Hey Kivus! What's up?

I leave today. I'm excited.

Policy Brief on Female Police Staff Associations and Gender Sensitive Police Reform

The North-South Institute has a policy brief out on Female Staff Associations in West Africa and their contributions to Gender Sensitive Police Reform called Freedom Through Association: Realizing the Potential of West Africa's Female Police Staff Associations. 

The next fight in global human rights

For work I had to provide some comments on the Draft Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. I saw that a number of groups were provided for in some sense or another, this included special consideration for women, children, ethnicities (sort of - a little sparse on the indigenous) and also a variety of ages and disabilities. Yet scanning through there was no mention of sexual orientation. There are 82 countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal. Countries such as Iran and Uganda have moved towards stricter, harsher penalties for those suspected of engaging in same sexual encounters. It's a global uphill battle facing prejudice that no other form of discriminated group has faced in recent history (controversial statement I know - but at least, globally, with a number of other persecuted groups people do not pretend that they don't exist or that being a woman, or indigenous is a disease you can be cured of... I ramble). The Guardian has a piece focusing on positive movements in global LGTB rights - mainly that under international law, pretty much every country that criminalises homosexuality has signed up to a convention that protects their freedom of choice, association, and orientation (with the exception of *ahem* Saudi Arabia). So unleash the lawyers...

Posters and GBV

In Sierra Leone, there is a clear public campaign to counter sexual exploitation and assault of women. This is in the professional and domestic sphere. I saw a number of posters and billboards with women being harassed or in imminent danger of being beaten - I particularly enjoy the use of posters from the Ghanaian Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (my old stomping ground) - reminding us that sexual abuse and exploitation is not acceptable and is punishable. Some are in Krio -possibly much more useful then straight up English for billboards at least - and seem to act as a reminder to men not to prey on women. I did not see any posters in Salone with men being abused by women, unlike in Ghana.



Gender based violence and exploitation is endemic in Sierra Leone, from cultural initiations into secret societies that involve genital cutting to human sacrifices (there's concern of this increasing in the lead up to the elections next year). I'm working with the police, and sexual harassment and exploitation is more than just common place. Fortunately this is an area that is heavily supported programmatically and institutionally (for example the SLP has a new Sexual Harassment Policy and a complaints division), but as of yet it's difficult to tell if this is making a difference. Or whether this is just lip service. I didn't really see many posters IN police stations or headquarters reminding people that sexual exploitation, assault, or domestic violence is wrong (there were large billboards beside or in front of some police stations in Freetown at least). I only conducted a basic search for information on how effective the posters are. Obviously many poster campaigns are coupled with use of other media (radio discussions/adverts, television, comic strips, public protest, training and workshops etc). But I couldn't really find anything - I'm not sure if anyone has any suggestions.



While we're on this topic, there was an interesting article in Foreign Affairs on the reliability of rape reporting numbers during war.

stopping sexual violence and harassment with technology

There was a lot of buzz created by the assault CBS reporter Lara Logan in Tahrir Square. On the twittersphere a lot of the discussion has pointed to the blame and owness that is placed on the survivors - Still!

There are a lot of tools out there to break the stigma of talking about sexual harassment and assault. A number of which were spearheaded in the middle east where taunting and catcalling are endemic, and little fault or blame is placed on the perpetrator. Instead, the survivor - primarily women - is blamed and her freedoms are curtailed in order to preserve honour and to "prevent" these acts from "occurring again" (wear less revealing clothes, don't go outside without a male escort etc.).

Despite tireless efforts to dispel myths surrounding SGBV, it still occurs and can be difficult to combat because there is so little hard data on the topic. This is why new initiatives using technology to map from the ground up are so important.

Here are some tools I have come across:

Hollaback : Global site using online and mobile technology to track and collect data/information on street harassment.

HarassMap Similar to HollaBack, spear headed in Egypt (in arabic)

There is Visualising Women's Rights in the Arab World is an online space for women's rights initiatives including SGBV work.

In DRC there is Si jeunesse savait an online and mobile support network for young feminists. (in French)

A general project taking place during the 16 days of Activism is Take Back the Tech imploring women to use technology to combat violence against women and girls and highlighting projects. It has a handy map of what is going on tech wise associated with the project around the globe.

On a more national/state driven and generic level there's CartoCrime, and initiative by l'Observatoire National de la Délinquance in France that maps crime in general. (in French)

These are the few I can think of with websites. Any more? (I'm sure there are tons)

Remembering the victims of the December 6th shooting at L'École Polytechnique

Today is the anniversary of the shootings at Montreal's l'École Polytechnique. In 1989, Marc Lépine entered the school and opened fire on the women in an engineering class. He was reported to have separated the women from the men - with survivors recalling him stating that he hated feminists. He killed 14 female students.

Since 1991, the day has been designated - in Canada - a national day of remembrance. It helped build another important campaign - The White Ribbon Campaign - bringing men together with women to fight gender based violence. During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence we remember the victims and survivors of the shooting.

In Ottawa there is a memorial at Minto Park at 18h00.

Promised 16 Days Blog. There might even be two.

The other day my place of employment had the pleasure and the honour of hosting Barbara Bailey. Barbara, was until recently, the head of the Gender and Development Studies department at the University of the West Indies at MONA, and she is the CEDAW representative for Jamaica. She has just completed a long study on gender and education, commissioned initially to find out why boys were dropping out of secondary school. She managed to refocus the study so that it looked at the socioeconomic factors that affect both boys and girls and how that contributed to them leaving or staying in school.

Her description of the study – yet to be published – highlighted an important concept: The Currency of Certification. The presentation displayed the fact that, in addition to pay disparity, and a thick glass ceiling, women also need more schooling than men to reach the same professional level.* Boys are still learning that they do not require high levels of education in order to work. Moreover, highly educated women are still being pushed out of the job market despite their certifications. Therefore despite the focus on women’s education as a means to greater gender equality, it does not help much without a push on the economic side to create jobs for women – but also men.

During the 16 Days of Activism we look specifically at gender violence. The focus of Dr. Bailey’s study showed that the economy on a whole contributed to boys leaving school early. There has been a reduction in the West Indies in areas of employment gendered as male, with growth in areas traditionally gendered as female – such tourism and call centres. There has not been a rebranding of these industries as something everyone can do - therefore, women are now having greater access to jobs/money. This change in gender parity has resulted in men reasserting themselves through macho activities such gun running and drug dealing – where they can earn a lot of cash. This has also attributed to a rise in violence on the streets but also in the homes.

The study reminds us that gender violence and gender equality cannot be fixed through simple targeting, but requires systemic and holistic changes to pretty much everything we do. Not an easy task.

*In her presentation, Dr. Bailey pointed to a UN study that showed that women need on average 6 years more education than men to reach the same job level. I cannot find the report, but will cite it once I do.

A rare admission

Atul Khare, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping said today that the UN failed DRC rape victims. He also called (of course) for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

It is an important admission. I hope that it carries some weight and things actually start happening on the ground.