WOMEN, INK. BOOKLINK #68
May 2007
Joeyta Bose
1. Arab Human Development Report
2005 2. Gender, Water and
Development 3. Recovering Subversion 4. Violence, Law and Womenís
Rights in South Asia 5. Forsaken Females Visit our website at
www.womenink.org
for further information and to buy any of the featured
titles. Arab Human Development Report
2005 Written by an independent group of
Arab scholars, policy makers, and practitioners, this
volume focuses on the history and contemporary of Arab
women's economic, political, and social empowerment in
the region. It details the processes by which gender
impacts Arab development and calls for widespread reform
to ensure complete respect for the citizenship rights and
personal freedoms of Arab women, equal access to
information, equal rights to health services and full
opportunities for participation in all types of human
activity outside the family on an equal footing with men.
In addition to suggesting the shape and directions these
reforms should take, the book contains
gender-disaggregated data on a number of topics and the
results of a widespread survey on the topic of the rise
of women in the Arab world. Gender, Water and
Development There is a renewed global
commitment to 'water for all.' Yet even though women are
usually responsible for domestic water provision, their
needs and voices continue to be marginalized in the
development process. A close analysis of current policy
and practice shows that organizations providing improved
water supplies to poor communities typically neglect the
gendered nature of access to and control over water
resources. The resulting gender bias causes
inefficiencies and injustices in water provision and
reduces the effectiveness of well-meant efforts. This
book shows how, in different environmental, historical
and cultural contexts, gender has been an important
element in water provision. It draws on a wide range of
material and analyses them from different disciplinary
perspectives. Case studies include analysis of the role
of water in inhibiting the fight against HIV/AIDS in
southern Africa, and the challenges of taking gender into
account in large water projects in India and Nepal. Recovering Subversion Is the language of rights enough to
foster real social and political change? Menon explores
the relationship between law and feminist politics by
examining the contemporary Indian womenís movement
with comparisons to France and the United States. She
argues that the intersection of feminist politics, law
and the state often paradoxically and severely distorts
important ethical and emancipatory impulses of feminism.
She reviews historical challenges to the liberal notion
of rights from Marxist, feminist, postcolonial and
critical legal scholars, and analyses current Indian
debates on topics including abortion, sexual violence and
parliamentary quotas for women. Far from being a call to
withdraw from the arena of law, Recovering
Subversion instead urges feminists everywhere to
recognize the limits of "rights discourse" and pleads for
a politics that goes beyond its boundaries. Violence, Law and Women's Rights
in South Asia This insightful volume critically
analyses law and law enforcement in three South Asian
countries - India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - in order to
assess the response of the criminal justice system to
violence against women. Asserting that women who are
victims of violence are further victimised by
discriminatory laws, an apathetic judicial system and the
systematic manipulation of legal provisions, the
contributors explore opportunities to make legal systems
more responsive to womenís human right to justice
and freedom from violence. Through an examination of
actual cases, they show how gender biases affect judicial
decisions. They argue for ensuring substantive equality,
eliminating gender discrimination and removing
discriminatory and archaic laws by radically reforming
the legal systems in the region and attuning them to
current realities. This includes making the standards and
norms in international human rights treaties part of
domestic laws. Forsaken Females Women around the world routinely
suffer from beatings, rape, torture and murder. These are
not the practices of a few demented individuals but are
often institutionalized, culturally sanctioned
behaviours. Millions of women live in a constant state of
isolation, terror and fear; for most, escape is nearly
impossible due to economic, social or cultural
restrictions. Forsaken Females explores the many types of
global brutalization that occur against women, including
foeticide, infanticide, female genital mutilation, sexual
slavery, honor killing, acid attacks, trafficking, dowry
death, rape and intimate partner violence. It also
addresses the physical, emotional and economic impact of
the violence. The discussion is structured around the
experiences of women who describe their personal
victimization. Each chapter concludes with examples of
promising policies and practices developed to address and
reduce violence perpetrated against women. ********************************************************************* RESOURCES Free resources on
Gender and Development available over the
Internet: 1. Mairin Iwanka
Raya: Indigenous Women Stand against Violence 2a.
Programming to Address Violence Against Women: Ten
Case Studies 3. Integrating
Indigenous and Gender Aspects in Natural Resource
Management 4. The important
role of women in water, sanitation and hygiene
programmes 5. ILO
Participatory Gender Audit 6. Reflections
on Gender and Participatory Development. All orders need to
be prepaid by credit card (MasterCard/Visa), cheque
(US dollars drawn on a US bank) or direct deposit
into Women, Ink.‚'s bank account (Chase Bank,
New York #152012761). We don't advise e-mailing
your credit card number for security reasons;
instead, fax it to us at 1.212.661.2704 or order
on-line at: http://www.womenink.org.
You can also write
to us at: Booklinks are made
possible by funding from the
Welcome to the Women, Ink.
Booklink, the monthly e-mail bulletin on what's new in
our collection this May. 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.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
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 and Development. The new titles for this month are:
Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World
Feminist Politics Beyond the Law
The Global Brutalization of Women
Towards the Rise of Women in the Arab World
United Nations Development Programme
2006. 313 pages. ISBN 92-1-1261740-0. WE708. $24.95
Anne Coles and Tina Wallace (ed.s)
2005. 256 pages. ISBN 1-84520-125-6. WE786.
Feminist Politics Beyond the Law
Nivedita Menon
2004. 288 pages. ISBN 0-252-07211-1. WE797.
Savitri Goonesekere
2004. 352 pages. ISBN 81-78292-73-4 (HB).
WE818.
The Global Brutalization of Women
Andrea Parrot and Nina Cummings
2006. 270 pages. ISBN 0-7425-4579-2. WE777.
$25.95
The International Indigenous Women's Forum (IIWF),
2007
Prepared as a companion report to the United Nations
Secretary General’s study on violence
against women, this publication explores the many
manifestations of violence against indigenous women and
recommends strategies to combat it. It aims to bridge
persistent gaps between the global women's movement and
the international indigenous movement by proposing an
indigenous conception of gendered violence.Further, it
aims to enhance the knowledge base of the indigenous
women's movement and to communicate the perspectives of
indigenous women to allies and colleagues whose
anti-violence work is grounded in other perspectives.
To download the report in .pdf format visit:
http://indigenouswomensforum.org/intadvocacy/vaiwreport.html
http://indigenouswomensforum.org/vaiwreport06.pdf
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2007
2b. Ending Violence Against Women: Programming
for Prevention, Protection
and Care
UNFPA, 2006
Intended primarily for development practitioners, these
companion volumes document UNFPA's experiences addressing
violence against women in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana,
Kenya, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Romania, Sierra Leone
and Turkey and present good practices drawn from these
case studies. Some of the practical points to consider
when designing and implementing projects that address
violence against women include recognising that culture
is dynamic and people are willing to change;
understanding local contexts; gathering hard data and
soliciting expert opinion; identifying and building on
positive cultural values; adopting a rights-based
approach; allowing space for community involvement;
targeting men, whose participation is key and tapping the
strength of community-based organisations
Get a copy of 2a at: http://www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=322
Find 2b at:http://www.unfpa.org/publications/detail.cfm?ID=323&filterListType=
World Wide Fund for Nature - Denmark, 2005
In most developing countries, women, particularly
indigenous women, are responsible for obtaining water and
fuel and for managing household consumption. As a result,
they are especially concerned with the quality and
sustainability of natural resources. Yet, because women
are largely absent from decision-making, environmental
policies often do not take into account the close links
between their daily lives and the environment. This guide
offers conceptual and practical tools for improving
natural resource management activities with a gender
perspective and aims to start a dialogue among
practitioners as to how gender and indigenous concerns
can best become an integrated part of any natural
resource management process. Divided into three parts, it
presents case studies to illustrate the consequences of
excluding and including indigenous and gender concerns in
natural resource management and provides suggestions and
recommendations for including natural resource management
activities.
Read more at: http://www.ignarm.dk/resources/guidelines_introduction.htm
Fisher, J./ Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative
Council, 2006
How can the vital role of women in water, sanitation and
hygiene interventions be better recognized? A collection
of evidence and brief examples highlighting the effect
and benefits of placing women at the core of planning,
implementation and operations of water, sanitation and
hygiene initiatives, this report recommends a more
people-centered, gender-sensitive approach for program
success. Key messages include the fact that women have a
good knowledge of local water and sanitation practices,
which, when incorporated into these programs, results in
better health and quality of life for the community and
an improved design, greater transparency and
accountability of projects
Further information at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC24257&Resource=f1gender
International Labor Office, 2007
A tool and process based on participatory approaches,
this document can be used to assess if internal practices
and systems for gender mainstreaming are effective and
whether they are being followed. The audit can be used at
an individual, team and organisational level to promote
learning on how to integrate gender concerns at every
level in an institution. Focussing on organisation
theory, qualitative self-assessment, adult experiential
learning and a gender and development approach, the paper
highlights the need to integrate gender throughout
structures and programmes and not to treat it as an
"add-on" and to identify specific gender indicators to
track progress.
Learn more about it at:http://www.ilo.org/dyn/gender/docs/RES/171/F52553087/I
LO%20Participatory%20Gender%20Audit%20brochure.pdf
Kanji, N./ International Institute for Environment
and Development, 2004
This article lays out the case for a focus on gender
issues in participatory approaches because a better
understanding of gender and power dynamics can mean a
more meaningful participation for marginalised groups.
Key points addressed include the impact of liberalisation
and privatisation on women's participation in the public
sphere and the linkages and disconnects between
individual values and institutional change.
Read more about it:http://www.siyanda.org/static/Kanji_reflections.htm?em=0705&tag=QG
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