6-Gender,Culture and Religion1
Transcript of 6-Gender,Culture and Religion1
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Religion and Culture: barriers to
gender and development?
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To begin…
Individually: – Do you have/belong to a culture?
– How do you define culture?
– Think about three things that characterise yourculture
– Who ‘belongs’?
In groups, – talk about what you have said – are there
commonalities and differences within‘cultures’/across cultures?
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overview
Religion and culture – often conflated, often confused
James D. Wolfensohn, former President of the WorldBank: ‘‘However you define culture, it is increasingly clear that those of us working in the field of sustainable
development ignore it at our peril’’ in 1999 (WFDD,2001)
Culture can thus be defined as the social, political,economic and religious systems that interact to create
society. Can we talk about gender culture or the ‘gender system,’
where widely held gender beliefs function as effective‘cultural rules’ or ‘instructions’ (Ridgeway and Correll,
2004)?
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What is culture? (Jolly, 2002) diverse and dynamic formed by internal and external influences
structured by representations and power
There is no homogenous fixed northern culture toimpose on a homogenous and fixed southernculture
Temporal – ‘tradition’ does not mean static – work
Local interpretations of ‘culture’ are disputed – ‘othered’ groups within society – compulsory heterosexuality
north and south are already interacting and
influencing each other - structured by north-southpower imbalances.
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How is culture formed on an
individual level? International interacts with local – globalisation
‘Imagined community’ relies on gender symbols
(Anderson, 1983) Gendered socialisation process – normative
behaviour for men and women.
Policing of women’s sexuality – women’s sexual
behaviour as marker of collective group – honour/shame/punishment
Symbolism of women in war• Hilter youth: women – ‘be faithful, be pure, be German’
• Men – ‘Live faithfully, fight bravely, die laughingly’
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Culture and Development Culture is the forgotten dimension in development.
For a long time ‘other’ cultures and not ‘ours’ havebeen promoted through, among other things,foreign development paradigms…However,
rejecting western paradigms does not entailuncritically returning to the past. What is called foris a critical fusion of the two, to construct a world
which is friendly to contemporary Africa. On the
importance of the healthy link between the past andthe future, Verhelst (1989: 63) observes that, ‘wemust hold the past sacred, but the future even moreso.’ (Makuvaza, 1998:43 in Jolly, 2002: 2)
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Culture and Development
A basic principle of development co-operation strategies on gender equality is to
broaden decision-making processes so that women, as well as men, have full input intothe definition of what is important and whatneeds should have priority. All too often the
‘cultural argument’ is mobilised by men (bothnorthern and southern) who are opposed tothat basic goal.
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Women and culture – the
importance of myth
‘Myths are neither true nor false. To see them in
these terms is to miss the point… Myths arenarratives that do more than tell a good story. They are composed of a series of familiarimages and devices, and work to produce an
order-of-things that takes shape and has itseffects through resonance with the affectivedimensions of deeply held values and norms’(Cornwall, 2007: 151)
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Women and culture – the importance
of myth cont Women reproduce nation – biologically, culturally and
symbolically (Yuval Davies) Women as mothers – motherhood key indicator of being
female – informs development policies. Development is not simply an activity, but an approach
which brings with it a whole system of knowledge andpower.
Cultural values are implicit in both statutory and customary
law. Role of women in religious and ethnic wars Those with power appear to have no culture; those without
power are culturally endowed. Western subjects are definedby their abilities to make choices, in contrast to Third World
subjects, who are defined by their group-based determinism.
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people within a community will explaintheir actions through their cultural identity. Alternatively, people outside a particular
community may mistakenly identify certainpractices within that community as theresult of culture. Often these two occur intandem, so that, for example, a criminal
defendant will invoke "culture" as theexplanation for his sex-subordinating behaviour (Volpp, 2001: 1193)
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Women, „culture‟ and citizenship
Customary, religious law often negatively affect women – MATERIAL effects
• land tenure• Divorce/marriage/fidelity
• access to benefits, children
• Mobility
• Right to work
• pre-natal policies
women’s response to change: war, economic crisis
etc
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Gender, Culture and Development
cont. Culture and tradition can enable or obstruct, and be
oppressive or liberating for different people atdifferent times. There is nothing sacred about
culture, and value judgements need to be madeabout which aspects of culture to hold on to, and which to let go of.
who makes such judgements is important.
Challenge assumptions. participation and leadership of previously excluded
groups
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Religion and development
Marshall (1999: 3 – 4): The world of religion has been anunacknowledged and often unseen force for many development practitioners in the past . . . Yet religion is sucha pervasive and vital force, that the tendency to ignore it hashad important and even grave consequences in some
situations. Ver Beek (2002) ‘consciously avoided’ on multiple levels
Religion – (spirituality) and Religion (Material structures thatdefine and unify -? - groups)
Faith based initiatives promote development (missions) History of colonialism and religious domination
Religion/culture as markers of ‘backwardness’(modernisation and secularisation)
Context of fundamentalisms – respected local ‘customs’
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Political context of fundamentalism?
‘unsecularisation’ of the global community since1990s.
widespread crisis in secular materialism in both the Western industrialised countries and in the third
world Increase of religious nationalism (fuelling conflict)
Focus on women’s rights in Islam but not in
Christianity – West seen as secular conservative Protestant coalition has been gradually
influencing government policy in the US since the1970s.
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Fundamentalism
Fundamentalist suggests primary,unquestionable features of religion
Masculinist interpretation of Qu’ran and bible
Development as opposite to fundamentalism Primary focus on women and the family
Emphasis on purity, honour, dignity
Society idealised – public/private Culture or religion?
Use of culture to justify structural inequalities
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Gender as focal point in fundamentalism
(religion or culture?)
‘ideal woman and ideal society’ (Papanek inMoghadan)
Complemetarity – biological essentialism Women and culture as ‘other’ ( cf: Guatemala) Women as symbol of community – reproductive
role, symbolism of ‘mother’ Assumption og ‘unipolar relationship between
women and religion in Islam’ (Shaheed Contradictions eg: veil contributes to issues of
representation; women as ‘other’ since symbolisesoppression?
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Secular v Sharia law
Shar’ia – ‘those institutions which Allah has
ordained in full or essence to guide the individual inhis relationship to God, his fellow Muslims, his
fellow men and the rest of the universe’ (Yamani) Men’s exclusive right to construction of Shar’ia
Room for interpretation but prescriptive for women
Inconsistency between Shar’ia and Qu’ran Alternative argument: use of pure Shar’ia to
guarantee women’s rights (Women living under
Shar’ia Law – reinterpretation of spiritual texts)
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Political context of fundamentalism?
Cont. Kohut et al. (2000): although the
constitutional barrier between church andstate in the US remains intact, the boundary
between religion and politics has becoming increasingly blurred since the Carteradministration. Conditionality on funding for
development projects esp concerning issuesof family planning/ HIV-AIDs (Obamaglobal gag)
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Political context of fundamentalism?
Cont.
Religion = women’s subordination orpatriarchal reading of religious doctrine?
Women’s role in revolution (Iran – mobilisation, literacy, employment esp of WC women – see: Baharamitash, 2004; CatholicChurch – women in Latin America)
Cannot homogenise women’s experiences of religion – class issues
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GAD: “White women saving Brown
women from Brown men”‟ (Spivak).
Enabling women to raise their own status insocieties, and tackle their own cultural
constraints Local agenda setting and capacity building
Long term investment and research as
‘altering culture is by definition a long -termprocess’ (page 10).
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Case Study: Between you and me: a
different life (Oxfam America, El
Salvador) http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/a-new-campaign-led-by-women
MULTI-SECTORAL APPROACH targeted in local municipalareas since 2005 – integrated educational communities.
Coalitions of actors: state institutions on local and nationallevels, NGOs, Schools and Universities – working together –
Ventanas Ciudadanas. Research – evidence based policy making allowing both
qualititative and quantitative methodologies.
Advocacy and awareness raising: – public campaigns (buses, press, internet etc), Alliances with women
parliamentarians, judiciary, schools
Training –
judges, police, staff of judiciary, womenparliamentarians, local community leaders (over 1000 since2007)
Replication across institutions
Youth Programme –camps, theatre, music, video all aimed atprevention and awareness raising
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What helps women is having someone to openthem up to knowledge, to take away that littleblindfold that they have in their eyes to say ‘I
was mistaken, I said that it couldn’t be done’ or
‘I was mistaken, I thought that it was normalbut I am realising it is not’, but because their
self esteem is so low, they think that everything
that is happening is ok and that it happens toeveryone so why would they feel different
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Concluding thoughts Religion and culture ‘matter’ but need to separate out Issue of interpretation – religion and culture to justify
women’s subordination
Religion as empowering – comforting? (Growth in
Pentecostalism) World Faiths Development Dialogue (initiated by the World
Bank in 1998)
Gendered constructions often reinforce subordination of women – naturalise women’s position
Is it culture, religion or male privilege?
Link – are human rights universal?