Women's Conference Research Articles

Creative Moments in Relational-Cultural Therapy

SUMMARY Creative moments in therapy are those occasions when something new and growth-fostering occurs. This article offers three illustrations and a discussion of these characteristics. It is based on a panel discussion held at the Stone Center-Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Hospital “Learning from Women Conference” in April, 2000.

Valuing Vulnerability: New Definitions of Courage

SUMMARY In a dominant, Western culture that celebrates strength in separation and holds unrealistic expectations for independent, autonomous functioning, vulnerability is seen as a handicap. This system creates the illusion of an invulnerable and separate self, and uses individualistic standards to measure a person's worth. Since these unrealistic expectations cannot be humanly attained, these controlling images become the source of shame and disconnection. RCT suggests that there is value in embracing vulnerability and in providing support, both at an individual and a societal level, for the inevitable vulnerability of all people. Rather than espousing the individual, mostly mythical, traits of a “lone hero,” RCT moves us toward new and important pathways to resilience and courage through connection. A version of this article was originally presented at the 2002 Learning from Women Conference, co-sponsored by Harvard Medical School and the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute.

Commitment to Connection in a Culture of Fear

SUMMARY This article was originally presented at the May 2004 Learning from Women Conference sponsored by Harvard Medical School and the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute. It examines the ways in which cultural and personal denial of fear and vulnerability contribute to a sense of isolation. Fear is manipulated in hierarchical settings to ensure the preservation of existing power arrangements. In a culture built on exploitation of fear, people do not experience the safety necessary to let their inevitable vulnerabilities show. Unmitigated chronic fear is an unsafe context that leads to a traumatic sense of disempowerment and personal immobilization, whether it is in war, childhood sexual abuse, living with a battering partner, or, perhaps in a more subtle way, in being immersed in massages of un-safety, danger, and having no influence in the larger public domain. Through mutual empathy we can heal these places of fear and disconnection. Mutual empathy arises in a context of profound respect, authentic responsiveness, humility, non-defensiveness, an attitude of curiosity, mindfulness (staying with the “not knowing”), and an appreciation of the power of learning. Movement out of isolation helps us pass through fear to hope and ultimately leads to growth and more connection.

Gender and Australian Aid Policy: can women's rights be advanced within a neo-liberal framework?

The issue of gender and development has been an important part of the development discourse since the Mexico City Women Conference in 1973. This concern has been very slow to transform itself into policy. For development agencies including AusAID it has been a subsidiary policy area or an add-on, as a recipe might say'add women and stir'. The White Paper of 2007 brought gender to the centre of policy as an overarching principle. The question that arises is the extent to which these policies fit into or are driven by the neo-liberal paradigm underpinning the aid program, or if these policies can challenge it by positing a rights agenda. The 2007 Gender policy tries to sit between the two in that it focuses on the economic role that women can play in fostering growth on the one hand, and the denial of human rights that marginalisation and disempowerment represents. This paper will explore the development of gender policy in AusAID, and compare it with the development of policy of other agencies that follow the neo-liberal framework in particular the World Bank and ADB. Finally the paper will make some suggestions for the new Labor government to strengthen the Policy.

The Pan American Conference of Women, 1922: Successful Suffragists Turn to International Relations

The Pan American Conference of Women, 1922: Successful Suffragists Turn to International Relations

Unruly Spaces: Gender, Women's Writing and Indigenous Feminism in China

Since the 1995 Beijing Women's Conference contemporary women's writing in China has been a privileged site for the exploration of gender relations and female specificity. After defining a specifically indigenous Chinese feminism, this paper studies four directions in women's writing that impact upon feminist practice: rural women's stories that encourage advocacy for women's rights; new historical fiction that challenges the established representations of women in history; popular novels and blog sites by urban women that sexually subvert traditions; and poststructuralist ‘personalised writing’ that disengages from male-centred discourse and explores women's radical alterity. We argue that these writings give rise to many sites of activism, not only for Chinese women in urban and rural areas, but also for Chinese women's involvement in trans-global feminist networks and cross-cultural exchanges. Chinese feminists today, through the medium of creative writing, articulate a new politics of difference, refracted through English-speaking and European theories, but adapted to local traditions, histories and regional affiliations, directed toward an indigenous, Chinese-style of feminism with expansive possibilities and an array of indeterminate outcomes.

Women, development, and the UN: a sixty-year quest for equality and justice

In Development, and the UN, internationally noted development economist and activist Devaki Jain traces the ways in which women have enriched the work of the United Nations from the time of its founding in 1945. Synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on women and development and from her own broad experience, Jain reviews the evolution of the UN's programs aimed at benefiting the women of developing nations and the impact of women's ideas about rights, equality, and social justice on UN thinking and practice regarding development. Jain presents this history from the perspective of the southern hemisphere, which recognizes that development issues often look different when viewed from the standpoint of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The book highlights the contributions of the four global women's conferences in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing in raising awareness, building confidence, spreading ideas, and creating alliances. The history that Jain chronicles reveals both the achievements of committed networks of women in partnership with the UN and the urgent work remaining to bring equality and justice to the world and its women. Devaki Jain is a development economist and activist. She graduated in economic from Oxford University and taught at Delhi University for six years. Her academic research and advocacy, influenced largely by Gandhian philosophy, have focused on issues of equity, democratic decentralization, people-centered development and women's rights. She has been an active member of the local, national, and international women's movement and has held positions in national and international expert commissions and councils with a specialist focus on justice. Jain is coeditor (with Pam Rajput) of Narratives from the Women's Studies Family: Recreating Knowledge and (with Diana L. Eck) of Speaking of Faith: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women, Religion, and Social Change.

Gender Mainstreaming in Practice: A View from Rural Australia

This article focuses on gender mainstreaming in practice using the example of agriculture departments in Australia. Gender mainstreaming is a policy initiative adopted internationally following the Beijing women's conference in 1995 to address gender inequality. The move represents a policy shift from a focus solely addressing women's disadvantage to a broader attention to gender inequality. This article provides an historical overview of the move toward gender mainstreaming in the international environment, as well as a theoretical critique. Using the Australian case example, the shift of attention from rural women to gender mainstreaming in Australian agricultural departments appears to be taking place with little understanding of the concept of gender mainstreaming or its goals. It is further argued that recent moves by government departments of agriculture toward gender mainstreaming may have disadvantaged women. This article argues that, while in theory mainstreaming is a more successful way of addressing gender inequality, in practice it risks reducing attention to women unless changes occur in departmental cultures and gender mainstreaming accountability measures are introduced at international and national levels.

Improving health care for women veterans

Improving health care for women veterans

Looking back and ahead: The media and the struggle for gender equality after the Nairobi UN women's conference

abstract This briefing examines the role the media has played in furthering gender equality, peace and development as was spelt out by the Nairobi International Women's Conference in 1985. The conference, in many ways, presented opportunities for new forms of engaging the media with the struggle against poverty and women's rights. This paper surveys the performance of the media and how the African media in particular have engaged with agendas set at the Nairobi Conference with regards to transforming attitudes, creating more space for women and, most importantly, setting a proactive agenda for working towards gender equality. How have women's voices and images as forms of expression found presence in the media since 1985?

Challenging patriarchal structures: Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement in Kenya

abstract Within the last two decades, the United Nations has organised world conferences for women in Nairobi and Beijing, in 1985 and 1995 respectively, to draw governments' attention to their obligations to women. These conferences have led to the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies (NFLS) and the Beijing platform for action (BPFA) recommendations. These global women's conferences and agreements place heavy responsibilities on the United Nations system to include gender in all aspects of their work as well as in the work of the member states. These processes have made connections between gender, development, environment and sustainable development. They have, however, not made connections between women's emancipation and the need to challenge existing gender relations. This focus—while reflecting on the gains and challenges of these processes—examines the lessons learnt from Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai and her Green Belt Movement, an environmental and social justice organisation in Kenya, which, among other missions, highlighted gendered relations and challenged patriarchy within national and global structures.

Moving forward as a multi-generational movement

As a 'young' feminist, this particular issue of Agenda provides a critical opportunity for engagement with the issue of movement building, power and the future from an intergenerational perspective. First, I think it is important that we move away from a dichotomic approach to intergenerational issues. There are different generations of women who participate in women's movements and, therefore, saying 'young' and 'old' does not reflect the reality of the movement. Even women of different generations would have different expectations and visions of organising based on the specificities of their location or identities. Secondly, I think it is important to start naming some of the misconceptions of the value that different generations have brought to feminist organising. For young women, our moment in time is different, yet, at the same time, we recognise that if we are to develop collective visions, it is important that we develop a collective understanding of histories and develop visions that will be relevant to different generations, contexts and schools of thought. So, I proceed in this introduction to talk about the perspective of younger feminists to provoke a discussion that can lead us further towards dealing more openly and honestly with issues of intergenerational organising, to enable us to move forward in a way that is more strategic. The Beijing women's rights conference was an important turning point for women, and young women in particular were mobilised to develop their own proposals and present them to the Beijing Platform of Action. Since then, young women have continued to create their own organisations and networks and have actively participated in decision-making processes at different levels (Alpizar and Wilson, 2005:5). As young women getting involved in feminist organising, what we saw was an emphasis on engagement with international development institutions,' governments and also with 'institutionalised' movements in the form of NGOs (Charkiewicz, 2004). Our view did not necessarily include the lobbying and advocacy that preceded the inclusion of feminist movements into these spaces. We saw what looked like a 'separation' in feminist organising, where some role-players organise at the global/regional and national level and, at the same time, there are those groups working at the 'grassroots' level. Sometimes, those groups working at the grassroots came together with those working at the national, regional and global levels and, very many times, they work separately and in isolation of one

The Women's Health Track of the Kaiser Permanente National Primary Care Conference

Twice a year the Kaiser Permanente National Primary Care Conference (PCC) brings together expert clinician-presenters from all over the Kaiser Permanente Regions. The Women's conference format five years ago and has continued to grow in participation and popularity. Besides offering the latest evidence-based medical information, the conference is always held in a relaxing atmosphere and allows quality time to renew and invigorate the spirit. The PCC faculty is invited to attend a Faculty Development Workshop to improve presentation style and skills. The workshop includes on-camera and group critiquing and is a great opportunity even for experienced presenters. … Kaiser Permanente National Primary Care Conference (PCC) brings together expert clinician-presenters from all over the Kaiser Permanente Regions. Most recently, the meeting took place in Las Ve-gas, Nevada (October 2004). The overall attendance for the conference was approximately 350–including physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and other allied health professionals from all over the country. The Women's Health Track was the largest ever with 96 registered attendees. Some of the Women's Health topics featured in Las Vegas included: Musculoskeletal Problems in Active and Athletic Women—Presented by Robert Sallis, MD, Southern California HPV and New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines and Gy-necologic Cancer Update—Presented by Walter Kinney, MD, Northern California Women's Respiratory Health: Gender and Sex Differences—Presented by Reginald Mason, MD, KP Georgia The Epidemic of Chlamydia—Presented by Charles Wibbelsman, MD, Northern California; Victoria Mancuso, MD, Northern California; and Lee Jacobs, MD, Georgia Evidence-Based Approach to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Chiropractic, Acupuncture, and Herbs—Moderated by Lee Jacobs, MD, Geor-gia; Panelists: Kirk Pappas, MD, Northern California; Stanford Shoor, MD, Northern California; and Tierona Low Dog, MD, guest presenter. The Spring 2005 National Primary Care Conference promises to be equally interesting and relevant. Please look for the announcement for the next conference in Maui (page 107) to be held from March 20-25, 2005 or go to: www.kpprimarycareconference.org. Some of the Women's Health Topics planned for the spring include: Cosmetic Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Metabolic Syndrome—What's the relationship? Lactation—Physiology, Medications, and the Impact on Primary Care Sexuality—Physiology and Implications for Women with Chronic Diseases Evidence-Based Approach to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Spiritual Healing, Prayer, and Meditation Management of Obesity HPV and New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines and Gynecologic Cancer Update I look forward to seeing you in Maui!

Defending Diversity, Sustaining Consensus: NGOs at the Beijing Women's Conference and Beyond

SUMMARY This article discusses access to and involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in September 1995. It also looks at the impact on consensus-building of the growing diversity of NGOs participating in these global UN events and at the effect on the international women's movement of the frustrations and difficulties faced in the follow up to Beijing as agreements have been reopened or rolled back. In this climate, women activists and feminist analysts are questioning the future viability of the United Nations as a political space for women's organizing, and under conditions of rapid globalization, are increasingly divided on strategies for implementation and activism.

Women's NGOs at UN Conferences: The 1992 Rio Conference on the Environment as a Watershed Event

SUMMARY Before the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Brazil in 1992, the involvement of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in UN conferences was limited. NGOs participate in UN conferences in two ways, at a non-governmental forum usually convened simultaneously with an official UN conference, or as accredited observers to the official conference where government delegations meet and make decisions. Only 200 NGOs were granted access to the official portion of the Decade for Women Conference held in Nairobi in 1985, whereas 1,400 organizations were accredited to attend UNCED in Rio in 1992. And while only a small portion, about 5 percent, of those were women-oriented NGOs, they had a significant impact on the outcome. An entire chapter on women and environmental issues was added to the official conference document, and cross-cutting references to women were included throughout the document. This achievement reflects the work of several uniquely placed women, in and outside governments and the United Nations system, working together to build an international network of women and bring their voices to the table. Moreover, the techniques they developed have been used by women at every major UN conference held since 1992.

Women in politics in Indonesia in the decade post‐Beijing*

When 189 member states of the United Nations unanimously agreed to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, they committed themselves to ensuring women's equal access to, and full participation in, power structures and decision‐making. At the time of signing, women constituted fewer than 12% of parliamentary members worldwide, a percentage mirrored in Indonesia. What has happened in the intervening years in terms of women's political participation in Indonesia? To what extent have Indonesian women been able to enforce the sentiments of the Beijing Women's Conference and institute political gains, both quantitative (e.g., increasing political representation) and qualitative (e.g., ensuring women's issues are prioritised)? What obstacles continue to hinder women's entry into politics and what needs to be achieved in order to further facilitate women's political participation? In addressing these and other questions, this paper argues that while there have been substantial developments in terms of public recognition of women's right to participate in politics, women continue to be effectively invisible in Indonesian politics; indeed, the last decade has actually witnessed a decline in the number of women in politics in Indonesia.

Maximal Power Measured During A Taper In Collegiate Swimmers

PURPOSE To determine the time course of changes in maximal neuromuscular power (P), torque (T), velocity (V), and swim performance (m/sec) that occurred in collegiate swimmers during a 14 to 21 day taper. METHODS Using an arm ergometer with inertial loading, measurements were made prior to the initiation of the taper (high-volume, HV), during the two to three week period of the taper (Taper), and during the week of peak competition (Peak) in 46 competitive collegiate swimmers (22 female, 24 male). Subjects were divided into groups that tapered to peak for competition at either the conference or national championship meet. Groups include; Men's Conference team (MC, n = 13), Men's National team (MN, n = 11), Women's Conference team (WC, n = 22), and Women's National team (WN, n = 15). RESULTS MC increased power 10.2 % (p <0.01) and swim performance 4.4% (p <0.001), MN increased power 11.6% (p <0.01), torque 7.4% (p <0.02) and swim performance 4.7% (p < 0.001). WC increased power 10.4% (p <0.001), velocity 4.1% (p <0.05), torque 6.5% (p <0.01) and swim performance 5.2% (p <0.001). WN increase power 13.5% (p <0.001), velocity 6.1% (p <0.04), torque 8.7% (p <0.04), swim performance 5.5% (p <0.001). Approximately one-half of the increase in maximal neuromuscular power occurred during the first 7 to 10 days of taper. Torque displayed a similar time course for improvement when compared to power, as approximately 50% of the increase occurred during the first 7 to 10 days of the taper, with the only exception being MC. Velocity was only significantly increased in the women and the time frame with which this increase occurred lacked consistency across groups. Performance was significantly correlated to both power and torque in all groups (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Maximal neuromuscular power increases during the taper of collegiate swimmers largely due to the increases in torque with one half of the increase in power occurring in the first 7 to 10 days of the 14 to 21 day taper.

Maximal Power Measured During A Taper In Collegiate Swimmers

PURPOSE To determine the time course of changes in maximal neuromuscular power (P), torque (T), velocity (V), and swim performance (m/sec) that occurred in collegiate swimmers during a 14 to 21 day taper. METHODS Using an arm ergometer with inertial loading, measurements were made prior to the initiation of the taper (high-volume, HV), during the two to three week period of the taper (Taper), and during the week of peak competition (Peak) in 46 competitive collegiate swimmers (22 female, 24 male). Subjects were divided into groups that tapered to peak for competition at either the conference or national championship meet. Groups include; Men's Conference team (MC, n = 13), Men's National team (MN, n = 11), Women's Conference team (WC, n = 22), and Women's National team (WN, n = 15). RESULTS MC increased power 10.2 % (p <0.01) and swim performance 4.4% (p <0.001), MN increased power 11.6% (p <0.01), torque 7.4% (p <0.02) and swim performance 4.7% (p < 0.001). WC increased power 10.4% (p <0.001), velocity 4.1% (p <0.05), torque 6.5% (p <0.01) and swim performance 5.2% (p <0.001). WN increase power 13.5% (p <0.001), velocity 6.1% (p <0.04), torque 8.7% (p <0.04), swim performance 5.5% (p <0.001). Approximately one-half of the increase in maximal neuromuscular power occurred during the first 7 to 10 days of taper. Torque displayed a similar time course for improvement when compared to power, as approximately 50% of the increase occurred during the first 7 to 10 days of the taper, with the only exception being MC. Velocity was only significantly increased in the women and the time frame with which this increase occurred lacked consistency across groups. Performance was significantly correlated to both power and torque in all groups (p <0.05). CONCLUSIONS Maximal neuromuscular power increases during the taper of collegiate swimmers largely due to the increases in torque with one half of the increase in power occurring in the first 7 to 10 days of the 14 to 21 day taper.

Feminist Questions, Grassroots Movements: An Overview

Abstract: Women's organizations and others which attend to gender issues, have expanded considerably over the last 15 years. This article examines the changing context in which such organizations operate, including the contradictory effect of neoliberal global governance, particularly since the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995. Feminist practice approaches in anthropology continue to examine the cultural politics from which feminism and gender politics emerge in this context of globalization. The article encourages anthropologists to engage even more with the discursive and material effects that render these organizations and initiatives subject to the contradictory mechanisms of neoliberal global governance, including human rights initiatives that focus on women and the global consequences of economic restructuring.

Adventures in International Adult Education

Introduction My international interest and some valuable skills came from my grandmother and parents. My grandmother was a stateswoman, peacemaker, and visionary who was advanced for her time. She gave me my middle name and a lifelong interest in international work. My scientist father and adventurous and energetic mother homesteaded with our family on Yukon Island across Kachemak Bay in Homer, Alaska. The experience there taught me to be flexible and resourceful, and how to make do without the modern conveniences of running water and electricity--useful preparation for international travel and work. After graduating from college and teaching junior high math and science, I moved for a year to Kaltag, an Athabascan village of 32 families on the Yukon River. That winter, the Adult Literacy Laboratory hired me to write culturally relevant curriculum materials and teach adult basic education to village teachers, most of whom were Alaska natives. This led to a decade of work in rural Alaska. The experiences taught me how to listen, live, and work in different cultures and how to act as a resource while doing work that aimed to empower people. The culturally rich environment and remote locations make experiences in Bush Alaska similar to international work. Doing my graduate adult education work at Florida State University in the 1980s motivated me further to get involved internationally. My professor, George Aker, was internationally renowned and my student colleagues were from all over the world; we had wonderful opportunities to learn about cultural differences and viewpoints from one another. International Work While I had occasionally traveled outside the United States, my international work really began when the Iron Curtain between Russia and Alaska fell in 1988. By 1989, friends and I were hosting Russian visitors. Since 1991, I have spent time each year in Magadan, in the Russian Far East--a sister city to Anchorage, and the place of Stalin's camps where so many thousands died. We began to collaborate with Magadan's Northern International University, including faculty and student exchanges, joint conferences, policy, and curriculum work. It is my Russian friends that make my experience so interesting and vivid. I am inspired and humbled by Russian university colleagues who are dedicated, creative, and effective despite limited resources and huge obstacles in a place where daily life is difficult. Cold university buildings, intermittent phone and Internet access, and scarcity of supplies all provide challenges. But I have been fascinated with their language and mathematics teaching methods, and the Russian people and system have taught me a great deal. In the mid-1990s, a group of women started the Magadan Women's Center, one of the earliest nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and later, a second NGO that assists women and children in the destitute settlements in the region. It has been exciting to be involved with these women and centers. They have done amazing things: established a domestic violence hotline, assisted handicapped children and their families, offered prenatal education, and co-sponsored the first women's conference. Sometimes I assist by supplying materials, training, carrying money and supplies, hosting them in Anchorage--whatever seems to help. Can we fix all the problems? Certainly not! Can one person make a little difference in the lives of others and herself?. Yes, indeed. The needs and situation internationally seem quite overwhelming, but it is gratifying to have the chance to be involved. It has surely changed my life, my perspective, and some of my direction. Working With International Colleagues Before traveling, there are some things you should take into consideration. It is important to learn about the country, the culture, the people with whom one will work, and some of the language. …