In 2009, DAWN began a process of exploring women’s activism and agency in times of war, conflict and transition through a series of self-reflective case studies written by feminist activists from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. The narrations showed how women’s experiences of violence and in/security were mediated through a range of constantly changing social and economic structures that included culture, religion, family, sexual division of labour and power, disparities in employment opportunities and incomes, trade, finance and development practices, identity, sexuality and gender. The referent of security was also not merely the individual but the social relations that mediated human life. The women in the narratives encountered and challenged this complex nexus as they tried to deal with everyday life in situations of war and conflict.
These gendered risks for women were also manifest not only in the brutalisation of the body and impunity in the domain of violence but also in the dislocation of everyday life and the increase in women’s burden in the domain of care, and women’s exclusion from decision making in the domain of political life. These rich and complex insights compelled us therefore to interrogate existing frames of analysis that sought to understand violence against women in conflict and war.
Capacity Building for young feminists in the Global south
The DAWN Online Training is a collaboration between DAWN and Masimanyane Women’s Rights International. The purpose of this training is to collectively build knowledge and analysis on gender-based violence from a political economy lens, drawing from the everyday experiences of the participants who are involved in different capacities in responding to gender-based violence. The training programme includes several intensive group work sessions as well as homework in between the sessions, to help the participants to explore how a political economy lens might be applied and might be useful in thinking through their ways of working and future strategies. The training programme is also focused on developing advocacy tools for the local, national and regional levels in terms of policy recommendations to address structural causes of gender-based violence.
Organisers & Partners
Kumudini Samuel
DAWN’s organiser
Kumi Samuel heads DAWN’s Political Restructuring and Social Transformation (PRST) thematic analysis team. She is a co-founder and works at the Women & Media Collective, a feminist organisation advocating on legal and policy reform in relation to gender and sexuality, work, politics, and media. Her current focus is on post-conflict transitions and constitution-making. She has taken an interdisciplinary approach to her research and activism combining her interest in women’s rights, conflict transformation, gender, sexuality, and movement building. She has published on women’s engagement in peace processes, conflict transformation, and feminist movement building.
Sarala Emmanuel
DAWN’s organiser
Sarala Emmanuel is a feminist peace activist from Batticaloa, in Eastern Sri Lanka. Emerging from two decades of experience living and working through the war, her life and work now as a teacher, researcher and community activist are rooted in multiple marginalized communities in eastern Sri Lanka.
Lesley Ann Foster
Partner from Masimanyane
Lesley Ann Foster is the founder and Director of Masimanyane Women’s Rights International, an organization at the forefront of work to advance gender equality and the human rights of women in African societies and globally. Foster was elected the first African president of Amanitare, a Pan African network of organisations operating in 28 countries on the African continent.
Farida Myburgh
Partner from Masimanyane
Farida Myburgh is the Head of Administration at Masimanyane Women’s Rights International. She is responsible for the Public Education Programme which focuses on the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and for coordinating the Africa Regional Programme. She is also acting as the head of administration in the Office of the Executive Director.