Civil Society

Gender and Trade: Impacts and Implications for Financial Resources for Gender Equality

Citation:

Williams, Mariama. 2008. Gender and Trade: Impacts and Implications for Financial Resources for Gender Equality. London: Commonwealth Secretariat.

Author: Mariama Williams

Annotation:

“Financing gender equality in the context of development and democracy requires specific and focused attention to allocating budgetary resources for the education, health care, training, skills and entrepreneurial development that is necessary to improve the lives of girls and women and to promote the overall economic empowerment of women. In order for this to occur in a predictable and sustainable manner, there must be a strategic rethinking of frameworks of fiscal policy, public finance, debt sustainability, monetary policy, exchange rate management, financial market regulation, trade reform and the negotiation of trade agreements. Increasingly, these areas are no longer the sole preserve of domestic policy makers but are becoming interlinked with the operations of the broader multilateral trading system (MTS), global finance and global macroeconomic arrangements through formal processes of coherence between trade and financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is also true of the harmonisation of aid under the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (Williams, 2007, p. 3)."

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Economies, Economic Inequality, Public Finance, Education, Gender, Women, Girls, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Organizations

Year: 2008

When Extractives Come Home: An Action Research on the Impact of the Extractives Sector on Women in Selected Mining Communities in Zimbabwe

Citation:

Chatiza, Kudzai, Davison Muchadenyka, Dorcas Makaza, Fanny Nyaunga, Ronnie James K. Murungu, and Lillian Matsika. 2015. “When Extractives Come Home: An Action Research on the Impact of the Extractives Sector on Women in Selected Mining Communities in Zimbabwe.” OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development 8 (12): 45-72.

Authors: Kudzai Chatiza, Davison Muchadenyka, Dorcas Makaza, Fanny Nyaunga, Ronnie James K. Murungu, Lillian Matsika

Abstract:

The fact that mining constitute a major contributor to Zimbabwean economy cannot be overemphasized with the sector contributing more than 60% of the country's export earnings. However, its contributory role to the economy has been overshadowing its impact on communities, especially women. This paper, thus, is a result of an action research on the impact of mining and the extractive industry in general on women in selected mining communities in Zimbabwe. The study was commissioned by Actionaid International Zimbabwe and conducted by the Development Governance Institute between March and May 2015. The principal focus of the study was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between women and the extractive industry. In doing so, the research contributes to the design of context specific and appropriate strategies as well as actions to protect and uphold women's rights in mining communities. Further, the investigation identified the strategies adopted by women to safeguard their rights. This put into perspectives of women engaged in mining activities whether small scale or large scale; positive and negative externalities in relation to water, land, environment, violence, pollution and social capital emerging from mining;  and the role of women in collective action organisations advocating for mutually beneficial and sustainable mining activities. The study also analysed the legal, policy, institutional and community mechanisms that exist with a view to explaining why some of the negative impacts of mining on women persist. This is because governance is vital to promoting positive relationships between the extractive industry and the community in particular, women. In this regard, the research investigated mining governance arrangements (law, policy, institutions) and ascertained how these are reinforcing negative impacts on women. Further, the research assessed the effectiveness of mining governance arrangements in advancing women's rights and proposes changes to safeguard women's rights in the mining sector.

The third focus of the study was on citizens' agency in affected communities, women in particular in bringing mining companies to account for reinforcing women's rights. Suggestions on how to strengthen women's agency in claiming their rights in the mining sector are made on the back of analysis of field data. The research focused on the feasibility of women movements being at the centre of advocating for desired change. Most importantly, focus was placed on how women and civil society coalitions can change the relationship between women and mining companies; and an institutional mapping of key authorities and stakeholders to which lobbying, advocacy and action can be directed.

Keywords: extractives, governance, mining, women, Rights

Topics: Civil Society, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Governance, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zimbabwe

Year: 2015

Women, Resistance, and Extractive Development: The Case Study of the Marlin Mine

Citation:

Tatham, Rebecca. 2016. “Women, Resistance, and Extractive Development: The Case Study of the Marlin Mine.” Master's thesis, Department of Political Studies, University of Saskatchewan.

Author: Rebecca Tatham

Abstract:

Women’s activism in response to large-scale mining is a topic largely unexplored in the existing social movement literature. This oversight is significant for the Global South, particularly in Latin American where mining expansion has been occurring since the 1990’s and is leading to increasing numbers of conflicts between mining companies and the communities hosting them. The strategies that anti-mining activists employ and the responses of their opponents (i.e., community members, mining and state authorities) are influenced by a wide range of factors, and one of these is gender. Using a case study analysis of Goldcorp’s Marlin mine in Western Guatemala and drawing on extensive field work conducted in the communities near the mine, this thesis examines women’s resistance strategies (categorized here as blockades and protests, legal complaints, and everyday activisms) and counterstrategies (violence, criminalization and cooptation) employed by the mine and its supporters against them. The thesis demonstrates that in both the strategies and counterstrategies, gender is a salient component in the tactics of both groups.

Topics: Civil Society, Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Conflict, Violence Regions: Americas, Central America Countries: Guatemala

Year: 2016

‘To Finish, We Must Finish’: Everyday Practices of Depletion in Sri Lankan Export-Processing Zones

Citation:

Gunawardana, Samanthi J. 2016. “‘To Finish, We Must Finish’: Everyday Practices of Depletion in Sri Lankan Export-Processing Zones.” Globalizations 13 (6): 861-875.

Author: Samanthi J. Gunawardana

Abstract:

The integrative dynamic between social reproduction (SR) and the market economy is underscored by the everyday experience of what can be termed ‘depletion’ for many women in the Global South. Drawing upon case study material from Sri Lanka, this paper focuses on migration decisions to work in export-processing zones (EPZs) and everyday production processes. It shows how workplaces are sites of depletion. Depletion reproduces the processes of disposability in global factories. Relations of SR are also reproduced in the factory. Affecting body and mind, depletion flourishes in environments without recourse to adequate inputs that maintain well-being including, but not limited to, leisure and rest, adequate wages, freedom of association, adequate nutrition, housing, and job security. In Sri Lanka, migration to EPZs was prompted by a crisis in SR and lack of inflows to sustain the well-being of women and households. Such workplaces are also an everyday day element of the global political economy, enacted upon gendered bodies, fuelling a cycle of gendered harm through the reproduction of disposability. 

Keywords: depletion, export, processing zone, Gendered harm, Sri Lanka, social reproduction

Topics: Civil Society, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Political Economies Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2016

Faslane Peace Camp and the Political Economy of the Everyday

Citation:

Eschle, Catherine. 2016. “Faslane Peace Camp and the Political Economy of the Everyday.” Globalizations 13 (6): 912-14.

Author: Catherine Eschle

Annotation:

"In what ways is ‘the everyday’ reproduced and reconfigured at protest camps? I pursue this question in my current research project, in which protest camps are defined as a ‘place-based social movement strategy that involves both acts of ongoing protest and acts of social reproduction needed to sustain everyday life’ (Feigenbaum, Frenzel, & McCurdy, 2013, p. 12). My interest in the domestic arrangements of camps is common among observers, appearing prurient and disproportionate to those actually living them. As one interviewee from Faslane Peace Camp put it, ‘D’you know, I am actually here to try and stop the end of the world . . . and all you want to talk about is the bloody toilets!’ (‘Anna’, interview 22/10/2014). Nonetheless, buttressed by a feminist curiosity about the interconnections between the personal and political, I cling to the view that the reconfiguration of the everyday in protest camps is intrinsic rather than irrelevant to their political effect. In this short piece, I examine how daily life at Faslane Peace Camp, in Scotland, depends upon and fosters the critical interrogation of economic norms" (Eschle 2016, p. 912).

Topics: Civil Society, Conflict Prevention, Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Conflict, Peace and Security, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Nonviolence Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2016

The Feminisation of Mining

Citation:

Lahiri‐Dutt, Kuntala. 2015. “The Feminisation of Mining.” Geography Compass 9 (9): 523–541. 

Author: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Abstract:

This paper argues that feminisation is beginning to occur in the mining industry, a process associated with an expanded notion of mining as a livelihood in the radically changing political economy of extractive industries. It demonstrates that new gendered geographies are being created as grinding rural poverty pushes large numbers of women into informal mining (also known as artisanal and small‐scale mining or ASM)—a fundamentally different type of economic activity from the capitalised, industrialised mining operated by large corporations. Further, it shows that a number of civil society initiatives, industry measures, policy processes and action‐research with large‐scale mining corporations are currently underway in response to an overall enhanced awareness of gender mainstreaming. It argues that these initiatives, ensued from women's struggles and feminist contributions, are helping to integrate gender more firmly in a wide range of extractive environments, and how these have enhanced the visibility of women and gender in mining. The paper ends by indicating the existing gaps in inquiry and possible directions for future research by feminist geographers into these gendered economic spaces.

Topics: Civil Society, Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Livelihoods, Political Economies

Year: 2015

Gender Equity and Social Capital in Smallholder Farmer Groups in Central Mozambique

Citation:

Gotschi, Elisabeth, Jemimah Njuki, and Robert Delve. 2008. “Gender Equity and Social Capital in Smallholder Farmer Groups in Central Mozambique.” Development in Practice 18 (4–5): 650–57. doi:10.1080/09614520802181970.

Authors: Elisabeth Gotschi, Jemimah Njuki, Robert Delve

Abstract:

This case study from Búzi district, Mozambique investigated whether gender equality, in terms of male and female participation in groups, leads to gender equity in sharing of benefits from the social capital created through the group. Exploring the complex connection between gender, groups, and social capital, we found that gender equity is not necessarily achieved by guaranteeing men and women equal rights through established by-laws, or dealing with groups as a collective entity. While there were no significant differences in the investment patterns of men and women in terms of participation in group activities and contribution of communal work, access to leadership positions and benefits from social capital were unequally distributed. Compared with men, women further found it difficult to transform social relations into improved access to information, access to markets, or help in case of need.

Keywords: gender and diversity, civil society, Labour and livelihoods, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 2008

Relations Between Gender-Focused NGOs, Advocacy Work, and Government: A Ugandan Case Study

Citation:

Nabacwa, Mary Sonko. 2010. “Relations Between Gender-Focused NGOs, Advocacy Work, and Government: A Ugandan Case Study.” Development in Practice 20 (3): 395–406. doi:10.1080/09614521003710039.

Author: Mary Sonko Nabacwa

Abstract:

Relations between the Ugandan government and NGOs engaged in gender-focused NGO advocacy tend to keep NGOs visibly engaged but do not necessarily alter the status of poor women. These relations manifest themselves in government advising NGO advocacy work; sympathising with the NGOs; co-opting NGOs and individuals; publicising gender issues; and de-legitimising gender-focused NGO activities. The article links these phenomena to the government's wish to appear receptive to the concerns of civil-society organisations, of which NGOs are a major component. This is important to its image in the international aid community, where it projects itself as generally democratic and supportive of good governance.

Keywords: gender and diversity, Governance and public policy, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Governance, NGOs Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2010

A Rural Support Programme Exit Strategy: Women Filling Vacated Spaces and Excelling in Community Development

Citation:

Rafi Khan, Shaheen, and Shahrukh Rafi Khan. 2012. “A Rural Support Programme Exit Strategy: Women Filling Vacated Spaces and Excelling in Community Development.” Development in Practice 22 (2): 154–63. doi:10.1080/09614524.2012.640982.

Authors: Shaheen Rafi Khan, Shahrukh Rafi Khan

Abstract:

Rural support programmes in Pakistan are major players in rural development, with significant outreach. Owing to funding constraints, they are currently exploring an exit strategy whereby they facilitate the formation of multi-tier local support organisations (LSOs), including those exclusively run by women. The present article focuses on the impact of this exit strategy on rural women. The findings, based on survey research, show that women have fared well, been more effective in running the LSOs than men and, despite confronting a conservative culture, have effectively filled in spaces vacated by men.

Keywords: aid, civil society, gender and diversity

Topics: Civil Society, Development, Gender, Women, Governance Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Pakistan

Year: 2012

The Role of Religion in Women’s Campaigns for Legal Reform in Nigeria

Citation:

Adamu, Fatima L., and Oluwafunmilayo J. Para-Mallam. 2012. “The Role of Religion in Women’s Campaigns for Legal Reform in Nigeria.” Development in Practice 22 (5–6): 803–18. doi:10.1080/09614524.2012.685875.

Authors: Fatima L. Adamu, Oluwafunmilayo J. Para-Mallam

Abstract:

Legal reform is necessary but not sufficient to realise women’s rights. This paper compares two campaigns for legal reform in Nigeria: attempts to domesticate the UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in federal law, which resulted in defeat of the bill in 2007, and a successful campaign to introduce legislation to prevent the mistreatment of widows in Anambra State. It considers the role of religion in the campaigns, by examining how the women’s movement engaged with religious actors. The research shows that religious beliefs, discourses, and actors had a significant influence on the outcomes of the campaigns, in part because of the content of the proposed legislation, but also because of the strategies adopted by the campaigners and the interests of the religious bodies concerned. Despite the implication of religion in gender inequality, these cases show that religious teachings, leaders, and organisations can be allies rather than obstacles in achieving progressive social change. 

Keywords: gender and diversity, Governance and public policy, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Religion Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2012

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