Humanitarian Crises Continue to Exacerbate Gender Inequalities

This chapter discusses whether political liberalism’s commitment to ideal theory makes it ill-suited for theorizing about justice for socially subordinated groups such as women and racial minorities. It is shown that political liberalism’s commitment to ideal theory does not entail assuming away race or gender as social categories that give rise to concerns about justice. Even within a politically liberal well-ordered (ideal) society racial or gender inequalities may arise due to the role that beliefs about race or gender play in some persons’ comprehensive doctrines. Furthermore, it is argued that theories of justice developed for a well-ordered politically liberal society provide important guidance for correcting injustices on the basis of gender and race in nonideal societies.

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Dispossession without Development

10.1093/oso/9780190859152.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Michael Levien

Keyword(s):

Real Estate ◽

Sociological Theory ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

State Governments ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Land Conflicts ◽

Land Dispossession ◽

Extended Case Method ◽

Indian State ◽

And Gender

Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against “land grabs.” Dispossession without Development argues that beneath these conflicts lay a profound transformation in the political economy of land dispossession. While the Indian state dispossessed land for public-sector industry and infrastructure for much of the 20th century, the adoption of neoliberal economic policies since the early 1990s prompted India’s state governments to become land brokers for private real estate capital—most controversially, for Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Using long-term ethnographic research, the book demonstrates the consequences of this new regime of dispossession for a village in Rajasthan. Taking us into the diverse lives of villagers dispossessed for one of North India’s largest SEZs, it shows how the SEZ destroyed their agricultural livelihoods, marginalized their labor, and excluded them from “world-class” infrastructure—but absorbed them into a dramatic real estate boom. Real estate speculation generated a class of rural neo-rentiers, but excluded many and compounded pre-existing class, caste, and gender inequalities. While the SEZ disappointed most villagers’ expectations of “development,” land speculation fractured the village and disabled collective action. The case of “Rajpura” helps to illuminate the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism that underlay land conflicts in contemporary India—and explain why the Indian state is struggling to pacify farmers with real estate payouts. Using the extended case method, Dispossession without Development advances a sociological theory of dispossession that has relevance beyond India.

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Humanitarian Intervention

10.1093/oso/9780190851163.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Richard Caplan

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Security Council ◽

Future Development ◽

Humanitarian Intervention ◽

Responsibility To Protect ◽

Real Effect ◽

General Decline ◽

Humanitarian Crises ◽

Un Security Council ◽

The Way

States – Western ones, at least – have given increased weight to human rights and humanitarian norms as matters of international concern, with the authorization of legally binding enforcement measures to tackle humanitarian crises under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. These concerns were also developed outside the UN Security Council framework, following Tony Blair’s Chicago speech and the contemporaneous NATO action over Kosovo. This gave rise to international commissions and resulted, among other things, in the emergence of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) doctrine. The adoption of this doctrine coincided with a period in which there appeared to be a general decline in mass atrocities. Yet R2P had little real effect – it cannot be shown to have caused the fall in mass atrocities, only to have echoed it. Thus, the promise of R2P and an age of humanitarianism failed to emerge, even if the way was paved for future development.

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Law on Natural Disasters

10.1093/oso/9780198825210.003.0009 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Ki-Gab Park

Keyword(s):

Natural Disasters ◽

International Cooperation ◽

Natural Disaster ◽

International Community ◽

The State ◽

Efficient Tool ◽

International Solidarity ◽

Cooperation Mechanism ◽

Prior Consent ◽

Humanitarian Crises

The chapter argues that natural disasters are common concerns in the international community. At the same time, the current international cooperation mechanism, based on the principle of equal sovereignty, require prior consent by the state affected by a natural disaster. Unfortunately, this is not always an efficient tool for the protection of victims. The globalization of problems and the proliferation of humanitarian crises make the veritable solidarity of the international community increasingly necessary, and therefore another high value, namely international solidarity or community obligations, should create direct and immediate obligations for all members of the international community. The main object of this chapter is to discuss the future-oriented direction of the law on natural disasters. This means, first, to ascertain the lex lata, especially customary rules. The chapter further offers some suggestions on possible ways for the international community to provide more effective relief for victims of natural disasters.

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Enhancing the Glopan Food Systems Framework by Integrating Gender: Relevance for Women in African Agriculture

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158564 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8564

Author(s):

Elizabeth Mkandawire ◽

Melody Mentz-Coetzee ◽

Margaret Najjingo Mangheni ◽

Eleonora Barusi

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Social Systems ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Gender Barriers ◽

Nutrition Security ◽

African Agriculture ◽

Agriculture And Food ◽

Systems Framework

Globally, gender inequalities constrain food security, with women often disproportionately affected. Women play a fundamental role in household food and nutrition security. The multiple roles women play in various areas of the food system are not always recognised. This oversight emerges from an overemphasis on one aspect of the food system, without considering how this area might affect or be affected by another aspect. This study aimed to draw on international commitments and treaties using content analysis to enhance the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Security food systems framework by integrating a gender perspective. The study found that generally, there is a consensus on specific actions that can be taken to advance gender equality at specific stages of the food system. However, governance and social systems constraints that are not necessarily part of the food system, but have a significant bearing on men and women’s capacity to effectively participate in the food system, need to be addressed. While the proposed conceptual framework has some limitations, it offers a foundation on which researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders can begin conceptualising the interconnectedness of gender barriers in the food system.

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What Lies beneath Sustainable Education? Predicting and Tackling Gender Differences in STEM Academic Success

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041671 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1671

Author(s):

Maura A. E. Pilotti

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Academic Success ◽

Gender Roles ◽

Gender Bias ◽

Interior Design ◽

Female Students ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Stem Fields ◽

High School Gpa ◽

Traditional Gender Roles

In many societies across the globe, females are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM fields), although they are reported to have higher grades in high school and college than males. The present study was guided by the assumption that the sustainability of higher education critically rests on the academic success of both male and female students under conditions of equitable educational options, practices, and contents. It first assessed the persistence of familiar patterns of gender bias (e.g., do competencies at enrollment, serving as academic precursors, and academic performance favor females?) in college students of a society in transition from a gender-segregated workforce with marked gender inequalities to one whose aims at integrating into the global economy demand that women pursue once forbidden careers thought to be the exclusive domain of men. It then examined how simple indices of academic readiness, as well as preferences for fields fitting traditional gender roles, could predict attainment of key competencies and motivation to graduate (as measured by the average number of credits completed per year) in college. As expected, females had a higher high school GPA. Once in college, they were underrepresented in a major that fitted traditional gender roles (interior design) and over-represented in one that did not fit (business). Female students’ performance and motivation to graduate did not differ between the male-suited major of business and the female-suited major of interior design. Male students’ performance and motivation to graduate were higher in engineering than in business, albeit both majors were gender-role consistent. Although high school GPA and English proficiency scores predicted performance and motivation for all, preference for engineering over business also predicted males’ performance and motivation. These findings offered a more complex picture of patterns of gender bias, thereby inspiring the implementation of targeted educational interventions to improve females’ motivation for and enrollment in STEM fields, nowadays increasingly available to them, as well as to enhance males’ academic success in non-STEM fields such as business.

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Biases in machine learning models and big data analytics: The international criminal and humanitarian law implications

International Review of the Red Cross ◽

10.1017/s1816383121000096 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 102 (913) ◽

pp. 199-234

Author(s):

Nema Milaninia

Keyword(s):

Machine Learning ◽

Human Rights ◽

Big Data ◽

Data Analytics ◽

International Criminal ◽

Big Data Analytics ◽

International Criminal Law ◽

Gender Inequalities ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

Mass Graves

AbstractAdvances in mobile phone technology and social media have created a world where the volume of information generated and shared is outpacing the ability of humans to review and use that data. Machine learning (ML) models and “big data” analytical tools have the power to ease that burden by making sense of this information and providing insights that might not otherwise exist. In the context of international criminal and human rights law, ML is being used for a variety of purposes, including to uncover mass graves in Mexico, find evidence of homes and schools destroyed in Darfur, detect fake videos and doctored evidence, predict the outcomes of judicial hearings at the European Court of Human Rights, and gather evidence of war crimes in Syria. ML models are also increasingly being incorporated by States into weapon systems in order to better enable targeting systems to distinguish between civilians, allied soldiers and enemy combatants or even inform decision-making for military attacks.The same technology, however, also comes with significant risks. ML models and big data analytics are highly susceptible to common human biases. As a result of these biases, ML models have the potential to reinforce and even accelerate existing racial, political or gender inequalities, and can also paint a misleading and distorted picture of the facts on the ground. This article discusses how common human biases can impact ML models and big data analytics, and examines what legal implications these biases can have under international criminal law and international humanitarian law.

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Language is land, land is language: The importance of Indigenous languages

Human Geography ◽

10.1177/19427786211022899 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 194277862110228

Author(s):

Susan Chiblow ◽

Paul J. Meighan

Keyword(s):

Traditional Ecological Knowledge ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Language Immersion ◽

Indigenous Languages ◽

Indigenous Language ◽

Ecological Knowledge ◽

Scottish Gaelic ◽

Starting Point ◽

Ojibwe Language ◽

Humanitarian Crises

This collaborative opinion piece, written from the authors’ personal perspectives (Anishinaabe and Gàidheal) on Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language) and Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic language), discusses the importance of maintaining and revitalizing Indigenous languages, particularly in these times of climate and humanitarian crises. The authors will give their personal responses, rooted in lived experiences, on five areas they have identified as a starting point for their discussion: (1) why Indigenous languages are important; (2) the effects of colonization on Indigenous languages; (3) the connections/responsibilities to the land, such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), embedded in Indigenous languages; (4) the importance of land-based learning and education, full language immersion, and the challenges associated with implementing these strategies for Indigenous language maintenance and revitalization; and (5) where we can go from here.

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