Pathways of Women's Empowerment, 2007 - 2010

Pathways is a partnership with the Institute of Development Studies, which is running a research and communications programme linking academics, activists and practitioners to find out 'what works' to empower women. openDemocracy brings you the voices and views of women working in Ghana, Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Palestine, Sudan and Nigeria. Articles for the initiative include contributions by Srilatha Batliwala, Andrea Cornwall, Mulki Al-Sharmani, Cecilia Sardenberg, Takyiwaa Manuh (you can also listen to Takyiwaa's interview here), Firdous Azim, Naila Kabeer, Emily Esplen, Ana Alice Alcântara and Rosalind Eyben. See also the related blog.

Read also The Wrong Turn, a dialogue on feminism in American politics.

We would like to thank The Barrow Cadbury Trust and The Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, for supporting this project.

Friday 23rd July

Not the Church, Not the State? Gender equality in the crossfire

Deniz Kandiyoti, 23 July 2010

The challenge to platforms for gender equality comes not just from actors with fundamentalist agendas, but from a conjuncture where women’s rights have been opportunistically instrumentalized to serve geopolitical goals, and neo-liberal policies have severed social justice from gender equality concerns

Friday 9th July

Spirit, hope, money and a dose of patriarchy

Jessica Horn and Jenny Morgan, 9 July 2010

A growing movement of African Christians are making waves at home and abroad with their ultra conservative interpretations of scripture. Far from a naïve embrace of conventional norms or a faithful embrace of scripture, these interpretations are emerging as clear political choices and are undermining women's rights struggles across the African continent

Monday 5th July

The Tea Party and the new right-wing Christian feminism

Ruth Rosen, 5 July 2010

Why have American women become so active in the right wing Tea Party movement? Could it be that they are drawn to the new conservative Christian feminism publicized by Sarah Palin? Without its grassroots female supporters, the Tea Party would have far less appeal to voters who are frightened by economic insecurity, threats to moral purity and the gradual disappearance of a national white Christian culture.

Monday 23rd February

Musawah: solidarity in diversity

Cassandra Balchin, 23 February 2009

In her concluding report from the launch of a global initiative to reform Muslim Family Law, Cassandra Balchin finds solidarity in diversity and a growing convergence around human rights values.

Friday 13th February

Musawah: there cannot be justice without equality

Cassandra Balchin, 13 February 2009

Muslim scholars and activists from forty eight countries are today launching a global initiative insisting that in the twenty first century "there cannot be justice without equality" between men and women.

Thursday 12th February

Home truths in the Muslim family

Cassandra Balchin, 12 February 2009

Sky rocketing rates of women's employment in Muslim countries and recent scholarship that has developed a vision of Islam that insists on equality between men and women, mean that the global pressure to reform Muslim family law is mounting, writes Cassandra Balchin.

Thursday 29th May