Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReIncluGen (Rethinking Inclusion and Gender empowerment: A participatory action research)
Período documentado: 2023-01-01 hasta 2023-12-31
The concept of gender empowerment is mostly occurring in Western contexts. Its meaning, particularly as influenced by Western neoliberalism, has therefore become a complex and much debated topic. Generally ‘gender empowerment’ is understood as the process of providing individuals, particularly women, with the tools, resources, and opportunities to participate fully in social, economic, and political life. However, when examining gender empowerment from a Western neoliberal lens, several key points and criticisms emerge which this project wants to tackle: what is empowering, is there only one definition and how is this understood by women from different migration, ethnic and cultural backgrounds? Additionally we notice that despite the many actions governments and CSOs are taking all over Europe, the (diverging) views of women on gender empowerment are not involved enough. The ReIncluGen project aims to reconceptualize the concept of gender empowerment by building on the innovative theoretical concept of 'situated intersectionality' considering the complexities and nuances of individuals’ experiences within their specific social, cultural, political and historical contexts.
The research objectives are threefold. Firstly, using participatory and co-creative action research with CSOs in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Spain and their members will help us to examine these situated meanings with attention to migrant women and girls and their diversity and agency. Secondly, we will conduct an evaluation and impact assessment of empowering and inclusive trajectories applied in CSOs to co-design innovative tools to support their gender empowerment and inclusion. We aim to understand their rationale, linkage with prevailing policies, contextual preconditions of their success, and study their applicability across different organisations, countries and cultural contexts. Thirdly, we will examine the discourses and actions of media and digital cultures in strengthening gender empowerment and how they are used and implemented by CSOs.
The research objectives are threefold. Firstly, using participatory and co-creative action research with CSOs in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Spain and their members will help us to examine these situated meanings with attention to migrant women and girls and their diversity and agency. Secondly, we will conduct an evaluation and impact assessment of empowering and inclusive trajectories applied in CSOs to co-design innovative tools to support their gender empowerment and inclusion. We aim to understand their rationale, linkage with prevailing policies, contextual preconditions of their success, and study their applicability across different organisations, countries and cultural contexts. Thirdly, we will examine the discourses and actions of media and digital cultures in strengthening gender empowerment and how they are used and implemented by CSOs.
During the first period of the ReIncluGen project, we provided an overview of the existing policies that touch upon gender empowerment and inclusion, and by extension gender, ethnic/racial and social inequalities. We did so through a secondary data analyses (D2.1.) and a literature review on prevailing policies in the different research settings (D2.2.). Although in this project, we use these secondary data analyses and literature review as a starting point for the qualitative fieldwork, these deliverables already sketch an up-to-date and insightful overview of the different socio-political contexts across the countries involved in the project, which can be regarded as the first main achievement of the project.
As a second achievement, we developed an elaborate data management plan (D1.4.) and ethics report (D1.1.) consulted with the independent ethics advisor for this project. Both reports needed explicit attention and are handled with care, given the topic, the target group and the nested nature of the data of this research project. Both are constantly negotiated, updated and fueled by local experiences and advice from the ethics advisory boards of the different research institutions involved in this project. Being discussed with privacy officers, ethics committees, our consortium, and the independent ethics advisor, we are aware of and take into account our different research positionalities and power relations both within the project and between researchers and CSOs. As such we recognize the need to constantly discuss upcoming (research) activities with care.
Thirdly, we are conducting fieldwork with members of CSOs, both in and outside the consortium which started with doing observations followed by conducting focus group discussions and interviews, with both CSO members and organisers. Currently we are amidst the process of doing photovoicing trajectories with CSO participants, that will eventually result in the further co-creation of the photo exhibition. Given the different objectives, settings and sizes of each of the CSOs that we are working with, as a consortium we continuously discuss their differences and similarities and how this can be considered in the further progress of the data collection.
Fourth, we started the co-creative process of developing the digital tool that will be used by the CSOs to network, share promising practices and discuss the contextual features in which they thrive and how they can be adjusted to other settings and CSOs. We started with a bottom-up and co-creative session on the needs and desires of all partners, especially focusing on the CSO members within the consortium. Follow-up sessions with both individual CSO partners and the consortium were organised to further finetune the digital tool alongside brainstorming on an appropriate name, webdesign and functionalities.
As a second achievement, we developed an elaborate data management plan (D1.4.) and ethics report (D1.1.) consulted with the independent ethics advisor for this project. Both reports needed explicit attention and are handled with care, given the topic, the target group and the nested nature of the data of this research project. Both are constantly negotiated, updated and fueled by local experiences and advice from the ethics advisory boards of the different research institutions involved in this project. Being discussed with privacy officers, ethics committees, our consortium, and the independent ethics advisor, we are aware of and take into account our different research positionalities and power relations both within the project and between researchers and CSOs. As such we recognize the need to constantly discuss upcoming (research) activities with care.
Thirdly, we are conducting fieldwork with members of CSOs, both in and outside the consortium which started with doing observations followed by conducting focus group discussions and interviews, with both CSO members and organisers. Currently we are amidst the process of doing photovoicing trajectories with CSO participants, that will eventually result in the further co-creation of the photo exhibition. Given the different objectives, settings and sizes of each of the CSOs that we are working with, as a consortium we continuously discuss their differences and similarities and how this can be considered in the further progress of the data collection.
Fourth, we started the co-creative process of developing the digital tool that will be used by the CSOs to network, share promising practices and discuss the contextual features in which they thrive and how they can be adjusted to other settings and CSOs. We started with a bottom-up and co-creative session on the needs and desires of all partners, especially focusing on the CSO members within the consortium. Follow-up sessions with both individual CSO partners and the consortium were organised to further finetune the digital tool alongside brainstorming on an appropriate name, webdesign and functionalities.
Our policy analyses revealed that the several countries face similar challenges in terms of establishing mechanisms aimed at eliminating gender inequality but differ in terms of the authorities’ approach towards this issue. This translates into specific solutions that are adopted by different countries. Additionally, our secondary data analyses reveal a story of growing gender equality in Europe, yet one where there is still much progress to be made. Women are, even today, less likely to have paid jobs than men and conversely are more often involved in unpaid care work. Moreover, a significant portion of the European population is not in favour of gender equality, especially when looking at attitudes toward working mothers and the role of women in the family and society. The data show that although the female population is better educated than the male population, working women are still facing important disadvantages in terms of career advancement and remuneration.
Gender empowerment is difficult to grasp in terms of language and has different histories in different countries. We tried to tackle this epistemological challenge by taking the right measures in our methodological guidelines and questionnaires the data collection process. Also during our fieldwork it becomes clear that gender empowerment should be addressed with cultural sensitivity without imposing Western cultural biases on the interpretations of our participants namely women and girls with a migration or ethnic minority background. During the first phase of the interviews it often came up that cultural beliefs, values, and practices related to gender equality or gender empowerment are given meaning within the context of women's own cultures.
Gender empowerment is difficult to grasp in terms of language and has different histories in different countries. We tried to tackle this epistemological challenge by taking the right measures in our methodological guidelines and questionnaires the data collection process. Also during our fieldwork it becomes clear that gender empowerment should be addressed with cultural sensitivity without imposing Western cultural biases on the interpretations of our participants namely women and girls with a migration or ethnic minority background. During the first phase of the interviews it often came up that cultural beliefs, values, and practices related to gender equality or gender empowerment are given meaning within the context of women's own cultures.