Gender Equity

Women in Disasters and Conflicts in India: Interventions in View of the Millennium Development Goals

Citation:

Bhadra, Subhasis. 2017. “Women in Disasters and Conflicts in India: Interventions in View of the Millennium Development Goals.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 8 (2): 196–207.

Author: Subhasis Bhadra

Abstract:

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with their holistic perspective of development are focused on different issues of vulnerability. This article highlights the situation of women in disasters and the challenges in achieving the MDGs with special reference to India. It is accepted that there is no disaster without human engagement and that issues of differential impact on genders is an essential consideration for recovery. The international guidelines on disaster management and intervention have a considerable focus on gender equality, balance, mainstreaming, and sensitive programing, yet the situation is quite grim. India still lacks separate policy guidelines on gender aspects in disaster. In the twenty-first century, India has witnessed a series of disasters in different parts of the country. The author’s personal experiences of working in intervention programs of these disasters showed that gender vulnerability depends on various factors like the intensity of the disaster impact, local sociocultural perspectives, effective disaster intervention strategies, the specific focus on issues of women in training of personnel, and gender-sensitive disaster intervention programs in the community. In the context of the MDGs, while development has become a priority concern to end age-old inequalities in society, the added challenge of disasters needs considerable focus on gender inequalities to achieve the goal of gender equity.
 

Keywords: Disaster intervention strategies, gender inequalities, gender vulnerability, India, Millennium Development Goals

Topics: Development, Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Women, Gender Balance, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Humanitarian Assistance Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2017

Interrogating Large Scale Land Acquisition and Its Implication on Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Ghana

Citation:

Darkwah, Akosua K., Peace A. Medie, and Maame Gyekye-Jandoh. 2017. “Interrogating Large Scale Land Acquisition and Its Implication on Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study of Ghana.” Working Paper No. 401/August 2017. The Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, Boston, MA.

Authors: Akosua K. Darkwah, Peace A. Medie, Maame Gyekye-Jandoh

Abstract:

Large scale land acquisitions have become increasingly common across Africa. This paper draws on two case studies of large scale land acquisitions in Ghana to examine how the practice affects communities in general, and women in particular. It explains that while there have been some benefits of these acquisitions, the costs to communities mostly outweigh the benefits. Women are particularly impacted by this practice as their livelihoods are affected and they are excluded from the proceeds of land transactions. The paper concludes with a discussion of the actions that state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and communities have taken to address the negative impact of large scale land acquisition on women and their communities. (Abstract from original source).

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Environment, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Land Grabbing, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana

Year: 2017

These Days We Have to Be Poor People: Women’s Narratives of the Economic Aftermath of Forced Evictions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Citation:

McGinn, Colleen. 2015. “These Days We Have to Be Poor People: Women’s Narratives of the Economic Aftermath of Forced Evictions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.” Paper presented at Land Grabbing, Conflict and Agrarian-Environmental Transformations: Perspectives from East and South-East Asia Conference. Chiang Mai University, June. 

Author: Colleen McGinn

Abstract:

“This paper explores the economic aftermath of forced evictions for urban Cambodian women. It is based on an analysis of in-depth narratives of 22 women displaced from five locations in Phnom Penh, the capital city. Evictees’ overall post-eviction coping and adaptation proved to be grounded in their economic circumstances, which in turn framed other risk and resilience factors. The nature and degree of economic harm resulting from the evictions varied widely, and followed specific patterns consistent with pre-displacement socioeconomic status, livelihood source, and the degree to which social networks were embedded in their former neighborhoods. Those who worked in the informal sector experienced shocks to their livelihoods, especially those who landed in remote locations. Homeowners were more typically harmed in terms of assets: they might maintain relatively stable incomes, but lose enormous value of their properties. A third group experienced a catastrophic double blow affecting both livelihoods and assets; this group tended to include shopkeepers whose shelter and livelihoods were both tied to their property. There were also some women who reported that forced eviction had had a relatively benign impact on them. These narratives were idiosyncratic. However, several explanatory factors emerged, including these women had intact livelihoods, superficial ties to their former neighborhoods, and/or found new housing nearby. I conclude with recommendations, including compensation at full market value for seized properties, and broad urban planning measures to protect and encourage affordable rental housing within the city, proximate to diverse livelihood opportunities. A housing/shelter focus to advocacy, policy, and assistance strategies is too narrow, because it poorly addresses the livelihood crisis experienced by many of the displaced.” (Abstract from original source) 

Keywords: Gender, land grab, eviction, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, state-gender relations

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Cambodia

Year: 2015

Land Registration and Certification as a Key Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equity, Preventing Land Grabbing and Enhancing Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia

Citation:

Gebre-Egziabher, Abraha Kinfe. 2013. “Land Registration and Certification as a Key Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equity, Preventing Land Grabbing and Enhancing Agricultural Productivity: Evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia.” International Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi-, Inter- and Transdisciplinarity 8 (2): 5-22.

Author: Abraham Kinfe Gebre-Egziabher

Abstract:

In Ethiopia the land issue has always occupied a central place in various struggles for survival and development. Tigray, Ethiopia had a complex land tenure system which has a long history, which goes back to the Aksumite period. The land tenure of Tigray was modified after the introduction of Christianity to Tigray, Ethiopia in about 320 AD, and subsequent leaders began founding churches and establishing monasteries. Traditionally, every Tigreayan was entitled to a piece of land by virtue of the fact that he/she belongs by birth to a given community (Rsti). However, “The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Article over the years this seemingly simple system has been complicated by the monarchs of Tigray. Two of the main problems that were associated with the land issues of Tigray during that time mainly during the imperial regime were land grabbing and the gender disparity in land ownership. As a result of the two and other key problems, the Tigreayans grew progressively poorer over the years.
 
40 (The Right to Property) and Article 35 (Rights of Women), respectively, were aimed at addressing the major problems related to land and gender issues. As a way of implementing the articles given in the Constitution and the policies, the regional government of Tigray used Land Registration and Certification as a strategy. The land registration and certification process conducted in Tigray is a process that is local, simple, done in the language of the people (Tigrigna), transparent and participatory, and has prevented land grabbing and ensured gender equity. This article then discusses how land registration and certification not only prevents land grabbing and ensures gender equity, but also enhances agricultural productivity, by using the evidence from Tigray, Ethiopia.

Keywords: Agricultural productivity, financial capital, human capital, natural capital, social capital, gender equity capital, Land Certification, grabbing, registration, sustainable development, Tigray, Ethiopia

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Environment, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Land Tenure, Households, Land Grabbing, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Ethiopia

Year: 2013

The Power of Money in Gender Relations from a Chilean Mining Culture

Citation:

Silva-Segovia, Jimena, and Siu Lay-Lisboa. 2017. “The Power of Money in Gender Relations from a Chilean Mining Culture.” Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work 32 (3): 344-58.  doi:10.1177/0886109916689784.

Authors: Jimena Silva-Segovia, Siu Lay-Lisboa

Abstract:

This article addresses the role of money in power relations among mining and nonmining couples. The research performed in the region of Antofagasta, Chile, is based on an interpretive paradigm, with discursive analysis. Twenty-eight people were interviewed based on the category of conflicts and tensions in money negotiations. Findings include that among older women and men, money appears to be masculinized and associated with an illusion of empowerment of women, exacerbating the androcentric sex/gender model. In their discourses, some women express their progress toward relationships of greater equity. Couples must deal with gender conflicts when negotiating money. Even though women manage the family’s money, it’s not considered their money; therefore, they don’t feel free to use it and must account to the man. In this power game and in negotiating, the model of romantic love prevails, the couple’s public and private position, and a neoliberal culture that promotes high levels of consumption.

Keywords: Chile, couple, Gender, mining, money, power

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Households Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Chile

Year: 2017

Women and Weapons: Redressing the Gender Gap: A Pakistani Response

Citation:

Malik, Salma. 2014. “Women and Weapons: Redressing the Gender Gap: A Pakistani Response.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 70 (5): 12–16.

Author: Salma Malik

Abstract:

In nuclear war, women would suffer at least as much as men. But women tend to be underrepresented in fields—such as high-level politics, diplomacy, military affairs, and science and technology—that bear on nuclear policy. Authors from four countries—Salma Malik of Pakistan, Polina Sinovets of Ukraine (2014), Reshmi Kazi of India (2014), and Jenny Nielsen of Denmark (2014)—discuss how women might gain greater influence on nuclear weapons policy and how their empowerment might affect disarmament and nonproliferation efforts.

Keywords: Hillary Clinton, India, nuclear policy, nuclear weapons, Pakistan, Rose Gottemoeller, Samantha Power, Sujatha Singh, Susan Rice, women

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equity, Weapons /Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Pakistan

Year: 2014

Women and Weapons: Redressing the Gender Gap: A Ukrainian Response

Citation:

Sinovets, Polina. 2014. “Women and Weapons: Redressing the Gender Gap: A Ukrainian Response.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 70 (5): 21–23.

Author: Polina Sinovets

Abstract:

In nuclear war, women would suffer at least as much as men. But women tend to be underrepresented in fields—such as high-level politics, diplomacy, military affairs, and science and technology—that bear on nuclear policy. Authors from four countries—Salma Malik of Pakistan (2014), Polina Sinovets of Ukraine, Reshmi Kazi of India (2014), and Jenny Nielsen of Denmark (2014)—discuss how women might gain greater influence on nuclear weapons policy and how their empowerment might affect disarmament and nonproliferation efforts.

Keywords: Carol Cohn, education, femininity, feminism, international organizations, masculinity, nuclear politics, nuclear weapons, soft power, women

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, International Organizations, Weapons /Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Regions: Europe, Eastern Europe Countries: Ukraine

Year: 2014

Women’s Leadership in War and Reconstruction

Citation:

Macintyre, Stuart. 2013. “Women’s Leadership in War and Reconstruction.” Labour History, no. 104, 65-80. 

Author: Stuart Macintyre

Abstract:

The consequences of World War II for women’s employment, familial roles and personal freedom have received substantial attention, as have the new forms of domesticity that followed the war. Their place in the ambitious schemes for Post-War Reconstruction is less well understood. This article considers how the planning for Post-War Reconstruction conceived the role of women and how far they were involved in this planning. It suggests that the exclusion of women had particular consequences for the government’s attempt to secure constitutional powers for Post-War Reconstruction. 
 

Topics: Economies, Economic Inequality, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Oceania Countries: Australia

Year: 2013

Empire, Desire and Violence: A Queer Transnational Feminist Reading of the Prisoner ‘Abuse’ in Abu Ghraib and the Question of ‘Gender Equality'

Citation:

Richter-Montpetit, Melanie. 2007. “Empire, Desire and Violence: A Queer Transnational Feminist Reading of the Prisoner ‘Abuse’ in Abu Ghraib and the Question of ‘Gender Equality.’” International Feminist Journal of Politics 9 (1): 38-59.

Author: Melanie Richter-Montpetit

Abstract:

Dominant discourses in the United States paint the acts of prisoner 'abuse' committed by US soldiers in Abu Ghraib in 2003 as either the obscene but exceptional example of some low-ranking soldiers gone mad, or as the direct result of the suspension of the rule of law in the global 'war on terror'. Alternatively, feminist theorist Barbara Ehrenreich suggests that the pictures depicting female soldiers torturing prisoners are both horrifying and a sign of 'gender equality'. This article departs from all three of these positions. I argue that the micro-level violences shown in the Abu Ghraib pictures are neither just aberrations nor a sign of gender equality. Rather they follow a pre-constructed heterosexed, racialized and gendered script that is firmly grounded in the colonial desires and practices of the larger social order and that underpins the hegemonic 'save civilization itself'-fantasy of the 'war on terror'. I explore how the participation of some of the US Empire's internal Others, namely White western women, may disrupt some of the social processes of normalization underpinning this colonial fantasy, but nevertheless serves to re/produce the identity and hegemony of the US Empire and its heterosexed, racialized and classed World (Dis)Order.

Keywords: Abu Ghraib, civilization, colonial, desires, Ehrenreich, empire, fantasy, gender equality, militarized masculinity, orientalism, US, 'Whiteness'

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Feminisms, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Race, Sexual Violence, Female Perpetrators, SV against Men, Violence

Year: 2007

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

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