Gender Democracy
Flying through the sky, photo by Tammy Ali, Usually Blue
Introduction
Feminism and the quest for equality among women and men have been main topics of the Green movement, out of which the Heinrich Böll Foundation has emerged. Today, the Foundation pursues "gender democracy" as a socio-political vision and as an organizational principle alike and thus, gender democracy is an important aspect of all our activities.

Gender democracy is not only about "women's rights" or the empowerment of women in society, but it also encompasses a much wider vision of equality between the sexes, in areas both public and private.
Since there is no such thing as a textbook for gender democracy, influencing organisational structures as well as society as a whole towards balanced relationships is a a work-in-progress. Gender democracy has to be re-worked and re-lived depending on the concrete social and cultural environment.
Still, participation of women in Palestine, Egypt and Jordan both in political institutions as well as in non-formal bodies of political representation is limited. This male bias merges with a rural-urban divide that creates immense disadvantages for women, particurarly in rural areas. Our gender program is based on two main approaches:

  • Supporting organizations working on problems of violence against women; this includes SALMA, a network of women's' NGOs, which is providing support services for victims of violence.
  • Promoting women's participation in political decision making processes. This happens by promoting women’s participation in politics through the development of grassroots forms of representation as well as the support necessary and capacity development in order to push their own agenda for emancipation and improvement.

 

Salma

Gender Budgeting

coins in water
Hbs works with NGOs who are dealing with capacity building, economic empowerment, advancing women’s representation in decision-making processes and the assessment of gender issues in budgetary policies. more»

Partners

GENDER KICKS - Series of Events

FIFA WOMEN WORLD CUP- JUNE 26th to JULY 17th 2011

One ball, two goals and 22 female players. The Palestinian Women football team not only competes against international rivals, but also for societal recognition at home. The players face several difficulties: from checkpoints, which impede the conduct of training, to traditional role models, which fundamentally question the participation of women in public sport events. The women, who step on the playing field in Palestine, are not only strong in dribbling. Women soccer serves as an example, where women enter a male-dominated field, which can be transferred to other areas as well.

 

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Edited Volume

Diversity and Female Political Participation: Views on and from the Arab World

- What does the political participation of women look like within the immense diversity of the Arabic world? This edition of the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s series on Democracy analyzes the historical and current developments of gender relationships, and the role of women in the politics of Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. With contributions by Claudia Derichs, Hoda Salah, Azadeh Zamirirad, Hala Kindelberger, Dana Fennert, and Vania Carvalho Pinto. more»

Institute of Women Studies 3rd Annual Conference

 - March 31, 2011 - The Institute for Women's Studies organized its Third Annual Conference on 16-17 March, 2011 at Birzeit University. The conference was entitled “Re-thinking Governance & Gender in an Age of Empire” and sought to explore issues of gender and governance in (post-) colonial contexts more»
Shashat is a Palestinian NGO whose focus is on women's cinema and the social and cultural implications of women's reprsentations. Among other activities Shashat is organizing the yearly women's film festival in Palestine. more»
CyberAndy http://www.flickr.com/people/cyberandy/
Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT) - Changing Women Images in the Arab Media: a project that formulats and strengthen a network of media organizations in ten Arab countries (Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Bahrain, Tunis, Morocco) on monitoring gender images in media. For more information please contact Hiba Taibi (h_taibi@boell-ameo.rg)
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The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) seeks to promote the principles of democracy and good governance within various components of Palestinian society; it further seeks to engage local and international public opinion and official circles on the Palestinian cause. To that end, MIFTAH adopts the mechanisms of an active and in-depth dialogue, the free flow of information and ideas, as well as local and international networking.