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Special Focus

AWID is an international, feminist, membership organisation committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women’s human rights

Protection of the Family

The Issue

Over the past few years, a troubling new trend at the international human rights level is being observed, where discourses on ‘protecting the family’ are being employed to defend violations committed against family members, to bolster and justify impunity, and to restrict equal rights within and to family life.

The campaign to "Protect the Family" is driven by ultra-conservative efforts to impose "traditional" and patriarchal interpretations of the family, and to move rights out of the hands of family members and into the institution of ‘the family’.

“Protection of the Family” efforts stem from:

  • rising traditionalism,
  • rising cultural, social and religious conservatism and
  • sentiment hostile to women’s human rights, sexual rights, child rights and the rights of persons with non-normative gender identities and sexual orientations.

Since 2014, a group of states have been operating as a bloc in human rights spaces under the name “Group of Friends of the Family”, and resolutions on “Protection of the Family” have been successfully passed every year since 2014.

This agenda has spread beyond the Human Rights Council. We have seen regressive language on “the family” being introduced at the Commission on the Status of Women, and attempts made to introduce it in negotiations on the Sustainable Development Goals.


Our Approach

AWID works with partners and allies to jointly resist “Protection of the Family” and other regressive agendas, and to uphold the universality of human rights.

In response to the increased influence of regressive actors in human rights spaces, AWID joined allies to form the Observatory on the Universality of Rights (OURs).  OURs is a collaborative project that monitors, analyzes, and shares information on anti-rights initiatives like  “Protection of the Family”.

Rights at Risk, the first OURs report, charts a map of the actors making up the global anti-rights lobby, identifies their key discourses and strategies, and the effect they are having on our human rights.   

The report outlines “Protection of the Family” as an agenda that has fostered collaboration across a broad range of regressive actors at the UN.  It describes it as: “a strategic framework that houses “multiple patriarchal and anti-rights positions, where the framework, in turn, aims to justify and institutionalize these positions.”

 

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Snippet FEA Audio A Caring Economy (FR)

¿Mi participación es confidencial?

Sí, es absolutamente confidencial. Tus respuestas se borrarán al término del procesamiento y el análisis de los datos, y se utilizarán únicamente a los fines de la investigación. Los datos NUNCA se compartirán fuera de AWID y solo los procesarán el personal y consultorxs de AWID abocadxs al proyecto ¿Dónde está el dinero?

Damos prioridad a tu privacidad y anonimato. Los detalles de nuestra política de privacidad se encuentran disponibles aquí.

Barin Kobane

Barin integraba la unidad de batalla formada íntegramente por mujeres de la Unidad de Protección del Pueblo Kurdo (YPG).

La mataron cuando estaba en servicio activo.

La periodista libanesa Hifaa Zuaiter escribió: «Barin representa todo lo que hemos oído acerca del coraje de las combatientes kurdas, y su muerte es mucho más que el matar a un rival o el resultado de una lucha política o étnica. El horror de exhibir su cuerpo sólo porque es una mujer surge del hecho de que ella se atrevió a amenazar la hegemonía masculina al convertirse en una combatiente en un campo de batalla que se suponía era solo para hombres».


 

Barin Kobane, Kurdistan

Mujeres indígenas por la defensa de los derechos

Estas defensoras lucharon por los derechos sobre la tierra, de las mujeres y de los pueblos indígenas; haciendo frente a las industrias extractivas, escribiendo poesía y promoviendo el amor. Una de ellas desapareció hace ya 19 años. Únete a nosotras para recordar y honrar a estas defensoras de derechos humanos, su trabajo y su legado, compartiendo los memes aquí incluidos; y tuiteando las etiquetas #WHRDTribute y #16Días.


Por favor, haz click en cada imagen de abajo para ver una versión más grande y para descargar como un archivo.  

 

Snippet FEA Travesti (EN)

TRAVESTI

A latin-american gender identity

The term travesti is often mistakenly translated as "transvestite" in English. However, it is a Latin American gender identity with no equivalent in other languages, and exclusively female. It is a person designated male at birth who identifies as female. They may or may not undergo bodily changes, and should always be addressed with she/her pronouns.

Travesti is not only a gender identity located outside of gender binarism, it is also a cultural identity rooted in Latin American movements. The term was initially pejorative, but it was later re-appropriated as a symbol of resistance and dignity.

Every travesti is trans because she does not identify with the gender designated at birth, however not every travesti considers themselves as a trans woman, since travesti is already a gender identity on its own.

Source: Berkins, Lohana. (2006). Travestis: una Identidad Política [Travestis: a Political Identity]. Trabajo presentado en el Panel Sexualidades contemporáneas en las VIII Jornadas Nacionales de Historia de las Mujeres/ III Congreso Iberoamericano de Estudios de Género Diferencia Desigualdad. Construirnos en la diversidad, Villa Giardino, Córdoba, 25 al 28 de octubre de 2006.

Les réalités du financement et l’état du financement des mouvements féministes changent rapidement. Cette enquête a-t-elle une seule édition?

Non. L’enquête s’appuie sur les 20 années de mobilisation de l’AWID dans l’objectif d’obtenir davantage de financement de meilleure qualité pour des changements sociaux menés par des féministes. Cette enquête est la troisième édition de la recherche Où est l’argent pour l’organisation des mouvements féministes? Notre objectif est de mener une enquête WITM tous les 3 ans.

Sue Hoya Sellars

Née en 1936 dans le Maryland aux États-Unis, Sue était artiste, activiste et enseignante.

Son art était destiné aux femmes et parlait des femmes. En tant que féministe lesbienne, pendant un temps séparatiste, elle s'est engagée à créer des espaces réservés aux femmes. En 1976, elle a acheté un terrain qui est toujours géré par des femmes qui y séjournent pour créer de l'art. Sue a pris une position farouche sur la question de la protection des femmes et des filles.

Avec son approche révolutionnaire, futuriste et anthropologique, elle remplissait chaque pièce dans laquelle elle entrait avec une intelligence et une excentricité authentiques, ainsi qu’un humour et un esprit impitoyable. Ses idées sur la conscience et la créativité continuent à inspirer beaucoup de gens.


 

Sue Hoya Sellars, USA

Trans* rights require stronger protection

These transgender women were murdered because of their activism and their gender identity. There are insufficient laws recognizing trans* rights, and even where these laws exist, very little is being done to safeguard the rights of trans* people. Please join AWID in honoring these defenders, their activism and legacy by sharing the memes below with your colleagues, networks and friends and by using the hashtags #WHRDTribute and #16Days.


Please click on each image below to see a larger version and download as a file 

 

Snippet FEA Lohana Berkins (ES)

Una de las líderes fundadoras de la cooperativa fue Lohana Berkins, activista, defensora y promotora de la identidad trans. Lohana jugó un papel crucial en la lucha por los derechos de las personas trans y travesti.

A través de su lucha se consiguió, entre muchas otras cosas, la aprobación de la Ley de Identidad de Género. Es una de las legislaciones más progresistas del mundo, garantizando derechos fundamentales a las personas trans y travestis. Ahora, las personas pueden cambiar sus nombres y géneros solo con una declaración jurada, y tener acceso a atención médica integral sin intervención/aprobación judicial o médica (Outright International, 2012).

Snippet - WITM FAQ - EN

Frequently Asked Questions

Lara Kruger

Lara was a well-known and loved radio DJ on Motsweding FM in South Africa.

Lara was one of the first openly-transgender radio hosts on a mainstream station. She worked hard to shine a light on LGBTI issues.

Lara’s activism started at a young age when she would vocally defend her right to dress and behave as she felt comfortable to members of her community who didn’t yet understand what it meant to be transgender.


 

Lara Kruger, South Africa

1. Gather your resources

This section highlights key resources recommended by AWID so you can conduct your own WITM research.

In this section

People needed

  • 1 or more person(s) to lead overall implementation of research methodology and ensure all key pieces are on track (Sections 2-11)
  • 1 or more person(s) to conceptualize the key research objectives and guiding questions
  • 1 or more person(s) to refine and conduct the research methodology, including collecting data
  • 1 or more person(s) to conduct relevant qualitative and quantitative analysis of collected data
  • 1 or more person(s) to document and package research findings for desired audience(s)
  • 1 or more person(s) to serve as an editor to your final products
  • 1 or more person(s) to conduct outreach to spread the word about your survey and advocacy using your research results

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Potential expenses

  1. Staff and/or consultant salaries
  2. Data analysis software if conducting analysis of large dataset in-house. Options:
    - SPSS
    - Stata
    - R (this is free)
  3. Cost of producing publications and research products
  4. If desired, incentive prize that survey participants can win if they complete the survey
  5. If desired, incentives to offer your advisors

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Estimated time

  • For research process: 6 to 18 months, depending on size of dataset(s) and staff capacity
  • For advocacy: 1-2 years, as determined by your organizational goals

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Resources needed

  • List of advisor organizations, donors and activists
  • List of online spaces and events/networks to distribute your survey and present your survey results
  • List of donors, activists, and women’s rights organizations to interview
  • Prepared interview questions
  • List of publication sources to use for desk research

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Resources available

Online tools

Once you gather these resources, you can estimate the costs for your research using our “Ready to Go? Worksheet”

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Previous step

Before you begin

Next step

2. Frame your research


Previous step

Before you begin

Next step

2. Frame your research


The Ready to Go? Worksheet helps you estimate resources, staff and budget needed for your research

Download the toolkit in PDF

Body

Snippet FEA Exclusion and Stigma (FR)

Une illustration d'un mégaphone en bleu marine. Des lignes représentant des ondes sonores sortent de l'extrémité du haut-parleur, en bordeaux.

L'EXCLUSION, LA STIGMATISATION ET LES ABUS INSTITUTIONNELS
auxquels les personnes trans et les travestis continuent de faire face au quotidien