Women and Local Governance in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Ejisu,Ghana

Since 1988, Ghana has implemented comprehensive reforms to promote grassroots and citizen participation in government. This article examined women’s participation in local governance. Through an interview of 353 women in Ejisu, it was found out that the women performed almost all household chores, 62.3% of whom partly financed their households while 17% solely financed their households. About 27% of the women were members of CBOs, and 25% were assembly members. The women were restrained in local government participation by marriage, perceived superiority of men, and illiteracy. Encouragement of women and girls’ education are contingent to promoting women’s participation in local governance.     

Women’s Islamic activism in Burkina Faso: toward renegotiated social norms?

Abstract

Recent studies have described the active participation of women in local associations as well as in public and national debates about secularism, the Family code, and women’s rights within Islam. In this article, I explore how female preachers have claimed a new role for women within Islam through a better knowledge and understanding of Islamic texts. In doing so, these women drew on modernist speeches made by men, used the media and aligned themselves with international movements with the aim of claiming a new social identity for their sisters in Islam, establishing greater equality between men and women in the religion, and finding a way of being a good mother and woman while maintaining an independent social position. In fact, these female preachers sought to spark a quiet yet real social revolution in religion by casting a critical and modernist eye on local cultural traditions and Islamic identity.     

What a Feminist Curiosity Contributes to the Study of Development

This essay explores the various ways that women and gender have been included in international development thinking and practice by tracing the origins of the field of gender and development alongside its central debates, concepts, and accomplishments. This overview demonstrates that feminists have expanded the scope of development research and practice to include issues previously ignored but now recognized as central to development, and have provided more nuanced accounts of development by probing the underlying assumptions of development policy. In so doing, it argues, feminists have exposed the gendered nature of transnational flows and transformations, and have tracked their effects down to the level of diverse women and men’s daily lives. Drawing on the contributions in this special issue, this essay then highlights the multiple advantages of applying what Cynthia Enloe labeled a “feminist curiosity” to the study of development. By refusing to take the current state of affairs as natural or given, and refusing to accept as trivial women’s diverse lives and experiences, the papers in this special issue go beyond highlighting how international development efforts differentially affect women and men to demonstrating how women, men, and gender ideologies in particular places—whether development agencies, academic institutions, or local communities—critically shape international development itself.     

Internationalised justice and democratisation: how international tribunals can empower non-reformists

This article examines the relationship between international criminal justice and democratisation processes in post-conflict settings, illustrating that international tribunals did not contribute to democratisation in the cases of Serbia, Kosovo and Rwanda. The argument that tribunals have willingly or inadvertently empowered local non-reformist factions is rooted in the agency of local elites. The findings suggest prioritisation of international over localised knowledge, political over victim interests and stability over judicial independence. This article makes a contribution to the emerging, critical literature on the dynamics between institutions of international criminal law and their socio-political environments, drawing attention to volatile effects of internationalised justice.     

Unemployment in Malta, 1956–71

A statistical analysis of unemployment between 1956 and 1971 shows that the factors influencing it in Malta are similar to those for more developed countries: unemployment varied with demand deficiency and the opportunity cost of working. The absence of a secular change in unemployment for both sexes combined masked the secular increase for men and decrease for women; and other evidence supports the conclusion that women were being substituted for men in the labour force. Finally, the analysis of emigrants most likely to be in the labour force in Malta showed that the rate of emigration is also responsive to local labour market conditions, although not to the provision of social security for those of working age.     

Globalisation masculinities,empire building and forced prostitution: a critical analysis of the gendered impact of the neoliberal economic agenda in post-invasion/occupation Iraq

Adopting a transnational feminist lens and using a political economy approach, this article addresses both the direct and indirect consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq, specifically the impact on civilian women. Pre-war security and gender relations in Iraq will be compared with the situation post-invasion/occupation. The article examines the globalised processes of capitalism, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism and their impact on the political, social and economic infrastructure in Iraq. Particular attention will be paid to illicit and informal economies: coping, combat and criminal. The 2003 Iraq war was fought using masculinities of empire, post-colonialism and neoliberalism. Using the example of forced prostitution, the article will argue that these globalisation masculinities – specifically the privatisation agenda of the West and its illegal economic occupation – have resulted in women either being forced into the illicit (coping) economy as a means of survival, or trafficked for sexual slavery by profit-seeking criminal networks who exploit the informal economy in a post-invasion/occupation Iraq.     

Perceptions of Harm,Criminality, and Law Enforcement Response: Comparing Violence by Men Against Women and Violence by Women Against Men

The authors compare third-party evaluations of male violence against women and female violence against men with regard to perceived injury severity, criminal labeling, and recommending police contact. They determine if victim–offender gender directly influences third-party perceptions of injury, and test whether injury mediates victim–offender gender effects on assessments. Injury perception mediated but could not fully explain differences in labeling. Differences in police contact support remained significant after taking injury perceptions into account. Male and female respondents differed in injury evaluations in acts with male victims or female perpetrators, but not in injury rating of male perpetrator or female victim violence. Findings suggest gender stereotypes directly and indirectly influence third-party observers of violence, shaping assessments of injury and ability or willingness to criminalize violence.     

Gangs,Gender, and Violent Victimization

Gang scholars have recently turned their attention to a unique and underdeveloped line of inquiry: the victimization of gang members. However, the gang-victimization link remains unclear, especially in terms of how gang men and women are violently victimized in different—or similar—ways. Using a sample of 2,345 adult jail inmates incarcerated in Florida (ages 18–84), this study explores the role of gender in terms of (1) the forms of violent crimes gang members experience more than nongang members, (2) who victimizes gang members, and (3) if gang members’ risky lifestyles explain victimization risk. Findings reveal more similarities than differences among gang men (n = 300) and women (n = 53). Gang men and women are generally victimized by the same violent crimes, and while the offenders who target gang members vary, there are no significant gender differences. Female gang members were significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted by members of their own gang and nonmembers (compared to members of rival gangs). The gang-victimization link remains significant for both men and women even after accounting for demographic characteristics, gang membership, and risky lifestyles—including violent offending.     

The Role of Forms of Traumatic Exposure in Relational and Physical Aggression Perpetrated by Incarcerated Men and Women

The relationship between history of trauma and violence is well studied. However, the relationship between trauma and relational aggression is not. And yet relational aggression is of considerable relevance to the criminal justice system. This study was designed to extend the literature on trauma and violence by including a measure of relational aggression and testing for sex differences. The sample was comprised of incarcerated men (N = 125) and women (N = 141). Data were collected from inmate interviews and inmate completion of a battery of instruments. Regression analyses revealed that of three types of trauma, only a history of interpersonal nonsexual trauma predicted the perpetration of both relational aggression and physical aggression while incarcerated, although no sex differences emerged. Results provide guidance for intervention efforts.     

Young Married Women in the Russian Countryside: Women's Networks,Communication and Power

This essay explores the experiences of recently married young women living in rural Russia in the village of Karsun in the Ul’yanovsk Oblast’. It analyses the connections between women in rural communities looking at social networks and the power relations inherent within them. The ways in which forms of power among and between women (as well as between women and men) impact on young women's agency are critically appraised through an analysis of what this essay terms forms of ‘women's power’. The essay also shows how women's discussions of their experiences reflect the problems that the perceived physical and emotional absences of men present for younger married women and their attempts to develop forms of autonomy.     

Belgian and Dutch Young Men and Women Who Joined ISIS: Ethnographic Research among the Families They Left Behind

Since the end of 2012 a sizeable number of Belgian and Dutch young men and women have joined the armed conflict in Syria. According to recent estimates, there are 632 Belgian and 260 Dutch foreign fighters in Syria. Very little is known about the families these men and women come from. The research on which this article is based comprised ethnographic research among 26 families with at least one member who has left for Syria to join the armed struggle. In addition, former teachers of these youngsters were asked to reflect on their students' actions. The central question of this article is whether or not the families of youngsters who left for Syria played a supporting role in the departure decision and, therefore, the process of radicalization of the young men and women. To answer this question the families' perception of the armed struggle is described. Also discussed are signals of radicalization present prior to the youngsters' departure and actions taken by the families to prevent departure or alternatively facilitate their trip.     

Substance-Abusing Female Offenders as Victims: Chronological Sequencing of Pathways Into the Criminal Justice System

This study assesses the entrance of substance-abusing female offenders (N = 1,209) into the criminal justice system through temporal patterns (using age of first victimization, drug use, and arrest). Nine pathways were identified. Unexpectedly, the leading path was a sequence where drug use preceded arrest in absence of childhood victimization. However, women under a path inclusive of victimization possessed more risk factors. Findings support feminist pathway research, which states that childhood victimization is generally present in female offenders’ lives. Nevertheless, results also revealed that a drug pathway without childhood abuse proved to be as important and even more dominant among criminal justice–involved women.     

Justice System Bias Perceptions of the Dually Marginalized: Observations from a Sample of Women Ex-offenders

Social constructions of race, gender, and class are known to shape stereotypes that condition interaction and behavior across various contexts, including the criminal justice system. From an intersectional framework emphasizing dual marginalization, this study relates in-depth interviews with women ex-offenders regarding their justice system experiences to explore perceived race and gender themed discrimination. Findings of reported pejorative language and degrading behavior reaffirm a well-documented generalized assumption by women of color that disparate treatment is normative. Discussion centers on how these views are detrimental to rehabilitation enrollment, related implications for offender programming objectives, and the utility of intersectionality theory for analyzing related justice topics.     

Economic Pathways to Women’s Empowerment and Active Citizenship: What Does The Evidence From Bangladesh Tell Us?

Abstract

This paper sets out to explore economic pathways to women’s empowerment and active citizenship in Bangladesh, a country where the denial of economic resources to women, and their resulting status as lifelong dependents on men, has long been seen as foundational to their subordinate status. While empowerment entails change in the lives of individual women and their interpersonal relations, the concept of active citizenship draws attention to women’s capacity to participate in the public life of their community. The paper draws on the existing literature on women’s access to various forms of paid work both to assess their impact in terms of empowerment and citizenship and to understand better the processes by which these changes might occur.     

A Social-Psychological Process of “Fear of Crime” for Men and Women: Revisiting Gender Differences from a New Perspective

Prior research has identified gender as a significant predictor of crime fear. Specifically, women are typically more fearful of crime than men, despite being relatively less likely to be victimized. The current study examines different ways men and women may think about crime and victimization within their neighborhoods, using contemporary social-psychological models of victimization worry. Data were collected from a sample of community residents (N = 713) living on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. Results suggest that men’s and women’s fear of crime and perceptions of victimization threat are dependent on crime type and can be represented by a number of relationships among different social-psychological dimensions of victimization worry. The study concludes with practical implications for researchers seeking to examine the complex associations between gender and fear of crime.     

Visiting Marriages and Remote Parenting: Changing Strategies of Rural–Urban Migrants to Hanoi,Vietnam

Despite the ongoing centrality of marriage and reproduction in Vietnam, family and spousal separation is an increasing reality for many poor rural–urban migrants. We offer a social relational analysis of reproduction to explore how migrant men and women in their peak child-bearing and child-rearing years negotiate conjugal strategies and expectations. Labour migration for these poor men and women involves high costs for family relations, social identities and emotional experiences which are strongly patterned by gender. This social relational analysis of reproduction deepens analyses of changing marriage relations and studies of internal labour migration.     

POLICING WITH A SMILE: NARRATIVES OF CONSUMERISM IN NEW LABOUR'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY

A recurrent theme in New Labour's public service reforms has been a tendency to orient services to the user as a consumer or customer of those services. However a consumerist approach – and particularly the 'customer is always right' imperative – appears problematic in relation to criminal justice. This article uses content analysis to explore the use of consumerist narratives by selected members of the UK criminal justice policy network (Prime Minister, Home Office and local government). It finds that the terms customer and consumer are used less in relation to criminal justice than they are in relation to other public services. When used, it is 'law-abiding citizens', particularly victims and witnesses, that are the priority customers of the service. Customer-orientated policing is primarily about standardizing services and encouraging more coproductive behaviours. The language of choice and personalization, which has come to characterize New Labour's approach to public service reform, has as yet had little penetration into criminal justice. However, the policy network is fragmented, with different narratives of consumerism emerging from Tony Blair (the then Prime Minister), the Home Office and local government, demonstrating the contingent ways in which policy-makers draw on historical traditions.     

The Impacts of Differential Armed Dominance of Politics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Across the Americas, from Northern Mexico to Colombia’s mountain valleys and Brazil’s shantytowns, escalating armed violence and the growing power of criminal organizations has generated immense public concern about the breakdown of the rule of law. While some policy makers and journalists write about state failure and the emergence of ungoverned spaces, the evidence presented in this article will show that far from a lack of governance or a failure of the state, criminal organizations often collaborate with a variety of state actors to create varied systems of localized order that perpetuate criminal power and undermine most policy efforts to control crime and violence. In contrast to past scholarship’s reliance on single case studies to analyze the efforts of armed actors to build localized orders, this article offers a systematic comparative analysis of a police-connected protection racket and a drug gang operating in two Rio de Janeiro neighborhoods under similar political conditions. Analysis of the evidence shows that variation in the organizational structures of the armed actors and, in particular, their proximity to state officials, poses varied consequences for local development, including the dynamics of politics and policymaking, associational life, and violence and security.     

Crime,Irregular Warfare,and Institutional Failure in Latin America: Guatemala as a Case Study

This article examines the current crisis in Guatemala as a case study in the phenomenon of “criminal insurgency” in Latin America. Since the close of Guatemala's civil war in 1996, crime—especially violent crime—has increased dramatically, to the point that drug traffickers, organized crime syndicates, and youth gangs are effectively waging a form of irregular warfare against the state. The police, the judiciary, and entire local and departmental governments are rife with criminal infiltrators; murder statistics have surpassed civil-war levels in recent years; criminal operatives assassinate government officials and troublesome members of the political class; and chunks of territory are now effectively under the control of criminal groups. All this has led to growing civic disillusion and eroded the authority and legitimacy of the government. Rampant crime is causing a crisis of the democratic state.     

Transforming Gender Relations through the Market: Smallholder Milk Market Participation and Women`s Intra-household Bargaining Power in Ethiopia

We study the relationship between smallholder milk market participation and women`s intra-household bargaining position in Ethiopia, using a quasi-experiment and propensity score matching. In market participant households, milk income is higher and its control has shifted from women to men. Our data also indicate that men transfer this income partly to their wives. Qualitative findings indicate that men see this as recognition for their wife’s household maintenance responsibility. Women argue however that transferring income is also men`s tactic for reducing intra-household conflict. Overall, dependency between husbands and wives seems higher and a woman’s bargaining position stronger in participant households.