EVENT: Corporations Supporting Women and Girls: Ethics, Efficiency, and Effectiveness

  • Wednesday, October 26th: Corporations Supporting Women and Girls: Ethics, Efficiency, and Effectiveness
    Women Thrive Worldwide’s Gender Roundtable discussion focuses on the private sector’s engagement in women’s and girls’ global development and whether the private organizations should subscribe to a set of ethical guidelines. Panelists include Ritu Sharma, Co-Founder and President, Women Thrive Worldwide; Pradeep Ramamurthy, Deputy Counselor for Innovation, United States Agency for International Development; Carol Grigsby, Senior Advisor, Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade (EGAT) Bureau, USAID; Dean Cycon, Founder and CEO, Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company; Joan Libby Hawk, Special Advisor, Women's Empowerment Principles, UN Women and UN Global Compact; and Penny Abeywardena, Senior Manager, Women and Girls Portfolio, Clinton Global Initiative.
  • 3:30-5:30 PM at the FHI 360 North Building (1875 Connecticut Avenue, the Board Room/Room 800)
  • Please RSVP to Laura Tashjian at ltashjian@womenthrive.org

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EVENT: Overdue for Action: Gender, Property Rights and Economic Development

  • Tuesday, October 25th: Overdue for Action: Gender, Property Rights and Economic Development
    Developing countries have a dismal record in providing women with rights to land. Among the causes of the feminization of poverty (unequal access to education, health care, shelter) property rights looms large and affects economic opportunity and outcomes for an entire population. In "Gender and Property Rights" Carol Rabenhorst reports that while some donor programs show some success, and while gender and property have long been recognized as a serious human rights concern, access to property is vital to any economic agenda. She targets four steps donors can take to more effectively integrate gender into economic development for all. The International Housing Coalition hosts a panel to discuss whether and how donors face this challenge.

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An update from YTP - 24 more girls are in school!

Dear all,

The Youth Theater for Peace team is very excited to share some more impact news from the program in Tajikistan!

Recently we shared a story
about Faroiz, a teenage girl whose work raising awareness about child marriage and education with the local YTP theater group helped inspire 20 girls in her community to continue to 11th grade (the final year of secondary school in Tajikistan.)

We have just learned from a local official in another Tajik village that YTP has impacted girls’ education there, too. Over the past four years in Surkh, no girls have continued their studies after the 9th grade. (Most get married or stay at home caring for relatives.) This year, 24 girls in Surkh are now enrolled past the 9th grade and the official says this is due to YTP activities.

If you are interested in learning more about YTP, please take a look at the project page, which has a video and additional success stories: http://www.irex.org/project/youth-theater-peace.

Best,

Susie

--------------------------------
Susan Armitage
Senior Program Officer
Education Programs Division
IREX (www.irex.org)
2121 K St. NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202-628-8188 x 185 | Fax: 202-628-8189
E-mail: sarmitage@irex.org | Skype: susie.armitage
Make a Better World: www.irex.org/donate

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Gender Updates

Interesting male engagement initiatives…..

From: IGWG [mailto:igwg@prb.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 4:51 PM
To: Clare Sheng
Subject: Gender Updates

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

IGWG

October 20, 2011

IGWG web

GENDER UPDATES

RESOURCES 

IGWG EVENT MATERIALS: Technical Update on Engaging Men in Family Planning and Ending Gender-Based Violence

On October 4, 2011, the Interagency Gender Working Group hosted a three-part technical update on engaging men in family planning and ending gender-based violence at the International Student House in Washington, D.C.

I. A Panel on Engaging Men for Women's Justice

 

A discussion featuring:

 

 

·  Brad Kerner (Save the Children) - Malawi Male Motivator Project

 

·  Gary Barker (Promundo-US) - Discussant

 

II. A New Film From Sonke Gender Justice

 

"A Way to Justice: Engaging Men for Women's Rights and Gender Transformation"

  • Dean Peacock, Sonke Gender Justice

III. A Training on How to Use the Film

 

Demonstration of a facilitator's guide led by: 

  • Pascal Akamani, a trainer featured in the film

List of Participants

PUBLICATIONS 

Blog: Women Shouldn't Have to Be Sneaky to Get the Family Planning They Want

Impact Blog, Daniel Cothran, MPH - USAID

 

"According to health care providers I interviewed recently in Western Province, Kenya, sneaking is exactly what women feel they need to do if they want to avoid or postpone pregnancy. Their male partners, for the most part, do not want them limiting the number of children they bear. Many men share the traditional attitude that the primary role of women is to give birth."

The content posted in this message reflects the views of the original author/s and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Population Reference Bureau nor its sponsors.

Please visit the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG) web site at

 

www.igwg.org 

 

This email was sent to csheng@irex.org by igwg@prb.org |  

Population Reference Bureau | 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW | Washington | DC | 20009

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Urban Institute invites you to Overdue for Action: Gender, Property Rights and... (Oct 25, 2011)

 

You are invited to the following event:

Overdue for Action: Gender, Property Rights and Economic Development

Event to be held at the following time, date, and location:

Will you attend?

Yes

No Maybe

Oct 25, 2011
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Millennium Challenge Corporation
875 Fifteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005

View Map

This is a reminder email, if you have already responded we will see you on Tuesday!

Thanks so much,

Urban Institute

 

Eventbrite

 

 

 

This email was sent by Eventbrite. Anyone can use Eventbrite to spread the word, collect money, and track RSVPs for an event. you can too
Click here to unsubscribe from events by "Urban Institute."
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NYTimes.com: With More of Them Running, Women Could Have Banner Year in 2012 - or Not

The New York Times E-mail This
This page was sent to you by:  yeye0124@gmail.com

U.S.   | October 21, 2011
With More of Them Running, Women Could Have Banner Year in 2012 - or Not
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
More female incumbents than ever are up for re-election in the Senate, but if Democrats have a bad year, women could, too.

 

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Single-Sex Schools: Separate but Equal?

The Opinion Pages

Single-Sex Schools: Separate but Equal?

A new study debunks the benefits of segregation by sex in the classroom, and says the practice does more harm than good. Should it be illegal?

What Our Research Shows

October 17, 2011

Richard Fabes is the Dee and John Whiteman Distinguished Professor of Child Development in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University and the director of operations for the American Council for Coeducational Schooling. The view expressed here is that of all the authors of the recent Science report.

The recent Science article by me and my colleagues has sparked much-needed discussion of single-sex education. Past reviews and our own peer-reviewed research led us to conclude that academic achievement is not superior in single-sex schools after controlling for qualities of children at entry (for example, socioeconomic status) and programs (demanding curriculums, for instance).

Additionally, based on voluminous research of the negative effects of separating people into groups, we warned that single-sex classrooms would likely generate and exacerbate stereotyping and sexist attitudes. Rather than promoting gender segregation, public schools should be striving to teach a diverse body of students to work together and to respect each other.

For nearly a decade, proponents of single-sex schooling have argued that boys and girls differ so fundamentally in brain functioning, sensory abilities, interests, stress responsiveness and more that they cannot be taught effectively in the same classrooms. However, scientific data do not support these claims, and, indeed, many single-sex advocates have recently backed away from them. Nonetheless, such advocates have already trained hundreds of teachers (often at taxpayer expense) in mythic “gender-specific learning styles” that make a mockery of Title IX’s requirement to eliminate sex discrimination in schools.

Now these advocates are emphasizing “social justice” as their rationale, arguing that parents who cannot afford private, elite single-sex education deserve comparable educational options. But this argument is hollow given the evidence that single-sex schooling has nothing to do with a school’s success. Certainly, there is great social injustice in the quality differences between elite private schools and many public schools, but this injustice is never going to be remedied by segregating the sexes.

We and many other scientists and educators agree with the U.S. Department of Education’s demand for “educational practitioners to use ‘scientifically-based research’ to guide their decisions about which interventions to implement.” Anecdotes do not meet this standard but are frequently used to support single-sex schooling. If modern science has learned anything, it is to be highly skeptical of anecdotes.

The preponderance of scientific evidence indicates that single-sex education fails to produce academic benefits and inflates gender stereotyping.

Join Room for Debate on Facebook and follow updates ontwitter.com/roomfordebate.

Gender News Clips

From: IGWG [mailto:igwg@prb.org]
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2011 5:11 PM
To: Clare Sheng
Subject: Gender News Clips

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

IGWG

October 17, 2011

IGWG web

GENDER NEWS CLIPS

Myanmar: Improving Maternal and Childcare in the East

IRIN, Monday, October 17, 2011

 

In conflict-afflicted eastern Myanmar, until recently obstetric care was often crude, unsterile and dangerous for both mother and child, health experts say. To address these problems, in 2005 several CBOs, the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University, and the Global Health Access Program launched the Mobile Obstetric Medics (MOM) project - dramatically boosting access to care.

Egypt and Tunisia: Women and the Arab Awakening - Now is the Time
The Economist, Saturday, October 15, 2011

The position of women in the Arab world has long been difficult. Amid the loud calls for democracy in the early days of the uprisings, little was said specifically about women's rights. But now that constitutions are being rewritten, many women in Egypt and Tunisia, whose revolutions are most advanced, hope to push their own liberation.

Senegal: Curbs a Bloody Rite for Girls and Women
The New York Times, Saturday, October 15, 2011

The movement to end genital cutting is spreading in Senegal at a quickening pace through the very ties of family and ethnicity that used to entrench it. And a practice once seen as an immutable part of a girl's life in many ethnic groups and African nations is ebbing, though rarely at the pace or with the organized drive found in Senegal.

Global: 2 Million Deaths a Year Attributed to Pollution from Indoor Cookstove Fires
PBS, Thursday, October 13, 2011

Nearly two million deaths could be prevented each year by replacing cooking fires and inefficient, smoky stoves, reports a policy analysis by leaders from the National Institutes of Health published in Science Thursday.Smoke exposure inside the home can cause respiratory diseases, lung cancer and pneumonia.

The content posted in this message reflects the views of the original author/s and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Population Reference Bureau nor its sponsors.

Please visit the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG) web site at

 

www.igwg.org 

 

This email was sent to csheng@irex.org by igwg@prb.org |  

Population Reference Bureau | 1875 Connecticut Ave, NW | Washington | DC | 20009

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Possible communications outlet - gender

I came across this potential outlet for external blogs highlighting IREX gender work (specifically engaging boys and men for equality). Anne has already submitted a story to Engaging Men’s contest for “stories of resistance,” but the blog is a separate year-round opportunity and it looks pretty open.

--------------------------------
Susan Armitage
Senior Program Officer
Education Programs Division
IREX (www.irex.org)
2121 K St. NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037
Tel: 202-628-8188 x 185 | Fax: 202-628-8189
E-mail: sarmitage@irex.org | Skype: susie.armitage
Make a Better World: www.irex.org/donate

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Are women less likely to be corrupt? Blog post from CIPE

Posted by | October 7, 2011 No Comments-->

Protesters demanding tougher anti-corruption legislation in India. Photo: Reuters

An interesting perspective from Africa on why men are more likely to engage in corruption (steal public funds) than women got me thinking – is corruption gender neutral?

Chr. Michelsen Institute’s Anti-Corruption Resource Center provides an excellent overview of various works on gender dimensions of corruption from many different perspectives. The arguments that women’s participation in politics leads to lower levels of corruption are counterbalanced by papers that call it a “myth in the making.

Empirical/experimental studies, such as this one comparing Indonesia, India, Australia and Singapore, provide some interesting insights as well: for the most part, there are no statistically significant differences in how women and men view corruption or behave in instances of bribe-giving and bribe-taking. One difference comes out in the bribe and punishment amounts – in India, for instance, men offer larger bribes than women, but in Indonesia, men levy higher punishment amounts for corruption than women. But these are just minor deviations.

Yet, while the attitudes toward corruption may be similar among men and women, women can be negatively affected by corruption to a greater degree. This follows not from some specific gender dimensions of corruption, but rather from broader institutional and cultural barriers to participation that women face in countries around the world (such as access to justice, schooling, or decision-making structures).  This Transparency International brief lays out numerous reasons for why corruption in the service delivery sector negatively affects women and girls more so than men.

It is an accepted wisdom within the anti-corruption community that corruption disproportionately affects the poor. In part, making the argument is instrumental in mobilizing the poor not to participate in corruption and seek ways to combat it in all forms. Perhaps, the fact that corruption disproportionately affects women can become a way to mobilize them to become a force in the anti-corruption movement.

--------------------------------
Shared by Susan Armitage

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