6/8/11: Azerbaijan and the U.S.: Pioneer Nations in Women'sSuffrage

Lecture - Azerbaijan and the United States: Pioneer Nations in Women's Suffrage

Library of Congress: 10 First Street, SE, African Middle Eastern Room, Washington, DC 20540

June 8, 2011 - 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Fee: Free

The Karabakh Foundation in collaboration with the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum is proud to bring to our audiences the presentation entitled "Azerbaijan and the United States: Pioneer Nations in Women's Suffrage." Lecturer Jennifer Krafchik, Director of Collections of the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, will address the respective accomplishments of suffrage in Azerbaijan (1918) and the United States (1920).

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About the Speaker

Jennifer Krafchik serves as the Assistant Director and Director of Collections for the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum on Capitol Hill, home of the historic National Woman's Party. She manages one of the premier women's history collections in the United States and is responsible for providing the proper interpretation and exhibition of all artifacts. She was also the co-director of the National Woman’s Party Digital Imaging Project.

Ms. Krafchik currently serves on the planning committee for the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial at Occoquan Workhouse in Lorton, Virginia, and on the Collections Committee for Montpelier Mansion in Laurel, Maryland. She has written several articles for the Museum, including "Black Women in America: Contributors to Our Heritage.

Ms. Krafchik holds a Bachelor's degree in history from Marymount University and a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science from the Catholic University of America.

Come join me at Gender Integration Workshop: Tips for Effectively Addressing Gender in Proposals and Grant Applications on SID-Washington Gender in Development Workgroup

FYI.  I am thinking of attending this.

Allison Strype

Civil Society

IREX

2121 K Street NW, 7th Fl.

Washington, DC 20037

Email: astrype@irex.org

Phone: 202-628-8188  x. 127

Skype: allison.strype

From: Janel Hoppes Poche [mailto:events@sidwgid.ning.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:59 PM
To: Allison Strype
Subject: Come join me at Gender Integration Workshop: Tips for Effectively Addressing Gender in Proposals and Grant Applications on SID-Washington Gender in Development Workgroup

Janel Hoppes…

Janel Hoppes Poche

Janel Hoppes Poche has invited you to the event 'Gender Integration Workshop: Tips for Effectively Addressing Gender in Proposals and Grant Applications' on SID-Washington Gender in Development Workgroup!

Please join us at the next SID-W Gender in Development Workgroup on June 15th.
Thanks,
Janel Hoppes Poche and Fiona McDowell - Co-Chairs of the SID-W Gender in Development Workgroup

Gender Integration Workshop: Tips for Effectively Addressing Gender in Proposals and Grant Applications

Time: June 15, 2011 from 12pm to 2pm
Location: The QED Group, LLC
Organized By: Fiona McDowell & Janel Hoppes Poche

Event Description:
As gender equality is increasingly at the forefront of the overseas development assistance agenda, implementing partners, both for-profit and non-profit, must continue to demonstrate their understanding of gender integration and mainstreaming and their ability to create programs that effectively integrate gender throughout all stages of implementation. The Society for International Development’s Gender in Development Workgroup is pleased to present a brownbag lunch workshop designed to address common challenges and questions around effectively addressing gender in proposals and grant applications for USAID and other donors, including:

What does “gender integration” really mean in this context and how do I do it?
How are gender requirements commonly articulated in Requests for Proposals/Applications?
How can I move beyond generic statements about gender to tailor my response?
What changes are on the horizon for the way that major donors address gender?

Presenters: 
Jeannie Harvey, Program Analyst, South Asia, Foreign Agriculture Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Deborah Rubin, Co-Director, Cultural Practice, LLC 
For more information:
Contact: Jordana Fraider Phone: (202) 884-8590 Email:  events@sidw.org

Register for this event: RSVP for the Gender in Development Workgroup Event, June 15, 2011

See more details and RSVP on SID-Washington Gender in Development Workgroup:

http://sidwgid.ning.com/events/event/show?id=6320761%3AEvent%3A2407&xgi=1GYWvFsqFA4rwD&xg_source=msg_invite_event

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Getting the Balance Right: gender equality in journalism

"If media are a mirror of society as they should be, they certainly need to reflect better the fact that gender equality is a fundamental human right."

Handbook: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001807/180707e.pdf

"This handbook is a timely, illustrated and easy-to-read guide and resource material for journalists. It evolved primarily out of a desire to equip all journalists with more information and understanding of gender issues in their work. It is addressed to media organisations, professional associations and journalists’ unions seeking to contribute to the goal of gender equality.

This booklet gives added argument and dynamism to a campaign that should be taken up in very newsroom, every media house and every union meeting. Journalism has its roots in the fight for decency, progress and rights for all. It will honour its tradition and reinvigorate the profession when the ideas, guidelines and advice in these pages are put into practice.

UNESCO, jointly with its partners, invites journalists to use this handbook to become better informed when dealing with gender issues in the media sphere. The book will assist people working in the media to assess progress on gender equality, identify challenges, and contribute to local, regional and global debates leading to the formulation of concrete policies to promote gender equality and the advancement of women worldwide."

Somalia the worst place to be a woman

25 May 2011 13:53

Source: trustlaw // Emma Batha

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A Somali woman collects charcoal from a site in Mogadishu August 3, 2010. REUTERS/Ismail Taxta

By Emma Batha

LONDON (TrustLaw) - Somalia is the most dangerous country on earth to be a woman and a “living hell” for those struggling to feed their children amid war and drought, the country’s minister for women says.

The daily violence, the constant fear of getting shot or raped, the lack of education and healthcare as well as practices like female genital mutilation make women’s lives extremely hard, Maryan Qasim said.

The lawless country has been engulfed in conflict for 20 years. However, the greatest risk to women’s lives is not war but birth. One woman dies for every 100 births, according to U.N. figures – one of the highest rates in the world.

“The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant,” said Qasim, a former doctor . “When a woman becomes pregnant her life is 50:50 because there is no antenatal care at all …. there are no hospitals, no healthcare, nothing.”

Qasim, who has spent two decades in exile, said she was shocked by the destitution and suffering she saw when she returned to Somalia’s capital Mogadishu last year, after being asked to become minister for women's development and family welfare.

“Conflict has often seen husbands and fathers killed, removing breadwinners and creating countless numbers of single mothers,” Qasim told a briefing in London at the Chatham House think-tank.

“When I went back to Mogadishu the shocking thing was that the women have to do everything. They are the mothers, they bring up the children and they have to secure the income.”

ANARCHY

Somalia has been without an effective central government since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Its U.N.-backed transitional government is embroiled in war with Islamist al Shabaab rebels who control swathes of the country and want to impose their own harsh version of sharia law on the nation.

Around 1.4 million people, mostly women and children, are displaced within Somalia after being forced to flee their homes.

Qasim said women had told her how their sons - boys of 12 and 13 - had joined al Shabaab simply to survive. 

“You can see the sadness (of the mother). She tells you ‘I don’t have an alternative for him; no school, no food’. So this young boy, he goes to the militia just to get food and some money.”

Qasim said rape was a risk for many women, especially those who had been uprooted from their homes and those from minorities. The youngest victim she had seen was just five years old.

She also relayed a horrifying story in which a man high on drugs shot a woman’s husband and then made clear he was going to rape her. When the woman said she had just given birth the day before he seized her 11-year-old daughter.

GENITAL MUTILATION

Qasim said women’s health was also being seriously compromised by the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) which is carried out on almost all girls between the age of four and 10.

FGM, which is aimed at ensuring girls remain virgins until marriage, can cause difficulties in labour and is a factor behind the high rates of death in childbirth.

The minister said people used to be punished for performing FGM but now there were no laws and the practice had returned. Some 96 percent of women in Somalia have undergone FGM.

Qasim said she had come across cases of men divorcing new wives if they had not had FGM, so mothers continued the custom to protect their daughters from shame.

The minister, who was a school teacher in Britain until recently, stressed that one of the greatest needs for women was education.

“If women are not educated … I think definitely we cannot build a society …. I’ve met so many young girls and women in Mogadishu – you cannot imagine their appetite for education but they do not have that opportunity.”

The lack of rule of law – which means people kill and rape with impunity – and the misinterpretation of Islam both compound women’s oppression, the minister said.

“After the collapse of the Somali state so many groups and terrorists from all over the world came to Somalia and interpreted Islam as they liked  – women cannot go outside, they cannot wear bras…. They do whatever they want and they say this is Islam, but it has nothing to do with Islam,” she said.

“It’s also a challenge when women themselves don’t know their rights. Sometimes they think it’s true and they say ‘oh, they know better than me.’ Women need to be educated to learn more about Islam and know more about their rights. And men need also to be educated.”

Despite the immense challenges ahead, Qasim said she was optimistic about the opportunities for women.

She cited examples of several women, including a doctor and a peace activist, who had done great things in the war-torn country.

And she pointed to the entrepreneurial spirit of the women who, despite having so little, had set up small businesses selling tea on the streets of Mogadishu from flasks.

“It’s not hopeless,” she said.

See also: Somali model gives voice to victims of female circumcision

UNESCO to launch Global Partnership for Girls' and Women's Education

Not many details yet. But note the corporate and foundation partners. --Randal

UNESCO to launch Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education

A Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education will be launched at a high level forum to be held at UNESCO Headquarters on Thursday 26 May (13:30h Room I)

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova will welcome participants to the event, followed by opening remarks from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The keynote speech for the Forum will be made by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikha Hasina.  

Prime Minister of Mali Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, the Aga Khan, founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network Foundation, and representatives  of several corporate giants participating in the partnership including Nokia, Procter and Gamble, GEMS Education, Microsoft and the Packard Foundation, will also participate.  

Globally, some 39 million girls of lower secondary age are currently not enrolled in either primary or secondary education, while two thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate adults are women. Only about one third of countries have achieved gender parity at secondary level.  

‘Better Life, Better Future’ will seek collaborative and innovative solutions to the most fundamental obstacles and challenges to education for women and adolescent girls. A number of projects are already underway in several countries.

One-third of foundations in Europe actively support women and girls

Mixed results:

·         Most of the surveyed foundations devoted less than 10 percent of their expenditures in support of women and girls.

·         Among the 42 foundations that provided grants data, the median percentage of total grant monies that were allocated in support of women and girls was 4.8 percent.

One-third of foundations in Europe actively support women and girls

Large gap remains between European foundations’ interest and their investments

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25 May 2011- An estimated 37 percent of surveyed European foundations made grants or operated programmes intended to benefit women and girls in 2009, according to a report released today by Mama Cash and the Foundation Center, at the European Foundation Centre’s Annual General Assembly in Portugal.

Untapped Potential: European Foundation Funding for Women and Girls indicates that the median percentage of total grant monies allocated by foundations in support of women and girls was 4.8 percent, based on 2009 grants data from sampled foundations. Yet, substantially higher numbers of European foundations (90 percent) expressed interest in at least one issue related to women and girls. 

The gap between interest and investment tells us is that there is genuine potential and motivation for European foundations to step up and provide more funding for women and girls,” said Nicky McIntyre, executive director of Mama Cash. “Data consistently show that no country has yet achieved gender equality. We at Mama Cash hope that this report’s findings will inspire conversations and collaborations that will, in turn, contribute to mobilising leadership and realizing increased giving in support of the rights, well-being, and empowerment of women and girls.

Of the foundations that expressed an interest in issues related to women and girls, particularly high levels of interest were noted for violence against women (74 percent), poverty among women and/or girls (73 percent), and women’s and/or girls’ access to education (71 percent). Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights generated the least interest among foundations surveyed (30 percent).

As the first research study of its kind to examine the scope, distribution, and diversity of European-based funding for women and girls, this report establishes critical baseline data for measuring change in the future,” said Seema Shah, director of research for special projects at the Foundation Center.

The report also represents the most comprehensive study to date on the philanthropic activities of European foundations in general,” added Gerry Salole, chief executive of the European Foundation Centre. “We are excited to see the ways in which this rich data will inform future giving that advances the public good in Europe and beyond.

Altogether, 145 foundations from 19 countries participated in the study. The report draws upon a mixture of survey, grants, and interview data to understand the range of foundation characteristics and interests, as well as their specific approaches to work related to women and girls. The report was commissioned by Mama Cash and co-authored by the Foundation Center and Weisblatt & associés, in cooperation with the European Foundation Centre. It was made possible in part by support from the Ford Foundation.

Download the highlights of Untapped Potential: European Foundation Funding for Women and Girls (pdf) >>

Download Untapped Potential: European Foundation Funding for Women and Girls (pdf) >>

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Saudi woman drives, goes to jail

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0523/Saudi-woman-drives-goes...

Remember Obama's speech stressing women's rights in the Middle East last week? That's all right. Saudi Arabia doesn't remember either.

By Dan Murphy, Staff writer / May 23, 2011

Even as President Barack Obama was delivering his speech on political change in the Arab world, with a call for the "universal" rights of women to be respected, close US ally Saudi Arabia – one of the most patriarchal societies on earth – was getting ready to jail a young woman for having the temerity to get behind the wheel of a car.

Manal al-Sharif, a women's rights activist, uploaded to YouTube a video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province last week. The video was part of an online campaign encouraging Saudi women to take a page out of the Arab uprisings playbooks, and to defy oppression by driving on June 17 of this year. Over the weekend, Ms. Sharif was arrested and is currently being held on charges she disturbed "public order."

The video she uploaded has since been taken down (though some of the shocking footage is used in this Al Jazeera story), as has the Facebook group she started, though a similar page was recently restored by emulators.

The de facto ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia has long been the front line for Saudi Arabia's small group of women's rights activists. During the first Gulf War in 1990, the presence of US women soldiers driving Humvees in Saudi Arabia inspired a group of wealthy Saudi Arabian woman to hold a driving protest, with 14 cars convoying around the capital Riyadh – with male relative minders – for half an hour before being shut down by the religious police.

That group, who argued they should have the freedom to go the store or drive to work by themselves, were cheered as whores and worse by the mutaween, the young thugs that the government allows to enforce public "morals" as interpreted in the Saudi Arabian version of Islam. Most of the women involved were banned from traveling abroad for a year as punishment.

This time, an online group of Saudi mutaween has gathered to attack Sharif and likeminded Saudi women. Youtube and Facebook have been filled with vile attacks on Sharif from anonymous keyboard warriors.

As a matter of practice, the rights of women have improved little in Saudi Arabia since 1990. Women still require the permission of a male relative to travel abroad and are severely limited in their employment opportunities by segregated work places and school. Many young Saudis say there's growing underground dissatisfaction with the level of repression within the country and that they'd like a change. But in a country where even polling is controlled by the government, it's hard to say how far that sentiment extends.

With the harsh action against Sharif, it's clear the government doesn't want to find out.

King Abdullah is said to favor relaxing the restrictions on women (he opened the country's first and only coeducational university, named after him, in 2009), but the country's reactionary clerical hierarchy does not. The clerics wield considerable informal power, with many average Saudis agreeing with the proposition that women should be tightly controlled by their husbands, fathers, and brothers. (Women are starting to challenge this guardianship system, however; see today's nice piece by Monitor correspondent Caryle Murphy about a female Saudi doctor who is appealing to the country's supreme court for the right to choose a husband.)

There's probably not much that Obama – or any US president – could do to change Saudi Arabia's culture. The country's vast wealth and position as a reliable, mass producer of oil has always earned it a much lighter US touch on human rights problems than other nations. As Obama admitted "there will be times when our short-term interests do not align perfectly with our long term vision of the region."

But his was a speech in which "Saudi Arabia" was not even mentioned, in which Obama promised "we will continue to insist that the Iranian people deserve their universal rights, and a government that does not smother their aspirations."

Iran, for what it's worth, is given a better rating for gender equality than Saudi Arabia.

Bride Kidnapping- Tradition or Crime?

This is one issue that has been addressed in plays by YTP participants in Kyrgyzstan.

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International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX)
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5/23: Women, Entrepreneurship and Rebuilding War-torn Communities

I’m planning on attending this Monday. Note that it will also be webcast. FYI. --Randal

U.S. Agency for International Development

 

Women, Entrepreneurship and Rebuilding War-torn Communities

 

When: Monday, May 23, 2011, 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Where: U.S. Institute of Peace, Room 241, 2301 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, D.C.

  

Violent political wars pose severe risks for women during and after conflict, disrupting the social fabric of the community. As the society in conflict changes, gender barriers shift and men and women assume new roles in their societies.  

 

This public event, presented in conjunction with the U.S. Institute for Peace, will focus on women and their entrepreneurship in conflict and post-conflict societies. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon will present her widely acclaimed New York Times best-selling book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Women Who Risked Everything to Keep them Safe.  Researcher Patti Petesch will discuss her new USAID report, "Women's Empowerment arising from Violent Conflict," which draws upon 125 women's life stories to examine factors shaping women's agency and local recovery processes in four conflict-affected countries.  

 

Speakers:

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon,  Deputy Director, Women and Foreign Policy Program, Council on Foreign Relations

Patti Petesch, Independent Consultant; Co-author, "Voices of the Poor and Moving Out of Poverty," a World Bank publication

Caren Grown (Discussant), Senior Advisor on Gender, Policy, Program and Learning Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development

Borany Penh (Discussant), Senior Economic Advisor, Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture 

Moderator:

Kathleen Kuehnast, Director, Gender and Peacebuilding Center, U.S. Institute for Peace

 

For more information about this event, please click here.

 

You may participate in this event in two ways. Please click here to register to attend the event, or you may watch the live webcast beginning at 2:30pm EST on May 23, 2011 at www.usip.org/webcast.