During the democratic transition, the South African women’s movement focused on creating governmental institutions for women’s empowerment. However, these institutions have not been sufficient to ensure social change. This chapter examines the stories of community leaders who are attempting to fill in the gaps and to address gender-based violence, as well as the stories of community organizers, religious leaders, and tradition leaders who challenge patterns of violence in homes, relationships, and communities. Relying on individual leaders and policy advocates is a tenuous model, given that success is linked to people rather than institutions, and people are not permanent. Similarly, while many community leaders break with “traditional” ideas of male superiority, others continue to deploy these norms to the detriment of women’s empowerment.
<p>Women’s empowerment is the most recent approach to women in development. The inclusion of women’s empowerment in development policies has recently gained traction in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, the effectiveness of such policies has been questioned in its efforts to support local women to improve their lives. This study was undertaken to understand Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to PNG in terms of the contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to supporting women’s empowerment in Oro province through the implementation of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy 2016. With the huge gender inequality gap in PNG and the rise in Gender-Based Violence (GBV), women’s empowerment is an approach that can contribute to helping local women improve their lives. The purpose of this study was to understand the trickle-down effect of Australia’s ODA to subnational organisations in PNG, and its contributions to women’s empowerment in Oro province. The study used a qualitative approach involving policy document reviews and interviews with research participants. The key findings from this study show that there is no direct support to local women’s organisations in Oro province either from DFAT or the PNG government; there are some issues with implementation and ownership of DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy and the PNG government’s gender policies in Oro province; and that women’s coalitions can be a vehicle for change in local communities in Oro province. This study offers benefits to DFAT programmes in PNG, and to national government agencies tasked to review their gender policies; as well as the Oro Provincial Administration; the Oro Provincial Government; and the Oro Provincial Council of Women. The study suggests topics for further research. It also suggests that DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, and its associated funding have the potential to improve women’s lives in Oro province and PNG more broadly.</p>
Currently Pentecostalism has become endemic especially because of the changing landscape of Christianity in Zambia where most Christians have shifted faith allegiance from the mainline Eurocentric missionary founded churches to newer churches with charismatic leaders. The Pentecostal Church has been encouraging women’s empowerment in public spheres while subtly expecting them to submit totally and often uncritically to their husbands in private spheres. This article seeks to evaluate the ambivalence of women’s silence regarding spousal violence in Pentecostal Church in Zambia and how the silence is secretly encouraged by some older women within the church.
<p>Women’s empowerment is the most recent approach to women in development. The inclusion of women’s empowerment in development policies has recently gained traction in Papua New Guinea (PNG). However, the effectiveness of such policies has been questioned in its efforts to support local women to improve their lives. This study was undertaken to understand Australia’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to PNG in terms of the contribution of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to supporting women’s empowerment in Oro province through the implementation of its Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy 2016. With the huge gender inequality gap in PNG and the rise in Gender-Based Violence (GBV), women’s empowerment is an approach that can contribute to helping local women improve their lives. The purpose of this study was to understand the trickle-down effect of Australia’s ODA to subnational organisations in PNG, and its contributions to women’s empowerment in Oro province. The study used a qualitative approach involving policy document reviews and interviews with research participants. The key findings from this study show that there is no direct support to local women’s organisations in Oro province either from DFAT or the PNG government; there are some issues with implementation and ownership of DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy and the PNG government’s gender policies in Oro province; and that women’s coalitions can be a vehicle for change in local communities in Oro province. This study offers benefits to DFAT programmes in PNG, and to national government agencies tasked to review their gender policies; as well as the Oro Provincial Administration; the Oro Provincial Government; and the Oro Provincial Council of Women. The study suggests topics for further research. It also suggests that DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy, and its associated funding have the potential to improve women’s lives in Oro province and PNG more broadly.</p>
This chapter identifies some of the most stubborn gender-based risks and vulnerabilities girls face as a cohort from preadolescence through late adolescence across the domains of personal capabilities, security, safety, economic resources, and opportunities. It reviews progress made during the Millennium Development Goal era in improving girls’ health and well-being and looks to the role of adolescent girls in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. The chapter concludes by recommending an approach for global partnership that is linked to national and local actions and that is centered on priority interventions that can catalyze change, at scale, for adolescent girls.
In most African states, joining higher education institutions (HEIs) is, for students, an investment in their own economic progress. Yet, HEIs are sites where sexual harassment and gender-based violence (GBV) occur, increasing the vulnerability of newly enrolled female students and of women in general. A strong gender policy environment, a clear stand by senior management at HEIs, and the empowerment ofmen with respect to gender equity issues are remedies to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), goal 4 (Quality Education), goal 5 (Gender Equality), and goal 10 (Reduced Inequality).
The Association between Spousal Gender Based Violence and Women’s Empowerment among Currently Married Women aged 15-49 in Zimba- bwe: Evidence from the 2010-11 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey
