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This article describes the obstacles faced by the Ethiopians in having affordable, good quality basic health care services, reproductive health care services and primary education. The findings highlight the link between limited access to basic services and poverty, low incomes, insecure livelihoods and poor nutrition. Research findings on four Ethiopian sites indicated that majority of the population have inadequate diets, insufficient health care and education facilities, compounding gender discrimination and lack of women empowerment, and inaccessible reproductive health care. After analyzing gathered information, three areas of concern were focused upon: poverty viewed as an emergency; the need to invest in citizenship and education; and aid conditionalities, conflict and poverty. This paper suggests that to overcome poverty and the prevailing gender inequality, massive investments in basic adult, primary and secondary education and women involvement in governance and citizenship are necessary. To implement all these, the call for international support for funding is deemed necessary.

This paper examines how work and the labor in agriculture in rural sub-Saharan Africa is measured. Section 1 presents a historical example of colonial discourses of the "lazy" African (the Lamba in Zambia). Section 2 analyzes a study carried out in rural Zambia to illustrate the relationship between stereotypes held by many Europeans, particular aspects of the colonial project, and the social relations brought about by colonialism. Section 3 examines the ways in which present work and labor approaches in sub-Saharan Africa embody value judgements which leads to distorted documentation of the division of labor between opposite genders. Sections 4 through 7 look at a time-use study conducted in Zambia and argue that studies of such nature create value judgement on what comprises work, and about how researchers and planners classify this. Overall, this article has demonstrated that time-use surveys may provide inadequate understanding of women and men's work in the absence of an understanding of the local context in which the work is undertaken, and of labor markets.

Drawing on a 12-month study, this paper explores the role of women in agriculture in Kerala, India. Despite claims that women enjoy high status in Kerala, economic, social, and cultural factors interplay to reinforce gender differences in ownership, control over, and access to critical agricultural resources, including land. Although women may gain access to land through inheritance, marriage, or informal networks, none of this guarantee effective control over it. The traditional rights of women to land have not been adequately recognized: the gender gap in the ownership and control of property is the only most significant contributor to the gender gap in the economic well-being, social status, and empowerment of women. The existing socioeconomic changes and crisis which render agricultural land as a main source of livelihood, is leading nair women's share of land being sold, with gains going to men, thus decreasing women¿s ownership of land to the status of male-controlled dowry. The case of the Christian succession laws in Kerala illustrate that legal provisions alone can have a limited impact on changing gendered power structures. The role of women in agriculture needs to be recognized, and institutional support must be increased in order for women to gain access to agricultural inputs and technology, which in turn, leads to better agricultural practices and a higher income from farming in the country. Most importantly, there should be a concerted effort to enable women to function as independent farmers who control their own land.

This article explores the strategies employed by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to challenge the right wing nationalism that dominates Indian politics. The opposition of the NGOs to the current political climate has evolved a variety of strategies, depending on their links with northern NGOs or international organizations such as the UN, and their reliance on foreign funding. The organizations that have links with international NGO community primarily express their opposition through consciousness raising and networking strategies. Because NGOs activities at the national level have the potential to attract the attention and anger of nationalist actors, many choose to operate at local level for fear of harassment. Some get involved in initiatives such as direct-action campaigns which spring up when violence breaks out in a locality, or immediately afterwards. Another strategy being set up by NGOs is cooperative and cross-community initiatives to encourage as well as build on historic relationships of socioeconomic and political interdependence between Hindus and Muslims. These strategies seek to strengthen people's awareness of the distinction between personal spiritual beliefs, the true character of India's composite culture, and of the religious rhetoric being disseminated by nationalist for the purpose of securing political power. Although much effort has been exerted by these organizations, these strategies have limitations, which are discussed in this paper.

This paper explores the changing relationships between lay women, and the spiritual realm, in two ethnic Tibetan communities, Kag and Dzong, in northwestern Nepal. The study tackles how economic and social change has affected women's spiritual roles within the household and the community, and how these roles, in turn, have influenced the course of such change. In Kag, the introduction of tourism changed women's way of life. They became income-generating members of the community as lodge-owners. With new responsibilities to manage, Kag women eventually neglected their traditional social and spiritual obligations, much to the dismay of the older generation. On the other hand, women in Dzong still consider full social and physical participation in village life important despite the added obligations. They maintain spiritual harmony within the village. Dzongba women do not seem to feel the same conflicts as Kagpa women. The negative impact of Kag women's neglect of traditional social and spiritual responsibilities should be weighed against the possible benefits to women, household, and economy.

This article describes some of the main cultural influences on gender and education in Nepal and the fact that geographical and cultural factors determine the enrollment access of children, which is relatively high for both sexes at the primary level and very low for girls at the secondary level. Next, the paper summarizes the Nepal Secondary Education Development Project, which seeks to improve access to and quality of secondary education and introduced two distinct but complementary training initiatives to address gender-related inequalities: 1) the inclusion of a relatively conventional gender training unit within an in-service teacher-training unit to address the problems caused by the lack of women teachers, by exclusionary teaching styles, and by expectations that girls will not perform as well as boys in some subjects and 2) participatory gender-training workshops held in each of Nepal's development regions. The workshop outcomes are then considered in light of the gap that exists between awareness and action, suggestions that arose to promote change through decentralizing and democratizing the education process, and actions that have taken place since the workshops occurred. The article concludes with a consideration of the nature of gender training given that the very different activities described had similar results because participants were able to identity gender disparity themselves instead of having "gender" applied as a label to their training activities.

This paper presents findings of an anthropological study among pregnant adolescents in Cape Town, South Africa. The inquiry focuses on the sexual dynamics within adolescent relationships. The study reveals widespread male coercion and violence within sexual relationships. Informants describe assault as a regular feature of their relationships. In South Africa, power relations between men and women are commonly manifested as and imposed through sexual violence and assault. Men use physical assault to force sexual contact, beating their female partners if they refuse to have sex, are suspected of sexual infidelity, or are found to be using contraceptives. Moreover, women experience abuse such as gang rape. Yet, health promotion interventions fail to acknowledge sexual encounters as instances in which unequal power relations between men and women are expressed. It is these power relations which determine women's ability or inability to protect themselves against sexually transmitted disease, pregnancy, and unwelcome sexual acts. This study underlines the need to consider gender power issues in the design and impact assessment of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health interventions and in challenging male violence.

In many cultures throughout history, parents have preferred to conceive and bear sons rather than daughters. In May 1995, Adithi, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in parts of Bihar with resource-poor women, and Bal Mahila Kalyan (BMK), an NGO working with poor people in general, organized a workshop with traditional midwives on the issue of female infanticide. A prior study found that traditional midwives are often called upon to kill female infants. These women mainly belong to the dalit community, are mostly illiterate, typically live in poverty, and have little power in the community. The workshop goals were to explore gender discrimination in different caste and religious groups; to understand the history and extent of female infanticide in the area, and to examine whether the incidence varies with caste, class, religion, and birth order; and to identify strategies to combat female infanticide. 28 traditional midwives participated. This paper describes the proceedings of the workshop and examines strategies for combatting female infanticide.