Gender, Power and Campaigns

CALP Webinar

February 5, 2014

Shawna Wakefield

GENDER, POWER and CAMPAIGNS

Shawna WakefieldFor CALP 2015

From Oxfam national influencing guidelines

• “Addressing unequal gender and power relations is foundational to Oxfam’s theory of change and must be addressed as an organisation that puts women’ s rights at the heart of all we do.”

• “Women and girls represent the majority of poor people Oxfam is trying to reach through its work. This means that our influencing propositions, and the strategies to achieve them, must recognise and respond to the specific needs and capacities of women and girls.”

Why Gender Power Analysis?

• Gender analysis has been required in Oxfam projects, programs and campaigns, given gender is a key determinant of poverty and suffering.

• Gender power analysis now emphasized given power inequality undermines gender equality and developments goals. Part of all OCS.

• This is also required by the “Oxfam Roadmap on Putting Women’s Rights at the Heart of All We Do”

Characteristics of Power

• Women and men hold multiple roles and relationships. They have different access to and control of resources.

• Power can be economic, political, social, cultural and symbolic. People are rarely powerful in (nor powerless across) all forms.

• Power is socially constructed. • A person’s experience of power can depend on their

gender, race, class, age, etc. One’s relationship to power changes in difference contexts.

• Power is not a zero-sum game.

Adapted from Gender at Work

Community

Household

National

Global

Individual Change

Form

al

Systemic Change

Info

rma

l

Women’ s access to resources

Formal institutions, laws, practices Cultural norms,

values, practices

Women’ s and men’ s consciousness

A framework for looking at gender and power

Visible Power

Hidden Power

Invisible Power

Expressions of Power (with Gender Dimensions)

• Personal power (Power Within, Power To): The power within and power to know, pursue and achieve one’s interests.

• Cooperative power (Power With): The power with others to work together to pursue one’s collective interests.

• Controlling power (Power Over): The power over others through rules and governing processes (visible), through determining who has the right to participate in decision-making and the settings in which people interact (invisible), as well as through the power to define what is possible, reasonable or logical within a given context through shaping ideologies of kinship, capitalism, religion, science and education (hidden).

Spaces of power: closed, invited, claimed

Considerations for Gender Power Analysis

• How is power structured on given issues?• What are the gender dimensions and impacts of these

power relations?• Who most influences change or blocks it (which

individuals, groups, institutions)? How does their gender factor into their influence?

• Where and how are decisions made? Are they closed spaces to women? Which women?

• What could be pivotal moments/windows of opportunity?

• How can we address the barriers (social norms, attitudes/beliefs, legislation) to change?

Principles of Power Transformation

Transformative power…•is rights based•aims to transform gender power relations and norms based on a gendered power analysis•incorporates an understanding of how multiple identities intersect to create and sustain discrimination and violence•facilitates and supports individual and collective capacity for sustainable change•supports women’s articulation of their own political voice and agendas•supports partner organisations to identify their own needs and implement their own agenda•creates an enabling environment for women’s leadership at all levels and in all domains (family, economic, political and social).

What do you do with analysis

• Identify which key changes you want to work on to have a big influences on the desired change in lives of participants. How are these linked to women’s rights? How do they address different forms of power?

• These changes can happen on one or more of the 4 domains distinguished in the Gender at Work framework

• For each domain identify: what are success factors to realize this result?

• Oxfam with partners should be able to influence this key change (it has to be in our sphere of influence)

Lessons on Influencing on Women’s Rights and Gender Justice

• Strong alliances with WROs ensure women’s perspectives, interests and demands are reflected

• We can use our influence to convene, foster linkages between and build broad-based alliances

• Legal advances are necessary, but transformation requires change in social and cultural norms

• Engaging men and boys is necessary to build a broad constituency against gender discrimination

• We need to allocate resources to do gender power analysis and integrate in our advocacy, campaigns, and influencing strategies – and our MEAL practice.

New VAW CampaignAim:•To catalyze, with others, a critical mass of citizens and influencers in 20 countries to prevent violence against women and girls by 2019 (end of strategic plan).

Objectives:•To engage youth and their educators to promote transformation within schools, universities and other places of creation and dissemination of culture (e.g. social media) •To change attitudes and beliefs of powerful norms setters such as religious leaders, opinion-makers and other influencers as well as power holders within key institutions (Justice system)•To broker new alliances between women’s rights organizations, civil society organizations and other social institutions and when relevant strengthen their influencing capacity

Food for Thought

• Does anyone have an example of gender and power analysis? What was challenging? What worked?

• Does anything from the presentation resonate? What can you apply this to your work?

Some inspiring examples

WE Can Campaignwww.wecanendvaw.org

Female Food Heroeswww.oxfam.ca/grow/female-food-heroes

VAW and Arms Trade Treatyhttp://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/gender-based-violence-and-the-arms-trade-treaty-reflections-from-a-campaigning-305405

Raising Her Voicehttp://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/our-work/citizen-states/raising-her-voice

There is no magic bullet but..