What makes change happen in women’s lives?
Photo/Sheikh Rajibul Islam
Pathways of Women’s Empowerment is a DFID funded research and communications programme which will link with academics, activists and practitioners to find out what works to enhance women’s empowerment. We want to identify where women are achieving real gains and discover the positive and negative factors which have influenced their journey.
Our aim is to make these pathways of change visible and to build on them to inspire a radical shift in policy and practice. By involving policy actors and practitioners directly in our research and learning, we hope our work will be in itself a catalyst for change.
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Representations of Women in Popular Culture - Upcoming Workshop
On Wednesday 30 July, the West Africa Hub will be holding a reflection workshop with popular artistes in Accra, Ghana. Participants will include various sections of the music industry as well as the listening public who will come together to reflect on the content of song lyrics and what impact they may have on the representation of women...see more details on the events page.
International Day for Sharing Life Stories
Photo/Gary Edwards
On Friday 16 May, Pathways of Women's Empowerment joined with the Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research at the University of Sussex to celebrate the inaugural annual International Day for Sharing Life Stories. The event showcased the life history work being done at the University and invited people to find out more about telling their lives in a variety of ways.
Parallel events to share and gather life stories took place in Africa, Australia, Europe, India and in North and South America. More than 200 individuals and organisations, including the British Oral History Society and Studs Terkel, have endorsed the establishment of the International Day for Sharing Life Stories. See Sussex University Bulletin and Centre for Life History and Life Writing Research.
Women Treading the Corridors of Corporate Power
Globalisation is transforming the lives of women workers. Large numbers of women are being drawn into waged employment in global production, often in poor working conditions. Women are an increasingly important consumer force. Yet women’s perspectives and voices rarely inform the commercial processes that shape the global economy. Stephanie Barrientos' research for the Global Hub looks at examples of where women’s concerns have been given some voice in mainstream commercial corridors of power. See Global Hub Research.
Ghana Photography Workshop
From the 25-27 April 2008, the Ghana Team held a workshop where they learnt photography and video techniques, facilitated by Tessa Lewin, the RPC Communications and Learning Officer and Anna Kari and Guilhem Alandry of Documentography. See the West Africa Hub project news page for images and outputs from this meeting.
Also see http://www.pathwaysghana.blogspot.com/ for more images and news from the West Africa Hub.
Changing Narratives of Sexuality
Members of the Changing Narratives of Sexuality Theme used the opportunity of the Sexuality and the Development Industry workshop to get together at IDS from 7-9 April for an update and planning session on the theme. We used the chance to interview some of the researchers on their projects - listen to the podcasts on the Changing Narratives Theme page.
Sexuality and the Development Industry
| Pathways of Women's Empowerment jointly convened a workshop, together with the IDS Sexuality and Development Programme, on Sexuality and the Development Industry from 3-5 April 2008.
Around 70 participants met to examine how sexuality is framed and influenced by international aid and the development industry and to look for more creative and constructive means of engagement. See IDS Webpage, Siyanda Discussion Board and the IDS Sexuality and Development Programme webpage |
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“Across the globe women seem to rise above the most challenging circumstances” but we are less clear “about the pathways to empowerment” Professor Takyiwaa Manuh
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