login

Pathways News

Newsletter

July 2007 No. 1


1. Pathways of Women’s Power
On the 19-20 June, NEIM co-hosted along with various other groups an international seminar on ‘Pathways of Women’s Power: International Experiences of Affirmative Action’. The seminar, which took place within the National Congress and was opened by the Leader of the Parliament, discussed and analysed experiences of the use of affirmative measures to enhance women’s political participation in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. Speakers included: Julie Ballington of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Rwandan MP Juliana Katengwa, IDS Researcher Naila Kabeer and Palestinian women’s rights activist Suha Barghouti. The seminar takes place at a moment when there is intensive discussion in Brazil over the need for political reform to increase the representation of women in political office, and indeed, took place on the very day a vote in the Chamber of Deputies was due to take place.
See http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/events_pathways.html for a summary.

2. Domestic Violence Bill - Ghana
On 21st February 2007, Ghana’s Parliament passed the much-awaiting Domestic Violence Bill. Professor Takyiwaa Manuh, Convenor of the West African Hub, provided a summary of the process leading to this Bill which involved confronting a social system which tolerates various forms of violence against women and girls.
See http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/GhanaDV.pdf

3. Commonwealth Ministers for Women’s Affairs Meeting
At the invitation of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Rosalind Eyben, Convenor of the Global Hub, attended the triennial Commonwealth Ministers for Women’s Affairs meeting which took place in Kampala from 12-14 June. She outlined the purpose and activities of the Global Hub research programme at a workshop attended by around 30 Ministers. Rosalind together with Hazel Reeves (BRIDGE Manager) summarised their thoughts from the meeting for the IDS website.
See http://www.ids.ac.uk/index.cfm?objectId=EFADCA72-AA61-FBB9-D2017BE73220ABB2

4. Family Courts in Egypt
The first two phases of the fieldwork on the ‘Family Courts in Egypt: An Exit from Marriage on a Pathway to Empowerment?’ have been completed. Mulki Sharmani from SRC, Egypt who is leading on this work has been interviewing and observing women who are travelling this particular pathway to justice. She has also been conducting participant observation in counselling offices and NGOs who support women seeking justice. Mulki has completed a draft background paper on family courts and family law reforms in Egypt. She has also contributed to the write-up of a policy paper on reforming Personal Status Law No. 100 of 1985. This paper is the collective work of the Committee for Policies for Women on the ruling National Democratic Party. The Middle East Hub held a workshop on 1 July 2007 for researchers, policy makers, women’s organizations, and legal figures to update them about the progress of the study and present preliminary findings.
See http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/events_pathways.html

5. Bangladesh Planning Meetings
The South Asia Hub Team hosted a regional planning meeting and Religion and Media Workshop from 7-12 April. The purpose of the planning meeting was to plan the overall framework, design research and communication strategies for the programme and decide on the methodologies and resources that will be used. The Religion and Media Workshop held from 10-12 April was to explore how religion is experienced as part of women’s daily lives and how women are redefining themselves from an urban, cultural and religious trajectory. Two researchers from Afghanistan also attended this workshop.
See http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/sasia_projnews.html

6. Recent RPC Activities
Other activities which the RPC has been involved in during the first half of this year include: a traditional carnival protest in Brazil against the failure of the Governor to introduce a State Bureau for Public Policy for Women in Bahia by the Latin America Hub; a launch of IDS sexuality publications by Susie Jolly from the Global Hub; a workshop on gender equality and the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness by Rosalind Eyben from the Global Hub; and a workshop on Gender Analysis and Women’s Work to train researchers in the use of STATA by the Middle East Hub.
See the RPC website for details on all these activities: http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/lamerica_projnewscarn.html; http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/news_events.html; http://www.pathways-of-empowerment.org/Global/global_news.html

7. Forthcoming Events
Pathways of Women’s Empowerment are co-hosting a conference on Reclaiming Feminism: Gender and Neo-liberalism with Birkbeck College, London at IDS on 9-10 July 2007. The conference will be attended by various members of the RPC team together with feminist academics and activists. The aims of this workshop are to:

Communications outputs for this conference are being coordinated between the RPC and openDemocracy and reports and podcasts will be available on their websites.
Pathways of Empowerment.org and openDemocracy.net

8. Recent Publications by Partners
Change and Transformation in Ghana's Publicly Funded Universities A Study of Experiences, Lessons and Opportunities, Takyiwaa Manuh, Sulley Gariba and Joseph Budu, James Currey Publishers

Gender in The Making of The NigerianUniversity System, Charmaine Pereira, James Currey Publishers

James Currey.Co.UK

9. To Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Email: Pathways@ids.ac.uk with Subscribe/Unsubscribe in the subject line.