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521. From South Asian to Diaspora: Missing Women and Migration

Author:
Matthew McCartney and Aisha Gill
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
School of Oriental and African Studies - University of London
Abstract:
The modernisation paradigm is here tested and found wanting in a very particular context; the experience of the migrant. Women in South Asia have a biologically abnormal chance of mortality from conception until their mid-30s. This phenomenon is thought to be related to a range of economic and cultural factors, which include sex selective abortion and gender-biased allocations of health care and nutrition. There is scant research on the manifestation of this phenomenon after migration to developed countries. The modernisation paradigm suggests that migrants will quickly adopt the norms of the host developed country. Some of the proximate causes that generate the excess mortality of females in South Asia are, indeed, not likely to be operational in a developed country; namely, female infanticide and deprivation of nutrition and health care for girls. However, the cultural preference for sons in South Asia has persisted following migration, while the specific way in which this preference is satisfied has changed: sex-selective abortion is replacing post-natal neglect of, and harm done to, girls and women. In some cases, further empirical work is required if the issue of how South Asian practices of gender discrimination might be manifest in the behaviour of migrants to the UK.
Topic:
Demographics, Economics, Gender Issues, Migration, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and South Asia

522. Exploring Universal Rights: A Symposium

Author:
Jamie Mayerfeld, Henry Shue, Jack Donnelly, Kok-Chor Tan, Charles Beitz, and Brooke A. Ackerly
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Human Rights and Human Welfare - Review Essays
Institution:
Josef Korbel Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver
Abstract:
The struggle for human rights has been shadowed by philosophical doubt. Can we assert universal human rights without engaging in moral imperialism? Can we have confidence in the moral beliefs that underlie human rights claims? Can we justify human rights to those who do not believe in the intrinsic value of autonomy? Which Rights Should Be Universal?, the first of two projected volumes on human rights, is a significant contribution to this literature. In a series of original and mind-opening arguments, William Talbott, a professor of philosophy at the University of Washington, lifts us over one philosophical impasse after another. Admirers of Which Rights Should Be Universal? will find their thinking about human rights enlarged and enhanced by a wealth of new concepts; critics will be kept busy in answering the book's copious arguments. From any perspective, Professor Talbott's book moves the conversation about human rights onto a new plane.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Political Economy, and Post Colonialism
Political Geography:
Global Focus

523. Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren't in School and What to do About It

Author:
Marlaine Lockheed and Maureen Lewis
Publication Date:
04-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The images of girls returning to school in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban drew attention to the lack of educational opportunities for girls all too common in many developing countries. Girls' education is indisputably crucial to development, and the development community has worked hard to get more of them into school. The result: since 1960, there have been remarkable increases in primary school enrollment rates for both boys and girls in developing countries. In most countries, girls' participation has converged with that of boys, bringing gender equity to the educational systems of many poor countries. But the international community has largely overlooked a key issue: that out of the remaining 60 million girls ages 6-11 still not in school, 70 percent belong to socially excluded groups.
Topic:
International Relations, Education, Gender Issues, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and Taliban

524. Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions

Author:
Dean Karlan and Martin Valdivia
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Can one teach basic entrepreneurship skills, or are they fixed personal characteristics? Most academic and development policy discussions about microentrepreneurs focus on their access to credit, and assume their human capital to be fixed. The self-employed poor rarely have any formal training in business skills. However, a growing number of microfinance organizations are attempting to build the human capital of micro-entrepreneurs in order to improve the livelihood of their clients and help further their mission of poverty alleviation. Using a randomized control trial, we measure the marginal impact of adding business training to a Peruvian group lending program for female microentrepreneurs. Treatment groups received thirty to sixty minute entrepreneurship training sessions during their normal weekly or monthly banking meeting over a period of one to two years. Control groups remained as they were before, meeting at the same frequency but solely for making loan and savings payments. We find that the treatment led to improved business knowledge, practices and revenues. The program also improved repayment and client retention rates for the microfinance institution. Larger effects found for those that expressed less interest in training in a baseline survey. This has important implications for implementing similar market-based interventions with a goal of recovering costs.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Education, and Gender Issues

525. Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

Author:
Dean Karlan, Wesley Yin, and Nava Ashraf
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Female “empowerment” has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a randomized controlled trial, we examine whether access to an individually-held commitment savings product leads to an increase in female decision-making power within the household. We find positive impacts, particularly for women who have below median decision-making power in the baseline, and we find this leads to a shift towards female-oriented durables goods purchased in the household.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
Southeast Asia

526. Gendering Globalization: Imperial Domesticity and Identity in Northern Pakistan

Author:
Nancy Cook
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
In this paper I contribute to the feminist project of developing gendered analyses of globalization by providing a micro-level study of the effects of intersecting gender, racial, and class relations on global processes of cultural imperialism in contemporary northern Pakistan. More specifically, I examine the mutually constitutive link between the structuring of Western women development workers' domestic spaces and identities in Gilgit and imperial processes, what I will call imperial domesticity. Women's gendered rituals of domesticity and strategies of servant management are the key facets of imperial domesticity highlighted in the paper.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, and Globalization
Political Geography:
Pakistan and Asia

527. The Politics of Form and Alternative Autonomies: Indigenous Women, Subsistence Economies and the Gift Paradigm

Author:
Rauna Kuokkanen
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
Many indigenous rights advocates around the world have emphasized over and over again the paramount importance of collective autonomy as a precondition for the long-term survival of Indigenous peoples as distinctive collectivities. Despite the fears and concerns of nation-states, for a great majority of Indigenous people this kind of autonomy — autonomy as a people — does not imply secession or independent statehood but "appropriate forms of association with surrounding states that would safeguard their distinctive identities and special relationships to their territories" (Lâm 2000, 135). Indigenous peoples' struggle for self-determination, therefore, is also a struggle to exist as a collective in the future, which implies being able to decide about and have control over that future as a people. In short, there is a difference between struggles for autonomy and separatist movements. Nira Yuval-Davis suggests.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Gender Issues, and Globalization

528. Women's Role in Liberia's Reconstruction

Author:
Dorina Bekoe and Christina Parajon
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Women were crucial in bringing peace to Liberia and are also a critical part of the rebuilding process. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has made it a priority to include women in Liberia's reconstruction: women head the ministries of commerce, justice, finance, youth and sports, and gender and development. They also comprise five of the 15 county superintendents. Still, more must be done to increase the capacity of women to take part in Liberia's peacebuilding. On April 23, 2007, the United States Institute of Peace and the Initiative for Inclusive Security co-organized a meeting of the Liberia Working Group to discuss the role that women have played in achieving and maintaining peace in Liberia and the challenges and opportunities of participating in the reconstruction of the country. Panelists included Leymah Roberta Gbowee, executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa and founder of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), Juanita Jarrett, founding member of the Mano River Women's Peace Network (MARWOPNET), and Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, senior gender specialist at the World Bank. This USIPeace Briefing highlights the meeting's central points and recommendations.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Gender Issues, and Political Economy
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, and Liberia

529. Sexual Violence against Women and Children in China

Author:
Ko Ling Chan
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Abstract:
No society is free from rape, and China is no exception. This review documents current literature on gender based violence with a particular focus on sexual violence and assault in China, including Mainland China and Hong Kong. The prevalence of and risk factors for various types of sexual violence are reviewed. Women's responses to sexual violence and how cultural beliefs affect reporting and help-seeking behavior of sexual violence survivors are discussed. Existing intervention and prevention strategies are examined and recommendations on future research are made. The review was commissioned by the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (www.svri.org).
Topic:
Gender Issues, Health, Human Rights, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
China and Israel

530. Oxfam Publishing: Girls' Education in South Asia

Author:
Nicola Swainson
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Because of deep-rooted gender inequalities, and because of the large population of South Asia, the region has the highest number of out-of-school girls in the world. This paper outlines some of the issues confronting practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in girls' education in South Asia, and explores what they can do to move towards high-quality and gender-equitable education for all.
Topic:
Development, Education, and Gender Issues
Political Geography:
South Asia