Panel on Gender and Development: Discussing "Gender Analysis" at the 18th Annual International Development Conference at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government

We are pleased to share with you that on April 14, 2012, the 18^th Annual International Development Conference at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government presented a panel on Gender, Poverty, Opportunity: The Role of Women in Development. Before a packed room full of attendees from across Massachusetts and New England, the panel focused on the overarching question of why 'gender analysis' is becoming an ever more apparent element of international development. Panelists were also asked why looking at gender issues matters and in what ways academics and practitioners in the development sphere can make a persuasive case for the importance of attention to gender in development. Finally, with an eye to the future, the moderator's final question prompted the entire room to consider, in going forward, the best ways to ensure consistent and comprehensive attention to gender in development. Drawn from senior positions in government agencies, international nongovernmental organizations, and academia, the specialists on the panel were able to present varying perspectives and consequently, ignite a rich and stimulating discussion.

Panel participants included:

Moderator

Stephenie Foster, International Consultant, Former Chief of Staff to two U.S. Senators. General Counsel for the U.S. General Services Administration. Currently a Professor at American University.  

The Panelists:

Carla Koppell, Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment, USAID & a Senior Advisor to the USAID Administrator. Carla has an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School. A highlight of Carla's discussion came when she explained to the room that although the US has not signed CEDAW, the State Department acts under the assumption that the US is indeed a signatory of the Convention. Carla made it clear that the obligations and accountability at the heart of CEDAW are wholly respected and adhered to within the State Department.

Dr. Jishnu Das, Senior Economist, World Bank. Part of core team preparing the 2012 World Development Report  with a lead on 'Education and Health: Where do gender differences really matter?' Currently a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi. Jishnu has a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. In response to the question of how to make a convincing case for specific interventions aimed at promoting gender equality in education, Dr. Das made a heartening point regarding the success of conditional cash transfers in keeping an increased number of girls in school for a longer period. He argued that that these incentives could shift broader beliefs surrounding the potential costs and benefits of educating the girl child. 

Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, Boston University's Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Program, Women's Studies Research Center - Brandeis University, Former United Nations Coordinator and UN Development Programme Rep in India. In her response to the moderator's questions, Dr. McSweeney reminded the room of enduring gender caps at home and abroad. In particular, she touched on the different faces of gender inequality introduced by Amartya Sen in his keynote speech at the launch of the Radcliffe Institute. Repeatedly, she urged the group to ask "Where is the outrage?!" With a wealth of experience from her time at the UNDP, Dr. McSweeney was able to explain the significance of indices such as the Gender Inequality Index. Developed by the UNDP to highlight the ongoing invisibility of women's contributions and introduce reproductive health issues as a societal issue, McSweeney called this new index courageous and a new way of moving forward towards gender equality and empowering women.

Encouraging an enriching and illuminating discussion amongst panelists and audience members alike, the panel on Gender, Poverty, Opportunity was a highlight of the 18th Annual International Development Conference. Gratitude and credit goes out to Panel Organizers Tonusree Basu, HKS '13; and Lauren Harrison, Vice-Chair of Panels and Keynotes for the 18th Annual IDC.

~Katherine Lochery, MIT Leadership Center and 
UNESCO/UNITWIN Network: Gender, Culture & Development

                    

On March 7, 2012, as a prelude to International Women's Day, Boston University's Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program co-sponsored an important event on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). GaIDI, the Gender and International Development Initiatives of the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC), was the host and lead organizer of one in a series of bi-lingual readings about Pierre Foldes. Before a crowd in the Liberman-Miller Lecture Hall at  WSRC/Brandeis, author Hubert Prolongeau and scholar/activist Tobe Levin read from Undoing FGM: Pierre Foldes, the Surgeon Who Restores the Clitoris. A world-renowned surgeon and anti-FGM activist, Pierre Foldes is best known for his work on post-FGM clitoris repair. As a result of his surgical work and his commitment to speaking out against FGM, victims of the harmful practice are given back hope for the future.

Author Hubert Prolongeau and FGM Scholar/Activist and Translator Tobe Levin read from Undoing FGM at the GaIDI WSRC event, Brandeis University

Dr. Tobe Levin, former WSRC/HBI (Hadassah Brandeis Institute) Scholar, signing a copy of the book she translated  over to Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, a founder of GaIDI and WSRC Resident Scholar

GaIDI and other WSRC scholars and students interacting at the event. L to R, current and former GaIDI members: Janet Freedman, Ruth Nemzoff, Rahel Wasserfall

To learn more about a courageous French physician and the women who welcome his help, visit: http://uncutvoices.wordpress.com/tag/fgm/

For more on the Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC) Scholars Program and events, see http://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/

For more on the Boston University Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program (WGS) courses, faculty and events, see http://www.bu.edu/wgs/

BU Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program Co-sponsoring: "Not My Life": Documentary on Child Trafficking Worldwide

Save the Date: March 26, 2012

Event: "Not My Life" - Film narrated by Glenn Close
Director: Oscar-nominated Robert Bilheimer

Time: 7:45 PM

Location: Brandeis University Campus, Olin Sang 101

We are pleased to share with you news of an upcoming event WGS is co-sponsoring, hosted by the Gender and International Development Initiatives (GaIDI) of the Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center (WSRC). On March 26th at 7:45, you are invited to a screening of the powerful documentary on child trafficking entitled "Not My Life." Filmed across four years and five continents, this unprecedented project reveals the terrifying scope and depth of one of the worst forms of human rights abuse in the world today. "Not My Life" goes beyond simply raising awareness about the pandemic of child trafficking around the globe and highlights the work and enduring commitment of modern-day abolitionists.

Dr. Mei-Mei Ellerman, member of GaIDI and Board Director of the Polaris Project-leading anti-human trafficking NGO in the US and Japan-will give an overview of the issue of modern-day slavery and a brief introduction to the film. After the film, Dr. Ellerman, GaIDI/WSRC and the Co-sponsors will invite the audience to remain for a discussion of "Not My Life", the role of the 21st century abolitionists, and how to join the fight against slavery in our times.

Co-sponsors include: Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University; Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program of Boston University; Gender Working Group, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University; Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University; Our Bodies, Ourselves; Coexistence Program, Brandeis University; Brandeis Interfaith Chaplaincy.

Reporting from Rwanda: A Letter from Former Gender and International Development Student, Rachel Vannice

BU Alum and former Gender and International Development student, Rachel Vannice has been serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Rwanda since May 2011. In her letter below, Rachel writes about the work she has been doing to promote the growth and success of a women's informal cooperative. In addition, Rachel also touches on additional projects aimed at educating and empowering young men and women in the region.

Abakobwa n'Abagore- Girls & Women as Actors in Development in Rwanda

I came to Rwanda as a Peace Corps Volunteer in May of 2011. I am currently situated in Nyagatare district in the Northeast of the country. In my community, I have had the opportunity to work with the Centre de Développement Pour les Femmes (Center for Women's Development). The women have come together with capital support from a local religious community. They have formed their own informal cooperative and are empowering each other with new skills in traditional Rwandan basket-weaving and embroidery. I have been connecting them with local resources to become an official cooperative to reap the benefits that come with such a legal status as well as attempting to find them new markets so that they may continue to grow their small business and move from the subsistence farming that the majority of them practice.

Women making traditional Rwandan baskets

Women working on livelihoods projects

As a member of the Peace Corps Gender and Development (GAD) committee and the National Coordinator for all GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and BE (Boys Excelling) camps, I have also had the opportunity to work on the empowerment and sensitization of young women and men through lessons on life skills, communication, and goal-setting. In addition, much of our focus was on reproductive health and the prevention of HIV/AIDS transmission. Our main vehicles for this information transfer included week-long camps and then the formation of clubs at local schools, with camp attendees as animators and co-facilitators. Further, most clubs are co-facilitated by local teachers so that the clubs and camps are sustainable.

Participants of Camp GLOW - Eastern Province, along with Peace Corps volunteers and Rwandan facilitators.

Inaugural Newsletter of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender

We are pleased to announce the publication of the very first newsletter of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender, produced by our partners in Cyprus and Buenos Aires and now posted at http://www.catunescomujer.org/globalnetwork/news.html
Feel free to disseminate it among your colleagues.

Boston University's Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program (WGS) hosts the UNESCO/UNITWIN (University Twinning) Network on Gender, Culture, and Development, and is a founding member of the Global Network. The Co-Coordinators of the BU-based UNESCO/UNITWIN, Professor Deborah Belle and Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, are delighted that this inaugural issue features a lot of the work that they and their collaborators in India, West Africa, and the Boston area have been engaged in. To read more about our Network's activities in 2011 and beyond, please see the newsletter at the link listed above.

More information on our UNITWIN Network is at http://unitwin.blogspot.com/ and equalityburkina.blogspot.com

UN Women designates BU's Brenda Gael McSweeney as its Focal Point for Women and Gender Studies

UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has invited Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney of the Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program to be its Women's and Gender Focal Point at Boston University.


UN Women "acts on the fundamental premise that women and girls worldwide have a right to live a life free of discrimination, violence, and poverty and that gender equality is central to achieving development." UN Women just launched its first report on the Progress of the World's Women, focusing on gender justice.

A key priority of UN Women is combating gender-based violence. The campaign titled "Say No-UNiTE to End Violence Against Women" gives everyone a chance to join this global initiative. Do visit http://saynotoviolence.org/ to add your voice.

News from Dr. Asha Mukherjee: Announcing First International Conference of 2012

We wish to share with you news of an upcoming International Conference being organized and hosted by one of our UNESCO/UNITWIN Network partners,  the Women's Studies Center at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. Dr. Asha Mukherjee, Director of the Center, has informed us that Professor Amartya Sen is expected to inaugurate the Conference and Professor Martha Nussbaum has agreed to deliver the keynote address. Entitled "Women's Creativity and Social Concern" this gathering will be held on January 5-7, 2012. For more information, please see the Conference's theme note below:

      Photo Credit: globalshiksha.com

" International Conference: Women Creativity and Social Concern

Ashramkanya Amita Sen: 100^th birth anniversary Celebration) 
 5-7 Jan. 2012 (Tentative)

Women’s Studies Centre, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan

In a life span of eighty years, Rabindranath Tagore wrote two thousand five hundred poems, seven novels, composed eighteen hundred songs and a number of plays, wrote, directed and produced at least four well-known dance dramas (nritya natya/geeti natya). Over the years these dance dramas and songs have become an inalienable part of Bengali culture. As if that was not enough, in his late years, he took to painting and produced almost two thousand paintings, which are believed to be a new initiative in the world of art. A mere enumeration of these creative aspects can hardly do justice to his incredible achievements and the great contributions he made to the civilization. He took to interpretation of Religion, History and Society proposing a new concept of “India”, preaching internationalism when nations like Japan, Germany and Britain were preparing for World war. He not only proposed but also implemented significant programmes in rural reconstruction in pre-independent India. Needless to say, contribution of this magnitude is not possible without a novel foundational attitude arising out of a basic philosophical position. Over time his attitude towards Man and the World changed and so did his philosophy. 

Lives without Rights by Jharna Panda

We are pleased to announce that Jharna Panda, one of our UNITWIN-affiliated researchers in India, has written an article calling attention to the livelihoods of women in the Sundarban region in West Bengal. Below is the abstract of Jharna's powerful paper.

"Lives without Rights" by Jharna Panda: Abstract

'Any sympathetic discussion with the women of the Sundarban region (the famous archipelago in the southern fringe of the Gangetic delta in eastern India known for its mangrove forest and Royal Bengal tigers) will reveal the stark realities about their abysmal health standards and the widely prevalent reproductive health problems in spite of a plethora of public health programmes. For example, a large number of women suffer from genital prolapse while they are still in the third decade of their lives.

Most of them are working women from landless or marginal peasant families and because of their very social position, they have to simultaneously bear the burden of a failing agrarian economy and the weight of an oppressively discriminatory social tradition. Hence, these women can be regarded as living testimonies of the process whereby social and livelihood practices frustrate the dream of empowerment to the extent that village women are not in a position to decide upon matters related to their individual selves, let alone to social affairs.

Though to a significant extent their appalling health standards can be traced back to the poor material - including economic - condition of their living, this is clearly also a function of their position as women in a social milieu which is a heady mix of patriarchal domination, archaic traditions and entrenched taboos. The average woman has to follow the extant rituals and practices regarding child birth, birth control, and child health. Even the health workers, when they are present, fail to make much headway with their repertoire of scientific health awareness programmes because the women whose health is at stake are not supposed to make a choice.

The story is complex, yet revealing. It reveals the interrelated nature of the issues of empowerment and economy, health and social practice, reproductive health and productive activities.'

 To see the full text of Jharna's work called "Lives without Rights" please visit http://www.catunescomujer.org/globalnetwork/publications.html

Researcher Jharna Panda shared her firsthand experience living and working in the Sundarban Region in West Bengal, at Visva-Bharati's International Conference on Women after Independence.

Just Published!

Visiting Scholar Smitha Radhakrishnan of Boston University's Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program, the hub of our UNITWIN Network, has just had her book Appropriately Indian published.

‘Appropriately Indian is an ethnographic analysis of the class of information technology professionals at the symbolic helm of globalizing India. Comprising a small but prestigious segment of India’s labor force, these transnational knowledge workers dominate the country’s economic and cultural scene, as do their notions of what it means to be Indian. Drawing on the stories of Indian professionals in Mumbai, Bangalore, Silicon Valley, and South Africa, Smitha Radhakrishnan explains how these high-tech workers create a “global Indianness” by transforming the diversity of Indian cultural practices into a generic, mobile set of “Indian” norms. Female information technology professionals are particularly influential. By reconfiguring notions of respectable femininity and the “good” Indian family, they are reshaping ideas about what it means to be Indian.’
Read more at http://www.appropriatelyindian.com/


You can find Smitha's Boston Univeristy bio at http://www.bu.edu/wgs/community/womens-studies-family/visiting-scholars/


Niraja Gopal Jayal, Professor at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and an affiliate of our UNITWIN Network, has recently had her article "The Transformation of Citizenship in India in the 1990s and Beyond" published in a peer-reviewed collection on the political economy of 21st century India.

'This paper discusses how the three central transformations of the 1990s – Hindu nationalism, backward caste mobilization and economic reform – have shaped practices of citizenship in India in recent times. Women enter this story in three ways: lower middle class women experience a new feeling of freedom by being able to enter the market; women experience social empowerment through their participation in and leadership of panchayats; but, as victims of sex-selective abortion, they are also disadvantaged in practices of biological citizenship. The article is published in the volume titled "Understanding India's New Political Economy: A Great Transformation?”, Sanjay Ruparelia, et al. eds. (Routledge, London, 2011)'. -Niraja Gopal Jayal



You can find Niraja's bio at: http://www.jnu.ac.in/Faculty/ngjayal/Address.html

JMI's International Seminar: In Pictures

We are pleased to announce that our colleagues at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi have provided us with a terrific visual portrayal of the most recent UNITWIN International Seminar hosted at Jamia. To see the entire collection of photos, please click here.

Seminar organizer, Dr. Arvinder Ansari of Jamia, has also just shared with us that the thirty-five papers presented in the seminar are due to be made into a UNESCO Reference Document by early next year. We of the Boston University-based UNITWIN are most excited about this recent news and join our friends at Jamia Millia Islamia in expressing our deep gratitude to Mr. Najeeb Jung, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University. His help and unwavering support helped to make possible this inaugural event of the second phase of our UNITWIN Network. The two-day gathering on "Gender, Violence and Development: The South Asian Experiences" marked another "first," as the first International Seminar organized by the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia. It was well attended by scholars and students, and deemed "a big hit"!