Gender Equity

Citation:

Song, Sarah. 2005. “Majority Norms, Multiculturalism, and Gender Equality.” The American Political Science Review 99 (4): 473–489.

Author: Sarah Song

Abstract:

Although many scholars have discussed the conflict that can arise between multiculturalism and gender equality, both critics and defenders of multiculturalism have largely overlooked a variety of interactive dynamics between majority and minority cultures that have important implications for the theory and practice of multiculturalism. Examining cases in the U.S. context, this essay argues for an interactive view of the dilemmas of gender and culture that is attentive to interconnections between majority and minority cultures. What is of particular concern for debates on multiculturalism is that the mainstream legal and normative frameworks within which minority claims for accommodation are evaluated have themselves been informed by patriarchal norms, which in turn have offered support for gender hierarchies within minority cultures. The interactive view defended here suggests the need to scrutinize both minority and majority norms and practices in evaluating the claims of minority cultures.

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equity Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2005

Citation:

Barker, Gary, and Christine Ricardo. 2005. "Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict, and Violence." Working Paper, Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction, World Bank, Washington, DC.

Authors: Gary Barker, Christine Ricardo

Abstract:

In the literature on conflict and HIV/AIDS, African men are often presented in simplistic and explicitly negative terms. It is generally taken for granted that those who use weapons are men whilst those who suffer the consequences of conflict are women, and that men always hold power in sexual relationships whilst women are always powerless. Certainly, African women and girls have been made vulnerable by the behaviour of men and boys in conflict settings and in sexual relationships. Yet the fact that gender hierarchies also oppress some men is seldom discussed. What of the men who are survivors and victims of violence, or who are displaced or orphaned due to conflict? What of the men who are brothers or husbands of women who have been sexually abused during conflict? This paper argues that applying a more sophisticated gender analysis as it relates to conflict and HIV/AIDS is essential in order to understand how both women and men are made vulnerable by rigid ideas of masculinity and by gender hierarchies. References are made to alternative, non-violent forms of masculinity in Africa and to elements of traditional gender socialisation (the process by which individuals learn and teach others about the roles and behaviours that are expected of a women or man in a given society) which promote more gender-equitable attitudes on the part of young men. Included are examples of young men whose stories reveal ways in which men can question and counter prevailing norms of masculinity. A summary is also provided of promising programmes for including men in the promotion of gender-equity.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equity, Health, HIV/AIDS, Sexual Violence, Violence Regions: Africa

Year: 2005

Citation:

Clark, Cal, and Janet Clark. 1987. “The Gender Gap in Yugoslavia: Elite versus Mass Levels.” Political Psychology 8 (3): 411–26.

Authors: Cal Clark, Janet Clark

Abstract:

Compared levels of political participation by 423 men and 85 women in  elite and nonelite occupations (M. G. Zaninovich, 1970) in Yugoslavia.  Among nonelites, substantial male–female differences existed for both participatory norms and actual behavior, reflecting the impact of a male-dominated traditional culture and paralleling the "old gender gap" in the US. Among elites, in contrast, gender differences in participatory norms and several types of political activities were either insignificant or muted, suggesting the effects of socialist ideology and socioeconomic modernization. However, despite this movement toward participatory equality in the elites, women elites still cannot attain equal entry into actually holding political office and controlling societal resources.

Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Gender Equity, Governance Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 1987

Citation:

Spring, Úrsula Oswald. 2008. “Deepening Security: Towards Human, Gender and Environmental Security: A HUGE Concept.” Paper presented at International Studies Association’s 49th Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 26-29.

Author: Úrsula Oswald Spring

Abstract:

HUGE suggests as a deepening security concept to integrate Human, Gender and Environmental Security (HUGE). It combines a wider understanding of gender (including children, elders, indigenous and other vulnerable groups) with a human-centered focus on environmental security and peace challenges. The HUGE concept analyzes the patriarchal, violent and exclusive structures within the family and society questioning the existing process of social representation-building and traditional role assignation between genders searching for processes responsible for thousand of years of discrimination. It assesses the human security approach with equity and development concerns, where survival strategies, social organization, specific governmental policies, private ethical investments and legal reinforcements could stimulate sociopolitical participation of the socially vulnerable. As a holistic concept, HUGE includes environmental security concerns where a healthy environment, integral management of natural resources, prevention and remediation practices reduce vulnerability from hazard impacts. Hazard-prone countries are enabled to develop technical, economic and human support to reduce social vulnerability, to foster progress in internal organization and to stimulate resilience-building, supporting themselves and other regions affected by social and natural disasters. It enables especially the socially vulnerable people such as women and exposed groups to reinforce their own resilience-building through bottom-up internal organization combined with top-down policies and institution building. As nonviolent conflict resolution represents a central part of personal and social identity in a world where processes of unification and diversification are occurring quicker than ever in history. Human beings have a basic necessity to simplify and to put order into complex realities through social comparison. The upcoming systems of values, ideas and practices creates simultaneously processes of living together offering persons and groups the possibility to get familiarized with the social and material world, on behalf of contradictory messages and behaviour. Finally HUGE includes reflections on the consolidation of participatory democracy and governance through conflict prevention, nonviolent conflict resolution processes and peace-building; in summary a huge solidarity process of sustainable and equal nonviolent development.

Topics: Conflict Prevention, Democracy / Democratization, Development, Environment, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Patriarchy, Governance, Nonviolence, Peace Processes, Peacebuilding, Security, Human Security

Year: 2008

Citation:

Irving, Helen. 2008. Gender and the Constitution: Equity and Agency in Comparative Constitutional Design. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Author: Helen Irving

Abstract:

We live in an era of constitution-making. New constitutions are appearing in historically unprecedented numbers, following regime change in some countries, or a commitment to modernization in others. No democratic constitution today can fail to recognize or provide for gender equality. Constitution-makers need to understand the gendered character of all constitutions, and to recognize the differential impact on women of constitutional provisions, even where these appear gender-neutral. This book confronts what needs to be considered in writing a constitution when gender equity and agency are goals. It examines principles of constitutionalism, constitutional jurisprudence, and history. Its goal is to establish a framework for a "gender audit" of both new and existing constitutions. It eschews a simple focus on rights and examines constitutional language, interpretation, structures and distribution of power, rules of citizenship, processes of representation, and the constitutional recognition of international and customary law. It discusses equality rights and reproductive rights as distinct issues for constitutional design.

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Women, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Governance, Constitutions, International Law, Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2008

Citation:

Carvajal-Escobar, Y., M. Quintero-Angel, and M. García-Vargas. 2008. “Women’s Role in Adapting to Climate Change and Variability.” International Journal of Advanced Geosciences 14: 277–80.

Authors: Y. Carvajal-Escobar, M. Quintero-Angel, M. García-Vargas

Abstract:

Given that women are engaged in more climate-related change activities than what is recognized and valued in the community, this article highlights their important role in the adaptation and search for safer communities, which leads them to understand better the causes and consequences of changes in climatic conditions. It is concluded that women have important knowledge and skills for orienting the adaptation processes, a product of their roles in society (productive, reproductive and community); and the importance of gender equity in these processes is recognized. The relationship among climate change, climate variability and the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals is considered.

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, International Organizations

Year: 2008

Citation:

Maclure, Richard, and Myriam Denov. 2009. “Reconstruction versus Transformation: Post-War Education and the Struggle for Gender Equity in Sierra Leone.” International Journal of Educational Development 29 (6): 612–20. doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2008.11.001.

Authors: Richard Maclure, Myriam Denov

Abstract:

In post-war contexts, education is widely regarded as essential not only for civic reconciliation, but also as a key force for gender equity. In Sierra Leone, however, despite enhanced educational opportunities for girls, much of the emphasis on post-war educational reconstruction is unlikely to rectify gender inequities that remain entrenched within mainstream schooling and in the broader social context. Yet the capacity of education to contribute to gender-based change has not been entirely muted. Several women’s associations are supporting girls’ education as integral to economic and political actions aimed at challenging the hegemony of patriarchy and gendered violence. What remains to be seen is whether these discrete efforts can foster a women’s movement capable of altering the structures of patriarchal power in Sierra Leone.

Keywords: Girls' education, Sierra Leone, post-conflict reconstruction, gender equity

Topics: Development, Education, Gender, Women, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equity, Political Economies, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2009

Citation:

Goodkind, Daniel. 1995. “Rising Gender Inequality in Vietnam Since Reunification.” Pacific Affairs 68 (3): 342–59. doi:10.2307/2761129.

Author: Daniel Goodkind

Abstract:

This paper documents increases in gender inequality in Vietnam since reunification of the country in 1975. That contention is based upon an analysis of census and other survey data, a review of secondary source materials, and fieldwork. The rise in inequality has entailed the following: declines in relative survival probabilities for female children, worsened marriage prospects, greater occupational segregation, and increased female representation among the elderly and impoverished. At least four factors have contributed to these changes. The first is that wartime mobilization before 1975 had artificially inflated women's social position to an unsustainably high level. The second concerns the demographic outcome of the war of reunification which resulted in a relative surplus of women. The third is the free market reforms of the 1980s which signaled a diminished governmental commitment to social equity and contributed to a re-emergence of patriarchal Confucian patterns. The fourth is a set of other policy measures and historical circumstances which have enhanced preferences for bearing sons. The paper also assesses contrary and ambiguous evidence, such as the absence of a large gender gap in education, and suggests the possibility of future improvements in gender equality.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Governance, Post-Conflict Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Vietnam

Year: 1995

Citation:

Banda, Fareda. 2006. “Women, Law and Human Rights in Southern Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 32 (1): 13–27.

Author: Fareda Banda

Abstract:

This article examines the development of human rights in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). It looks at personal laws and the attempts of parties in postcolonial states to deal with conflicts that arise between the dictates of state customary law, which may be discriminatory towards women, and the move towards embracing human rights with their focus on the removal of sex and gender-based discrimination. While it is clear that there has been enormous progress made in enshrining women's rights, the article urges caution, noting that there are limits to the law's power to change behaviour. Law cannot always provide a solution to discrimination rooted in socio-economic and cultural dispossession. The article is divided into four parts. Part one introduces the legal systems of the region. Part two offers a discussion of the different constitutional models illustrated by case law relating to inheritance. Part three provides an overview of the African engagement with human rights before moving on to consider the two Declarations of the SADC in dealing with gender-based discrimination and violence against women. Part four focuses on the rights contained within the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women, adopted by the African Union in July 2003.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Governance, Constitutions, International Organizations, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa

Year: 2006

Citation:

Razavi, Shahra. 2001. “Women in Contemporary Democratization.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 15 (1): 201–24.

Author: Shahra Razavi

Abstract:

Over the past two decades authoritarian regimes in many parts of the developing world, as well as in East/Central Europe, have been replaced by democracies. This paper looks at the issue of democratization from a gender perspective. While many of the problems afflicting the new democracies, such as the elitist character of political parties, and the failure of the state to guarantee civil and political rights or make a significant dent in poverty affect all citizens, they are manifested and experienced in gender-specific ways. Women's persistent exclusion from formal politics, in particular, raises a number of specific questions about how to reform democratic institutions since these institutions are not automatically gender-equitable.

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Governance, Political Participation, Rights

Year: 2001