E-book of Gender Case Studies Launched!

 

The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender celebrates the release of their first e-book of gender case studies: Gender Perspectives in Case Studies Across Continents, co-edited by Gloria Bonder, Coordinator of the Global Network, and Brenda Gael McSweeney, Initiator of the UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture, & Development.

This volume also features a Foreword authored by Saniye Gülser Corat, Director of the UNESCO Division for Gender Equality.  She is “convinced that the case studies included in this E-Book will help us understand different realities and challenges better and provide us with the possibility to formulate reality based policies and initiatives.” Promoting Gender Equality is an overarching priority of the Organization through 2021.

The full text of this publication can be found at:  http://goo.gl/31btQ

The volume's eight essays illustrate the breadth and diversity of the issues that affect the lives and status of women in communities across the world. These chapters are:

1.     Decentralization and women’s rights in Latin America, Gloria Bonder
Analyzes the local impact of public policy decentralization processes in Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador/Honduras,

Rights & Gender in Bolivia

and Paraguay, on women’s participation and health. Examines the political, institutional, and cultural factors that influenced the contrasts in effects between these different areas, and emphasizes the importance of gathering women’s testimonies in the context of their own voices and perspectives. (also available in Spanish)

2.     Discourses emerging from the experiences of the women-mothers victims of violence, Mary  Koutselini and Floria Valanidou

Explores the prevailing and often coexistent discourses of denial, self-blame, powerlessness, tolerance, compassion, and dependency, and the influence of these narratives on female victims of violence. Illustrated through seventeen in-depth interviews with mothers in Cyprus who were or had been victims.

3.     Women’s organizations in Madrid: Socialization for empowerment in the Spanish democratic post-transition, Virginia  Maquieira D'Angelo

Follows the rise of women workers and housewives’ organizations in the 1980s and their emergent feminist awareness. Explores the context of these organizations, the meanings assigned to them by their participants, the obstacles they faced, and the evolution of the organizations into a larger women’s movement in Spain. (also available in Spanish)

4.     The violation of family spaces in some Moroccan women writers’ fiction, Fouzia Rhissassi

Analyzes Moroccan women’s literature as an outlet through which female authors reappraise traditional spaces, rejection of silence and exclusion, and break taboos to give visibility to women’s experiences. Illuminates the themes of tackling persistent gender inequalities worldwide in education, livelihoods, and political voice, plus gender-based violence.

Photo: Brenda McSweeney

 

5.     Another View of Africa: A photo essay on female education and empowerment in Burkina Faso, Scholastique Kompaoré and Brenda Gael McSweeney with Cassandra Fox

Demonstrates the positive, time-saving effects of technology on women’s domestic workloads, thus thus freeing up time for women and girls to pursue educational and lucrative activities. Presents a hopeful contrast to the typical global media depiction of life in Africa. (also available in French)

6.     God First, Second the Market: A Case Study, Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund of Liberia

Explores the organization’s ongoing efforts to aid Liberian women through the revitalization of markets, boosting literacy, and providing access to credit. Highlights the candid profiles of market women and depicts their courageous struggle to overcome adversity and their role in the reconstruction of Liberia, its communities, and its economy.

7.     Srihaswani or Creative Manual Skills for Self Reliant Development: A gender case study, 1996-2012, Krishno Dey, Chandana Dey, and Brenda Gael McSweeney

 Photo: Brenda McSweeney

Examines the evolution of a grassroots development initiative in West Bengal, India, into an opportunity through which village women claimed greater participation and voice in community leadership and development. Provides a first-hand glimpse spanning fifteen years of the economic, societal, and individual benefits of local female leadership in bolstering the subsistence economy and solidarity in Indian villages.

8.     Strengthening Networks for Women in Science and Engineering, Deborah Belle and Sheryl Grace

Illustrates systematic approaches implemented at Boston University to increasing representation and advancement of women faculty in science and engineering careers, namely through strengthening professional networks. Identifies the enduring barriers women face in professional arenas traditionally dominated by men.

The eight essays in this volume reflect the commitment of the Global Network to understanding and contributing to overcome obstacles that prevent the achievement of women’s well being, their active participation in the development of their communities and their struggles for greater equality, empowerment, citizenship and gender justice.  ~by Lucia Hsiao, Student-Scholar Partner to Resident Scholar Brenda Gael McSweeney, Women's Studies Research Center/Brandeis University

E-book at: http://goo.gl/31btQ