WOMEN, INK. BOOKLINK #66
March 2007
Ashley Neglia
2. The Power of Womenís
Organizing 3. Global Feminism 4. Globalizing Women Visit our website at
www.womenink.org
for further information and to buy any of the featured
titles. Empowering Rural Women The Power of Womenís
Organizing Global Feminism Globalizing Women ********************************************************************* RESOURCES 1. Achieving Women's Economic
and Social Rights: Strategies and Lessons from
Experience, 2006 2. Sustainable Micro-finance for
Women's Empowerment, 2005 3. First Hand Knowledge: Voices
Across the Mekong: Community Action Against Trafficking
of Children and Women, 2005 4. The Limitations of
Citizenship from a Gender Perspective, 2003 5. Women's Empowerment as a
Variable in International Development, 2002 6. What's Being Done
OnÖIncreasing Women's Participation in Politics?
2002 7. Promoting Gender Equity in
the Democratic Process: Womenís Paths to Political
Participation and Decisionmaking, 2000 8. Global Fund for Women All orders need to
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Once again, welcome to the
Women, Ink. Booklink, the monthly e-mail bulletin on
whatís new in our collection this March. If you
have friends or colleagues whom you think would find
Booklink useful, please let us know. To subscribe to
Booklink, send an e-mail to joey@womenink.org
and type the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
OR CONCERNS, WRITE TO joey@womenink.orgThis month, we are featuring
an exciting array of titles and additional resources,
from different regional perspectives, in the area of
Women Organizing. The new titles for this month are:
1. Empowering Rural
Women
Issues, Opportunities and Approaches
Gender, Caste, and Class in India
Transnational Womenís Activism, Organizing and
Human Rights
Transnational Feminist Networks
Issues, Opportunities and Approaches
Minakshi Sudarshan Mehta
Floriculture, a fast-emerging industry in India, is being
supported by the National Horticulture Board, which
provides interested farmers with financial assistance for
flower cultivation, training and marketing for their
products. Although unskilled women are the majority in
the workforce in small business houses where the
production and trade of floriculture currently unfolds,
agricultural policy is still dominated by the view that
the farmers are predominantly men, while women are only
housewives. This book describes attempts to train rural
women for floriculture - by providing all types of
technical and financial assistance, helping them to carry
out flower cultivation on a small scale, market the
flowers, undertake cost-benefit analysis and, finally,
adopt technology on a large scale. It also identifies the
constraints faced by rural women as they attempt to
establish their flower cultivation enterprises.
2006. 146 pages. ISBN 81-26126-05-1 (HB). WE815.
US$24.30
Gender, Caste, and Class in India
Mangala Subramaniam
In this book, Subramaniam addresses the mobilization and
organizing of the Indian women's movement since the 1970s
in the larger context of globalization and the national
social fabric. Specifically, she examines how the women's
movement has addressed inequities beyond gender (such as
caste, class, religion and geographic difference). The
book combines an analysis of macro level politics of the
women's movement, the state and formal party politics
with a micro level case study of poor Dalit [lowest
caste] women organized through a state initiative in
Karnataka. The case study shows how this flexible
organizational form with a grassroots structure provides
women with 'free spaces' for interaction and
consciousness-raising and is a source of strength to
challenge structures of power based on gender, caste and
class.
2006. 160 pages. ISBN 0-7391-1328-3. WE822.
US$29.95
Transnational Womenís Activism, Organizing and
Human Rights
Myra Marx Ferree and Aili Mari Tripp (Eds.)
Since the UN's first World Conference on Women in Mexico
City in 1975, feminists around the world have campaigned
with increasing success for the recognition of women's
full personhood and empowerment. Noting that diversity
and difference ñ not only in race and class, but
also in national culture and policy ñ shape the
interests that women define as their own, this book
explores the social and political developments that have
energized this movement. Drawn from an international
group of scholars and activists, the authors of these
original essays assess both the opportunities that
transnationalism has created and the tensions it has
inadvertently fostered. By focusing on both the local and
global struggles of todayís feminist activists,
this important volume reveals much about women's changing
rights, treatment and impact in today's world.
2006. 325 pages. ISBN 0-8147-2736-0. WE765.
US$23.00
Transnational Feminist Networks
Valentine M. Moghadam
Globalization may offer modern feminism its greatest
opportunity and greatest challenge. Allowing
communication and information exchange while also
exacerbating economic and social inequalities,
globalization has fostered the growth of transnational
networks of activists and organizations with common
agendas. These groups have used the Internet to build
coalitions, lobby governments and advance the goals of
feminism. Moghadam discusses six such feminist networks
to analyse the organization, objectives, programs and
outcomes of these groups in their effort to improve
conditions for women throughout the world. She also
examines how ëglobalizing womení are
responding to and resisting growing inequalities, the
exploitation of female labor and patriarchal
fundamentalisms. This book is an important addition to
literature exploring feminism as well as to the broader
discussion of the impact of transnational social
movements and organizations in the globalized world
2005. 280 pages. ISBN 0-80188-024-6. WE793.
US$18.95
This section is a compilation of free resources on Women
Organizing that are available on the Internet:
The Association for Women's Rights in Development
(AWID)
What are the greatest challenges that activists encounter
in their efforts to improve economic and social rights
for women? This Association of Women in Development
(AWID) study, conducted in 2005, aimed to answer this
question by interviewing 50 activists working in diverse
settings all over the world. The insights provided in
this report include those from feminist activists working
with a variety of strategies. These include the use of
litigation and judicial processes, making and reforming
policy, engaging with budgets, drawing on United Nations
mechanisms, using fact finding and research, and
organising campaigns and popular mobilisation. It draws
on case studies and examples, strategies for success and
lessons from experience in translating "rights on paper"
into concrete implementation in women's lives. The report
reflects on some of the challenges as well as the
strengths of using these different approaches and
highlights what lessons can be drawn for advocacy work
more generally.
Download a copy:
http://www.awid.org/publications/ESCR-english.pdf
GenFinance
Micro-finance programmes not only give women and men
access to savings and credit, but reach millions of
people worldwide bringing them together regularly in
organised groups. Although no 'magic bullet,' they are
potentially a very significant contribution to gender
equality and women's empowerment, as well as pro-poor
development and civil society strengthening. Through
their contribution to women's ability to earn an income,
these programmes have the potential to initiate a series
of 'virtuous spirals' of economic empowerment, increased
well-being for women and their families and wider social
and political empowerment. The site contains freely
downloadable papers, case studies and learning resources
on microfinance and women's empowerment.
Read further: http://www.genfinance.info/
Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in
Children and Women/
International Labour Organization (ILO)
In this paper, women and children from Thailand,
Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and China explain their
engagement in a program designed to help prevent
trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation. The
respondents recount the most positive results of the
project to date, and how their shared experiences
(consultation and participation) have made a difference
in their lives. They describe learning about their rights
and ways to take action to protect themselves through a
range of community efforts designed to raise awareness
about trafficking, promote gender equality, and organize
self-help groups.
Download a copy: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/
child/trafficking/downloads/voicesacrossthemekong.pdf
Oxfam
This introductory paper presents ways in which people can
increase participation in decision-making and
interrogates the potential of such participation to
reduce poverty and improve quality of life. Crucial to
these debates is the relationship between individuals,
states and communities, and the need for public
institutions to be held accountable. The paper begins by
outlining ways in which citizenship has been understood
in western political theory and goes on to consider the
implications of these definitions for development -
particularly in current agendas. It identifies some of
the limits of citizenship from a gender perspective,
including: citizenship rights are not universal, not all
citizens are able to participate in "active citizenship,"
and citizenship is of limited use in the fight against
poverty or inequality. Finally, it urges individuals to
be aware of their economic, political and social rights,
as well as the rights of others, in order to effectively
participate in political life at the state and societal
level.
Download a copy:
http://www.siyanda.org/docs/sweetman_gendercitizenship.pdf
International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW)
This paper presents a review of current theories and
strategies to foster women's empowerment in the
development context. It evaluates research to date, and
points to areas for future study. The paper defines
empowerment in both individual and collective terms, as
the ability of people to make strategic choices in areas
that affect their lives. Two key factors in the process
of empowerment are identified: control over resources
(the conditions for empowerment) and agency (the ability
to formulate choices). Section I outlines the conceptual
framework. Section two discusses how empowerment can be
measured in practice, with an overview of various
frameworks which cover economic, socio-cultural,
familial, legal, political and psychological dimensions.
The report argues that in practice, measuring empowerment
depends on the establishment of universal standards (such
as human rights), but at the same time must allow for
indicators which are sensitive to context. Section III
provides examples of research projects and how they have
used these frameworks.
Read more: http://www.siyanda.org/search/summary.cfm?NN=1112&ST=SS&
Keywords=empowerment&Subject=Participation&donor=0&langu=E&StartRow=1&Ref=Adv
World Movement for Democracy
The World Movement for Democracy is a global network of
activists, practitioners, academics, policy makers, and
funders, who have come together to cooperate in the
promotion of democracy. This issue highlights
democracy-building organizations and groups around the
world that promote women's access to leadership and
decision-making positions, advocate for women's human
rights, encourage equal participation, and provide voter
education for women. The site includes links to women's
organizations and publications on women's political
participation.
For more information: http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/aug-sep02.html
International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and
The Centre for Development and Population Activities
(CEDPA)
The participation of women in political and economic
processes is essential for democratic governance. This
paper synthesizes the findings and implications of
projects related to women's participation in political
culture, civil society and government institutions
carried out through Promoting Women in Development, a
grants program that supported activities such as lobbying
and advocacy, skills development and developing
institutions to further women's social and economic
rights. The paper explores participation in the context
of shifting gender (and other) roles and identities and
acknowledges that such shifts can enable women to develop
new skills and access new rights. Concepts and
definitions of gendered participation are illustrated
through examples from PROWIDís projects. The
report recommends the development of tools and strategies
to support policy analysis and build skills through, for
example, legal and human rights training, political
education for women and support for lobbying. Further, it
illustrates how collective empowerment can be supported
through the facilitation of networks and the exchange of
organisational ideas. It points out that a body of
knowledge about women's political participation,
including gender disaggregated data, is essential for the
credible lobbying and advocacy efforts.
Download a copy: http://www.icrw.org/docs/GCSLsynthesispaper.pdf
Since 1987, the Global Fund for Women has awarded
over $53,000,000 to 3,200 women's organizations that
advance the human rights of women and girls in more than
160 countries. The organization strengthens women's right
groups based outside the United States by providing
small, flexible, and timely grants ranging from $500 to
$20,000 for operating and program expenses. GFW values
local expertise and believes that women themselves know
best how to determine their needs and propose solutions
for lasting change. To apply for a grant or learn more
about grant criteria, please visit www.globalfundforwomen.org.
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