationships in northern and southern Europe. Based on Swedish data, it is argued that the former alliance between the women's movement and the welfare state has been transformed as a result of new steering methods in regional development policy in a way that is best understood as a paradox. This paradox includes both stronger and weaker relations. The public support to Women Resource Centres (WRCs) in Sweden is used as an example of ‘state feminism’. The ability of the WRCs to affect policy has changed over time, however, due to the adoption of new steering methods based on networks and market-orientation in Swedish regional development policy. The conclusions induce further development of ‘state feminism’ theory, making it more up-to-date with the prevalent interaction between women's movements and European welfare states.

Topics: Gender, Women, Femininity/ies, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Political Participation Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2012

Bridging Inequalities through Inclusion: Women’s Rights Organisations as the ‘Missing Link’ in Donor Government-Led Participatory Policy Development and Practice

Citation:

Hunt, Abigail, Hannah Bond, and Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng. 2015. “Bridging Inequalities through Inclusion: Women’s Rights Organisations as the ‘Missing Link’ in Donor Government-Led Participatory Policy Development and Practice.” Gender & Development 23 (2): 347–64. 

Authors: Abigai Huntl, Hannah Bond, Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng

Abstract:

This article focuses on women's rights organisations and their role in challenging inequality within the development process. Women in poverty are excluded as a result of their unequal societal position, geographic location, and the predominance of ‘top-down’ and piecemeal policymaking processes carried out by donor governments. We argue that in-country women's rights organisations provide the ‘missing link’ to bridge the disconnect between grassroots, marginalised women and donor decision-makers. This article focuses on the UK government's approach to developing policy and practice aimed at furthering international women's rights, focusing on the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Engaging with women's rights organisations not only ensures that donor policy and practice responds fully to the interests and needs of the poorest and most marginalised women in the global South, but renders the decision-making process itself empowering to the women involved.

Keywords: women's rights organisations, policy, participation, women, peace and security, inclusion, decision making

Topics: Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Women, Political Participation, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2015

Gender, Sex and the Postnational Defense: Militarism and Peacekeeping

Citation:

Kronsell, Annica. 2012. Gender, Sex and the Postnational Defense: Militarism and Peacekeeping. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/gender-sex-and-the-postnational-defense-9780199846061?cc=us&lang=en&.

Author: Annica Kronsell

Abstract:

Gender, Sex, and the Postnational Defense looks at the way that a postnational defense influenced by SC 1325 and focused on human security affects gender relations in militaries. Interestingly, despite the successful implementation of gender mainstreaming in training, the number of women involved in military peacekeeping remains low. Contradicting much of the gender mainstreaming literature, Annica Kronsell shows that increasing gender awareness in the military is a more achievable task than increasing gender partiy. Employing a feminist constructivist institutional approach, Kronsell questions whether military institutions can ever attain gender neutrality without confronting their reliance on masculinity constructs. She further questions whether "feminism" must always be equated with anti-militarism or if military violence committed in the name of enhancing human security can be performed according to a feminist ethics. Kronsell builds her theoretical argument on a case study of Sweden and the E.U.

(Oxford University Press)

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarism, Peacekeeping, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2012

Bombshell: The Many Faces of Women Terrorists

Citation:

Bloom, Mia. 2011. Bombshell: The Many Faces of Women Terrorists. London: Hurst Publishers. http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/bombshell/.

Author: Mia Bloom

Abstract:

The ultimate stealth weapon, female terrorists kill on average four times more people than their male counterparts. But why are more women drawn to terrorism than ever before? Do women volunteer to be terrorists, or are they coerced? Does women’s participation in terrorism have any positive impact on their place in society?

In Bombshell, Mia Bloom seeks to understand what motivates women and to redress the gap in our understanding of women’s roles by interviewing women previously involved in terrorist groups. Bloom provides a unique and rare first-hand glimpse into the psychology, culture and social networks of women who become terrorists. Bombshell takes an in-depth look at women involved in terrorism in Chechnya, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Palestine, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.

Drawing on primary research and secondary literature, Bloom examines the increasing role of women in terrorism, and considers what it means for the societies from which they come.

(Hurst Publishers)

Keywords: gender studies, terrorism

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Femininity/ies, Terrorism Regions: Africa, MENA, East Africa, Americas, North America, South America, Asia, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine / Occupied Palestinian Territories, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America

Year: 2011

Gender, Development and Environmental Governance: Theorizing Connections

Citation:

Arora-Jonsson, Seema. 2013. Gender, Development and Environmental Governance: Theorizing Connections. Routledge.

Author: Seema Arora-Jonsson

Abstract:

A major challenge in studies of environmental governance is dealing with the diversity of the people involved at multiple levels--villagers, development agents, policy-makers, private resource users and others--and taking seriously their aspirations, conflicts and collaborations. This book examines this challenge in two very disparate parts of our world, exploring what gender-equality, resource management and development mean in real terms for its inhabitants as well as for our environmental futures. Based on participatory research and in-depth fieldwork, Arora-Jonsson studies struggles for local forest management, the making of women's groups within them and how the women's groups became a threat to mainstream institutions. Insights from India, consistently ranked as one of the most gender-biased countries, are compared with similar situations in the ostensibly gender-equal Sweden. Arora-Jonsson also analyzes how dominant ideas about the environment, developmentand gender equality shape the spaces in which women and men take action through global discourses and grassroots activism. Questioning the conventional belief that development brings about greater gender equality and more efficient environmental management, this volume scrutinizes how environmental imaginations are key to crafting gender relations. It shows gender to be at the heart of environmental negotiations while at the same time making a case for environmental sensibilities as integral to gender relations. At the confluence of development, environmental and gender studies, the book contributes to a much-needed dialogue between these fields, proposing new futures in environmental management (WorldCat).

Annotation:

Contents:

 

  1. Introduction: Three Places and a Jigsaw World
  2. Crafting New Relations and Theorizing Connections: Gender, Development and Environmental Governance
  3. Policy Discourses and Material Places: Forests, Gender and the (Re)making of the Peripheries
  4. Environmental Politics on the Ground
  5. A Politics of the Possible: Gendered Subjectivities in Collective Organizing
  6. Micropolitics of Rural Development and Environmental Governance: Resistance, Maintenance and Outside Intervention
  7. Discordant Connections: Discourses on Gender and Grassroots Activism
  8. Development Practice and Environmental Governance: Flexible Spaces for Political Action
  9. Conclusion: Up-Close in a Jigsaw World: Guideposts from the Present

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Environment, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: India, Sweden

Year: 2013

From the Global to the Local: Grounding UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Post Conflict Policy Making

Citation:

McWilliams, Monica, and Avila Kilmurray. 2015. “From the Global to the Local: Grounding UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in Post Conflict Policy Making.” Women’s Studies International Forum 51 (July): 128–35. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2014.11.006.

 

Authors: Monica McWilliams, Avila Kilmurray

Annotation:

Synopsis:
Given that women consistently receive less attention than men in peace building and that gender analysis rarely informs strategies related to conflict transformation, this article examines how a European Union (EU) PEACE III project, titled Women and Peacebuilding: Sharing the Learning, addresses this gap. It challenges the hierarchal nature of the dialogue on peace building in a post conflict society and suggests how this can be changed. It shows how activists and policy-makers can become more engaged around UNSCR 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and argues that if government officials had adopted a more contextualised, bottom–up system of policy making, they could have engendered social transformation within the broader processes of post-conflict transition.11
This paper refers to the post conflict context in Northern Ireland but focuses more on the transitional process.
The project's findings are framed within the context of the dominant discourses on peace and security and should be relevant to those engaged in the implementation of UNSCR 1325 in other post conflict societies.

Topics: Gender, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Europe, Northern Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland, United Kingdom

Year: 2015

Reliable Professionals, Sensitive Dads and Tough Fighters

Citation:

Mäki-Rahkola, Anne, and Henri Myrttinen. 2014. “Reliable Professionals, Sensitive Dads and Tough Fighters.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 16 (3): 470–89. doi:10.1080/14616742.2012.755834.

Authors: Anne Mäki-Rahkola, Henri Myrttinen

Abstract:

The significance and complexity of mostly male-dominated military peacekeeping forces continues to grow globally, as does the complexity of the masculinities performed in them. This article discusses the discourses and performances of peacekeeper masculinities, drawing on a qualitative case study of Finnish peacekeeping forces. The self-image of Finland as a provider of ideal peacekeepers and practising progressive gender policy is critically analysed. Taking the notion of multiple masculinities as a starting point, three indicative categories of Finnish peacekeeper masculinities are examined. Discourses of ‘amateur professionals’ and ‘peacekeeper fathers’ create space for military peacekeepers to show aspects of masculinity not associated with traditional military masculinities. The third discourse of ‘tough fighters’, however, harks back to more traditional ‘warrior’ concepts. Official gender mainstreaming efforts and assumptions that these attitudes are internalized ‘naturally’ by Finns are put into question by deprecatory or ambiguous attitudes towards gender equity and sexual exploitation. Despite being part of multi-national forces, peacekeeper masculinities are defined based on presumed notions of ‘national character’.

Keywords: Finland, gender mainstreaming, masculinities, peacekeeping, performativity

Topics: Male Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Peacekeeping, Sexual Violence, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Finland

Year: 2014

Pages

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