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10.
Translation Seminar Examines Gender
The Network Women's Program and the Central European University's
(CEU) Program on Gender and Culture held a special seminar,
Gender Sensitivity in Translation in Budapest, October 17-20,
1999. Designed in conjunction with the NWP and Center for Publishing
Development's translation competition on the theme "Women at
Risk," the seminar was open to those who received grants to
translate books into local languages.
Seventeen translators from Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Hungary,
Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, and Tajikistan
participated in the seminar. Dr. Ester Shapiro (USA), a member
of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, shared her expertise
with all those working on books related to women's health. The
four-day meeting examined issues related to gender and translation
from a variety of perspectives.
Kinga Klaudy (ELTE University, Budapest) spoke about academic
training and translation at universities, presenting the program
and methodology of teaching at ELTE's Translators and Interpreters
Training Center. Using examples from the region of the former
Yugoslavia, Branka Arsic (CEU) in her lecture "Signatures of
Gender in Translation" spoke about political choices translators
have to make in order to prevent manipulation of their texts,
and Kornelia Merdjanska spoke about the various ways in which
text proves to be "gendered". Ester Shapiro spoke about Latin-American
translations/adaptations of "Our Bodies Our Selves", Jasmina
Lukic (CEU) on cultural concepts in translation and Lucy Tatman
(CEU) on the various ways in which term 'gender' is conceptualized
in English. Martina Moravcova (Prague) analyzed gendered problems
in a special case of translation of North American Indian legends
into Czech through English as a third language. Finally, participants
discussed specific problems of translating gender-related texts
and terminology from the perspective of various regional languages
(Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Hungarian, Macedonian,
Moldovan, Georgian, Tajik). The meeting concluded with a call
for producing a comparative glossary of gender related terms
in regional languages.
11.
1999 Publishing Grants Competition
In collaboration with the Center for Publishing Development,
the NWP held a grants competition for publishing houses to translate
into local languages books concerning violence against women
and women's health. Publishers in the following countries received
grants to translate books on the theme, "Women at Risk":
ALBANIA
Jeffrey Edleson and Zvi C. Eisikovit: Future Interventions
with Battered Women and Their Families
Miranda Davies: Women and Violence: Realities and Responses
Worldwide
BELARUS
Barrie Levy: Dating Violence: Young Women in Danger
BULGARIA
Boston Women's Health Book Collective: Our Bodies, Ourselves
for the New Century
Susan Brownmiller: Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape
CROATIA
Gloria Steinem: Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem
Andrea Dworkin: Letters From A War Zone
GEORGIA
Ruth Bell, et al: Changing Bodies, Changing Lives
HUNGARY
Judith Lewis Herman: Trauma and Recovery
Catherine MacKinnon: Feminism Unmodified
MACEDONIA
Hyman Wegscheider and Esther Rome with the Boston Women's Health
Book Collective: Sacrificing Ourselves for Love: Why Women
Compromise Health and Self-Esteem and How to Stop
Judith Herman: Trauma and Recovery
MOLDOVA
Hyman Wegscheider and Esther Rome with the Boston Women's Health
Book Collective: Sacrificing Ourselves for Love: Why Women
Compromise Health and Self-Esteem and How to Stop
MONGOLIA
Hyman Wegscheider and Esther Rome with the Boston Women's Health
Book Collective: Sacrificing Ourselves for Love: Why Women
Compromise Health and Self-Esteem and How to Stop
POLAND
Amy Elman: Sexual Politics and the European Union: The New
Feminist Challenge
ROMANIA
Gloria Steinem: Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem
Andrea Dworkin: Letters From A War Zone
RUSSIA
Ellen Bass and Laura Davis: The Courage to Heal
SLOVAKIA
Judith Herman: Trauma and Recovery
Ann Jones: Next Time She'll Be Dead
TAJIKISTAN
Evan Stark and Anne Flitcraft: Domestic Violence and Women's
Health
12.
Responding to the Kosovo Crisis
On March 24th, 1999, the 78 day NATO air campaign began in response
to the crisis in Kosovo. The Kosovars were forced to flee to
Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro on foot, tractors, and in
cars. By May 1999, international organizations and humanitarian
relief missions built refugee camps to accommodate the involuntary
mass exodus. Several hundred thousand Kosovars became refugees
in Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Many displaced Roma fled
to Serbia.
While larger international organizations and humanitarian groups
helped build much needed refugee camps and provided other general
services to refugees, few efforts were geared specifically toward
the needs of refugee women. In response, the OSI foundations
in the Balkan region took action.
In response to the immediate needs of refugee women in Macedonia,
Women's Program Coordinator Slavica Indzevska of OSI-Macedonia
facilitated the distribution of over 1,500 sanitary packages.
Indzevska worked with Kosovar refugees Flora Macuca and Sanida
Perjuci, two women living with Albanian families in Tetovo,
to create programs reducing stress and facilitating readjustment
for women and children in the Neprosteno refugee camp. During
a site visit, NWP-NY staff Anastasia Posadskaya-Vanderbeck and
Debra Schultz joined Indzevska, Macuca and Perjuci in successfully
advocating for a women-only tent in the camp to aid refugee
women who experienced post-traumatic stress and sexual violence.
Responding to the crisis on a strategic level, the OSI-Macedonia
Women's Program created the forum, "Women's Fund for Dialogue
and Integration". The forum coordinated dialogue and collaboration
among a network of 30 multi-ethnic women's NGOs. With the understanding
that the refugee crisis exacerbates existing tensions among
different ethnic communities in Macedonian society, the OSI-Macedonia
Women's Program will also support the launch of a media campaign
project to highlight models of cross-ethnic cooperation.
Also in response to the refugee crisis in Macedonia, Azbiya
Memedova, director of the Roma Community Center, an OSI Roma
Participation Program affiliate, helped international agencies
provide humanitarian aid to displaced Roma.
The Women's Program of OSI-Albania, directed by Valdete Sala,
responded to the crisis by supporting an educational conference
on refugee women and children, and by providing grants to local
women's NGOs.
The May 29, 1999 Conference of National and International NGOs
in Tirana sought to sensitize Albanians and the international
community about the situation and living conditions of the refugees.
Among the topics discussed were: the need for international
human rights standards for refugee women and children; treatment
of sexual violence cases; the need for providing access to services,
such as reproductive health and psychosocial programs; UNHCR
guidelines on protecting refugee women; local NGO responses
to the crisis and need for collaboration with international
NGOs; and minimum condition standards for refugees returning
to Kosovo.
The following list highlights OSI-Albania Women's Program grantees
responding to the crisis.
- Albanian Group for the Protection and Promotion of Breast
Feeding published and distributed materials in the camps
on reducing infant and children's mortality, emergency infant
feeding, and infectious disease prevention
- Linea Counseling Center for Women and Girls provided post
traumatic stress counseling to mothers and their children
in refugee camps
- Women's Center Refleksione trained volunteers on how to
help refugees cope with crisis situations
- Women's Advocacy Center documented the crisis to raise
public awareness and provide credible evidence for legal
remedy at the International Court in Hague
- Drama Artists in partnership with National Film Archives
showed films to children to help them with psychological
rehabilitation
The OSI-Bosnia and Herzegovina (OSI-B&H) Women's Program contributed
to regional conflict resolution by organizing a delegation of
women from Bosnia to participate in the conference, "Women Activists
in Conflict: a Democratic Perspective for the Balkans", in December
1999, at the Royaumont Foundation, France. Participants from
the former Yugoslavia created a declaration for political action,
establishing the basis for future communication and cooperation
among the regions as part of democracy building processes in
Southeast Europe. OSI-B&H Women's Program Coordinator, Nada
Ler Sofronic and Milica Kajevic of the Sarajevo-based NGO, Women
to Women, contributed to the declaration.
Also in response to the crisis, Croatian women's activist group
and former grantee of the OSI-Croatia Women's Program, The Center
for Women War Victims established training programs to teach
Kosovar women refugees how to work and cope with war trauma.
They succeeded in helping refugee women learn how to establish
and sustain networks and support groups in order to maintain
autonomy under challenging conditions in the refugee camps and
upon their return to Kosovo.
Women activists in Yugoslavia, including OSI Women's Program
Coordinator Slavica Stojanovic, continued to promote cross-ethnic
dialogue; provide aid to women traumatized by the war and sexual
violence; and work with Roma women to distribute humanitarian
aid. Women's studies scholars and anti-war activists such as
Women in Black, organized educational activities addressing
questions of racism, nationalism, ethnocentrism, war and violence
against women, and responsibility.
The women's programs in the Albanian, Macedonian, Yugoslavian,
Bosnian, and Croatian national foundations, as well as the new
women's programs in Kosovo and Montenegro, continue to work
on cross-ethnic dialogue; violence against women; and critical
thinking about women's roles in post conflict situations.
13.
NWP Sends Participants to Beijing Plus 5 Meetings
The year 2000 marks the fifth anniversary of the Beijing Platform
for Action (PFA), a declaration on global women's human rights,
created at the UN's Fourth World Conference for Women, in Beijing,
China. At this 1995 landmark conference, governmental Delegates
from over 140 countries ratified the PFA, thereby agreeing to
implement strategic actions set forth in the 12 areas of critical
concern for women. These areas include Women and Poverty; Education
and Training of Women; Women and Health; Violence Against Women;
Women and Armed Conflict; Women and the Economy; Women in Power;
Institutional Mechanism for the Advancement of Women; Human
Rights of Women; Women and the Media; Women and the Environment;
and the Girl Child.
In June 2000, the United Nations General Assembly is holding
a special session entitled, "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development
and Peace for the Twenty-First Century" to review the progress
and obstacles to implementing the PFA by the countries that
ratified it. NWP is sponsoring 57 women to attend the June Special
Session, ensuring the participation of women from the CEE and
CIS regions in the review process.
To prepare for the June Special Session meeting, the UN and
international women's NGOs initiated a series of regional conferences
beginning in the fall of 1999 to undergo their own reviews of
government implementation of the PFA, based on their regional
expertise. The regional meetings were followed by a special
Prepatory Committee meeting (PrepCom) in March during the 44th
Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the UN body
responsible for monitoring the progress of the platform.
In January 2000, the Network Women's Program and participating
OSI national foundations sponsored 30 NGO representatives from
Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to attend
a regional conference for Europe. Representatives met in Geneva
at the European Commission for Economics Regional PrepCom to
review four areas of the PFA: Violence Against Women; Institutional
Mechanisms; Women and the Economy; and Women in Power.
At this meeting, NGO representatives from Eastern Europe drafted
recommendations for their official government delegates, highlighting
the situation of women in their countries. Among the topics
emphasized were: low representation of women and women's NGOs
in fragile democracies; shrinking opportunities for women; trauma
caused by armed conflict; widespread violence against women;
and government inaction concerning women's human rights.
Also in January, the NWP sponsored 15 NGO representatives to
attend "The Global Forum of Women Political Leaders" in Manila,
Philippines. The forum brought together women in politics, civil
society, the private sector and the academy to review the role
of women in power for the new millennium. The conference called
for greater participation of women in politics at the local,
regional, and international levels. NWP Coordinator Pamela Shifman
commented, "the meeting provided Eastern European and Asian
women with a much-needed opportunity to engage in a cross-regional
dialogue concerning electing women into politics". Delegates
also addressed the issues of globalization and the challenges
it poses for women's participation in the economic sector.
In March 2000, the NWP and participating OSI national foundations
sponsored 35 women from CEE and CIS countries to attend the
March PrepCom in New York. At this meeting, government delegates
from around the world began preparing the 'final outcome' documents
of the review process. The documents list achievements of and
obstacles to the implementation of the PFA at the global level.
Government delegates are presenting the finalized documents
to the General Assembly at the June Special Session meeting.
At a reception hosted by NWP during the March PrepCom, NGO participants
commented on the value of attending the PFA review meetings,
saying it was a unique opportunity to network with other regional
and international NGOs. Others observed that the meetings raised
their awareness about the UN processes and the (often-low) level
of their governments' interest in uplifting the status of women
regionally and internationally.
Erzsebet Szabo, a participant from Budapest, remarked, "the
knowledge we gathered during the Beijing plus 5 Review in Geneva
[in January] and New York [in March] will allow us to understand
and work on our common goals all over the region." Szabo further
commented that even her small contribution to the review process
will "make our countries more democratic and developed in the
field of gender equality."
For more information on the Beijing Plus Five processes, contact
the UN website at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/.
14.
Women's Program Spotlight: Russia
In May 1998, the Open Society Institute-Russia (OSI-Russia)
initiated its national Women's Program, joining the NWP.
Initially, the Russian Women's Program provided competitive
grants in the areas of women's rights, leadership training,
domestic violence, trafficking in women, and gender/women's
studies. More than doubling its initial budget, the Russian
Women's Program has grown significantly in the last two years.
"In the last year and a half we received 500 grant applications,"
Program Director Elena Kotchkina observes. "We gave 67 grants
last year. This year, it increased to approximately 120."
Kotchkina believes that there is a growing sense of gender awareness
in Russia as a result of the work of women's NGOs in the region
and OSI-Russia. She remarks, "many people didn't believe trafficking
in women was a problem in Russia. After a number of academic
programs and publications in Russian newspapers, they finally
recognized that these are real problems in Moscow and elsewhere...The
same is true for domestic violence."
Leonard Benardo, Regional Director for Russia, comments that
the Russian Women's Program has done superb work in many areas.
"Its efforts to integrate Russian women into the programs of
the international women's movement has been of great importance.
The program has a wide yet strategic scope focused on programs
such as crisis center support, informational monitoring, and
support for various educational and curricular efforts. The
battle remains uphill, but large and significant steps have
been taken in a brief period of time."
In addition to supporting and working with regional women's
NGOs, the Russian Women's Program also collaborated internally
with several other OSI programs, including Law, Health, Publishing,
and Civil Society Programs to integrate women's issues/perspectives
in their grant competitions, program design and development,
conferences, and other activities.
Russian Women's Program 1999 Activities:
- Human Rights Leadership Training for women's NGO representatives
- Training courses and information exchange for women and
crisis centers in Russia, CEE and Asia
- Women's abuse prevention program, "Women's Response to
Abuse"
- Technical Assistance on gender-related legislation
- Training for lawyers and local officials on issues of
gender and women's social rights
- Open grant competition on positive new images of women
in the mass media
- Creation of an interdisciplinary resource center for teaching
gender/women's studies courses
- Open grant competition on developing gender/women's studies
courses in provincial universities
- Training program on "women and gender research" courses
for provincial universities and professors
- Publication of textbooks and teaching materials on gender/women's
studies for universities
- Summer school on gender economics for state employees,
economists, and representatives of CIS NGOs
For more information, visit http://www.osi.ru
15.
NWP Advances Gender Studies Development
The NWP, in cooperation with the East-East Program, the Fund
for an Open Society-Yugoslavia and the Belgrade Center for Women's
Studies, organized and conducted the Inaugural Conference:
Women's Studies and the Countries in Transition from September
9-12, 1998. The conference encouraged participants to share
research and experiences, as well as strategize about the future
development of gender/women's studies nationally, regionally,
and internationally. Addressed to OSI Network countries, the
conference had several aims: to present innovative scholarly/theoretical
work on women produced in the region; to assess the development
and needs of women's/gender studies; and to create action agendas
to promote the growth and institutionalization of gender/women's
studies.
Over 100 representatives from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Haiti, Hungary, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Tajikistan, Ukraine, the U.K.,
the U.S., Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia attended the conference.
Participants represented gender studies/women's studies centers,
programs, departments, and institutes--whether independent or
affiliated with higher education institutions. OSI Network foundations
selected representatives from two main groups: scholars/practitioners
who have promoted intellectual and institutional development
of gender/women's studies at the local, national, sub-regional
or regional levels and those positioned and committed to introducing
and developing gender/women's studies in countries where it
is new or unknown.
Sonja Licht, President of the Executive Board of the Fund for
an Open Society-Yugoslavia and Dasa Duhacek, of the Belgrade
Center for Women's Studies, welcomed the participants. NWP Deputy
Director Debra Schultz chaired the opening plenary session on
the history of women's/gender studies in OSI network countries.
Panelists included Nada Ler-Sofronic on the former Yugoslava;
Irena Novikova on the Baltic countries; Jirina Siklova on the
Czech Republic; Olga Voronina on Russia; Malgorzata Fuszara
on Poland; and Rhoda Kadalie on South Africa.
The second plenary asked "What are Women's/Gender Studies?"
In smaller working groups, participants explored Theoretical
Contributions on the following themes: Women, the Subjects
of our Inquiries; Literary Perspectives; Women and the Market
Economy; Women in Mainstream and Alternative Politics; Media
and Representation; and Body Politics.
The second set of working groups addressed Strategies and
Institutionalization. Topics included: Starting New Women's/Gender
Studies Programs and Legitimizing Gender/Women's Studies; OSI
Training and Exchange Mechanisms; and Publications. The third
plenary addressed Building Bridges Between Theory and Practice.
The third set of working groups focused on Methodologies
- From Research to Teaching addressing Methodologies; Research;
and Pedagogy. The next session of working groups focused on
Teaching, Examining Different Models of Women's/Gender Studies,
and Methods of Constructing Syllabi and Curricula. The final
plenary focused on Crossing Boundaries - Building Alliances.
A wrap-up session called for more research/teaching/action projects
in the areas of lesbian studies; and violence, conflict, war,
and fascism. A significant outcome of the conference was the
formation of a Women and Gender Studies Association of Countries
in Transition. With the Belgrade Center for Women's Studies
acting as interim secretariat, an international steering committee
formed.
Plans made in Belgrade for other follow-up activities included
two international conferences. The first, held May 23-25, 1999,
addressed Pleasure and Power in a Gendered Perspective.
Hosted by the Program on Gender and Culture at the Central European
University and co-sponsored by the NWP and the Goethe Institute,
the conference began with readings by women writers from the
region.
The second conference, Women's History and the History of
Gender in Countries in Transition, was held September 30
to October 2, 1999 in Minsk, Belarus. Organized by the CEU Program
on Gender and Culture, Budapest; the Center for Gender Studies,
European Humanities University, Minsk; and the Institutum Studiorum
Humanitatis, Ljubjana, NWP helped support the event. Sixty-four
women and men from nineteen countries participated in this first
international conference on women's history in Eastern Europe.
In 1999, NWP and participating national foundations supported
one-month women's studies exchanges. The following host institutions
and visiting scholars took part in the program:
ANA-The Romanian Society for Feminist Analysis, Bucharest, Romania
Valentina Bodrug, Moldova
Centre for Gender Studies, University of Latvia, Riga
Zorica Mrsevic, Yugoslavia
Central European University-Gender and Culture Program, Budapest,
Hungary
Group One
Maia Morarescu, Moldova
Ludmila Papuc, Moldova
Tatiana Kirmikchi, Moldova
Gombosuren Urantsooj, Mongolia
Natalia Kutova, Ukraine
Group Two
Ludmila Gerasimova, Russia
Evgenia Balabanova, Russia
Milica Antic Gaber, Slovenia
Eglantina Gjermeni, Albania
Armineh Mkhitaryan, Armenia
Irina Lebedinska, Ukraine
Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
Lyudmila Erokhina, Russia
Kharkov Center for Gender Studies, Kharkov, Ukraine
Lkhamsuren Enkhjargal, Mongolia
Nadezhda Radina, Russia
Lidija Zafirovic, Croatia
Ivanovo Center of Gender Studies, Ivanovo, Russia
Natalia Chuhim, Ukraine
Moscow Center for Gender Studies, Moscow, Russia
Sofia Babayan, Armenia
Nigar Mamedova, Azerbaijan
Zuleikha Mikailova, Azerbaijan
Rabiyyat Aslanova, Azerbaijan
Prague Center for Gender Studies, Prague, Czech Republic
Danijela Merunka, Croatia
Alenka Svab, Slovenia
Maria Belousova, Russia
Jelka Zorn, Slovenia
Zagreb Centre for Women's Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Victoria Gaidenko, Ukraine
16.
1999 Publishing Library Core Collections
In collaboration with the Network Library Program, the NWP is
holding its third annual Gender Studies Library Core Collections
Competition. The 2000 collection of books focuses on minority
women and women in conflict zones. In 1999, the competition,
"Women at Risk," focused on violence against women, women's
health, and girls' issues. The following NGOs, libraries and
academic centers received a collection of 42 books on those
issues.
ALBANIA
Women's Center
ARMENIA
Women's Rights Center
UNO Armenia, Dept of Public Information
AZERBAIJAN
UNDP Gender Development Project
BELARUS
Western University
Center for Gender Studies, European Humanities University
BOSNIA-HERZOGOVINA
Medicina Zenica U.G.
Women's Therapy Centre
Jayna Biblioteca Zenica
BULGARIA
"Nadja Center" Foundation
CROATIA
Zenska Infoteka
CZECH REPUBLIC
Czech Helsinki Committee - Documentation and Information
Center, Human Rights Library
GEORGIA
Independent Human Rights Library "Open Society"
HAITI
ENFOFAM
HUNGARY
Human Rights Information and Documentation Center
KAZAKSTAN
The Eastern Kazakstan Pushkin Regional Library
KYRGYZSTAN
NGO Coalition "For Democracy and Civil Society"
International Center "Interbilim"
LATVIA
The Center for Gender Studies
LITHUANIA
Vytautas Magnus University, Library
MOLDOVA
National Women's Studies and Informational Center
POLAND
BORIS Support Office for the Movement of Self-Helping Initiative
ROMANIA
Information Center for Gender Studies and Women's Issues, Institute
of Anthropology
Romanian Society for Feminist Analyses - AnA
Equal Opportunities for Women
RUSSIA
The Regional Junior Library
Scientific Library at Krasnoyarsk State University
Murmansk State Regional Universal Scientific Library
Public Women's Movement of Prikamie
Center for Information on Women's Rights and Gender Issues
Tver State University, Centre for Women's Studies
The Chuvash State University
SLOVAKIA
Aspekt Feminist Cultural Journal
SLOVENIA
The Peace Institute, The Center for Gender and Politics
SOUTH AFRICA
Women's Legal Center
Rape Crisis Cape Town
TAJIKISTAN
Gender Resource Centre
NGO Sitora
UKRAINE
V. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine
UZBEKISTAN
Women's Resource Center
Open Library for Legal Information
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