May 27 – 31 is week Seven of the 50 Days for Women and Girls Campaign launched by International Women’s Health Coalition.

The theme for the week is achieving peace and security for women and girls.

This is a social media campaign utilizing Twitter, Facebook, etc. to target President Obama, Secretary Kerry and the US Administration to ensure women and girls are included in all peace and security issues and US foreign policy.  Equality Now’s Shelby Quast has compiled several useful twitter handles, hashtags, and resources below.

Some Twitter handles that may be useful

@statedept   (State Department)

@s_GWI  (office of Global Women’s Issues)

#SecKerry  @statedept    (Secretary of State John Kerry at State Department)

@vj44  (Valerie Jarrett)

@rajshah   (Raj Shah, Administrator USAID)

@steveforeignpol    (Steven Feldstein Director Policy USAID)

@rhodes44   (Ben Rhodes, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor White House)

@BarackObama (President Barack Obama)

‏@whitehouse   (White House)

@deptofdefense  (Department of Defense)

@usaid  (USAID)

@UN  (United Nations)

@IRFAmbassador (Ambassador for Religious Freedom Suzan Johnson Cook)

#secZeya @statedept  (Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau Democracy Human Rights Labor Uzra Zeya)

The designers of 50 Days for Women and Girls campaign ask that all tweets include the hashtags #usa4women and #usnap.

Equality Now, with the 50 Days for Women and Girls campaign, is planning a Twitter Chat for Thursday May 30 around 10 AM (TBC) on Women’s Participation in Peacebuilding, highlighting the need to include Syrian Women in the planned Geneva talks.

Quast suggests following a 4 pillar theme (one per day), which mirrors the US NAP and CSWG recommendations – see below.

Monday:  Memorial Day – general messages on Women War and Peace

Tuesday: Protection from Violence

Wednesday: Women and Girls Participation in peace processes and decision making

Twitter Chat:  11am – 12:30 highlighting need to include Syrian Women in planned Geneva Peace talks

Thursday:  Protection from Violence

Friday: Access to Relief and Recovery

General Sample Tweets

@deptofdefense @statedept: Empower women 2 b agents of peace, not victims of war. Support women’s groups in conflict zones. #usa4women

@usaid @S_GWI @nancylindborg: Empower women 2 b agents of peace, not victims of war. Support women’s groups in conflict zones. #usa4women

@deptofdefense @statedept: Ensure women’s safe & full participation in intelligence- gathering. #usa4women

@vj44 @rajshah @USAID: all projects to prevent or manage conflict must consider effects of war on women & girls #usa4women

Resource Links

• PBS: Women, War & Peace: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace

• State Department: Implementation Plan for the National Action Plan: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/196726.pdf

• Fact Sheet: Sexual Assault in the Military: http://www.equalitynow.org/sites/default/files/FactSheet_Military_Sexual_Assault_EN. pdf

• Backgrounder: Military Sexual Violence: http://servicewomen.org/military-sexual-violence/

• ACLU: Sexual Assault in the Military:  http://www.aclu.org/blog/tag/sexual-assault-military

This is an easy and exciting opportunity to utilize social media and emphasize our priorities for Women Peace and Security – let’s not miss it!

By staff contributor Milad Pournik

Perhaps you have heard of Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate in 2003, but have you heard of khaneh-yeh-khorshid (translated as “the house of the sun”), an Iranian NGO that works with over 100 female drug addicts in Tehran?

The photo below portrays a scene characterizing the reality that women have been, and continue to, carry out the most painstaking yet unacknowledged work in Iranian society. NGOs working to support women and girls share this feature with their intended beneficiaries. My paper attempts to raise awareness around the work done by Iranian civil society organizations to advance the standing of women and girls.

A woman weaving a rug in the deserts of Kerman province. Photo courtesy of Farzad Mirhosseini

The report provides a brief history of the women’s movement in Iran and a review of the current state of civil society groups working with women and girls. A statistical background provides the context in which civil society works to empower women and girls. Informed by interviews, the report highlights seven featured NGOs, whose activities range from helping female drug addicts to working with Afghan refugee women and children; from promoting women entrepreneurs to educating adolescent girls; and from supporting HIV/AIDS widows to rehabilitating disabled children.

You can access the paper here.

By student contributor Asthaa Chaturvedi

Sally Nuamah (right) interviewing a student in Ghana/ Photo courtesy of Sally Nuamah

In her recent TEDx talk, Sally Nuamah evoked Nigerian activist M.K.O Abiola’s saying, “no man can clap with one hand.” She explained the value of educating women through her case study in Ghana and the simple idea that no nation can develop without lifting up all groups. Like Susannah Shakow, Saba Ismail, and Christina Fink, her work illuminates the relevance of why issues like equal political participation and education continue to be salient today, why women and development matter in this 21st century moment.

I recently had a chance to talk with Nuamah, a GW alumna and PhD candidate at Northwestern University. As a scholar and professional, Nuamah has worked in the field of girl’s education and empowerment of disadvantaged minorities, both in the U.S. and abroad. The research and filming she started as an undergraduate studying girl’s education in Ghana, has evolved into a documentary, called “HerStory: Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation,” that she is hoping to release this summer.

Nuamah interviewed several girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Ghana who were pursuing secondary and higher levels of education despite barriers they faced, particularly economic ones. When she arrived in Ghana, access to education had gone through striking changes. In 1980 only two percent of women were educated at the university level, and in 2012 the rate was 35 percent. Her focus since then has been on how “disadvantaged” groups like girls in Ghana or some minorities in the U.S. have succeed despite hurdles that may set them back.

New challenges for girls have swelled in Ghana when it comes to the infrastructure necessary for girls to learn and grow in safe, healthy, and sanitary environments. Nuamah also pointed out issues like the fact that men continue to dominate the field of teaching. Corruption at the community level also poses obstacles for boys and girls who wish to continue their education.

Take a listen to the clip below to hear Nuamah’s view on how policy changes, with the help of NGOs and grassroots actors, have improved girls’ access to education so dramatically in Ghana, both directly and indirectly.

By staff contributor Milad Pournik

Photo courtesy of TIKAD

Georgetown University’s Conflict Resolution Program and TIKAD (Turkish Businesswomen Association) co-hosted a conference on “the role of businesswomen in peacebuilding and development” on May 16, 2013 at Washington DC’s Mayflower Renaissance Hotel.

Melanne Verveer, former Ambassador-at-Large for global women’s issues and current Executive Director of the Georgetown University Institute for Women, Peace and Security, delivered the keynote address. She explained that businesswomen can innovate solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Through their entrepreneurial zeal women can advance sustainable development by creating businesses that meet demand but also simultaneously provide gainful employment for countless others.

Verveer referenced several important initiatives outlined below:

• Invest for the Future – a U.S. Department of State funded program providing a support network for female entrepreneurs throughout Southern and Eastern Europe and Eurasia
• 5by20 – Coca Cola’s initiative to empower five million women entrepreneurs by 2020
• A new entrepreneurship center that is to be launched next month out of the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul to support women entrepreneurs in conflict-ridden Afghanistan

Verveer ended with the following quote from Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey:

“Humankind is made up of two sexes, women and men. Is it possible for humankind to grow by the improvement of only one part while the other part is ignored? Is it possible that if half of a mass is tied to earth with chains that the other half can soar into skies?” 

The first panel featured the following four speakers. I’ve highlighted their key contributions to the conference:

• Esin Argat,  Board member of the Turkish Industry & Business Association
• Evelyn Thorton,   CEO of Institute for Inclusive Security
• Demet Cetindogan , President of the High Advisory Board of TIKAD
• Robert Berg, Trustee of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences

Argat acknowledged the impressive gains women in Turkey have made in the private sector. Yet, she urged for more involvement of women in information and communications technology (ICT) in Turkey because the gender gap in the sector is still very large, with women only making up 30 percent of the sector. Argat also pressed the audience about the need to create more opportunities for mentoring and support for aspiring women entrepreneurs in Turkey and elsewhere. She pointed to the promising example of the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen initiative, launched in 2011, which includes a component that connects women in Silicon Valley with women interested in ICT in the MENA region. Read the rest of this entry »

Activyst is a combination of two words - active and catalyst - because when girls are active, it’s a catalyst for change in their lives. Three American women were inspired to found Activyst based on their personal experiences.  Their mission is to change the world by helping girls play sports.

Photo courtesy of Activyst

Through selling bold and functional athletic bags, Activyst generates funding for girls’ sports organizations worldwide. The benefits of girls involvement in sports have been proven by studies showing that a girl who plays sports is less likely to get pregnant or stay in an abusive relationship. She is more educated, healthier, and happier. Unfortunately, girls’ sports opportunities are often least available where they’re most needed. In many under-served communities, playing sports is not an option for girls.

See a promotional video for the organization here.

It’s not too late to enroll in “Gender, War, and Peace” with Kerry Crawford! This upper division undergraduate course explores the ways in which war impacts men and women, as well as how international relations scholarship and practice might benefit from consideration of gender dynamics. “Gender, War, and Peace” will meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings during Summer Session II at GW. The first class will meet on July 8th. Registration is still open and students are encouraged to enroll as soon as possible. Click here for a course description and more information.

Guest post by Kerry Crawford 

‘Gender’ is not a synonym for ‘women’. Gender violence is not a ‘women’s issue’.

The efforts of pioneering and courageous women brought gender-based violence and sexual violence out of the shadows, challenged society to think about bodily integrity, and established that women’s rights are human rights. In the fight against gender violence we owe so much to women’s leadership, but men should not excuse themselves (and women should not excuse men) from the conversation on gender violence.

It is time to foster an inconclusive dialogue examining the roots of gender violence. It is time to find effective ways to prevent gender violence and men and women can make equally valuable contributions to this effort.

Jackson Katz, Ph.D., Founder and Director of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Strategies gave a TED talk on gender violence prevention that has recently generated a lot of interest on social media. You can (and should!) watch it here.

He urges us to ask different questions about gender violence. We need to stop engaging in victim blaming and focus the conversation on perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual violence, and the spectrum of abuses encompassed by gender violence.  Men and women alike need to stand up and speak out against gender violence.

After you watch the talk, check out Dr. Katz’s website on the MVP Model and take a look at his list of Ten Things Men Can Do to Prevent Gender Violence.

Do you have a reaction to the talk? Post a response in the comments section below!

Panzi Foundation

The Panzi Foundation DRC and Panzi Foundation USA work together to support the ongoing work of Panzi hospital  in Bukavu, the largest city in South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The hospital functions as a general hospital for the local population, however it is especially known for its care for survivors of sexual violence and women suffering from complex gynecological conditions such as obstetric fistula. Panzi hospital, created in 1999, is currently run by renowned Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, who was honored by the United Nations with the 2008 prize for human rights, was the recipient of the Clinton Global Citizen award, and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice. The only hospital in South Kivu offering this support, Panzi hospital is a critical safe haven for hundreds of sexual violence survivors, and is currently running over capacity as women flee there for treatment.

By Staff contributor Pierre Pratley

On Monday April 29th, the Women’s Foreign Policy Group hosted the first session in the US book tour by Molly Melching to promote her new book, However Long the Night. A host of government, non-government and independent international development professionals listened as Melching talked about the successes of her organization, Tostan. The organization promotes equality in West-Africa through a holistic, peer-informed education program including a human rights module. Melching’s story is remarkable: since arriving in Senegal as a grad student, Melching has worked towards the development of non-formal education programs for rural Senegalese women, men and children. Fast forward to a small village in Senegal in 1997, when women of a small community that had been in a Tostan program made a commitment to stop “cutting their daughters”, de facto ending female genital cutting in that community. The ensuing official declaration to the national and international press snowballed into a regional movement. Since then, thousands of communities all over West-Africa, empowered by the peer-facilitated classes have abolished this harmful, but deeply routed traditional practice.

Photo courtesy of HarperOne.

A few things particularly stood out in Melching’s discussion. Firstly, the way in which Melching herself, as well as her organization is thoroughly embedded in local context. Cultural change did not occur by polarizing or judgment, but by including men, women and children. “We ran into problems when discussing women’s rights, as the men would feel left out… and when we discussed children’s rights, the parents felt left out.” This led Melching to realize the main point to mobilize social change was not a particular group’s right, but rather the concept of equality.

Molly has emphasized that the inclusion of a human rights curriculum into the Tostan classes, based on the idea that all are equal was essential to the organization’s success (also described in this academic publication (gated)) . She contends that as long as women do not know their rights, they will remain suffering in silence.

Lastly, during the Q&A session, some questions were asked as to how Tostan was able to overcome religious beliefs and work with traditional elders and religious leaders. Melching did not seem phased by the question and again re-emphasized the collective nature of social change, pointing out that religious leaders were the first to be contacted once women had discussed harmful practices like female genital cutting. Tostan is successful in mobilizing elders and religious leaders by emphasizing shared values and invoking their unique position as leaders to lead this change.

Melching’s unique journey and the story of her organization are now available for all to read. However Long the Night is available in bookstores now and is a highly recommended read for people interested in the intersection of culture, gender and social change in development.

*Update: For more about Molly Melching’s work, see this and this interview that were aired Thursday, May 9th, on Melching’s work with Tostan.

International Models Project on Women’s Rights

The International Models Project on Women’s Rights (IMPOWR) is an initiative established by the American Bar Association in 2008 to create a collaborative online database of information on gender-equality law reform efforts around the world. The initiative works to utilize the internet to foster information sharing throughout the global community of gender law experts, project leaders, and activists to achieve goals of gender equality. IMPOWR is especially focused on facilitating the realization of goals set out by the 1980 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. The IMPOWR website and database facilitates the comparison of law reform for gender equality on individual countries, access to various information resources, and collaboration between nonprofits, governments, and other groups working to promote gender law reform.