Kakenya Ntaiya and the Kakenya Center for Excellence March 19, 2013

Kenya ranks #130 in the 2012 Gender Inequality Index and ranks #145 in the Human Development Index. (Also, click here for a PDF of Kenya’s composite indices for the 2011 Human Development Report.)

Despite serious problems represented by these figures/values, Kakenya Ntaiya and the Kakenya Center for Excellence arguably provide many of the kinds of action, growth, hope, and promise that we need most in this world.

Woman challenges tradition, brings change to her Kenyan village (CNN Heroes story from March 14, 2013)

(Please check this out. Well worth our time. Every single minute – only 15 minutes, 42 seconds. Really gets going, truly inspiring, in the second half.)

Uganda: The Fight for Women’s Land Rights December 3, 2012

Uganda: The Fight for Women’s Land Rights

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http://thinkafricapress.com/uganda/womens-fight-land-rights

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“In 2001, after the death of her husband, and her son shortly afterwards, Helen Kongai was left with no money and the threat of losing her land – the land on which she had long lived and farmed. But while Ugandan culture dictates that a husband’s family take back any land after he dies, Helen fought successfully to keep it.

“Now, at the age of 50 and a successful farmer, Helen runs a residential training centre from which she has trained thousands in sustainable organic agriculture and offers gender studies lessons in an attempt to bridge the gap between men and women, overcome customary discriminatory practices, and help women gain equal access to land…”

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See also:

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Send a Cow: Supporting African families out of poverty

http://www.sendacow.org.uk/our-work

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Helen Kongai – Ugandan Farmer: How small scale agriculture transforms the lives of women in Uganda

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2008_28_mon.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/04/090407_outlook_sendacow_page.shtml

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Recognizing the African woman farmer

http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/recognizing-the-african-woman-farmer/

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Gender Inequality Index

http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/gender-inequality-index-3/
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2012 Gender Inequality Index

Femen: Ukraine’s Topless Warriors November 28, 2012

Interesting piece on today’s Atlantic front page about these bold feminist activists based in Ukraine:

Founded in Kiev in 2008 to protest the country’s burgeoning sex industry (“Ukraine is not a brothel!” was the slogan of their first — and still clothed — demonstration, which aimed to dissuade foreigners from visiting prostitutes in the capital), Femen has since evolved into a vanguard of militant activists who have dubbed themselves the storozhevyye suki demokratii (the “watch-bitches of democracy”) and “modern-day Amazons,” some of whom demonstrate topless to, says their website ”defend with their chests sexual and civic equality throughout the world.”

The article ends with this remark: ‘Just what de Beauvoir would have thought of topless demonstrations is anyone’s guess.’ Perhaps our erudite readership would care to weigh in? This seems unduly dismissive about the possibility of anticipating and reconstructing the views of a very important philosopher.

Recognizing the African woman farmer September 1, 2012

Recognizing the African woman farmer (click here for full text)

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“Boys learning new ideas of masculinity around campfires in rural Africa and “sisterhoods” formed to provide a common voice to women are starting to change attitudes about African women farmers, say the authors of a forthcoming book about gender and agriculture. But it will take many more such efforts to support women food producers, who make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. In some countries, that number rises to 70 to 80 percent…”

“…Transforming gender relations will be essential to this process. ‘All too often, men think that work on gender means that they will lose out, and historically it is true that programmes focusing on women only have ignored men’s real needs,’ Farnworth said.

Instead, efforts to effect change must target both women and men within households. ‘These work to transform how decisions taken regarding how to run the farm, and how to allocate money earned, and who benefits. The results have been really very impressive because women and men see the gains to cooperation so quickly – it can take only months to change patterns of behaviour that have existed for generations.’

Change also depends on the involvement of men at all levels, she said. ‘This is true particularly in the case of adapting technologies and integrating into market value chains. Our findings show that promoting methodologies that encourage cooperation between women and men farmers reap productivity dividends as women and men share resources across the farm and maximize the efficiency of their decision-making.’…”

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Recognising the African woman farmer – Interviews with the authors at the bottom of the page

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Akinyi Nzioki, Centre for Land, Economy and Rights of Women: What We Do

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Cathy Rozel Farnworth

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Hajia Alima Mahama

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Melinda Fones-Sundell

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Violet Shivutse, Groots Kenya, UN Women Global Civil Society Advisory Group

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Huairou Commission: Women, Homes, and Community

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“The Huairou Commission develops strategic partnerships and linkages among grassroots women’s organizations, advancing their capacity to collectively influence political spaces on behalf of their communities and enhance their sustainable, resilient community development practices…”

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http://www.huairou.org/groots-international

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Groots: Grassroots Organizations Operating Together In Sisterhood

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http://www.siani.se/

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see also
Gender Inequality Index, especially comments 7, 17, 20, 28, 31, 40, 43, 46, 52, 57, and 58
http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/gender-inequality-index-3/

WE ADVANCE in Haiti January 23, 2012

Inspiring work by grassroots organizations and the wonderful people (local and otherwise) who do the work, who make it happen, who “advance the health, safety, and well being of women… WE ADVANCE models an inclusive grassroots approach with a movement that collaborates with both other organizations and women from every socio-economic class. WE ADVANCE is a rights- and community-based participatory program. We empower women’s minds, bodies and spirits and enable them to discover their own needs and priorities, benefiting the entire community. WE ADVANCE brings in volunteer experts to train local community leaders in the aspects of health, safety and education. WE ADVANCE’s goal is to, in the near future, leave our programs in the hands of Haitian women, the women who know best what they need and how to make it a reality.”

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WE ADVANCE

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The news piece at the link below by actress and activist Maria Bello (from about one year ago) arguably highlights some of the important differences between certain kinds of institutionalized, elite human rights work/advocacy and organizations, on the one hand, and local, grassroots (oriented) individuals and organizations, on the other hand.

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How to ADVANCE Our Money in Haiti

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And some additional important and relevant words by Bello (from about one year later):

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Two Years Later — Reimagining Haiti

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see also Femmes en Democratie

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Wangari Maathai, 1941-2011 September 26, 2011

The world has lost one of our greatest moral heroes. Wangari Maathai, April 1, 1941 – September 25, 2011.

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We may update this post when grief allows more personal words. For now, readers who do not know about this wonderful and truly extraordinary person can begin here:

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My favored links include these two:

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Can one woman save Africa?

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The Green Belt Movement

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For some recent reports of her passing, see here:

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Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dies at 71 (NY Times)

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Wangari Maathai: ‘My heart is in the land and women I came from’ (Guardian)

John Vidal, who met the Kenyan activist, recalls the person who turned planting trees into a worldwide symbol of hope

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Wangari Maathai: Death of a visionary (BBC)

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View and Share Condolences primarily here

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For a bit more, see here and here

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Afar region, Ethiopia, abandoing female genital mutilation December 9, 2010

The Afar region in Ethiopia has long practised female genital mutilation in its most severe form – infibulation, or Pharaonic circumcision – which involves removing the clitoris, the labia minora, and then scraping the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then sewn together, leaving just a tiny hole for urination and menstruating. Needless to say, it results in many health complications. But now things are changing. An ongoing campaign in the Afar region has seen many communities abandon the practice. You can read more about the campaign and its results here. There’s some further information about infibulation and other types of female genital mutilation on this site.

Shining Hope for Communities December 4, 2010

Shining Hope for Communities

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http://shininghopeforcommunities.org/

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“We combat intergenerational cycles of poverty and gender inequality by linking tuition-free schools for girls to essential social services in Kenya’s Kibera slum through a holistic, community-driven approach. By concretely linking essential health and economic services to a school for girls, we demonstrate that benefiting women benefits the whole community, cultivating a community ethos that makes women respected members of society.”

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http://shininghopeforcommunities.org/projects/

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“Shining Hope for Communities believes in integrated and community-driven initiatives to combat extreme poverty. Our two-part approach places women at the center of community development. Our core program is the Kibera School for Girls, the first and only free school for girls in Kibera. Adjacent to the Kibera School for Girls is the Shining Hope Community Center, which houses initiatives that serve the entire community. Together, our projects address the most severe local deficits in education, health, sanitation, food security, literacy, and economic development.”

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What do Iran and the U.S. have in common? November 28, 2010

If news reports are correct, two of the seven U.N. member states that have not ratified the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) are Iran and the United States.

Here are two pieces of writing on it that might be well worth your time (for various reasons):

first, Senate Revisits the ‘Women’s Treaty’, by Amy Lieberman
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/7148/senate-revisits-the-womens-treaty

second, The Case against the U.N. Women’s Treaty by (turncoat?) Christina Hoff Sommers
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/253400/case-against-un-womens-treaty-christina-hoff-sommers

Apart from the more obviously important issues, was/is it inappropriate for me to include a parenthetical “turncoat” before Christina Hoff Sommers’ name? Does justice/morality/ethics require me to list her name as author just as I list other names as authors? Whether justice/morality/ethics does so or not, what other words might readers use to describe her? Any thoughts to share on this or related matters?

Gender Inequality Index November 27, 2010

Apparently, the recently released 2010 Human Development Report (HDR) added three new indices to the Human Development Index (HDI). They are The Multidimensional Poverty Index, The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, and the Gender Inequality Index.

The Gender Inequality Index ranks countries by taking account of five indicators: 1) maternal mortality ratio, 2) adolescent fertility rate, 3) the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex, 4) secondary and higher education attainment levels, and 5) by women’s participation in the work force.

This index is (supposed to be) “a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.”

Saudi Arabia, which ranks 55 in the “high human development” category, ranks 128 in the Gender Inequality Index.

Here is the new Gender Inequality Index:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Table4_reprint.pdf

Here is the Human Development Report webpage on it:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/gii/

Many details here for different interpretations in different ways…

…Update from 2012 (and comment #70 below):

Out of 187 countries in the 2011 Human Development Index, the United States ranks 47, the United Kingdom ranks 34, and Canada ranks 20 in the 2011 Gender Inequality Index.

You can download a PDF of the 2011 Gender Inequality Index (with rank and indicators listed in the order of the more comprehensive Human Development Index) by clicking and/or saving here:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_Table4.pdf

You can download a PDF that provides a graphical presentation of the human development indices, including the gender inequality indicators, here:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2011_EN_TechNotes.pdf

You can download a PDF of Frequently Asked Questions about the Gender Inequality Index here:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/FAQs_2011_GII.pdf

The Google Public Data Explorer “enables users to view a wide range of international development statistics, and then graph and contrast different sets of figures. Anyone with Internet access can now readily compare the HDI performance of (for example) China, Egypt, India, Norway, Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Rwanda, Sudan, Tunisia and the United States, graph the results, and share their newly created charts and maps with friends by email.”

Here is a webpage for this wonderful tool:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/explorer/

Readers can find some basic Google Public Data Help for using the tool here:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/explorer/launch/