BRIDGE is a research and information programme located within IDS Knowledge Services. We are part of a global movement whose vision is a world where gender equality, dignity and social justice prevail, where poverty is eliminated and where human rights – including women’s rights - are realised. We believe that we play an important role in realising this vision by generating and sharing diverse, accessible gender information, and by stimulating collaborative, groundbreaking thinking on key issues related to gender and development. We also support the exchange of experience and ideas of how to put this thinking into practice in ways that will make a difference.
Our approach BRIDGE acts as a catalyst by facilitating the generation and exchange of relevant, accessible and diverse gender information in print, online and through other innovative forms of communication. This supports the needs of policymakers, practitioners, advocates and researchers in bridging the gaps between gender theory, policy and practice to make gender equality happen. BRIDGE targets both gender and non-gender specialists in an effort to ensure gender is central to all development thinking and practice, and to inspire transformation in attitudes, policies and legislation.
We do this by: Producing BRIDGE resources such as Cutting Edge Packs and In Briefs on relevant, timely gender and development issues through collaborative processes Taking a nuanced approach that focuses on transforming gender relations, and challenging gender stereotypes rather than only being about women and development Facilitating information sharing, partnerships and networking, and reflecting perspectives from non English-speaking contributors Setting and influencing gender and development agendas by creating platforms for discussion, debate and new ideas Supporting the specific information needs of development practitioners and policy-makers with a gender mainstreaming remit.
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Resources
Displaying 21 - 25 of 78Access to Land in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Implications for the South African Black Woman
Indigenous land tenure arrangements in South Africa have generally consisted of communal ownership. In this system, who benefited from the land depended on their status as family or clan head. The colonial regime dispossessed Africans of land in favour of European arrivals, or defined family property as ancestral property in which the senior males of the head family were taken as the owners with the rights to inherit. The post-apartheid government conceptualised acess to land for the previously disadvantaged as a human right.
Human Security and Aboriginal Women in Canada
Aboriginal women in Canada are at the forefront of resistance when it comes to threats to their land and culture. This is the conclusion of this study, which examines the links between Aboriginal women, protest and human security. The study shows that restrictions on fishing rights, expansion in logging, and ski-resort development are being fiercely fought by Aboriginal women. They stand in front of trains, blockade roads and mobilise demonstrations and this often results in clashes with authorities and police violence. Aboriginal women both use and challenge their gender roles.
The Domestic Relations Bill in Uganda: Addressing Polygamy, Bride Price, Cohabitation, Marital Rape, and Female Genital Mutilation
The Domestic Relations Bill is a crucial piece of legislation for Ugandan women. It addresses women's property rights in marriage and women's right to negotiate sex, it sets the minimum age of marriage at eighteen, prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM) and criminalises widow inheritance. Bride price is still not prohibited, but the payment of bride price will no longer be essential for formalising customary marriages. The bill criminalises marital rape and provides for civil remedies, such as compensation and restricting orders.
Women's Status, Rights and Interests in Land Diversion
Previously in China, all land was controlled by the communes. Over the past twenty years, with the break up of the communes, new land tenure arrangements have given greater control over land to individual households. This essay argues that recent transfers in land tenure between households have caused women to lose rights and decision making power over land, as well as possibilities to benefit from land. Men's migration to cities has caused a 'feminisation' of agriculture which fuels a market for tenure transfer.
Housing development and women’s right to land and property
The Women Advancement Trust (WAT) in Tanzania carries out various initiatives related to land rights, affordable housing, and inheritance rights. This report presents lessons learned from a housing and shelter development initiative. The goals of the initiative were to empower low-income communities, particularly women, to participate fully and actively in all aspects of human settlements development, including the improvement of their living and housing conditions.