What makes change happen in women’s lives?
Photo/Kwabena Danso
Pathways of Women’s Empowerment is an international research and communications programme established in 2006 which links academics with activists and practitioners to find out what works to enhance women’s empowerment. We are identifying where women are achieving real gains and discovering the positive and negative factors which have influenced their journey. Pathways is funded by the UK Department for International Development with additional financing from the Norwegian and Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from UNIFEM.
Our aim is to make these pathways of change visible and to build on them to inspire a radical shift in policy and practice. By involving policy actors and practitioners directly in our research and learning, we hope our work will be in itself a catalyst for change.
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Changing Focus - Photography Competition
This photography competition is being run by Pathways Middle East Hub with the aim of encouraging the participation of photographers in Egypt to visually present the the exchanges between women and their communities and to creatively represent women's empowerment. The deadline for entry has been extended to 15th February 2010 and more details can be found on the application available to download here (pdf file 133 KB).
Changing Representations of Women in Ghanaian Popular Music
Kwabena Quaku with Akosua Adomako and Awo Asiedu
As part of the Pathways West Africa Hub's work around changing representations of women, they launched a song competition in April 2009, inviting entries on the theme of women's empowerment. They hope to find and inspire music that presents a very different image from the gendered stereotypical messages about women frequently seen in popular songs. The launch of the winning songs took place on 21 November 2009 at the Alisa Hotel in Accra and the first prize was awarded to Amponsah Collins aka Kwabena Quaku with his winning entry: 'As Long as you are a Woman'. You can listen to his winning entry and see the video at the YouTube Pathways Channel. See IDS News and Pathways West Africa Blog for more information on the research and competition.
World Survey on the Role of Women in Development
Naila Kabeer is the lead author of the 2009 United Nations World Survey on the Role of Women in Development. The theme of the World Survey is 'Women's Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance'. The survey covers many of the themes addressed within the Pathways programme, including the importance of women's access to economic assets and decent jobs; and support for their unpaid childcare responsibilities. Professor Kabeer presented an overview of the publication at a panel discussion for the launch of the publication held at the UN headquarters on 26 October 2009. See IDS News for more information.
Women on the Move
A photo-essay entitled "Women on the Move", co-authored by Professor
Firdous Azim and Samia Rahim from the Pathways South Asia Hub has been published by the Inter-Asia Cultural
Studies Journal. The essay is based on a travellng photography
exhibition that was organised by the Hub in December 2007
which depicted the "Changing Images of Women in Bangladesh". See the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Journal webpage. For more information on the exhibition see the Pathways annual report page 2007-2008.
Untying Development's Straightjacket: Masculinities, Sexualities and Social Change
A symposium which took place in Cape Town from 18-22 September 2009 looked at how development could be done differently to really do justice to the diversity of people's social and sexual identities. Theorists, researchers, activists, policy actors and practitioners working in a variety of fields examined the limits to thinking and practice and focus on finding ways towards greater recognition of sexual and gender diversity. For more information see Pathways Events
Launch of the 'Best Practice in the Implementation and Dissemination of the Maria da Penha Law' Award
NEIM
Cecilia Sardenberg, national coordinator of the Observatory for
the Implementation of the Maria da Penha Law, was in Brasilia on 6th August to attend the launch of the 'Best Practice in the
Implementation and Dissemination of the Maria da Penha
Law' Award. The event was also attended by Maria da Penha Fernandes, the woman who gives her name to the law which punishes domestic and family violence against women. For more information see the Latin American Hub news page.
Media Information Pack - New
The Pathways Communications team have put together a media information pack on the Pathways programme to provide a first point of reference for media enquiries - this is available to download and provides details of the Pathways partners and the research we are working on. For any further media enquiries please contact Tessa Lewin, Pathways Communications Manager. Media Information pack (477 KB pdf)
Special Issue of Development for the 11th AWID International Forum
Papers from the joint Pathways and Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts RPC's panel on 'The NGOisation of Women's Movements and its Implications for Feminist Organising' have been included in a special issue of Development which was published in June. The journal includes contributions from Dzodzi Tsikata of the West African Hub, Maheen Sultan and Sohela Nazneen from Pathways South Asia and Sonia Alvarez from our Consortium Advisory Group. More information at Development
“Across the globe women seem to rise above the most challenging circumstances” but we are less clear “about the pathways to empowerment” Professor Takyiwaa Manuh
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