Category Archives: Human rights

Add women and stir?

Guardian, 2012 – quota

The parliament’s quota system, which was introduced by former president Hosni Mubarak’s wife, Suzanne, had been used by an authoritarian regime to bring into office women from the ruling party. In Egypt’s quota-less parliament today, there are eight women out of 508 MPs – less than 2%, and down from the previous 12%.

It is ironic that when the quota was announced in June 2009 it was hailed by the international community as a hallmark of the country moving closer to democracy, and yet in post-Mubarak Egypt it was rejected as a symbol of authoritarian rule.

Quotas do increase numbers in most cases, but they don’t work very well as proxies for democratisation or gender justice. And when used by authoritarian regimes, they become tainted. This presents us with a policy conundrum: affirmative action has been lauded by progressive politicians, feminists and development bodies as a way to empower women politically. There is no reason to drop affirmative action, but there is a need to go beyond reducing women’s political empowerment to the number of women in office.

If we are serious about promoting gender justice, we must turn political empowerment upside down. Our starting point should be to better understand how women get involved in politics. For a start, it means broadening our understanding of politics to go beyond the nomination for office in legislatures, so that we are able to recognise those women who also engage politically in formal and informal capacities.

Research undertaken by the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment (pdf) in four continents shows that quotas are not a magic bullet. Their transformative potential is often contingent not only on getting the technicalities right (such as how the system sanctions parties that fail to have women high up on their party lists) but understanding the power configurations in a particular context and how it is likely to influence the political landscape.

For example, in some cases, it may be more conducive to promoting gender justice by being highly selective about which women are supported. Proxy women for political parties with highly reactionary political agendas are hardly going to advocate for gender justice when in office.

Another key message emanating from the Pathways’ research is of a major disconnect between how women build up political power in reality and how political empowerment programmes work. Political empowerment programmes’ focus on individual women’s capabilities, such as on how to run a campaign or speak in public, provide them with useful skills. But this highly individualistic approach is missing out on many opportunities to make a difference by recognising that political bargaining power and weight is built through alliances, networks and coalitions. Hence, it is important to examine practical ways of supporting this embedded nature of doing politics by working with allies and coalitions, as well as, where relevant, women’s families and networks.

The key to enhancing women’s political empowerment is the role of building a constituency. Working in neighbourhoods is important for outreach, but so is gaining visibility through television. It means that policies to support women’s political empowerment should not only target the women who announce they will run for office, but also have expanding political apprenticeship opportunities for a wide pool of women so that they can build the constituency they need to claim legitimacy.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/08/political-empower-women-egypt

 Mariz Tadros is co-editor with Analice Costa of Quotas: Add Women and Stir?

I couldn’t do that in Kabul working for the big aid agencies, Razia Jan

Excerpt from news-piece on Razia’s work for Zabuli Girls School

Her efforts have focused on individuals, her philosophy grounded in a basic truth: countries are comprised of communities, communities of individual people; to help a country recover from disaster, you start with individuals.

Her school, for example, is one of the few in Afghanistan where girls from poor backgrounds can receive a modern education without the burden of tuition fees. It serves the truly marginalised: girls in Afghanistan’s rural hinterland where access to education remains a distant dream for most.

“I wanted to touch those girls,” she explains, “the ones caught in a culture of slavery, where young girls are sold into marriage and condemned to a life of serving their new masters. I couldn’t do that in Kabul working for the big aid agencies.”

But working in Afghanistan’s rural communities comes with some serious risks. Jan recounts one incident, just days before the school opened in 2008:

“I was inside the school cleaning, getting things ready for the opening,” she says. “I was so dirty and dusty and tired. Then one of my workers told me there were four men waiting to speak to me outside. I went out to them, so tired that I even forgot to cover my head, and there they were, these immaculately dressed men standing there. Compared to them I looked like a street urchin. They told me they had a concern: ‘We are from this area and we appreciate what you have done in getting this school built,’ one of them said. ‘But we want to tell you that you still have one last chance to turn this into a boys’ school. Boys are the backbone of Afghanistan.’

“I looked him right in the eyes and I said: ‘I’m sorry brother, but you know, girls are the eyesight of Afghanistan and unfortunately you are all blind.’ They were so shocked they couldn’t speak; they just turned around and walked away. And I’ve never seen them again.”

Since then, the community has come to embrace the school, though occasionally they still pester Jan to offer boys education as well. She refuses. “I tell them I don’t want boys in the school because they break things,” she says, laughing with girlish delight. “If they break a desk, I can’t afford to replace it.”

I’m hopeful about Afghanistan’s future, Razia Jan

Dear all,

Here is a link to an article about Razia’s work for the Zabuli Girls School. In February, a bunch of Kabulites organized a fashion show for the school. We raised enough to sustain the school for a few more months, ANDDDD…there are plans to build roof-top solar panels, with the hope that with electricity, the students can be given computer and internet lessons.

News-piece on Razia’s School.

Changing one story doesn’t necessarily alter that whole, but it perhaps adds colour to a part of it, sheds light on an area wallowing in darkness “I want to tell the world that I’m hopeful about Afghanistan’s future,” says the 67-year old Kabul native and women’s rights activist. “I wouldn’t have come back here if I wasn’t.”

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Fashion Show Pics, courtesy of David Belluz

We will organize a trip to the school soon (when it has stopped snowing) But anyone who wants to come, ping me! so I can organize something soon.

Keep forwarding, keep smiling.

When men become solutions…

  • Excerpt: Men may understand women’s rights violations differently from women, because they are not directly affected by it or experience it differently from their standpoint. They cannot always be expected to understand them from the same lens. It is also important to note that the frequency and normality of some of these violations may have desensitized them from understanding their gravity and costs to the society. Thus, it is crucial that the experiences of women are conveyed to them in ways that help them understand what is at stake. This may involve the use of analogies and examples that are outside issues of gender, especially where there are strict demarcations of men’s and women’s roles or a sense of acquiescence or surrender that religion or culture accepts or expects this. Analogies or examples that they can appreciate or have been through themselves may also be an entry point into discussions.

One method of doing this is using other examples of inequality. For instance a participant of the South African Men’s Forum was able to grasp the concept of gender inequality by comparing it to inequalities that existed during the racial apartheid in the region. 

Similarly a trainer of Islamic law to the Ministry of Justice in Afghanistan used the concept of slavery (now abolished in most parts of the Muslim world) to highlight its similarities with the complete subservience of a wife in exchange of dowry, as a way of deconstructing to the participants, the repugnant aspects of unequal relationships that Islam sought to gradually abolish through its revelations on the treatment of slaves now present in some marital relations.

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Empowering men as partners in women’s rights activists

I intend to begin this interpretive paper by exploring notions and definitions of key terms that arise in our discussions of men’s and women’s role in war and peace. I intend that this exploration will trigger readers to access more fluid definitions and notions that a) exposes the weaknesses of binary categories such as ‘men/women’, ‘powerful/subordinate’ and ‘oppressor/oppressed’ in the investigation of men and women’s daily-realities; and b) to use these fluid understandings (of the multiple roles that women and men play) to inform better grassroots programs, strategies and program content for new and existing training, campaigning and education activities in conflict and post-conflict situations.

This interpretive paper is designed as a set of reflective questions and a list of accompanying techniques of engagement with men, which I hope will serve as a useful framework for activists and organizations embarking to design programs to empower men in efforts concerning women’s (and men’s) rights.

Gender-based programs are often built upon a certain set of premises or assumptions that in theory frames the design and implementation of all activities.

The following are some examples of a premise:

  • The work of this organization is premised upon substantive equality between men and women as laid down in the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
  • The work of this organization is premised upon the belief that women’s economic independence through micro-credit lending is key to advancing their agency in decision-making activities in their household.
  • The work of this organization is premised upon the importance of raising the awareness of women’s rights amongst men and young boys and increasing men’s involvement in women’s rights efforts.

Some features of organizational or program premises:

  • They may exist on a conscious or sub-conscious level.
  • They may be expressly written out on organizational documents  or communicated orally between staff.
  • They can act as guiding posts or benchmarks for the implementation of a project.
  • They may reflect an organizational culture.
  • They may not always be communicated to and agreed upon by all the staff.

Establishing the premises for any program is important because they lay down the foundations for the design of new programs; they act as success indicators; they frame discussions that take place during staff meetings; they encourage certain types of conduct amongst staff; and they create an organizational culture. Communicating these premises and reiterating them during staff meetings and other activities involving staff engagement will be important for the premises to effect meaningful outcomes.

Many gender programs are starting to realize the importance of engaging men as partners in women’s rights efforts. Often men are perceived as problems and not targeted as solutions to women’s challenges. Thus advocacy methods sometimes unconsciously reproduce negative discourses (both written and spoken) of men’s adversarial disposition towards women. This narrow frame of reference may deter many men from contributing positively to women’s rights efforts. Laying down and communicating a premise that posits men’s positive involvement can invite staff to reconsider existing advocacy strategies and programs, and tease out existing organizational philosophies, approach and language, that may evoke unnecessary negative representations of men or male/female relationships.

Men’s involvement, in certain contexts, is extremely essential due to their preponderant exercise of decision-making in micro and macro activities effecting women such as family planning, education of female children, attention to treatment of diseases, access to maternal healthcare during pregnancy and the control of economic assets. At the macro level, this extends to nearly every effort in law and policy-making, programming and budget allocation, at all levels of government; their exercise of political power, access to Ministries, ability to tap into larger network of resources and authority over law and policies affect the allocation and equitable distribution of resources needed for this work.

There are a variety of innovative ways and strategies that women can use to increase men’s involvement in the work for gender equality.

Seeing beyond the dichotomy

The following set of reflective questions is designed to encourage readers to contemplate more fluid definitions and accounts of women’s rights and men’s role in its advancement. The discussion of these questions amongst staff members may initiate new ideas in the mapping, design, implementation and evaluation of activities pertaining to men’s role either as perpetrators in women’s causes or partners in them. This can potentially alter the approaches of women’s rights investigation and data collection, and the presentation of data and evidence collected to establish the cause and effect of women’s rights violations. Perhaps more importantly, the ideas generated may also inform the design of training, education and advocacy programs, that strategically and meaningfully includes men in the delivery of these activities, or engage them as important participants in them.  Continue reading →