This thesis examines the potential of housing co-operatives to provide adequate housing for women, focusing on the context of Nairobi, Kenya. The limitations of the current approaches to housing provision in Kenya are discussed, along with their gendered implications. A review of the potential benefits which housing co-operatives provide for women is conducted. As part of this examination, a multi-scalar analysis of the housing co-operative sector in Kenya illuminates the role of gender mainstreaming policies and their role in addressing discrimination and inequality in the housing sector in Kenya. A case study of Rooftops Canada’s gender mainstreaming work in Kenya is used to provide examples of gender mainstreaming work being undertaken in the housing co-operative sector. This case study also provides insight into the role of international donors in gender equality work in Kenya’s housing co-operative sector.

By adopting the Policy for Global Development (PGD) in 2003 the Swedish parliament established gender mainstreaming as a goal in development cooperation policy, thereby emphasizing women’s role as agents of empowerment in development. This has not always been the case. During most of the history of Swedish foreign aid women issues have been handled separately and development policy mainly based on a male perspective. A lot of research has focused on trends in the global debate over how to better integrate women in development process, but much less academic attention has focused on how Swedish development policy has addressed the issue and how women have been referred to in development policy since the origin of Swedish foreign aid. According to the theories of critical discourse analysis (CDA) our written and spoken language influence our view of the reality and how we understand society. Following that logic, how women are referred to in Swedish development policy influence how women are perceived by the actors of development cooperation. Through a critical discourse analysis of official Swedish governmental documents concerning foreign aid, such as government bills and letters of appropriation, this study aims to detect discourses of Swedish development policy regarding women in developing countries. Furthermore it aims to understand how these discourses have related to the global debate about women’s role in development. This study observes six discourses of women in developing countries in the material: Women as passive recipient, agent of empowerment, the savior, motherhood-women as mothers, the other woman, and the man as the norm. The analysis shows Sweden’s development policies following the global discussions fairly coherently during much of the period, with 80s as the only possible exception.

The following thesis is an implementation study of an international non-governmental organization working in the field of inclusive education in Battambang, Cambodia. More specifically the study’s intent was to examine the political, economic and socio-cultural challenges experienced by the organization’s volunteers as they worked with local education partners in implementing inclusive education initiatives. Consideration was given to general education with emphasis on the implementation of gender mainstreaming initiatives at the primary level. Data was collected through participant interviews, formal observations, Follow-up questions completed by participants and various documents from the organization. The findings from the study revealed significant inconsistencies between the organization’s policy in gender equality and what was being implemented at the local level. Volunteers received little or no training in gender responsiveness, reported feelings of incapacity to engage in gender issues and failure to identify gender inequality in their development work. The volunteers and their working relationships with local education partners were a major theme in the findings; in particular the political challenges in navigating the agendas of various stakeholders. The organization’s support, information and expectations of volunteers were other issues raised by participants in the study. Among the economic challenges to implementation were working within the confines of international funding, the development of the organization’s budget, limited human resources, economic sustainability of programing and no funding for gender initiatives. Cultural challenges include volunteers’ perceptions of local views on education, the relationship between community and schools, gender equality embedded in the culture, school directors ‘losing face’ and awareness regarding gender issues.

Studien syftar till att studera jämställdhetsarbetet och synen på jämställdhet i en kommunal förvaltning. Ambitionen är att ur ett jämställdhetsperspektiv identifiera förbättringsområden och komma med förslag på strategiskt jämställdhetsarbete och hållbar jämställdhetsutveckling inom förvaltningens olika enheter. I vår studie har vi använt en kvalitativ ansats i syfte att nå en djupare förståelse för hur respondenterna upplever och ser på jämställdhet och jämställdhetsarbetet i förvaltningen. För att nå en sådan förståelse har vi sammanlagt gjort tio semistrukturerade intervjuer varav en dessa tio var en informantintervju. Vi använde oss av Kvales meningskoncentrering där de större meningarna som intervjupersonerna uttalade formulerades mer koncentrerat för att underlätta analysen av vår empiri. Resultatet i denna studie tyder på att respondenterna har olika föreställningar om vad jämställdhet är och innebär. Medarbetarna och arbetsgivarna får inte tillräckligt med information vad gäller jämställdhetsarbetet och de flesta känner inte till förvaltningens jämställdhetsplan. I och med detta kan de inte heller tillämpa eller arbeta utifrån jämställdhetsplanen i förvaltningens dagliga arbete. / The study aims to examine gender equality and the perception of equality in a municipal administration. The ambition is that from a gender perspective to identify areas for improvement and make suggestions on strategic gender equality and sustainable gender development in the administrations different units. In our study we have used a qualitative approach in order to reach a deeper understanding of how respondents perceive and look at gender and gender equality in the administration. In order to achieve such understanding we have made a total of ten semistructured interviews which one of these ten was an informant interview. We used Kvale's sentence concentrator where the larger sentences that respondents stated were formulated more concentrated in order to facilitate the analysis of our empirical data. The result of this study indicates that respondents have different perceptions of what equality is and means. Employees and employers may not get enough information in terms of gender equality, and most are not aware of administration's equality plan. In doing so, they cannot apply or work from gender perspective in the administration's daily work.

This thesis examines the potential of housing co-operatives to provide adequate housing for women, focusing on the context of Nairobi, Kenya. The limitations of the current approaches to housing provision in Kenya are discussed, along with their gendered implications. A review of the potential benefits which housing co-operatives provide for women is conducted. As part of this examination, a multi-scalar analysis of the housing co-operative sector in Kenya illuminates the role of gender mainstreaming policies and their role in addressing discrimination and inequality in the housing sector in Kenya. A case study of Rooftops Canada’s gender mainstreaming work in Kenya is used to provide examples of gender mainstreaming work being undertaken in the housing co-operative sector. This case study also provides insight into the role of international donors in gender equality work in Kenya’s housing co-operative sector.

The following thesis is an implementation study of an international non-governmental organization working in the field of inclusive education in Battambang, Cambodia. More specifically the study’s intent was to examine the political, economic and socio-cultural challenges experienced by the organization’s volunteers as they worked with local education partners in implementing inclusive education initiatives. Consideration was given to general education with emphasis on the implementation of gender mainstreaming initiatives at the primary level. Data was collected through participant interviews, formal observations, Follow-up questions completed by participants and various documents from the organization. The findings from the study revealed significant inconsistencies between the organization’s policy in gender equality and what was being implemented at the local level. Volunteers received little or no training in gender responsiveness, reported feelings of incapacity to engage in gender issues and failure to identify gender inequality in their development work. The volunteers and their working relationships with local education partners were a major theme in the findings; in particular the political challenges in navigating the agendas of various stakeholders. The organization’s support, information and expectations of volunteers were other issues raised by participants in the study. Among the economic challenges to implementation were working within the confines of international funding, the development of the organization’s budget, limited human resources, economic sustainability of programing and no funding for gender initiatives. Cultural challenges include volunteers’ perceptions of local views on education, the relationship between community and schools, gender equality embedded in the culture, school directors ‘losing face’ and awareness regarding gender issues.

Pädagog. Hochsch., Diss., 2009 u.d.T.: Goeke, Stephanie: Individuelle Empowermentprozesse von Frauen mit Behinderungserfahrung--Ludwigsburg.

Thesis (Ph.D.(Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: Ludwigsburg, Pädag. Hochsch., Diss., 2009.

Η υπάρχουσα βιβλιογραφία που αναφέρεται στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση μελετά περισσότερο τον τρόπο διαμόρφωσης μιας πολιτικής, όπως είναι η πολιτική για τα φύλα, σε επίπεδο Ε.Ε. και λιγότερο το πώς εφαρμόζεται η πολιτική αυτή στα πλαίσια ενός κράτους μέλους. Ο παραπάνω προβληματισμός αποτέλεσε και το έναυσμα της παρούσας εργασίας. Ειδικότερα, στόχος είναι η μελέτη της πορείας εφαρμογής της «πολιτικής της ενσωμάτωσης της διάστασης του φύλου σε όλες τις πολιτικές» (gender mainstreaming) από τα κατευθυντήρια πλαίσια της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, στην υλοποίησή της στο πεδίο του εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος στην Ελλάδα. Η διερεύνηση της εφαρμογής της συγκεκριμένης πολιτικής στο εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα, πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη μελέτη του προγράμματος του Κέντρου Ερευνών για Θέματα Ισότητας: «Ευαισθητοποίηση εκπαιδευτικών και παρεμβατικά προγράμματα για την προώθηση της ισότητας των φύλων», σε σχολεία του νομού Αχαΐας. Στη μελέτη χρησιμοποιήθηκε η μέθοδος της ποιοτικής έρευνας και ως ερευνητικό εργαλείο η ημιδομημένη συνέντευξη. Για την ανάλυση και ερμηνεία των αποτελεσμάτων της έρευνάς χρησιμοποιήθηκε το αναλυτικό σχήμα των τριών πυλώνων του Scott, που εντάσσεται στις νέο-θεσμικές θεωρίες των οργανώσεων. Τα βασικά συμπεράσματα της έρευνας είναι: πρώτον, σε σχέση με την βιβλιογραφική μελέτη που σχετίζεται με τη συγκεκριμένη πολιτική, φαίνεται ότι η Ελλάδα «αναγκάσθηκε» να ακολουθήσει τις Κοινοτικές κατευθύνσεις και δεν ενσωμάτωσε τις πολιτικές αυτές σε έναν ευρύτερο πολιτικό σχεδιασμό με αποτέλεσμα να παραμείνουν αποσπασματικές, και δεύτερον, ότι υφίστανται εμπόδια στην προσαρμογή του σχολείου στις εξωτερικές πιέσεις για ένταξη της προώθησης της ισότητας των φύλων στην καθημερινή εκπαιδευτική πρακτική με αποτέλεσμα την περιστασιακή και αποσπασματική εισαγωγή στοιχείων αυτής της πολιτικής στην σχολική ζωή. / The existing bibliography that refers to European Union (EU) and policy making, concentrates mostly οn the ways that policy is formulated at the EU level -in specific domains, such as gender equality- and less on the ways in which the member states conceptualize and actually implement these policies in their respective territory. Specifically, the aim of this thesis is to study the course of gender mainstreaming guidelines for action, from their beginning at the EU level, to their implementation in the Greek educational system. In order to examine this issue, a research study focused on the ‘Sensitization of Teachers and Intervention Programmes towards Gender Equality’ project was conducted. This project was funded by the EU through the structural funds and by the Greek Ministry of Education. The responsible body for the implementation and the administration of the programme was the Research Centre for Gender Equality (KETHI). Qualitative methods were used and specifically 13 semi-structure interviews were conducted with educators that participated in the project in the Prefecture of Achaias. The issue under study is approached from a neo-institutional theory perspective and specifically through Scott’s analytical schema. In relation to the way gender mainstreaming policy was implemented in Greece, the thesis argues that Greece was “forced” to follow the European guidelines but never integrated policies concerning gender into the actual policy making process. Any action undertaken was implemented in a less than formal manner with no long-term design plan. Secondly, in relation to the way these policies were integrated into the school system, there was no evidence to suggest that gender equality is integrated in the everyday school activities. Gender equality, was not but systematically mainstreamed but was done so in a haphazard manner.