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Begin New Search Topic Gender Issues Publication Year within 25 Years

601. "To Heal the Sick" : Women As Creators of Civil Society in Pre-Modern Poland

Author:
Wladyslaw Roczniak
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
Philanthropy, voluntarism and other non-profit activities comprise a branch of historical studies that is currently blossoming. The recent collapse of communism and the democratization of Eastern Europe have added stimulus to such studies. Today's Eastern Europe offers the third sector practitioner and researcher a strange and contradictory prospect. On the one hand, the collapse of communism and the continuous democratization of the region open new and exciting vistas for the development of civil societies. On the other hand, the re-emergence of old ethnic conflicts and traditional power structures can act as deterrents to the establishment of a viable civil society, as such a society is known in the west. The modern not-for-profit practitioner wishing to do work in the countries of Eastern Europe must keep it in mind that today's events reflect the historical complexity of the region; what we learn about the past of Eastern European society teaches us about its present models of voluntarism.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe

602. Women's Advocacy and the Building of Civil Society in Serbia

Author:
Lilijana Cickaric
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
This study provides an illuminating analysis of the role of women's organizations in rapidly developing non-profit sector in Serbia. It presents up-to-date information on the shifting political and socioeconomic context within they operate, the main areas of activity and representative sample of women's organizations and initiatives. The research is designed on feminist principle of subjectivity, where the researcher is also an activist with the purpose of making women's history socially visible and recognized. The aim is also to stress essential role of women advocacy in wider network of non-governmental organisations oriented towards the building of civil society.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Europe and Serbia

603. The Role of Muslim Women's Organizations in Family Planning Advocacy in Medan

Author:
Hj. Chalidjah Hasan
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
This article deals with the role of Muslim women organizations in Medan in the KB (Family Planning) Advocacy. The sources of the article came from the field study with an observation method, in-depth interview and secondary data. The observation was carried out to look directly at activities concerning the KB Advocacy conducted by Muslim women organizations. Meanwhile the depth interview was conducted with the heads of Muslim women organizations and KB clinic staffs, namely doctors and nurses. The secondary data were used to compare the advocacy programs with the written sources, which were relevant with the studied topic. The samples of the study came from the big three Muslim women organizations in Medan, namely `Aisyiah, Muslimat Nahdlatul Ulama, and Muslimat Al- Washliyah.
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, and Religion
Political Geography:
Asia

604. Violence Against Women Construction Workers in Kerala, India

Author:
S.K. Hari Priya
Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, City University of New York
Abstract:
Woman constitute nearly half of the population of India (48.1 percent which makes 403.4 million women in absolute numbers as per 1991 census). Out of this female population, 74.7 percent are in rural areas and it is abundantly clear that there can be no development unless their needs and interests are fully taken into account. The provision of the constitution of India granting equality to women in various spheres creates the legal framework within which the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India functions for women's development. Women as a motherhood of the nation, should be strong aware and alert. India is the signatory to the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against woman (CEDAW). India ratified the convention in June 1993. The Department of Woman and Child Development was set up in the year 1985 to give the much needed impetus to the holistic development of women and children in India. The major policy initiatives undertaken be the Department in recent past include, the establishment of the National Commission for Women (NCW), Rasthriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) adoption of National Nutritional Policy, (NNP) Strengthening of Integrated Child Development Schemes (ICDS) setting up National Creche Fund (NCF), launching of Indira Mahila Yojana (IMY), Balika Samridhi Yojaja (BSY) and Rural Women's Development and Empowerment Project etc. There are also few other departments in various ministries considering women's empowerment and gender equality etc. in some of their programmes.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, and Poverty
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Kerala

605. Women's Rights are Human Rites: Women's human rights activists as cross-cultural theorists

Author:
Brooke A. Ackerly
Publication Date:
10-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for International Studies, University of Southern California
Abstract:
The familiar human rights paradigm, manifested in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and subsequent related international documents, is problematic. It cannot deal with 1) rights violations associated with a country's cultural norms that define what it means to be “human” and 2) rights violations that do not take the paradigmatic form of discrimination. Further, the framework for human rights set out by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights is insufficient for 3) adjudicating between seemingly competing liberal rights or between liberal and other rights, 4) attributing responsibility for human rights violations by state and non-state actors, attributing responsibility for structural causes of human rights violations, or imputing political import to private actions, and 5) reconciling the concept of universal human rights with cultural norms that violate certain universal human rights. These five problems are interrelated. Cross- cultural human rights theorizing is promising, but in its current articulations, it tends to focus on the last of these five problems. Moreover, it relies either on models of discourse that are exclusionary or on models of culture articulated by elites. Drawing on the theory implicit in their actions, I argue that women's human rights activists give us a way of theorizing that addresses the problems with the existing paradigm without being exclusive or elitist.
Topic:
International Relations, Gender Issues, and Human Rights