women’s roles
Lepcha Women Gain Confidence
In many conferences, women constitute a token presence, the modest voices at tables and lecterns dominated by men, argued a South Asian lady. International Rivers, an NGO that advocates for the human and natural communities affected by harmful dams, sought to modify that dynamic by organizing the first-ever Women and Rivers Congress in Nepal at […]
Women Foster Changes in a Zapotec Village
The well-known Zapotec rug weaver Pastora Gutierrez Reyes made the news again last week, this time in a New York Times feature. Ms. Gutierrez, a leader for women’s rights in the town of Teotitlán del Valle, in Mexico’s Oaxaca State, was described in Lynn Stephen’s book Zapotec Women (2005) and more recently in a Truthout […]
Looms of Ladakh Cooperative Formed
The Pashmina wool sheared from goats in the high plateau region of Southeastern Ladakh has, for centuries, been shipped out to Kashmir, where artisans have fashioned luxurious cashmere sweaters and shawls. Almost all of the profits from this trade have been in the hands of the shippers, merchants, and weavers—everyone other than the Ladakhi themselves. […]
Thai Women Protesters
A feature in Geographical magazine on January 2 analyzed the reasons for Rural Thai women taking increasingly important roles in environmental protest movements in their country. Their activism is having an impact on thwarting some developments, but at a considerable personal cost, the article explains. The lengthy article goes into detail about the roles that […]
Discrimination against Ladakhi Women
Anzara Anjum Khan wrote a piece for an Indian daily newspaper last week in which she emphasized that the situation for women in Ladakh is worse than she had thought. Ladakhi women are widely discriminated against, she found: they are often not given a share of their father’s or their husband’s properties. Furthermore, they are […]
A Massive Earthquake and the Women Take Charge
The massive earthquake that rocked southern Mexico shortly before midnight two weeks ago damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings and killed scores of people in the Zapotec city of Juchitán de Zaragoza. The magnitude 8.1 or 8.2 quake was located about 150 miles southeast of the city in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, off the coast […]
Ladakhi Women Help their Communities
The Ama Tsogspa, the Ladakhi term for groups of local women, have been tackling such community problems as the ever-increasing trash in some towns and helping to solve them. A news story in the Indian publication Business Standard last week translated “Ama Tsogspa” as “Mothers’ Alliances.” The report on the Ama Tsogspa opened with the […]
Marriages of Nubian Women
While some Nubian women are leaving their families and villages for education and jobs, many remain and continue to follow the old customs—and to marry Nubian men. A feature in the Middle Eastern news and analysis website Al-Monitor last week explored with some Nubian women the options for marriages today. The journalist pointed out that […]
Women Help Resolve Political Conflicts in Rural Thailand [journal article review]
The intensity of local political elections in Rural Thailand can place immense stresses on Thai women, who have to maintain harmony within and between communities. In contrast to other authors, who see local Thai politics as primarily a male preserve, Katherine Bowie recognizes, in a recent journal article, the important role that women play as […]
Gender Relations in Hutterite Colonies: Who Really Rules the Roost? [book review]
Hanna Kienzler’s new book about Hutterite women offers a treasure trove of information about their contributions to the stability and longevity of their society. Her work is interesting to read and it makes many interesting contributions to Hutterite scholarship. Two basic questions form the backbone of the work: (1) at the individual, community, and national […]
