Trouw aan Buitenlandse Zaken

Faithful to Foreign Affairs. Margaret van Kleffens, Anne van Roijen, the Embassy in Washington, and the Significance of the Diplomatic Partnership for Post-War Dutch Foreign Relations This article argues that more attention for the role of diplomats’ partners, who in the studied period were almost exclusively female, offers new insights into the daily practices of Dutch twentieth-century diplomacy. It begins with a short overview of research on diplomats’ wives from other countries. The authors then examine the state of our knowledge about Dutch diplomats’ wives, discussing why there is so little attention for this subject in the Netherlands. Finally, a case study highlights the activities of the wives of two central figures in Dutch diplomacy at the Washington embassy in 1947-1964: Margaret van Kleffens-Horstmann and Anne van Roijen-Snouck Hurgronje. The study shows that daily diplomatic work was in practice a job for two people, with tasks divided along gendered lines. Wives made women’s networks available to male diplomats and did representative, social, and informal work that was considered crucial to diplomatic success.

Beyond University: Photovoice portraits of some Cambodian young women’s education, identities, and rights

<p>‘Educate a Girl. Change the World.’ Faith in this universalising, simple creed permeates development discourse on education and empowerment. Yet these processes are complex, embedded in specific contexts, and dependent upon many factors outside of formal schooling. This research aims to cut through the vague mists of this discourse by exploring processes of education and empowerment for six young Cambodian women. A small minority of such women graduate from university, and their negotiations with personal, professional, and political life illustrate opportunities and constraints in claiming their education and rights. This research drew from feminist epistemologies and used participatory photovoice methodology. Each participant selected 20 of her photographs which addressed aspects of education and empowerment important to her. Those photographs then guided our semi-structured interviews. This epistemology and methodology allowed women’s images and words to be strongly represented in the thesis and effectively elucidated the complexity and interconnectedness of learning and empowerment processes in the many spheres of these young women’s lives. Through participants’ images and words, this study illustrates factors that supported and challenged the young women in claiming higher education, how that education influenced the many-layered personal and professional identities they formed, and how they engaged in efforts to build women’s networks and claim public political space. These findings indicate several factors deserving greater attention and research in development: the importance of siblings to educational attainment, the utility of interweaving traditional and alternate gendered identities, the value of women’s networks for transformational learning, and the challenges in claiming public political space when elite ownership of development is tacitly accepted. These findings demonstrate that many interwoven strands influence educational outcomes and processes of empowerment above and beyond formal schooling. These effects do not manifest in a linear fashion. When the education-women’s empowerment-development nexus is better understood and grounded in women’s rights, this enhances development outcomes for young women.</p>

Beyond University: Photovoice portraits of some Cambodian young women’s education, identities, and rights

<p>‘Educate a Girl. Change the World.’ Faith in this universalising, simple creed permeates development discourse on education and empowerment. Yet these processes are complex, embedded in specific contexts, and dependent upon many factors outside of formal schooling. This research aims to cut through the vague mists of this discourse by exploring processes of education and empowerment for six young Cambodian women. A small minority of such women graduate from university, and their negotiations with personal, professional, and political life illustrate opportunities and constraints in claiming their education and rights. This research drew from feminist epistemologies and used participatory photovoice methodology. Each participant selected 20 of her photographs which addressed aspects of education and empowerment important to her. Those photographs then guided our semi-structured interviews. This epistemology and methodology allowed women’s images and words to be strongly represented in the thesis and effectively elucidated the complexity and interconnectedness of learning and empowerment processes in the many spheres of these young women’s lives. Through participants’ images and words, this study illustrates factors that supported and challenged the young women in claiming higher education, how that education influenced the many-layered personal and professional identities they formed, and how they engaged in efforts to build women’s networks and claim public political space. These findings indicate several factors deserving greater attention and research in development: the importance of siblings to educational attainment, the utility of interweaving traditional and alternate gendered identities, the value of women’s networks for transformational learning, and the challenges in claiming public political space when elite ownership of development is tacitly accepted. These findings demonstrate that many interwoven strands influence educational outcomes and processes of empowerment above and beyond formal schooling. These effects do not manifest in a linear fashion. When the education-women’s empowerment-development nexus is better understood and grounded in women’s rights, this enhances development outcomes for young women.</p>

Movement building responses to COVID-19: lessons from the JASS mobilisation fund

This article draws on the work of Just Associates (JASS), a feminist movement support organisation that strengthens the leadership and organising capacity of community-based women networks in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica, to transform the structures that perpetuate inequality and violence. We analyse qualitative interviews and surveys drawn from recipients of the JASS mobilisation fund (JMF), an innovative financial crisis support mechanism for feminist movements. We argue that localisation strategies deployed by women’s networks supported by the JMF in response to COVID-19, challenge dominant humanitarian responses that de-centre feminist movements, local knowledge, and expertise. By accounting for local knowledge generated from long histories of movement building, building collective power, and challenging racialised and gendered responses to humanitarian crises, women’s collectives and networks supported through the JMF developed contextually relevant responses that challenge patriarchal structural barriers heightened by COVID-19.

What can women’s networks do to close the gender gap in STEM?

Despite the efforts of the Korean government to implement gender mainstreaming in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the gender gap remains intact. The low rank of Gender Gap Indices (GGI) of Korea is mainly due to the low economic participation of women, especially in STEM. However, Korea has been steadily advancing in terms of government policies for women in STEM. The enactment of the law on fostering and supporting women in science and technology in 2002 is attributed to the collective efforts of women scientists and engineers through a women in STEM organization. The next task for women’s networks would be to identify the barriers of gender disparities by gathering the voices of women in STEM.

Gender Differences in Social Networks Based on Prevailing Kinship Norms in the Mosuo of China

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has usually been placed on the functions of men&rsquo;s cooperative networks. What do women's networks look like? Do they resemble or differ from men's and what does this suggest about evolutionarily inherited gender differences in reproductive and social strategies? In this paper, we test the &lsquo;universal gender differences&rsquo; hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the &lsquo;gender reversal&rsquo; hypothesis that posits women's networks looking more 'masculine' under matriliny. Specifically, we ask whether men's friendship networks are always larger than women's and we investigate measures of centrality by gender and descent system. To do so, we use tools from social network analysis and data on men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s friendship ties in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In tentative support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women's friendship networks in matriliny are relatively large. Measures of centrality and generalized linear models otherwise reveal greater differences between communities than between men and women. The data and analyses we present are primarily descriptive given limitations of sample size and sampling strategy. Nonetheless, our results provide support for the flexible application of social relationships across genders and clearly challenge the predominant narrative of universal gender differences across space and time.

Reproductive health decision making among nomadic pastoralists in North Eastern Kenya: a qualitative social network analysis

Background To our knowledge, no studies exist on the influence of nomadic pastoralist women’s networks on their reproductive and sexual health (RSH), including uptake of modern family planning (FP). Methods Using name generator questions, we carried out qualitative egocentric social network analysis (SNA) to explore the networks of four women. Networks were analyzed in R, visuals created in Visone and a framework approach used for the qualitative data. Results Women named 10–12 individuals. Husbands were key in RSH decisions and never supported modern FP use. Women were unsure who supported their use of modern FP and we found evidence for a norm against it within their networks. Conclusions Egocentric SNA proves valuable to exploring RSH reference groups, particularly where there exists little prior research. Pastoralist women’s networks likely change as a result of migration and conflict; however, husbands make RSH decisions and mothers and female neighbors provide key support in broader RSH issues. Interventions to increase awareness of modern FP should engage with women’s wider networks.

Female Candidates, Islamic Women’s Organisations, and Clientelism in the 2019 Indonesian Elections

This article analyses the factors leading to the success of women candidates in the 2019 elections in Central Java. Recent scholarship on women’s representation in Indonesia has highlighted the role that dynastic ties and relationships with local political elites play in getting women elected in an environment increasingly dominated by money politics and clientelism. Our case study of women candidates in Central Java belonging to the elite of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)-affiliated women’s religious organisations Muslimat and Fatayat shows that strong women candidates with grassroots support can nonetheless win office. Using the concepts of social capital and gender issue ownership, and clientelism, we argue that women candidates can gain a strategic advantage when they “run as women.” By harnessing women’s networks and focusing on gender issues to target women voters, they are able to overcome cultural, institutional, and structural barriers to achieve electoral success even though they lack resources and political connections.

Women’s Political Representation in Indonesia: Who Wins and How?

This article analyses barriers to women’s political representation in Indonesia and the ways that women candidates overcome them. Surveying the literature and drawing on three data sources – findings of thirteen teams of researchers studying women candidates running in the 2019 election, a survey of 127 such candidates, and a nationally representative survey of Indonesian citizens – the article identifies widespread patriarchal attitudes as one significant barrier, alongside structural disadvantages. It highlights two distinctive methods by which women candidates aim to overcome these barriers: one group of candidates target women voters and draw on women’s networks to mobilise what has been called “homosocial capital”; another group of dynastic candidates rely on the political and financial resources of (often male) relatives. The article briefly surveys the place of political Islam in both impeding and facilitating women’s representation. By surveying these issues, the article introduces this special issue on women’s political representation and the 2019 election.