This topic is of course incredibly important and current. Just in mid-July, HRW reported on the ongoing "Taliban War on Women" in Afghanistan. Even more recently, HRW Researcher Tanya Lokshina published a story, "Choked by Headscarves" on the growing violence against women in Chechnya, another place that has seen ongoing war and conflict.
The author, Ann Jones, was interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.
UPDATE:
What a great conversation we had on this book!
The group raised some major questions, really big important questions. What do you do when you have to do something, but nothing will be enough? What happens to local people once the cameras go away and the funded projects run out? How do you start to change conceptions of justice when there is a constant threat of violence?
One major concern was about the design of the project headed by Ann Jones. Basically, Ann came into a community (some urban, some rural) and got permission to do a photography project with some local women. Then, she came in and taught a group of local women how to use a digital camera. They were assigned the task of documenting their everyday lives, including "their problems, their consolations, and their joys". The women then met regularly to review their photographs and talk about what the photographs were about. In a kind of 'consciousness raising' format, Ann Jones and other IRC staff facilitated discussions about the problems and needs of local women. At the end of the project, the women presented their work in the form of a photography exhibit for the entire community. Each woman stood in front of those assembled and described her photograph and its meaning. In some communities, this resulted in greater empathy and understanding of how women's problems mattered to everyone. In others, the messages of women's importance and rights were less obviously grasped by community leaders and husbands. After the community participated in the photography exhibition, Ann Jones left, to conduct the same project somewhere else.
Some of us wondered what happened to the tenuous claims to authority, voice, and rights that were gained by the women who participated in the photography exhibit after Ann Jones left. To her credit, Ann clearly had thought about this question, and she reminded the women that even if the cameras broke, and they could not continue to take pictures documenting abuse and other problems, the real camera was their own eyes. She even suggested that the women continue to pretend to take photos with a broken camera, just to keep the men in line. The men didn't have to know that the cameras were broken, and just the possibility that their behavior was being documented could be enough to keep some men in line!
In a refugee camp, she left a more lasting system in place, as the women photographers gained essential training to use their cameras as forensic tools to document evidence in spousal abuse cases. In most communities, however, the project seemed to just pick up and leave- and while the women had made good progress in building confidence, rights awareness, and self-advocacy skills, it was not clear how much of a lasting change this project would or could make. It seemed to us that what most of the women were asking for was economic independence and education, not photography projects. The women felt that they would be able to deal with violence and insecurity far better if they had the ability to sustain themselves and their children, without being so dependent on men for financial and physical security. On the other hand, the women really did seem to find some benefit in the photography project, in terms of personal growth as well as female solidarity.
In light of this brief discussion, two tensions we confronted were: the necessity of community involvement and men's support in resolving women's issues, but the tenuousness of those things without the rule of law and basic economic and political security at the macro level. Some communities were still so much in the throes of war and its aftermath, that men as well as women were living in a society that was ruled by violence and impunity. The ability of women to improve their own lots in life based on solidarity and advocacy skills seems to be pretty dependent on the existence of some level of security. Men and women needed a basic level of security guaranteed by the state, and the state was failing. So how could women pursue justice in the absence of basic security? This is the old justice v order debate, very clearly illustrated.
Second, and related to the first tension, is the question of defining security with women in mind. There is a tension between what women said they wanted and needed (security in the form of economic independence) and the fact that security and independence are currently defined based on a model of men's lives, and not with women's lives in mind. Security does not just mean that the roads are patrolled by armed military men, who will discourage looters and kidnappers from attacking people going to markets and business centers. Security also means that police and others in authority cannot harass or accost women who travel alone on the road, and that police will protect women against an abusive family member. These are just two examples. Women's experiences in the economic, social and political realms will be less than equal, less than satisfactory unless their specific security concerns are taken into account. So, just pushing for any old security is clearly not the answer. Even though women really need security, it is not security that sacrifices women's rights and women's humanity that will, in the end, be helpful. Ann's photography project seemed to touch on one way for women to start defining and re-defining security and justice in a way that included the interests of the entire community- including men and women. But the magnitude of the issues are so great that readers in our group still felt dissatisfied and overwhelmed.
One thing that can be done at a micro-level is to go to Lisa Shannon's website, A Thousand Sisters, and sponsor a woman through Women for Women International, or take part in any of the other events listed there. Keeping track of what is going on in Africa, continuing to educate ourselves and passing that information on to people we know is also really important. Human Rights Watch is a great resource for that. Also, send emails on important women's issues such as the rape kit backlog and the international violence against women act to your representatives- check out HRW's action resources.
Ben Travers also interviewed Ann Jones for a PBS Wideangle episode on "Women, War & Peace"
If you would like more of a preview, you can read the entire Introduction online.
UPDATE:
What a great conversation we had on this book!
The group raised some major questions, really big important questions. What do you do when you have to do something, but nothing will be enough? What happens to local people once the cameras go away and the funded projects run out? How do you start to change conceptions of justice when there is a constant threat of violence?
One major concern was about the design of the project headed by Ann Jones. Basically, Ann came into a community (some urban, some rural) and got permission to do a photography project with some local women. Then, she came in and taught a group of local women how to use a digital camera. They were assigned the task of documenting their everyday lives, including "their problems, their consolations, and their joys". The women then met regularly to review their photographs and talk about what the photographs were about. In a kind of 'consciousness raising' format, Ann Jones and other IRC staff facilitated discussions about the problems and needs of local women. At the end of the project, the women presented their work in the form of a photography exhibit for the entire community. Each woman stood in front of those assembled and described her photograph and its meaning. In some communities, this resulted in greater empathy and understanding of how women's problems mattered to everyone. In others, the messages of women's importance and rights were less obviously grasped by community leaders and husbands. After the community participated in the photography exhibition, Ann Jones left, to conduct the same project somewhere else.
Some of us wondered what happened to the tenuous claims to authority, voice, and rights that were gained by the women who participated in the photography exhibit after Ann Jones left. To her credit, Ann clearly had thought about this question, and she reminded the women that even if the cameras broke, and they could not continue to take pictures documenting abuse and other problems, the real camera was their own eyes. She even suggested that the women continue to pretend to take photos with a broken camera, just to keep the men in line. The men didn't have to know that the cameras were broken, and just the possibility that their behavior was being documented could be enough to keep some men in line!
In a refugee camp, she left a more lasting system in place, as the women photographers gained essential training to use their cameras as forensic tools to document evidence in spousal abuse cases. In most communities, however, the project seemed to just pick up and leave- and while the women had made good progress in building confidence, rights awareness, and self-advocacy skills, it was not clear how much of a lasting change this project would or could make. It seemed to us that what most of the women were asking for was economic independence and education, not photography projects. The women felt that they would be able to deal with violence and insecurity far better if they had the ability to sustain themselves and their children, without being so dependent on men for financial and physical security. On the other hand, the women really did seem to find some benefit in the photography project, in terms of personal growth as well as female solidarity.
In light of this brief discussion, two tensions we confronted were: the necessity of community involvement and men's support in resolving women's issues, but the tenuousness of those things without the rule of law and basic economic and political security at the macro level. Some communities were still so much in the throes of war and its aftermath, that men as well as women were living in a society that was ruled by violence and impunity. The ability of women to improve their own lots in life based on solidarity and advocacy skills seems to be pretty dependent on the existence of some level of security. Men and women needed a basic level of security guaranteed by the state, and the state was failing. So how could women pursue justice in the absence of basic security? This is the old justice v order debate, very clearly illustrated.
Second, and related to the first tension, is the question of defining security with women in mind. There is a tension between what women said they wanted and needed (security in the form of economic independence) and the fact that security and independence are currently defined based on a model of men's lives, and not with women's lives in mind. Security does not just mean that the roads are patrolled by armed military men, who will discourage looters and kidnappers from attacking people going to markets and business centers. Security also means that police and others in authority cannot harass or accost women who travel alone on the road, and that police will protect women against an abusive family member. These are just two examples. Women's experiences in the economic, social and political realms will be less than equal, less than satisfactory unless their specific security concerns are taken into account. So, just pushing for any old security is clearly not the answer. Even though women really need security, it is not security that sacrifices women's rights and women's humanity that will, in the end, be helpful. Ann's photography project seemed to touch on one way for women to start defining and re-defining security and justice in a way that included the interests of the entire community- including men and women. But the magnitude of the issues are so great that readers in our group still felt dissatisfied and overwhelmed.
One thing that can be done at a micro-level is to go to Lisa Shannon's website, A Thousand Sisters, and sponsor a woman through Women for Women International, or take part in any of the other events listed there. Keeping track of what is going on in Africa, continuing to educate ourselves and passing that information on to people we know is also really important. Human Rights Watch is a great resource for that. Also, send emails on important women's issues such as the rape kit backlog and the international violence against women act to your representatives- check out HRW's action resources.
