The Anthropology of Sex

Kyegombe

Diatta

et al. 2020

Violence Against Women

Mali has implemented the Filets Sociaux (Jigisémèjiri) program that aims to reduce poverty through cash transfers (CTs) to predominantly male heads of household with accompanying measures. This paper reports on a qualitative study of the effects of the program on intimate partner relationships. In-depth interviews were conducted with men and women in monogamous and polygamous households. Findings revealed that the positive aspects of intimate partner relationships were communication and shared values. However, discussions around decision-making revealed male authority with limited influence by women. Physical violence was reported to be caused by tensions and disputes. Whereas sexual violence was contested, some women described sexual force as violence but men and women asserted that compliance in sexual matters by women was expected. Men also asserted control through preventing women from working outside the home. The CTs were managed by the husband, with some involvement of wives in decision-making about the use of CTs. CTs were reported to reduce household poverty and improve wellbeing, especially for men. There were reports of the effects of the program on IPV, especially in the reduction of physical violence, its effects on sexual violence and controlling behaviour were reported to be limited. Since women are not the primary recipients of the CT, there is limited effect on women’s agency to challenge male authority and control around sexual and financial matters. CTs may be more effective if targeted to women, alongside skill and knowledge strengthening to utilize cash transfers to assert their rights to equality and prevent violence

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intimate Partner Relationships and Gender Norms in Mali: The Scope of Cash Transfers Targeted to Men to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

Kyegombe

Diatta

et al. 2020

Violence Against Women

“…Figure 1 above shows some of the ways in which women's bodies were depicted in the body map exercise and in the cartoons collated from national newspapers and magazines. These images reveal how women's bodies have become a site for expressions of moral behaviour and desire (Donnan and Magowan 2010). Clothing and hairstyles as well as large breasts and hips reveal how voluptuousness and self-care are inscribed sexually on to Tanzanian women's bodies, and how these images represent both aspects of pleasure and cleanliness (Donnan and Magowan 2010).…”

Section: Gendered and Moral Discourses Of Sexualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's sexual subjectivity in a Tanzania city in the era of neoliberalism and AIDS

Culture, Health & Sexuality

2021

This paper draws on anthropological research exploring women's changing sexuality within an urban context of Tanzania. The women involved were participating in an HIV prevention trial and worked in bars, restaurants, hotels and nightclubs, or sold local beer or food in Mwanza city. In ethnographic fieldwork and interviews and group discussions with women, narratives about sexuality focused on gendered and moral discourses of sexuality, the commodification of sexuality, and emotions and intimacy in relationships. This paper discusses how women's sexual subjectivies are shaped by a city where social, structural and economic changes over an era of neoliberalism and AIDS has created both disciplinary and liberalising spaces in which gendered and moral discourses of sexuality have emerged.

“…However, it may be more useful to see gender not as a fixed attribute in a person but instead a fluid variable that can shift and change in different contexts and times (Butler, 1990). Being a gender is then an effect of acts based on cultural norms of being a "woman" and being a "man", which are contingent and open to negotiation in the determination of sexual meanings and sexual rights (Butler, 1990;Donnan & Magowan, 2010). Merry (2009) has argued that gender based violence 'is always defined and redefined in interactions as it is performed for different audiences ' (p.12).…”

Section: Gender Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Intimate Partner Violence Using Gender-Transformative Approaches at a Community Level in Rural Tanzania: The UZIKWASA program

Marchant²,

Desmond

2019

J Interpers Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is recognised as an important public health and social problem, with far reaching consequences for women's physical and emotional health and social well-being, yet little is known about how behaviour change campaigns impact on this type of behaviour and other related abuses in Tanzania and in other sub-Saharan African countries. UZIKWASA is a civil society organization based in Pangani District in coastal Tanzania and since 2009 has conducted Behaviour Change Campaigns (BCCs) focused on promoting gender justice and effective leadership. As with other complex programmes there is a question about how such approaches affect norms and practice in relation to violence against women and girls. Drawing on longitudinal research utilising over 1000 community diary entries (hearsay ethnographies) and qualitative methods using 20 in-depth interviews and 16 focus group discussions with women and men, and adolescent girls and boys, this paper explores the ways in which UZIKWASA's programme effects change. The findings reveal personal and community narratives about gender-based and intimate partner violence as forms of retributive justice and assertion of authority by men. Drawing on gender performance as an explanation for violence, the research revealed changes in norms and practice in relation to violence against women and girls. Thus,we argue that UZIKWASA is gender-transformative by addressing gender norms, and the critical awareness amongst leaders and the community of the social construction and reconstruction of gender that creates the context for real impact on changes in behaviour.