Policy

  • Collage of issues linked to women's paid and unpaid work (baby, coins, broomstick, lipstick)
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    “Gender Equality as Smart Economics”: Questioning the Assumptions behind the Claim

“Gender Equality as Smart Economics”: Questioning the Assumptions behind the Claim

by Cecilia Berlanga Alessio Robles

Image credit: Ana G. Urdaneta

The “business case” for gender equality and women’s empowerment has become widely internalized, pursued and institutionalized by development agencies, national governments and corporate social responsibility initiatives. For decades, the idea of gender equality as smart economics has prevailed as the rationale behind policies and programs implemented mainly in low-income and developing countries. […]

July 23rd, 2020|Featured, Policy|0 Comments|

Coercion and Agency in Zimbabwean Sex Work

by Boetumelo Julianne Nyasulu

With the patriarchal structures, deteriorating economic state, and constrained employment opportunities within Zimbabwean society, comes an issue that Laura Agustin describes as the “conundrum of agency” within sex work. That is, the tension and challenges that emerge between force and choice in work in the sex industry. Eurocentric notions of agency understand it as “the ability […]

  • Photo of protest placards in Warsaw
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    When COVID-19 Becomes a Political Ally: Poland’s Law on Abortion

When COVID-19 Becomes a Political Ally: Poland’s Law on Abortion

by Selen Eşençay

On April 15, the Polish Parliament enacted the “Stop Abortion” bill. However, the Sejm decided to redirect the bill for further review in parliamentary committees. Although the bill was not a primary project of the Polish Government, the governing Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) was criticized for taking advantage of COVID-19 restrictive measures by trying to pass […]

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    Terfism is White Distraction: On BLM, Decolonising the Curriculum, Anti-Gender Attacks and Feminist Transphobia

Terfism is White Distraction: On BLM, Decolonising the Curriculum, Anti-Gender Attacks and Feminist Transphobia

by Alyosxa Tudor

Image credit: Cambridge Dictionary 

When I hear the word ‘cunt’ (or in German, the word ‘Fotze’ for that matter) as a slur it hits me. It is one of the forms of verbal abuse that gets to me. In the UK, ‘cunt’ is widely used as a misogynist term for women and other non-guys, but also it seems to […]

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    An analysis of conversion therapy in India: The need to outlaw and the allied socio-cultural concerns

An analysis of conversion therapy in India: The need to outlaw and the allied socio-cultural concerns

by Winy Daigavane and Anubhav Das

The conduct towards the LGBT community in India has not been very progressive even after homosexuality was decriminalized. To add salt to their wounds, a recent incident highlights the atrocities faced by them. A 21-year-old student, Anjana Hareesh, committed suicide. While the exact reason behind her death is unknown, it is alleged that there is […]

Men, Sex Work, and the Construction of Sexual Victimhood

by David Eichert

This blog post is based on an article published by the author in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law.

In early 2018 the United States Congress passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). The bill, ostensibly meant to end Internet-based sex trafficking, allows website operators like Facebook and Craigslist to be prosecuted for third-party content […]

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    Shut In, Shut Out – Understanding domestic abuse during a pandemic

Shut In, Shut Out – Understanding domestic abuse during a pandemic

by Devina Malaviya & Aradhana Cherupara Vadekkethil

Image credit: Annie Spratt

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the idea of the ‘home’ as a safe space has received significant attention. As we struggle with the challenges posed by an unfamiliar disease, the thought of ‘home’ comforts many of us with its sense of familiarity.  It is reassuring to believe that when the world […]

Domestic Violence – The Shadow Pandemic

by Aniket A. Panchal and G Vishal

‘Home is where the heart is’ is an adage that has been prevalent in society since time immemorial. Humans built shelters to protect themselves, and as time went by, a person’s home became the centre of their universe; the one place in the entire world where safety and security are guaranteed. There are many groups […]

‘Restoring’ fertility: surrogacy, law, and the economy

by Meera Somji

In December 2019 I attended a Supreme Court hearing on whether a young woman in the UK should be awarded damages to fund the cost of a commercial surrogacy in California by an NHS Trust, after losing the ability to bear a child due to several incidents of hospital negligence. The key questions debated by the Justices […]

Exploring the Wreck

(after Adrienne Rich)

by Clare Hemmings

Featured photographs are from ongoing photo series Skin Deep by Sakshi Parikh. Published with permission for this blog post.

I tell people off every day. I tell my parents off for not staying home early enough. They are in their eighties, and I crow with satisfaction about having saved their lives when my chiding means they […]

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