WOMS 202: Exam I

only African country with female Head of State, (name) ________

Mauritus; Ameena Gurib-Fakim, president since 2015

only African country with a female Head of Government, (name) _______

Namibia; Saara Kuugongelwa

NGOs

Non-Governmental Organizations; governments can enforce policies and laws to promote gender equality, but not without pressure from activism -range from small grassroots organizations to large international organizations (ex. WINGOs, GRSOs - women's grassroots support organizations) -advocate for legal, societal, and cultural change to bring about gender equality -some empower women to advocate for themselves, educate them on legal and human rights, provide services and programs

WINGOs

Women's International Nongovernmental Organizations; form international coalitions of women's NGOs to represent the interests of women and girls

bride kidnappings

a man seeking a wife abducts a woman he wants to marry with the help of other men and takes her to his home, spending hours pressuring her to accept *in some countries, single women are considered impure once they enter a man's home and would be ostracized if they did not accept the marriage

postnatal sex selection

a nontechnological, passive method of sex selection leading to higher death rates for girls under the age of 5 ex. girl neglect, infanticide

son preference is based on the perception of girls as

an economic liability ex. dowry - in order to survive, a daughter needs to marry; in order to marry, there needs to be a dowry = economic liability

feminism

an overall struggle for gender equality (has same goal as women's movements), but ideologies, issues, and identities vary, does not need to be organized as a movement -can be ideas and their enactments -influence speech, thought, expression, workplace, everyday life, in politics -expressions have a cumulative impact on society, politics, economy *does not rest solely on the impact of societal institutions, but on the opportunities it opens for women's self-expression *need to redefine in one's culture's own terms

Burns - men's greater economic power

as men own more property and control more economies/resources, they are simultaneously able to hold more positions of power (ex. political, legal) and push for male agendas (ex, unequal property rights, laws requiring married women to obey husbands) ex. gender wage gap, feminization of poverty

why do people tend to have trouble with the word feminism or identifying as a feminist?

associated with Western ideas and does not consider concerns of women in postsocialist societies ex. Western demand for birth control access; some women depend on having larger families for survival and being supported in old age, some women in countries where forced sterilization has been practiced will be skeptical -"Because I have these liberties in my country, other women everywhere must want these liberties just as much" -who has the power to make decisions/have conversations about what it means for women to be liberated or equal?

Lazreg, "Feminism and Difference": Frenchification of Algerian women

attempts by French women to guide Algerian women toward the ideal of French womanhood, downgrading their religion and customs -French women looking at Algerian women through the "lens of the other" - "You're not me, so you're something else" (placed in a category -denied Algerian women of their selfhood and individuality, their ability to think for themselves -generalized Algerian women and lumped them all together, not as individuals (ex. what is true for one Algerian is true for all) -ultimate goal of French was not to understand Algerian women in their own reality -Islam seen as an obstacle by French women during Frenchification ex. books published in the 1950s and 60s targeted Algerian women to downplay Islam/give up certain customs and traditions

challenge to multiculuralism = ethnocentrism

belief in the superiority of one's nation or ethnic group; quick to judge and reject the way of other cultures

transnational feminist movements

belief that women are entitled to the same rights as men, regardless of where the women live, their ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or social class -involves coalitions of NGOs

transnational networks

broad-based coalitions that engage in research, lobbying, advocacy, and direct action to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment -a product of globalization -takes several forms (ex. governmental and non-governmental actors, foundations, the media, regional and international agencies)

Basu's Global North vs. South terms

challenges notion that international influences are always a good thing for women's movements

Kimberly Crenshaw

coined the term intersectionality in the 1990s, but the concept existed beforehand - WOC and women in third world countries have always understood their experience is based on multiple identities -law professor -founder of the African American Women's Policy Forum -spearhead for #savehername

Lazreg - instead of using the difference paradigm, we need to move use the ______ ________ lens

common humanity

contextualization of women's issues

consider the material contexts (cultural, historical, social, economic) in which they are situated

global women's and gender studies

considers feminism a commitment to changing the structures that keep women lower in status and power -purpose = gain a better understanding of gender inequality cross-culturally and to contribute to women's empowerment -emphasizes the role of NGOs

Basu - Global North

countries that have democracies and are in better socioeconomic conditions than others

World Conference on Women, 1975 - Mexico City, Mexico

delegates reached an agreement on what they called "The World Plan of Action", focusing on ending discrimination against women

Basu - Global South

emerging word to replace "developing nations"; countries that have an interconnecting history of imperialism and colonialism

similarities between Burn and Basu

emphasize intersectionality and the cultural context *challenge = to determine what is a basic human right and what is considered one based on my own culture

multiculturalism

emphasizes helping people to understand, accept, value the cultural differences between groups, with the ultimate goal of benefitting from diversity; celebrate the differences and emphasize the dimensions of commonality that supersede them -create connections between diverse women = the basis for transnational feminist movements

Burns Theme 2: Global women's studies is about active women's _________

empowerment -global women's and gender studies; "true" global feminism -emphasize the role of NGOs

Lazreg - the difference paradigm leads us into __________

essentialism

what is the danger of a single story? (Adichi)

ex. representations of Africa on TV only show starving children, dirt roads, AIDS epidemic - some people are in these situations, but we believe this is the case for ALL people in Africa -we risk cultural misunderstandings when we forget that people's lives or experiences have many different stories composed of several different identities -stereotypes are not all untrue, just incomplete stories

materialist explanation of women's disadvantages

family and social institutions have led to male dominance and female subordination ex. ownership of private property - many societies in which females cannot own property (social institutions) = male dominance ex. marriage - historically a transaction between father and groom

son preference

family values a male child over a female child; starts at birth ex. northern Kenyan Turkana people - when a boy is born, there is a great feast and celebration, but not when a girl is born -cases of gender-biased sex selection, infanticide, girl neglect

the gap between women's studies in academia vs. activism

feminists scholars in "the ivory tower"; when WOC spoke up in the past, they were not taken seriously because they were not using academic language, or they were writing in narrative forms (considered "just experiences)

phenomenology lens

focus on intersectionality; cannot detach people from their religious, socioeconomic, and political context (ex. to improve gender relations, we cannot tell Algerian women to abandon Islam)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

foundational document of human rights adopted by the UN in 1948 -by virtue of being human, we have the right to life, liberty, security of person; no one should be tortured or enslaved; everyone has the right to freedom of movement, nondiscrimination on the basis of sex

social constructionist/sociocultural explanations

gender and power relations are socially constructed differently in each society ex. many cultures promote the binary - if you're born biologically female, you will be a woman *explains how we do gender: -gendered division of labor = gender roles -construction of gender stereotypes and norms support divisions -passed down through gender socialization -social roles theory

Burns, Theme 4: culture should never be used to justify gender inequality - the women's rights as human rights perspective

goal is to wed women's rights to human rights, which are protected under international laws and monitored and enforced by the UN -women have the same economic, political, civil, social rights as men and culture cannot be used to deny anyone these basic rights

bride price

groom gives money, goods, or livestock to the parents of the bride in return for her hand in marriage

essentialism

grouping all people together (ex. "women" - regardless of where you're from, what race you are, etc., you must all want the same thing)

materialist explanation - patriarchy

idea that gender inequality is embedded in our culture ex. found in the economy (wage gap, parental leave), political spheres ("I don't want a woman president")

common humanity lens

in a global context, we need to look for people's common humanity; touching on "women's rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights" -labels like "Muslim women" makes it impossible to compare those women to "First World women" -in countries with a history of colonialism, there were strategies to fight against it (ex. labeling natives as savages, subhuman)

job prestige

jobs held predominantly by women are typically lower in status and pay than jobs traditionally held by men ex. jobs in STEM - held by 33% women globally

legal literacy

knowledge of one's legal rights in the legal system; need to increase this for women globally so they can access legal advice, the court system in their own country, and have the possibility of reforming laws

dowry

money or goods that are paid to the family of the groom, mostly in Southeastern Asian countries

girl neglect

most common form of postnatal sex selection; girls receive less food, supervision, medical attention

Burns, Theme 3: Global women's studies and gender studies takes a _________, ________, ________ approach

multicultural, intersectional, contextualized

Burns: Theme 1 - Gender inequality can be seen as a historical, sociocultural phenomenon - why are girls and women so disadvantaged economically, politically, and socially compared to boys and men?

need to understand the histories in order to understand current social relations; answered with materialist and sociocultural explanations

Second World Conference on Women, 1980 - Copenhagen, Denmark

nothing significant besides a plan to continue working on the World Plan of Action

forced marriage

occurs when one or both of the partners cannot give free consent to the marriage -can be seen as sexual violence (many brides are too young to provide sexual consent and are forcibly raped)

social roles theory

once people develop gender stereotypes, they operate as expectations regarding appropriate roles for those groups, which lead to gender roles

women's movement

organized social movement to challenge gender inequality; includes other social movements in which women have made feminist demands (ex. women in movements on labor rights, economics, imperialism) -not all situations have the same political and economic conditions, so we cannot lump all movements together; specifically analyze where they are taking place

Lazreg - When we look at people in other cultures, we need to look through a ________ lens

phenomenology

Lazreg called for the concept of

phenomenology

Beijing Platform for Action

product of Fourth World Conference on Women; considered one of the most comprehensive agendas negotiated for women -identifies 12 critical areas of concerns and specifies strategic objectives and actions to be undertaken by different governments *intersectionality and cultural context (ex. how we might address those objectives will differ per culture - areas with medicalization of genital mutilation vs, no medicalization)

sex trafficking

pulls women and girls into prostitution against their will; modern form of slavery -may be kidnapped on the way to school, sold by families to people saying they will provide them with "jobs" overseas

Third World Conference on Women, 1985 - Nairobi, Kenya

reached an agreement called "The Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women", setting specific goals to reach gender equality by year 2000 (ex. having women work together transnationally)

global feminism

recognizes and appreciates the diversity in the meanings of feminism, each responsive to the needs and issues of women in different regions, societies, and times

sexual exploitation

sexual abuse for others' gratification or financial gain (ex. prostitution, pornography); also a form of sexual violence

gender-biased sex selection

significantly more male babies are born and survive than female babies; can be considered a form of violence against women -prenatal and postnatal

intersectionality

simultaneous identities that create a person's lived experiences (ex. a man who is also Hindu, poor, lives in a rural area)

phenomenology

study of consciousness and direct experience -instead of saying to other people "This is what you are experiencing", allow those people to talk about their experiences and raise the issues they want to address -a way for people's experiences to be revealed while allowing them to break out of the categories they have been placed in -avoiding generalizations and exploring the various identities within each country

Basu - gender inequality is ____, _____, and _______

systemic, severe, pervasive throughout the world

women's empowerment

the ability to advocate for rights and have decision-making power in public and private lives -important to change the structures institutionally, but also the power dynamics within families -not about women as victims, but what they can do to solve problems

Burns, Theme 4: The view of women's rights as human rights - cultural relativism

the assumption that respecting cultural diversity requires that we accept all cultural practices; we cannot make value judgments about women from another culture because we don't understand the cultural context

how does Burns define inequality? (Chapter 1)

the disadvantages of females relative to males *not "women and men", disadvantages are due to biological sex differences: ex. lack of birth control in the past = women constantly giving birth/nursing = private sphere work ex. men's greater size and strength = public sphere jobs

feminization of poverty

the gap between women and men caught in the cycle of poverty that has widened in the past decade -the majority of the 1 million people living on 1 dollar or less a day are women

neoliberalism

the transfer of control over economic resources from the public to the private sector; deepens structural inequalities ex. only some people can afford health care

BPFA - concern over violence against women

three objectives: -to take integrated measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women -to study cases and consequences of violence against women and their effectiveness of prevention -to eliminate trafficking

prenatal sex selection

use of prenatal technology (ex. ultrasound, amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling, urine tests) to prenatally choose boys -more likely after having a first or second child, none of them sons -varies in practice regionally, ethnically, religiously, socioeconomically

materialist explanations

views the oppression of women as a social, historical, and alterable phenomenon

similarities between Lazreg and Adichi

we are all guilty of forming stereotypes and creating categories of various groups, whether intentional or not: -the problem = when we see a single story or representation supporting a stereotype/category over and over -we essentialize "those" people into one group, generalize their experiences, and deny them of their different identities and stories -solution = phenomenology; allow people to tell their stories first hand, break out of those generalized categories

Burns, Theme 4: solution between two points

we still need to respect cultural diversity, but we simultaneously need to be critical of certain practices

Burns - men's greater political and legal power

when men control political systems, they sometimes use their power to create and maintain legal systems that support gender inequality, or systems that compel women to conform to traditional gender roles -may be a lack of legal literacy leading to women not knowing their rights or misunderstanding them -lack of representation in women's issues (ex. men do not think about gender-based discrimination or violence, enforcing gender-equal laws)

child marriage

when one or both of the partners are under the age of 18 -declining, but some countries still have a 50% rate -most common in developing nations, South Asia, and sub-Saharan African; areas that practice bride prices

Burns - women and girls as property

women are dehumanized and do not have power over their own life or to make their own decisions ex. sexual exploitation (sex trafficking), forced marriage ex. traditional marriage an exchange

gender wage gap

women earn 60-75% of men's wages in most averages; the global average is 24% -women are less likely to have retirement benefits, work in secure jobs -women are more likely to be unemployed, work part-time, or work in family businesses for no pay -explained by differences in education, job experience, part-time work

the gender wage gap is justified by the fact that _______, BUT

women tend to be in the unpaid labor force *BUT, based on the fact that many women are restricted from work/certain types of employment (ex. prohibited from owning land and therefore starting a business) and the general devaluing of "women's work"

Basu: not all feminist interventions take the form of ______ _______

women's movements

Lazreg - difference paradigm

"You're not us, you're them - because you're all them, I will essentialize you into that "them" category" ex. "Latina women" - many different countries in this culture, many differences within each country; cannot generalize -equality comes with many different power relationships; just because you're in one marginalized group (ex. women), does not mean you're powerless in all contexts (ex. Western women over Eastern women)

Heads of State are ____ power

"soft" - mostly ceremonial position with limited power

contemporary women's movements

-focus on coalition building and intersectionality -often ally with other social justice movements to address a wide range of women's interests

UN International Women's Conferences and treaties

-formed relationships between groups that were long-lasting after conferences -forced people to come to an agreement on an agenda/plan for action and form common goals and strategies

regional networks

-have taken up UN mandates, worked with transnational groups, but their concerns are deeply influenced by regional political and economic forces -open and inclusive: capacity for building coalitions across ethnic, religious, class, etc. cleavages in nations with civil war and violence -especially prevalent in Latin America

which countries have the greatest percentage of women working in political positions?

1. Rwanda (61%) 2. Cuba and Bolivia (tied for 53%)

Basu - three types of international and transnational influence with the greatest impact

1. UN International Women's Conferences 2. transnational and regional networks and advocacy groups 3. international funding for NGOs

Burns - boys' and men's higher status

1. higher value placed on men's activities ex. job prestige; more funding, support, and media coverage paid to men's sports 2. son preference

Burns - gender inequality is caused by

1. men's greater economic power 2. men's greater political and legal power 3. boys' and men's higher status 4. women and girls as objects and property 5. violence against women and girls

Basu - three challenges to women's rights

1. move identifying abuses (ex. violence against women happens) to a place of accountability 2. incorporate women's rights into the mainstream human rights agenda 3. create an inclusive women's rights agenda

boys' and men's higher status within context

1. poor economic condition leading to a need for smaller families (ex. restrictive family planning laws) 2. rooted in traditional patriarchal practices 3. male descendants important to families with patrilineal inheritance 4. sons care for elder parents in Asian cultures; daughters get married and leave the family to care for in-laws 5. influenced by countries practicing dowry

international funding for NGOs

1. problems -kind of funding they receive and freedom they have to determine how to use it constrains grassroots organizations -NGOs have become more bureaucraticized and de-politicized -donors can tie funding to their own agendas and use a bidding process to increase competition among women's organizations 2. solution = must choose lesser of two evils -join or create NGOs with little funding; unreliable and constrained -join state-supported organizations; more stable but completely dependent on the government

Basu - causes of gender inequality

1. religious right 2. xenophobic nationalists 3. spread of neoliberalism 4. war and militarization ex. men go off to war and potentially die, leaving women vulnerable; sexual exploitation

International Women's Year (designated by UN)

1975

Decade for Women (designated by UN)

1975-1985: -UN promoted transnational feminism through the creation of national and international forums for action -held three conferences that focused on women's issues

CEDAW year

1979

as of December 2018, ____ women leaders are currently serving as Head of State or Government, BUT this represent only ____% of the total number of global leaders

20; 6.8%

the global average for women's earnings is ___% of what men earn

24%

Cuba and Bolivia's percentage of women in political positions

53%

in most countries, women make ____ to ____% of what men make on average

60-75%

Rwanda's percentage of women in political positions

61%

U.S. women make, on average, ____ on the dollar compared to men

79 cents -WOC make even less

CEDAW

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; most important human rights document specifically to women - an international bill of rights for women -one of the only human rights treaties that affirms the reproductive rights of women and addresses cultural and traditional influences that shape gender roles and family relationships -requires ratifying nations to eliminate discrimination against women in employment, education, politics, provide proof of progress -progress reports sent to Committee every four years -over 186 countries have signed, but the U.S. still has not yet ratified

Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995 - Beijing, China

Hillary Clinton, first lady: "Women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights" -developed the Beijing Platform for Action

Lazreg - religion paradigm

Islam assumed to be: -a self-contained and flawed system that cannot change -in decline -incapable of producing scientific knowledge of itself, so it needs the West to produce valid information about the culture *effect of paradigm: take away women's self-presence and subsume them under religion = women have no history and are not changing *phenomenology: need to look at religion as subject to change (changing in it itself and also limiting people's mobility in certain contexts)