Thinking gender on International Women's Day
It could be significant that I am starting my blog for 2012 on Women’s Day. …. I have just been to two very stimulating workshops with interesting people from Asia and Africa, and of course with a sprinkling of some ‘ mzungus ’ from the UK, the Netherlands, Canada and the US in both. In both we discussed the issue of ‘gender’. So as Women’s Day 2012 draws to a close, I want to reflect a little bit about the concept. (by the way, if you haven't already, take a look at the UK Independent’s the best and worst place to be a woman , and Duncan Green’s blog on International Women’s Day – what to celebrate, what to condemn , a must read!) One issue that struck me from the discussions we had in these workshops was how easy it was to lose the gender perspective when we think we have mainstreamed gender into our analysis and our writing. Sometimes this is because the overarching issue at hand is more potent than the difference between women and men – but this