The Program on Gender and Global Change began in 1987 as the Program on International Development and Women (PICW). It was founded to institutionalize a set of interests and activities that had been part of Cornell since the mid-1970s. In recognition of changing intellectual commitments and the growing complexity of theoretical and methodological formulations, the program was renamed Gender and Global Change (GGC) in 1993.
The mission of the Program on Gender and Global Change (GGC) is to support student and faculty research and encourage dialogue and collaboration among scholars, policy-makers, political activists, and others working toward understanding patterns of gender dynamics in the context of changing structural and cultural practices. As part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies, GGC works to coordinate its initiatives with related groups, including Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Institute for African Development, Africana, Asian, and Latin American Studies Programs; and topical studies groups such as Institute for the Study of Inequality, International Studies in Planning, International Political Economy, and Peace Studies. The Program focuses attention on southern or 'developing' countries but has an explicit concern with processes of change in northern or 'developed' countries as well. From its beginning, the Program has been committed to international perspectives that emphasize analyses of rural and industrial contexts as well as their dynamic interactions across and within countries. A commitment to spatial and temporal change grounds the Program in a comparative and historical perspective. Program members work within a diverse set of worldviews, and theoretical and methodological traditions. This invites attention to a breadth of interest and concerns that bridge various forms of inquiry and approach including theoretical, historical, applied, and participatory action research modes of analyses.
The Program seeks to deepen our understanding of how gender intersects with other dimensions of identity; how different experiences of gender shape social, economic, and intellectual change; and how gender relationships and identities themselves are reproduced and transformed in different parts of the world. Such a focus draws attention to the interface between theory and praxis and emphasizes the salience of temporal and spatial change within and between states, societies, and regions.
Program Administration
Josephine Allen (Policy Analysis and Management), Associate Professor; Co-Director
Rosemary Batt (Industrial and Labor Relations School) Associate Professor; Alice H. Cook Professor of Women and Work; Co-Director
Faculty
Anne Adams (Associate Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center) Josephine Allen (Associate Professor, Policy Analysis and Management)
N’Dri Assie-Lumumba (Associate Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center) Nimat Barazangi (Visiting Scholar, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)
Alaka Basu (Associate Professor, Sociology; Director, South Asia Program)
Rosemary Batt (Associate Professor, Alice H. Cook Professor, Industrial and Labor Relations) Lourdes Beneria (Professor, City and Regional Planning)
Matthew Evangelista (Professor of Government; Director, Peace Studies Program) Shelley Feldman (Professor, Rural Sociology)
Marcia Greenberg (Adjunct Professor, Law) Mary Katzenstein (Professor, Government) Margaret Kroma (Assistant Professor, Education)
Neema Kudva (Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning) Kathryn March (Professor, Anthropology)
Philip McMichael (Professor and Chair, Development Sociology)
Muna Ndulo (Professor, Law; Director, Institute for African Development) Shirley Samuels (Professor, English)
Margaret Washington (Professor, History)
Mildred Warner (Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning) Lindy Williams (Professor, Rural Sociology)
Highlights for 2007-2008
This year the Gender and Global Change Program sponsored and co-sponsored a series of of international speakers from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, India, and the Native American cultures of the U.S. Presentations covered on-going research on gender and international migration, migrant sex workers, women in conflict zones and their involvement in peace-building, and women’s participation in activist movements and legal strategies for gender reform:
• “Stories of Inclusion and Exclusion: Eduadorian Migrant Domestic Workers”, Gioconda Herrera, Sociology, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ecuador. Herrera’s presentation focused on the dilemmas that migrant domestic workers from Ecuador face as domestic workers in Spain.
• "Migration, Assimilation and the Cultural Construction of Identity: Navajo Perspectives," Louise Lamphere, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico and past President of the American Anthropological Association. Lamphere discussed her life-long work on migration, assimilation, and identity of Navajo women, based on her newly released book, Weaving Together Women's Lives: Three Generations in a Navajo Family. • "Building Peace, Defining Security: Opening Spaces for Women," Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini,
Director, Policy Commission, Women Waging Peace. Anderlini presented the historic development and evolution of women's participation in international peace and security issues, based on years of experience as a researcher, trainer, and advocate on issues relating to women's protection and participation in conflict and peacebuilding. Co-sponsored with International Studies in Planning.
• "Circular Migratory Flows of Women: Local Social Memor of Changes in Women's Migration in Time and Space," Susanne Asman, Anthropology, Goteborg University, Sweden. Asman reported on her multi-year ethnographic research among sex workers in Nepal -- the evolution of the sex trade over several generations, current migratory patterns to
urban centers in India and Kathmandu, and the substantive impact on the lives of women and rural families. Co-sponsored with South Asia Program.
• "Sex Crimes in Darfur Diaspora Politics," Rogaia Abusharaf Department of Anthropology, Qatar University. Abushara, a leading expert on international politics and women in the Muslim world, reported on the current status of sex crimes in Darfur and the cultural strategies adopted by women to cope with the trauma of violence and dislocation. Co- sponsored with Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
• "State, Work, and Family: Constructing Equality," Martha Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University. Fineman focused on the relationship between the workplace and the family, challenging Based on a new book, she argues for an active role of the state to promote conditions for greater equality in both work and family life. Distinguished Alice Cook Lecture, co-sponsored with ILR School.
• "Law as an Instrument of Social Reform: Potential and Limitations," Madhu Kishwar, Center for the Study for Developing Societies, Founder/editor of Manushi, the first Indian feminist magazine. Kishwar’s presentation focused on the dilemmas of legislation aimed at strengthening women's rights in India, including anti dowry legislation, laws against domestic violence and the Women's Reservation Bill. Co-sponsored with South Asia Program.
Contact Information
Josephine Allen, Co-Director 254 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall Phone: (607) 255-1973
Rosemary Batt, Co-Director 387B Ives Hall
Phone: (607) 255-6370 Fax: (607) 255-2195 [email protected]