Decoloniality and women's agency in sex education in Zambia.

In 2018, 22 teachers and four government officers started a six-month development process, designed to integrate a gender-equity lens into sex education in Eastern Province, Zambia. The initiative was funded by the Dutch Government. In this article, I explore the emancipatory potential and limits of this gender transformative approach. Civil society privileges the empowerment of women's and girls' voices through participatory methods. This situated women-led 'encounter of change' between men and women addressed the 'harmful practices' of Chewa initiation, transcending patriarchal opposition in the process. Using an applied anthropological lens, I explore what enabled this contingent change in narrative among teachers, but I also question the coloniality inherent in efforts to transform the gender and sexuality of others through the ubiquity of voice.

Integrating critical thinking on gender and power within sexuality education has been praised for its ability to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The Dutch government has been investing in this 'gender transformative approach' by strengthening the capacity of 64 schools in Zambia. I draw on findings of a multi-sited ethnography on the experiences of 22 male and female teachers and government officials in Zambia, who underwent training in this approach from 2018 to 2019. Female teachers and government workers utilized this training to critique and change harmful initiation rites of the Chewa peoples. However, this attempt at norm change was hindered by the 'fluidity of patriarchy,' which refers to the ability of powerful men to adapt to outside interventions. In this case, they undermined the project. Labeling this resistance simply as 'dealing with opposition', as Western NGOs have started doing recently, overlooks the ways in which traditions are reimagined and reinvented to sustain patriarchy and gender inequality. In this article, I critique the way Western programs listen to the voices of the young people they aim to support. Due to NGO jargon and a focus on evidence and effectiveness, these voices often go unheard. I urge policymakers and practitioners to ask self-critical questions about who gets to set the research agenda, whose voices are prioritized, and (ironically) how their own masculinist leadership norms and neoliberal practices may embody expressions of coloniality and patriarchy.

Exploring the Gender Perspective in English Language Teaching (ELT): Voices from ELT Practitioners in Philippine Higher Education Institutions.

In recent years, gender mainstreaming in education has been discussed and studied. In the Philippines, however, research has tended to focus on extreme ends of the implementation process such as the awareness of educators about the gender perspective or the success in incorporating gender in their pedagogical practices, rather than an in-depth analysis on the overall experience of educators in the government's attempt to mainstream gender-and-development education in schools. Also, there is a gap in the literature concerning Filipino English language teaching (ELT) practitioners' views on integrating the gender perspective into English language education. Through semi-structured interviews, the present study explores how a group of 71 Filipino college teachers of English perceive the benefits, ways, and challenges of incorporating the gender dimension in ELT. The thematic analysis of interview responses revealed the following benefits: enhancement of learners' critical thinking skills, promotion of an inclusive and supportive learning environment, and increased awareness on the critical role of language (i.e., English) in recognizing diversity. Further, it was found that the teacher-participants incorporate gender knowledge in ELT in two ways: instructional materials and teaching-learning activities, and teacher-student interaction. In terms of challenges, three major themes emerged: learner factor, teacher factor, and institutional constraints (which were further categorized as curriculum, resource, and belief).

Are health systems interventions gender blind? examining health system reconstruction in conflict affected states.

BACKGROUND: Global health policy prioritizes improving the health of women and girls, as evident in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), multiple women's health initiatives, and the billions of dollars spent by international donors and national governments to improve health service delivery in low-income countries. Countries recovering from fragility and conflict often engage in wide-ranging institutional reforms, including within the health system, to address inequities. Research and policy do not sufficiently explore how health system interventions contribute to the broader goal of gender equity. METHODS: This paper utilizes a framework synthesis approach to examine if and how rebuilding health systems affected gender equity in the post-conflict contexts of Mozambique, Timor Leste, Sierra Leone, and Northern Uganda. To undertake this analysis, we utilized the WHO health systems building blocks to establish benchmarks of gender equity. We then identified and evaluated a broad range of available evidence on these building blocks within these four contexts. We reviewed the evidence to assess if and how health interventions during the post-conflict reconstruction period met these gender equity benchmarks. FINDINGS: Our analysis shows that the four countries did not meet gender equitable benchmarks in their health systems. Across all four contexts, health interventions did not adequately reflect on how gender norms are replicated by the health system, and conversely, how the health system can transform these gender norms and promote gender equity. Gender inequity undermined the ability of health systems to effectively improve health outcomes for women and girls. From our findings, we suggest the key attributes of gender equitable health systems to guide further research and policy. CONCLUSION: The use of gender equitable benchmarks provides important insights into how health system interventions in the post-conflict period neglected the role of the health system in addressing or perpetuating gender inequities. Given the frequent contact made by individuals with health services, and the important role of the health system within societies, this gender blind nature of health system engagement missed an important opportunity to contribute to more equitable and peaceful societies.

PSYCHOLOGY OF BOYS AT RISK: INDICATORS FROM 0-5.

In utero and during the first 5 years of life, boys face unique risks as a result of neurobiological and environmental factors. This introductory article to the Special Issue describes the background of this gender-specific inquiry and outlines some of those risks, drawing attention to the areas that will be covered in depth in the following contributions. We also describe the basis of this inquiry as the link between early life and the subsequent difficulties that adolescent boys and many young men face, and pay particular attention to the circumstances of young men of color and to the growing knowledge about the contributions of fathers to boys' development.