Gender Policies of the Yugoslav State in the Context of Socialism

This paper examines official gender policies in the Yugoslav socialist context, primarily through the egalitarian socialist legislation, the prevailing discourse on the equality of men and women on which they relied, the projected values around which the social identity of women was constructed, the pillars recognized as central points of emancipation, but also through the means of their realization, the intertwining of gender policies and existing cultural practices as well as the (dis)continuity of female subordination in gender relations in socialist everyday life. In the same context, the paper discusses socialist women’s organizations, as well as the emergence of neo-feminism. The paper summarizes our previous research and draws on it, refers to other pertinent works and research, and documentation, shaping the picture of gender policies of the socialist Yugoslav state.

The Decentralisation of Australia's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Strategy in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

<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>

The Decentralisation of Australia's Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Strategy in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea

<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>

‘The Hero Stuff’ and the ‘Softer Side of Things’: Exploring Masculinities in Gendered Police Reform in Timor-Leste

<p>This thesis investigates how New Zealand and East Timorese police officers involved in United Nations’ police reform understand and conceptualise masculinities. It explores how these conceptualisations compare to how masculinities are defined and outlined in United Nations’ gender policies. The United Nations have increasingly attempted to address gender in their policing work; however, within these policies, gender has continued to be equated with women and women’s issues while men’s gender identities remain invisible. My research contributes to emerging discussions about how an understanding of masculinities could be better incorporated into gendered police reform. I explore this through the case of the New Zealand Police Community Policing Pilot Programme (CPPP), a capacity building programme carried out within the wider United Nations Police mission in Timor-Leste. By speaking to New Zealand and East Timorese police officers, this research articulates how police officers themselves conceptualise policing masculinities and interpret how masculinities are framed in gender policy. My research finds that within both the East Timorese Police and the New Zealand Police involved in the CPPP, there is evidence of a variety of policing masculinities. These findings highlight the fluidity of masculinity and the processes that police officers can go through in order to challenge problematic constructions of masculinity. This provides important theoretical and practical insights into how positive masculinities can be promoted through gendered approaches to police reform. By investigating the ways in which the police interpret the United Nations’ approach to gender, this research finds that the continued framing of gender as a women’s issue in policy acts as a barrier to the police seeing masculinities as part of gendered reform.</p>

‘The Hero Stuff’ and the ‘Softer Side of Things’: Exploring Masculinities in Gendered Police Reform in Timor-Leste

<p>This thesis investigates how New Zealand and East Timorese police officers involved in United Nations’ police reform understand and conceptualise masculinities. It explores how these conceptualisations compare to how masculinities are defined and outlined in United Nations’ gender policies. The United Nations have increasingly attempted to address gender in their policing work; however, within these policies, gender has continued to be equated with women and women’s issues while men’s gender identities remain invisible. My research contributes to emerging discussions about how an understanding of masculinities could be better incorporated into gendered police reform. I explore this through the case of the New Zealand Police Community Policing Pilot Programme (CPPP), a capacity building programme carried out within the wider United Nations Police mission in Timor-Leste. By speaking to New Zealand and East Timorese police officers, this research articulates how police officers themselves conceptualise policing masculinities and interpret how masculinities are framed in gender policy. My research finds that within both the East Timorese Police and the New Zealand Police involved in the CPPP, there is evidence of a variety of policing masculinities. These findings highlight the fluidity of masculinity and the processes that police officers can go through in order to challenge problematic constructions of masculinity. This provides important theoretical and practical insights into how positive masculinities can be promoted through gendered approaches to police reform. By investigating the ways in which the police interpret the United Nations’ approach to gender, this research finds that the continued framing of gender as a women’s issue in policy acts as a barrier to the police seeing masculinities as part of gendered reform.</p>

Being accountable to Aceh: gender-related lessons learned by New Zealand NGOs from the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004

<p>The Indian Ocean Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 prompted a level of international disaster response that was unprecedented. In Aceh, Indonesia, the worst hit region, thousands of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), including some New Zealand based NGOs, arrived in the area to carry out relief and reconstruction work. A common criticism of the international response is that it has resulted in the marginalisation of Acehnese women. The criticism comes despite at least fifteen years of gender mainstreaming into the policies and practices of development organisations and the widespread acceptance that attention to gender issues is essential for sustainable and equitable development. It also comes at a time when there is ever-increasing demand for NGO accountability to donors and beneficiaries and a recognition that NGOs should continuously be learning to improve future practice and ensure they are meeting their stated goals. Post-tsunami Aceh posed a number of context-specific challenges to the implementation of gender policies, including the enormous extent of the devastation, the history of violent conflict and the rule of Sharia law. This research investigates the particular challenges and experiences workers of NZ-based NGOs faced in implementing their gender policies in the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh, and how those NGOs responded to the challenges and experiences to ensure lessons have been learned. It also investigates whether any obstacles to learning lessons exist within those organisations. Qualitative research is used including gathering primary data from semi-structured interviews with individuals from five NZ NGOs that worked in Aceh and with representatives of NGOs willing to comment on their organisational responses. Additional comments on the issues are also obtained from two NZAID (New Zealand Agency for International Development) staff. The findings show that while participants faced numerous gender-related challenges in their work in Aceh, approximately three years after the tsunami none were able to point to any specific gender-related lessons learned. The findings also reveal that participating NGOs tend to draw learning from their international affiliates and from the NZ NGO community rather than having structured learning systems within their own organisations. A number of barriers to learning within organisations are also identified. These results, while not necessarily representative of the wider NZ NGO community, reveal the difficulties of trying to implement gender policies in a particular emergency context and contribute to an understanding of how NZ NGOs are involved in a process of continuous learning to incorporate their own experiences to ensure lessons are learned and improve their accountability.</p>

Being accountable to Aceh: gender-related lessons learned by New Zealand NGOs from the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004

<p>The Indian Ocean Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 prompted a level of international disaster response that was unprecedented. In Aceh, Indonesia, the worst hit region, thousands of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), including some New Zealand based NGOs, arrived in the area to carry out relief and reconstruction work. A common criticism of the international response is that it has resulted in the marginalisation of Acehnese women. The criticism comes despite at least fifteen years of gender mainstreaming into the policies and practices of development organisations and the widespread acceptance that attention to gender issues is essential for sustainable and equitable development. It also comes at a time when there is ever-increasing demand for NGO accountability to donors and beneficiaries and a recognition that NGOs should continuously be learning to improve future practice and ensure they are meeting their stated goals. Post-tsunami Aceh posed a number of context-specific challenges to the implementation of gender policies, including the enormous extent of the devastation, the history of violent conflict and the rule of Sharia law. This research investigates the particular challenges and experiences workers of NZ-based NGOs faced in implementing their gender policies in the aftermath of the tsunami in Aceh, and how those NGOs responded to the challenges and experiences to ensure lessons have been learned. It also investigates whether any obstacles to learning lessons exist within those organisations. Qualitative research is used including gathering primary data from semi-structured interviews with individuals from five NZ NGOs that worked in Aceh and with representatives of NGOs willing to comment on their organisational responses. Additional comments on the issues are also obtained from two NZAID (New Zealand Agency for International Development) staff. The findings show that while participants faced numerous gender-related challenges in their work in Aceh, approximately three years after the tsunami none were able to point to any specific gender-related lessons learned. The findings also reveal that participating NGOs tend to draw learning from their international affiliates and from the NZ NGO community rather than having structured learning systems within their own organisations. A number of barriers to learning within organisations are also identified. These results, while not necessarily representative of the wider NZ NGO community, reveal the difficulties of trying to implement gender policies in a particular emergency context and contribute to an understanding of how NZ NGOs are involved in a process of continuous learning to incorporate their own experiences to ensure lessons are learned and improve their accountability.</p>