Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma (KMG) is an Ethiopian organisation working to encourage communities to abandon the practice of FGM-C. There has been a phenomenal reduction in FGM-C prevalence levels in Kembatta Zone where KMG has worked for the last two decades. Between 1999 and 2008, the number of people practising FGM-C in Kembatta zone reduced by approximately 92% (OHCHR 2008). KMG has expanded its work to other zones, including most recently the Sidama zone, and nearly the entire southern region of Ethiopia has been reached by its FGM-C prevention efforts.
Streams of Influence tells the story of how the Gender, Power and Sexuality programme that sought to bring about positive changes on gender equality imagined and then experienced the process of influencing. Along the way there were the positives in terms of actions and outcomes going to plan, there were also some unintended but nonetheless welcome effects, but there were also a few activities that didn’t work as well as hoped. Programme partners also experienced periods of doubt, struggle and confusion.
From the 30 June – 2 July 2015 a group of researchers, policy analysis and civil society representatives met in Singapore to debate and discuss how gender roles and expectations influence the factors leading to migration, male and female migrants’ different experiences of migration and its impact on migrants, their families and communities. Our analysis does not equate gender with women and girls but aims to unpack how changes to occupational niches and flows of female migrants shape relationships with employers, families and friends, how they shape society and change our notions of gender and age appropriate behaviour. This conference…
On the 29-30 May 2014 a group of feminist scholars, activists, and media and communications professionals met at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex to celebrate and interrogate learning from the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Consortium (Pathways). This was an opportunity to look at the trajectory that the consortium had taken since its early days in 2005, consider how Pathways research could shape the Post-2015 development agenda, and strategise about future directions in work on women’s empowerment.
The global economic crisis is showing the cracks in the surface of how patriarchy is lived in everyday lives; is now not the right time to refocus the discussion? Can we reclaim ‘patriarchy’ from the analysis of all men as patriarchs? How do we understand masculinities in a more political way? How do we address the ways that patriarchy is bad for men, whilst still recognising the battles for women’s rights? What are the implications of rights language for an understanding of patriarchy? If marriage as an institution is the foundation of patriarchy, why are gay and lesbian movements so…
This pioneering collection explores the ways in which positive, pleasure-focused approaches to sexuality can empower women. Gender and development has tended to engage with sexuality only in relation to violence and ill-health. Although this has been hugely important in challenging violence against women, over-emphasizing these negative aspects has dovetailed with conservative ideologies that associate women’s sexualities with danger and fear. On the other hand, the media, the pharmaceutical industry, and pornography more broadly celebrate the pleasures of sex in ways that can be just as oppressive, often implying that only certain types of people – young, heterosexual, able-bodied, HIV-negative -…
There is growing interest in the ways in which legal and human rights issues related to sex work affect sex workers’ vulnerability to HIV and abuses including human trafficking and sexual exploitation. International agencies, such as UNAIDS, have called for decriminalisation of sex work because the delivery of sexual and reproductive health services is affected by criminalisation and social exclusion as experienced by sex workers. The paper reflects on the connections in various actors’ framings between sex workers sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and the ways that international law is interpreted in policing and regulatory practices.
What does sexuality have to do with women’s empowerment? Research from the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment RPC shows that sexuality affects women’s political and economic empowerment in a number of important ways. For example, in the ways that women experience seeking election to political office, how women are treated and respected (or disrespected) in the workplace and in public, and how families and communities place expectations on how women should behave. Being exposed to sexual harassment and sexual violence and not being able to exercise choice in their sexual relationships affects women’s wellbeing and ultimately undermines political, social and economic…