The World – This Week @ MIIS

Women Communicating for Social Change is Way of Life

Brittany Lane FEATURE ARTICLES, MIIS Update, The World May 8, 2015

by Brittany Lane and Nükhet Kardam
– USA –

Entrepreneurship, or the process of starting a business or organization, has long been essential for healthy and growing economies. For the past several years, however, the burgeoning field of social entrepreneurship is generating an undeniable buzz. Social entrepreneurs seek solutions specifically for social and environmental problems using market-based approaches.

Maame Afon devotes her time and expertise to the development of women’s leadership; champions transformative mentorship for women and girls in Africa; and fosters social change philanthropy. Maame uses her music and speaking engagements to promote social justice and philanthropy.

Increasingly, women are plugging into mission-driven business activities as leaders and innovators. This is not surprising, as plenty of research shows that women care about community and typically focus on family, women, and youth-related issues. In fact, women generally are motivated to act by “pull factors, including their family experiences and injustices they have witnessed.”

While the research gives us a better understanding women’s motivations for social entrepreneurship, the question remains: How do successful women social entrepreneurs communicate? Do their particular approaches to communication contribute to effective social change, to achieving greater justice and equity in society?

To explore this idea, we conducted in depth interviews with four successful women social entrepreneurs with strong connections to the Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). Sabiha Malik, Keely Stevenson, and Sakena Yacoobi are on the Advisory Council for the center, and Maame Afon is a former MIIS student who presented and performed at the recent CSIL Launch. While by no means a representative sample, the interviews reveal some interesting patterns and common themes.

Sabiha Malik is the founder of the World Bee Project, a social enterprise that aims to conserve biodiversity, increase food security, and reduce poverty by establishing beekeeping projects worldwide in partnership with local communities and enterprises.

All four women feel strongly connected to others. Communicating for social change is a way of life. It is a simultaneous expression of the fulfillment of a calling to serve that comes from within, and its external manifestation.

The interviewees all point to their parents as role models who demonstrated how to communicate and interact with others by treating their children with love and respect. From the beginning, a supportive family that values education plays an important part in their childhoods. At an early age they all experienced an environment encouraging creativity and entrepreneurship. They tell stories about organizing community parades during holidays and rallying other children around a particular cause.

While many young people today feel the necessity to pursue higher education, pick a path, and work toward a specialization, these women arrived at their passions indirectly by dabbling in a range of professions. Stevenson worked as an optical technician in a department store, as a birthday host for children at Discovery Zone, and in hospice care before getting into campaign politics, which later led her to impact investing. Malik worked as an architect and a jewelry designer before stumbling upon the illegal diamond trade, which launched her into a series of mission-driven work. The two other women worked a variety of work-study jobs at their respective universities, from cleaning the cafeteria to managing the library. Yacoobi was a public health consultant in the United States before founding the renowned Afghan Institute of Learning. Afon worked in the shoe department at Ross, pursued a variety of jobs at NGOs working on gender and development in Africa, before switching gears to advocate for women’s rights through her music. The women engaged with people from all walks of life and feel comfortable with diversity. They learned how to listen and see different viewpoints, developing empathy through immersion.

Keely Stevenson is CEO and Co-founder of Weal Life, a digital health company focused on leveraging mobile technology to make it easier for people to care for each other during times of health crisis, aging or chronic illness. She was awarded as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

Their windy paths became sources of inspiration and exposed them to different areas of work. For example, Stevenson engaged in hospice care years ago and is now devoted to developing a mobile technology that makes it easier for people to care for each other in times of crisis, chronic illness, or aging. She says that she “saw such beauty and life in these individuals” and had to “capture some of that and bring it along with [her] in all [she does] every day.” Growing up in Ghana, Afon constantly faced household responsibilities while her boy cousins played freely. She says that while she learned many valuable lessons, it was “a space to start triggering [her] consciousness about social justice, gender roles [and] stereotypes.” This experience led her to advocacy work for gender equality as well as mentorship for other young African women hoping to achieve their visions.

On a spiritual level, all four women mention the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness. Two mention religious faith as their main drive. Stevenson tells us: “At the end of the day, it’s about love, about being connected in a really powerful way as human beings and understanding a sense of oneness about each other.” This internal confidence and sense of unity with other human beings led them to leadership centered on service. Afon believes that “the power to lead will only come from the commitment to serve.” This aligns with the notion of servant-leadership, which is the idea that “greatness in leadership should arise out of the desire to serve” by participating “in the system in search of social justice.”

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), which she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and healthcare that the Afghan people were facing after years of war and strife. She is a Skoll Social Entrepreneur, Schwab Social Entrepreneur and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Leadership stems from a place of genuine care instead of dominance, and it constantly grows and adapts with the purpose of helping others. Yacoobi says, “Above all, you must have empathy and love. If you have compassion and love for what you’re doing, then you’re successful. Your heart will speak and your whole soul will speak. People will know that you’re sincere. Show that love and compassion. There is no failing in that.”

The women we interviewed have a flexible understanding of their own identity. All four social entrepreneurs have lived and traveled around the world extensively, and none mention a strong sense of nationality. Malik says, “I think being a human being is the greatest thing that could ever be. I don’t have any concept of nationality. I’ve never had that. I’m taken aback when people say, where were you born? Yes, it’s very interesting, but when I meet people, it’s not the first thing that occurs to me. Once I get to know somebody, then it becomes interesting.”

Our interviewees have cultivated the ability to adapt to different environments and refrain from strong and defensive attachment to their own identities. Referring to her work in international development, Afon says, “When I’m in the boardroom, I’m a board member. When I’m in a village with the people I work with, when I go to these spaces, you would never know it was me. You just have to adjust. If you know their story, their story will allow you to communicate better with them.”

All four social entrepreneurs also mention a strong connection to being a woman. Stevenson says, “I would say being a woman has been a pretty strong part, being a feminist very early on, and understanding what that means. I really value equality and equal access to power and opportunity for everyone. It shaped a lot of my actions and activities and ability to fit in a variety of circles – that sense of justice and connectedness to others.” Similarly, Yacoobi says, “My position in this world is as a woman who seeks justice, equality, and freedom, and [as] a woman who wants to really transform others so they can reach the same level of life. I really believe in it.”

It seems clear that being a woman shapes the decision to engage in this field of work. Self-awareness and self-understanding seems to allow them to listen with greater authenticity and with less preconceived notions. While they are able to detach from their own identities to some degree, they are also able to maintain an internal sense of confidence and trust.

Although only a snapshot, these conversations show women who at a young age exhibited entrepreneurial characteristics and were fortunate to grow up in relatively loving and enabling environments. They learned about flexibility and adaptation. They also learned not to be strongly attached to their own identities. In many ways, this allowed for motivation to come quite naturally. As Malik says, “I’ve always had a tremendous sense of purpose and compelling need to find meaning, find meaning in everything from drinking a cup of tea to boiling an egg. When I become aware of what I’m doing, then anything becomes a delight and a joy.”

Brittany Lane is a graduate with distinction candidate for a M.A. in International Policy and Development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She earned her B.A. in International Relations and Economics from the College of William and Mary, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She is passionate about women’s rights, social entrepreneurship, gender equity through sport, and youth development. She is a Graduate Assistant for The WIP and the Center for Social Impact Learning.

Nükhet Kardam originally from Turkey, is Professor of Development Practice and Policy at the Mddlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She has two books titled “Turkey’s Engagement with Women’s Human Rights” (Asghate Publishers, 2005), and Bringing Women In: Women’s Issues in International Development Programs (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993) and has worked on women’s rights and gender and development for several decades both at the global and local levels, as instructor and consultant. Her most recent work in the area of women’s social entrepreneurship is co-authored with Fredric Kropp, titled: “Women as Social Entrepreneurs: A Case Study” in Women in the Global Economy: Leading Social Change edited by Trish Tierney (20IIE Global Education Report, 2013). She is currently working on a digitized scholarship project, tentatively titled: East, West and Beyond: A Personal Exploration into Identities. Please visit her faculty page for further information.

Iran’s Nuclear Program: A Generational Divide

Ghazal Rahmanpanah MIIS Update, Politics, The World November 23, 2014

by Ghazal Rahmanpanah
–Iran/USA–

Multigenerational presence at Tehran marketplace. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Multigenerational presence at Tehran’s Old Bazaar. Photograph courtesy of the author.

In the summer of 2013, three decades after the end of the Iranian hostage crisis, the windows of the former United States embassy in the heart of downtown Tehran were washed once again and colorful murals were painted on the abandoned external walls. With the election of Dr. Hassan Rouhani to the Islamic Republic’s presidency, the people of Iran began envisioning a hopeful relationship between Iran and the U.S.A, believing promises of negotiations and economic relief to be imminent.

Yet over a year later, analysts and experts on both sides continue to debate how the endgame will play out. There is very little certainty whether the U.S. demands of dismantling uranium enrichment capacity will be met and whether the countless, crippling economic sanctions on Iran will be promptly removed.

Moreover, at the heart of these negotiations are many complex diplomatic challenges for the West given the Iranian nuclear program’s covert history and the government’s prohibition of media coverage of all things nuclear. However, what seems to be missing almost entirely from this ongoing analysis is the voice of the Iranian people – the voices of those the most impacted by the dialogue between the United States and its former friend and close ally within the Middle East.

Since the revolution in 1979, Iranian domestic and foreign policy have isolated the country from its former allies, with the nation’s nuclear program only exasperating the isolation. The program’s roots are grounded in the U.S.-backed regime of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the late 1950s, Iran’s nuclear cooperation began when the nation became a signatory to the U.S. Atoms for Peace program under President Eisenhower.

For the next two decades, the Shah bankrolled dozens of nuclear power stations across the country with U.S. support and backing. Simultaneously, the country ratified the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968). Under the Atomic Energy Act of Iran, funding began to pour into the scientific and technical infrastructures necessary to carry out projects in industries such as agriculture that would use atomic energy to flourish. The Shah was determined to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle, building nearly two-dozen nuclear power plants by the mid 1970s.

Tehran mural. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Mural on former U.S. embassy wall in Tehran. Photograph courtesy of the author.

Then, in 1979, as the Iranian Revolution unfolded and U.S. ties severed, all nuclear projects froze. U.S. contracts to build new power plants were cancelled. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shut down the country’s nuclear program until 1984, at the height of the Iran-Iraq war, when the Ayatollah had a change of heart. With Saddam Hussein pursuing an Iraqi nuclear program, Ayatollah Khomeini secretly sought assistance from Germany to restart the halted program – the same year the U.S. Department of State added Iran to its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

For the next 30 years diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran officially remained non-existent even though the rhetoric and talking points continue to be heavy-handed. During this time, Iran’s official attitude towards The Great Satan – its policies and regional actions – are a matter of very public record.

In 2013, Hassan Rouhani, the former Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, ran a campaign promising “Government of Prudence and Hope.” Assurances of enhanced mutual trust between Tehran and the international community and relief from “cruel” western sanctions were the foundation to Rouhani’s sweep of Iran’s seventh presidential elections with nearly 51 percent of the votes.

The election of Rouhani ushered in hope and optimism for many Iranians, specifically the country’s very young population. His ascension to the presidency highlighted a significant phenomenon impacting politics and life in contemporary Iran – the country’s widening generational gap.

According to the Mundi Index, over half of Iran’s nearly 81 million are under the age of 25. This figure signifies the existence of two critical generations within the country: the generation that witnessed and barely survived the revolution and subsequent years of war and the generation that did not.

Mural on former U.S. embassy wall in Tehran. Photograph courtesy of the author.

For the former, the years following the overthrow of the Shah on February 11, 1979 were marred by mass executions of political opponents and former government officials as the new regime swiftly moved to consolidate power. According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, from 1981 to 1985 during the regime’s “revolutionary crisis mode,” it is believed over 8,000 opponents were executed – a number far exceeding the number killed by the Shah in an attempt to stop the revolution. Almost immediately following the revolution, Iran entered a devastating eight-year war with neighboring Iraq. While dissidents and political opponents faced executions at home, the young were being sent to the front lines as martyrs. For the survivors of this generation the scars of war are very real. Samira*, a family friend from the Northeastern city of Mashhad, tells me “Until 1979, political debate was in our blood … and then the killings began. So who is left for debate?”

The years of war created a lasting impression on this generation – a generation filled with both pride and fear when it comes to national identity. Fatemeh* was only 15 when the country broke out into revolution. Well traveled and sharp-tongued, even by Iranian female standards, she currently works as an office manager for a prominent law firm in Tehran. Sitting in an ice cream shop, I ask her thoughts on the now infamous “Happy in Tehran” dancers. “They were bi-hijab (without hijab) while singing in the streets,” she says frankly. “They broke the law, so what did they expect?”

For this generation, the issue of atomic energy is closely tied to their national identity as an Iranian. For individuals such as Fatemeh and Samira, the roots of the nuclear program are deeply grounded in their rights as a citizen of the world. Ali, a middle-aged man with a young family working in Tehran’s bazaar, is never short on criticisms when it comes to Iranian politics. Pushing him on his thoughts regarding the nuclear energy program, he bolsters proudly “it is the right of our people. China has it [a nuclear program], the U.S. has one, Israel has theirs,” he replies. “So we have a right to have one too.”

Yet, when the same questions are brought up to Iran’s budding young population, the sentiment is starkly different. Maryam*, a highly educated young mother of one, gave up her full time job as a travel agent to stay at home with her young son. Although her engineer husband has no objections to her working, she is frustrated with the lack of jobs in her field of accounting. She recalls the days when the regime spoke proudly of the nuclear program and how it would be a source of alternative energy for the country. “And then nothing came of it,” she says angrily. “We waited for the supposed energy to manifest and it didn’t. Instead, things just got worse and the economic pressures have poisoned our society.”

For this young and seemingly unfulfilled generation, the regime they never chose has failed to keep its promises of prosperity. The nuclear program has yet to create the alternative energy it was supposedly set out to do and the country continues to fall further into isolation. It remains to be seen what, if anything, will come from the Geneva talks and whether the outcries of the younger generation will start to take a toll on the political actions of the country’s old guard. I ask Maryam if she could send one message to the United States, what would it be. She ponders for a minute and replies, “I would tell them that the opinion of our government is not the opinion of our people. Don’t punish us for the choices of our fathers.”

*Name is changed for the safety of the individual.

About the author: Ghazal Rahmanpanah is an Iranian-American born in Tehran and raised in Maryland and Washington, DC who recently received her MA in International Policy Studies and MBA in International Economics at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is currently working as a media analyst for a global strategic communications firm. Ghazal is passionate about gender equality and the role it plays in disarmament initiatives.

Mobilizing Religious Leaders to Combat Violence against Women in Turkey

Nükhet Kardam Education, FEATURE ARTICLES, MIIS Update, The World August 14, 2014

by Meltem Ağduk and Nükhet Kardam
– Turkey –

Violence against Women (VAW) is a violation of human rights rooted in inequality between women and men. Resistance to combating VAW in many Muslim majority countries is ingrained in both the dominant patriarchal and the conventional religious norms. For many years Muslim women have remained silent, and nearly all interpretations of gender relations have been formulated by Muslim men and support the dominant norms. Turkey is no exception.

Meltem Ağduk, Gender Programme Coordinator for the UNFPA in Turkey leads workshop for religious leaders.

According to the 2009 results of “National Research on Domestic Violence against Women in Turkey,” 2 out of 5 women have been exposed to physical violence by their husbands or partners at least once in their lifetime. Violence against women became part of the public agenda in Turkey in the mid-1980s when women’s NGOs ran campaigns, established shelters, and initiated local training programs. Several interventions took place on VAW to raise the awareness of the general public, the decision makers, journalists, service providers, and community leaders.

After working on promoting gender equality for many years in academia and in international organizations, it has become clear to us that promoting gender equality and combating violence against women needs a multi-sectoral approach. Such changes require time, new allies, and new incentives. Political commitment, policy changes, and legal reforms are essential, but so are attitudinal changes in society, in gender relations, and in one’s own identity. We now understand that Islam must be viewed as an ally to gender equality rather than a threat.

In Turkey, until the beginning of 2000, all sectors related to the issue of VAW – law-enforcement, the judiciary, health care providers, social care providers, NGOs, and opinion leaders – worked alone or did not see the problem as part of their duties. For example, police saw the issue from the public order perspective and health care providers saw the issue as a health problem, but neither saw VAW as a social issue. After 2000, a multi-sectoral approach to combat VAW has become one of the most important interventions.

Raising religious leaders’ awareness of VAW is critical since they have a strong influence in local communities. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has experience working with local leaders around the world on VAW issues. The UNFPA has partnered with the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA) to provide training. The programs present a unique case study of how Islamic norms on women’s human rights may be merged with CEDAW, the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women.

According to Hidayet Tuksal PhD, an advisor of the PRA, “Religious Affairs and other faith-based organizations have great importance on combating VAW because the problem is an issue that is somehow justified by religion … Of course there are difficulties. One of the important difficulties is the existing patriarchal knowledge of our religious leaders. This knowledge is also supported by the patriarchal mentality that has been built in the society … We believe through such training projects we will start to make small changes in the mentality.”

The UNFPA has partnered with the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs to provide training to religious leaders in Turkey. Photograph courtesy of the authors.

Turkey presents a fascinating case where secularism, representing modernity, and Islam have traditionally been seen as opposites. While women’s human rights are still discussed within the context of secularism (Western values versus Islam), the practice on the ground has been quite different and much more complicated. The UNFPA training programs of religious leaders represent a recent practice on the ground that reveals the complications, and helps us move away from a simple dualistic discourse.

PRA is the official institution that provides public service on religious issues. The presidency is responsible for regulating the operation of about 80,000 registered mosques and employing local and provincial imams. Recently PRA has organized activities and made new regulations strengthening the position and role of women in society. This is a pioneering move in the Muslim world. The PRA now appoints women as vice muftis to respond to special issues concerning women. Furthermore, family counseling bureaus have been established all around Turkey, serviced by women vice muftis.

The lack of trained, gender-sensitive staff able to give proper guidance on violence against women is what prompted the PRA to respond and partner with UNFPA and the General Directorate on the Status of Women to develop the training program for religious leaders. This program is meant to promote the capacity of religious leaders’ response to VAW through an improved referral system. The program aims to reach 100,000 religious leaders by the end of 2015.

A typical training program consists of 4 modules: a) How Islam approaches VAW, gender equality, Hadiths (Prophet Muhammad’s sayings) and VAW; b) Gender equality and VAW; c) Legislation on VAW in Turkey; d) Teaching techniques and communication skills, and how to communicate with violence survivors.

One participant, Mustafa Koseoglu, tells us “I’m glad I participated in the training. The experts taught me what to do. The community was frequently asking me: ‘What should we do?’ … By this training we have learned how to guide people.”

Since the beginning of the program, UNFPA has worked with nearly 500 religious leaders like Koseoglu. Trained religious leaders have reached approximately 500,000 field staff who have been working as imams, Qur’an teachers, and preachers. According to the training evaluations, the sessions are very effective. Ninety percent of the participants feel more confident to provide guidance on the issues of gender and VAW after the trainings. “On every occasion,” reports Mustafa Demir, “we express that laying a hand on woman is a sin and Islamic religion prohibits this…”

The process of implementation has led to some difficulties and some surprises. For example, it was difficult to locate national experts on the issue of Islam, gender, and VAW. Bringing experts from other Muslim majority countries was not an option as every Muslim majority country has their own specifications on cultural issues.

During the trainings, we were surprised to meet many Muslim women who identified themselves as feminist. These women are mostly graduates of Theology Departments of the universities, continuing their graduate studies through masters or PhD programs. Both their involvement in the training and their activities outside of the training showed us that Muslim women, with their liberal and progressive perspectives, are the ones who will pave the way to change gendered notions of Islam.

The most important challenge for the project is the increasingly conservative attitude prevalent in the ruling AK party, accompanied by the restructuring of the PRA and changes in its leadership. This puts the achievements of the project at risk. Presently ‘the family and children’ are emphasized rather than gender equality and the protection of women from violence. Gender equality and VAW are still pivotal in the trainings. However, the perspective has shifted from women to ‘family and child’, which is considered to be a ‘safer’ discourse within the context of VAW.

The question becomes ‘where do we go from here?’ We need to continue raising the awareness of religious leaders on gender equality and combating VAW. However, we have to find another way to reach them because with the new more conservative perspective of the government, we cannot continue the same program. We are discussing this issue with the feminist Muslim women of Turkey, the staff of PRA, and the experts from various NGOs, yet we have not found the answer. But we are hopeful, as always.

We believe training programs for religious leaders represents an innovative approach that moves beyond the binaries of Islam versus secularism. These programs create a dialogue between the secular and religious discourses on women’s rights that is cognizant of the complexities and diversity of Islamic interpretations on the ground. It is clear that any transformation in women’s human rights is subject to the political vagaries in Turkey and anyone who is hoping for a moral revolution in women’s human rights has to, by necessity, become a savvy political player.

About the authors:

Nükhet Kardam is Professor of Development Practice and Policy at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She is the author of “Turkey’s Engagement with Women’s Human Rights (Asghate Publishers, 2005) and has worked on women’s rights and gender and development for several decades both at the global and local levels. Most recently, Nükhet presented a paper at the International Studies Conference in Istanbul, Turkey in June 2014 titled: Women’s Human Rights in Turkey: Between Secularism and Islam?

Meltem Ağduk is Gender Programme Coordinator for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Turkey. She is a graduate of Journalism and Public Relations. After getting her MSci on Media Studies, she is now preparing her PhD dissertation on “Women Journalists in the Gendered Newsroom in Turkey”.