'[PDF] beinghaRasseD?' Accessing information about sexual harassment in New Zealand's universities

Despite strong legislative protection, sexual harassment is still prevalent in New Zealand and thus remains an impediment to the full achievement of women’s human rights as well as undermining the mental and physical well-being of a woman. This paper focuses on sexual harassment in New Zealand universities. Universities are a critical part of modern society not just for teaching and research but also as a place where new generations of leaders will emerge. We undertook a survey of New Zealand university websites to test and compare the ease by which a student who thinks they may be experiencing sexual harassment, could find out about the policies and support services available to them. We highlight the failings found with many websites and make recommendations for improving access to this vital information. We argue that comprehensive sexual harassment information must be made more visible to prevent the acceptance and normalisation of sexually harassing behaviours

Demystifying climate finance impacts in small island developing states : Pacific women’s perspectives from Funafuti and Weno

The flow of climate finance to the Pacific region is increasing. Existing discourses of climate finance in the region tends to emphasise how Pacific island countries access finance from multiple sources. Assessing whether climate finance addresses gender inequality has received very little attention in the region despite the increased profile of vulnerability of Pacific women to the impacts of inequality and climate change impacts. This article seeks to address this gap. Using the talanoa research approach to draw out the ‘lived realities’ of women in Funafuti (Tuvalu) and Weno (the Federated States of Micronesia), this research attempts to demystify how Pacific women in communities perceive the impact of climate finance on their lives and livelihoods. The study finds that a high degree of disparity exists between climate finance discourse at a community level and at regional and national levels. Addressing this disparity is essential to ensure that concrete and transformative impacts of climate finance are experienced by the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in Pacific communities. The mantra of ‘leaving no one behind’ rings hollow should vulnerable women in rural and remote Pacific communities continue to feel excluded from the benefits of climate change efforts.peer-reviewe

Feminist geographies in Aotearoa New Zealand: cultural, social and political moments

Aotearoa New Zealand is a nation of promise, potential and enigma: it was the first country in the world where women gained the vote in 1893 and now boasts the youngest woman world leader in 2017. It is also a postcolonial nation where structural racism, homophobia, and sexism persist, yet it has also given legal personhood to a river. Our Country Report foregrounds Aotearoa New Zealand feminist geographic scholarship that responds to, reflects, and sometimes resists such contrasts and contradictions at the national scale. We employ the lens of the 2017 national election to critically engage with current gendered and indigenous politics in the country. Analyzing these politics through three ‘feminist moments,’ our paper highlights the breadth and scope of current Aotearoa New Zealand feminist geographic scholarship and directions

Embodying Post-Development: Bodies in places, places in bodies

Yvonne Underhill-Sem from her place-based perspective of the Pacific Islands argues that as we think more about place, so too we must think more about bodies. She proposes that what is needed is a theoretical position that allows bodies and places to be both grounded and materially pinchable, but also to be fluid and discursively constituted. Development (2002) 45, 54–59. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110318

Marked Bodies in Marginalized Places: Understanding rationalities in global discourses

Yvonne Underhill-Sem looks at how the markings of women's bodies speak of conflicting rationalities in global discourses, particularly those embedded in family groups and those in the nation-state. Working with understandings of the body as simultaneously a site of inscription and struggle but also as socially constructed and known by how it ‘performs’, Yvonne argues for the need to examine the complex reasoning that makes marked bodies legible and sustainable. Focusing on the Pacific situation, she looks at how to theorize the embodiment of globalization from a feminist reading of culture, politics, sexuality, and gender relations. Development (2003) 46, 13–17. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1110437

Some Impressions from the AWID Forum

The AWID Forum held as many experiences as participants. Here, four feminists from different parts of the world, of different generations, with different experiences, and who came to Bangkok with their hopes and to play diverse roles, reflect on what impressed them, analytically, personally and politically. Development (2006) 49, 12–15. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100240