This paper explores the research undertaken by the Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Studies on Women (NEIM), of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil, involving faculty and graduate and undergraduate students as part of the Countering Backlash programme. […]
Countering Backlash: Reclaiming Gender Justice in Uganda
This report engages with the following questions that have been explored over a period of four years: What is backlash? What is the origin, nature and motive of gender backlash? What drives gender backlash? […]
Analysis of Voice and Agency in Countering Backlash Against Gender Justice: Synthesis of Three Policy Cases in Bangladesh
This paper consolidates research conducted in Bangladesh on three policy cases to understand how gender justice movements formulate their demands on specific issues in response to the backlash they encounter from anti-rights actors. […]
5 ways for journalists to talk about gender-based violence in Brazil
The Brazilian press has drawn attention to the dismantling and removal of women’s and other vulnerable groups’ rights in the country recently, especially during the far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro between 2019 to 2023.
There are many issues that encompass violence against women, by individuals and by the Brazilian State, much of which is now having to be re-addressed under the government of Lula. The criminalisation of abortion and violence against women activists – or those in political positions – have been a focus of the press, especially in recent times. The activities of feminist, black, indigenous and LGBTQIA+ movements have also elicited strong reactions from conservative forces.
There is, however, a concern about the way the press has constructed their news about this, the way in which it is framed, and which subjects are in the spotlight.
NEIM has produced a new toolkit as part of the Countering Backlash programme specifically for journalists and communications professionals. It emerged to tackle media coverage of gender-based political violence and reproductive rights in Brazil. Here are five ways the toolkit can be used for responsible media coverage.
1) Pay attention to what is on the agenda
Media outlets have an agenda, often politicised, for the construction of their news. However, it is not always possible to create a strategic and detailed agenda, particularly when a ‘hot topic’ suddenly comes into the news, without the opportunity for a good investigation. However, this should not mean that the agenda cannot have a humanised approach to women’s lives and rights.
For journalists, this means paying close attention to the choice of sources, framing, and how we approach the topics. On one hand, abortion, although in some cases illegal in Brazil, is a public health issue. On the other hand, the coverage of women with political representation should be about their actions, not their bodies. Journalists and those working in news media should always choose not to re-victimise and/or criminalise women who are fighting for their rights or whose decisions over their bodies are prohibited.
2) Enquire about the topic you are covering
Ask yourself, what are the best ways to communicate about sensitive and potentially controversial topics? The persecution of those who seek and obtain abortions granted by law and or who face political gender violence is frequent in Brazil.
The ‘facts’ are not isolated. Always enquire about previous events as well as gender issues. In our toolkit, we conceptually address gender-based political violence and reproductive rights, as well as breaking them down.
3) Pay attention to the language used
It is important to know the main terms and understand the best way to talk about and approach topics that can be distressing for some people. Whenever possible, choose to add a content warning to your article or report. In the toolkit, we explain the most suitable concepts and terms to deal with gender-based political violence and reproductive rights. This will help to pass on crucial methods and information for countering backlash and contribute to creating knowledge and empathy on the subject.
A key, and important, example of this is that people who have abortions are not only cisgender women but also trans men and non-binary people, so avoid using the word ‘women’. When applicable, use the expression ‘people who menstruate’ or ‘people who get pregnant’. Clothing, hair, body shape: none of this is news. Coverage of people with political representation should be about their actions, not their bodies.
4) Contact trustworthy sources in the field
In the toolkit, you will have access to some reporting channels and reliable sources with information on gender-based political violence and reproductive rights. It is extremely important to check them before publishing your materials, as well as making periodic updates, particularly if these are topics that you often deal with. When in doubt, always question, and don’t hesitate to ask experts for help or clarification.
If one of your sources is a person who suffers political gender violence or who has had an abortion, guard them and protect their identities. Those who experience political gender violence may be at constant risk and, due to the illegality of most abortions, the protection of their identities is essential. Do not share their names, images, voice, location, or any other potentially identifiable features, and consider doing so even when you have been given permission.
5) Beware of the risk of re-victimisation
The exposure of victims’ identities should never be done, and their anonymity and privacy must be valued at all times when broadcasting news about it. When we talk about issues that are related, directly or indirectly, to violence – such as political gender violence and reproductive rights – especially related to groups that are already vulnerable, we must be extra careful with how we refer to the victims.
Do not exploit their suffering; the news should never be prioritised in favour of unnecessary exposure to the person who has suffered some type of violence, neglect or abuse.
Countering Backlash panels at the DSA Conference 2024
Countering Backlash researcher Sohela Nazneen (IDS), Nay El Rahi (AIW), Maheen Sultan, Md Mohaiminul Islam and Shamsad Navia Novelly (BIGD) took part in the Development Studies Association’s 2024 annual conference.
The hybrid conference was organised and hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and was convened by Michael Jennings, Professor of Global Development, with the theme of ‘Social Justice and Development in a Polarising World’. The Countering Backlash team delivered a number of exciting sessions, designed to engage attendees on key research from the programme. Two of these were part of a larger panel, organised by Deepta Chopra and Samreen Mushtaq (IDS) titled ‘Seeking Gender Justice and Rights Amidst Backlash: Challenges and Responses by Women’s Struggles‘:
- Deconstructing Anti-Feminist Backlash: The Lebanese Context
Nay El Rahi, from the Arab Institute for Women, delivered a novel and nuanced understanding of the context specific challenges of women’s groups in Lebanon, as they try to further their demands in a constricted ‘sextarian’ political system. - Countering Backlash Through Coalition Building: Compromises, Contentions and Sustaining Struggles in Bangladesh
Sohela Nazneen, along with BIGD colleagues, explored how women’s struggles in Bangladesh use coalition building strategies to counter backlash and how impact of this strategy varies by the coalition’s focus, and space it engages in, leadership composition, and form, and what lessons it entails for building sustainable movements.
Feminist Foreign Policy vs Development: Which Way to Social and Gender Justice?
Sohela Nazneen participated as a discussant on a panel for this additional session, which explored whether and how feminist principles and social justice concepts can help countries with feminist foreign and development policies, such as Germany or Chile, to address developmental challenges and transforming unequal global systems in times of polycrisis.
Backlash in the Lebanese Media
This research report from the Arab Institute for Women explores the presence of backlash in Lebanese media, and how it is used. […]
Understanding Backlash in Lebanon
This research report from the Arab Institute for Women explores definitions of backlash, and how backlash should be understood in Lebanon. […]
De-democratisation in South Asia weakens gender equality
This year, millions of people in South Asia head to the polls. Potential outcomes of elections in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, however, do not bode well for women’s rights or gender equality, says Countering Backlash researcher, Sohela Nazneen. The road ahead is difficult for women’s and LGBTQ+ struggles, as autocratic leaders consolidate power, and right-wing populists, digital repression, and violence against women and sexual minorities are all on the rise
Repression of civic space
CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations that aims to strengthen citizen action. After the Bangladesh government’s repression of opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to the country’s January elections, CIVICUS downgraded Bangladesh’s civic space, rating it as ‘closed’. India and Pakistan it ranked as ‘repressed’.
All three countries recently passed cybersecurity laws and foreign funding regulations that obstruct women’s rights, and feminist and LGBTQ+ organising. In Bangladesh, the ruling Awami League – in power since 2008 – boycotted by the main opposition party during the most recent elections. In India, Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), in power since 2014, has systematically undermined democratic institutions and built a Hindu-nationalist base. Pakistan has experienced multiple military forays into elections and politics that effectively limited competition between parties.
When it comes to gender equality concerns, however, these three South Asian countries feature contradictory trends. All have, or had, powerful women heads of government. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and current PM Sheikh Hasina have led Bangladesh; in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto governed from 1993–1996. Indira Gandhi governed India from 1966 to 1977, and there have been many other regional party heads. During this period, things have improved for ordinary women. Women live longer, more women receive greater education, and they are increasingly active and visible in the economy.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all been governed by women leaders. But these countries still experience strong pushback against women’s rights from conservative forces
But persistent gender inequalities remain. Violence against women in public places and within the home is high. Women’s sexuality is subject to heavy policing, and there is strong pushback against women’s rights and gender equality from conservative right-wing-populist forces.
At the Institute of Development Studies, we have been tracking backlash and rollback on rights in the region through two programmes: Sustaining Power and Countering Backlash. Our exploration of the links between a rollback in women’s rights and autocratisation shows specific manifestations of gender backlash.
Bodies as battlegrounds: direct assaults and hollowing-out policies
Women’s bodies have always been policed, and the rights of sexual minorities are highly contested in South Asia. Recent years have seen an increase in direct assaults against feminist and LGBTQ+ activists in online and physical spaces. In all three countries, right-wing political parties and religious groups have mobilised a strong anti-rights rhetoric to oppose critical women’ rights, feminists, and LGBTQ+ activists.
But the battle over women’s bodies is also visible in policymaking. In Bangladesh, for example, sexual and reproductive health, previously framed in terms of rights, have become more technical. In 2011, the government introduced a National Women’s Development Policy, which gave women equal control over acquired property. But mass protests by Islamist groups claiming this clause violated Shariah laws forced the government to backtrack.
Islamist protests against a proposed new policy giving women equal control over acquired property forced the government to backtrack
Women’s rights groups lost their relevance to the ruling elites as the country shifted towards a dominant party state and their support was not needed keep the elites in power. These elites now seek to contain opposition from religious and conservative political groups, whose support is crucial to remain in power. To consolidate its power, the authoritarian Awami League – one of the biggest parties in Bangladesh – needs to appease conservative forces. This limits the avenues for feminist activists to engage in policy spaces, as they have done since Bangladesh’s democratic transition in 1991.
State patronage, gender, and de-democratisation
The pushback against gender equality is not limited to sexuality or the policing of women’s bodies. Populist right-wing political parties have framed women’s economic empowerment in ways that promote the traditional role of women as carers and nurturers, in line with conservative cultural traditions.
Populist right-wingers frame women’s economic empowerment in ways that promote their traditional role as carers and nurturers
In India, the Modi government rolled out various development schemes targeting women. These included free stoves and natural gas cylinders for women, and maternity benefit schemes. Of course, these succeeded in attracting the female vote – but they also helped tie women to their traditional social roles. India heads to the polls in April and May. Election fever is intensifying. At the same time, the BJP’s paternalistic empowerment rhetoric is focusing increasingly on the role of women as nation builders.
In Bangladesh, women workers dominate the country’s main foreign exchange earning industry: ready-made garments. Before the elections, garment workers were engaged in negotiations demanding higher wages. When negotiations failed, police made violent clampdowns on the resulting protests. To consolidate its power in a hotly contested election, the ruling Awami League chose to back the garment factory owners, who hold a majority in parliament.
Protests, politics and repression
The introduction of cybersecurity laws and tightened regulations over NGO funding leave limited space for dissent. Activists and rights-based organisations risk fines, arrests, imprisonment, judicial and online harassment.
Nevertheless, we are still seeing a surge in women-led protests and feminist and LGBTQ+ activism. Protesters are using innovative strategies that disrupt everyday order. These include roadblocks, sit-ins, and theatre performance, graffiti, poetry, and songs to reclaim notions of citizenship and national belonging. The Aurat March is a feminist collective that organises annual International Women’s Day rallies to protest misogyny in Pakistan. Last year, it captured the imagination of a new generation to dream of a more equitable society.
In 2019–2020, Indians rose up against proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act that would offer an accelerated path to citizenship for non-Muslims. The Shaheen Bagh protests, led by Muslim women, saw diverse groups coming together to reclaim the notion of a secular India. Anti-rape protests in Bangladesh led by young feminist groups drew attention to archaic laws, and demanded safety for all types of bodies and genders. These are only a few examples. Yet despite their effort to reclaim public spaces, activists had no sustainable effect on countering state power.
These protests are vital spaces in which citizens can begin to imagine different kinds of polity, and to cherish ideals of democracy. They also help to re-examine intersectional fault lines within protest movements, and find new forms of solidarity.
This article was first published on ECPR’s political science blog site, The Loop.
Understanding gender backlash through Southern perspectives
Global progress on gender justice is under threat. We are living in an age where major political and social shifts are resulting in new forces that are visibly pushing back to reverse the many gains made for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and to shrink civic space.
The focus of this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) calls for ‘accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls…’. This ‘acceleration’ would be welcome indeed. We are not so much worried about slow progress but rather by the regress in a tidal wave of patriarchal – or gender – backlash, with major rollbacks of earlier advances for women’s equality and rights, as well as by a plethora of attacks on feminist, social justice and LGBTQ+ activists, civic space and vulnerable groups of many stripes.
The Countering Backlash programme explores this backlash against rights in a timely and important IDS Bulletin titled ‘Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives’. In it, we ask ‘how can we better understand the contemporary swell of anti-feminist (or patriarchal) backlash across diverse settings?’. We present a range of perspectives and emerging evidence from our programme partners from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
Here’s what you can find in our special issue of the IDS Bulletin.
Why we need to understand gender backlash
‘Anti-gender backlash’, at its simplest, it refers to strong negative reactions against gender justice and those seeking it. Two widely known contemporary examples, from different contexts, are Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill (passed in 2023), and the United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs Wade (which gave women the constitutional right to abortion) in 2022.
The term ‘backlash’ was first used in Susan Faludi’s (1991) analysis of the pushback against feminist ideas in 1980s in the United States, and historically, understandings of anti-gender backlash have been predominantly based on experiences and theorising about developments in the global north. More recent scholarship has afforded insights on and from Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Much explanatory work to date, if it does not implicitly generalise from global north experience, often fails to adequately engage with the ways these locally specific phenomena operate transnationally, including across the global south, and with its complex imbrication in a broader dismantling of democracy.
New ways of analysing gender backlash
The Issue presents new ways of analysing backlash relevant to diverse development contexts, grounded examples, and evidence of anti-gender dynamics. It aims to push this topic out of the ‘gender corner’ to connect it to contemporary shifts in relationships between faith, identity and state, governance, and the broader politics of democracy and economics, as seen from across the global south.
The articles in this special issue are grouped into three themes: one, on ‘voice and tactics’, including whose voices are being heard, and what tactics are being used?; two, on ‘framings and direction’, including how are ideologies spread, and how can we understand attitudes to change? and; three, on ‘temporality and structure’, including what is ‘back’ about backlash? What and who drives it, and how is it imbricated in broader trends and crises? Additionally, most articles proffer some thoughts and recommendations on the implications for directions to counter backlash, whether specifically for feminist movements, for other gender and social justice defenders, or for researchers and students.
Southern Perspectives
This Issue fundamentally challenges simple and reductive understandings of gender backlash. Diverse examples of politicised backlash are ‘mapped’ across geographies and viewpoints. This can help to build a more granular and multi-perspectival understanding of backlash, of its more subtle processes of co-optation and division, its connected across borders, regions, and continents, and the contextual and different strategies of resistance.
Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives
The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, and the 10th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are fast approaching. And with global progress on gender justice on the rise around the world, we must find ways to combat gender backlash now.
The Countering Backlash programme has produced timely research and analysis on gender backlash, presenting a range of perspectives and emerging evidence on backlash against gender justice and equality, as such phenomena manifest locally, nationally, and internationally.
‘Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives’ is our iteration of the IDS Bulletin, including contributions, insights, expert knowledge from a range of actors in diverse locations across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Lebanon and the UK – and all part of the Countering Backlash programme.
The IDS Bulletin addresses the urgent question of how we can better understand the recent swell of anti-gender backlash across different regions, exploring different types of actors, interests, narratives, and tactics for backlash in different places, policy areas, and processes.
The IDS Bulletin will be launched by a hybrid event on 07 March 2024, ahead of the programme’s attendance at UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2024.
Articles
Jerker Edström; Jennifer Edwards; Chloe Skinner; Tessa Lewin; Sohela Nazneen
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Sohela Nazneen
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Cecília Sardenberg; Teresa Sacchet; Maíra Kubík Mano; Luire Campelo; Camila Daltro; Talita Melgaço Fernandes; Heloisa Bandeira;
Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies of the Federal University of Bahia (NEIM)
Maheen Sultan; Pragyna Mahpara
BRAC BIGD
Adeepto Intisar Ahmed; Ishrat Jahan; Israr Hasan; Sabina Faiz Rashid; Sharin Shajahan Naomi
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health
Jerker Edström
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Abhijit Das; Jashodhara Dasgupta; Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay; Sana Contractor; Satish Kumar Singh
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ)
Shraddha Chigateri; Sudarsana Kundu
Gender at Work Consulting – India
Phil Erick Otieno; Alfred Makabira
Advocates for Social Change Kenya (ADSOCK)
Amon A. Mwiine; Josephine Ahikire
Centre for Basic Research
Tessa Lewin
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Nay El Rahi; Fatima Antar
Arab Institute for Women (AIW)
Jerker Edström, Jenny Edwards, Tessa Lewin, Rosie McGee, Sohela Nazneen, Chloe Skinner
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Event: Sustaining and expanding south-south-north partnerships and knowledge co-construction on global backlash to reclaim gender justice
We are living in a time of global unrest and division stoked by increasing polarisation in politics, authoritarianism and backlash on gender equality, inclusion and social justice.
This event, during the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2024, explored how effective south-south-north partnerships can develop better and more nuanced understandings of gender backlash, to inform strategies for defending gender justice.
Based on research from the Countering Backlash programme, this event was a discussion between researchers, civil society activists, with bi- and multi-lateral development agencies. It provided insights from research and policy spaces on how we can work together more effectively to reclaim gender justice.
Starting in a panel format, speakers were asked to reflect on key insights from partnering in research on backlash, in activism and in international policy spheres. The co-chairs facilitated a dialogue between panellists and then opened up the discussion with the audience.
This event was hosted by the Lebanese American University, and co-sponsored by the Government of Sweden.
When
- 13 March 2024
- 12:00-14:00 EST // 16:00 – 18:00 UK Time
Where
- In person – Lebanese American University, New York
- Online – WebEx
Speakers
- Nay El Rahi, Activist and Researcher, Arab Institute for Women, Lebanese American University
- Phil Otieno, Executive Director, Advocates for Social Change Kenya (ADSOCK)
- Tessa Lewin, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
- Jerker Edström, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
- Ida Petterson, SIDA – Sweden
- Karen Burbach, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands
- Constanza Tabbush, Research Specialist, UN Women
Co-chairs
- Myriam Sfeir – Arab Institute for Women, Lebanese American University
- Sohela Nazneen – Institute of Development Studies
Event: How is backlash weakening institutional contexts for gender justice globally?
Gender backlash is continually gaining momentum across the globe, and social and political institutions and policies are being dismantled. Gender justice activists and women’s rights organisations are having to mobilise quickly to counter these attacks.
With speakers from Bangladesh, Uganda, Lebanon, Serbia and India, in this official NGO CSW68 event we asked, ‘how is gender backlash weakening institutional contexts for gender justice globally?’ Speakers discussed: stalling and lack of implementation of the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act (2010) in Bangladesh; the infiltration of conservative religious and political actors in democratic institutions in the context of Serbia and neighbouring countries; anti-feminist backlash as institutional by default in Lebanon; and the legislative weakening of institutional contexts in Uganda, examining Acts which exert control over Civil Society Organisations.
When
- 11 March 2024
Speakers
- Pragyna Mahpara, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD)
- Sandra Aceng, Executive Director, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
- Nay El Rahi, Activist and Researcher, Arab Institute for Women (AIW)
- Nađa Bobičić, Researcher, Center for Women’s Studies Belgrade (CWS)
- Santosh Kumar Giri, Director, Kolkata Rista
-
Jerker Edström, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Chair
- Chloe Skinner, Research Fellow, IDS
Partner Event: BRAC JPGSPH and BIGD hosts Stakeholder Roundtable on Online Anti-Feminist Backlash
Countering Backlash partner BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH) held a roundtable discussion on ‘Anti-feminist Backlash in Online Spaces and Creating Counter-Moves’ in collaboration with BRAC Institue of Governance and Development (BIGD) in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 28th November, 2023.
The roundtable was moderated by Nazia Zebin who is the Executive Director of Oboyob, a community-based organisation tackling gender justice for sexual minorities. The event featured research presentations by Raiyaan Mahbub and Israr Hasan from BRAC JPGSPH and Iffat Jahan Antara from BIGD which set the context for the discussion. The discussions focused on the current challenges of navigating gender justice agendas in the face of rising organised backlash and the delegitimisation of feminism in the consciousness of the mass populace on social media platforms.
Critical insights were shared by experts and lawyers working on issues of digital safety and justice, seasoned NGO personnel, activists, and young movement organisers who are at the forefront of experiencing online backlash as they work on ensuring democratise, safe and gender-friendly digital environments.
Online violence against women is real violence
The campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence this year encourages citizens to share the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women. But what is being done about the online misogyny and violence encountered by gender justice activists, individuals, and organisations fighting for women’s rights and creating awareness online? Do our laws, the state, and its citizens consider an action to be gender-based violence only when it results in physical harm, rape, sexual assault, murder, or something severe?
Every day, women of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds become victims of online harassment and abuse in the form of trolling, bullying, hacking, cyber pornography, etc. Although there is no nationally representative data on victims of online gender-based violence, according to Police Cyber Support for Women, 8,715 women reported being subjected to hacking, impersonation, and online sexual harassment from January to November 2022.
Read the full op-ed by Countering Backlash partner BRAC BIGD on ‘The Daily Star’ website.
বাংলাদেশের পারিবারিক সহিংসতা আইন বাস্তবায়নে নেতিবাচক প্রতিক্রিয়া (ব্যাকল্যাশ) প্রতিরোধ
নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন আইন এবং পারিবারিক সহিংসতা (প্রতিরোধ ও সুরক্ষা) আইন ২০১০- এর মতো আইন থাকা সত্ত্বেও বাংলাদেশে পারিবারিক সহিংসতার হার অনেক বেশি। বাংলাদেশ পরিসংখ্যান ব্যুরোর তথ্য অনুযায়ী, প্রতি পাঁচজন নারীর মধ্যে প্রায় তিনজন (৫৭.৭%) তাদের জীবদ্দশায় কোনো না কোনো ধরনের শারীরিক, যৌন বা মানসিক সহিংসতার শিকার হয়েছেন। […]
Countering Backlash in the Implementation of Bangladesh’s Domestic Violence Act
Domestic violence rates are high in Bangladesh in spite of laws such as the Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Domon Ain and the DVPPA 2010. According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, almost three in every five women (57.7%) have experienced some form of physical, sexual, or emotional violence in their lifetime. […]
Event: Counting the cost: funding flows, gender backlash and counter backlash
Major political and social shifts are stifling the possibility of gender justice across the world. Analysing this backlash as operating on global, regional and local scales in this webinar, we ask, where is the money?
While predominant anti-gender backlash movements and actors appear well financed, those countering backlash face significant financial challenges, heightened in the context of rising authoritarianism and shrinking civic space.
In this event, we were joined by leading experts and partners from Countering Backlash and beyond. Isabel Marler from the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) presented a mapping of sources of funding for anti-rights actors, and interrogate what is effective in countering anti-rights trends, while Lisa VeneKlasen (Independent Strategist, Founder and Former Executive Director of JASS), explored ‘where is philanthropy on anti-gender backlash’? Turning to national restrictions, Sudarsana Kundu and Arundhati Sridhar from our partner organisation Gender at Work Consulting – India focused on the impacts of funding laws for women’s rights organising in India.
When
- 12 December 2023
- 13:00 – 14:30 UK time
Speakers
- Lisa VeneKlassen, Independent Strategist, Founder and Former Executive Director of JASS (Just Associates)
- Isabel Marler, Lead, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice, Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
- Sudarsana Kundu, Executive Director, Gender at Work Consulting – India
- Arundhati Sridhar, Gender at Work Consulting – India
Discussant
- Rosie McGee, Research Fellow, IDS
Chair
- Chloe Skinner, Research Fellow, IDS
Watch the recording
Partner event: BIGD discuss the implementation of Bangladesh’s Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act
Countering Backlash partner BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) hosted an engaging and important workshop with representatives of the Bangladesh Government and advocates. The workshop was hosted by BIGD in partnership with the Citizen’s Initiative against Domestic Violence (CIDV) at the BIGD offices in Dhaka’s Azimur Rahman Conference Hall.
The session discussed the implementation of the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act (DVPPA) 2010, and shared key findings and recommendations from BIGD’s Countering Backlash policy brief ‘Backlash in Action? Or Inaction? Stalled Implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 in Bangladesh‘. Despite being approved in 2010, the Act remains underutilized and commitment to its implementation has been low, often treating domestic violence as a family matter. There is an immediate need for changed norms and attitudes among those who are implementing the Act, along with better victim support, procedural revisions for effective implementation of the DVPPA.
The session featured a presentation by Maheen Sultan, Senior Research Fellow, and Pragyna Mahpara, Senior Research Associate, both from BIGD. Expert insights were provided by Dr Shahnaz Huda, Professor of Law at the University of Dhaka.
The event offered crucial insights and perspectives, emphasizing the ongoing effort to combat domestic violence and create a safer environment for all.
Reversing Domestic Workers’ Rights: Stories of Backlash and Resilience in Delhi
‘Reversing Domestic Workers’ Rights: Stories of Backlash and Resilience in Delhi’ is a timely and important new ‘storybook’ produced by Gender at Work Consulting – India. It shares 12 stories from domestic workers living in Delhi NCR, and the often-tragic tales of their lives. […]
Women domestic workers in India are demanding respect. Here’s Sundari’s story
Women domestic workers have been severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In India, Countering Backlash partner Gender at Work Consulting – India have been collaborating with domestic workers in Delhi and compiling their stories into a storybook, launching on 24 July 2023.
India’s women domestic workers are demanding justice. Anita Kapoor, co-founder of the Shahri Mahila Kaamgar Union (SMKU – Urban Women Worker’s Union), argues that ‘it is important for domestic workers to speak together about what happened during the Covid-19 pandemic and about the issues that we continue to face to this day.’ Here is Sundari’s* story, prepared by Chaitali Haldar, an independent researcher and trainer, with the support of SMKU.
A life of struggles in the city
Sundari was 20 when devastating floods forced her and her family to seek a fresh start in Delhi. Their financial situation was proving difficult with only her husband’s earnings, so Sundari took a few cleaning jobs. None of the work arrangements were long-term, so she was stuck in a cycle of losing jobs and searching for new ones. For women, especially those who are migrants and from a ‘lower’ caste, finding well-paid, long-term employment is difficult.
The slum in which Sundari and her family lived was demolished due to the Delhi’s so-called ‘beautification’ plans, and their lives were disrupted again. Sundari’s children were forced to leave their school as it was now too far away, and she was struggling to find new schools for them as they did not have the necessary documents. She also had to search for a new job again, now with the added challenge of being in an unfamiliar part of the city. Sundari’s sense of stability was shattered.
Sundari continued her daily struggle to provide for her family and managed, after much searching, to secure a job as a cook in a household. However, the employment did not last long as Sundari injured her leg as was let go of. Although India’s Employment State Insurance (ESI) scheme was extended in 2016 to include domestic workers, their eligibility for medical benefits is limited. Accessing these benefits under the scheme remains challenging for domestic workers.
Challenges faced due to Covid-19
At the age of 56, Sundari, as with most women in India, faced an unprecedented challenge in the form of Covid-19. Reports show that only 19% of women remained employed during the first lockdowns in 2020. During this time, it was near impossible for domestic workers to find employment. Any attempt Sundari made to secure employment was rejected, either due to her age or because she did not yet have the Covid-19 vaccine. On top of this, Sundari’s struggles were worsened by her husband’s declining health. Just before the start of the pandemic, Sundari’s son was helping her, and her husband, complete the government’s pension scheme forms. This would have enabled them to access monthly financial support from the state. However, he became addicted to alcohol and was not able to submit the forms before the first lockdown was imposed and it became impossible to submit them. This continuous cycle of financial crisis left Sundari and her family in a state of perpetual uncertainty.
It was after the lockdowns were imposed that Sundari began associating with the SMKU. They provided Sundari and her family with ration supplies and cooked meals, which was vital for them at this time.
Sundari’s struggles continue
In 2022, Sundari was able to find and secure employment at a private school in Badarpur, southeastern Delhi, but she was not happy there. The school’s principal bickered continuously with Sundari and imposed numerous constraints on her, limiting her work. At the start, she often contemplated resigning but felt that she could not, due to her financial situation. Sundari was constantly reminded that if she were to abandon her employment, they would struggle to afford her husband’s much-needed medication, so she persevered.
However, over time, Sundari lost her job at the private school. At the same time, her husband’s health deteriorated significantly, requiring him to undergo treatment at hospital. Sundari spent many hours by her husband’s side, while the medical bills piled up. It was becoming difficult to manage the hospital fees and food expenses for Sundari and her husband.
From the devastating floods in her village, to the wave of displacement in the city, the challenges in Sundari’s life felt relentless. She felt stuck in a web of challenges, each one more daunting than the last.
While for many individuals a sense of normalcy has returned post the pandemic, the circumstances for women domestic workers remain exceptionally precarious. Many of them are having to rebuild their lives, intensifying their vulnerability and marginalisation.
*Name changed to protect the person’s identity
This story was originally written in Hindi (translation provided by Sudarsana Kundu and Shraddha Chigateri from Countering Backlash partner organisation Gender at Work Consulting – India).
