Freedom of the Press 2014

Global press freedom fell to its lowest level in over a decade in 2013, as hopes raised by the Arab Spring were further dashed by major regression in Egypt, Libya, and Jordan, and marked setbacks also occurred in Turkey, Ukraine, and a number of countries in East Africa. In another key development, media freedom in the United States deteriorated due primarily to attempts by the government to inhibit reporting on national security issues.Meanwhile, as a result of declines in democratic settings over the past several years, the share of the world's population that enjoys a Free press remained at 14 percent, meaning only one in seven people live in countries where coverage of political news is robust, the safety of journalists is guaranteed, state intrusion in media affairs is minimal, and the press is not subject to onerous legal or economic pressures.These are the most significant findings of this report, the latest edition of an annual report published by Freedom House since 1980. While there were positive developments in a number of countries, most notably in sub-Saharan Africa, the dominant trends were reflected in setbacks in a range of settings.The year's declines were driven by the desire of governments -- particularly in authoritarian states or polarized political environments -- to control news content, whether through the physical harassment of journalists covering protest movements or other sensitive news stories; restrictions on foreign reporters; or tightened constraints on online news outlets and social media. In addition, press freedom in a number of countries was threatened by private owners -- especially those with close connections to governments or ruling parties -- who altered editorial lines or dismissed key staff after acquiring previously independent outlets.These factors were behind the majority of the status downgrades for 2013, including the shifts from Partly Free to Not Free in Libya, South Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine, and Zambia. Significant declines also occurred in the Central African Republic, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Kenya, Montenegro, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda.Separately, influential authoritarian powers such as China and Russia continued to maintain a tight grip on locally based print and broadcast media, while also attempting to control the more independent views provided either in the blogosphere or by foreign news sources. Both countries introduced additional legal measures to penalize online speech in 2013. And while China focused on suppressing dissent on popular microblogging services and obstructing the foreign press, the Russian government closed RIA Novosti, a long-established news service, replacing it with an organization more openly under direct Kremlin control. Conditions in Eurasia remain bleak, with 97 percent of the region's population living in Not Free media environments.Even more open media environments are not immune to pressure on press freedom. The year featured the most significant decline of the past decade in one of the world's largest democracies, the United States, due to government attempts to control official information flows, particularly concerning national security -- related issues; the legal harassment of journalists with regard to protection of sources; and revelations of surveillance that included both the bulk collection of communications data by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the targeted wiretapping of media outlets. Disclosures that surveillance was being conducted by a range of governments -- many of them democratic -- against ordinary citizens as well as key political figures intensified concerns on a global level about the ability of journalists and others who gather and disseminate news and information to protect sources and maintain their digital privacy

The slow transition from womanhood to personhood: can education help?

"This paper will look at how difference as inequality has led to gender differences in the use of education. I will then present a case study of one of the first Bengali women to write her autobiography; if Kailashbashini’s life appears incongruous at the end of a litany of injustices it is only to prove that difference as a value can-and did-put down early roots in a hostile environment. Acknowledging her subordinate position in a male dominated society. Kailashbashini used the skills of literacy effectively. The wife of a Bengali official with reformist tendencies was taught to read and write by her husband. In time, she described in great detail her life; her powerfully reasoned arguments only proved that those regarded as unequal and subordinate could in fact match many in their logic and rationality. Here, the informal, self-taught skills of literacy equipped Kailashbashini to express herself, her pain and her hopes through a long life. The therapeutic value of such an exercise can not be underestimated in a highly segregated, hierarchical society. However, before going further into the role of literacy in facilitating individual self-expression, it is necessary to explore further the relationship between difference and inequality. For it is against this backdrop that the former acquires a particular significance and relevance.

A fieldworker in women's studies

"A decade and a half after the International Women's Year is not too early for some enquiry and introspection into what, for lack of a better phrase, have been the gains and losses. Any such assessment can be pitched at various levels - Individual, collective or Institutional and of course viewed from a range of perspectives. This essay is an account of a personal as well as an intellectual journey. Beginning with a brief overview of an understanding of women's studies, the paper goes on to a more personalized description of my involvement in this area of research and activism.

Women and economic reform in India: a case study from the health sector

"Most official documents in the fifty years of India's independence have, with 'varying degrees of candour, admitted to limited success in bridging the gap in the population's access to basic rights such as education, health, nutrition, housing, sanitation and so on. Nor has civil society been silent on the declining role of the State: for instance, from 1975 onwards, the women's movement has drawn attention to certain negative socio-economic trends and how these affect the status of women and children. The many voices from the women's movement as well as from other broad-based people's movements fractures the, discourse on liberalisation by providing counterpoints and critical appraisals of avowed promises and preferred solutions. Accordingly, this paper examines the health sector with a view to highlighting myopic policies and faulty implementation strategies. By doing so we hope to contribute to an alternative discourse, one which questions the votaries of liberalisation, their expectations of the market, trickle-down theories of development and naive belief that the social sector can take care of itself.

A fieldworker in women's studies

"A decade and a half after the International Women's Year is not too early for some enquiry and introspection into what, for lack of a better phrase, have been the gains and losses. Any such assessment can be pitched at various levels - Individual, collective or Institutional and of course viewed from a range of perspectives. This essay is an account of a personal as well as an intellectual journey. Beginning with a brief overview of an understanding of women's studies, the paper goes on to a more personalized description of my involvement in this area of research and activism.