Some years ago, a group of public administrators, heads of think-tanks, and scholar-practitioners including me gathered in Boston, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, as invited speakers for a seminar on gender and education. I had given talks, published papers and policy recommendations, edited and reviewed books, conducted workshops and led gender mainstreaming projects across sectors. I had also authored a study for New York area non-profit advocates serving the South Asian community, as a part of my research on gender-based violence, for a series through the US Department of Justice’s Office of Violence against Women. The focus of that study was violence prevention through formal and non-formal education, and how to use culture and community as resources. The seminar participants were advising governments and the UN on matters of policy, conducting participatory action research, and creating content for media. Some differences in perspectives notwithstanding, it became quickly clear from our collective expertise that an understanding of the education sector also required gender analyses, from the adverse impact of gender-based violence and trauma on educational and work outcomes, to sexual violence on school and college campuses.

Along with the joy of imparting new skills and knowledge to students, and formulating innovative ideas that were useful to the community, there have been at least two meaningful projects in my current position. The previous blog mentioned a research project on online gender-based violence in collaboration with the US Department of State, whose findings demonstrated how online abuse can be a barrier to women’s virtual participation and access to digital communication technologies. Another entailed providing public commentary and teach-outs related to the impact on women’s rights and education following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Recently, in organizing a panel on the misuse of sexual violence as a weapon of war and conflict that exacerbates existing societal fault lines, such as the riots during the partition of India, co-panelists discussed sexual violence against women in rape camps in the Bangladeshi war, violence against Baloch women in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran by security forces, and in communities. The Director of the South Asia Program at a prominent think-tank in Washington DC for international peace and security spoke of addressing violence suffered by Dalit women, and the need to work with male allies. Whether it be through its impact on educational and professional attainment, sustainable livelihoods, access to digital technologies, or the right to a life of safety and dignity, violence thus continues to be a critical area of women’s insecurity. 

Gender violence and health across the lifespan are inextricably linked. Having given talks on private and public forms of violence against women, such as for the South Asian American Health Initiative and others, one can appreciate the efforts underway to address health inequities faced by diverse women. In the United States, healthcare policy is addressing maternal mortality, inequitable care options for women including prenatal and postpartum care due to factors such as poverty and race, the role of midwives and doulas, and the discrimination that can be faced by women of color within the healthcare system. Apart from gender-based violence, and maternal and reproductive health, some other examples of women’s health issues include breast cancer, ovarian and cervical cancer, a higher risk of stroke, and osteoporosis (particularly for post-menopausal women). Poor and marginalized women often face more severe health challenges, making health inequity another gendered form of insecurity.

Thirdly, while we emphasize adequate nutrition when discussing maternal healthcare, such as iron-rich diets to prevent anemia, food insecurity impacts the health of women and poor communities as a whole. Nor is poverty and food insecurity limited to only underprivileged pockets in the “Third World.” Recently, US media has covered how millions of low-income families lost food stamp benefits this month, at a time of rising inflation, potentially leading to a nationwide uptick in hunger. (Emergency legislation had been enacted by the US Congress to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, which allowed families with lower socio-economic status to avail of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.) Women are often lower-paid workers with lesser job security, including but not limited to agricultural and domestic labor, and data suggests women worldwide are disproportionately affected by hunger, especially in the case of single-women headed poorer households.

Continued concerted action is needed on the part of the state and civil society stakeholders to address these forms of insecurity, with cooperation if not consensus across party lines. Do we want the kind of communities that reward perpetrators of gang-rape, or where the poorest starve to death while the richest flaunt their wealth and family connections? A sense of community is important for well-being; yet we cannot allow it to become a euphemism or code for targeting vulnerable individuals facing injustice. As we strengthen our individual and collective capacities to tackle such challenges worldwide, our communities may need a moment to look within.

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Views expressed above are the author's own.

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