October 2020

Survey of 500 Women Finds 10% Had Been Sexually Assaulted in Higher Ed. Institutions

The lack of safety for women in India’s streets flows into its campuses, which fail to be the inclusive and safe spaces they aspire to be, not just for students but also for teachers and staff members.

To address these issues, universities and educational institutions had introduced the Committee Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) or Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) in accordance with Article 21 of the constitution and the law on sexual harassment at the workplace. The primary function of such a committee is to look into cases of sexual harassment, and promote gender sensitivity. The ambit of this committee ideally extends to all students, faculty and staff, residents of, and visitors to, the university.

The frequency of sexual harassment cases makes it imperative to study and discuss this issue at length. An increase in higher education enrolment of females is not an end in itself. Hostile campus environments might compel women to either discontinue their education or remain silent about their experiences.

It is unfortunate that such instances are highlighted only when survivors come out in the open with their experiences.

What the numbers say

In this light, we conducted a survey using Google forms among current and former female students of higher educational institutions across India in order to understand the prevalence of sexual harassment in colleges and universities.

Our study showed that 57 of the 567 respondents have been sexually assaulted by at least one person from their institutions. Further analysis will be restricted to these 57 current and former female students.

Out of these 57 respondents, 87.71% were assaulted by students of the same institutions; 12.28% were assaulted by a faculty member and 10.52% were assaulted by a staff member. Six of the 57 students were assaulted by multiple assaulters.

The survey reflects the fact that the existing power hierarchy of males over females does not fade away in an environment of education.

The most significant result of our survey is the finding that none of the survivors lodged an FIR with the police against the assaults.

Additionally, only about 15.7% of the students filed an official complaint with any relevant committee in the institutions. These include CASH, ICC and the like.

However, only three respondents decided to approach the committee to lodge a complaint. Thus, we see that very few survivors decide to go through the official procedure of lodging a complaint against their perpetrators. This essentially points to the failure of the committees to ensure an environment where female students are encouraged to speak up against their perpetrators without the fear of any kind of backlash.

Further, we have also looked into the reasons for official complaints not being lodged. As many as 56.14% of these students feared character assassination; 36.84% feared backlash from their institutions; and 33.33% reported that there was no relevant committee to lodge a complaint.

This points to the systematic failure of society and institutions and the endurance of the culture of victim blaming. The women’s fear of backlash from institutions can be appreciated keeping in view the power hierarchy in institutions, which is skewed particularly against female students. Raising voices against members of faculty comes with the threat of academic careers being jeopardised. This threat is intensified for students who come from families and communities where women’s and girls’ education is not encouraged.    

From our survey, we see that one in ten female respondents have been sexually assaulted by at least one person from their institutions.

However, only three respondents decided to approach the committee to lodge a complaint. Thus, we see that very few survivors decide to go through the official procedure of lodging a complaint against their perpetrators. This essentially points to the failure of the committees to ensure an environment where female students are encouraged to speak up against their perpetrators without the fear of any kind of backlash.

Why are complaints not being lodged?

Further, we have also looked into the reasons for official complaints not being lodged. As many as 56.14% of these students feared character assassination; 36.84% feared backlash from their institutions; and 33.33% reported that there was no relevant committee to lodge a complaint.

This points to the systematic failure of society and institutions and the endurance of the culture of victim blaming. The women’s fear of backlash from institutions can be appreciated keeping in view the power hierarchy in institutions, which is skewed particularly against female students. Raising voices against members of faculty comes with the threat of academic careers being jeopardised. This threat is intensified for students who come from families and communities where women’s and girls’ education is not encouraged.    

From our survey, we see that one in ten female respondents have been sexually assaulted by at least one person from their institutions.

In the #MeToo movement, we have seen instances where women in institutions of learning have taken to social media platforms to call out their perpetrators.  These have led us to question the safety of women in campuses of higher educational institutions in India. The firm stand that students have taken against cases of assault in Banaras Hindu University, Jadavpur University and Jawaharlal Nehru University reflect the potential that student solidarity has in challenging this system.

We would like to thank all the women who responded to this questionnaire in spite of certain questions being extremely sensitive. We humbly wish to dedicate any work associated with this questionnaire to them.

Satyaki Dasgupta is a graduate student at Colorado State University, Colorado. Annesha Mukherjee is an MPhil Research scholar at the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala.

By : Satyaki Dasgupta And Annesha Mukherjee

Date : October 5, 2020

Source :   https://science.thewire.in/education/survey-sexual-assault-higher-education-institution-icc/

In Japan’s Post-Abe Era, Addressing Political Gender Inequality is Essential

When Suga Yoshihide was announced to the world as Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s successor, nobody was surprised. The chief cabinet secretary had been the strong favorite to prevail over fellow Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) stalwarts Ishiba Shigeru and Kishida Fumio. It was noticeable though, if not particularly shocking, that no female politician seem to have been considered a serious contender.

And when Suga unveiled his new cabinet on Wednesday, only two of the 20 minister posts were held by women, a step back from the (still dismal) three of 20 rate in the previous cabinet.

Back in 2016 there appeared to be an encouraging number of women working in the upper reaches of government, with Inada Tomomi appointed minister of defense, Koike Yuriko elected governor of Tokyo and Noda Seiko (recently tapped by Suga as the LDP’s deputy secretary general) proving to be a rising star. Yet the reluctance of LDP party factions to consider these women when the top job became available is reflective of a political system severely lacking in female representation at all levels.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s online database for 2020, just 9.9 percent of Japan’s House of Representatives are women, around the same level as much less developed nations like eSwatini and The Gambia. This leaves Japan languishing in 166th place out of the 194 nations on their list. In East and Southeast Asia, only Brunei, a highly conservative absolute monarchy, performs worse than Japan.

Over the last 10 years, neighboring countries have seen numbers of female members of parliament rise while Japan has actually regressed from a high of 11.3 percent a decade ago. South Korea has improved from 14.7 percent in 2010 to 19 percent in 2020; China from 21.3 percent to 24.9 percent over the same period; and Taiwan from 30.1 percent in 2008 to 42 percent in 2020.

In assessing this dilemma, explanations tend to revolve around Japan’s conservative, traditional culture. Some argue that the role of Confucianism as the philosophical and moral bedrock of contemporary Japanese society has helped consolidate an expectation that women should look after the home and raise the family. In a 2019 interview with CNBC, Inada lamented the fact that “there’s still a mentality that politicians should be male.” Accordingly, many Japanese women either do not feel comfortable pursuing an ambitious career or simply do not have the time to do so while also raising a family, leaving men to dominate the realm of politics.

As a result, women entering politics can face a barrage of mistreatment ranging from misogynistic expectations of how they dress and interact with constituents, to outright sexual harassment. Additionally, male politicians have formed cliques, which they then rely upon whenever the secretive candidate selection procedures of Japanese political parties begin. Female politicians have always been too few in number to form factions of their own and unable to convince their elderly, traditionalist colleagues to support them over male counterparts, a predicament which apparently put a quick end to Inada’s recent bid for the premiership.

Evidently there are strong socio-cultural obstacles to addressing this gender imbalance, but it is important to remember that every country and continent in the world has a legacy of patriarchal governance systems, not least of all Japan’s culturally similar neighbors. Confucianism reached Japan after spreading throughout East Asia and firmly influenced the way of life in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. The difference between these countries and Japan is that, in spite of this, all three have managed to consistently increase numbers of female politicians. They have done so by introducing legally binding gender quota laws.

Gender quota laws generally ensure that a fixed number of seats are reserved for women, or that a specific number of female candidates are nominated by parties, aiming to create at least a critical minority of 30 to 40 percent of the government. With greater numbers, women will be able to balance the cronyism of male counterparts with factions of their own on key votes and debates and hopefully be enough of a presence to see intimidating, misogynistic mistreatment become less accepted. As the percentage of female parliamentarians grows over time, the concept will become normalized, establishing role models for the next generation and the traditional cultural expectations of a woman’s role in society will begin to feel antiquated.

Gender Equality Progress in Vibrant Democracies

So why has Japan not gone down this path already? The answer lies in the dangers of a stagnant political scene. In South Korea, the heated democratization process of the 1980s saw populist politicians reach out to the female electorate. This contributed to the ratification of the Women’s Development Act in 1995 with the goal of promoting “gender equality in all areas of politics, economy, society and culture.” By the late ‘90s the issue had become a crucial electoral topic, with all the major parties promising to allocate at least 30 percent of their seats to women before the 1998 local elections. The South Korean government introduced a quota for all parties in 2000, with stronger enforcement procedures following in 2002 and 2004.

A similar story developed in Taiwan, where martial law was halted in 1987 and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) sought success by holding the ruling Kuomintang’s (KMT’s) feet to the fire on a variety of societal injustices, including this one. Although Taiwan has actually had gender quotas since the 1950s, it wasn’t until 1996, when the DPP adopted a 25 percent gender rule for its candidates, that women began to carve out a larger role in politics. The DPP’s narrow victory in the 2000 election meant the KMT was forced to adapt too, bringing in their own quota for parliamentary elections later that year. Then, in 2005, Chen Shui-bian’s administration oversaw a constitutional amendment requiring women to make up at least 50 percent of each party’s list (although this equated to only 15 percent of parliament).

It is no coincidence, then, that promises to focus on female empowerment have also coincided with fleeting periods of political competitiveness in Japan. In the run up to the 2003 election, one of the most hotly contested in Japanese history, the LDP announced its long-term aim of increasing women in leadership roles to 30 percent by 2020. When a transition of power finally occurred in 2009, it was followed two years later with moves by Naoto Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan government to bring in a gender quota. This goal was never realized due to the LDP’s resounding win in 2012, but it is telling that Abe focused on female workforce involvement as an essential pillar of his journey toward that victory.

Stagnant Politics But Hope for the Future

Unfortunately, these examples are rare. The LDP has been in power for all but four years since 1955 and has comfortably won the last three elections. The result is a leadership that can take voters for granted and sees ambitious, progressive policies as an unnecessary risk. The departing prime minister has shown that, while he pays lip service to the importance of “Womenomics,” he simply does not take gender equality seriously enough.

In October 2018 Abe appointed only one woman to his reshuffled cabinet, unashamedly commenting that Katayama Satsuki had “the presence of two or three women.” When legislation promoting women in politics was finally pushed through it was non-binding, thus having almost no impact. Earlier this year the government delayed its 30 percent female leadership goal until 2030. The LDP appear to enjoy the positive press they receive from making bold promises on this issue but rarely feel enough electoral pressure to follow through with decisive action.

The recent change in leadership, however, could be an opportunity. After Abe’s record-breaking period in power, Suga will be charged with taking Japan into a new, unfamiliar era. While a snap election will help him to capitalize on his predecessor’s popularity for now, in the long term the LDP will need fresh ideas and will have to appeal to a broader section of society.

On a personal level, a brave new position on the gender quota issue would be a smart way for Suga to win over female voters unhappy with his controversial comments on childbirth back in 2015. Conversely, any opposition parties hoping to challenge the current government as it transitions to new leadership would do well to harness the dissatisfaction Japanese women feel at the LDP’s failure to move the needle on gender equality.

Why Fairer Gender Representation Matters

Unsurprisingly, a bill to improve female representation in parliament would likely be extremely popular with Japanese women because studies show that such an increase corresponds with greater progress on women’s issues. Perhaps the most pressing of those issues at present is the lack of effective workplace anti-sexual harassment legislation, with Japan being one of the few OECD countries yet to impose this type of law.

A breakthrough also needs to be made with regards to the gender pay gap, another area where Japan worryingly underperforms relative to other developed nations, ranking 110th out of 149 countries in 2018. Additionally, the campaign to allow women to keep their surname after marriage has been gathering steam too.

Considering that women constitute over 50 percent of the population, addressing the institutionalized prejudices they face should be a priority for any government, in and of itself. Given what we know about the LDP, however, they probably require some extra persuading, and the economic benefits of greater female participation might appeal to the party’s traditional raison d’être.

Research indicates that female politicians are generally tougher on tackling corruption and have a better track record in overseeing the completion of major infrastructure projects. In addition, they show significantly more investment in solving the aforementioned issues of workplace harassment and pay inequality and generally contribute to creating better public childcare options for busy parents. In turn, these advancements allow more women to enter the workforce and contribute to the economy, which could boost Japan’s GDP to the tune of $550 billion. As the country faces up to the financial devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, such an obvious economic stimulus should be hard to ignore.

From a wider societal perspective, female politicians have proven to be more collaborative when in power and better at reaching out to the opposition to form a consensus, while they also seem to pay more attention to improving health care systems. Noda has even speculated that if parliament consisted of more women, Japan’s infamously low birth rate could be better dealt with, since policies aimed at improving salaries and working conditions for women would reduce the anxiety and stress of bringing up children.

Gender quotas are not an ideal solution. Female politicians in Taiwan still have to contend with patriarchal factionalism, harassment, and old-fashioned media coverage. There are also concerns that such laws are undemocratic and that qualified candidates are sometimes cast aside due to their gender. Yet a quota system at least provides a starting block for female politicians to fight back against discrimination and, although there is a degree of legitimacy to accusations that it is unfair, the currently employed alternative is considerably more so.

As it stands, women are kept out of the political system, which, through outdated societal conventions and intimidating, impenetrable cronyism, has been deliberately stacked against them to the detriment of their own and the national interest. The lack of headway in Japan in women’s political participation over the last decade, especially when compared with culturally similar neighbors, clearly indicates that progress will not materialize without a helping hand.

Once the quota legislation has served its purpose by creating a critical minority and an accompanying change in cultural norms, it can always be dispensed with. Before then, though, such a law would benefit Japan’s economy, society, healthcare system and the lives of the 51 percent of the country currently represented by just 10 percent of parliamentarians. We must hope the post Abe era brings the type of political competitiveness necessary for sufficient action to be taken.

Nick Stores received his Master’s degree in international relations at Leeds University. He writers about political issues in East Asia.

By                    :           Nick Stores

Date                 :           September 17, 2020

Source             :           The Diplomat

https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/in-japans-post-abe-era-addressing-political-gender-inequality-is-essential/

Women’s ideology affects gender discrimination views

Research shows a woman’s political ideology affects her views of sexism

Women who have experienced gender discrimination report higher levels of political participation and are more likely to vote in the general election. This connection, however, is not consistent across women’s ideological spectrum, according to recent research by the University of Georgia.

Women who describe themselves as liberal channel their efforts to combat sexism in different ways than their conservative counterparts.

Writing in the journal American Politics Research, Alexa Bankert, assistant professor of political science at UGA, found that liberal women – when experiencing discrimination –  turn toward direct political action like volunteering for a campaign, while conservative women do not show a similar increase in their political engagement. In her article, Bankert suggests that conservative women might look for other, less overtly political, support systems such as religious communities.

Much higher rates

Key to the findings are differences between what liberal and conservative women categorize as sexual harassment. Initially, Bankert said she expected to see that both liberal and conservative women report similar levels of sexism, but that was not the case. In fact, Bankert saw that liberal women reported experiencing sexism at much higher rates than conservative women.

“I further investigated that pattern,” she said. “And I show that conservative women have a much narrower understanding of sexism than their liberal counterparts.”.

In the surveys that provide the basis of Bankert’s data collection, she presented respondents with a list of 16 possible sexist behaviors such as catcalling, unwanted touching or pressure for sexual favors. Respondents were then asked to mark every behavior they thought of as sexist. For liberal women, 13 of the 16 behaviors were believed to be sexist whereas among conservative women, only half of those 16 behaviors were considered sexist.

“Our personal lives and beliefs really impact the way we interact with the world, and in this case, they impact our ideas of what fair and equal treatment of men and women really looks like.” — Alexa Bankert

Bankert found further differences between how liberal and conservative women view the origins of sexism. Among conservative women, the perception dominates that sexist behavior consists of isolated incidents while liberal women view sexism as a more systemic problem. This might explain why experienced sexism amplifies liberal women’s political engagement but there is not a similar participatory impetus among conservative women, Bankert said.

The implications of this research are far-reaching and topical. “I think this research shows that the personal and political spheres are very closely intertwined,” Bankert said. “Our personal lives and beliefs really impact the way we interact with the world, and in this case, they impact our ideas of what fair and equal treatment of men and women really looks like.”

By : Rachael Andrews

Date : October 8, 2020

Source : University of Georgia

https://news.uga.edu/womens-ideology-affects-gender-discrimination-views/

What can be done to better support women pursuing their PhDs in Africa

A Doctor of Philosophy – commonly known as a PhD – is the highest level of academic training. It allows the degree holder to teach the chosen subject at university, conduct research or practise in the specialised area.

However, in many African countries like Kenya there are gender gaps when it comes to women enrolling in, and completing, their PhD studies. This subsequently affects their recruitment into university teaching and research positions. Women make up just just 30% of the Africa’s researchers.

There are various reasons for this. For instance, a study covering several African countries found that barriers include sexual harassment, a lack of mentors – with some male faculty mentors unwilling to act as mentors for junior women – and difficulty finding a balance between career and family.

A study by the African Academy of Sciences reported similar challenges faced by women scholars in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. It found that the success of women already working in STEM was highly influenced by the work environment, the recruitment process and gender relations. More has to be done to help women overcome gender-based challenges.

To support postgraduates in further education, several initiatives offer PhD fellowships – a merit-based scholarship – in Africa.

My colleagues and I from the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) wanted to examine one of these and how it catered for women. Our case study was on the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). This is an initiative that was formed in 2008 and is jointly led by the APHRC, based in Kenya, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

We focused on CARTA for our study because it tries to build the capacity of individual PhD scholars – who focus on public and population health – using doctoral fellowships and research grants. CARTA also tries to get member universities to institutionalise good practices.

By the end of 2019, CARTA had graduated 87 of its 209 active PhD fellows. These individuals produced peer-reviewed publications and some fellows were promoted in their academic careers.

Of the active fellows, 55% are women. We found that the programme caters well for women looking to complete their doctorates. For instance, it recognises that women need special consideration when it comes to pregnancy and in the care of newborn babies, and that they may have different responsibilities when it comes to domestic chores and the care of the family.

All of these are factors could have previously prevented them from enrolling in, or completing, their PhDs. It’s important that other institutions offering fellowships replicate aspects of this model to better support Africa’s women academics.

Gender-sensitive

CARTA works with eight partner African universities and four research centres. Individuals attached to these institutions can apply for PhD fellowships that can last for up to four years. The fellowship includes participation in seminars, stipends and small grants for research activities.

One of CARTA’s gender-sensitive policies is that it uses a different cut-off age for male and female applicants, at 40 and 45 years respectively. The aim of this is to cater for women who may have been delayed starting their PhD studies until later because they had children.

PhD fellows are entitled to paid maternity and paternity leave. And fellows are granted a leave of absence during their maternity leave – their award restarts upon their return. This ensures they are not ystemati in any way and eventually enjoy the same benefits as other fellows.

The programme also supports new parents as they participate in month-long “joint advanced seminars”, training courses offered four times in the course of the PhD. CARTA pays for the cost of a childminder during the seminar, and the fellow can use this facility for as many seminars as they need.

We found that meeting these practical needs during training supported women to maintain on-time graduation rates similar to their male counterparts.

There are a few challenges though. A recent evaluation of the CARTA programme revealed that it lacked ystematization of data and learning from it.

A second challenge relates to building a stronger feedback mechanism between actors. While the CARTA programme has managed to address practical gender needs, structural barriers – like unequal pay and unfair workloads – can be addressed by working with institutions to change their gender policies in higher education.

Future benefits

Having a programme like this, which strategically addresses gender differences, has long-term benefits. Women CARTA fellows were able to gain certain strategic advantages in academia. This includes promotion to senior academic and leadership positions, winning other research grants, sustaining collaborative research and being recognised by their peers, hence providing female role models to junior scholars.

The programme is a timely initiative that ought to be replicated for greater coverage across the continent. It would take careful programming, commitment of resources in cash and kind and sustainable partnerships by African state and non-state actors with northern partners. But these could help create a more gender equal mix of successful PhD researchers and faculty on the continent.

By : Anne M. Khisa, PhD (Post- Doctoral Research Fellow,  African Population and Health Research Center)

Date : September 22, 2020

Source : The Conversation 

https://theconversation.com/what-can-be-done-to-better-support-women-pursuing-their-phds-in-africa-145718