Adopting, manipulating, transforming: tactics used by gender practitioners in South African NGOs to translate international gender policies into local practice

This paper looks at what is lost and gained through the process of translating international policy from a global to a local space. It does this by sharing results from a multisite ethnographic study of gender practices in foreign-funded South African health organisations. This study identifies a number of tactics used by practitioners to deal with the funding constraints and unique knowledge systems that characterise local spaces, including: using policy to appeal to donors; merging gender with better resourced programmes; and redirecting funding allocations. These tactics point to how practitioners are adopting, manipulating and transforming international policies in order to suit their everyday working realities

Practicing gender: gender and development policy in South African organisations

This is a thesis about the relationship between gender policy and practice in South Africa, and its effects. Gender is a concept widely used in development policy, but little attention has been paid to precisely how development agents use gender policy in their practice. As a result, we know little about the significance or meanings practitioners attribute to gender policy, or how development actors adapt, transform or manipulate gender policy in their everyday work. Gaps in knowledge about how gender policy is put into practice in specific contexts have led to gaps in knowledge about what effects gender policy has on the politics of gender. This brings about two aims for this study: (1) to map the relationship between gender and development policy and practice in South Africa, and (2) to explore the effects of gender policy on gender politics. Following a multisite approach, this study looks at gender policy as a collection of ‘contested narratives’ (Shore & Wright 1997) about gender. The findings point to a conflict between three different policy frames being drawn on by policy actors as they try to assert their own understanding of gender, define the ‘problem’ that exists and the policies that are needed to solve it. This conflict may diminish the potential for a collective social movement for gender issues in South Africa. However, practitioners are not powerless implementers of policy, but rather use gender policy strategically in their practice by adopting, transforming and manipulating policy frames in a range of different tactical manoeuvres to suit their own objectives. Identifying the tactical manoeuvres being used by development practitioners in South Africa contributes new understandings of the fragmented ways that an alternative gender politics is currently being advanced by practitioners in this context

HIV-positive African-American women’s perspectives on engaging communities in the response to HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C.

The number of African-American women infected with HIV in Washington, D.C. is growing at an alarming rate. However, the perspectives of these women on engaging communities in the response to HIV/AIDS have been lacking in the literature. To fill this gap, in-depth interviews with 18 HIV-positive African-American women living in D.C. were conducted and analyzed using thematic network analysis. Three key themes emerged from these interviews: (1) the importance of the church in building HIV/AIDS community competence; (2) women’s interest in HIV/AIDS advocacy; and (3) the negative effects of stigma and limited social bonds on community engagement. We conclude by suggesting that more research is needed on the role of African-American women in community capacity building, as well as greater involvement of churches in HIV/AIDS responses

Cisgender male and transgender female sex workers in South Africa: gender variant identities and narratives of exclusion

Sex workers are often perceived as possessing ‘deviant’ identities, contributing to their exclusion from health services. The literature on sex worker identities in relation to health has focused primarily on cisgender female sex workers as the ‘carriers of disease’, obscuring the experiences of cisgender male and transgender sex workers and the complexities their gender identities bring to understandings of stigma and exclusion. To address this gap, this study draws on 21 interviews with cisgender male and transgender female sex workers receiving services from the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce in Cape Town, South Africa. Our findings suggest that the social identities imposed upon sex workers contribute to their exclusion from public, private, discursive and geographic spaces. While many transgender female sex workers described their identities using positive and empowered language, cisgender male sex workers frequently expressed shame and internalised stigma related to identities, which could be described as ‘less than masculine’. While many of those interviewed felt empowered by positive identities as transgender women, sex workers and sex worker-advocates, disempowerment and vulnerability were also linked to inappropriately masculinised and feminised identities. Understanding the links between gender identities and social exclusion is crucial to creating effective health interventions for both cisgender men and transgender women in sex work

Intimate partner violence in Rwanda: women’s voices

This report examines women’s responses to situations of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Rwanda. We draw on interviews with women who have experienced violence, focus groups with community members, and interviews with service providers. IPV is broadly defined here, consistent with how participants talked about violence in their own lives. Their definition of IPV included physical, economic, sexual and psychological forms of violence perpetrated by their intimate partners, including married and unmarried partners. This report was written by researchers belonging to the Health, Community and Development Group at the London School of Economics. The report is the result of a preliminary set of interviews and focus groups with individuals in Rwanda. It is not a formal research study, but rather an initial investigation carried out for the purposes of strengthening community responses to intimate partner violence and collaboration among non-governmental organisations working in this area

Women’s responses to intimate partner violence in Rwanda: rethinking agency in constrained social contexts

This paper explores instances of agency in women’s responses to intimate partner violence (IPV) in Rwanda. The literature on women’s responses to IPV conceptualises agency primarily as an individual’s capacity to take action by reporting violence or leaving a relationship, obscuring other ways women may respond to violence in contexts where reporting or leaving are unlikely. We aim to replace this narrow conceptualisation of agency with a social constructivist focus on the meanings women attribute to possible IPV responses. We draw on data from a study of IPV in Rwanda, which includes semi-structured interviews with women experiencing violence and four focus group discussions with women community members (n=39). Our findings highlight socio-cultural, economic, political-legal and historical constraints that shape women's actions in this context. In relation to these constraints, women describe four possible responses to IPV: reporting the violence; seeking emotional support; ‘fighting back’ against violence (including leaving the relationship); or remaining silent. While reporting and leaving violent relationships are identified, women also discuss the social constraints that make these actions extremely difficult in Rwanda. In designing effective strategies, we conclude that public health strategies need to consider women’s understandings of their own actions, particularly in social contexts where certain actions may be highly constrained

Mixed studies review of domestic violence in the lives of women affected by HIV stigma

We conducted a mixed studies review to examine domestic violence and stigma against women affected by HIV. We searched Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO and EMBASE databases with no starting date limit. Studies that reported on experiences of stigma, discrimination, or domestic violence against women affected by HIV in any country were included. Because the review focused on HIV stigma-related violence, we only included studies that reported violence following an HIV diagnosis or at the time of HIV testing. A total 1056 records were screened; 89 articles were assessed for full text eligibility and 49 studies were selected for evidence synthesis. A convergent approach was used and study findings were analysed thematically. Four broad themes emerged: (1) being affected by HIV increases domestic violence, (2) supportive reactions from partners, (3) HIV stigma is associated with domestic violence, and (4) domestic violence associated with HIV-stigma is gendered. Research gaps identified included the burden of intersectional stigma of domestic violence and HIV, and the mediating role of HIV stigma in domestic violence for women with HIV, highlighting the need for further research in this area to reduce violence against women living with HIV