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Shirin M Rai

University of Warwick, Politics and International Studies, Faculty Member

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Shirin M Rai studied at the University of Delhi (India) and Cambridge University (UK) and joined the University of Warwick in 1989. She is Professor in the department of Politics and International Studies and Director of Warwick Interdisciplinary Centre for International Development (WICID). Her research interests are in the political economy of development, gender and political institutions and performance and politics. She has written extensively on these issues in journals such as International Feminist Journal of Politics, New Political Economy, Review of International Studies, Signs, and World Development. She has edited fifteen books, the latest being the OUP Handbook of Politics and Performance(forthcoming). Her latest authored book is Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament(with Carole Spary

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Sheila A. Payne

Lancaster University

Elena Zacharenko

Tampere University

Criena Fitzgerald

The University of Sheffield

Hjalte Sederlof

Corvinus University of Budapest

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Papers by Shirin M Rai

Towards a new deal for care and carers : report of the PSA Commission on Care, 2016

The Everyday Gendered Political Economy of Violence

Politics & Gender, 2015

This short commentary aims to think through the need to return to a more “integrated” feminist IR... more This short commentary aims to think through the need to return to a more “integrated” feminist IR through a focus on some of the ways in which feminist political economy (FPE) scholars, such as ourselves, might better integrate a focus on gendered forms and practices of violence into our analysis. We do this via an intervention into debates about the nature of the “everyday” political economy. At the same time, we hope that this intervention might also draw attention to the need for a clearer understanding of the gendered structures and practices of the global political economy in feminist security studies (FSS).

The Logics of Gender Justice

The Logics of Gender Justice, 2018

Social reproduction – the Achilles heel of feminist transformation?

Handbook on Gender in World Politics

The National Commission for Women: the Indian experience

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State, 2017

Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of litera... more Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the "interests of women" are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia

Recognizing the Full Costs of Care? Compensation for Families in South Africa’s Silicosis Class Action

Social & Legal Studies, 2017

This article concerns recognition and compensation of the intimate, gendered work of caring by fa... more This article concerns recognition and compensation of the intimate, gendered work of caring by family members for workers who became ill with lung diseases as a result of poor labour conditions in the mines in South Africa. It focuses on a recent decision by a court in South Africa ( Nkala and Others v. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and Others, 2016) that took the unusual step of acknowledging this care work and attempting to compensate it indirectly. The article combines insights from political economy and law within a feminist frame to develop an argument about compensation for social reproductive work to address the harm experienced by the carers of mineworkers. Using the theory of depletion through social reproduction, it suggests ways of understanding the costs of care in order to fully compensate the harms suffered by the carers. This is done with reference to a photographic essay by Thom Pierce called ‘The Price of Gold’ taken in the mineworkers’ homes after their disch...

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women: mainstreaming gender, democratizing the state?

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State, 2017

Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of litera... more Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the "interests of women" are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia

Introduction to the themed section: law, harm and depletion through social reproduction

European Journal of Politics and Gender, 2020

In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary exploration into the invisibilisation of social ... more In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary exploration into the invisibilisation of social reproduction, most of which still continues to be done by women. In this introduction and themed section, we argue that the neglect of social reproduction has material costs for those responsible for it, which we theorise as ‘depletion through social reproduction’ (Rai et al, 2014) – and these costs are gendered. As a facet of governing processes, the law is important here. In this themed section, we examine the issue of law, harm and depletion through social reproduction to show how different strategies are already being used by individuals, households and communities to mitigate depletion and how this is being addressed (or not) at the policy and legal levels – local, national and international. To explore this issue, we have brought together sociologists, political economists and lawyers to develop insights that can be of value to political scientists and to the policy community.

Feminist everyday political economy: Space, time, and violence

Review of International Studies, 2018

It goes without saying that feminist International Political Economy (IPE) is concerned in one wa... more It goes without saying that feminist International Political Economy (IPE) is concerned in one way or another with the everyday – conceptualised as both a site of political struggle and a site within which social relations are (re)produced and governed. Given the longstanding grounding of feminist research in everyday gendered experiences, many would ask: Why do we need an explicit feminist theorisation of the everyday? After all, notions of everyday life and everyday political struggle infuse feminist analysis. This article seeks to interrogate the concept of the everyday – questioning prevalent understandings of the everyday and asking whether there is analytical and conceptual utility to be gained in articulating a specifically feminist understanding of it. We argue that a feminist political economy of the everyday can be developed in ways that push theorisations of social reproduction in new directions. We suggest that one way to do this is through the recognition that social re...

The Good Life and the Bad: Dialectics of Solidarity

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2018

This essay asks four questions about the good life. First, what place has recognition of exclusio... more This essay asks four questions about the good life. First, what place has recognition of exclusion in the politics of redistribution? Second, can we imagine a public good life without also paying attention to the private and how does the private leach into the public imagination of a good life? Third, what obligations of justice are necessary to ensure our shared good lives? Finally, can we imagine new ways of thinking about resistance and change through alliances of the excluded? I argue that the imagination of a good life needs to be contextual, it is gendered and it is solidaristic. The most tragic form of loss isn't the loss of security; it's the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different.

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis

World Development, 2019

SDG 8 calls for promoting 'sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and product... more SDG 8 calls for promoting 'sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all'. Even as it highlights the importance of labour rights for all, it also makes visible some significant tensions. We note, for example, that despite many critiques of narrow economic measures of growth, the focus here remains on GDP and per capita growth. This is problematic, we argue, because the GDP productive boundary excludes much of social reproductive work. This puts SDG8 in tension with SDG 5 which calls for the recognition of the value of unpaid care and domestic work. There has been a significant increase in the rate of working women in the formal and informal sector. However, there has not been a subsequent gender shift in the doing of social reproductive work. In this paper we argue SDG 8's focus on decent work and economic growth is inadequate; that productive employment and decent work for all men and women by 2030 needs to take into account the value and costs of social reproduction. We trace key historical debates on work to argue that both gender and labour rights have to underpin SDG 8 if its promise of inclusive, sustainable and decent work is to be realized.

Political Performance: A Framework for Analysing Democratic Politics

Political Studies, 2014

This article develops a framework to examine the co-constitutive nature of performance and politi... more This article develops a framework to examine the co-constitutive nature of performance and politics and to suggest that such a framework is critical to promoting an interdisciplinary approach to understanding our complex political world. It does this by disaggregating the component parts of political performance and suggesting how, once these are made visible, we are able to reflect upon more complex processes of its re-aggregation into our analysis of politics. The framework is constituted along two axes-one that maps individual performance, which is nevertheless socially embedded; and the other that charts the political effects of performance. The framework allows us to reflect upon social and political institutions, movements and events and analyse these through the prism of performance and politics. The empirical core of the article is the Indian parliament.

Mainstreaming gender, democratizing the State?

The role of the women's movement in institutionalizing a gender focus in public policy: the Ecuad... more The role of the women's movement in institutionalizing a gender focus in public policy: the Ecuadorian experience JURGETTE HONCULADA AND ROSALINDA PINEDA OFRENEO 6 The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, the women's movement and gender mainstreaming in the Philippines BIRGITTA ÅSESKOG 7 National machinery for gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries ZUZANA JEZERSKA 8 Gender awareness and the national machineries in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe WENDY STOKES 9 The government of the United Kingdom: the Women's National Commission JOY C. KWESIGA 10 The national machinery for gender equality in Uganda: institutionalized gesture politics? SHIRIN M. RAI 11 The National Commission for Women: the Indian experience MARIAN SAWER 12 The life and times of women's policy machinery in Australia SHIRIN M. RAI Conclusions: looking forward Bibliography Index CONTENTS vi List of contributors Selma Acuner got her PhD at the Public Administration and Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University, Turkey. She is a part-time lecturer at the Women's Studies Center of the same University and an adviser on gender issues at the Prime Ministry. Her area of studies includes equality policies, the European Union and equal opportunities, and the institutionalization of gender equality at all levels. Brigitta Åseskog is a deputy Director at the Division for gender equality in the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications in Sweden. During 1998-99 she was the manager of a gender mainstreaming project launched by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Since 2001 (and during a leave of absence from the Ministry) she has been employed by the European Commission as a senior official.

Achieving gender equality in public offices in Pakistan

Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Wome... more Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 29 February, 1996, being the 174th State-Party. Ministry of Women Development (MoWD) is the designated national focal machinery for its implementation. CEDAW covers 30 Articles, of which 2-16 signify legal obligations of a State-Party (summarized): Condemn discrimination against women in all forms and adopt measures necessary for eliminating them in realization of the rights recognized in the Convention Affirm & Initiate appropriate measures, including legislation to ensure full development and advancement of women, ensuring equality with men Submit Follow-up Assessment & periodic Implementation Reports, and such other Reports as may be required Source: http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/ministries/wom en-development-ministry/media/Brief.pdf 02 INTRODUCTIION INTRODUCTION Box 2 : UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environment al sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development The burden of the argument in this report is that gender balance in public life can only be effective if equal rights to public resources go hand in hand with equal representation in public institutions and decision-making processes.

Gender and globalisation and Women's activism : critical engagements

There is a growing literature on global restructuring and the growing pressures and inequalities ... more There is a growing literature on global restructuring and the growing pressures and inequalities across different social and spatial boundaries. This increase in inequalities has also been accompanied by the decline of class-based movements which have themselves suffered from a failure to recognise social exclusion based on issues other than class. In this paper I argue that if the feminist challenge is not to be limited, there needs to be a focus on the importance of redistributive policies that are rooted in the structural inequalities of capitalist production and exchange. In this situation alliances between women's and other social groups and solidarity among different emancipatory social movements, which expand the links between gender activism and other forms of transformative politics become both more necessary and more possible. To reach this conclusion I examine an example of an initiative by the Indian government in the province of Rajasthan, the Women's Development Programme.

The political economy of intellectual property rights: a gender perspective

Development and the Challenge of Globalization, 2002

Orthodox copyright scholarship frames piracy in 'developing' countries as a detrimental and illeg... more Orthodox copyright scholarship frames piracy in 'developing' countries as a detrimental and illegal practice that results from these countries' lack of economic, social and cultural development. It argues that piracy needs to be discouraged, regulated, and finally overcome for legitimate business to flourish. In this article, the authors challenge this viewpoint and question whether the implementation of international copyright instruments in legislation across Africa really promotes those local economies or if it merely exposes them to neo-colonial exploitation. While the early international treaties on intellectual property rights (IPR) were formulated by European states and implemented in most parts of Africa through colonial laws, more recent legislation has been globally implemented through institutions such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization, which remain dominated by Western interests. Through a structured overview of the adoption of IPR treaties in African countries, the authors advance a political economy perspective of intellectual property rights as a (neo-)colonial regime. MOTS-CLÉS piratage ; Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme ; Article 27 ; droits culturels ; droits d'auteur ; droits de propriété intellectuelle

Engendered Development in a Global Age?

SSRN Electronic Journal, 1999

In this paper I raise issues about the ways in which globalisation is taking shape in the materia... more In this paper I raise issues about the ways in which globalisation is taking shape in the material world of economy, together with the changing rhetoric and repertoires of social and cultural worlds, and where and how are men and women situated within these changing and yet familiar worlds. I examine some current debates on the various levels of governance-the national, the international and the local. I suggest that a gendered analysis of the issues raised in these debates is important to examine the new opportunities opened up by the processes of globalisation, and those that are closed off for both women and men. I conclude by examining how gender mediates with social positioning, the trajectory of the struggles within/between national sovereign states, the homogenising forces of marketisation, and the success, or otherwise, of increasingly international social movements, and is important part of our understanding of globalisation.

Development and the Challenge of Globalization

Group. Our mission is to build the skills and capacity of people in developing countries through ... more

Feminism, imperialism and orientalism: the challenge of the ‘Indian woman’

Women's History Review, 1998

This article examines the content and process of imperialist discourse on the 'Indian woman' in t... more This article examines the content and process of imperialist discourse on the 'Indian woman' in the writings of two North American women, one writing at the time of 'first wave' feminism, the other a key exponent of the 'second wave' of the movement. By analysing these writings, it demonstrates how the content of the discourse was reproduced over time with different but parallel effects in the changed political circumstances, in the first case producing the Western imperial powers as superior on the scale of civilisation, and in the second case producing Western women as the leaders of global feminism. It also identifies how the process of creating written images occurred within the context of each author's social relations with the subject, the reader and the other authors, showing how an orientalist discourse can be produced through the author's representation of the human subjects of whom she writes; how this discourse can be reproduced through the author's uncritical use of earlier writers; and how the discourse can be activated in the audience through the author's failure to challenge established cognitive structures in the reader.

Legacies of common law: ‘crimes of honour’ in India and Pakistan

Third World Quarterly, 2006

Towards a new deal for care and carers : report of the PSA Commission on Care, 2016

The Everyday Gendered Political Economy of Violence

Politics & Gender, 2015

This short commentary aims to think through the need to return to a more “integrated” feminist IR... more This short commentary aims to think through the need to return to a more “integrated” feminist IR through a focus on some of the ways in which feminist political economy (FPE) scholars, such as ourselves, might better integrate a focus on gendered forms and practices of violence into our analysis. We do this via an intervention into debates about the nature of the “everyday” political economy. At the same time, we hope that this intervention might also draw attention to the need for a clearer understanding of the gendered structures and practices of the global political economy in feminist security studies (FSS).

The Logics of Gender Justice

The Logics of Gender Justice, 2018

Social reproduction – the Achilles heel of feminist transformation?

Handbook on Gender in World Politics

The National Commission for Women: the Indian experience

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State, 2017

Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of litera... more Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the "interests of women" are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia

Recognizing the Full Costs of Care? Compensation for Families in South Africa’s Silicosis Class Action

Social & Legal Studies, 2017

This article concerns recognition and compensation of the intimate, gendered work of caring by fa... more This article concerns recognition and compensation of the intimate, gendered work of caring by family members for workers who became ill with lung diseases as a result of poor labour conditions in the mines in South Africa. It focuses on a recent decision by a court in South Africa ( Nkala and Others v. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and Others, 2016) that took the unusual step of acknowledging this care work and attempting to compensate it indirectly. The article combines insights from political economy and law within a feminist frame to develop an argument about compensation for social reproductive work to address the harm experienced by the carers of mineworkers. Using the theory of depletion through social reproduction, it suggests ways of understanding the costs of care in order to fully compensate the harms suffered by the carers. This is done with reference to a photographic essay by Thom Pierce called ‘The Price of Gold’ taken in the mineworkers’ homes after their disch...

Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women: mainstreaming gender, democratizing the state?

Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State, 2017

Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of litera... more Published in association with the United Nations, this book builds on the existing body of literature on gender and democratization by looking at the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. It considers the appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place, and the levels of governance involved; defines what the "interests of women" are, and how and by what processes these interests are represented to the state policy making structures. Global strategies for the advancement of women are considered, and how far these have penetrated at national level, illuminated by a series of case studies - gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries, the Ugandan ministry of Gender, Culture and Social services, gender awareness in Central and Eastern Europe, and further examples from South Korea, the Lebanon, Beijing and Australia

Introduction to the themed section: law, harm and depletion through social reproduction

European Journal of Politics and Gender, 2020

In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary exploration into the invisibilisation of social ... more In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary exploration into the invisibilisation of social reproduction, most of which still continues to be done by women. In this introduction and themed section, we argue that the neglect of social reproduction has material costs for those responsible for it, which we theorise as ‘depletion through social reproduction’ (Rai et al, 2014) – and these costs are gendered. As a facet of governing processes, the law is important here. In this themed section, we examine the issue of law, harm and depletion through social reproduction to show how different strategies are already being used by individuals, households and communities to mitigate depletion and how this is being addressed (or not) at the policy and legal levels – local, national and international. To explore this issue, we have brought together sociologists, political economists and lawyers to develop insights that can be of value to political scientists and to the policy community.

Feminist everyday political economy: Space, time, and violence

Review of International Studies, 2018

It goes without saying that feminist International Political Economy (IPE) is concerned in one wa... more It goes without saying that feminist International Political Economy (IPE) is concerned in one way or another with the everyday – conceptualised as both a site of political struggle and a site within which social relations are (re)produced and governed. Given the longstanding grounding of feminist research in everyday gendered experiences, many would ask: Why do we need an explicit feminist theorisation of the everyday? After all, notions of everyday life and everyday political struggle infuse feminist analysis. This article seeks to interrogate the concept of the everyday – questioning prevalent understandings of the everyday and asking whether there is analytical and conceptual utility to be gained in articulating a specifically feminist understanding of it. We argue that a feminist political economy of the everyday can be developed in ways that push theorisations of social reproduction in new directions. We suggest that one way to do this is through the recognition that social re...

The Good Life and the Bad: Dialectics of Solidarity

Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 2018

This essay asks four questions about the good life. First, what place has recognition of exclusio... more This essay asks four questions about the good life. First, what place has recognition of exclusion in the politics of redistribution? Second, can we imagine a public good life without also paying attention to the private and how does the private leach into the public imagination of a good life? Third, what obligations of justice are necessary to ensure our shared good lives? Finally, can we imagine new ways of thinking about resistance and change through alliances of the excluded? I argue that the imagination of a good life needs to be contextual, it is gendered and it is solidaristic. The most tragic form of loss isn't the loss of security; it's the loss of the capacity to imagine that things could be different.

SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis

World Development, 2019

SDG 8 calls for promoting 'sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and product... more SDG 8 calls for promoting 'sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all'. Even as it highlights the importance of labour rights for all, it also makes visible some significant tensions. We note, for example, that despite many critiques of narrow economic measures of growth, the focus here remains on GDP and per capita growth. This is problematic, we argue, because the GDP productive boundary excludes much of social reproductive work. This puts SDG8 in tension with SDG 5 which calls for the recognition of the value of unpaid care and domestic work. There has been a significant increase in the rate of working women in the formal and informal sector. However, there has not been a subsequent gender shift in the doing of social reproductive work. In this paper we argue SDG 8's focus on decent work and economic growth is inadequate; that productive employment and decent work for all men and women by 2030 needs to take into account the value and costs of social reproduction. We trace key historical debates on work to argue that both gender and labour rights have to underpin SDG 8 if its promise of inclusive, sustainable and decent work is to be realized.

Political Performance: A Framework for Analysing Democratic Politics

Political Studies, 2014

This article develops a framework to examine the co-constitutive nature of performance and politi... more This article develops a framework to examine the co-constitutive nature of performance and politics and to suggest that such a framework is critical to promoting an interdisciplinary approach to understanding our complex political world. It does this by disaggregating the component parts of political performance and suggesting how, once these are made visible, we are able to reflect upon more complex processes of its re-aggregation into our analysis of politics. The framework is constituted along two axes-one that maps individual performance, which is nevertheless socially embedded; and the other that charts the political effects of performance. The framework allows us to reflect upon social and political institutions, movements and events and analyse these through the prism of performance and politics. The empirical core of the article is the Indian parliament.

Mainstreaming gender, democratizing the State?

The role of the women's movement in institutionalizing a gender focus in public policy: the Ecuad... more The role of the women's movement in institutionalizing a gender focus in public policy: the Ecuadorian experience JURGETTE HONCULADA AND ROSALINDA PINEDA OFRENEO 6 The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, the women's movement and gender mainstreaming in the Philippines BIRGITTA ÅSESKOG 7 National machinery for gender equality in Sweden and other Nordic countries ZUZANA JEZERSKA 8 Gender awareness and the national machineries in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe WENDY STOKES 9 The government of the United Kingdom: the Women's National Commission JOY C. KWESIGA 10 The national machinery for gender equality in Uganda: institutionalized gesture politics? SHIRIN M. RAI 11 The National Commission for Women: the Indian experience MARIAN SAWER 12 The life and times of women's policy machinery in Australia SHIRIN M. RAI Conclusions: looking forward Bibliography Index CONTENTS vi List of contributors Selma Acuner got her PhD at the Public Administration and Political Sciences Faculty of Ankara University, Turkey. She is a part-time lecturer at the Women's Studies Center of the same University and an adviser on gender issues at the Prime Ministry. Her area of studies includes equality policies, the European Union and equal opportunities, and the institutionalization of gender equality at all levels. Brigitta Åseskog is a deputy Director at the Division for gender equality in the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications in Sweden. During 1998-99 she was the manager of a gender mainstreaming project launched by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Since 2001 (and during a leave of absence from the Ministry) she has been employed by the European Commission as a senior official.

Achieving gender equality in public offices in Pakistan

Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Wome... more Pakistan acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 29 February, 1996, being the 174th State-Party. Ministry of Women Development (MoWD) is the designated national focal machinery for its implementation. CEDAW covers 30 Articles, of which 2-16 signify legal obligations of a State-Party (summarized): Condemn discrimination against women in all forms and adopt measures necessary for eliminating them in realization of the rights recognized in the Convention Affirm & Initiate appropriate measures, including legislation to ensure full development and advancement of women, ensuring equality with men Submit Follow-up Assessment & periodic Implementation Reports, and such other Reports as may be required Source: http://www.pakistan.gov.pk/ministries/wom en-development-ministry/media/Brief.pdf 02 INTRODUCTIION INTRODUCTION Box 2 : UN MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Goal 7: Ensure environment al sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development The burden of the argument in this report is that gender balance in public life can only be effective if equal rights to public resources go hand in hand with equal representation in public institutions and decision-making processes.

Gender and globalisation and Women's activism : critical engagements

There is a growing literature on global restructuring and the growing pressures and inequalities ... more There is a growing literature on global restructuring and the growing pressures and inequalities across different social and spatial boundaries. This increase in inequalities has also been accompanied by the decline of class-based movements which have themselves suffered from a failure to recognise social exclusion based on issues other than class. In this paper I argue that if the feminist challenge is not to be limited, there needs to be a focus on the importance of redistributive policies that are rooted in the structural inequalities of capitalist production and exchange. In this situation alliances between women's and other social groups and solidarity among different emancipatory social movements, which expand the links between gender activism and other forms of transformative politics become both more necessary and more possible. To reach this conclusion I examine an example of an initiative by the Indian government in the province of Rajasthan, the Women's Development Programme.

The political economy of intellectual property rights: a gender perspective

Development and the Challenge of Globalization, 2002

Orthodox copyright scholarship frames piracy in 'developing' countries as a detrimental and illeg... more Orthodox copyright scholarship frames piracy in 'developing' countries as a detrimental and illegal practice that results from these countries' lack of economic, social and cultural development. It argues that piracy needs to be discouraged, regulated, and finally overcome for legitimate business to flourish. In this article, the authors challenge this viewpoint and question whether the implementation of international copyright instruments in legislation across Africa really promotes those local economies or if it merely exposes them to neo-colonial exploitation. While the early international treaties on intellectual property rights (IPR) were formulated by European states and implemented in most parts of Africa through colonial laws, more recent legislation has been globally implemented through institutions such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization, which remain dominated by Western interests. Through a structured overview of the adoption of IPR treaties in African countries, the authors advance a political economy perspective of intellectual property rights as a (neo-)colonial regime. MOTS-CLÉS piratage ; Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme ; Article 27 ; droits culturels ; droits d'auteur ; droits de propriété intellectuelle

Engendered Development in a Global Age?

SSRN Electronic Journal, 1999

In this paper I raise issues about the ways in which globalisation is taking shape in the materia... more In this paper I raise issues about the ways in which globalisation is taking shape in the material world of economy, together with the changing rhetoric and repertoires of social and cultural worlds, and where and how are men and women situated within these changing and yet familiar worlds. I examine some current debates on the various levels of governance-the national, the international and the local. I suggest that a gendered analysis of the issues raised in these debates is important to examine the new opportunities opened up by the processes of globalisation, and those that are closed off for both women and men. I conclude by examining how gender mediates with social positioning, the trajectory of the struggles within/between national sovereign states, the homogenising forces of marketisation, and the success, or otherwise, of increasingly international social movements, and is important part of our understanding of globalisation.

Development and the Challenge of Globalization

Group. Our mission is to build the skills and capacity of people in developing countries through ... more

Feminism, imperialism and orientalism: the challenge of the ‘Indian woman’

Women's History Review, 1998

This article examines the content and process of imperialist discourse on the 'Indian woman' in t... more This article examines the content and process of imperialist discourse on the 'Indian woman' in the writings of two North American women, one writing at the time of 'first wave' feminism, the other a key exponent of the 'second wave' of the movement. By analysing these writings, it demonstrates how the content of the discourse was reproduced over time with different but parallel effects in the changed political circumstances, in the first case producing the Western imperial powers as superior on the scale of civilisation, and in the second case producing Western women as the leaders of global feminism. It also identifies how the process of creating written images occurred within the context of each author's social relations with the subject, the reader and the other authors, showing how an orientalist discourse can be produced through the author's representation of the human subjects of whom she writes; how this discourse can be reproduced through the author's uncritical use of earlier writers; and how the discourse can be activated in the audience through the author's failure to challenge established cognitive structures in the reader.

Legacies of common law: ‘crimes of honour’ in India and Pakistan

Third World Quarterly, 2006