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The gender approach in the management of EU Aid Volunteers 

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The gender approach in the management of EU Aid Volunteers 

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Here you can find resources to communicate with a gender perspective in the humanitarian field.

Consult them, like the ones you like the most and add yours in each column by pressing the + button. Remember to write your name and / or the country of the resource.

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A Year After Her Killing, Marielle Franco Has Become a Rallying Cry in a Polarized Brazil

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A Year After Her Killing, Marielle Franco Has Become a Rallying Cry in a Polarized Brazil

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Women marching last week in Rio de Janeiro, calling for justice for Marielle Franco, a black, gay, feminist politician whose killing has become a rallying cry in a deeply polarized nation. Credit... Maria Magdalena Arrellaga for The New York Times

RIO DE JANEIRO - The question hangs heavily over this city: "Who killed Marielle Franco?"

It is raised in graffiti in virtually every neighborhood, emblazoned on T-shirts and written across banners displayed defiantly at mass demonstrations.

This week, just days before the anniversary of her killing, prosecutors provided a partial answer, charging two former police officers with carrying out the killing. The case's main questions - including who ordered the killing and why - remain unanswered.

A year after her execution-style killing, the call for justice for Ms. Franco - a black, gay, feminist Rio de Janeiro city councilmember who was raised poor - has morphed into a rallying cry in a deeply-polarized nation for those who felt represented by her.

Her name and image have become an antithesis to the dominant political forces in Brazil as the right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, settles into office.

But critics are afraid his policies could worsen aspects of Brazil's violence, which includes a staggering number of people killed by the police, a rate of killings of women that experts call alarming, and a systematic targeting of gay and transgender people.

The killing of Ms. Franco - who stood for many of those groups who now feel endangered - shocked and divided Brazil. But it also injected a life-or-death sense of urgency into the rights movements she espoused.

It also helped propel the political careers of black women, including three who were elected last year to the Rio de Janeiro state legislative assembly.

"Marielle still represents, if only in memory, a threat to the status quo," said Renata da Silva Souza, her former chief of staff, who was one of the black women elected to the assembly.

"She embodied the people who can be killed" in Brazil with impunity, Ms. Souza said.

Ms. Franco died last year on the evening of March 14 in downtown Rio de Janeiro, when a gunman pumped several bullets into the car she was riding as she left a work event.

She was killed instantly. So was her driver, Anderson Gomes.

Within days, Ms. Franco, 38, a rising political star from a socialist party who had little name recognition outside political circles in her hometown, became a global symbol of resistance to the rising conservative tide. What made the killing particularly jarring for many Brazilians was how rare a phenomenon she was.

Born and raised in the Maré favela, a sprawling low-income district in northern Rio de Janeiro, Ms. Franco became a critic of police brutality and government neglect of poor areas of her city as she pursued a master's degree in public policy.

She then worked for a decade on the staff of a local council member, helping him investigate militias, heavily-armed paramilitary groups made up of former and active military and police personnel, before mounting a successful bid for her own seat in 2016.

The council chamber was awash in gay pride flags and crackling with cheers when Ms. Franco made her inaugural address at a city hall hearing in February 2017, looking at once radiant and a bit taken aback by the attention.

His silence, she said, is a key part of a reckoning for Brazil that is necessary, if painful.

"For years we sold a postcard image of paradise, the country of Carnival, of happy, cordial people," Ms. Benício said. "The execution of Marielle, and the election of the current president, revealed to the world that we are racist, that we are sexist, misogynist, LGBT-phobic."

"We need to start dealing with that," she said. "We need to start deconstructing a political system that has always been dominated by white men."

Mr. Bolsonaro and his sons have come under scrutiny over their perspectives and ties to militias. The president has in the past defended militias as a way of imposing a parallel but iron-fisted rule. As recently as last year, he said in an interview with a Brazilian radio station that areas controlled by these paramilitary groups "have no violence."

One of the president's sons, Flávio Bolsonaro, employed until last year both the wife and the mother of a former police officer suspected of being a senior militia member.

And this week, once the two suspects were arrested in connection with Ms. Franco's death, the Bolsonaros found their links to the men under the spotlight, which increased the unease many critics felt with his administration.

One of the suspects, Ronnie Lessa, lived in the seaside condominium in Rio de Janeiro where Mr. Bolsonaro owns a home.

The other, Elcio Vieira de Queiroz, had posted a photo on his Facebook page in which he appears standing alongside Mr. Bolsonaro in a friendly embrace.

Police officials also disclosed that a daughter of one of the two suspects had dated one of Mr. Bolsonaro's sons.

Mr. Bolsonaro has said he did not know the men, and police have said that their ties to the Bolsonaro family were not relevant to the investigation.

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A Year After Her Killing, Marielle Franco Has Become a Rallying Cry in a Polarized Brazil (Published 2019)

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RIO DE JANEIRO - The question hangs heavily over this city: "Who killed Marielle Franco?" It is raised in graffiti in virtually every neighborhood, emblazoned on T-shirts and written across banners displayed defiantly at mass demonstrations. This week, just days before the anniversary of her killing, prosecutors provided a partial answer, charging two former police officers with carrying out the killing.

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Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues and global feminism. She is based in Cairo and New York City.

She is the author of "Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution," released April 2015, and is a contributor to the New York Times opinion pages. Her commentaries have appeared in several other publications and she is a regular guest analyst on various television and radio shows.

During the 18-day revolution that toppled Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, she appeared on most major media outlets, leading the feminist website Jezebel to describe her as "The Woman Explaining Egypt to the West".

In November 2011, Egyptian riot police beat her, breaking her left arm and right hand, and sexually assaulted her and she was detained for 12 hours by the Interior Ministry and Military Intelligence.

Newsweek magazine named Ms Eltahawy one of its "150 Fearless Women of 2012", Time magazine featured her along with other activists from around the world as its People of the Year and Arabian Business magazine named her one of the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women.

Before she moved to the U.S. in 2000, Ms Eltahawy was a news reporter in the Middle East for many years, including almost six years as a Reuters correspondent and she reported for various media from Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and China.

In 2012, the Missouri School of Journalism awarded her its Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and the Columbia Journalism Review named her as one of 20 women in the media to watch.

In 2010 the Anna Lindh Foundation awarded her its Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism and the Estlow International Center for Journalism and New Media at the University of Denver gave her its Anvil of Freedom Award.

In 2009, the European Union awarded her its Samir Kassir Prize for Freedom of the Press for her opinion writing and Search for Common Ground named her a winner of its Eliav-Sartawi Award for Middle Eastern Journalism.

Mona was born on Aug. 1, 1967 in Port Said, Egypt and has lived in the U.K, Saudi Arabia and Israel. She calls herself a proud liberal Muslim. In 2005, she was named a Muslim Leader of Tomorrow by the American Society for Muslim Advancement and she is a member of the Communications Advisory Group for Musawah, the global movement for justice and equality in the Muslim family.

For speaking fees, write to info@monaeltahawy.com

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Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning columnist and international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues and global feminism. She is based in Cairo and New York City. She is the author of "Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution," released April 2015, and is a contributor to the New York Times opinion pages.

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No te pierdas lo que está pasando

Los usuarios de Twitter son los primeros en enterarse.

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Another world is possible, especially with youth leading the way! Inspired by the youth I work with, I felt compelled to uplift the voices of youth of color by making the next issue of Muchacha Fanzine "Liberation Youth" entirely dedicated to them. I wholeheartedly believe that being accomplices in youth liberation starts with passing the mic and listening to our youth along with the unique challenges that face them including:

* police/ICE/border patrol violence
* environmental racism
* the school-to-prison pipeline
* anti-LGBTQ discrimination
* reproductive justice
* ableism
* ageism
* gun violence
* youth mass incarceration
* sexual assault
* poverty
* fatphobia
* bullying
* substance abuse
* gentrification
& more!

As an entirely self-funded fanzine, I need your support to publish Muchacha Fanzine's "Liberation Youth." I humbly ask you to consider pledging any amount of your choosing. Patreon makes it super easy (and affordable!) to support creators like me and you can change the amount of your pledge or cancel your subscription at any time. Every single pledge amount ($1, $3, $5+) will help make a difference so that I can build a safe media platform for youth of color to share their voices. Your pledge supports our youth in being catalysts for positive social change. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for using your torch to help light theirs.

If you want to do honor in supporting our youth of color, donate as little as $1/month for full access to every publication, showcase, workshop, and exclusive unfiltered content: https://www.patreon.com/muchachafanzine

In Fierce & Radical Love,
Daisy Salinas xo❤️
(if you are a youth of color interested in submitting, check out submission guidelines here.) 2:03 pm * 3 June 2019 * 7 notes

YES! 🙏🏾 Support indigenous, brown, and black artists by donating to Muchacha Fanzine 's Patreon
8:55 am * 25 November 2018 * 85 notes
📣 CALL OUT! So excited to present: "Black and Brown Punk Fest," a festival aimed at uniting punks of color across Texas. This is a paid gig & spots are filling quickly so spread the word to anyone who may be interested!
5:54 pm * 26 August 2018 * 25 notes
Muchacha Fanzine is creating Zines | Patreon

i am excited to announce the launch of muchacha fanzine's patreon fundraiser! For nearly a decade - my blood, sweat, and tears has gone into my greatest passion in life: zine-making!

but i imagine a future for muchacha fanzine. a future where we can thrive - not just merely survive. a future where we can continue to publish zines about issues that matter to us. a future where we can continue to cultivate radical spaces and collaboratively work together. a future where women of color creatives are granted opportunities for our work as creators of culture. But this future can't happen without the help of the community [any amount that you can spare will mean everything to us!]

we're ready to commit to our goals and grow as a publication - check out what we have planned for 2018. if muchacha fanzine has spoken to you or added value to your life in any way, we hope that you will consider being part of this journey! ✨💕✊🏾
3:32 pm * 15 July 2018 * 22 notes

While the U.S. and Israel celebrate the US embassy opening in occupied Jerusalem, 43 Palestinians have been murdered & 2k wounded by Israeli forces using America weapons. This is a war crime funded by the U.S. that is a result of decades of murder and oppression of the Palestinian people. Tens of thousands are still in protest as the world silently watches. We need to WAKE. THE. FUCK. UP.
(📸: @fortunadivineytrixx)

5:46 pm * 14 May 2018 * 266 notes

"Xingonas in the Pit!" is an upcoming all-ages San Antonio-based decolonial feminist punk fest aimed at celebrating mujer and nonbinary artists of color!

(Flyer art by @juanydiego)

9:08 am * 17 March 2018 * 85 notes
📣 SAN ANTONIO PUNK BAND "FRIJOLERA RIOT"
DRUMMER WANTED! 📣

*If you are interested in auditioning please
email FrijoleraRiot@gmail.com*
We are interested in a drummer who is:
1. anywhere from beginner to expert level
2. identifies as feminist
3. available to practice once a week in San Antonio, TX

ABOUT FROJOLERA RIOT
¡La Lucha Continua!
Frijolera Riot is a San Antonio-based feminist punk band here to remind you that if YOU MESS WITH ONE BEAN, YOU MESS WITH THE WHOLE POT! ✊🏽

Influences: Alice Bag, The Bags, X-Ray Spex, Downtown Boys, Kumbia Queers, Fea, Generacion Suicida, Jessy Bulbo, Selena, Jenni Rivera, Spitboy, War of Icaza, Ojos, Los Plugz, Las Vulpess, Anarkadas, Electroduendes, The Brat, Fuck U Pay Us, Los Crudos, The Breathing Light, Le Butcherettes, Death, The Slits, Au Pairs, Black Flag, Siouxsie Sioux, X, Crass, Lydia Lunch, The Fall, Bad Brains, Flipper, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., The Stooges, Sonic Youth, Lunachicks, Babes in Toyland, Hole, Tribe 8, Bikini Kill, Heavens to Betsy, Emily's Sassy Lime, Bratmobile, 7 Year Bitch.

SIGNAL BOOST!

(art by Alex Ramirez, flyer by Daisy Salinas)
7:31 pm * 8 February 2018 * 17 notes

📣 MUCHACHA FANZINE CLOSING UP SHOP!
I will be closing my etsy shop next week for a while to focus on my mental health. In the meantime, all 13 of my zines plus new buttons & stickers are for sale (including my limited time grab bags!) Now is the time to stock up if you still haven't had a chance to check out my zine. With the holidays around the corner, they can also make for dope gifts for all your radical friends & fam!

All support beginning now until the end of the week will be so I can make it to Warrior Roots, a grassroots POC-led direct action training camp happening this upcoming weekend in San Antonio. Would greatly appreciate any and all support to make it to this much needed healing space!
2:34 pm * 7 November 2017 * 40 notes

Queer & trans liberation to everyone, including those that don't have the privilege to come out without risk to their safety. We see you and you matter. 💖
🎨: @felixdeon
9:26 pm * 11 October 2017 * 878 notes

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Another world is possible, especially with youth leading the way! Inspired by the youth I work with, I felt compelled to uplift the voices of youth of color by making the next issue of Muchacha Fanzine "Liberation Youth" entirely dedicated to them.

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Kuchu Times. Our voices, our stories, our lives. 

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Kuchu Times. Our voices, our stories, our lives. 

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The 3 day summit will be a space for Key populations stakeholders to openly engage, dialogue, share information and update on developing trends in funding, reporting, programming and health care.

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Brutal Murders in Atlanta Are a Painful Reminder: We Need to Stop Misogyny, Anti-Asian and Anti-Women Hate Crimes, and Gun Viole

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Brutal Murders in Atlanta Are a Painful Reminder: We Need to Stop Misogyny, Anti-Asian and Anti-Women Hate Crimes, and Gun Viole

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Podcast

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Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.

Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.

If I could only reply to others reviews

At _2020Unties_if that's even right but I always check out reviews to get a pulse on what a podcast is so I can listen an make my own decisions...but I haven't even heard this one yet an was blown away by the complaint that this podcast only talks on black people and black and white issues and how it's disappointing that it doesn't represent the country....welp did you see the title an the description of this podcast before you listened or made that wild statement???
Reading is fundamental...

Always informative.

I always learn a lot.

Powerfully informative

This podcast is compelling and very important. Every single episode presents a lesson on how we mitigate the disease of racism and achieve true liberation. Exceptional!

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‎Intersectionality Matters! on Apple Podcasts

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Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.

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Podcast

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‎The Unapologetic Feminist on Apple Podcasts

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This is an intersectional feminist podcast where I the host sit down with different individuals and have the important conversations. This is an intersectional feminist podcast where I the host sit down with different individuals and have the important conversations.

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A guide to how gender-neutral language is developing around the world

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A guide to how gender-neutral language is developing around the world

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English, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, German, French and Swedish

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Communications & Gender Checklist: Things to Consider

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Communications & Gender Checklist: Things to Consider

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Journalistic guidelines for how to discuss women in the public arena do not yet exist. But my research shows they're needed. Here is what I propose.

On an micro level, reporters must ask themselves:
Have I fallen susceptible to a common gender trap?

1. focusing on a woman's domestic or familial life rather than her professional merit (" Hillary Clinton: Grandmother-in-chief?," CBS)

2. qualifying a woman's achievement by associating her with powerful or familiar men (" The 'Female Obama' Tries to Be Just Familiar Enough," Bloomberg)

3. dwelling or speculating on female emotions and equating them with weakness (" Taylor Swift used her relationship drama to rack in some serious cash," @marieclaire)

4. spending a disproportionate amount of time discussing how a woman looks or sounds (" Ariana Grande belts Aretha Franklin standard in tiny dress," Business Insider)

Further reading: Five ways the media hurts female politicians - and how journalists everywhere can do better

Is the focus of this story fair and in good taste? Is it going to be important several years from now?

When choosing a topic or a focus, it's important to consider: Journalists are the ones writing the history books. This gives journalists a responsibility to always make sure they're covering the most significant and impactful happening at any event.

As a former editor for the Spokesman Review, Addy Hatch used to ask her reporters: "What is going to stand the test of time? Is this story going to be important 3 years from now?"

Amy Kovac-Ashley, director of newsroom learning at the American Press Institute, echoes this call for thoughtfulness when choosing a story's focus.

"What conversations are happening when these stories are being generated?" Kovac-Ashley asks. For example, when discussing a story last year about Hillary Clinton's pantsuits, Kovac-Ashley asks, "Did anyone in the newsroom say, 'Why are we doing this story? Is this really an important story for us to be doing? Why are we doing this about her but not looking at menswear?' Was there a compelling conversation that happened before deciding to do the pantsuit story?"

How could this topic or my language be perceived? Am I writing with empathy?

Journalists must put themselves in their readers' shoes: Would they consider this portrayal fair?

"For some writers, there is a lack of thinking about both sides as the creator of the content and the consumer of the content, which can lead to misrepresentation or oversight," says Ashley McCallum, a local reporter at the Janesville Gazette.

Pay specific mind to physical descriptions of female characters.

"I think there is a tendency when you want description in a story and you're talking about a woman, you describe her clothes. Or her hair," says Ann Fiore, editor of The Janesville Gazette. "But who cares? If you apply that to a man, nobody really does the same thing with men."

Are the voices in my story balanced? If not, is there a particular reason why?

"Look at your story and think, 'Who have my sources been?'" says McCallum. "Sometimes you write a string of stories and you realize you've only talked to one kind of a person. ...Look at whose voices you're representing. Is it a mix? Is it representative of your community? If not, why not?"

Sue Bullard, professor of journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, also calls for balance of voices and perspectives.

"We need to see women quoted more often in news stories," she says. "Women doctors. Women accountants. Women professors. Too often, studies show, news stories are dominated by men."

"And not just as victims," Fiore adds. "More female sources would be helpful, even if you have to try to go out of your way to do that. ... We have to look harder."

If I'm asking a question of a woman, would I ask this same question of a man?

Intersectionality: If I'm asking this question of a woman, would I ask it of all women, including those of a different race or sexual preference?

Have I given thought to stereotypical portrayals?

Portray individuals as closely hued to who they are as possible, paying specific mind to stereotypes.

"Instead of using descriptive language ... stereotyping gets done almost as a shorthand," Kovac-Ashley says. "Because we've done it for so long, we don't really think through how perpetuating those stereotypes ... reverberates throughout the rest of the society."

Consider the origin of thoughts.

"There are assumptions about the way that gender roles are supposed to be ... that affect everybody," she adds. "Progress takes place only once you start bucking whatever that assumption is."

Consider sources as complex individuals, full of nuance and life experiences. No one person is the same.

"We have to resist the urge to extrapolate or create a group persona based on an individual that we hear," says Kovac-Ashley.

Have I used any gendered language? Can I find a way to add more gender-neutral language?

When using gendered language, like "you guys" or "mailman," journalists runs the risk of alienating half their audience.

"How can you become more inclusive?" asks Kovac-Ashley.

For starters, she says, use the correct pronouns.

"When you're talking about binary gender issues, there are people who are trying really hard to use the correct pronouns, and you've seen more of that in news stories now than you have in the past, with people starting to ask questions like, 'Which pronouns do you prefer?'" she says.

Further reading: How to Avoid Sexist Language in Article Writing

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On a macro level, journalists must:

Examine and question the demographics of your individual newsroom.

Adding more diverse voices in the newsroom will have a ripple effect on the language coming out of that same newsroom.

"Diversity is not only the work of minorities or women," says Kovac-Ashley. "It is everyone's job because it's everyone's job to portray the world as accurately as we can."

Sue Bullard shares a personal experience that rings true for many:

"More women need to be represented in newsrooms and particularly in the top ranks of newsrooms. When I became the editor of a small newspaper in Michigan in the early 1980s, I was the first female to do so. But things haven't changed all that much since. Even though the majority of journalism students are women, that's not reflected in newsrooms," she says.

Understand the demographics of your community.

Journalists must work to ensure that the voices in a story are representative of their community.

Think about this stuff before a bad example happens.

"I don't need a bad example to happen to make it important," says Fitzgerald. "I don't wait for something bad to happen. ... It really starts from the day you walk in the door, whatever group you're leading."

"It's harder to be retroactive than it is to be proactive," says McCallum.

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Journalistic guidelines for how to discuss women in the public arena do not yet exist. But my research shows they're needed. Here is what I propose.

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Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum', 'Sun' or 'Bygone'. Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel Prize. An AK-47, prominent ribs, naked breasts: use these. If you must include an African, make sure you get one in Masai or Zulu or Dogon dress.

In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don't get bogged down with precise descriptions. Africa is big: fifty-four countries, 900 million people who are too busy starving and dying and warring and emigrating to read your book. The continent is full of deserts, jungles, highlands, savannahs and many other things, but your reader doesn't care about all that, so keep your descriptions romantic and evocative and unparticular.

Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat. Do not mention rice and beef and wheat; monkey-brain is an African's cuisine of choice, along with goat, snake, worms and grubs and all manner of game meat. Make sure you show that you are able to eat such food without flinching, and describe how you learn to enjoy it-because you care.

Taboo subjects: ordinary domestic scenes, love between Africans (unless a death is involved), references to African writers or intellectuals, mention of school-going children who are not suffering from yaws or Ebola fever or female genital mutilation.

Throughout the book, adopt a sotto voice, in conspiracy with the reader, and a sad I-expected-so-much tone. Establish early on that your liberalism is impeccable, and mention near the beginning how much you love Africa, how you fell in love with the place and can't live without her. Africa is the only continent you can love-take advantage of this. If you are a man, thrust yourself into her warm virgin forests. If you are a woman, treat Africa as a man who wears a bush jacket and disappears off into the sunset. Africa is to be pitied, worshipped or dominated. Whichever angle you take, be sure to leave the strong impression that without your intervention and your important book, Africa is doomed.

Your African characters may include naked warriors, loyal servants, diviners and seers, ancient wise men living in hermitic splendour. Or corrupt politicians, inept polygamous travel-guides, and prostitutes you have slept with. The Loyal Servant always behaves like a seven-year-old and needs a firm hand; he is scared of snakes, good with children, and always involving you in his complex domestic dramas. The Ancient Wise Man always comes from a noble tribe (not the money-grubbing tribes like the Gikuyu, the Igbo or the Shona). He has rheumy eyes and is close to the Earth. The Modern African is a fat man who steals and works in the visa office, refusing to give work permits to qualified Westerners who really care about Africa. He is an enemy of development, always using his government job to make it difficult for pragmatic and good-hearted expats to set up NGOs or Legal Conservation Areas. Or he is an Oxford-educated intellectual turned serial-killing politician in a Savile Row suit. He is a cannibal who likes Cristal champagne, and his mother is a rich witch-doctor who really runs the country.

Among your characters you must always include The Starving African, who wanders the refugee camp nearly naked, and waits for the benevolence of the West. Her children have flies on their eyelids and pot bellies, and her breasts are flat and empty. She must look utterly helpless. She can have no past, no history; such diversions ruin the dramatic moment. Moans are good. She must never say anything about herself in the dialogue except to speak of her (unspeakable) suffering. Also be sure to include a warm and motherly woman who has a rolling laugh and who is concerned for your well-being. Just call her Mama. Her children are all delinquent. These characters should buzz around your main hero, making him look good. Your hero can teach them, bathe them, feed them; he carries lots of babies and has seen Death. Your hero is you (if reportage), or a beautiful, tragic international celebrity/aristocrat who now cares for animals (if fiction).

Bad Western characters may include children of Tory cabinet ministers, Afrikaners, employees of the World Bank. When talking about exploitation by foreigners mention the Chinese and Indian traders. Blame the West for Africa's situation. But do not be too specific.

Broad brushstrokes throughout are good. Avoid having the African characters laugh, or struggle to educate their kids, or just make do in mundane circumstances. Have them illuminate something about Europe or America in Africa. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life-but empty inside, with no dialogue, no conflicts or resolutions in their stories, no depth or quirks to confuse the cause.

Describe, in detail, naked breasts (young, old, conservative, recently raped, big, small) or mutilated genitals, or enhanced genitals. Or any kind of genitals. And dead bodies. Or, better, naked dead bodies. And especially rotting naked dead bodies. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the 'real Africa', and you want that on your dust jacket. Do not feel queasy about this: you are trying to help them to get aid from the West. The biggest taboo in writing about Africa is to describe or show dead or suffering white people.

Animals, on the other hand, must be treated as well rounded, complex characters. They speak (or grunt while tossing their manes proudly) and have names, ambitions and desires. They also have family values: see how lions teach their children? Elephants are caring, and are good feminists or dignified patriarchs. So are gorillas. Never, ever say anything negative about an elephant or a gorilla. Elephants may attack people's property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant. Big cats have public-school accents. Hyenas are fair game and have vaguely Middle Eastern accents. Any short Africans who live in the jungle or desert may be portrayed with good humour (unless they are in conflict with an elephant or chimpanzee or gorilla, in which case they are pure evil).

After celebrity activists and aid workers, conservationists are Africa's most important people. Do not offend them. You need them to invite you to their 30,000-acre game ranch or 'conservation area', and this is the only way you will get to interview the celebrity activist. Often a book cover with a heroic-looking conservationist on it works magic for sales. Anybody white, tanned and wearing khaki who once had a pet antelope or a farm is a conservationist, one who is preserving Africa's rich heritage. When interviewing him or her, do not ask how much funding they have; do not ask how much money they make off their game. Never ask how much they pay their employees.

Readers will be put off if you don't mention the light in Africa. And sunsets, the African sunset is a must. It is always big and red. There is always a big sky. Wide empty spaces and game are critical-Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces. When writing about the plight of flora and fauna, make sure you mention that Africa is overpopulated. When your main character is in a desert or jungle living with indigenous peoples (anybody short) it is okay to mention that Africa has been severely depopulated by Aids and War (use caps).

You'll also need a nightclub called Tropicana, where mercenaries, evil nouveau riche Africans and prostitutes and guerrillas and expats hang out.

Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.
'How to Write About Africa', by Binyavanga Wainaina. © Binyavanga Wainaina, 2005. Reproduced by permission of The Wylie Agency (UK) Ltd.

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How to Write About Africa | Binyavanga Wainaina | Granta

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'Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances. Because you care.'

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Communicating gender for rural development 

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Communicating gender for rural development 

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In Borno State, Nigeria, more than 100 village health workers were deployed in their communities as part of the first phase of WRC's work with government and local organizations providing community-based health services. Explore our sexual and reproductive health work

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In Borno State, Nigeria, more than 100 village health workers were deployed in their communities as part of the first phase of WRC's work with government and local organizations providing community-based health services. Explore our sexual and reproductive health work

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Gender Responsive Communication for Development: Guidance, Tools and Resources 

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Gender Responsive Communication for Development: Guidance, Tools and Resources 

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This site gives practical advice on women's rights and gender equality to project managers and programme makers. The overarching aim is to equip users to challenge gender stereotypes and serve both men and women equally.
Though we have certainly made significant progress in recent decades, gender inequality persists around the world.

Women and girls continue to face real challenges in getting involved with politics, earning fair wages, going to school and accessing health care. Many even struggle to shape the decisions made in their households.

Through reflecting and deepening inequalities between men and women, the media bear some responsibility for these problems. For instance, politics shows in many countries still feature men talking to men about men. Women in films get fewer lines and are less likely to be cast as leaders than their male counterparts. Yet the media can also be a champion of gender equality. See how we do this in our projects:

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This site gives practical advice on women's rights and gender equality to project managers and programme makers. The overarching aim is to equip users to challenge gender stereotypes and serve both men and women equally. Though we have certainly made significant progress in recent decades, gender inequality persists around the world.

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Integrating Gender into Social and Behavior Change Communication

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Integrating Gender into Social and Behavior Change Communication

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Integrating Gender into Social and Behavior Change Communication

Learn about gender and social and behavior change communication, assess your existing strategy,

discover new information using a step-by-step "how-to" guide, and integrate changes into your current strategy.

What is Gender Integration

Integrating gender into a social and behavior change communication (SBCC) program involves identifying and then addressing gender inequalities during the strategy and project design, implementation and monitoring, and evaluation of a project. By integrating gender into your SBCC strategy, you can make health messages more effective, stimulate equity in gender roles, and improve health outcomes. Since the roles and power relations between men and women affect how an activity is implemented, it is essential that project managers address these issues on an ongoing basis (USAID, 2012).

What is the Purpose of this I-Kit

This I-Kit provides a step-by-step approach to integrate gender into an existing SBCC strategy or marketing plan.

The I-Kit is designed to help users understand gender concepts, theories and frameworks, assess the current level of gender integration in a project and use a series of tools to uncover new information that can be applied to an existing SBCC strategy or marketing plan.

You can also use these tools and resources when developing a new SBCC strategy or marketing plan.

Read the information and background included in the introduction section to help you understand gender concepts, theories, and frameworks for SBCC.

Review the checklist before starting the process to take the necessary actions to incorporate both men and women's perspectives and address their needs as you design your strategy.

Use the templates and resources within each step to help you gather information specific to gender and integrate it into your new SBCC strategy.

Who is the Audience for this I-Kit

The primary audience for this I-Kit are those individuals who want to integrate gender into an existing SBCC strategy. This may include program managers, designers and implementers of SBCC programs.

What does this I-Kit Contain

Information and technical considerations on gender, programmatic approaches, SBCC theory and gender-based frameworks.

Step-by-step guidance on how to integrate gender into an existing SBCC strategy

Relevant templates and checklists to help review and integrate gender into an existing SBCC strategy.

Gender-focused resources and programmatic examples for future reference.

How to Use this I-Kit

This I-Kit uses an evidence-based approach to SBCC strategy development. It can be used as a self-facilitated learning tool or as part of a workshop organized to review and revise an existing SBCC strategy or marketing plan.

Integrating gender into an existing SBCC strategy or marketing plan is a good first step to developing a gender transformative program but the process requires your team to be open and honest about where your program currently stands and the direction it needs to go. Although this may sound easy, this is not always the case and is often dependent on the current political situation, cultural and religious norms, community level support, and individual desire and ability to change.

The process may need to begin with you and your team. Explore opportunities for you and your staff to learn more about gender and what it means to be gender sensitive. There are a number of activities and trainings that can help you start this process.

The I-Kit is divided into three main sections:

Review the background and current research on gender. Familiarize yourself with key gender concepts, programmatic approaches to SBCC and technical considerations for gender integration.

Determine where the program currently stands. Find out what information is still needed, and how that information will impact the design, implementation and evaluation of a program.

Identify entry points and guide the process of discovering new gender related information. Integrate this new information into your existing SBCC strategy or marketing plan.

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Integrating Gender into Social and Behavior Change Communication

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Integrating Gender into Social and Behavior Change Communication Learn about gender and social and behavior change communication, assess your existing strategy, discover new information using a step-by-step "how-to" guide, and integrate changes into your current strategy.

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The Brisbane Times reported that a man was charged with torture, deprivation of liberty, contravening a domestic violence order, and…

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: A Participatory Programme

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: A Participatory Programme

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Brothers for life

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Brothers for life

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Reproductive Health Access Project

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SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Reproductive Health Access Project

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For more than 15 years, the Network has provided primary care clinicians with a community of colleagues, mentors, and clinical changemakers.

Join us to celebrate A Network Like No Other!

Donate Today

Read RHAP's statement on access to mifepristone in light of the recent court rulings.

Read Statement

Sign up for Insights, a monthly newsletter offering evidence-based, clinical knowledge on abortion and early pregnancy loss (miscarriage) care. Read our latest Insights on our website.

Subscribe

This factsheet provides a simplified guide for comparing two popular medication methods for an abortion. The factsheet compares and contrasts using mifepristone and misoprostol versus using misoprostol alone. Get answers to questions such as: "How painful is it?", "Can I still have children after?" and "What will happen?"

Download: pdf

The History of Mifepristone
Reproductive Health Access Project
Updated April 18, 2023 Nearly three years ago, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of mifepristone and looked back on the history of this medication and how it expanded the options available for those seeking abortion care. French researchers developed mifepristone (also known as RU-486) in the 1980s to be taken with misoprostol for medication abortion...

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For more than 15 years, the Network has provided primary care clinicians with a community of colleagues, mentors, and clinical changemakers. Join us to celebrate A Network Like No Other! Donate Today Read RHAP's statement on access to mifepristone in light of the recent court rulings.

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PROSTITUTION ANDTRAFFICKING: Sex Work And Sex Workers: A Guide For Journalists Workers

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PROSTITUTION ANDTRAFFICKING: Sex Work And Sex Workers: A Guide For Journalists Workers

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Gender-Based Violence, Media and Communications

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Gender-Based Violence, Media and Communications

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Explore the facts. Violence against women 

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Explore the facts. Violence against women 

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Whether at home, on the streets or during war, violence against women and girls is a pandemic proportions that takes place in human rights violation of public and private spaces.

Intimate Partner Violence

Worldwide, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence - mostly by an intimate partner. When accounting for sexual harassment, this figure is even higher.

Worldwide, almost 3 in 5 women killed were killed by their partners or family in 2017.

Global and regional estimates of violence against women, WHO, 2013; Source
Global Study on Homicide 2019, UNODC, 2019

Sexually violent acts can take place in different circumstances and settings.

These include, for example:

Sexual harassment

Sexual harassment includes non-contact forms, like sexual comments about a person's body parts or appearance, whistling, demands for sexual favors, sexually suggestive staring, stalking, and exposing one's sexual organs at someone. It also includes physical contact forms, like grabbing, pinching, slapping, or rubbing against another person in a sexual way.

Rape

Rape is non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object. This can be by persons known or unknown to the survivor, within marriage and relationships, and during armed conflict.

15 million

Approximately 15 million adolescent girls (aged 15 to 19) worldwide have experienced forced sex at some point in their life.

Source A Familiar Face: Violence in the lives of children and adolescents, UNICEF, 2017

of women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15 in the European Union.

Source Violence against women: An EU-wide survey, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014

200 Million

At least 200 million women and girls aged 15-49 have undergone FGM in 30 countries where representative data is available.

In most of these countries, the majority of girls were cut before age 5.

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Explore the facts: Violence against women

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Whether at home, on the streets or during war, violence against women and girls is a pandemic proportions that takes place in human rights violation of public and private spaces. Intimate Partner Violence Worldwide, 1 in 3 women have experienced physical or sexual violence - mostly by an intimate partner.

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Reporting on Gender-based Violence in humanitarian settings

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Reporting on Gender-based Violence in humanitarian settings

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Reporting on Gender-Based Violence 

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GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: Reporting on Gender-Based Violence 

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Reporting on Gender-Based Violence - Sonke Gender Justice

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Rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa are staggeringly high, with a recent study in 2016 by StatsSA indicating that one in five partnered women have experienced physical violence in the 12 months prior to the survey. In developing this guide, it is understood that journalists and editors work under immense pressure, and that ...

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FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: End FGM: End Female Genital Mutilation 

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FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION: End FGM: End Female Genital Mutilation 

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The End FGM European Network aims to ensure that the European Union delivers a strategy to prevent young girls and women in Europe from being mutilated and to provide refuge to women and girls who flee their countries for fear of being mutilated.

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SEXUAL VIOLENCE: SGBV Prevention and Response - Training Package 

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SEXUAL VIOLENCE: SGBV Prevention and Response - Training Package 

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

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SGBV Prevention and Response - Training Package

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The Women's Refugee Commission conducted foundational research, providing some of the first robust evidence of the magnitude and drivers of child marriage across several humanitarian contexts. Click on a country label in the map below to learn more about our study results in that area. Note: Countries designated as "ongoing" do not currently have findings and are not clickable.

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Child Marriage | Women's Refugee Commission

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The Women's Refugee Commission conducted foundational research, providing some of the first robust evidence of the magnitude and drivers of child marriage across several humanitarian contexts. Click on a country label in the map below to learn more about our study results in that area.

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CHILD MARRIAGE: How can the media do its part to end child marriage?

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CHILD MARRIAGE: How can the media do its part to end child marriage?

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Media coverage about child marriage has reached an all-time high, with more and more news stories bringing the harsh reality faced by 15 million girls a year to light. We have seen the nature of media coverage shift from focusing on the issue alone, to a narrative which also looks at solutions - be it a change in attitude towards girls, or raising the minimum age of marriage.

Last year, Girls Not Brides USA, GreeneWorks, International Women's Health Coalition, American Jewish World Service and the Communications Consortium came together to explore the impact the media can have on child marriage, as well as the opportunities that exist to enhance the influence of the media and ensure responsible storytelling.

Here are some of the key points from the discussion:

The media can and should play an important role in shaping public discourse on child marriage.

The media informs people about important issues and helps shape how child marriage is spoken about and understood by the general public. Film and documentaries for example can challenge the perception that child marriage is something which only occurs in Asia or Africa, and has the potential to hold local and global decision-makers accountable.

The media adds a human face to the issue. Hearing and understanding things from a young girl's perspective encourages empathy in a way that research and facts are unable to. By using stories with emotional and personal content we can show the public and decision-makers that girls aren't numbers, they are people.

The media needs to be mobilised as an important contributor to development.

The media often acts to hold decision-makers to account for fulfilling their responsibilities to protect and uphold the public's welfare. This can be achieved through praise and critique. For example, a media outlet can praise a government's actions when it does good things for girls, such as increasing the minimum age of marriage or adopting a national strategy on child marriage, but it can also call them out for a lack of action.

The media must walk a fine line between advocacy and reinforcing negative perceptions.

By choosing to cover a particular story the media may in fact be advocating a particular viewpoint, and through the language used there can be the risk of reinforcing perceptions that child marriage is something which occurs only in certain countries, religions or communities.

The media has a role to play in portraying girls ethically and responsibly.

We shouldn't be telling stories which take away a girl's agency or make her seem like a passive victim. More nuanced narratives are needed to describe the multitude of causes which lead girls to marry, as well as to accurately capture their experiences within marriage. Information about the context of their lives and possible solutions to the constraints they face should be included so readers know how to engage when there is a clear call to action. The media also needs to bear in mind emerging research and trends which challenge assumptions.

The media should be accountable to the communities and individuals they cover.

Girls and women must be informed about where and how their own stories will be told, and crucially must give their consent beforehand. If a journalist cannot completely protect the privacy and consent of the individual, they shouldn't be telling the story. Ideally, a journalist should also return to visit the woman or girl and follow up on the story.

Civil society organisations should be more opportunistic to expand the reach of their media stories.

A good way to increase the coverage of an issue is to link it to the most prominent news stories. For example, the current refugee crisis has proven to be an opportunity to also highlight the increased likelihood of child marriage during conflict and fragile situations.

Read the report: " Child marriage: emerging trends in the media".

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How can the media do its part to end child marriage?

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Media coverage about child marriage has reached an all-time high, with more and more news stories bringing the harsh reality faced by 15 million girls a year to light. We have seen the nature of media coverage shift from focusing on the issue alone, to a narrative which also looks at solutions - be it a change in attitude towards girls, or raising the minimum age of marriage.

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Gender Equality: Glossary Of Terms And Concepts

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Gender Equality: Glossary Of Terms And Concepts

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AZ Index. European Institute for Gender Equality 

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AZ Index. European Institute for Gender Equality 