Blog 3: Gender Empowerment

I recently read an article discussing how measuring gender relations is the key to understanding inequalities between men and women in a country. Read more at http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/stable/10.2307/4404712

This article became more relevant to me after reading Paradox of Empowerment: Reflections on a Case Study from Northern Ghana http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/science/article/pii/S0305750X0000084X . This article talks about how the "development" industry has incorporated empowerment of the poor, gender etc into their vocabulary. This has given me a better understanding of where Ghana is in the development and growth of the country. They have already acknowledged inequalities are pushing past them to further the progress of the country.

This also tells me that gender empowerment is a topic that is openly talked about in Ghana. My group and I will be able to talk about the importance of community and women working together without the fear that the women we are working with have never heard these things or the fear of offending anyone.

Feminism in Ghana?

Hey Guys!!!

I was happy to read that there is a pro-women empowerment group in Ghana called The Network for Women's rights. This group is currently working to form a concrete definition of what feminism means so that they are able to fight the stereotypes that are currently being generated when the word feminism currently comes into conversations. Read more at http://www.modernghana.com/news/344805/1/netright-educates-gender-activists-on-feminism.html.

Based on my research I have found that gender roles are prominent in Ghanaian society. I read an article that a man wrote about the different experiences that he and his sister encountered growing up. Two twins started off in the same school with the same teacher. They are both doing well, but the twin sister consistently finds that she is outperforming the twin brother. Instead of encouraging both of them to do their best, the father makes the brother feel ashamed of his work, saying "why should a boy allow a girl to outperform him?". Due to the fact that the sister had more household chores as they grew older, the boy was able to surpass her in his studies. The sister is still working to pursue a college degree, while the brother is applying for his masters. http://opinion.myjoyonline.com/pages/feature/201201/80518.php

This article interested me because, as I brought up in class, I am wondering how to address feminism as my group and I work on our gender empowerment project. On the one hand, there appears to be a feminist agenda that is promoting gender equality, but on the other hand it does not appear to be the cultural norm. I want to promote gender empowerment and let these women know about all the wonderful things they are capable of, but I do not want to insult their culture in the process.

Best,

DeAnna

My identity and how it has influenced me to go to Ghana

I am a bi-racial Black woman who grew up, and until going to college, had always lived in Dallas, Texas. There are many reasons why I decided to go on this trip and my identity has a lot to do with many of them. I wanted to go on this trip so that I could experience culture outside of America and learn about how people from another country live, while learning about myself at the same time. Not unlike many other African Americans, I am not able to trace my ancestry back to Africa, so I do not know the exact location that my ancestors are from, but I believe simply visiting a part of Africa would give me an understanding of a part of my history and culture that I did not know. I believe it is important to form bonds with other countries and experience different cultures because it provides perspective and understanding. Due to my families finances, I have not had many opportunities to travel, so I am excited to make Ghana my first trip out of the country. I have a personal interest in education reform in the United States, so initially I was planning to work on the mentoring project, but feminism is also important to me and I've recently decided to spend my time in Ghana working to strengthen the women's community. I believe it is important for women to form bonds with each other, so that we are able to encourage each other and keep one another strong and I am looking forward to helping Ghanaian women do just that. Not only do I hope to impact someone's life on this trip, but also to be impacted. I am hoping to grow as an individual and learn things while I am on this trip that I can carry with me for the rest of my life.