Pathways News

Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study from Egypt is a new evidence report from Mariz Tadros about the use of sexual violence against women and men in order to deter the opposition from engaging in protests and demonstrations in a context of a country in transition, Egypt. …

Naila Kabeer and Jessica Woodroffe argue in this blog for The Guardian, that UN high-level panel consultations cannot ignore the importance of a dedicated gender target when looking for the next 'new idea' after the Millennium Development Goals.  …

Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy: Beyond the Weapons of the Weak - a new book edited by Naila Kabeer, Ratna Sudarshan and Kirsty Milward and published by Zed is the first in a series on Feminisms in Development from the Pathways programme. This first book offers vibrant accounts of how women working as farm workers, sex workers, domestic workers, waste pickers, fisheries workers and migrant factory workers have organized for collective action. …

In this blog for the IDS Participation, Power and Social Change Team, Mariz Tadros pays tribute to the men who choose to be positive deviants and who even put their lives at risk to support a more humane society. …

This policy briefing from Rosalind Eyben explains why care continues to be neglected in development policy and programming. It recommends the employment of three power tools to achieve a strategic succession of small wins with respect to naming, framing, claiming and programming care. …

On International Women’s Day Rosalind Eyben reflects on the Institute of Development Studies’ progress in raising the profile of care in development. Feminist scholar-activists at IDS have been working with global and national networks as part of a collective effort to have care recognised and integrated into development policies and programmes. International Women’s Day is a good moment to take stock of how they are doing. …

The eruption of protests, violence and civil disobedience in Egypt this month is a replay of the scene in 2011 before the status quo was ruptured, but the Muslim Brotherhood regime’s attacks on women and religious minorities in order to quell opposition is more pervasive than anything seen before, argues Mariz Tadros in this article for Open Democracy. …

30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone) a documentary short film produced by the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment programme in collaboration with Screen South – has been selected for screening at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. …

Naila Kabeer’s blog for The Guardian argues that not only does gender equality lead to higher economic growth, it is key to ensuring a fairer world for both men and women.  …

KPFA Radio Station’s Women’s Magazine (Berkeley, California) interviewed Cecilia Sardenberg on her thoughts as a feminist on President Dilma Rousseff’s election in 2010 and her hopes for the future. Cecilia who is a member of President Rousseff’s PT (Worker’s Party) herself has high hopes for what President Rousseff can achieve despite her lacking the dynamic charisma of the outgoing President Lula. When Rousseff was the Minister for Energy she brought in a gender equity programme which is now in existence across the major energy companies in Brazil. Although she hadn’t previously been associated with the feminist movement, Cecilia believes that she is going to be doing more of this in going forward. …

Cairo has been blessed by an effervescence of protest and openness since Hosni Mubarak resigned and on 8 March 2011 a variety of demonstrations took place in the city. March 8 also marked the centenary of International Women’s Day, but sadly, despite the new optimism for reform since the revolution, the women’s peaceful commemoration of the day was the only group which was attacked, ridiculed, shouted down and chased from the square. …

Pathways South Asia enjoyed a successful launch of their new book ’Mapping Women’s Empowerment: Experiences from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan’, organised by BRAC Development Institute and held at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka on 8 July 2010. It received coverage in the local newspapers and also featured in television evening news broadcasts. …

Cecilia Sardenberg, national coordinator of the Observatory for the Implementation of the Maria da Penha Law, was in Brasilia on 6th August to attend the launch of the ‘Best Practice in the Implementation and Dissemination of the Maria da Penha Law’ Award. The event, held in the auditorium of the Secretary of Policies for Women (Federal Goverment) is part of the celebrations to mark the third year since the sanctioning of Maria da Penha Law (11.340/06) which punishes domestic and family violence against women. Maria da Penha Fernandes, the woman who gave her name to the law, attended the launch and will take part in the presentations for the first award. …

‘Women community health workers were pioneers in bringing rural women to outside formal paid work and breaking conservative norms and female seclusion’, said Simeen Mahmud, lead researcher, at a research findings seminar held for this quantitative study in Dhaka in May 2010. …

In this article for ‘the Commune’, Aitemad Muhanna from the Pathways Middle East Hub tracks the decline of the leftist movement in Palestinian society and how the rise of support for Hamas affected notions of gender in the Palestinian camps. …