Recognition of Women's Contributions goes Global!

This month, scholars and social activists across India are beginning to pull together their thinking and research on the contributions of representative Indian women to public service, education, literature, and the arts. This work is to be compiled into a "Women of Vision: India" publication.

This initiative follows on similar work in Burkina Faso (read more here). 

The pioneer work in this Women of Vision series took place in the Boston neighborhood of Brighton-Allston. Recently, the Brighton Allston Historical Society hosted the 3rd Women's Heritage Trail Tour to recognize and publicize 15 remarkable, local women and women's organizations.

For more on this Women's Heritage series, see the BAHS publications: "Women's History Initiatives: Gender, Culture, and People-Centered Development" (Ed. Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney) and "Women of Vision: Brighton-Allston Women's Heritage Trail Guide" (Co-Eds. Dr. William P. Marchione and Dr. Linda Mishkin)

Historical Society Promotes Recognition of Brighton Novelist's Achievements

On Saturday, July 9, 2011, The Brighton-Allston Historical Society celebrated the 200th birthday of author Fanny Fern. Fanny Fern was one of the country's most famous 19th century writers and the first woman columnist in the United States. Fanny was the highest paid newspaper writer of her time, earning $100 a column in 1855. At the height of her career, in the 1850s and 1860s, her columns reached over a half million readers weekly.

From left to right: Quiz Contest Guest, Dick Marques BAHS Board of Directors, BAHS Visitor-Kevin, Peg Collins-BAHS President, and John Stenson-Master of Ceremonies

A history quiz game on Fanny Fern and other notable Brighton women was the highlight of the celebratory event.



For more photos, please visit the flikr site

News from The Women's Studies Centre at Visva-Bharati

We wish to share with you that The Women's Studies Centre at Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan recently released its Annual Report for 2010-2011 (from April 2010 to March 2011). The report includes a section on their extension activities and in particular, mentions several projects carried out in local villages:



"A number of meetings with the members of self help groups (SHGs) and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) representatives from Islampur, Basapara, Halsidanga, Mollarpur, Lavhpur, Govindapur, Ahmedpur, Ilambazar jungle (tribal villages) and other villages near Santiniketan, Birbhum, and panchayat (local government) representatives were organized during April, 2010 – March, 2011 by the Director, Women's Studies Centre, Prof. Asha Mukherjee [at left above] and the Research Assistants of WSC. The purpose was to identify and monitor the village problems and issues which can be taken up for empowerment through training, workshops to be organized by WSC, and also to inform them about WSC's activities and its role in the extension activities for women and the girl child."



For more pictures of village workshops and related Women's Studies Centre seminars, please see the flikr set here

Coordinator of the Global Network on Gender to Participate in International Conference

Gloria Bonder, Coordinator of the new Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender has been invited by the Director General of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova, to the International Women Leaders Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation: Education and Training for Women and Girls, taking place from 29 May to 3 June 2011 in Haifa, Israel. Our UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture, and People-Centered Development is a founding member of the Global Network, and on its Advisory Board.

The Haifa Conference will bring together 50 women leaders from all regions of the world, and will provide a great opportunity to present the Global Network!

Breaking News: Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender

The Boston-based UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Gender, Culture, and People-Centered Development is thrilled to announce that Co-Coordinators Professor Deborah Belle and Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney just learned that our Network has been invited to represent North America on the newly-created Advisory Board of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender!

We of the UNITWIN (university twinning) Network are honored and thrilled to carry the voices of our many University and NGO Partners and colleagues in India, Burkina Faso, and Boston to this prestigious international board, with leading academics and feminists, and to advise other UNESCO Chairs and Networks concerned with gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide.

The Advisory Board has quarterly 'phone-conference' meetings as the Global Network is based in Buenos Aires. We are excited to share our UNITWIN Network's initiatives and achievements, as well as our work at Boston University's Women's, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program and the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, with these colleagues from around the globe, and will be keen to share ideas and projects we learn about through this Board.

Thanks for everyone's vibrant participation!

Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales - Sede Académica Argentina

that hosts the UNESCO Chair on "Gender, Sciences and Technology"

The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender: Background and Objectives

The Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender was created collaboratively in 2010 by UNESCO Paris and the Argentina-based UNESCO Regional Chair on Women, Science and Technology. Launched during the International Conference "Gender Equity Policies-A Prospective View: New Scenarios, Actors, and Articulations," which took place 9-12 November 2010 in Buenos Aires, the Network brings together 12 UNESCO Chairs currently developing gender research, training, and advocacy in a variety of fields around the world. Universities, research centers, NGOs, foundations, and international organizations working on gender equality are also invited to join the Network.

The Network follows the strategic orientations of the UNITWIN Programme adopted by UNESCO's Executive Board at its 176th session in April 2007. Since the adoption of these new orientations, emphasis has been placed on:

-The dual function of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks as "think tanks" and "bridge builders" between the academic world, civil society, local communities, and policy  making;
-Readjustment of a geographic imbalance which is now in favour of the North;
-Stimulation of triangular North-South-South cooperation;
-The creation of regional or sub-regional poles of innovation and excellence;
-Closer cooperation with the United Nations University (UNU).

The Network is also aligned with UNESCO's priorities as expressed in the Medium Term Strategy for 2008-2013 as well as with the UNESCO Priority Gender Equality Action Plan 2008-2013. As an international platform, the Global Network aims to increase interdisciplinary exchange for the creation of new knowledge and innovative policies and practices.

"Microfinance: Does it Work?" Panel Discussion

We are pleased to share with you that on March 10, 2011, GaIDI (Gender and International Development Initiatives) of the Women’s Studies Research Center, hosted at Brandeis University a panel discussion titled “Microfinance: Does it Work?” A first time co-sponsor with WSRC was Boston University’s Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program (WGS).
The specialist panel consisted of Roy Jacobowitz, managing director of External Affairs for ACCION International; Janina Matuszeski, research coordinator in the Community Finance Department of Oxfam America; Marcia O’Dell, former director of WORTH-a woman’s program launched in ten countries in Asia and Africa; Kim Wilson, lecturer at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and Fellow, Center for Emerging Market Enterprises and the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University; and Steve Atlas, independent filmmaker and social justice advocate.



Beginning with Jacobowitz, each panelist presented their respective views on microfinance and the variety of ways in which the concept of lending money to the world’s poorest could be used to help alleviate poverty around the globe. For his part, before delving into the heart of his presentation on microfinance and ACCION’s work, Jacobowitz first defined microfinance as “the provision of a broad range of financial services ranging from short-term working capital in a group, through individual lending, through long-term housing finance, through savings, through time deposits, payment systems, insurance, annuities, the full range of financial products, and services that the poor household needs in order to manage their financial lives and accumulate assets.” Jacobowitz went on to posit that, while microfinance may not lead to marked macroeconomic development, granting the poor access to an array of financial services will serve to improve the lives led by the world’s poor. He explained that microfinance will “help develop the demand for goods and services because people will have the capacity to pay and, therefore, even if the random control trial researchers can’t find poverty alleviation results in their short term studies-even though they can’t find it today … I think we’ve all agreed that the poor will enjoy a better quality of life if they can access these basic financial services that we’re talking about.”


Roy then introduced two film clips by award-winning director Steve Atlas, titled “A Better Life” and “Still Here”. While the first introduced ACCION and its mission, the second captured a visit by ACCION CEO Maria Otero to Mibanco clients in Lima, Peru.

While Jacobowitz focused primarily on the subject of microfinance and how it functions in bettering the plight of the poor, the remaining three panelists anchored their presentations in the concept of micro-savings. The first to pursue the idea of savings groups was Kim Wilson. According to Wilson, motivation lies at the heart of the success of savings groups over lending institutions. Instead of relying on external lenders, women in many poor communities come together and form savings groups. Each week, members of the group contribute a small amount of money that the women in the group can later draw from when they need to. Wilson explained that when she spoke to some of the groups’ members, they shared with her that “again and again [my] group gives me the discipline. My group gives me the confidence that I can sacrifice, I can pull this money together.” Promoting savings groups over the idea of outside financial lending institutions, Wilson asserted that unlike savings groups, a bank is not going to provide what she deems to be the strength at the core of the microsavings idea: motivation.



Complementing Wilson’s endorsement of savings groups, Janina Matuszeski of Oxfam also spoke in support of microsavings. Using a chart to illustrate the differences between microsavings and microcredit, Matuszeski explained that while microcredit is facilitated by an outside lending institution and is often contingent on funds being used to start up a business, microsavings allows the funds to be used for consumption and is reliant on the group members themselves over an external lender. She also shared her hands-on empirical findings of the flourishing of women’s microsavings groups in Mali. Matuszeski closed by emphasizing that the savings model allows women to bring funds into the household as added income and in turn assists them in gaining the respect and attention of their husbands.


Completing the panel’s discussion, Marcia Odell energetically presented on behalf of microsavings. Highlighting the central reason to endorse savings groups, Odell said “In the savings-led model who are the bankers? The people in the group, so where does the interest on all that lending go? … It stays with the people in the community and that is a huge difference [between that and the ACCION concept].” Rounding out her talk, Odell stressed the social solidarity and unity that emerged amongst the groups’ female participants as result of the savings model.



WSRC Resident Scholar Brenda Gael McSweeney then introduced award-winning filmmaker Steve Atlas. After greeting the packed hall and the participants, Steve shared his film “Tipping Point” on possible ways forward for microfinance.



Then, another GaIDI organizer and WSRC Resident Scholar Mei-Mei Ellerman introduced WSRC Director Shulamit Reinharz, who kicked off a lively debate session.


Other co-sponsors with the lead organizers WSRC and BU’s WGS, were The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, and the International Business School, all at Brandeis University.
Photos: courtesy of Mei-Mei Ellerman 

Visit links on Microfinance and Microsavings: 

Voices from the Field: ACCION and the Power of Microfinance: 8 films by filmmaker Steve Atlas 

Steve Atlas Productions: Helping non-profits across the digital divide  
Contact ACCION
Link suggested by Kim Wilson and Marcia Odell on Microsavings

Just Published by UNESCO!

 

We  wish to share with you a link to the recent e-publication on UNESCO's UNITWIN website of a gender case study update in Shantiniketan, West Bengal!  Brenda McSweeney, along with Krishno Dey and Chandana Dey, had an opportunity in November 2010 to visit and write on one of the nine original ‘Srihaswani’ (Creative Manual Skills for Self-Reliant Development) villages to capture the impressions of many of those, both women and men, who had participated in the program for several years. Since 2008, eight of the villages had also created a specific ‘Gender Group’ in which there were 127 girls with their mothers. Please find the full publication at:

Srihaswani: Five Years On

We now gearing up here at Boston University for the Spring Semester, and as well as our next research initiatives in Ireland, South and West Asia, and beyond. 

A Letter from Yaaminey Mubayi on Livelihoods in Punjab and Orissa

"Gurmeet [Rai] and I are busy with our crafts village in Amritsar- this is the one I "discovered" while doing research for another project- a settlement of traditional metal workers who had migrated from Pakistan in 1947. We are developing the area as an Endogenous Tourism destination.



I am also doing a project in coastal Orissa- Tourism as an alternative livelihood to combat the problems of overfishing of Chilika Lake, in 8 villages along the coast. The gender issue to flag here is the fact that women have lost their traditional livelihood as the sellers of the fish, now that commercial interests have reduced the fishermen to wage labour, rather than individual owners of boats and other assets. Think of the plight of widows and wives of retired fishermen, who are literally starving, no traditional safety nets for them! Am working with some Self Helf Groups to develop crafts- some excellent bamboo and golden grass weaving done by fisherwomen!

Here are a couple of photos of the region, including of an old lady who lives off temple offerings.

Cheers and Best Wishes for a marvelous year ahead."

Yaaminey

International Seminar on Gender Equality and State Intervention: Issues Ahead

We are delighted to advise you of a very exciting International Seminar on Gender Equality and State Intervention: Issues Ahead that was held at Punjabi University at Patiala, Punjab, India on October 28th and 29th, 2010. This event was organized by one of our "TWINS," the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Punjabi University at Patiala with support from UNESCO/UNITWIN (Paris).

From left to right: Chandana Dey, Malkit Kaur, Nandini Dey, H.S. Bhatti, and Gurmeet Rai in a pre-Seminar strategy session

The Seminar Coordinator, Professor Malkit Kaur, and the Head of the Department, Professor Harvinder Singh Bhatti, did an amazing job in pulling together experts and practitioners, spanning generations, from across India and beyond to discuss and debate, in plenary and working sessions, promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. In all, 50 papers were presented by Faculty and Degree Candidates on a range of timely issues, including:

• Gender Equality and State Intervention
• Gender, Culture & Violence
• Gender Gaps in Access to Health, Education and Employment
• Gender Responsive Planning and Gender Budgeting
• Stories of Success and Struggle: Experiences of NGOs, Researchers, Academicians and Media

The inaugural address was given by Professor Pam Rajput of Panjab University, Chandigarh; Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney of the Women's Studies Program, Boston University that anchors our UNESCO/UNITWIN on Gender, Culture and Development, gave a special address as the Chief Guest; and the Punjabi University's Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Jaspal Singh, gave the Presidential Address. The Seminar participants also included our UNITWIN Network Partners Dr. Arvinder Ansari from Jamia Milia Islamia University; Gurmeet S. Rai, Director of the Culture Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI); and Chandana Dey, Co-founder of the Bhab Initiative.

The 50 substantive presentations brought out fresh insights, and we understand that a number of the papers will be finding their way into a publication. From our vantage point, and that of so many people who gave us feedback, the International Seminar was a 'smashing success', right from the substantive and moving opening ceremony, clear through to the valedictory session. The ensuing publication will doubtless constitute an insightful and important contribution to the field.

A Letter from UNESCO Paris: Soojin Min (Boston University)

Soojin Min in Paris during her UNESCO HQ internship

Dear Prof. McSweeney,

Hello! This is Soojin. How are you?

It was such a great pleasure to meet you at UNESCO!

As I mentioned, I would like to share my summer internship story with you.

I completed my internship at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, at the Section for Basic Education, Literacy and Non-Formal Education in the Division for Basic Education this past summer. Assigned to a literacy team, where six other people were working, I assisted with projects related to literacy prizes and conferences. I mainly worked on the UNESCO Database on Literacy Projects and Programmes, which was a pilot project. Based on UNESCO's criteria, information and details of literacy programs run by NGOs and governments were collected for knowledge sharing. 

Professor Brenda Gael McSweeney and Soojin Min, Paris

I also worked on press release documents for the International Literacy Day(ILD). Every year, on September 8th, the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize & the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy are awarded to a total of four entities that have made a difference in fighting illiteracy. Additionally two entities are honorably mentioned. The King Sejong Prize is sponsored by the Korean government and the Confucius Prize is sponsored by the Chinese government. Complying with the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) thematic calendar, the theme for this year is “Literacy and Women’s Empowerment”. The award ceremony will take place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on September 8, 2010. This year's recipients demonstrate the power of achieving women's literacy through their amazing programs.

During my internship, I realized that the role of international organizations in integrating and supporting education projects is something that should not be underestimated.  I also learned that the best possible way to promote gender equality is through education, and I therefore believe literacy education should be the very first step towards it. 

UNESCO Headquarters lobby: promoting Gender Equality

I'm attaching my pictures at UNESCO, in front of its famous statue of Giacommeti and a picture of the UNESCO lobby and another one with you at the Comptoir. And this is the link to UNESCO's literacy prizes:

http://www.unesco.org/en/literacy/literacy-prizes/

Have a wonderful semester!

Best wishes,

Soojin