Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy and “Gender Cosmopolitanism”

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-235
Author(s):  
Annika Bergman Rosamond
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Other Regarding

Abstract Gender justice and equality have risen to prominence in the constitution of foreign and security policy. This article locates the analysis of feminist foreign policy (FFP) within the wider context of Sweden's state feminist tradition as well as its pursuit of “gender cosmopolitanism” in global politics. Both “gender cosmopolitanism” and Sweden's state feminist tradition provided fertile ground for the formal adoption of FFP in 2014. The article employs poststructural discursive techniques that enable the identification of the statist feminist and cosmopolitan foundations of feminist foreign policy. More specifically, the article provides a discursive analysis of the ethical and feminist ambitions, normative contents, and pitfalls of FFP. Though FFP is grounded in other-regarding cosmopolitan care for vulnerable women and girls beyond borders, it exhibits a range of pitfalls and inconsistencies, such as equating gender with women and, at times, privileging results-oriented strategies over thoroughgoing gender analysis of structural injustices such as gendered violence. The article ends with a discussion of Sweden's attempts to translate the feminist and cosmopolitan contents of FFP commitments into policy practice, with a focus on the eradication of gender-based violence.

Resistance in the New Harem Era: Gendered Violence and the Power of Media in the Time of Covid-19 in Morocco

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-41
Author(s):  
Sara El Ouedrhiri ◽  
Hafsa El Mesbahi
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Movement Restriction ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Fatima Mernissi ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The City

In a time of great uncertainties, the world witnesses, for the very first instance in its modern history a global lockdown spanning over all the vital spheres of economic and social life. At this point, when neither leaving home nor staying is an option, the surge to exponentially study the manner in which human life has evolved and been shaped under such circumstances gained valuable interest, especially within the circles of feminist and human rights-based academia. Respectively, researchers argue that the weight of the lockdown and movement restriction policies fall discriminately on men and women as they are interestingly leading such novel experiences in different ways. Men, by having no concern mounting to the priority of protecting themselves from being inflicted by this global pandemic and maintaining their economic roles as the traditional family providers, and women on the margin side of the picture, having to deal with the burden of surviving the dangers that the outside and the inside worlds akin dispose. Henceforth, this article is an attempt to probe the dynamics of the private sphere considering the intersections between oppression, seclusion and violence and the development of new dynamics of resistance by transposing from the early 20th century’s feminine experience of confinement and the 21st century’s global lockdown in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. This research considers the stories presented by the renowned Moroccan sociologist and author “Fatima Mernissi”, who herself lived a different kind of seclusion behind the colossal and skillfully ostentatious walls of the harem of the city of Fez in the forties of the previous century and this shall be done mainly by reviewing the stories of resistance presented in her memoir Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood; and by considering the stories of five respondents who have shared with us their accounts through various social media outlets upon the surge of the pandemic in Morocco. The purpose here is to unravel the convergences between women’s experiences of gender-based violence (GBV) in both confinements and to foreground the value, significance and challenges these feminine insights being in them simple acts of everyday life constitute in establishing a discourse of resistance and feminine empowerment vis-à-vis patriarchy, seclusion and gender-based violence.

In search of a dialogue: Digital di-plomacy of Sweden

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 162-181
Author(s):  
A. N. Marchukov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Media Campaigns ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
International Image ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One ◽  
Digital Diplomacy

Digital diplomacy opens up new opportunities for both developed and devel-oping states to promote their international image, clarify their position on current issues, and realize long-term foreign policy aspirations, but it also brings com-pletely new challenges. The chief one among them is establishing a continuous constructive dialogue with the target audience in the virtual space. Facilitation for this dialogue is one of the key priorities of the digital diplomacy of Sweden. The author examines the activities of the key actors of Sweden’s digital diplomacy (the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs of Sweden, the Swedish Institute, the Swedish Tourist Association (Svenska Turistföreningen), ‘Visit Sweden’) and identifi es their key features. Particularly, the author emphasizes the government’s readiness to implement innovative and creative methods to promote its media projects. The latter include such projects as ‘The Second House of Sweden’, ‘Curators of Sweden’, and ‘Swedish Number’, which were aimed at improving the quality of communication with the foreign audience. In doing so, the responsible minis-tries and agencies placed a heavy emphasis on promoting a dialogue via social networks between the Swedish offi  cials and representatives of the civil society on the one hand and foreign users on the other. The leading actors of Sweden’s digital diplomacy actively engaged the foreign audience in discussions on the most important issues on the foreign policy agenda of Sweden. This was most clearly demonstrated in media campaigns designed to eliminate discrimination against women and gender-based violence. The author concludes that Sweden has achieved a certain degree of success in establishing a dialogue with the foreign audience, yet this dialogue is not comprehensive enough and still depends on the initiative of individual politicians and diplomats.

Gendered Violence in Israeli Detention

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-61
Author(s):  
Sahar Francis
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Female Prisoners ◽  
Palestinian Women ◽  
Indefinite Detention ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Israeli Occupation

Women have been instrumental to the Palestinian liberation struggle from its inception, and the role they have played in political, civil, and armed resistance has been as critical, if not as visible, as that of their male counterparts. In addition to experiencing the same forms of repression as men, be it arrest, indefinite detention, or incarceration, Palestinian women have also been subjected to sexual violence and other gendered forms of coercion at the hands of the Israeli occupation regime. Drawing on testimonies from former and current female prisoners, this paper details Israel's incarceration policies and examines their consequences for Palestinian women and their families. It argues that Israel uses the incarceration of women as a weapon to undermine Palestinian resistance and to fracture traditionally cohesive social relations; and more specifically, that the prison authorities subject female prisoners to sexual and gender-based violence as a psychological weapon to break them and, by extension, their children.

Everyday genocide: femicide, transicide and the responsibility to protect

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Standish
Keyword(s):  
Physical Violence ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Genocide Convention ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Psychological Violence ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual connection between gender-based violence (GBV) and genocide. Victims of gendercide, such as femicide and transicide, should be eligible for protections assigned to victims of genocide, including the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Design/methodology/approach This study examines genocide, gendercide, femicide, transicide and the R2P doctrine to formulate a platform of engagement from which to argue the alignment and congruence of genocide with gendercide. Using a content analysis of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees definition of GBV, and Article II of the Genocide Convention (GC) five “directive” facets are examined, namely, identity, physical violence, psychological violence, oppressive violence and repressive violence. Findings Expressions of physical violence, psychological violence, oppressive violence and repressive violence reflected similarity, whereas the GCs omit sex and gender as facets of identity group inclusion. The only variation is the encapsulation of identity factors included in the acts of harm. Practical implications The elevation of gendercide to the status of genocide would permit us the leverage to make it not only illegal to permit gendercide – internationally or in-country – but make it illegal not to intervene, too. Social implications Deliberate harm based on sex and gender are crimes against people because of their real or perceived group membership, and as such, should be included in genocide theory and prevention. Originality/value This study explores a new conceptual basis for addressing gendercidal violence nationally to include sex and gender victim groups typically excluded from formal parameters of inclusion and address due to limitations in Article II. The analysis of genocide alongside GBV may inform scholars and activists in the aim to end gendered violence.

Photos from the Quarter

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-112
Keyword(s):  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Israeli Occupation

This sample of photos from 16 August–15 November 2019 aims to convey a sense of Palestinian life during this quarter. The images capture Palestinians across the diaspora as they fight to exercise their rights: to run for office, to vote, and to protest both Israeli occupation and gender-based violence.

THE SINS OF THE FATHER: GENDER- BASED VIOLENCE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Snodgrass
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Black Women ◽  
South African ◽  
African Women ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
South African Women

This article explores the complexities of gender-based violence in post-apartheid South Africa and interrogates the socio-political issues at the intersection of class, ‘race’ and gender, which impact South African women. Gender equality is up against a powerful enemy in societies with strong patriarchal traditions such as South Africa, where women of all ‘races’ and cultures have been oppressed, exploited and kept in positions of subservience for generations. In South Africa, where sexism and racism intersect, black women as a group have suffered the major brunt of this discrimination and are at the receiving end of extreme violence. South Africa’s gender-based violence is fuelled historically by the ideologies of apartheid (racism) and patriarchy (sexism), which are symbiotically premised on systemic humiliation that devalues and debases whole groups of people and renders them inferior. It is further argued that the current neo-patriarchal backlash in South Africa foments and sustains the subjugation of women and casts them as both victims and perpetuators of pervasive patriarchal values.

scholarly journals Sexual health (excluding reproductive health, intimate partner violence and gender-based violence) and COVID-19: a scoping review

2021 ◽  
pp. sextrans-2020-054896
Author(s):  
Navin Kumar ◽  
Kamila Janmohamed ◽  
Kate Nyhan ◽  
Laura Forastiere ◽  
Wei-Hong Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Health Disparities ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

ObjectivesThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing socioeconomic and health disparities, including disparities in sexual health and well-being. While there have been several reviews published on COVID-19 and population health disparities generally—including some with attention to HIV—none has focused on sexual health (ie, STI care, female sexual health, sexual behaviour). We have conducted a scoping review focused on sexual health (excluding reproductive health (RH), intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender-based violence (GBV)) in the COVID-19 era, examining sexual behaviours and sexual health outcomes.MethodsA scoping review, compiling both peer-reviewed and grey literature, focused on sexual health (excluding RH, IPV and GBV) and COVID-19 was conducted on 15 September 2020. Multiple bibliographical databases were searched. Study selection conformed to Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Reviewers’ Manual 2015 Methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews. We only included English-language original studies.ResultsWe found that men who have sex with men may be moving back toward pre-pandemic levels of sexual activity, and that STI and HIV testing rates seem to have decreased. There was minimal focus on outcomes such as the economic impact on sexual health (excluding RH, IPV and GBV) and STI care, especially STI care of marginalised populations. In terms of population groups, there was limited focus on sex workers or on women, especially women’s sexual behaviour and mental health. We noticed limited use of qualitative techniques. Very few studies were in low/middle-income countries (LMICs).ConclusionsSexual health research is critical during a global infectious disease pandemic and our review of studies suggested notable research gaps. Researchers can focus efforts on LMICs and under-researched topics within sexual health and explore the use of qualitative techniques and interventions where appropriate.

scholarly journals Custody and Care of Children in Spain: Can the Two Rights be Reconciled?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcela Jabbaz Churba
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Parental Authority ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Judicial Process ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Children’S Voices ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis study aims to analyse the legal decision-making process in the Community of Valencia (Spain) regarding contentious divorces particularly with respect to parental authority (patria potestas), custody and visiting arrangements for children, and the opinions of mothers and fathers on the impact these judicial measures have had on their lives. It also considers the biases in these decisions produced by privileging the rights of the adults over those of the children. Three particular moments are studied: (1) the situation before the break-up, focusing on the invisible gender gap in care; (2) the judicial process, where we observe the impact of hidden gender-based violence and gender stereotypes; and (3) the situation post-decision, showing how any existing violence continues after divorce, by means of parental authority. The concept of ‘motherhood under threat’ is placed at the centre of these issues, where children’s voices are given the least attention.

Gendered dimensions of health in refugee situations: An examination of sexual and gender-based violence faced by refugee women in Nakivale refugee settlement, Uganda

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110039
Author(s):  
Hadijah Mwenyango
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Qualitative Methods ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Refugee Women ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

This article analyses the interplay between women’s social identity, migration and manifestation of sexual and gender-based violence. The research used mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. The findings show experiences of domestic, sexual, community and survival violence. Their predicaments are exacerbated by socio-cultural and structural influences, and despite commitments for protecting refugees, more has to be done to meet the needs of victims. The article reveals the urgency for the adoption of gender-responsive and rights-based approaches in refugee interventions. The capacity of frontline workers must be enhanced to detect violence, appreciate the needs and rights of victims and provide appropriate support.

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