empowerment

Transnational Social Work Practice

annette — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Edited by Rich Furman, Nalini Junko Negi

Transnational Social Work Practice is definitely not a book intended for a popular audience. That it is a textbook was clear to me before I even laid eyes on the book, when I noted that the list price on Amazon.com—for this slim 241-page volume—was $50. The articles, too, are written with the assumption that readers are familiar with a number of complex social work and development concepts, such as sustainability, cultural competence, and professional accreditation, among others. Nevertheless, I read the anthology as a lay person, and I found it an engaging, accessible read that opened my mind to new questions about global development and social change.

The book is divided loosely into two sections. It begins with an introduction to the concept of transnationality—the state of individuals and communities who are living life with a sustained investment in two or more nations (as contrasted with an “older” immigration pattern of gradually transferring one's presence and investment out of one country and into another).

Following this introduction is a collection of four articles (entitled “The Context of Transmigration”) that further illuminate issues that affect transnational populations, including environmental change and degradation, economic networks that cross national borders (including networks of remittance), and globalization. The second section of the book (“Services to Transmigrants”) focuses on the application of social work practice to transnational populations. The nine articles in this section explore the role of social workers in responding to processes including cross-border human trafficking, refugee resettlement, and violence against migrant workers. One article, “Using Internet Technology for Transnational Social Work Practice and Education,” reflects upon the growing availability of translation software, useful both for bridging client/provider language gaps and for facilitating resource-sharing among an increasingly international professional community. Another article, “Incorporating Transnational Social Work into the Curriculum,” considers the need to prepare social work students for an increasingly international and transnational field—for example, by developing a service-learning class designed to be held at the Texas-Mexico border, as the article's authors did.

As a lay reader, one of my favorite aspects of the book was the discussion of the macro, mezzo, and micro levels at which social work practice can function. Cynthia A. Hunter, Susannah Lepley, and Samuel Nickels lay out this distinction most clearly in the last article in the book, “New Practice Frontiers: Current and Future Social Work with Transmigrants.” Micro practice refers to the one-on-one work between provider and client, which can be focused on individual coping and meaning-making, or on case management (connecting clients with welfare services for which they are eligible). Macro practice refers to advocacy and policy-making—changing institutions and systems at national and international levels.

What Hunter, Lepley, and Nickels consider mezzo-level social work (and authors Brij Mohan and Julia E. Clark describe as macro-level social work in their article “Macro Social Work Practice with Transmigrants”) can be described as a sort of “back door” to political organizing, in which providers are able to connect clients with information about their situation, and with other clients in similar situations, in a way that empowers them to organize themselves to change their circumstances. I appreciated the authors' acknowledgment of the complexity of the power relations surrounding this practice, especially if the providers in question are outsiders who have, on one hand, little local understanding, and, on the other, access to resources that their clients do not have. I also appreciated the push to consider how outsider social workers can transfer that access to clients in strategic ways.

In the end, this is the major question that the book raised for me: Can international social work be solidarity work? If the global North must be engaged in the “development” of the global South, might it be possible for “providers” to take advantage of that “welfare infrastructure” to transfer information and resources to “clients” from developing countries in a way that empowers them to demand that development take place on their own terms?

Written by: Ri J. Turner, March 13th 2011

Threads of Hope

farhana — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

Directed by Amanda Ibrahim

Ferasha Films

I have to admit to watching this film with much trepidation. Too many films and documentaries are dedicated to analyzing the poor state of women’s lives in the developing world, but few dedicate their focus to researching and explicating the systemic inequalities rooted in patriarchy, that exist to reinforce women’s conditions. However, while watching I was determined to keep an open mind and value the work and perspective of a young woman of color, endeavoring to make a difference in the world by documenting women’s lives in Kolkata, India.

This is a short piece by American student Amanda Ibrahim, who with a scholarship, traveled to India for two weeks to document the effects of the ConneXions vocational training on the women who worked in the training center. ConneXions, Ibrahim narrates, focuses on creating job opportunities for women by training and employing them in fair trade textile production. One of the stated aims is to make women self-dependent while providing them with an opportunity to help their family with money.

Though the camerawork was good, the footage was quite limited. Only a few people and places in Kolkata were included in the film. Much of the filming was done at the center with the management team and the women participants. When the women were depicted, they were always carrying out particular gendered roles, including cooking, cleaning, dancing and sewing. When they were interviewed, they seemed shy, awkward and as though either reading from a cue card or being prompted by the person next to the camera. Two women, Shibani and Krishna were interviewed more extensively, and both assert that through their work at ConneXions their lives have been transformed; they can now afford to put food on the table and pay for their children’s schooling. At one point, Shibani proudly states that everything she makes goes to her family and children. At this point, one could probably ascertain the reasons for women being the recipients of this program.

Though I appreciate the altruistic aspirations of the ConneXions project, this film, and the limitations I expect Ibrahim experienced, the main contentions I have with this film all relate to its limited analysis.

My lesser contention is the overarching theme of Christian ministering that ran throughout the film. The film opens with the words of a Christian prayer, and you later learn that the ConneXions vocational training center was founded by a Swedish couple, who had come to Kolkata as Christian missionaries through the non profit organization Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. The homepage of Servants states that these Christian communities participate with the poor to bring hope and justice through Jesus Christ. All of the managers state their Christian position, and one in particular states that she teaches the women the gospel. What you don’t know by watching this film is whether the women are coerced into listening to the gospel or converting religions in order to access the training program. I am always weary of Christian missions particularly considering its mostly violent history with Canadian, South American, and Australian indigenous communities. That an immediate alliance and little analysis is done on the role of Christian ministering in the slums of India indicates the religious bias and socio-political naivety of the director.

My greatest contention with this film is its focus on female empowerment through Christian vocational training. I don’t dispute that the women are becoming empowered by receiving trained in textile production, and having then the potential to seek employment in the tailoring industry. However, the explicit goal of achieving empowerment through becoming self-dependent does not stand up against the stated end-result of these women spending everything they earn on their family. Self-sufficiency does not always equate empowerment. This is encapsulated in the comment of one of the young girls interviewed who shares innocently that she will have to leave the center in the very near future because she has to get married and will soon be just a housewife. This project perceives these women as simply reproducers and passive recipients of services. It offers a band aid solution to women’s disproportionate poverty by training them in a skill that would lead them to meeting their most basic needs, without addressing systemic gender inequity and the social, economic and political relations between men and women that perpetuate women’s oppression in India.

Ibrahim ends her film by depicting a group of smiling women, stating that the women who work at the center are blessed with deep friendships, which might be true, but which functions to generalize and romanticize the experiences of these women without providing evidence to support this statement, masking their relations with each other and with the center's management.

An interesting short film by a young female filmmaker, admirably attempting to foreground women’s lived experiences in the developing world. I only hope that her future directorial endeavors offer more mature and critical analysis.

Written by: Toni Francis, January 12th 2011

Imagining Black Womanhood: The Negotiation of Power and Identity Within the Girls Empowerment Project

beth — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Stephanie D. Sears

SUNY Press

Imagining Black Womanhood by Stephanie D. Sears is a sociological account of the experiences of young African-American girls within the Girls Empowerment Project (GEP), an “Afri-centric, womanist, single-sex, after-school program” in Sun Valley, the largest housing development in Bay City, California. Set against the backdrop of a “nation’s collective anxieties” regarding Black women and girls, Imagining Black Womanhood is a well-researched and thoughtful interrogation of race, gender, and class and how the experiences of young Black girls struggling to resist stereotypes within and outside the GEP project speak to broader questions of power, privilege, and politics. Despite the (ironically) unimaginative title, Imagining Black Womanhood is a commendable effort by Sears to question, with equal academic rigor, discourses of empowerment, as well as oppression, in addition to showing how the biases that inform many of the stereotypes that these girls must struggle against come from across the political spectrum and across racial lines.

Sears sets the historical stage well, by tracing images of poor Black women and girls as “welfare queens” to the Reagan administration’s dismantling of the welfare state and its promotion of “trickle-down” economics, with its explicit finger-pointing at the “impoverished African-American female” as an undeserving recipient of benefits. By laying bare the racial and gender stereotypes that underlie these and other predominant images (such as “teen mothers”) of young Black women in the public imagination, Sears demonstrates how discourses from both Black and dominant communities have attempted to control the sexuality of young Black women—and have shaped the context for the growth of projects such as GEP.

Against this background, Sears describes how despite its aim to “empower” and enable Black girls to counter racial and gender stereotypes, GEP inadvertently reproduced many of these discourses in both its structure as an organization as well as its method of work. GEP’s explicit aim, when it initially conducted an assessment of problems such as teen pregnancy and poverty among Black girls, was to “challenge and change…unequal power relations and resource distribution”—that is, the structural issues underpinning Black girls’ social status in Sun Valley. However, despite this goal, GEP’s more pragmatic choice to try and effect change in areas where they could have most impact, meant that they ended up addressing the symptoms of discrimination rather than challenging the structures of power responsible for them. In doing so, GEP fell back on middle class cultural values and notions of “respectability,” attempting to erase what they viewed as the cultural markers of the “ghetto underclass”—such as the hypersexualization and objectification of young Black women—but with them, also the sense of self-hood and lived experiences of the young girls of GEP.

The above is illustrated most interestingly in the section entitled “Dance Lessons,” in which Sears shows how the struggle over sexuality, power, and identity between GEP and the young girls who attend it, is enacted through the “embodied politics” of dance. Prompted by the Afro-centric ideology of GEP, GEP staff’s attempts to encourage the girls to perform African dances (this bearing, in their eyes, the respectable currency of tradition) is countered by the girls’ desire to “express who they are” through contemporary hip-hop numbers. Sears stages the generational and class confrontation between the GEP staff and the girls through their conflicting perceptions of “appropriate” displays of sexuality, respectability, and respect, thereby asking the question that lies at the heart of Imagining Black Womanhood—what does “empowerment” mean, and to whom? How are notions of empowerment intertwined with class and cultural values? And what happens when processes of empowerment attempt to reconstitute the identity of she who is seen to be a “recipient” rather than an equal participant in this process? Sears’ book is a dense but rewarding read, not just for academics but for anyone interested in confronting these questions.

Written by: Kaavya Asoka, November 19th 2010

At Last

admin — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

By Eternia and MoSS

Fat Beats

It seems counter-intuitive by now that women rappers would rhyme about anything other than leftist politics, feminist ideals, empowerment and sexuality, and anti-corporatism. I’m clearly biased; I listen to Invincible and Missy Elliott and spoken word artists like Ursula Rucker. But in the genre that is righteous, emboldened female hip-hop, Eternia is the reigning Canadian queen. On her new album At Last, along with producer MoSS, she speaks against pay-to-play and sponsorships, confronts an abusive past, and admits she looks for love in all the wrong places.

“Pass That” is a particularly intense track, chronicling one woman’s battle against an abusive religious husband and her sixteen-year-old daughter’s sexual proclivity, reasoning, “She figures they gonna take it so why not pay for that.” Other songs address heavy issues like alcoholism (“Dear Mr. Bacardi”), single motherhood, dropping out of school, running away, molestation, abortion, and gang rape (“To The Future”).

The lyrics are tough, raw, and full of references to race (Eternia is white), competition between women (on “The BBQ,” Fergie is called “corny”), and devotion to God and family. Particularly if you’re a hip-hop fiend, you’ll appreciate “Any Man,” on which Eternia explains how she works hard, regardless of the fame she earns, and often shares the stage with the big names you already know and love. “It’s not cockiness, it’s confidence, it’s what I been through,” she explains. Elsewhere, she drops lines like “The game needs me like Jay-Z.” I may be a big fan of the Jiggaman, but Eternia couldn’t be more correct; we desperately need revolutionary ladies on the charts.

A couple of years ago, Eternia put out a T-shirt that reads, “My favorite rapper wears a skirt,” which I could easily wear with pride. Could you?

Written by: Brittany Shoot, August 11th 2010

When Women Were Warriors Book I: The Warrior's Path

admin — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:55:00 +0000

By Catherine M. Wilson

Shield Maiden Press

I usually do not read fantasy books, but The Warrior's Path changed my mind. Catherine M. Wilson writes a beautifully well-crafted story that incorporates the elements of fantasy without entering any stereotypes. The first of three books in the When Women Were Warriors series follow Tamras, who trains to become a warrior like the other women in her family. However, when Tamras enters the House of Merin, she cannot become an apprentice like she'd hoped to be. Instead, she is assigned as a companion for Maara, one of the warriors who isolates herself. The other warriors are suspicious of Maara since she is not from their clan.

At first, Maara shuns Tamras, and does not want a companion. But when Maara is injured in a battle and Tamras stays by her side, the bond between companion and warrior is strengthen. As the story continues, the alliance between Tamras and Maara grow so strong that Tamras pledges her life for Maara's. In addition, Tamras risks valuable alliances that would benefit her clan to follow her heart, which also leads her along the path of becoming a warrior.

The Warrior's Path also contains a love story between Tamras and another companion that artistically describes the exploration of love and passion. Each of the characters are highly developed and realistic. It is one of those rare gems that is also incredibly empowering to women, and as the title suggests, most of the warriors are women. Wilson creates a fantastic world where women are a powerful force that governs the lands and fights the battles. I hope that the next two books are just as interesting and well-written.

Written by: Elizabeth Stannard Gromisch, October 25th 2009

New York Times 'Half The Sky' Issue

admin — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Edited by Nicholas Kristof

New York Times

In July, I wrote a post about Nicholas D. Kristof's announcing a "special issue" of the New York Times Sunday Magazine that would cover women in the developing world. Well, that issue is now available online, and will be arriving to the doorsteps of NYT subscribers in a few days. While this issue would have felt more authentic had the Times solicited pieces written by women from the Majority World, there is still much to be gleaned from this weekend's glossy.

As I anticipated it would be, the artwork is fantastic. In "A Powerful Truth," a five-minute audio slideshow, Kristof briefly tells the stories of six women--Saima Muhammad, Goretti Nyabenda, Claudine Mukakarisa, Edna Adan, and Abbas Be--while Katy Grannan's photos supplement the words by geographically gliding one homeland to the next: Pakistan, Burundi, Rwanda, Somaliland, and India. Saima's and Abbas' stories are further detailed in "The Women’s Crusade," which explores the myriad challenges women face around the globe; examines the positive role microfinance, foreign aid, US policy, and NGOs play on bettering women's individual conditions; and positions women's collective empowerment squarely at the center of solving global ills--including human rights violations, poverty, war, heath crises, and modern day slavery.

Another feature piece is "A New Gender Agenda," in which Mark Landler interviews Hillary Clinton on which foreign policy issues will be prioritized in the Obama administration. While some of the questions Landler asks are bold, and he should be applauded for having asked them, Clinton consistently sidesteps, leaving much to be desired. "A School Bus for Shamsia"is a feel-good piece with many moments that don't feel so great. At its core, it's about the progress of girls' education in Afghanistan, and one journalist's accidental transformation into an activist. Despite acid attacks and other forms of intimidation, the girls who attend Mirwais Mena School in Kandahar are determined to complete their studies--even if it results in their death.

On the topic of girls' death, "The Daughter Deficit" outlines the cultural factors behind daughter deaths and sex-selective abortions in India and China--an ironical twist to how increasing development can backfire if not coupled with an increase in women's status. Some of you may remember Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from her appearance on The Daily Show a few months ago. In "Madame President", Deborah Solomon speaks to the only female head of state in Africa in what, ultimately and unfortunately, is a lackluster interview.

"The Feminist Hawks" is one of the more interesting articles here, as it deconstructs the use of feminist rhetoric ("women's empowerment") as it is applied by conservative "hawks" (or those who gun for military intervention), particularly with respect to the post-9/11 paternalistic focus on Muslim women's rights (a la "to hijab or not hijab"). Writer Virginia Heffernan further complicates this discussion by considering the effect the Internet has on disseminating and manipulating the message.

In addition to the content, this issue has two "Half the Sky" contests for artists and activists: 1) photographers can submit pictures that exemplify the theme of women and girls' empowerment and 2) those with personal stories regarding work done to empower women and girls (in the US and abroad) can post a comment on the contest's page. Winners chosen will receive a signed copy of Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's newly published book called, as you might have guessed, Half the Sky.

Perhaps the most important parts of this issue are the "Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid" and "Organizations Supporting Women in Developing Countries" pieces, accompanied by Lisa Belkin's explanation of gendered giving in "The Power of the Purse." Audre Lorde wrote, "The essence of a truly global feminism is the recognition of connection." The struggles of women around the globe are the struggles of women everywhere; as women in the Western world and women of means in the Global South, we must find a way to wield the privilege we possess in order to dismantle systems of oppression which keep other women's needs from being met. Problems are not monolithic, and neither are solutions. The only thing that is not an option is failing to act.

Cross-posted to Bitch Magazine's On the Map blog

Written by: Mandy Van Deven, August 20th 2009

Regaining Control: When Love Becomes a Prison

admin — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:44:00 +0000

By Tami Brady

Loving Healing Press

Sad to say, I wasn’t really too surprised by Tami Brady’s intended bombshell statistic that only 1% of the world’s assets are in the name of women. It has been my personal experience that I’ve met very few women who aren’t either overt or covert aggressive, control freaks, or - at the other end of the extreme - fearful and dependent. Both types are insecure. Globally speaking, it’s still a man’s world out there, although thank goodness for Oprah patiently guiding jittery herds of women toward a higher consciousness!

Anyone who has experienced how freeing it is to make her own money, express herself and feel proud of her accomplishments wishes all woman could enjoy the feeling of personal power. To me, it is the feeling of really and truly being alive. So, in my opinion, any book that helps women lacking in self-confidence to step up to the plate of positive and balanced empowerment is a welcome contribution to the self-help section in the bookstores.

Tami Brady’s _When Love Becomes a Prison) is a well-organized quick read featuring workbook pages where the reader can list her strengths and weaknesses, make a detailed portrait of her perfect world and evaluate how she feels on a number of issues. The title of the book at first made me think it was just about abuse, but the book really has to do with breaking down myths about dependence and independence. And learning how to free one’s unique inner spirit.

Brady writes, “Specifically, we’ll focus on reversing situations of unhealthy dependence in order to break free of control, regain self-esteem and increase self-reliance.” That’s a huge journey and this book is a helpful step along the way. It also features a dynamite resource list and bibliography.

Written by: Cheryl Reeves, April 30th 2007

We Got Issues!: A Young Woman’s Guide to a Bold, Courageous and Empowered Life

admin — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:01:00 +0000

Edited by Rha Goddess, JLove Calderón

Inner Ocean Press

Simone de Beauvoir remarked nearly sixty years ago that in our society woman occupies the negative while man occupies both the positive and neutral positions, and this remains true today. This compilation of interviews, essays and poems highlights the thoughts of young women throughout the country and spotlights voices that are often missing from public debates, allowing us to hear their voices on serious issues. The editors should be particularly congratulated for seeking out women of color and lesbians as contributors since they, more than straight, white women, are often overlooked by mainstream media.

The book contains sections on health, spirituality, “-isms” (discrimination), sexuality, friendship, motherhood, violence, finances, work, and citizenship. Each themed component ends with a “ritual of empowerment” for readers to connect with that aspect of their lives as well as a page of statistics.

Some pieces highlight challenges and frustration. E. Anne Zarnowiecki’s “To Whom It May Concern,” for example, details her experience being treated as a second-class citizen when her young son was injured, as hospital employees could not grasp the idea that the boy had two mothers rather than a mother and father. In “You Can Be Right, Or You Can Be Happy,” Ghana-Imani gives an amusing and on-target description of someone searching for perfection in a romantic partner and coming to realize that she’ll have to settle for less than that, which doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be unhappy.

The interviews, one in each section, are the weakest area. While occasionally informative, as a whole they are unengaging. A notable exception is the interview with Chino Hardin, who spent time in jail as a teenager and now works for the Prison Moratorium Project, at the start of the segment on violence. Her discussion of the nature of violence and her own journey to understanding its impact on her life is illuminating and unapologetic.

The personal narratives of the book’s editors give us a glimpse of how the issues explored touch on their lives and those of other women. For instance, in the section “Who’s World Is This?”, Rha Goddess describes her disillusionment with electoral politics and her search for another way to make a difference.

More often than not, compilations are fragmented, but while the pieces in We Got Issues! represent a wide array of viewpoints, the editors have assembled them in such a way that they compliment each other. An enlightening read.

Written by: Karen Duda, January 12th 2007