Women's Agenda Research Articles

The pitfalls of a ‘democracy promotion’ project for women of Iraq

‘Democracy promotion’ as part of a larger project of ‘reconstruction’ is hailed in mainstream academia and in policy circles as an essential component of rebuilding the state and civil society in post‐conflict situations. Here ‘democracy promotion’ refers exclusively to the promotion of political representation and participation, not to the promotion of social and economic equality. This political and ideological strategy veils the political, economic, and social dimensions of this project and its real impact on the lives of the people in the place where it is being implemented. In the context of reconstruction, where rebuilding the state and civil society is seen as an urgent response to infrastructural collapse, the political and ideological underpinnings of ‘democracy promotion’ are often ignored. This article examines one of the main strategies employed in the project of ‘democracy promotion’ that is currently being implemented by women's NGOs in Iraq, that is, democracy training workshops, seminars, and conferences. The curriculum of these training courses is strikingly similar to the curricula being employed in other parts of the world. The similarity suggests that ‘democracy promotion’ is indeed a transnational strategy and that women's NGOs are one of the main vehicles of its implementation. Based on research and fieldwork undertaken in the Iraqi Diaspora in the UK and in Iraqi Kurdistan, this article will examine the implications of the ‘democracy promotion’ agenda for women's movements and women's groups. Preliminary analysis suggests that an outcome of the ‘democracy promotion’ agenda is the marginalization and exclusion of oppositional activism and in particular, women's groups who challenge the content of this agenda. As has been the case with women's movements in Latin America and Asia, women's NGOs that do participate in the project exhibit signs of professionalization and depoliticization that ultimately weaken the women's movement as a whole. In order to illustrate this point, the activities of the Independent Women's Forum, a US‐based NGO that is actively involved in the implementation of a ‘democracy promotion’ agenda in Iraq, is contrasted with the activities of Iraqi Women's Will, a women's organization that has refused to comply with such an agenda and that is actively resisting it.

Putting Women in the Picture : the Impact of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition on Northern Irish Politics

In the male-dominated world of Northern Irish politics, the creation of a cross-community women's party to fight the Forum elections in 1996 did not go unnoticed. Created to give Northern Irish women a voice in the peace talks, the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition has not only played a significant role in the drafting of the Good Friday Agreement, it has also managed to give women more visibility in Northern Irish politics and contributed to the promotion of a women's agenda. Although it initially succeeded in securing seats both at local and national level, the party did not withstand the polarisation of Northern Irish politics that marked the 2003 elections and decided to wind up in May 2006.

Agenda for Women's Health Promotion: A Working Group Report

The accepted definition of “health” is a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.” This working group agreed that the health of women in particular, worldwide, demands considerable attention. Though the women’s health

Perspectives from Women Organizers

This paper compares the perspectives of a diverse group of women in relation to their views about the impact of gender, race, class, and sexual orientation on their organizing and feminism. It uses data from a group of women organizers who first came together in 1989, and who were interviewed in 2002 as part of this follow-up study. The study found both commonalities and differences in comparing white women with women of color. While all the women identified as feminists and most used a feminist model of organizing, the women of color were more likely to express frustrations and divisions within the women's movement and it's organizing goals than were white women. They were less likely to embrace coalitions as a current strategy, and were engaged in or focused on the local versus global picture. Neither group of women addressed issues of sexual orientation in their work regardless of their background or affiliation. Using an intersectionality framework, the paper assesses the challenges the women face, especially women of color, as they attempt to negotiate the complexity of their identities and achieve important goals for women. Notwithstanding their differences, many of these organizers were working to bridge the divisions and envisioned a humanistic and equalitarian women's agenda.

Liberal Ends, Illiberal Means

The field of environmental security, and in particular Thomas Homer-Dixon's model of environmental conflict, were heavily influenced by neo-Malthusian degradation narratives, which disproportionately blame population pressures for generating poverty, environmental degradation, migration and political violence. In turn, the presence of these degradation narratives provided an avenue through which population actors and interests could intersect with the emerging environmental security agenda in the 1990s. As part of a political strategy to engage the foreign policy establishment in the 1994 UN Population Conference in Cairo, private population funders supported environmental conflict research and its dissemination at a variety of venues. There was a general willingness to deploy racially-charged demographic alarmism, particularly concerning population and migration, in the representation of Third World threats. The result was a kind of ideological schizophrenia within the population community as some actors used the politics of fear to generate support for the Cairo conference, while others appealed to a feminist agenda of women's empowerment and reproductive health. Some did both at the same time. This case illustrates the tension between liberal foreign policy goals and the illiberal means and ideologies deployed to achieve them, and the critical role played by private philanthropy. It is a cautionary tale with relevance today as certain population agencies are employing demographic explanations of terrorism to attract conservative support for international family planning assistance.

Menopausal women's positive experience of growing older

Objective This paper aims to describe menopausal women's positive experience of growing older and becoming middle-aged. Methods Qualitative interviews with 24 menopausal women, selected on the basis of a questionnaire, covering a broad spectrum of Danish women in terms of experience of menopausal symptoms, treatment, contact with the health care system, and social background. Results The women expressed varied and many-facetted views on ageing and clearly connected the fact that they were menopausal to the ageing process. All, except one, mentioned positive aspects of growing older: 1. they had become more experienced and competent; 2. they had gained more freedom; 3. they perceived possibilities of personal development that made them able to hold on to their own opinions and better speak their minds. The described positive effects were the result of having lived a long life, of good and evil, not of the menopause itself. The women also mentioned negative aspects: 1. negative expectations; 2. negative experiences. Positive aspects, often of psychological or existential nature, seemed to outweigh the negative experiences which were mostly related to bodily changes or losses. Conclusion This paper discusses the importance of avoiding unnecessary negative expectations of ageing and menopause and of focusing, instead, on the positive aspects of growing older. Health professionals should reconsider the necessity to talk about future risks with healthy women, and instead support the women's agenda when they try to cope with real-life problems.

Women's Citizenship and Neopopulism: Peru Under the Fujimori Regime

AbstractThis article argues that the increased participation of women in Peruvian politics in the 1990s and the advances made in some areas of their citizenship rights are connected to the strategies put in place by some sectors of the women's movement and to the openings provided by the Fujimori regime. Some of the impact of neopopulist rule on political institutions is shown to be positively related to women's increased opportunities during this period; yet the weak rule of law and the political use of the women's agenda by an increasingly questionable regime placed the women's movement in a complex political panorama. A disaggregated analysis of the politics of women's citizenship reveals that women from the popular sectors did not benefit from the same progress in their rights claims as women from the feminist movement or women in party politics.

Integrating Feminist Agendas: Gender justice and economic justice

Vibrant and vital global feminist movements have developed over the past 30 years to address a broad agenda for women's rights. Carol Barton argues that, in many cases these movements have tended to focus on specific issues, and in particular, to prioritize one over another. This is particularly true in a divide between those working on gender justice issues, including sexual and reproductive health, violence, and women's control over their bodies, and women working on a broad development and/or economic justice agenda. Efforts like Cairo and Beijing UN conferences that link these themes have not always changed the fact of specialization among women's organizations. This has had significant political implications, where feminist agendas have been pitted against each other in official venues such as the UN. Barton gives a brief history of this dichotomy and its pitfalls, the implications for the Millennium Development Goals and Millennium Summit process, and important new efforts to integrate feminist agendas, including the Feminist Dialogues, the Feminist Task Force of the Global Call Against Poverty, the Countdown 2015 campaign, and recent collaborations at the UN Beijing+10 review.

Psychosocial aspects of risk communication and mutation testing in familial breast-ovarian cancer

As cancer genetics services develop, psychosocial research evaluating risk communication and mutation testing for familial breast-ovarian cancer has expanded rapidly. It is timely to review findings in key areas. These will inform risk counselling practice and help prepare women making risk management decisions. The psychological effect of risk communication and genetic counselling has been elucidated and women's risk perceptions explored. Knowledge of optimal risk communication strategies is lacking, but recent research shows both consistency in information giving and deficiencies in specific communication skills; the need for personally tailored risk information, which addresses counsellees' concerns, is highlighted. Outcome assessments of risk communication, such as risk perception and psychological distress, are useful but insufficient to evaluate the complex communication process, and decision making in this context is underresearched. Subsequent diffusion of risk information and interfamily communication pose difficulties for high-risk individuals. The short-term psychological consequences of predictive mutation testing are an important focus of research and are largely reassuring, but long-term outcomes are sparse. Our understanding of the psychological benefits and limitations of risk counselling and mutation testing can now inform clinical practice, but insufficient knowledge exists of long-term outcomes. Most women are unlikely to be distressed following risk communication, but some may need psychosocial support in the short term following predictive testing for BRCA1/2. Different approaches to risk communication need to be developed and evaluated in parallel with communications skills training to ensure an adequate focus on the women's agenda.

American Society For Preventive Cardiology

As noted in the inaugural President's message1 and seconded by Dr. Amsterdam,2 the recent alignment of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) and Preventive Cardiology provides an exceptional opportunity to enhance the mission of coronary heart disease (CHD) preventive efforts throughout North America. We hope to accomplish these tasks by bringing to the forefront a variety of strategies that include continuing medical education (CME), publication of supplements addressing timely issues, and advanced training in preventive cardiology (the latter will be addressed in future issues). CME remains an important mechanism for the dissemination of up-to-date information on a variety of topics in CHD prevention. While there are numerous outlets for conducting CME, teleconferencing has gained increasing popularity because of its value, convenience, and ease of administration. Among the most successful teleconferencing programs in recent years is the Women's Agenda Targeting Cholesterol in Heart Disease (WATCH)3 program developed to provide both summary and treatment recommendations based on the recent American Heart Association guidelines for women. WATCH is spearheaded by ASPC President-Elect Lori Mosca, and a number of ASPC members have participated as moderators of this interactive program. Based on the success of WATCH, ASPC is negotiating with other potential CME vendors. We will keep you informed of the progress made in securing educational teleconferencing venues, as ASPC members will play active roles in such CME programs. ASPC is also teaming up with Preventive Cardiology to develop supplements dedicated to timely issues in CHD prevention. Among the potential areas of interest are the following: The emerging role and importance of HDL cholesterol; Effect of omega-3 fatty acids in cardiovascular disease prevention; Update on triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and CHD risk; Obesity and the metabolic syndrome: therapeutic advances; Hypertension and hyperlipidemia: optimizing preventive strategies. Again, we will look to ASPC members interested in collaborating on these important and exciting activities. Another mission of ASPC during the upcoming year will be to enhance recruitment efforts. There are several groups focused on CHD prevention, but without ties to ASPC. One of these groups is the Emerging Science and Lipid Management (ESLM) group, cochaired by Drs. Tony Gotto and Peter Libby. Organized in 2001 to provide scientific and clinical updates in the field of atherothrombosis and CHD, members of the ESLM faculty are talented junior faculty and midlevel investigators dedicated to cardiovascular prevention. Another potentially rich source for ASPC membership recruitment is the membership of the National Lipid Association (NLA), a community of lipid professionals specializing in the management of dyslipidemia, currently presided over by Dr. John Guyton. NLA consists of chapters in the Southeast, Northeast, and Northwest representing more than 1000 physicians and allied health care personnel. Finally, two other groups whom we believe would be an asset to ASPC are members of the Vascular Biology Working Group (VBWG), headed by Dr. Carl Pepine, and the Coalition for the Advancement of Cardiovascular Health (COACH), led by Dr. Elijah Saunders. These groups are multidisciplinary in nature with members experienced in a wide range of CHD preventive approaches ranging from basic mechanisms in endothelial biology to clinical hypertension and the metabolic syndrome. We believe that attracting physicians and allied health care personnel from such diverse groups would add a new dimension to the Society without compromising its overall mission. As ASPC continues to flourish in upcoming years, we acknowledge the need for energetic and dedicated individuals willing to serve the Society in a leadership role. The Table lists the distinguished group of colleagues who have previously served in this capacity. Officers are generally elected to serve a 3-year term with annual promotions from Secretary- Treasurer to Vice Chair and then President. As I conclude my tenure, it has certainly been a great pleasure to have participated in this process. I wish to extend special thanks to Robin Crouse, Frank Franklin, and Norm Lasser for their guidance, helpful suggestions, and continued friendship during this period. I am equally delighted that Lori Mosca and Doug Schocken are the successors of ASPC leadership, because their energy and enthusiasm will both drive and strengthen the organization and its alliance with Preventive Cardiology.

Globalising the women's movement agenda in South Africa

abstract Analyses of the discourses and dynamics of contemporary women's movements illustrate how new social movements respond to political opportunities and threats, mobilise their structures, and claim and re-claim their agendas. In South Africa, social and political changes arguably played a watershed role in the structures and strategies of the women's movement over several decades. Given the socio-political and historical context of trends in the women's movements globally and locally, this article investigates changing discourses and current initiatives to re-invigorate, re-direct and sustain women's agendas in South Africa. Social movement theory underlies the discussion.

Advancing the Mountain Women's Agenda: From Research to Action

Advancing the Mountain Women's Agenda: From Research to Action

Reading Contests and Contesting Reading: Chang-Rae Lee's "Native Speaker" and Ethnic New York

In Chang Rae Lee's Native Speaker, the first-person narrator of the novel imagines the possibility of Korean American mayor in New York City: [John] Kwang was certainly arresting to me.... Before I knew of him, I had never even conceived of someone like him. A Korean man, of his age, as part of the vernacular. Not just respectable grocer or dry cleaner or doctor, but larger public figure who was willing to speak and act outside the tight sphere of family.... In media photographs and video he appeared to me as an ambitious minority politician.... A lover of the republic. An underdog champion. (129-30) Later, the narrator describes Kwang as a new plot, space for story to bloom in [the] and necessary invention (130). While possibly charismatic persona, John Kwang actually emerges as problem of writing, some quantity straddling the border between the unimaginable and the realized. In much the same way that the narrator portrays Kwang as an idealized Asian American, man who will not only represent his particular location and constituency in Queens but also become part of metropolitan vernacular, New York tried in February 2002 to settle on single book that would similarly move from its particulars to being more universally accepted cultural touchstone: one book to unite the city in ritual of reading and collective interpretation. The selection of Lee's novel immediately set off debates as to its appropriateness. It is easy, in hindsight, to read the novel now as parable predicting its own fate. The ad hoc New York book selection committee chose Native Speaker because of its representation of the city's racial and economic diversity. And in much the same way that John Kwang is undermined in the novel (he is metaphorically disqualified from the political race because of his efforts to represent those who are unrepresentable, the undocumented workers of the city), the book's representative potential has been called into question not explicitly as function of its multicultural content but by way of anxieties regarding body snatching, thinly veiled, science fictional allusion to the threat of an alien takeover. In this paper, I reflect on the novel's own foreclosure of idealized representative possibilities that, paradoxically, may be the very reason it can critically gesture toward all that exceeds signification in New York. Many are now familiar with the One Book, One City program, sort of reading bee, designed to promote civic and literary conversation around single book read in the same week. (This program enjoyed great success in Chicago where tens of thousands of local readers took up Harper Lee's To Kill Mockingbird in October 2001.) (1) Four months later in New York, an all-white ad hoc committee of overwhelmingly female educators, librarians, and booksellers selected Lee's 1995 novel, Native Speaker, for this purpose. (2) The selection promptly began war of words, with pundits, quoted in the New York Times and New Yorker, proclaiming that New York, already the literary center of the country, if not the globe, did not need such reading scheme to promote its culture and city life (Ann Douglas of Columbia University, quoted in Kirkpatrick B1). Barbara Gerard of the Women's Agenda seemed to indicate that the selection of Native Speaker was premature: We are not quite sure we should go with 'Native Speaker.' I certainly want to finish reading it before I can say anything to see if there is anything derogatory toward Korean Americans or Asians at this point (Kirkpatrick B9). Gerard implicitly assumes that positive portraiture of Korean Americans equals further representational progress for Korean Americans, with literary content translating directly into (progressive or regressive) social effects. Here, reading is interpreted as type of access to the other. To my mind, however, the most interesting (and slippery) objections to the selection of Native Speaker came from commentators who voiced distaste for the very mass or groupthink qualities of the reading program itself: these reading bees [are] rather like the idea that we are all going to pop out and eat Chicken McNuggets or something else horrid at once, said Harold Bloom in an oft-quoted snippet (Angell 27). …

‘The Kite is Tied to You’: Custom, Christianity, and Organization among Kanak Women of Drueulu, Lifou, New Caledonia

ABSTRACTThis paper explores Drueulu women's engagement in an organized collectivity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. I focus particularly on the Drueulu Women's Group, a group affiliated to the umbrella Catholic organization, mouvement féminin vers un Souriant Village Mélanésien (mfSVM), to illustrate how these women mobilized cultural elements, including customary bonds, religious affiliation, and maternal relations, to assert their agency and empowerment. To move beyond a given and unchanging representation of Lifouan men and women means bringing to the fore multiple changing identities which are negotiated in different times and places. This does not mean privileging localism over national commonalities. By examining a 1990 protest march against alcohol abuse by men, I attest to the various articulations of women's concerns, customary linkages, and denominational affiliation which informed women's agenda at the village level. I then consider how these configurations were articulated in the 1992 annual general assembly of the mfSVM when 200 women gathered in Drueulu from all over the country for the twentieth anniversary of the movement. In the wider social settings here examined, the ubiquitous metaphorical use of maternal tropes gained strategic efficacy.

A review of androgen-progestin regimens for male contraception.

It has been 40 years since the administration of steroids to women to prevent pregnancy was approved in many countries and finally the development of reversible hormonal contraceptives for men seems to be within reach. Surveys performed in recent years suggest that men are willing to share the responsibility of family planning. Worldwide about 30% of the couples that use contraception use a male method in spite of the evident shortcomings of currently available contraceptives for men. In 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development active involvement of men in family planning was given a high priority in the women agenda. (excerpt)

Seen and Starting to Be Heard: Women and the Arab Media in a Decade of Change

Introduction WOMEN’S unequal access to the media is a universal concern, because negative stereotyping of women and lack of promotion for female editorial staff not only reflect wider disadvantages facing women but also help to sustain and reproduce them. This dynamic led to the inclusion of representation in and through the media and new communication technologies as one of 12 “critical areas of concern” in the Beijing Platform for Action, the agenda for women’s empowerment drawn up at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. As the media component of that agenda has been pursued since then, changes in the global media landscape have also proceeded apace. Transnational media corporations from developing countries have deployed satellite and cable networks to turn what was once a one-way traffic of “NorthSouth ” communication flows into a multidirectional phenomenon connecting dispersed linguistic communities all over the globe. In both developed and developing countries, some of the novelty of what were once “new” technologies of communication has worn off. What have these developments meant for media representation of women? For example, in cases where discrimination against women is embedded in legal systems and social customs, have tangible benefits resulted from activism aimed at SOCIAL RESEARCH, Vol. 69, No. 3 (Fall 2002) Seen and Starting to Be Heard: Women and the Arab Media in a Decade of Change BY NAOMI SAKR the media at a time when aspects of media production, distribution , and reception are all undergoing perceptible change? The Arab world suggests itself as a suitable focus of research into this question. Women in this region experience what Deniz Kandiyoti (2000: xiv) has called a “double jeopardy.” They are not only subject to the widespread restrictions on civic and political participation affecting both sexes, but are further denied autonomy by discriminatory “personal status laws.” Under variants of these laws, it is not women but their male guardians who have the authority to decide issues such as whether they may work or travel, or whom they may marry. History shows that structures of patriarchy were not uniform across the region before colonialism. Yet the Western model of the nation-state, complete with its gendered concepts of citizenship, became the compulsory model for Middle Eastern states emerging from colonialism, where it was imposed on already gendered systems of social stratification. The resulting “intersection” of patriarchies (Joseph and Slyomovics, 2001: 9) created a historically specific momentum of increasing control exercised over women by men, families, communities, and the state. It is beyond the scope of this paper to consider whether changes at the local and national level are combining with novel forms of transnational interconnectedness to slow or alter that momentum. Instead, the paper has a more modest but related aim. It examines developments in the Arab media and in the activism of Middle Eastern women as they relate to women’s representation in terms both of media portrayal and access to media decision making. In general there is nothing intrinsic to “new” or cross-border media that makes them more or less likely to benefit disadvantaged groups. Technology is neutral and its deployment is subject to existing structures of power. Indeed, the history of communications technology suggests that, since new technologies are introduced in response to certain social relations, we should not be surprised if their use reflects the comparative stasis of those relations (Winston, 1989: 71). Digitalization is a case in point. An 822 SOCIAL RESEARCH abundant literature points up the opportunities created for women’s advancement by new information and communication technologies (ICTs). Women at the center of experiments in networking for advocacy purposes report that the Internet can facilitate mobilization in times of crisis, along with active participation in policy debates and articulation of new perspectives. They also point out, however, that there is nothing automatic about such potential being realized. The Internet can equally be used to do the same things in the same way, “perpetuating the inequality, squelching diversity or fostering exclusivity” (Gittler, 1999: 100). Where women have used the Internet to create alternative media—in the form of e-zines, for example—they have been criticized for restricting their activism to an already committed audience (Gallagher, 2001...

South Asian women, psychological distress and self-harm: lessons for primary care trusts.

The present paper reports an investigation of the self-reported needs of South Asian women suffering distress and mental health problems which may lead to self-harm and suicide, and uses the data to define indicators of good practice for primary care. The design was a qualitative study using focus group discussion. Four focus groups of South Asian women (using existing women's groups in Manchester, UK) formed the setting for this study. Each focus group was facilitated by one of the authors, and the discussions occurred in Urdu, English and Punjabi. An interview guide was used, although the direction of the discussions followed the women's agenda. Notes were taken during the focus group discussions. Analysis of notes to define themes and emergence of framework was carried out. The data were analysed according to the principles of framework analysis. A range of systemic issues were described by respondents including: social, political and economic pressures; domestic violence; poverty; language problems; family and children's issues; and health. These experiences were reinforced by an extremely efficient community grapevine and were evident in described experiences such as: racism and stereotyping of Asian women; Asian communities and Islam; and the concept of izzat (honour) in Asian family life, which was seen as a major influence in the lives of Asian women. These experiences were thought to result in mental distress, which was described in a variety of ways by the women. The women saw self-harm as a usable coping strategy to deal with their distress. Perceived barriers to services were described by the women. Services tended to be accessed only at a point of desperation, rather than prior to crisis points. This indicated the need for services to be able to respond rapidly when Asian women did ask for help. Whilst the present paper describes a local study, thus limiting its generalisability, the use of such work in commissioning local health and social services is outlined. A number of indicators for good practice were drawn up in relation to addressing systemic issues in service provision using these findings. Such indicators will be of use by primary care trusts in developing, commissioning and monitoring services for this patient group.

Political History as Women's History: Toward a More Inclusive Curriculum

The secondary school history curriculum, with its emphasis on political history, tends to relegate women to the margins or to interpret their accomplishments according to a patriarchal framework. The author argues that by adapting theoretical developments in the field of women's history, women can be seen as political agents in history, thereby bringing about a more inclusive history in the schools that meets women on their own terms. Using the phase model designed by historians of women and educational researchers, the author shows how existing curriculum and educational research favors political history that either excludes women or overemphasizes the importance of the suffrage movement. Then, using the example of women's clubs and associations prior to the Nineteenth Amendment, she demonstrates how women's political activism influenced public education. Viewing women as political beings who were not merely limited to a private sphere, she argues, will advance the agenda of women's history in the school curriculum.

Women and democracy: A Bangladesh perspective

Since the reestablishment of liberal democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, the country has been struggling hard for the consolidation of its tenuous existence. It has been an uphill task in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In the meantime the impact of globalization and internal social forces have brought other democratic concerns to the fore. This article focuses on women's concerns and the democratization process in Bangladesh. Various strategies such as the feminist movement, both liberal as well as socialist, the rôles of the NGOs and the state are analysed. In conclusion attempts are made to evaluate those factors which have pushed women's agenda more to the fore. It is argued that women's demands in Bangladesh, under the rubric of a more participatory democracy, have still remained a far cry. A lot needs to be done to make feminist voices heard so that the democratic base of the country can be broadened.

EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN THROUGH THE CENTRE FOR CONSTRUCTIVE THEOLOGY

Women in the South African context South Africa has a history of disempowering the majority of its people on the basis of race, class and gender. This year (i.e., 1999, Ed.) South Africa celebrates five years of democratically elected government by the majority of the people. The major issue facing South Africa today is how to empower its previously disadvantaged people so that they can have dignity and self-identity. The aim of this paper is to show how the programme on Women in the Church and Society of the Centre for Constructive Theology attempts to make a contribution towards the empowering of South African church women from different classes and racial groups through it various activities. From the outset, it is important for me to declare my own identity as it may colour the interpretation of the situation of women in the South African context. As a Malawian professional lay woman growing up in the Presbyterian and Pentecostal urban area, I stand out from among the majority of African women. They mainly live in rural areas and exist under very difficult economic, social and spiritual conditions. For the majority of African women, it is issues of survival that concern them most rather than discussions about their gender. Therefore, as observed by Denise Ackermann: Gender exists, but does not do so alone. It has to be understood in the context of other factors that make up our identity, our race, class, economic status, religion, culture, sexual preference and so on. Women are different and our differences divide us from one another. For example, women are divided according to class. The differences between privileged women who are able to exercise choice over the course of their lives and women who struggle to subsist (even if they are of the same race) are prodigious. [1] Thus, women's experience of discrimination (by men or other women) on the basis of their sex varies from woman to woman. The variety of women's experiences must be taken into account when setting the agenda for women's discussions about themselves. The Centre for Constructive Theology The Centre for Constructive Theology (CCT) is an initiative of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Durban-Westville, Durban, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. It is now housed in the Centre of Religious Studies as a unit within the Faculty of Humanities. It was established in 1996 and is funded by various churches within South Africa and abroad. The CCT seeks to play a significant role in responding to the challenge of transformation and reconstruction in the new South Africa. It does so by providing concrete mechanisms for outreach and advocacy, which are informed by theological reflection. Although this reflection arises from a Christian base, the CCT intentionally promotes openness to and dialogue with other faith communities. The CCT endeavours to bridge the gap between formal academic theological enquiry and the practical needs and concerns of communities whose faith perspectives on the critical issues confronting South Africa have been undervalued in the past. The CCT does this by facilitating contextually relevant theological responses to the unfolding social, political and religious situation in the country and region. The work of the CCT involves coordinating the research, learning and outreach efforts of its various programmes. Currently these include the programme on Women in the Church and Society, the programme on Non-Formal Theological Education, and the programme on Justice and Peace. The CCT publishes the results of its programmatic undertakings, such as curricular resources, research projects, and a bi-annual Journal of Constructive Theology. The programme on Women in the Church and Society In my ministry as coordinator for the programme on Women in the Church and Society, I work with women in ecumenical groups. I am also invited to address men and women as well as women only in particular denominations. …