With a Little Help From our Friends: “Global” Incentives and “Local” Challenges to Feminist Politics in Brazil

What are the major challenges facing feminists working to achieve gender justice in the context of development today? How are we to go about facing them? These were two of the major questions addressed by the ‘Gender Myths and Feminist Fables’ workshop participants, but to which no single solution was to be found. My own reactions are best conveyed by outlining current circumstances in Brazil. These reflect my close involvement in recent developments which, I believe, should foster the forging of a more equitable Brazilian society

What Makes Domestic Violence Legislation More Effective?

Domestic violence against women has gained worldwide attention as a form of discrimination as well as a violation of women's human rights. An estimated one in three women in the world is affected, independent of their social standing and cultural background. In many countries around the world, laws are now in place making domestic violence against women a crime. Yet implementation often lags behind legal reforms. Women's organising is vital not only to get laws on the statute books, but can also play an important role in monitoring the implementation of these policies and holding governments to account in making domestic violence legislation more effective. This paper draws primarily on the experiences of the implementation of the Brazilian Maria da Penha Law, a comprehensive legislation package, formulated and monitored with extensive participation from feminist organisations, and passed in 2006. It also draws on examples from Bangladesh and Ghana, where women's organising has played a fundamental role in the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of policies to confront domestic violence against women.UKaid from the Department for International Development with co-funding from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affair

Liberal vs. Liberating Empowerment: A Latin American Feminist Perspective on Conceptualising Women’s Empowerment

Since the early 1980s, feminists in Latin America have engaged in a range of programmes and activities aimed at promoting women’s empowerment, but have yet to produce frameworks to analyse this process at work. Tracing and reflecting upon the impressive advancements of feminist activism throughout the region has been a major focus for feminist analysis (Sternbach et al. 1992; Lavrin 1998). However, little thinking has gone into depicting how the flow of power/empowerment travels between individuals, groups and institutions, and thus towards linking gains at the macroinstitutional level with real changes in the everyday lives of women in different social contexts. Feminist thinking in the region still lacks concerted analysis of the linkages and discontinuities between individual agency, collective action and structural transformation, and how they operate in the process of women’s empowerment and the eradication of patriarchal domination

Family, Households and Women’s Empowerment in Bahia, Brazil, Through the Generations: Continuities or Change?

This article identifies changes and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly 20 years, it seeks to identify processes of women’s empowerment. It confirms the relevance of women’s economic independence to their participation in decision-making and in gaining autonomy; it gave them the power to assert control over their own lives. To this end, female solidarity has also played a special role, propitiating the exercise of power with to bring about the desired changes in one’s lives. However, neither economic independence nor female solidarity alone seems to have automatically led to conscious ‘gender rebellion’ and a break with traditional roles in the family. This only becomes possible when new values and attitudes in favour of alternative models, such as those proposed by contemporary feminisms, gain greater expression

Family, Households and Women's Empowerment in Bahia, Brazil, Through the Generations: Continuities or Change?

This article identifies changes and continuities in gender relations in a working class neighbourhood in Salvador, Bahia, through the generations. Based on data collected over a period of nearly 20 years, it seeks to identify processes of women's empowerment. It confirms the relevance of women's economic independence to their participation in decision?making and in gaining autonomy; it gave them the power to assert control over their own lives. To this end, female solidarity has also played a special role, propitiating the exercise of power with to bring about the desired changes in one's lives. However, neither economic independence nor female solidarity alone seems to have automatically led to conscious ‘gender rebellion’ and a break with traditional roles in the family. This only becomes possible when new values and attitudes in favour of alternative models, such as those proposed by contemporary feminisms, gain greater expression

Campaigning for the Right to Legal and Safe Abortion in Brazil

This article examines the experience of mobilizing for the right to safe, legal abortion in Brazil. It focuses on exploring the strategies pursued by the feminist and women’s movements to “win hearts and minds” both within these movements, and beyond them, through collective struggle, dialogue and coalition building. Tracing the trajectory of the Brazilian campaign for the legalization of abortion, Journadas pelo Direito ao Aborto Legal e Seguro, the article looks at avenues of action and modes of activism. It describes how the efforts of campaigners have focused not only on engaging support from the public and the media, but also on working with the Ministry of Health and health professionals to guarantee the availability of services for abortions that are legal under current restrictions, monitoring changes in public opinion and the media, and on legislative change, which has recently become especially difficult in the wake of increased activism by the Church. The analysis explores entry points, successes and challenges in this journey, and highlights ongoing dilemmas in the struggle for abortion rights in Brazil

Family business agency conflict model: a study of Brazilian firms

The aim of this thesis is to deepen understanding of how agency conflict arises in the governance of family businesses. The constructs were proposed arising from empirical research, involving four case studies of different Brazilian family-owned companies, which were analysed inductively. Next, data from the literature was used to validate those constructs, which became part of the proposed Family Business Agency Conflict Model and to suggest articulated hypotheses. This model identifies factors that can potentially increase, and those which can mitigate, tensions between the actors involved representing family, ownership and management within family-owned firms. It was subsequently tested through a survey of 152 family-owned firms of varying size, which belonged to different economic sectors and regions of Brazil. Structural equation modelling was used to test the empirical validity of the model, with reference to hypotheses concerning the variables which influence agency conflict. The model was found to predict 38 per cent of the variance in agency conflict. Four variables were found which explain directly the agency conflict in family businesses: strategic alignment, social alignment, trust and impartiality. Therefore, the findings of this research besides focusing on the usual procedural aspects of governance, such as disclosure and control, include behavioural elements which constitute a step ahead in the study of corporate governance in family business

Pizza Toppings - Multiplayer Approach to Preparing a Pizza in Virtual Reality

The preparation of food usually follows a recipe towards a tasty dish. While such a recipe is usually just a guideline for the person cooking a meal for themselves or family, it was sometimes raised to the status of a chemical formula in Taylorist modernism, leading to repeatable dishes branded as trademarks of food franchises. (Preble, 1993) However, taste changes; today’s consumer is more interested in options and customisable orders. This is underlined by a survey published in the Wall Street Journal, whereas only one in five millennials ever tasted a Big Mac®.(Jargon, 2016) The former flagship burger seems to get less important under ever changing seasonal features and a wider menu then in Taylorist times. The desire for customisability in the food industry can be seen from Coca Cola’s printing names on Coke cans, to ordering your custom cereals at mymuesly.com, or simply personalising your burger at the food delivery service of your choice. This paper tries to follow this trend to an extreme, proposing a computer game-like approach to collaboratively topping up a pizza1 in virtual reality (VR) and preparing it using an augmented reality (AR) guiding mechanism

Brazilian Feminisms in Global Spaces: Beijing and Beijing+20

Within the last decades, feminist movements in Brazil have advanced significantly beyond borders, gaining increasing recognition in global spaces, UN ones in particular, for positively influencing Brazil's official position. Unsurprisingly, Brazil has served four terms in the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and, in the eyes of more progressive delegations, is a much needed presence to ensure no lost ground on what has been achieved in previous conferences. However, the actual presence of Brazilian feminist activists in the delegations and the NGO Forums has dwindled considerably. What have been the strategies and mechanisms at play in maintaining a radical vein in our official position? Can it be sustained without the more active involvement of feminist activists – say, throughout Brazil's new role as president of the 60th CSW session? These are some of the issues I address in this article, sharing the views of activists present at those events