Gender democracy and women’s self-empowerment: a case of Somali diaspora civil society

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Tavanti ◽  
Cawo Abdi ◽  
Blaire MacHarg
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
Somali Diaspora ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
The Status ◽  
Post War

The Somali diaspora plays a vital role in bridging the gap between international non- governmental aid organisations and local Somali civil society. Women’s empowerment initiatives face many challenges in transitional societies such as Somalia. Yet, concerted efforts and multi-faceted investments in this endeavour have the potential to improve the status of women in post-war contexts. This chapter explores the role that Somali diaspora civil society organisations (SD-CSOs) engaged in gender democracy and women’s self-empowerment efforts play in the promotion of gender equality. Through an analysis of capacity development at the meso-level, the study outlines how SD-CSOs are best equipped to support women’s empowerment processes in Somalia through the application of strategies that are both culturally acceptable and internationally recognised.

scholarly journals Alliances of Instrumental Advantage: Supporting Women’s Agency in Civil Society Organisations in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 147-156
Author(s):  
Stephen Sherlock
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Developmental Change ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Funded Project ◽  
And Gender

This article examines how Indonesian civil society organisations (CSOs) working for women’s empowerment and gender equality have worked together with members of parliament (MPs) to support processes of developmental change. Examples are taken from initiatives supported by MAMPU, an Australian government funded project that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in Indonesia, describing ways in which gender-focused organisations have engaged with, and had an impact upon, the actions of political leaders in parliament. The article focuses on interaction between institutions and the agency exercised by individuals within institutions. MPs act within a structure of institutional and political incentives, but they also have the power to make choices about how they respond to incentives. Moreover, the leaders of outside actors such as CSOs can modify the structure of incentives by both applying pressure on MPs and providing opportunities for legislators to make different choices. One of MAMPU’s tools for targeting MPs has been political economy analysis. Having correctly understood the pressures and incentives facing MPs, CSOs can target their actions to bring about outcomes favourable to both sides in what the article calls ‘alliances of instrumental advantage.’ Organisations supported by MAMPU achieved success where relationships were forged between the organisations and politicians based on the identification of mutual advantage.

scholarly journals Post-War Development and Women’s Empowerment in Eastern Sri Lanka: A Case Study of Batticaloa District in Eastern Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
A. Rameez
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Housing Assistance ◽  
Eastern Province ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Development Interventions ◽  
Post War

The civil war in Sri Lanka had caused enormous impacts on the physical as well as infrastructure development of Eastern Province. Since the end of war in 2009, the province has immensely benefitted from the state and non-state sectors, particularly in the sphere of women empowerment in terms of their livelihood, education, health, etc. Although, many previous studies have delved into a number of post-war development interventions in the province, it failed to explore the dimension of women’s empowerment. Using both qualitative as well as quantitative methods, this study specifically explores the impacts of socio-economic development initiatives on women’s empowerment in the post war context. The findings show women received much support such as housing assistance, dry rations, livelihood assistance, micro-credit loans and psycho-social counselling from state and non-state sectors including NGOs, and UN organizations in the post war period in the Batticaloa district of Eastern Province and such supports have largely been effective as it contributed to women’s empowerment. Nevertheless, such supports have significantly dried up in recent times with priorities of state and non-state sectors being shifted. Thus, it is crucial for state and non-state sectors to focus on the empowerment of women in future, especially enhancing their capacity in terms of their knowledge and skills, and providing financial assistance for their self-employment on a soft loan basis or under grant schemes.

scholarly journals Supporting Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan: Lessons for Donors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Khan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Donor Support

In a context where democratic culture and civil society space are under threat, rights-based organisations face increased restrictions on their activities, and donors are finding it harder to engage with them. However, findings show that donor support is crucial for successful women’s empowerment initiatives. Our research on women’s activism in Pakistan suggests donors should strategically support women’s social and political action for empowerment and accountability by continuing to support advocacy organisations, which develop women’s skills to engage with participatory political processes.

scholarly journals Promoting Gender Equality in EU Development Aid: From Transformative Policy to Transformative Practice?

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Debusscher
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
Transformative Practice

Promoting gender equality in EU development aidThe European Commission combines specific funds for women's empowerment with gender mainstreaming in its twin-track approach to gender equality in development aid policies. The strategy is successful in terms of budgets and formal appearance but it is implemented in a limited, interest-guided and expertbureaucratic manner. Furthermore by privileging EU interests the strategy fails to address the needs of the poorest developing countries and it ignores civil society concerns. In practice, the twin-track strategy severely limits the transformative potential of gender equality policies.

scholarly journals Double Trouble: Analyzing the Impact of Statelessness on the Status of Kurdish Women

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Garfinkel
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Surface Level ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan ◽  
Kurdish Women ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Impact

The struggle of Kurdish women at large has been, as many media outlets suggested, an extraordinary and unique example of women’s status in the Middle East. In contrast to the widespread, surface-level narrative of Kurdish women’s empowerment, a complex political, socio-historical background of Kurdish statelessness has intensified women’s empowerment or oppression. This essay will demonstrate how nationalist ideology, autonomous spaces, and violent conflict may provide the conditions for a 'double revolution' and/or 'double oppression' of stateless Kurdish women through the lens of statelessness. These three features of statelessness intersect with unique features of the stateless Kurdish populations across the Middle East to determine a woman’s status. More specifically, the case of Syrian Kurdistan exemplifies a 'double revolution' while Iraqi Kurdistan exemplifies a case of 'double oppression' for Kurdish women.

Economic Empowerment of Women in Pakistan

2019 ◽  
pp. 411-432
Author(s):  
Sofia Idris
Keyword(s):  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
Economic Sphere ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Government ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Status Of Women

This chapter gives an account of the situation on the status of women in Pakistan. It studies the various steps taken by the Government of Pakistan to empower the women. It also studies the various ways to empower women in Pakistan. The chapter only studies the empowerment of women in economic sphere due to the limited time and resources of the author. Moreover, the chapter focuses on the problems of women to participate in economic affairs, the hindrances in achieving economic uplift/empowerment and equality of women in Pakistan and the existing laws and policies of the government regarding women's empowerment and their implementation. Furthermore, it gives a brief comparison of women's economic empowerment with the neighboring countries, India and Bangladesh as these countries have a similar institutional structure as Pakistan. It then seeks to learn from the successful examples of the countries mentioned regarding the matter.

scholarly journals Insights of women’s empowerment and decision-making in rice production in Malaysia

Food Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (S5) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
F.N.F. Amran ◽  
F. Abdul Fatah
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
The Status ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Paddy Farmers ◽  
Effective Decision Making

Women's empowerment is essential in achieving global food security while being prioritised as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. Even though a women’s empowerment role in agriculture received wide attention in works of literature, there is still a research gap about women’s empowerment in Malaysia's agriculture. This study contributes to the status of women’s empowerment and its determinants, as well as challenges to enhance women’s empowerment among rice smallholders in Selangor, Malaysia. By using a framework adapted from the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), 200 smallholder paddy farmers were selected using stratified random sampling. The results revealed vital domains that contributed to women’s empowerment, which provided access to extension services and led to effective decision-making, whereas leadership displayed a negative association. The lack of participation in the planning process and community groups were significant obstacles in enhancing the women's empowerment among rice farmers. These results suggested the scope of possible interventions and policy recommendations to enhance women’s empowerment in agriculture.

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