Women's Empowerment

The Power of Feminist Rituals by Grace Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside... more
March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside table. It’s a book I read several years ago with a small group of feminist Christians when I was living in Blacksburg, Virginia. The following passage from one of her essays got me to thinking back to the 2012 PANAAWTM conference (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry) I had attended just two weeks ago:

“Rituals are part of everyday lives: reading the newspaper, checking the weather, waiting for the mail to come, or talking with a family member at the end of the day. Rituals can also mark the extraordinary events in our lives: the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a birthday, marriage, anniversary, or divorce” (Stokes, 2002, p. 37).

We PANAAWTM attendees participated in two rituals that, while neither “everyday” nor “extraordinary,” were nevertheless symbolically very rich, meaningful, and unifying.

ON NOT GETTING WHAT WE WANT AND LEARNING TO BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE HAVE BY CAROL P. CHRIST

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

Many women’s dreams have not been realized. How do we come to terms with this thealogically?

Although I am... more Many women’s dreams have not been realized. How do we come to terms with this thealogically?

Although I am as neurotic as the next person, I am also really wonderful—intelligent, emotionally available, beautiful (if I do say so myself), sweet, caring, and bold. I love to dance, swim, and think about the meaning of life. I passionately wanted to find someone with whom to share my life. I did everything I could to make that happen—including years of therapy and even giving up my job and moving half way around the world when I felt I had exhausted the possibilities at home.

Feminism In Theology By Andrew Tripp

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me... more At the outset, I need to name and own my identities as a large white male. I have privilege and voice that makes me hesitant to even write to the audience of this blog. While I consider myself a feminist, I have met some who have told me that as a man I cannot be a feminist. Such folks have told me that I lack the existential knowledge of the systemic pressure put on women, and at best I can be an ally.  With that said, if it was not for feminism in theology, I do not know if I could be a theologian.

Women Empowerment for Sustainable by M.Khan

by Mohsin Khan

Social justice and the gender politics of financial literacy education.

by Laura Pinto

With Coulson, L. Canadian Journal of the Association for Curriculum Studies, 9(2), 54-85.

The F-word: How bright-sidedness overshadows feminist talk in schools.

by Laura Pinto

Schools/Our Selves, 20 (5) (105), 47-58

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican: A Review by Kate Conmy

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion Project

Review: Pink Smoke Over the Vatican (2010)

Award-Winning Independent Documentary Film

Directed... more Review: Pink Smoke Over the Vatican (2010)

Award-Winning Independent Documentary Film

Directed by Jules Hart

By Kate Conmy, MA.

Membership Coordinator of the Women’s Ordination Conference.

Last weekend I had the honor of joining over eighty Women’s Ordination Conference members and supporters in Claremont, California for a screening of “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” followed by a distinguished panel discussion.  WOC board member Miriam Todoroff of Pilgrim Place hosted the event, along with Rev. Kathleen Jess, ECC, with local support from Theresa Yugar. “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican” has recently been made available for purchase, but for the past couple of years the film has starred in women’s ordination movement circles, drawing hundreds to cinemas, churches, universities, and homes for a peek at the controversial and moving film.

The “Curse of Eve”—Is Pain Our Punishment? Part I by Stacia Guzzo

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

I have been involved in several interesting discussions lately involving  friends asking me what I thought of the... more I have been involved in several interesting discussions lately involving  friends asking me what I thought of the so-called “Curse of Eve.” This “curse,” which is generally used in reference to the pain of childbirth, is assumed from the text of Genesis 3:16a. On one side, I have had friends and colleagues argue that the pains of labor are a direct result of Eve’s sin, and thus all women who bear children will suffer them as a reminder of their inherent sinful nature. On the other hand, I have had friends question this interpretation: Why, they ask, would God use such an incredible event to punish us? And what about women who don’t experience any pain in childbirth at all? Or who do not have children? Is God’s punishment reserved for those who procreate? This doesn’t seem to make much sense in a larger spiritual framework.

Some additional questions have arisen from these discussions. I had a friend recently ask me, “If a woman is supposed to feel pain in childbirth, is she going against God’s will if she uses medication to ease her discomfort?” Another friend brought up the fact that God’s actions are seldom (if ever) random; therefore, what is the transformation that God is expecting from such a punishment?  What does Eve’s “punishment” have to say about how we interact with, communicate with, and love God (and likewise)?

Global Dividend for Maximum Impact: Advancing Women for Global Equity and Innovation

by Lorna Jean Edmonds

Reader's Response - "A Jury of Her Peers"

by DARLA JORDAN MILLER

ENGL. Dr. B. Moore; A reader's response based on the short story by Susan Glaspell.

Egyptian feminists challenge militant soccer fan chauvinism

by James M. Dorsey

By James M. Dorsey

An Egyptian feminist group has challenged militant soccer fans that played a key role in... more By James M. Dorsey

An Egyptian feminist group has challenged militant soccer fans that played a key role in toppling president Hosni Mubarak to recognise women's rights to unrestricted protest.

The challenge exposes conservatism that is deeply rooted in Egyptian society and cuts across ideological, cultural and religious fault lines. It lays bare differing interpretations of concepts such as diversity, freedom and faith and highlights a battle by women who were prominent in the campaign to overthrow Mr. Mubarak to have their rights recognised in post-revolt Egypt.

The women confront a conservatism that pervades the Middle East and North Africa as illustrated by the recent creation of a soccer league in the United Arab Emirates that allows women to play behind closed doors in the absence of men as well as Saudi Arabia's struggle with the International Olympic Committee's demand that it include women among its athletes at this year's London Olympics.

UAE and Kuwaiti royals joined prominent foreign representatives this week at a two day conference to encourage women’s participants in sports and the launch of the Fatima Bint Mubarak Women's Sports Awards, named after the third wife of the founder of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who heads the Family Development Foundation.

Egyptian women are battling to have their rights acknowledged on two fronts: recognition by their often socially conservative revolutionary male counterparts as well as Egypt's post-Mubarak military rulers who have systematically humiliated detained women protesters by subjecting them to virginity tests. A court this week acquitted a military doctor who conducted the tests.

More secular Egyptian women fear that the rise of Islamists further threatens achievement of their rights. Islamists have dissolved the Women's Council, charging that it was a creation of Suzanne Mubarak, the ousted president's widely despised wife. Islamist members of parliament have also proposed the establishment of a family ministry that would operate in accordance with Islamic law and roll back legal advances introduced by the Mubarak regime.

The feminists issued their challenge in response to a decision by the ultras -- militant, highly politicised, soccer fans -- to allow women to participate in their 16-day old sit-in in front of parliament only during daytime and to ban them at night starting from 22:00.

The ultras are demanding justice for 74 of their comrades who died in a soccer brawl in the Suez Canal city of Port Said that they believe was instigated by the government in retaliation for their role in the ousting of Mr. Mubarak and their militant opposition to his military successors.

In a statement quoted on the Egyptian news website Bikya Masr, the Independent Egyptian Women's Union said that those "who carry the flame of liberty against the oppressive powers should respect it first." They said that their understanding of diversity and faith ruled out restricting women's right to protest.

The battle for women's rights is one that is being waged by different women's groups -- secular and religious -- whose definition of women’s rights varies both among Middle Eastern and North African groups as well as Western ones.

Western groups objected last month to a decision by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to allow observant Muslim women to wear a headdress that meets their religious and cultural requirements as well as safety and security standards.

The decision by the IFAB, which governs the rules of professional soccer, was intended to open opportunity to a large number of observant Muslim women who had been excluded from a professional career because of what they saw as a conflict between the rules of their faith and the rules of the game.

The conservatism is most deep-seated in Saudi Arabia, home to Wahhabism, one of the world's most puritan and restrictive interpretations of Islam that allows women to travel abroad only with the permission of a male guardian and bans them from driving. The kingdom, under threat of exclusion from the London Olympics if it fails to field women athletes and pressured by human rights groups has responded publicly with a series of test balloons on how to respond.

Saudi officials first leaked a story earlier this year about a plan to build the kingdom’s first stadium especially designed to accommodate women who are currently barred from attending soccer matches because of the kingdom’s strict public gender segregation. The planned stadium was supposed to open in 2014. Saudi media subsequently reported that the plan had been shelved.

Deputy education minister for female student affairs  Noura al-Fayez said in two letters addressed to Human Rights Watch that the government was working to set up a “comprehensive physical education programme”, including sports facilities and a health and nutrition awareness scheme “as part of its national strategy for physical education for boys and girls”, according to the daily al-Watan newspaper. Ms. Al-Fayez said physical education for girls was under consideration “as one of the priorities of the ministry's leadership”.

The letters didn’t stop Human Rights Watch from accusing Saudi Arabia in a report of kowtowing to assertions by the country's powerful conservative Muslim clerics that female sports constitute "steps of the devil" that will encourage immorality and reduce women's chances of meeting the requirements for marriage.

The kingdom’s toothless Shura or Advisory Council moreover issued regulations for women's sports clubs, but conservative religious forces often have the final say in whether they are implemented or not. Saudi Arabia’s official sports body, the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, presided by a member of the royal family, Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal, only caters to men. As a result, the kingdom last year hired a consultant to develop its first national sports plan - for men only.

Al Hayat newspaper, owned by a Saudi royal, reported last month that Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud had approved plans to send female athletes to the London Olympics. That report was quickly squashed with the media quoting Prince Nayef as reversing his statement.

Prince Nawaf subsequently went a step further by telling a news conference: “Female sports activity has not existed (in the kingdom) and there is no move thereto in this regard. At present, we are not embracing any female Saudi participation in the Olympics or other international championships.”

Despite Saudi women in the kingdom pushing the envelope by forming private clubs of their own, Prince Nawaf asserted that the demand for women’s participation came from Saudi women living abroad. He said the kingdom would work to ensure that expatriate Saudi women seeking to compete in the Olympics on their own account rather than as official delegates would do so “in the appropriate framework and comported with Islamic law.” He said he was working with the Saudi mufti and religious scholars to guarantee that nothing “infringed upon the Muslim woman.”
Saudi Arabia adopted a similar approach at the Youth Olympics in 2010 where Saudi equestrian participated without official endorsement and won a bronze medal in show jumping. It was not immediately clear whether the approach would this time be sufficient to remove the IOC’s threat of excluding the kingdom from the Olympics.

The evident debate about women’s rights to sports is part of a far broader discussion about the position of women in Saudi society. In an unusually frank interview with the BBC, Princess Basma Bint Saud Bin Abdulaziz lambasted the kingdom’s discriminatory policies and called for the drafting of a constitution that would treat men and women equally as well as sweeping reforms, including “abusive” divorce laws, an education system that teaches “that a woman's position in society is inferior” and "that the angels will curse her if she is not submissive to her husband's needs," and a social affairs ministry that “is tolerating cruelty towards women rather than protecting them.”

To be sure the conservatism that inhibits women’s rights has support among conservative segments of the Middle East and North Africa’s female population. Three Emirate women, have launched, according to a report in The National, a behind closed doors soccer league in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the far more liberal UAE alongside the country’s national women’s team because they had no opportunity to play in an environment that banned men.

"There are some girls that don't mind playing in front of men. But there is a huge percentage of Emirati women who can't play in front of men because of cultural reasons. Those in the community who want to play the sport after university don't have a place to go. It's all open and there isn't really a place for the sport to be developed," said government employee Mariam Al Omaira, a founding partner of Irada (Determination) Sports Development Company.

The league has 84 players spread over six teams.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

The Child-bride, the Earl, and the Pope: The Marital Fortunes of Agnes of Essex

by R. C. DeAragon

Published in Henry I and the Anglo-Norman World

A microhistory examining the life and marriage of Agnes "of Essex, countess of Oxford (born 1151). Betrothed at... more A microhistory examining the life and marriage of Agnes "of Essex, countess of Oxford (born 1151). Betrothed at three and raised by her future in-laws, Agnes rejected her father's choice of husband before she was 12. She married instead the eldest brother of her former betrothed--a man at least 30 years her senior. Soon thereafter, her father was accused of treason and convicted in a judicial duel. Her husband, the earl of Oxford, petitioned for an annulment of their marriage. Agnes appealed to Pope Alexander II. His decision on this case helped establish the necessity of female consent to wed in the canon law of matrimony.

For a briefer summary of her life, see my entry on Agnes in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Sainte Brigitte de Suède et Alfonso de Jaén : une "amitié spirituelle" / saint Bridget of Sweden and Alfonso de Jaén : a Female-Male friendship in Late Medieval Italy (Language : French)

by Giulia Puma

published in Arzanà. Cahiers de littérature italienne médiévale, n. 13, juin 2010, p. 329-364.

Ecritures et pratiques de l'amitié dans l'Italie médiévale
Describing and experiencing Friendship in Medieval Italy

Publications de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III.

Par « amitié spirituelle », on entend au Moyen Âge l’unisson des amis dans l’amour du Christ, qu’en est-il d’une... more Par « amitié spirituelle », on entend au Moyen Âge l’unisson des amis dans l’amour du Christ, qu’en est-il d’une amitié mixte, entre une femme et un homme ? Les mots employés par sainte Brigitte de Suède (1303-1373) dans ses Révélations pour décrire son rapport à son dernier confesseur, Alfonso de Jaén (1329-1389), constituent des documents précieux pour la connaissance de l’amitié mixte. Ils se rencontrent à Rome en 1368, puis séjournent ensemble auprès du pape. Alfonso sert à la fois à Brigitte de confesseur et d’interprète lors de son entrevue avec Urbain V, visant à le persuader de rentrer d’Avignon à Rome. Alfonso a une très bonne connaissance du latin, ce qui conduit Brigitte à rendre encore plus étroite leur collaboration. Elle reçoit plusieurs révélations où Marie et le Christ lui ordonnent explicitement de confier à l’ermite espagnol le travail de révision et de publication des Révélations. Brigitte est ainsi la dépositaire de la parole divine et Alfonso le récipiendaire de ce précieux trésor. Si l’ami est traditionnellement un alter ego, la relation de Brigitte et d’Alfonso, qui présuppose une profonde similitude morale, aboutit à l’altérité pragmatique de leurs rôles, complémentaires mais hiérarchisés : leur amitié mixte est légitimée, formalisée, codifiée par les interventions divines, qui président en même temps à sa mise en pratique, pour que le message oral des Révélations accède au statut de livre.

After her husband's death in 1344, Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), a mother of eight, starts having divine revelations and decides to dedicate her life to God, promoting the return of the pope in Rome, city where she lives from 1349 until her death. The paper focuses on the nature of her relationship to her last confessor, the spanish ermit, former bishop, Alfonso de Jaén (1329-1389), also known as Alfonso Pecha da Vadaterra. The documents of her canonization process as well as some of her revelations, edited in Latin by Alfonso, point out their different but complementary role as "amici Dei", God's friends but also friends through God. Bridget and Alfonso seem to be good candidates for what recent research (Sahlin 2001, Coakley 2006) has identified as "amicitia spiritualis". Spiritual friendship, a particular form of Female-Male relationship, would typically tie a charismatic/mystical woman to her confessor, acting both as a spiritual guide to her and as a promoter to the external world of the divine messages she would receive.

Feminism, Sexualisation & Social Status

by Robbie Duschinsky

published in Media International Australia

New formulations and responses to classic questions have emerged in recent feminist thinking on the relationship... more New formulations and responses to classic questions have emerged in recent feminist thinking on the relationship between gender and consumption. One instance of this is the work of Abigail Bray on the damage caused by the media sexualisation of girls. She offers important insights into some problems with the discourse of media and sexual empowerment, and also critically considers the social distinction that such a discourse tends to confer. This article offers a sympathetic account of her argument, but also moves beyond Bray to express concerns regarding the class and race codings of the discourse of childhood innocence.

Muslim renaissance and modernity: Reinterpretation and new challenges with special reference to Kerala

by SUFYAN ABDUL SATHAR

Post modern criticism destroys the stereotypes and prejudices of modernism. The renaissance is closely related to... more Post modern criticism destroys the stereotypes and prejudices of modernism. The renaissance is closely related to modernism, but whenever talk about “Muslim Renaissance” it does not favor of modernism. In nowadays Muslim renaissance became the object of incisive commentary as it is the byproduct of European 'enlightenment' and post colonial intellect. This paper discuss the Recent issue related to the opening of Ijthihad, by which the terrorists’ attack is justified, so this include the source of ideas to Al Qaeda and the problem is either related to opening of Ijthihad or not. Women empowerment ,annihilation of Arabic – Malayalam, resistance or unislamic traditional festival and others are become the challenge of reformative (Islahi) organizations, especially, in Kerala.

Feminine Oppression and Empowerment in Historical and Contemporary Judeo-Christianity

by Joseph Langston

Class Paper

The argument is made that, while Judeo-Christianity was, by and large, historically oppressive of or for women, the... more The argument is made that, while Judeo-Christianity was, by and large, historically oppressive of or for women, the religion today serves more so as a vehicle and means to feminine empowerment, liberation, and self-determination, a fact not so much overlooked by modern feminists as it is one which is rather underappreciated.

Muslim players win hijab battle in their struggle for women’s rights

by James M. Dorsey

By James M. Dorsey

Observant Muslim women soccer players won a first victory on Saturday with the... more By James M. Dorsey

Observant Muslim women soccer players won a first victory on Saturday with the endorsement by the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) decision to allow the players to test specially designed headscarves for the next four months.

The proposal presented to the IFAB, the soccer body that determines the game’s rules, was tabled by world soccer body FIFA vice president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, a proponent of women’s rights.

Prince Ali’s campaign to lift the ban on Muslim women wearing a headdress in competition matches garnered over the past year widespread support from among others the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the United Nations and the International Federation of Professional Footballers as well as members of the FIFA executive committee.

Prince Ali launched his campaign after Iran was disqualified for this year’s London Olympics because it appeared last year on the pitch in Amman for a qualifier against Jordan with its players wearing the hijab, the headdress that covers a woman’s hair, ears and neck. Three Jordanian hijab-wearing players were also barred.

IFAB, a grouping whose membership – FIFA, England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland – harks back to British colonialism’s globalization of the beautiful game, will review its decision in early July based on the experience of the coming four months.

"I am deeply grateful that the proposal to allow women to wear the headscarf was unanimously endorsed by all members of IFAB. I welcome their decision for an accelerated process to further test the current design and I'm confident that once the final ratification at the special meeting of IFAB takes place, we will see many delighted and happy players returning to the field and playing the game they love, ," Prince Ali said.

While the IFAB decision constitutes an important tangible as well as psychological victory for Muslim women athletes, it by no way resolves all of their problems, many of which have less to do with religion and more to do with inbred traditions of patriarchic societies as well as non-Muslim prejudices.

“Female athletes in the Middle East face pressures that include family, religion, politics, and culture. These issues often take place over use or nonuse of the hijab, the traditional head covering for Muslim women,” concluded a recent study entitled ‘Muslim Female Athletes and the Hijab’ by Geoff Harkness, a sociologist at Northwestern University’s campus in Qatar, and one of his basketball playing students, Samira Islam.

The study based on interviews with female athletes and their coaches found that sports often empowered young women whose role models are successful sportswomen like Fatima Al-Nabhani, an Omani tennis player, and Bahraini sprinter Roqaya Al-Ghasara, who was fully covered when she ran and won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Both women not only serve as role models for aspiring female athletes from the region, but also shatter Western stereotypes,” the report said. Eight other female athletes competed in Beijing wearing the hijab in sprinting, rowing, taekwondo and archery.

Resistance to women playing soccer with or without their head covered is not restricted to Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa. Palestine’s women soccer team includes 14 Christians and only four Muslims but a majority of the team has similar tales to tell about the obstacles they needed to overcome and the initial resistance they met from their families.

In a break with tradition, Kuwait this weekend hosted the first Gulf university soccer tournament for females at its Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in which Saudi Arabia fielded its first ever women’s soccer team in an international competition.

"Out of commitment to its social role, besides the academic one, GUST seeks to promote female sports in Kuwait and in the Arabian Gulf region through organizing and patronizing such competitions," GUST Chancellor Afaf Al-Rakhis said. She described women's sports as a reflection of the social and cultural advancement of a country.

That’s a strong statement given resistance in Kuwait to women’s soccer and the fact that Saudi Arabia bans women’s sports and only tacitly allows women’s teams to be formed in private settings.

Kuwaiti Islamists denounced GUST’s plans for the tournament when they were first announced last year and urged the government the competition. “Women playing football is unacceptable and contrary to human nature and good customs.

The government has to step in and drop the tournament,” Kuwait’s Al Wasat newspaper quoted member of parliament Waleed al-Tabtabai as saying.

Mr. Tabtabai was one of a number of deputies who criticized the government and sports executives for allowing the Kuwaiti women’s national soccer team to take part in the Third West Asian Women Soccer Tournament in Abu Dhabi. The members of parliament charged that the women’s participation had been illegal and a waste of money. “Football is not meant for women, anyway,” Mr. Tabtabai said at the time.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite tv quoting Reuters reported that the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority had earlier this year announced plans to introduce after-hours physical education classes for both girls and boys. Public schools in the kingdom do not offer girls physical education. It was not clear why the investment authority rather than the Saudi authority responsible for youth and sports would be spearheading an initiative to facilitate women’s sports.

Al Arabiya conceded that professional women athletes in the kingdom “are publicly slammed for going against their natural role” and reported that Saudi newspapers refer to them as “shameless” because they cause embarrassment to their families. Women athletes often receive text messages urging them to stay home and tend to their household duties as mothers and wives, Al Arabiya said.

“If there is no support from the family we cannot get into these types of activities ... some people are extremist or extra conservative,” it quoted 17-year old basketball player Hadeer Sadagah as saying.

International human rights group Human Rights Watch last month accused Saudi Arabia of kowtowing to assertions by the country's powerful conservative Muslim clerics that female sports constitute "steps of the devil" that will encourage immorality and reduce women's chances of meeting the requirements for marriage.

The Human Rights Watch charges contained in a report entitled “’Steps of the Devil’ came on the heels of the kingdom backtracking on a plan to build its first stadium especially designed to allow women who are currently barred from attending soccer matches because of the kingdom’s strict public gender segregation to watch games. The planned stadium was supposed to open in 2014.

The report borrows its name from a religious edict by Sheikh Abdulkareem al-Khudair, a member of the kingdom’s Supreme Council for Religious Scholars, banning sports for women because they “will lead to following in the footsteps of the devil.” Sheikh Al-Khudair said the government could not introduce sports in schools for girls because such activity is forbidden in Islam.
Saudi women, including some members of the royal family, nonetheless are pushing the envelope. A group of women is planning a hiking expedition to Everest base camp this summer as part of a charity fundraising exercise to promote a healthy lifestyle for breast cancer patients.

“As a nation we need to focus on preventative measures that include healthy lifestyle, specifically nutrition and fitness and early detection (of women's illnesses). The inspiration to climb Everest base camp came from the basic idea that a healthy lifestyle and healthy body can fight illness better,” Al Arabiya quoted Princess Reema al-Saud, who is leading the Everest climb as saying.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Women and Recession

by gill scott

Published in URBACT TRIBUNE, September 2010 .
http://urbact.eu/en/projects/human-capital-entrepreneurship/weed/homepage/

Economic empowerment for women in the form of access to paid work, better wages, stronger forms of job creation and... more Economic empowerment for women in the form of access to paid work, better wages, stronger forms of job creation and enhanced income generation through self employment is becoming a more important issue for European cities. Two reasons predominate. Firstly improving access to employment, enhancing women’s spending power and stimulating women’s involvement in individual and social enterprises could be important stimuli to sustainable and socially responsible local economic development at a time when routes out of the recession are being sought. Secondly a failure to address women’s poor position in the economy means women’s risk of poverty remains a significant one in much of Europe. In this article examples of measures and practices adopted by a sample of municipalities and regions to address such problems are outlined.

Reclaiming The Sacred: A Festival Experience as a Response to Globalisation

by Karin Mackay

published in Journal for the Study of Religion, vol 24, No 2, 2011

Pressures of globalisation such as the focus on the growth of productive economies, consumerism, and long work-hours... more Pressures of globalisation such as the focus on the growth of productive economies, consumerism, and long work-hours have fragmented cultural beliefs and practices worldwide. Devaluation of deeply held soulful, creative, and nature-based practices in the dominant neoliberal capitalist discourse has challenged the way cultural and spiritual wellbeing are lived. Instead of being completely subsumed into the neoliberal global discourse, local responses incorporating global themes are emerging in the form of the “neo-tribal” festival experience. Although festivals have primarily been seen as places of consumption, this misunderstands the drive to participate in a festival experience. This article investigates a women’s arts and ecology festival held in The Blue Mountains, Australia, where members of the local community celebrate the return of spring. Findings suggest that this festival was a site for reclaiming a localized sense of connectedness, where participants reclaimed what was sacred to them. I will argue that consumerism is secondary to the desire for a sacred synergy of connectedness at this festival where critical creative action challenges the neoliberal and patriarchal discourses in the negotiation of global culture.

Women’s Empowerment through Employment Policies: Case Studies in South Africa and India

by Zeynep Ekin Aklar

Master Thesis in Berlin School of Economics and Law / Global Labour University - 2010

South Africa and India initiated an Expanding Public Works Programme (EPWP) in 2004 and National Rural Employment... more South Africa and India initiated an Expanding Public Works Programme (EPWP) in 2004 and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005, respectively. The implementation of these policies is based on the idea of employment as a last resort (ELR) with the aim of reducing unemployment eradicating poverty. Within this context, this thesis aims to analyze to what extent these programmes have capacity to empower the women. In addition this thesis will try to explore the intersection points between the programmes and the two feminist development theories, women in development (WID) and gender and development (GAD). This analysis will be realized by using some gender sensitive indicators. This thesis argues that EPWP leaning to GAD has more capacity to empower women than NREGA designed in reference with WID approach.

Key words: EPWP, NREGA, Employment as a Last Resort, WID and GAD Approaches and Empowerment