Resources

Talk of ‘ensonga za Ssenga’ (Ssenga matters) among the Baganda of Uganda signifies an institution that has endured through centuries as a tradition of sexual initiation. At the helm is the paternal aunt (or surrogate versions thereof) whose role is to tutor young women in a range of sexual matters, including pre-menarche practices, pre-marriage preparation, erotics and reproduction. In contemporary Uganda, commercial Ssenga services abound, with Ssenga columns and call-in radio programmes and Ssenga booklets on sale in Kampala’s streets. The institution is being transformed by “modernization” and urbanization, re-drawing the boundaries of Ssenga to suit the times. …

This review came from an original evidence review of women’s empowerment and sexuality. It is based on the available but admittedly limited research that exists on safer sex, sexuality and pleasure. Whilst acknowledging the limitations, the hope is that this document can enable practitioners to enhance their sexuality education and sexual health programmes and activities, while giving researchers, funders and programmes evidence and encouragement to consider increasing their focus on sex and pleasure for people of all sexual identities and in all settings and contexts. …

Most of the literature on women in politics and political empowerment in Bangladesh has either focused on the elected women representatives at the union level in rural areas and the constraints they face or on the ineffectiveness of women Members of Parliament (MPs) in reserved seats. In this chapter, we shift the focus from rural areas and women MPs to women councillors in urban government. …

Sexuality and sexual rights have generally been treated as secondary to the ‘really important matters’. This article explores the linkages between sexual rights and other rights which are considered to be priorities in development, such as health, education and labour rights. This article does not argue that sexual rights are of equal importance to these other rights. Instead, it asserts that sexual rights are all these rights, in that sexuality and social norms surrounding it have huge impacts on health, education and work. …

In the last decade a series of reforms have been introduced in Egyptian family laws. On January 26, 2000 the Egyptian Parliament passed procedural Law No. 1 of 2000. The goal of this law was to address the problems of backlog of cases and inefficient legal procedures, challenges which were mostly confronted by women since they tended to be the majority of claimants in family law cases. …

This article identifies changes and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly 20 years, it seeks to identify processes of women's empowerment. It confirms the relevance of women's economic independence to their participation in decision-making and in gaining autonomy; it gave them the power to assert control over their own lives. To this end, female solidarity has also played a special role, propitiating the exercise of power with to bring about the desired changes in one's lives. …

This chapter identifies change and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly twenty years, it seeks to identify processes of of women's empowerment. …

In the last decade, there have been several significant family law reforms in Egypt that have impacted the struggle to enhance the legal rights of women in the domain of marriage and family. How have these reforms been brought about? Who were the actors involved in the process? Who are the various interlocutors in the public debate about these reforms? What does this debate tell us about their views and agendas in regard to women’s rights and position in the society? This paper will answer these questions with the aim of providing the context for a study on family courts in Egypt. The purpose of this study is to examine how these reforms are being implemented, to identify the diversions and subversions in the process, and to determine whether these reforms are strengthening the legal rights of women in family disputes. The first section of the paper outlines how Shari'a model of marriage is framed in family law, and the significance of the varied ways in which this religious legal model has been interpreted and implemented. …

A witness account from Farah Shash on the politically motivated sexual assaults targeting female protestors of the Arab revolt in Cairo. These have been taking place since the revolution in 2011 which deposed President Mubarak. …

Women have long worked in agriculture, but often as unpaid family labour. The rise of supermarket retailing, however, is contributing to the transformation of agriculture. Initially concentrated in developed countries, supermarkets are now growing rapidly within Africa, Asia and Latin America. Production for supermarkets is generating opportunities for female employment, accessing this employment can bring many opportunities for women, but also new forms of vulnerability. …

The economic and political empowerment of women continues to be a central focus for development agencies worldwide; access to medical care, education and employment, as well as women's reproductive rights, remain key factors affecting women's autonomy. …

In this chapter the authors discuss how feminists in Brazil have responded to the challenge of dealing not only with tensions from existing inequalities within their ranks, but also with the task of devising strategies to channel very diverse women’s demands. They look at the national conferences for women held over the last decade  - the Conference of Brazilian Women (2002), and the I and II National Conferences of Public Policies for Women (2004 and 2007, respectively) – and examine their products: the Feminist Political Platform and the I and II National Plans of Public Policies for Women.  …

Within the constraints of bureaucratic straitjackets and institutional turf battles, this chapter examines the workings of cross-agency gender theme groups (GTGs) to strengthen the gender equality programming of three UN country teams (UNCTs) through an action-learning approach facilitated by Gender at Work. …

This ground-breaking collection investigates the relationship between feminist activism and legal reform as a pathway to gender justice and social change. …

The first of three chapters within this book which analyse the research findings from the Pathways Feminist Activists in Global Policy Organisations project, using the device of five fictionalised characters to preserve the anonymity of participants. …