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Culture interacts with development in multiple ways. However the importance of culture within development should not be seen as translating to crystallising and solidifying its meaning or providing definitive ideas of what works. In this paper, I look at the relevance of culture to the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, and examine how some women’s movements in Latin America have negotiated and contested meanings around culture and as a result have re-signified gender values, attitudes and behaviours. The example of Las madres de la Plaza de Mayo questions the cultural construct of motherhood and the traditional role of the mother caring for the family within the home, and the women’s neighbourhood action based in Bahia, Brazil which I look at contests and extends the notion of that domestic space. …

Bangladesh has recently been seeing a rise in religiosity which has been treated as problematic, anti-secular and anti-progressive within the public sphere. Various writers describe this trend as having a disempowering effect on women and negating their self-expression. However, underlying these views is the assumption that the assertion of women's agency is not enough if it does not confront existing structures of relations. This article asks whether it is possible that in seeking changes in certain aspects of one's life, existing gender relations are not necessarily transformed, but indirectly challenged and reconfigured? The conclusion suggests that rather than a polarisation of the secular and religious ways of living most people are in fact in between, negotiating between the two camps, and borrowing ideas and ways from both. …

Women play an important part in several fisheries–related activities in Asia but are less well represented in national or regional fishworker organisations than in community and local level organisations. Women’s participation has been seen to broaden the agenda of fishworker organisations by bringing in issues that concern the quality of life such as access to health, sanitation, education and in particular, bringing in a community perspective to the fisheries debate. The experiences of women’s participation in local and community based organisations; the constraints faced; the different perspective they bring in; and ways in which meaningful participation can be strengthened, are explored in this chapter through the experiences of SNEHA (Social Need Education and Human Awareness), an organization that works with women in marine fishing in Tamil Nadu in India. Christy, the founder of SNEHA, is a member of the fishing community. …

In focusing on Ain el-Sira, a low-income neighbourhood of Cairo, this article challenges development theorists' ideas that civil society as a development partner is best able to promote women's empowerment, community development and justice. This article contests that development can avoid the machinations of the state or ignore the power imbalances that litter the relationships between state, civil society, citizens and donors! In Egypt, where the state relegates its development duties to civil society, women in Ain el-Sira experience service initiatives which are duplicated, microcredit loans they often cannot afford to repay, and benefit criteria which are strict and limiting. Programmes remain unchanged for years and long-term plans to relieve the burdens of disempowerment and destitution are non-existent. To achieve real gendered justice which provides women with the assets and capabilities to make choices requires citizenship rights. …

In the late 1990s, Gender at Work wrote about the “deep structure” of organisations through which gender discriminatory norms and power relations are reproduced. In this article, the authors reflect on the evolution since Beijing of Gender at Work’s theory and practice on approaches to shift “deep structure”. The Gender at Work Analytical Framework, used by dozens of organisations worldwide to assess, strategise and evaluate the process of organisational change, is described. Using a case study on the Dalit Women’s Livelihood Accountability Initiative in Uttar Pradesh, India, the article demonstrates the adaptation of the Analytical Framework for working directly with community level programmes, highlighting its strength at bringing into focus the deeply entrenched social norms and deep structures that exclude women from claiming their rights. …

Ogni O Jol is a collection of eleven short stories by young and established writers, and three papers by researchers. Two of the stories are in English and all others in Bangla. This book comes from a project conducted by Shamim Azad who gathered researchers from Nigeria, England, Ghana, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh to conduct a workshop named 'Pathways of Women Empowerment'. Twenty five authors took part in the six month long workshop. …

A witness account from Ola Shahba 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. …

Domestic violence against women has gained worldwide attention as a form of discrimination as well as a violation of women’s human rights. An estimated one in three women in the world is affected, independent of their social standing and cultural background. In many countries around the world, laws are now in place making domestic violence against women a crime. Yet implementation often lags behind legal reforms. …

This workshop held in Delhi from 19-21 October 2008 brought together academics, activists and practitioners to discuss the experience of organisations of women workers beyond the formal economy. The workshop aimed both to document experience and to tease out strategies that have ‘worked’ for particular gains in particular circumstances. Some of the questions addressed were: what makes it possible for marginalized women workers in the informal sector to take collective action around their needs and interests; what strategies, visions and discourses do they draw on? …

This article focuses on the challenges facing organisation among the hardest-to-reach working women in the informal economy. What gives some of them the impetus and courage to organise? What is distinctive about the strategies they draw on to transcend their structurally disadvantaged position within the economy? What barriers do they continue to face in their efforts to address the injustices of the economic system? Through analysing the organisational strategies used in different contexts and for different sets of workers, we can start to see a different battery of weapons among these working women, which serve them better and more transformatively than the weapons of the weak on which they previously relied: the weapons of the organised. This article discusses these issues specifically in relation to the experience of two organisations: MAP Foundation, Thailand, and KKPKP, Pune India. …

This chapter shares insights from a place-based, women-centred programme of Uttarakhand Mahila Parishad (Uttarakhand Women’s Federation), a network of around 16,000 rural women in the hill villages of the state of Uttarakhand, in India. There are 465 whole village women’s groups (WVGs) spread over seven districts of the state, which constitute the federation. In particular, Pande highlights the point that the dynamics of local livelihoods is governed by a gender dynamic embedded in the community way of life. However, with increasing awareness about gender issues and with the improving reach of global market forces in villages, this dynamic of community life is changing. …

The Maria da Penha Law (LMP), which was introduced in 2006, is the first Brazilian federal code to address domestic and familial violence against women. The law is the outcome of thirty years of struggles led by Brazilian women and feminist movements. LMP is an extensive legal instrument that is meant to prevent and combat domestic and familial violence against women.  …

Organizing Women Workers in the Informal Economy explores the emergence of an alternative repertoire among women working in the growing informal sectors of the global South: the weapons of organization and mobilisation. This crucial 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. What gives these precarious workers the impetus and courage to take up these steps? What resources do they draw on in order to transcend their structurally disadvantaged position within the economy? And what continues to hamper their efforts to gain social recognition for themselves as women, as workers and as citizens? …

In Bangladesh there is a well-documented reign of patriarchal institutions and practices, causing women to have little control over their bodies and restricting their experience of the completeness of a vital body and a vital mind. However, this control over women’s bodies appears to be shifting, and nearly all the key elements tat constitute ‘bodily integrity’ are in a state of flux. Whether this is the beginning of a new era with weakened structures, norms and customs remains to be seen, but it certainly is a change. The male-dominated society and economy is now experiencing an increasing infiltration by women of all ages and social classes, with significant implications for siciety’s and men’s hold over women and their bodies. …

A video of photos produced during the photography course given to researchers of the Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Studies on Women from the Federal University of Bahia as part of the research on three generations of women. …