Notes
ISBN: 978-1-80382-922-7, eISBN: 978-1-80382-919-7
Publication date: 21 July 2023
Citation
Spitzer, P.A. (2023), "Notes", Empowering Female Climate Change Activists in the Global South: The Path Toward Environmental Social Justice (Diverse Perspectives on Creating a Fairer Society), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 161-173. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-919-720231011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023 Peggy Ann Spitzer
License
This work is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of these works (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Chapter One
The WGC was established in 2009. As of 2011, they have been present at every UNFCCC meeting and intersessional to work alongside the UNFCCC Secretariat, governments, civil society observers, and other stakeholders to ensure that women’s rights and gender justice are core elements of the UNFCCC. The 33 organizations that WGC represents are as follows: All India Women’s Conference (AIWC); All India Women’s Education Fund Association (AIWEFA); Asia-Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development (APWLD); Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW); Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM); Association Jeunesse Verte du Cameroun (AJVC); Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st); CliMates; Danish Family Planning Association (DFPA); ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy; FAWCO; Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK); LIFE – Education Sustainability Equality; GenderCC – Women for Climate Justice; Global Forest Coalition; Huairou Commission; International Council for Adult Education (ICAE); International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD); Italian Climate Network; Landesa; LAYA; Margaret Pyke Trust; NGO CSW/NY; Practical Action; Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) Initiative; Solar Cookers International; Support for Women in Agriculture and Environment (SWAGEN); Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR); Women Environmental Programme (WEP); Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF); Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (WOCAN); Women’s Environment & Development Organization (WEDO); and Youth Action for Development (AJED-CONGO). See “Women & Gender Constituency,” Women & Gender Constituency, accessed October 4, 2021, https://womengenderclimate.org/.
Gender Just Climate Solutions. Women & Gender Constituency, September 26, 2021, https://womengenderclimate.org/gender-just-climate-solutions-2/. For more information on past awardees, see the database.
Bearak (2022).
This issue of inclusivity is of primary importance to the WGC. On the first day of COP26, a member of the Mexican delegation, Emilia Reyes, sent out the following message to the WGC: “I’m at a meeting with the EIG (the negotiation group). Yesterday the presidency announced that the rooms for negotiations were too small, and therefore not even all parties will be allowed in. So, there will only be tickets for negotiating groups and not for all the parties, inviting those without any ticket to attend the meeting virtually. It’s outrageous, because many developing countries spent public resources to attend because the presidency refused to organize a hybrid conference and everybody was forced to come, to pay obscene costs for staying, and now individual voices won’t be heard, despite the fact that different agendas have different champions.”
For information about the UNFCCC program, see https://unfccc.int/climate-action/un-global-climate-action-awards/women-for-results; and for Gurung’s award, see https://unfccc.int/climate-action/momentum-for-change/women-for-results/the-w-standard.
Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. WOCAN, September 23, 2021, https://www.wocan.org/.
Christoff and Sommer (2019).
Special thanks to Erin Byers for finding and annotating current bibliographic references for this and subsequent chapters. She was assisted by Christine Fena, Academic Success Librarian, Stonybrook University Libraries.
Ngigi et al. (2017).
Gonda (2017).
Balehey et al. (2018).
Kerr et al. (2018).
Lai (2010) summarizes these points.
In The Creation of Patriarchy, Gerda Lerner (1987) first traced the roots of patriarchal dominance through historical, archeological, literary, and artistic evidence, to show that patriarchy is both an ideological and cultural construct.
According to the environmental sociologist, Jamie Sommer, there is a women’s workplace and equality index: https://www.cfr.org/legal-barriers/country-rankings/. She also identified a short statistical take on women’s equality: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1221060/most-gender-equal-countries-in-the-world/. There is also the women’s peace and security index: https://giwps.georgetown.edu/the-index/. And there is an article that has some measurement of patriarchy in Europe: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1081602X.2014.1001769. If one were to construct a patriarchy index, the Varieties of Democracy dataset has many variables that measure women’s rights and participation across time and many countries. Here is an article describing some of these data: https://www.v-dem.net/media/filer_public/27/ef/27efa648-e81e-475a-b2df-8391dc7c840b/v-dem_working_paper_2015_19.pdf.
Rao et al. (2017).
Jordan (2018).
Adzawla et al. (2019).
Goli et al. (2020).
Patnaik (2021).
The interview outline and the required release forms for the women’s oral history collection were adapted from the Library of Congress’s Veterans’ Oral History project. See https://www.loc.gov/vets/kit.html.
The oral histories are in a digital collection at Stony Brook University under the title, “Women in US–Asian Relations.” See https://library.stonybrook.edu/digital-projects/women-in-us-asian-relations-oral-history-project/. They include accounts of women who pursued careers as artists, business executives, diplomats, human rights advocates, immigrants, journalists/social media specialists, lawyers, medical professionals, philanthropists, policy analysts, scholars, and scientists. To date, this is the only systematic collection of oral histories that I am aware of in which women specifically discuss the challenges they faced in their careers in male-dominated, hierarchical organizations.
Winters and Ozdal (2021).
Antonio and Begum (2021).
Phillips (2021).
Gurler and Schieda (2021).
Feinberg and Robinson (2021).
Pollard and Hernandez (2021).
Chahal (2021, p. 8).
Gomez et al. (2021).
Kuruvilla (2021) and Chen et al. (2021).
N. Ahmed et al. (2021).
Kuruvilla et al. (2021), Chen et al. (2021), and Norzin (2021).
Decicco et al. (2021).
N. Ahmed et al. (2021).
Decicco et al. (2021).
Tavares et al. (2021).
Gurler and Schieda (2021).
Winters and Ozdal (2021).
Rubab et al. (2021).
Bem (1981).
Ahn et al. (2021).
Nurlaily et al. (2021).
Hegarty and Sarter (2021).
Ng’ong’a (2021).
Rauf and Saputra (2021).
Massawe (2021).
Hall (2021).
Hasti et al. (2021).
Shohel (2021).
Afolabi (2021).
Flavelle et al. (2021).
Yasmeen Watad’s comments were in the context of an independent study project on women and climate change, fall 2021.
For more information on negotiations, competition, and collaboration among women, see Grant (2016).
Peggy Ann Spitzer, interview with Biplab Paul, April 19, 2019. Because of the conversational tone of the interview and uneven sound recording, I paraphrased Paul’s comments (Voice Recording (VR) 36:21:00–37:29:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 22:29:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 19:19:00, 30:23:00, and 30:49:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 11:23:00–11:30:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 11:53:00–12:06:00 and 13:22:00–13:27:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 31:43:00, 32:26:00, 33:01:00, and 34:54:00).
Spitzer (2019) (VR 17:03:00).
Antonio and Begum (2021).
Torres and Cheung (2021).
Gomez et al. (2021), Antonio and Begum (2021), and Choi and Park (2021).
Chen et al. (2021).
Chapter Two
Women Engaged for a Common Future (WECF) also has a cheat sheet (https://www.wecf.org/cop27-cheat-sheet-your-guide-for-relevant-cop-terms/) specially designed for those who attending the 2022 UNFCCC’s climate change conference (COP27). It contains many useful links to documents that explain the history and status of terms and treaties.
The conference, titled “Heritage and our Sustainable Future: Research, Practice, Policy, and Impact” took place in February and March in 2021. Five panels focused on various aspects of climate change and gender equity: (1) cultural heritage and climate change; (2) evaluating the impact of cultural heritage for sustainable development; (3) heritage, disaster response, and resilience; (4) reducing inequality: people-centered approaches; and (5) rethinking capacities. One of the approximately 60 presenters advocated for the creativity of women and small farmers (Dr. Sandip Hazareesingh in the history department at The Open University). One participant supported social justice and gender equality and sustainable development (Sophia Labadi, Professor of Heritage, University of Kent). Six other presenters worked on climate change – one from African World Heritage Fund, one from the Climate Heritage Network Secretariat (www.climateheritage.org), one from the IUCN on ecosystem-based adaptation, one from ICCROM’s Urban Heritage, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Programme Unit, one from the Open University, and one from the Institute of Conservation (ICON).
As a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, a coalition of United Nation’s agencies and organizations, UNESCO is focused fitting its activities into the United Nations’ 17 SDGs, which are: (1) no poverty, (2) zero hunger, (3) good health and well-being, (4) quality education, (5) gender equality, (6) clean water and sanitation, (7) affordable and clean energy, (8) decent work and economic growth, (9) industry, innovation and infrastructure, (10) reducing inequality, (11) sustainable cities and communities, (12) responsible consumption and production, (13) climate action, (14) life below water, (15) life on land, (16) peace, justice, and strong institutions, and (17) partnerships for the goals.
Two different comments from attendees, opposite in content but equally arrogant in tone because of its general assumptions about the Global South, indicate a lack of sensitivity to those who are suffering:
“Having worked in emergency response for many years, I can tell you that many people prefer being hungry rather than not rebuilding their temple or cherished cultural center.”
“Coming from a conflict region, I can tell you that no one in these regions prefers rebuilding their cherished cultural heritage instead of having food for their hungry children … most post-conflict reconstruction comes from international and private donors who decide what to rebuild!!!”
Larsen and Logan (2018).
By far, the largest number of projects (34%) are in Asia and 22% of those are in coastal and marine areas.
Comment at UNESCO’s “Heritage and Our Sustainable Future: Research, Practice, Policy, and Impact” in February and March in 2021.
Comment by Carlos Jaramillo at UNESCO’s “Heritage and Our Sustainable Future: Research, Practice, Policy, and Impact” in February and March in 2021.
Only one presenter offered a glimmer of hope when he posed the question of how UNESCO’s practices could support gender and wider equalities and human rights, promote inclusion and accessibility, addressing inequalities and poverty, or deepening existing inequalities.
Kaufman (2021).
Yasmeen Watad’s comments were in the context of an independent study project on women and climate change, fall 2021.
REDD+ is a framework created by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) to guide activities in the forest sector that reduces emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, as well as the sustainable management of forests and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. The Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) has criticized REDD+ programs as “false solutions.”
Larson et al. (2018).
Bhandari et al. (2019).
Lau and Ruano-Chamorro (2021).
CARE Climate Change (2020).
Mcleod et al. (2018).
Huyer et al. (2020).
For more information on INDCs, NDCs and gender equality, see https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/12/11/time-gender-equality-leadership-new-ndcs/.
Here are the population statistics as of 2020: Guatemala with 17.9 million, Nepal with 31 million, Uganda with 45.7 million, and Tanzania with 59.7 million.
Freeman and Mulema (2021).
In an email exchange (on September 9, 2021) Professor David Sperling, Research Professor at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at Strathmore University in Nairobi explained: “One of the problems of learning about such projects locally is that the funding goes to the national government in Nairobi, not directly to the County Government. There is still ongoing “financial tension,” if we can call it that, between the national government and the sub-national County governments.”
Rao et al. (2019).
Hughes (2021).
A social enterprise does not have one single, solidified definition, but rather, it can be interpreted and used to describe several different situations. The term must be contextualized and understood with flexibility because the structure, types of partnerships, and various functions of a social enterprise are complex. However, there are shared characteristics of social enterprises, outlined by Ana Maria Peredo and Murdith McLean (2006) in their critical review of social entrepreneurships.
[They all] (1) aim(s) at creating social value, either exclusively or at least in some prominent way; (2) show(s) capacity to recognize and take advantage of opportunities to create that value; (3) employs(s) innovation, ranging from outright invention to adapting someone else’s novelty, in creating and/or distributing social value; (4) is/are willing to accept an above-average degree of risk in creating and disseminating social value; and (5) is/are unusually resourceful in being relatively undaunted by scare assets in pursuing their social venture (Peredo & McLean, 2006, p. 64).
Additionally, “[social enterprises] connect two different aspects, which means they attract those who are interested in the social mission and those in making profits” (Ferrarini 13). In essence, it is important to understand the complexities surrounding this term.
As their connections with other organizations and funders grew, so did the scale and scope of Trupti and Biplab’s creation. For instance, their Bhungroo technology and services have received several awards including the national DST Lockhead Martin India Innovation Growth Programme Innovation Award; regional recognition from Syngenta Agriculture Social Enterprise Award; the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia Award; international acknowledgment from UNFCCC Momentum for Change’s “Women for Results” Award, the Cartier Women’s Initiative Award, Buckminster Fuller Challenge, among many others – from our Sustainability article.
Lwiza interview with Kunika Chahal (April 24, 2020).
To access Kunika’s research paper on this topic, see https://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/s/mirroring-hope-bhungroo-oral-history-project/item/6525
Because our model combines Naireeta Service’s Bhungroo irrigation technology with WOCAN’s W+™ Standard, we hoped to find sponsoring companies. We found that WOCAN’s Solafrica Bokpoort SCP Programme in South Africa may be an important reference point relevant because it also focuses on water supply systems. In fact, Solafrica Bokpoort is in the process of implementing, “a series of activities benefiting women, including water supply systems, solar lightning, soup kitchens and feeding groups, training and counseling on primary healthcare, substance abuse, gender-based violence and reproductive health, and an incubator for women-owned SMEs” (WOCAN, 2019). This project, which is like the one proposed for Turkana County, becomes certified after the Bhungroo technology is implemented and trained project developer certifies its efficacy.
According to colleagues in Kenya, gender mainstreaming is a globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality. It is a means to achieve the goal of gender equality; and involves ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality are central to all activities in policy development, research, advocacy/dialogue, legislation, resource allocation, planning, implementation and monitoring of policies, programs, and projects. In July 1997, the United Nations Economic and Social Council defined the concept of gender mainstreaming as follows:
[…] the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. (United Nations Economic and Social Council Report, 1997)
In a field study such as this one, gender mainstreaming usually involves undertaking a gender analysis – with a view toward identifying inequalities between men and women, which need to be addressed in the process of technology development uptake and upscaling – and providing equal opportunities to all and carrying out gender-specific actions wherever inequalities are pronounced in the process of technology development uptake and upscaling. On example is the Harvard Gender Analytical Framework, which focuses on answering such questions as: (a) Who does what activity? (b) Who has access to what productive resources? (c) Who has control over what productive resources? (d) Who benefits from what resource? This is in addition to analyzing the so-called “influencing factors” (e.g., norms, institutional structures, and socio-economic and political hierarchies).
Erin Byers comment was in the context of an independent study project on women and climate change, fall 2021.
There is a cost to become a part of the W+™ Standard network, but the organization pays that cost, not the people in need. To ensure optimal success, a main project developer (for each W+ endorsed project) prepares regular reports on the ongoing results of the initiative.
In addition to myself, the team members included one other person at Stony Brook University and four other scientists in Kenya. All were dedicated participants. To understand more about the team composition, here are the members’ names and areas of expertise:
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Stony Brook University, Ali Khosronejad has worked on water resources engineering issues in Iran, Canada, and the United States. Among his numerous publications, with NSF-funding, are articles related to simulation based in-stream structure designs. He has actively participated in developing the Virtual Flow Simulator (VFS-Geophysics) of computational fluid dynamic codes; and has begun work in rural communities around the Turkana Basin in Kenya where our research takes place.
A Research Professor who has worked on food and water issues in Kenya for 20 years, Michael Maero Wawire, has formed a research consortium involving local and foreign institutions specifically to conduct collaborative research in roughly 15 projects around food agriculture nutrition, energy, the environment, and water – including novel desalination and irrigation techniques for poor rural communities in arid and semi-arid lands. His expertise in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and experience in training farmers to utilize the technology to enhance food production, led him to develop the work plan for this project.
A Senior Research Scientist who, over the past decade, has published 15 scientific and technical articles on livestock, cropping, land use, and housing in Turkana County, Jesse Omondi Owino, brings to this project an expertise in climate change adaptation and gender conscious and youth activities in rural communities.
David Sperling has taught in Kenyan universities for over 30 years, first at the University of Nairobi and most recently as Research Professor in the Institute of Public Policy and Governance of Strathmore University. He is the Founder of the Utawala Applied Research Institute, which has worked closely with the Council of Governors of Kenya and which has been working with the Turkana County Government for the past three years since March 2018. The main work of Utawala in Turkana County is to provide support to the communities and the management committees of the numerous agricultural irrigation schemes in the County, He has received support from Oxfam and USAID for this work. His Utawala Research Institute has been chosen by USAID to participate in the co-creation of a Local Development Organization (LDO) for the County-driven Sustainability Project of Turkana County.
As a Board Member of several national professional environmental organizations, Fabian Kabura, has utilized his engineering expertise in agriculture, livestock, and land and water management to develop national and international partnerships that has included environmental impact assessments and audits. Among his numerous professional activities, the World Bank has named him as the national monitoring and evaluation officer in charge of irrigation infrastructure.
The Technical Initiatives Manager for the Turkana Basin Institute, Acacia Leakey has facilitated research in remote areas of northern Kenya and has served as the lead engineering and project manager for Off-grid Solutions for African Economic Development (SOSAED).
Chapter Three
Keck and Sikkink (2014).
For a further assessment, see also Evans and Rodríguez-Garavito’s (2018) edited volume.
Arensman et al. (2017).
Osterhoudt (2018).
Makondo and Thomas (2018).
Rosenberg (2018).
Borde and Bluemling (2021).
Goodall and Hekmat (2021).
In fact, these women focused on the traumas they endured when they were forced to abandon their livelihoods to escape the Taliban and move to urban slums and minimized their struggles in migrating to Australia to escape climate-related disasters.
Dauvergne and Shipton (2021).
In the early 2000s, my research had been published in a general interest magazine through the Chicago Historical Society, in an international scholarly publication, The Journal of Women’s History, and was part of a scholarly monograph I wrote, Tracking the Yellow Peril: The INS and Chinese Immigrants in the Midwest. See Christoff (1998a, 1998b, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c, 2001d, 2001e).
Ritchie (2003). I had worked with Ritchie and the Indian historian, Romila Thapar, to develop a symposium, “Stories of our Nations, Footprints of our Souls” at the Library of Congress (May 2004).
The New School for Social Research’s New University in Exile course titled “Feminist Research Methodologies and Digital Feminist Research,” challenged the commonly accepted (and male constructed) “scientific method.” Thousands of students and scholars from around the world attended this seminar, taught by Asli Kotaman and Pelin Yalçinoğlu Kaplan, political exiles from Türkiye, in the fall of 2021.
Harding (1987, p. 9).
The randomized anonymous protocol is commonly used in, for example, the US Agency for International Development, which seeks to protect “Personally Identifiable Information” as a standard in social science research.
For the full essay, see http://stonybrook.schemacms.com/#/.
A scholar of Asian American philosophy, Gary Mar, points out that universal meanings in stories depend on recording details; and that is why they are completely different from bursts of ideas in social media. According to Mar, “Multiple disconnected images in social media distract us from ourselves, the lives we live, and the history we make.” He uses Charles Dicken’s reflection at the beginning of David Copperfield to emphasize the importance of first-person stories: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”
In translating classical Chinese poetry, David Hinton also observed that women are the ones who focus on the immediate physical experience, which is deeply ecological.
For more information about this, see Bottigheimer (2009).
See Ruth Bottigheimer (2000). It is possible to hypothesize that when economic power is gendered – and dominated by men – women are excluded; and their voices are silenced.
The following students worked on the oral interviews: Jamie Sommer and Aidee Sauceda Davila (Belize), Erin Byers and Martha Maria Chavez Negrete (Guatemala and Colombia), Leio Koga (Italy and Uganda), and Yasmeen Watad (Tunisia).
Christoff and Sommer (2018).
Chapter Four
FOH’s social framework confirms Bottigheimer’s historical research that there was a correlation between a woman’s loss of reproductive rights (whether by choice or social pressure) and her exclusion from the money economy, which would restrict the possibility pursuing an independent livelihood.
As of 2020, MealFlour became registered as a non-profit in Guatemala under the name Asociación Todos Juntos por la Resiliencia Comunitaria (Todos Juntos).
See Frank and Wimer (2018); Leslie (2016); Hadavvas (2016); Pezzato, L. Three girls fighting malnutrition in Guatemala (21 Bites 2019); MealFlour (Youth Solutions Report 2018 Edition, p. 73); MealFlour: 2020 Annual Report (www.mealflour.org).
As a member of the 20 member UNFCCC jury, I interviewed Monzón over Zoom. It turned out that MealFlour was one of three projects the entire jury selected to receive the GJCS award and recognize Monzón as the driving force behind this initiative. The GJCS jury committee received over 150 submissions in 2021. As for Monzón’s specific role, she is the director of Todos Juntos – as the legal representative, finance manager, and field director. She also has the title of co-director of programs because, according to legal requirements, Todos Juntos must have a foreign partner.
In previous summers, Wimer had worked to improve sexual and reproductive health education in Rwanda, and Frank performed clinical research on household air pollution in Nigeria.
Mealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle. From a diet of organic food waste, the worms grow to be about one inch long with 55.4% protein – more than twice as protein efficient as beef.
The students, all but one female, majored in social work, veterinary medicine, biology, and anthropology.
The Summit Foundation in Washington, DC has provided substantial financial support to FUNDAECO. None of its trustees and staff appear to have an affiliation with the Catholic Church, and are affiliated with such organizations as the Smithsonian Institution, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the United Nations.
Among these international organizations are Winrock International, the Netherlands Development Organization, Climate Focus, The Center for People and Forests, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Brady et al. (1994).
USAID/LEAF (2014).
Giri (2017).
Years later, she became a senior manager in the Global Restoration Initiative on equity-integrated programming for the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC.
These organizations are: Winrock International (WI), SNV, Netherlands Development Organization, Climate Focus (CF), The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), and USAID LEAF Vietnam.
USAID/LEAF (2014, p. 28).
USAID/LEAF (2014, p. 9).
After our interview, I sent Kalpana the transcript of our interview to review, and she provided comments on a draft of one of my articles for a scholarly publication.
For more information on this, see the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public–private partnership endorsed by the UN Foundation (https://cleancookstoves.org).
Among the organizations with whom she worked were the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the Clean Energy Fund, the Thai government’s ESCO fund, and local lenders Kasikorn Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, and Thanachart Bank.
The Bangkok Post stories are as follows: Karnjana Karnjanatawe, “All Fired Up” (February 17, 2014); “Struggle for her Homeland” (March 15, 2014); “The River of Dreams” (March 31, 2014); “Slippery Customers” (June 2, 2014); “A Legacy Lives On” (June 23, 2014); “Mother Nature” (December 2, 2014); “Encroaching on Male Territory” (February 2, 2015); “All the Glitters …” (April 29, 2015); “Under Mother Nature’s Watch” (August 3, 2015); and “The Good Fight” (August 18, 2015).
Christoff and Sommer (2018).
I have observed this “moral responsibility” theme in twentieth century American history when Francis Willard, an American educator, temperance reformer, and women’s suffragist, famously stated “The world wants women’s very best and will smite them if they do not hand it over.”
Leio found that social enterprises in Europe target specific problems – like the waste created by the fashion industry in Italy – to combat larger problems like climate change. She also did extensive research to learn about the range of social enterprises around the world. For her complete project report, see https://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/s/mirroring-hope-bhungroo-oral-history-project/item/6526.
For more information, see https://barefootcollegetilonia.org.
For a description of all eight programs, see https://www.imeceinitiative.com/en/projects.
unfccc.int/mfc2016/project.html?p=uganda-women-as-important-agents-of-change-and-innovation
There were many Indians living in Uganda, a relic of British Empire, I suppose, until Dictator Idi Amin expelled them in 1972 in an effort at “ethnic cleansing.”
In Chapter One, Biplab mentioned at least seven states in India that could benefit from RUCODE’s initiatives: Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Jharkhand.
During COVID, Yasmeen conducted intensive research on NGOs – to conduct informational interviews – involved learning how to search databases and develop annotated bibliographies. That term, she attended six online training programs offered by our library to learn how to fully explore databases, which included learning how to use a citation management tool, Zotero, learning about digital privacy, and working one-on-one with the undergraduate reference librarian, Christine Fena, to choose her own “research journey adventure.”
Sultana (2022).
MacKinnon (1983).
For further information about her WRT102 personal essay, contact her at ywatad@gmail.com
https://www.women2030.org
Yerkes and McKeown (2018).
UN Women Arab States (2022).
Chapter Five
Janif et al. (2016).
I had a similar experience in the early 1980s when I was doing field research in China about how traditional Chinese scientists collected data throughout rural villages to chart the efficacy of acupuncture, animal behavior during earthquakes, and dietary patterns among those who contracted esophageal cancer. After returning to the United States and interviewing American scientists who were engaged in research exchanges in these areas with Chinese scientists, I learned that western-trained scientists generally disregarded the Chinese research, believing that controlled experiments in the laboratory were more reliable than observations in the field.
Wang (2017).
It is noteworthy that Wang is Dean of Office of International Affairs and Professor of the Department of Drama Creation and Application, National University of Tainan (Taiwan) and that she uses oral history in her research in the field of applied theater.
Mashizha (2019).
Free diving refers to not using oxygen masks or other breathing equipment (Chisholm Hatfield & Hong, 2019).
The numbers were not in the original article but were provided through email correspondence with Professor Hatfield on July 21, 2022. The interviews took place in Cheongsando, Jeju, and Wando.
Nimmo et al. (2020).
Hazareesingh (2021).
Environmental anthropologists refer to this as “translational knowledge,” that is, creating shared knowledge on climate change that is actionable and relevant, and incorporates both scientific and local traditional knowledge on climate change.
The villages are Nani Chandoori, Dudhkha, and Aritha in the Patan District.
For a simple description of Bhungroo, see https://unfccc.int/mfc2014/lighthouse-activities/women-for-results/bhungroo/
Note: the farmers’ names, in bold type, are pseudonyms. To identify gender, I have kept the naming convention from the Gujarati language as follows: “ben” at the end of a woman’s name, is an honorific term and means “sister”; and “bhai,” which is often but not always at the end of a man’s name, means “brother.” I selected Gujarati names as pseudonyms that have uplifting meanings and positive qualities. See Table 1 in this chapter for their associated meanings.
To learn more about the farmers and peruse through their oral histories, visit https://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/s/mirroring-hope-bhungroo-oral-history-project/page/welcome
One recent news article that explains this situation in Bangladesh is C. Davison (2022).
“College” in the context of rural Gujarat is probably not what we, in the Global North, would think of. It may be more like a community college or a girls-only enhanced high school.
A borewell is a deep, narrow well for water that is drilled into the ground and has a pipe fitted as a casing in the upper part of the borehole, typically equipped with a pump to draw the water to the surface.
Chapter Six
Alevi is the largest religious minority in Türkiye. They fall under the Shi’a denomination of Islam.
Though not feminist in nature, one well-known example of the difference between public figures and intellectual force was the Solidarity Movement in Poland, in which a shipyard electrician by trade who later became president of Poland, Lech Walesa, was the well-known international figure but the actual architect of democratic freedom was the intellectual/philosopher, Leszek Kołakowski.
Published by Sage in New Media & Society, an international journal that was established over 20 years ago to provide a forum on the social dynamics of media and information change, this journal announces that it belongs to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Tharu and Yadav (2018, p. 9).
One program, Stree Shakti (“she leads”) is an online training program to support women political leaders; Myrada (“building poor people’s institutions”) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that apparently receives government support to establish self-help groups (SHGs) for poor rural women and influence national policy.
Andra and Jenitha (2020, p. 14).
Nurwahidah et al. (2019).
Many models in international development use self-empowering tools, including rapid rural appraisal (RRA), participatory rural appraisal (PRA), and participatory learning and action (PLA). These are sets of approaches, methods, behaviors, and relationships for finding out about local context and life. See Robert Chambers (2007).
Ali et al. (2018).
The government has established thousands of tele centers that include Pusat Internet Desa, Medan InfoDesa, Community Access Centers, and Computer Literacy Classes.
See https://www.icarsh.org/topics/. The committee includes scholars and practitioners primarily from Europe and Southeast Asia. See https://www.icarsh.org/committee/.
Asfar and Kumari (2020, p. 10).
In one course I taught on international peacebuilding and conflict resolution, several students developed projects (and digital platforms) on GBV. Their projects might inspire you, too. (See https://you.stonybrook.edu/nepalese10yrwar/ and https://you.stonybrook.edu/womenfightingforwomen/.)
See Rashtriya Laabh Suraksha Yojana (Uttar Pradesh’s government initiative to help poor families (https://aatmnirbharsena.org/blog/rashtriya-parivarik-labh-yojana/); Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarozgar Yojana (https://sarkariyojanaguide.com/what-is-the-swarnajayanti-gram-swarozgar-yojana/), and Baalika Sammridhi (through the Ministry of Women and Child Development). The national portal of India (https://www.india.gov.in) has several resources to help poor women.
In my brief internet search, I found a national organization in the United States that has been endorsed by former President Obama, Rural Assembly, that champions women journalists, including LGBT+ journalists, “to correct harmful stereotypes about rural America.” See https://ruralassembly.org/about/.
Makananise and Madima (2020).
One of WEDO’s co-founders was Bella Abzug, a leading feminist politician from the 1960s and 1970s. For an example of WEDO training course, see https://wedotraining.thinkific.com/courses/wgc-advocacy-training-course-2021.
In particular, the Tourism & Leisure Studies Research Network, established in 2015, explores the economic, cultural, and organizational aspects of tourism and leisure: “We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope and concerns and motivated to build strategies for action framed by our shared themes and tensions.”
Malema and Naidoo (2017).
Limpopo climate change response strategy, 2016–2020 (p. 79). Department of Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism.
Borde and Bluemling (2021). Capitalism Nature Socialism is an academic journal that focuses on political ecology, with an eco-socialist perspective by Taylor and Francis Press.
Odisha borders Jharkhand and West Bengal to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana to the south. Its coastline of 485 km (301 mi) is along the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
Scheduled Tribes are officially designated groups of people (recognized in India’s Constitution) and are among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in the nation.
James Francis Cameron CC (born August 16, 1954) first gained recognition for directing The Terminator (1984). He also directed and received Academy Awards for Titanic (1997). He filmed Avatar in 3D technology and was nominated for several Academy Awards.
See Lucie Caputo’s amazing website, which describes her project in detail: https://you.stonybrook.edu/networkedaudiences/.
Conclusion
Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF 2022).
It is important to note that biomass conversions still are controversial. See Adane et al. (2021). As stated: “Household air pollution from biomass fuels burning in traditional cookstoves currently appears as one of the most serious threats to public health with a recent burden estimate of 2.6 million premature deaths every year worldwide, ranking highest among environmental risk factors and one of the major risk factors of any type globally. Improved cookstove interventions have been widely practiced as potential solutions. However, studies on the effect of improved cookstove interventions are limited and heterogeneous which suggested the need for further research.”
- Prelims
- Introduction
- Chapter One: Why a Female-centered Approach?
- Chapter Two: The Case for Gender Equity
- Chapter Three: Reflexive Feminist Methodologies
- Chapter Four: Oral Histories from Around the World
- Chapter Five: Environmental Social Justice in Rural Indian Communities
- Chapter Six: Supporting Female Empowerment Through Visual Arts and Social Media
- Conclusion
- Appendix: Actors and Affiliations
- Notes
- Glossary of Organizations and Terms
- Bibliography
- Index