Education

Citation:

Wigglesworth, Ann, Sara Niner, Dharmalingam Arunachalam, Abel Dos Santos, and Mateus Tilman. 2015. "Attitudes and Perceptions of Young Men Towards Gender Equality and Violence in Timor-Leste." Journal of International Women's Studies 16 (2): 312-29.

Authors: Ann Wigglesworth, Sara Niner, Dharmalingam Arunachalam, Abel Dos Santos, Mateus Tilman

Abstract:

This article examines attitudes and perceptions of young men toward gender relations and gender-based violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste. A high level of domestic violence is reported, and a law against domestic violence has been passed in recent years. In 2013, a research team surveyed almost 500 young men using the Gender-Equitable Men Scale in both rural and urban contexts. It was found that young men become less gender equitable as they get older, and the environment they grow up in influences their gender attitudes. Existing contradictions and tensions between national government policy and local customary practices are well-known, and these are reflected in young men's acceptance of general principles of gender equality, which is unmatched by their willingness to accept more equitable gender relations in their own lives. Of concern was the level of young men's acceptance of sexual harassment and forced sex. Mechanisms are required to influence young men's attitudes to gender equality and intimate partner relations in school programs and other arenas as a priority.

Keywords: gender equality, masculinity, gender-based violence, Timor-Leste

Topics: Age, Youth, Domestic Violence, Education, Gender, Men, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators Regions: Oceania Countries: Timor-Leste

Year: 2015

Citation:

Singh, Neha S., James Smith, Sarindi Aryasinghe, Rajat Khosla, Lale Say, and Karl Blanchet. 2018.  “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services during Humanitarian Crises: A Systematic Review.” PLoS One 13 (7): 1-19.

Authors: Neha S. Singh, James Smith, Sarindi Aryasinghe, Rajat Khosla, Lale Say, Karl Blanchet

Abstract:

Topics: Armed Conflict, Domestic Violence, Education, Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Women, Girls, Health, HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health, Humanitarian Assistance Regions: Americas, Caribbean countries, Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Haiti, Pakistan, Philippines

Year: 2018

Citation:

Malik, Bilal Zia, Zia Ur Rehman, Ammad Hassan Khan, and Waseem Akram. 2020. "Women's Mobility via Bus Rapid Transit: Experiential Patterns and Challenges in Lahore." Journal of Transport & Health 17: 1-18.

Authors: Bilal Zia Malik, Zia Ur Rehman, Ammad Hassan Khan, Waseem Akram

Abstract:

Background: Women in developing countries experience greater restrictions in mass urban mobility. UN’s Sustainability Development Goals for 2030 recommend safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable public transportation, particularly for the vulnerable groups. Pakistan experiences rapid urbanization trends and considerably low ranking worldwide for gender equality. In addition, socio-cultural norms, higher dependency on public transport, lack of genderresponsive mass transportation, and harassment experiences limit women to explore potential growth opportunities.

Objectives: Since limited evidence exists on the subject, this study aims to investigate typical mobility attributes of women users of Pakistan’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) in Lahore, explore the challenges they face, and recommend measures for improved urban mobility.

Methods: Primary data include face-to-face interview-based questionnaire surveys along the BRT corridor to assess various quantitative and qualitative travel characteristics. Descriptive and cross-comparison statistical techniques were applied to obtain reliable results. Responses related to harassment were documented and evaluated. Graphical trends and pictorial evidences were also presented.

Results: Major segments of the study sample belonged to lower-income, relatively younger and middle age, students, employees and users with no or limited work. More prevalent modes to and from BRT stations were paratransit, including rickshaws and chingchis (motorbikes converted into rickshaws), followed by walking. Majority accessed BRT within 5 km, covered less than 15 km along 27 km BRT corridor, and traveled during daylight. Major challenges were harassment at stations and in buses (younger users being more affected), limited facilities for the elderly, lack of seating/waiting facilities near entrances/exits of BRT stations, limited dedicated space in buses and ticketing booths during rush hours.

Conclusion: The study highlights important typical mobility trends and difficulties of women while using Lahore BRT. Addressing women’s mass urban mobility issues could improve their educational and economic prospects. Findings could be useful for transportation agencies and practitioners to incorporate gender-sensitive measures in future BRT systems, particularly in developing countries. 

Keywords: women's mobility, bus rapid transit, gender equality, developing country

Topics: Economies, Education, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Infrastructure, Transportation, Urban Planning, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Pakistan

Year: 2020

Citation:

Nawaz, Faraha. 2020. "The Impact of Non-Government Organizations on Women's Mobility in Public Life: An Empirical Study in Rural Bangladesh." Journal of International Women's Studies 21 (2): 94-113.

Author: Faraha Nawaz

Abstract:

The article aims to analyse the impact of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) on Bangladeshi rural women’s mobility in the public domain, since this is an area that is generally only frequented by men whilst women are confined to their own home and neighbourhood. In other words, the author explored how and to what extent, NGOs have brought changes to women’s freedom of movement in the public sphere. The author was influenced by the existing literature that portrays Bangladesh as a country that is characterized by poverty, patriarchy and inequality, where there is no tradition of rural women participating in the labour force, and where women’s mobility is severely restricted. In this study, the indicators of women’s mobility were explored that include women’s movement in various public places such as market, medical centre, children’s schools, and cinema. By conducting series of in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), the author collected primary data from rural women and their husbands through purposive network sampling. Secondary data was collected from the contemporary literature regarding women’s freedom of movement globally in general and Bangladesh in particular. By analysing empirical data, the article confirms that rural women’s participation in microfinance program of NGOs have enhanced their mobility in different ways. However, the women who had education and training had more mobility in public life since those women utilized the benefits of NGO programs more effectively. Surprisingly husband’s education, occupation and exposure have no positive impact on women’s mobility. 

Keywords: women, mobility, education, public life, development NGOs, women's mobility, women in Bangladesh

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Education, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Livelihoods, NGOs Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Bangladesh

Year: 2020

Citation:

Brinton, Mary C. 1994. Women and the Economic Miracle: Gender and Work in Postwar Japan. Berkley: University of California Press.

Author: Mary C. Brinton

Annotation:

Topics: Age, Development, Economies, Education, Gender, Gender Roles, Households, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan

Year: 1994

Citation:

Tinsman, Heidi. 2002. Partners in Conflict: The Politics of Gender, Sexuality, and Labor in the Chilean Agrarian Reform, 1950-1973. Durham: Duke University Press.

Author: Heidi Tinsman

Annotation:

Topics: Agriculture, Conflict, Resource Conflict, Education, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Analysis, Households, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Sexuality Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Chile

Year: 2002

Citation:

Unterhalter, Elaine. 1998. "Economic Rationality or Social Justice? Gender, the National Qualifications Framework and Educational Reform in South Africa, 1989-1996." Cambridge Journal of Education 28 (3): 351-68.

Author: Elaine Unterhalter

Abstract:

This article examines the ways in which gender redress has been conceptualised in different phases of the policy development work on the National Qualifications Framework, a key initiative of education reform in South Africa. It identifies two discursive framings for the NQF--the discourse of economic rationalisation, utilised by business and COSATU, and that of social justice, utilised by the ANC and COSATU. It concludes that neither, for different reasons, have grappled with gendered social relations or the gendered, but dispersed, power of the state. The paper points out that the existence of a widespread women's organisation in South Africa during the transition period had little impact on policy formulation in education and training, thus raising questions about ways in which women's demands can have an impact on education policy change.

Topics: Development, Economies, Education, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 1998

Citation:

Benard, Cheryl, Seth G. Jones, Olga Oliker, Cathryn Quantic Thurston, Brooke K. Stearns, and Kristen Cordell. 2008. Women and Nation-Building. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation.

Authors: Cheryl Benard, Seth G. Jones, Olga Oliker, Cathryn Quantic Thurston, Brooke K. Stearns, Kristen Cordell

Annotation:

Summary:
"The challenge of nation-building, i.e., dealing with the societal and political aftermaths of conflicts and putting new governments and new social compacts into place, has occupied much international energy during the past several decades. As an art, a process, and a set of competencies, it is still very much in an ongoing learning and experimentation phase. The RAND Corporation has contributed to the emerging knowledge base in this domain through a series of studies that have looked at nation-building enterprises led by the United States and others that were led by the United Nations and have examined the experiences gained during the reconstruction of specific sectors. Our study focuses on gender and nation-building. It considers this issue from two aspects: First, it examines gender-specific impacts of conflict and post-conflict and the ways in which events in these contexts may affect women differently than they affect men. Second, it analyzes the role of women in the nation-building process, in terms of both actual current practices, as far as these could be measured and ascertained, and possible outcomes that might occur if these practices were to be modified.

The study team first surveyed the broader literature on women in development, women and governance, women and conflict, and women in nation-building. It then focused on the case of Afghanistan. This case study was chosen for three reasons: First, it is contemporary, and it offers a longer nation-building “track record” and thus more data than does Iraq, the other contemporary case. Second, the relevant debate and decision line is easy to track because gender issues have been overtly on the table from the beginning of U.S. post-conflict involvement in Afghanistan, in part because of the Taliban’s equally overt prior emphasis on gender issues as a defining quality of its regime. Third, in contrast to earlier cases of nation-building, the issue of women’s inclusion is presently an official part of any development agenda, so that all the active agents in the nation-building enterprise have made conscious choices and decisions in that regard which can be reviewed and their underlying logic evaluated.

The study concludes with a broad set of analytic and policy recommendations. First, we identify the gaps in data collection and provide specific suggestions for improvement. Then, we recommend three shifts in emphasis that we believe are likely to strengthen the prospects of stability and enhance the outcomes of nation-building programs: a more genuine emphasis on the broader concept of human security from the earliest phases of the nation-building effort; a focus on establishing governance based on principles of equity and consistent rule of law from the start; and economic inclusion of women in the earliest stages of reconstruction activities” (Benard, Jones, Oliker, Thurston, Stearns, and Cordell 2008, xiii).

Topics: Development, Economies, Conflict, Education, Gender, Governance, Health, International Organizations, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Security, Human Security Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, United States of America

Year: 2008

Citation:

Clark, Janine Natalya. 2018. "Transitional Justice, Education, and Sexual Violence Stigma: The Results of a Schools-Based Study in Bosnia-Herzegovina." Journal of Law and Society 45 (4): 509-37. 

Author: Janine Natalya Clark

Abstract:

Within the context of armed conflict, the problem of sexual violence‐related stigma is routinely acknowledged. Sustained efforts to tackle it, however, have often been lacking. This article argues that transitional justice processes have an important role to play in fighting stigma, and in creating new attitudinal spaces that enable those who have suffered sexual violence to tell their stories without fear of being mocked or judged. Underscoring crucial linkages between education and transitional justice, the article introduces a novel schools‐based project in Bosnia‐Herzegovina (BiH). Based on analysis of over 800 questionnaires, it demonstrates how a series of talks delivered in BiH high schools on the issue of conflict‐related sexual violence led to some positive and important attitudinal changes vis‐à‐vis common rape myths. These educational efforts to tackle stigma are theorized in the article as highlighting a crucial attitudinal dimension of transitional justice.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Education, Justice, Transitional Justice, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2018

Citation:

Dudwick, Nora, and Kathleen Kuehnast. 2016. Gender and Fragility: Ensuring a Golden Hour. United States Institute of Peace. 

Authors: Nora Dudwick, Kathleen Kuehnast

Annotation:

Summary: 
"Physicians refer to the “golden hour” as the period after traumatic injury when successful emergency treatment is still possible. The chapeau paper for this series, U.S. Leadership and the Problem of State Fragility, defines fragility as the breakdown or absence of a social contract between people and their government. The collapse of social and political order in response to natural disasters, population displacements, violence, and/or war, however, can paradoxically provide opportunities for societal change. The need to reimagine and rebuild ruptured institutions can create openings for renegotiating gender roles and establishing the basis of an inclusive and more stable society. Unless gender equality receives high level and dedicated support during this “golden hour,” long-standing patterns of inequality are likely to be reestablished. As noted by an expert on security studies, “Promotion of gender equality goes far beyond the issue of social justice and has important consequences for international security.” The golden hour for gender is not after the peace treaties have been signed. The social contract on gender equality must be conceived before the crisis has ended, and then written into the new constitution, implemented in the reconfigured institutions, and prioritized in newly developed education textbooks” (Dudwick and Kuehnast 2016, 1).

Topics: Education, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, Post-Conflict Governance, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes, Security

Year: 2016