Suchergebnisse

Over the last two decades, while significant consideration is given to women’s participation and representation in formal peacebuilding processes, there is the dearth of research on the grassroots level involvement and contributions of women to peacebuilding processes in post-conflict communities. Utilizing 28 semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions with women in Bukuru and Gyel communities, this article aims at improving the understandings on the agency of women in building and sustaining peace in polarized post-conflict communities in Plateau State, Nigeria. The article argues that in spite of the global marginalisation of women in formal peace processes, women are actively involved in peacebuilding and use various forms of individual and collective agency to restore harmonious relations, build peace and foster social cohesion in polarized post-conflict communities.

The paper considers why reproductive health has stalled in Tanzania. The individual woman in Tanzania gives birth to many children (TFR = 5.2). The demographic and economic transition is slow and the most striking characteristics is poor and lowlyeducated women having many children. The patterns of mortality among girls and women (and men) are still characterized by a predominance of infectious diseases. This makes women's agency in bringing social and economic development so important. The argument is advanced that child-bearing will go down to replacement level and the wellbeing of women and children improve if women themselves become active agents of change or the dynamic promoters of social transformations that can alter their lives and the lives of children and men. The fundamental changes required to bring this in Tanzania is to put emphasis on the role of women's agency. Some decline in infant and under-five mortality is observed in Tanzania, but it is argued that there is still much space for further decline in infant, under-five, and maternal mortality. It is further stated that there is much space to increase life expectancy by promoting active women's agency.

"As film stars, actresses have throughout film history contributed to the film industry's glamorous surface, providing audiences with visual attraction and different representations of femininity. To talk about women in film as "invisible" may thus seem odd or even wrong. This book, however, is concerned with the paradox that on the other side of the camera, women are clearly underrepresented. This is true of contemporary film culture, and has been true historically, despite significant variations between countries/geographical areas, historical time periods and different roles/professions in film production, distribution and exhibition. This anthology recovers forgotten aspects of women's work and memory, tracing women's film work through the lens of Swedish film history, with a few forays into international film ventures. Using a variety of methods and approaches, including careful study of previously neglected archival material, lived experiences, interviews, and theoretical reflections on feminist historiography, the book explores themes of women's agency and (lack of) visibility in a cultural context very different to Hollywood, thus providing readers with a healthy counterweight to the dominance of Anglo-American material in film scholarship published in English. The articles deal with women's agency in a wide range of roles, in film production, exhibition and criticism, but also with new perspectives on stars/actresses and their agency, and including LGBT and queer identities.
The research presents material evidence of women's involvement in film culture being obscured and ignored because of its status as "women's work", and/or of marginal rather than mainstream interest. The book is divided into two parts, where the first part collects chapters that cover neglected dimensions of silent film culture and the use of archival film as cultural memory in documentary work from various time periods, whereas the second part of the book is focussed mainly on films and filmmaking in the 1970s and 1980s."

Agency freedom is the process through which women can obtain power and control over making decisions about their own life choices. In this study, women's agency freedom was measured based on women's ability to make decisions and their help-seeking practices against domestic violence. We examined how women's higher agency freedom prevented them from being victims of domestic violence. The study analyzed 3373 women from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The results revealed that women's decision-making participation and help-seeking practices had a negative relationship with domestic violence. Women's help-seeking practice had moderating effects on the relationship between women's decision-making participation and domestic violence.

This article examines how Indonesian civil society organisations (CSOs) working for women's empowerment and gender equality have worked together with members of parliament (MPs) to support processes of developmental change. Examples are taken from initiatives supported by MAMPU, an Australian government funded project that promotes gender equality and women's empowerment in Indonesia, describing ways in which gender-focused organisations have engaged with, and had an impact upon, the actions of political leaders in parliament. The article focuses on interaction between institutions and the agency exercised by individuals within institutions. MPs act within a structure of institutional and political incentives, but they also have the power to make choices about how they respond to incentives. Moreover, the leaders of outside actors such as CSOs can modify the structure of incentives by both applying pressure on MPs and providing opportunities for legislators to make different choices. One of MAMPU's tools for targeting MPs has been political economy analysis. Having correctly understood the pressures and incentives facing MPs, CSOs can target their actions to bring about outcomes favourable to both sides in what the article calls 'alliances of instrumental advantage.' Organisations supported by MAMPU achieved success where relationships were forged between the organisations and politicians based on the identification of mutual advantage.

Women's agency in Peace and Conflict Studies has received increased policy attention since the formulation of UN Security Council Resolution in 2000. Academic attention regarding this question has, as a result, also increased dramatically in the intervening period. Women today, as a consequence, are not just seen as victims of conflict, but also as agents of change. Despite their vulnerabilities in the situations created by conflict, women may be exposed to new knowledge and opportunities, which may have positive impacts on their lives. Therefore, it is important to recognize the lived realities and the multiple stories of postwar societies to address the new needs of people and build a sustainable peace. This article examines the everyday lives of women in post-conflict Nepal to demonstrate the significant transformations that have taken place since the war. It specifically investigates conflict-induced social and structural changes through the lived experiences of women tempo drivers, war widows, women ex-combatants and women politicians. This article is based on the analysis of 200 interviews and six focus group discussions (FGDs) carried out over a period of 12 years in seven districts of Nepal.

Until recently, the participation of women in violent extremism (VE) on the one hand, and the engagement of women in efforts to prevent and/or counter violent extremism (PCVE), on the other, have largely been under-theorised. This article examines the agentic dimensions of women's VE practices and a mechanism for preventing and countering VE in Kenya and Tanzania. It is argued that women, as actors who have agency, play multiple roles in VE and PCVE. Drawing on empirical data from Tanzania and Kenya, the article illuminates how women, as agents in their own right, can be mobilised or can actively mobilise themselves and their community to promote VE and/or PCVE practices both proactively and reactively. Contrary to essentialist and reductionist views, which bracket the nuances of women's lived experiences with VE, this article lays bare women's multiple roles in VE, the motives behind taking on such roles and the contexts that shape women's social dispositions in relation to VE and PCVE.

This article examines how Indonesian civil society organisations (CSOs) working for women's empowerment and gender equality have worked together with members of parliament (MPs) to support processes of developmental change. Examples are taken from initiatives supported by MAMPU, an Australian government funded project that promotes gender equality and women's empowerment in Indonesia, describing ways in which gender-focused organisations have engaged with, and had an impact upon, the actions of political leaders in parliament. The article focuses on interaction between institutions and the agency exercised by individuals within institutions. MPs act within a structure of institutional and political incentives, but they also have the power to make choices about how they respond to incentives. Moreover, the leaders of outside actors such as CSOs can modify the structure of incentives by both applying pressure on MPs and providing opportunities for legislators to make different choices. One of MAMPU's tools for targeting MPs has been political economy analysis. Having correctly understood the pressures and incentives facing MPs, CSOs can target their actions to bring about outcomes favourable to both sides in what the article calls 'alliances of instrumental advantage.' Organisations supported by MAMPU achieved success where relationships were forged between the organisations and politicians based on the identification of mutual advantage.