South Asia

Citation:

Mertus, Julie. 2000. War’s Offensive on Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

Author: Julie Mertus

Abstract:

* Case studies from Bosnia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan tackle human rights laws and gender-based violence

War's Offensive on Women contends that humanitarian groups’ attempts to provide assistance and protection for women will fall short unless they make women major actors in such efforts. Mertus shows how human rights laws are beginning to address gender-based violence, and how agencies can respond to women’s needs in conflict and post-conflict settings. The book is of wide interest to humanitarian and human rights practitioners, policymakers, and students alike. (Amazon)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Humanitarian Assistance Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Afghanistan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo

Year: 2000

Citation:

de Silva, Mangalika. 2000. “Nationalism and Sexuality: The Intersection of Gender and Power in South Asia [Part 1 of 3].” Nivedini-A Sri Lankan Feminist Journal 8 (1): 62–89.

Author: Mangalika de Silva

Topics: Gender, Nationalism, Sexuality Regions: South Asia

Year: 2000

Citation:

Kottegoda, Sepali, Kumudini Samuel, and Sarala Emmanuel. 2008. “Reproductive Health Concerns in Six Conflict-Affected Areas of Sri Lanka.” Reproductive Health Matters 16 (31): 75–82.

Authors: Sepali Kottegoda, Kumudini Samuel , Sarala Emmanuel

Abstract:

This article draws on a study conducted by the Women and Media Collective between 2004 and 2005 to highlight some of the reproductive health concerns of women from Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups, living in situations of conflict in Sri Lanka. The study focused on women from six conflict-affected areas in the north and east of the country: Jaffna (Northern Province), Mannar and Puttalam (North-Western Province), Polonnaruwa (North-Central Province), Batticaloa and Ampara (Eastern Province). Higher levels of poverty, higher rates of school drop-out, low pay and precarious access to work, mainly in the informal sector, higher rates of early marriage, pregnancy and home births, higher levels of maternal mortality and lower levels of contraceptive use were found. Economic, social and physical insecurity were key to these phenomena. Physically and psychologically, women were at a high risk of sexual and physical violence, mainly from their partners/spouses but also from family members, often related to dowry. The article brings out the voices of women whose lives have been overshadowed by conflict and displacement, and the nature of structural barriers that impede their right to health care services, to make informed decisions about their lives and live free of familial violence.

Keywords: conflict and crisis settings, maternity services, contraception and unwanted pregnancy, gender-based violence, Sri Lanka

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2008

Citation:

Sharlach, Lisa. 2000. “Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda.” New Political Science 22 (1): 89-102.

Author: Lisa Sharlach

Abstract:

According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of an ethnic, national, or religious group and/or 'deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part' constitute genocide. Rape certainly may cause serious physical and/or mental injury to the survivor, and also may destroy the morale of her family and ethnic community. However, this Convention does not explicitly state that sexual violence is a crime of genocide. The Convention should be expanded to include mass rape, regardless of whether the victims are raped on the basis of racial/ethnic, national, or religious identity. 

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Genocide, International Law, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Asia, South Asia, Europe, Balkans Countries: Bangladesh, Rwanda, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 2000

Citation:

Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. “India: Implementing Sex Equality Through Law.” Chicago Journal of International Law 2 (1): 35–58.

Author: Martha C. Nussbaum

Keywords: gender inequality, discrimination, social inequality

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Rights, Human Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2001

Citation:

Adrian-Paul, Ancil, and Partaw Naderi. 2005. UN SC Resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security: Issues and Instruments - the Afghan Context. London: International Alert.

Authors: Ancil Adrian-Paul, Partaw Nadiri

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2005

Citation:

Ahmed, Fauzia. 2008. “Hidden Opportunities: Islam, Masculinity and Poverty Alleviation.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 10 (4): 542–62.

Author: Fauzia Ahmed

Abstract:

Much has been written about patriarchal interpretations of Islam as an obstacle to poverty alleviation in the gender and development literature in Bangladesh, but little research has been carried out on its counterpoint: grassroots Muslim feminist spirituality. Islam is seen as a patriarchal monolith; Muslim men are viewed as inherently inimical to gender empowerment programs. Based on a sample of 200 male and female villagers, this ethnographic study of sharecropper micro credit families revealed at least three masculinities: ‘high-minded (udaar)’, ‘mixed’ and ‘abusive (beshi mare)’. The author analyzes three vignettes of Muslim husbands of Grameen Bank loanees, to illustrate the role that Islam plays in the construction of the different masculinities that these men represent. Muslim women see Islam as a positive force and use boodhi' (wisdom), based on Muslim spirituality as a tool to argue for greater mobility and market access. Increased patriarchal risk compels ‘high-minded’ men to remain silent in public while ‘abusive’ men publicly denounce the Grameen Bank and the loanees as against Islam. In conclusion, the author suggests that field staff enable ‘high-minded’ men to use boodhi to change other men and to ally with women in their efforts to gain agency. These recommendations are part of a larger project that the author initiated in 2007, which is based on including masculinity as an analytic category in gender and development theory, and on using men to change other men as a key strategy in gender and development programs.

Keywords: Islam, masculinities, gender and grassroots politics, patriarchy, development, empowerment, microfinance

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Religion Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Bangladesh

Year: 2008

Citation:

Ahmed, Aziza. 2007. “Dual Subordination: Muslim Sexuality in Secular and Religious Legal Discourse in India.” Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 4 (1): 1–31.

Author: Aziza Ahmed

Abstract:

Muslim women and Muslim members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community face a specific form of dual subordination in relation to their gender and sexuality. A Muslim woman might seek solace from India’s patriarchal religious judicial structures only to find that the secular system’s patriarchal structures likewise aid in their subordination and create a space for new forms of such subordination. Similarly, a marginalized LGBT Muslim might attempt to reject an oppressive religious formulation only to come to find that the secular Indian state might criminalize a particular form of sexuality. This analysis explores how Indian laws “give meaning” to sexuality through the legal structures manifested by state and religious regulatory bodies and argues that both religious and state legal institutions need to be reformed to create a legal environment that furthers rather than inhibits a full realization of sexual rights.

Keywords: LGBTQ rights, Gender, State Law, India, Islamic law, human rights

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, LGBTQ, Religion, Rights, Human Rights, Sexuality Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2007

Citation:

Sengupta, Ami, Esther G. Long, Arvind Singhal, and Corinne L. Shefner-Rogers. 2007. "The Sada Says 'We Women Have Our Rights': A Gender Analysis of an ICT Initiative in Afghanistan." International Communication Gazette 69 (4): 335-53. 

Authors: Ami Sengupta, Esther G. Long, Arvind Singhal, Corinne L. Schefter-Rogers

Abstract:

This study analyses Voice for Humanity's (VFH) Sada initiative to promote women's rights, citizen participation and civic education during the Afghan parliamentary elections in 2005. A qualitative assessment was conducted to gain an in-depth understanding of how Afghan women, in particular, utilized the Sada device. This research, positioned within current literature on information communication technology (ICT) and gender, views the Sada device — a solar-powered digital audio player (similar to an MP3 player) — as an ICT. Universally, women have unequal access to ICTs, yet the findings of this study suggest that projects such as this one in Afghanistan can play a powerful role in promoting women's rights. The findings reiterate that information dissemination, spurred by a suitable technology, can lead to family and community dialog. Such dialog, coupled with a more enabling environment for women's concerns, can contribute to women's empowerment and realization of women's human rights.

Topics: Education, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Infrastructure, Information & Communication Technologies, Political Participation, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2007

Citation:

Mohanty, Bidyut. 1995. “Panchayati Raj, 73rd Constitutional Amendment and Women.” Economic and Political Weekly 30 (52): 3346-50.

Author: Bidyut Mohanty

Abstract:

If reservations for women in panchayati raj institutions are to lead to their empowerment in real terms, social, economic and political conditions which facilitate and encourage their participation need to be created.

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Constitutions Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 1995