Abstract
Despite some progress, women in Indonesia and Pakistan continue to experience gender discrimination, gender-based violence and several preventable health problems. Researchers and activists from the universities of Jakarta and Karachi have been networking with their counterparts at the Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada, on these issues. They believe that women's subordination in the two countries is linked to their reproductive lives as controlled by the family in the context of a patriarchal interpretation of Islam. In this project, multidisciplinary teams based at the two universities will compile and analyze narrative materials (life stories) from two or three generations of women in 10 families in each country. The researchers will receive training and support in this form of qualitative research from the Women's Studies Program at Memorial University. Project outputs will include specific suggestions for legal reform in the area of reproductive and marriage rights in the two countries, and educational materials for activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Post-Project Summary
Both the Indonesian and the Pakistani team received thorough training in qualitative research methods and the ethical procedures followed by Canadian researchers. Together, the three teams modified and refined the original data collection and analytic procedures to fit the two national contexts. All three teams adopted and became skilled in the use of NVivo, a sophisticated qualitative analysis software. Indeed, the developer of NVivo, Dr Lyn Richards, became interested in the project and invited the project leader to be keynote speaker at the Qualitative Data Research-QSR annual conference and personally supported the team in the analysis. The Pakistani team collected 50 life stories from women in two distinct regions and included eight three-generation families. The Indonesian team collected 27 life stories from women in 10 families, including seven three-generation families, in five distinct regions. Interviews were conducted in the local language, and the data were transcribed into the main languages of each country (Indonesian and Urdu). English summaries of each interview were prepared and circulated to the three teams.
The project was unique in that it approached women as social, cultural and religious beings, rather than simply physical entities. In general, both the Indonesian and the Pakistani teams found a close relationship between poverty - including poor housing and hygiene - and poor reproductive health. They were able to highlight particular forms of health problems - violence, frequent childbearing, circumcision (Indonesia) and forced marriage (especially in Pakistan). They highlighted the close and often adverse connection between religious and cultural beliefs, and women's health. They also noted that since the inception of the project, the situation for women in both countries has deteriorated as a result of the rising influence of fundamentalist ideas accompanied by increased violence against women and, especially in Indonesia, growth of regulations contrary to women's human rights.
Both teams produced presentations and publications that emphasis women's human rights in the area of reproductive health and specific measures to help poor women in particular. For example, the Indonesian team produced two comic-strip books entitled Talking about Body and Sexuality : Pictorial Stories for Adolescents and Parents, by Kristi Poerwandari and Atas Hendartini Habsjah, and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women : Pictorial Stories of Empowerment, by Anita Rahman. These were launched at a number of local events. The Pakistan team held community meetings in two areas to report back on their research findings and discuss priority needs. As a result, team members now accompany women to hospital and clinic appointments, and a team of young women have been locally recruited for a health awareness program. The team also prepared a report for a local newspaper on the varieties of local marriage patterns and a handbook on marriage rights in the local language. Both teams incorporated their findings into curriculum materials and courses at their respective institutions and continued to do so after the end of the project. A full list of community educational materials, academic outputs and conference presentations appears in the final report.
Both teams endeavored to contribute directly to policy formulation in the two countries. The Pakistani team completed a report on the representation of women and gender issues in government-run school textbooks and sent the report to the Department of Education along with their suggestions and recommendations. They also presented a report on improving women's reproductive health in Pakistan at a workshop for policymakers and academics in September 2006. The Indonesian team focused on attracting government officials to their seminars and presentations. They also worked with a network to oppose trafficking in women and launched two books on the 20th anniversary celebrations of Kajian Wa.
source:www.idrc.ca
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