Advocating change and resistance

Following a day full of introspection, the participants of the WIDE conference will turn to look at the role and responsibilities of various European actors. The conference will take up topics such as trends and issues concerning migrants, the feminization of labour and the gendered aspects of the agricultural trade regime and food crisis. What is the role of Europe in this, and what needs to be done?


By Tina Parbhakar

Although women across the globe face many of the same inequalities, there is potential for agents in Europe to have a disproportionate effect on those in developing countries through their control on established structures and processes. For example, Aid Effectiveness (AE) and Financing for Development (FFD) processes are two areas where critiques have been made because of their implications for how development is defined and thus how much emphasis and resources are given to enhancing and promoting women’s rights. The AE is spearheaded by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) as per the Paris Declaration and FFD is guided by the UN and based on the Monterrey Consensus. The former lacks a specific role for civil society while the latter appears to be more inclusive. Nevertheless, a more integrated approach is desirable, but political will remains an issue.

European Union expansion and constitutionalization has not led to a major discussion of gender. This omission has been to the detriment of women, illegally trafficked or otherwise, who are put into increasingly vulnerable situations in order to sustain themselves and their families. The world is seeing an increasing feminization of labour which coalesces with migration issues.

But there is potential to rally women around policies on the topics of war, peacemaking and the agricultural trade regime. A key step may be increasing the number of women and gender-sensitive individuals occupying decision making positions whether in defence secretariats, police forces or trade negotiations. We must also continue to observe and measure the gendered impacts of abstract and high-level policies on the communities they are meant to serve.

Leibert (2002) suggests actively mobilizing public support, building gender expertise and fostering the diffusion of innovative ideas from epistemic communities. However, while individual agents may strategically frame gender issues to fit within the dominant frames of target organizations and thus break new ground, this may also water-down the original message. The WIDE Annual Conference will try to find new resources and a desirable discourse with regards to accelerating women’s empowerment in multiple fora.


This article has been published in Daily Visions 08-10-2008