Cooking up a storm

Woman cooking on a clay stove in Nepal. Credit: Ah Zut, Creative Commons licensed on Flickr

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced this past week the launch of a new international alliance to supply improved cooking stoves to 100 million poor households by 2020. An article in the Economist describes how many programs to promote cleaner stoves throughout the world have failed: “Too much emphasis has gone on technology and talking to people at the top, too little to consulting the women who actually do the cooking.”

That statement, all told, is probably true. Nonetheless, a quick search in Google Scholar and my university library’s electronic databases reveals many relevant studies including some by cultural/social anthropologists. They address and document both the health risks especially for women and children of traditional cookstoves and perceptions of improved cookstoves.

The most fine-grained anthropology study that I have found is Patrice Engle and co-authors with some Maya people of Guatemala. She and her co-authors used observation and recall methods to learn about time spent over cooking fires. The results indicate that young mothers and young children (who are with the mother while she is cooking) spend the most time in the kitchen and are most at risk for smoke-related health problems. Women with co-resident husbands spend more time in the kitchen than women without husbands or whose husbands are away.

In terms of how to provide improved cookstoves, the best publication I know is by Rob Bailis and co-authors. They assess subsidized versus market-based stove dissemination and compare several contexts in which clean cooking technologies were promoted.

Cultural anthropologists and others who take a grounded approach to learning about important issues: get cooking on cooking! This topic connects to social and gender disparities, environmental pollution and sustainability, and the future of all of us.

Related Reading:
Dherani, Mukesh et al. Indoor Air Pollution from Unprocessed Solid Fuel Use and Pneumonia Risk in Children Aged under Five Years: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 86(5):390-398, 2008.

Masera, Omar et al. Impact of Patsari Improved Cookstoves on Indoor Air Quality in Michiacán, Mexico. Energy for Sustainable Development 11(2):45-56, 2007.

Simon, Gregory. Mobilizing Cookstoves for Development: A Dual Adoption Framework Analysis of Collaborative Technology Innovations in Western India. Environment and Planning A42(8):2011-2030, 2010.

Troncoso, Karin et al. Social Perceptions about a Technological Innovation for Fuelwood Cooking: A Case Study in Rural Mexico. Energy Policy 35(5):2799-2810, 2007.

No Woman No Cry: Maternal mortality in the spotlight

From left: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nita Lowey, Suraya Dalil, Purnima Mane. Credit: World Bank Photo Collection, Creative Commons licensed on Flickr

Guest post by Erica Buckingham

The country is Tanzania. The scene is a woman, Janet, experiencing intense pregnancy pains. The hope is that the regional clinic will deliver Janet’s third baby. The reality is that hers is a “high-risk” pregnancy, and the clinic does not have the proper equipment. The tragedy is that Janet does not have enough money to rent a van (estimated at the equivalent of $30) to drive for one hour to Mt. Meru, the closest hospital.

This situation is, unfortunately, not uncommon. Motivated by her own complications during labor, Christy Turlington-Burns filmed the documentary, No Woman No Cry which powerfully exposes the hardships faced by at-risk pregnant women in Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala, and the United States. Known for her career as a model and as a maternal health advocate, Burns now brings attention to the shocking statistics and stories surrounding maternal health and mortality.

Fortunately for Janet, Burns’ crew was able to provide the necessary funds for transportation to Mt. Meru. Arriving at the hospital exhausted and dehydrated, the staff worked to induce her, and, three days later, Janet gave birth to a healthy baby boy. While her story ends on an uplifting note, most women in the same predicament are less fortunate.

On September 16, a brief preview of the film screened at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, and was followed by a panel discussion. The panelists included Suraya Dalil, Afghan Minister of Health, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Bank Managing Director, Purnima Mane, United Nations Population Fund Executive Director and Rep. Nita Lowey, Chair, Foreign Operations Subcommittee, U.S. House of Representatives.

Inspired by Burns’ work and the important issues the documentary addresses, the four panelists engaged in a lively discussion about the current status of maternal mortality, the improvements made in the last decade as well as the hope for continued progress in the future. The main message from these four prominent women leaders was the need for greater financial investment in maternal and child health.

Continue reading “No Woman No Cry: Maternal mortality in the spotlight” →

Upcoming event at GW

Please join us for an event next week on April 8 at the Elliott School of International Affairs, part of GW’s new Global Women’s Initiative:

Global Women’s Forum:
Global Women 2020: Challenges and Priorities over the Next Decade

Thursday, April 8, 2010
6:00 – 7:15 pm
1957 E Street NW, Lindner Family Commons (Room 602)

Katherine Blakeslee, Director, Office of Women in Development,
U.S. Agency for International Development

Mayra Buvinic, Senior Director, Gender and Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, The World Bank

Kathleen Kuehnast, Gender Advisor, Gender and Peacebuilding Initiative,
U.S. Institute of Peace

Alyse Nelson, President and CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership

Moderator:
Barbara Miller, Chair, GW Global Women’s Initiative; Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

Please RSVP at Global Women 2020

Sponsored by the Elliott School of International Affairs

Why are some wars worse for women?

Guest post by Laura Wilson

The United State Institute of Peace recently presented the second part of its program on The Other Side of Gender: Masculinity Issues in Violent Conflict. Panelists Elisabeth Wood, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, and Jocelyn Kelly, Research Coordinator with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, drew on their diverse experiences in conflict zones worldwide to answer the question: Why are some wars worse for women than others?

Wood compared gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict zones in Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Israel/Palestine. She finds that rape is not an inevitable by-product of war. Combatants in different war-zones, on different sides of a conflict, or even within the same group take markedly different approaches to rape and violence against women. To effectively challenge rape as a tool of war, it is essential to understand why GBV is rare in some conflict zones. The fact that soldiers in some wartime situations respect human rights indicates that all combatants can and should be held accountable for their actions.

Wood argues that the cultural setting of war is the primary determinant of GBV. She highlights the importance of institutional norms within combatant groups: Does the military hierarchy punish, tolerate, or promote GBV? Is GBV a war-time innovation, or does it represent a pre-war phenomenon? Is the chain of command well-managed?

Generally, GBV is less prevalent in settings where the top-down repression of GBV is high and where religious and socio-cultural norms inhibit rape as a tactic. This pattern provides insights into how to address the high rates of GBV in other contexts.

Jocelyn Kelly focused on one message: jobs. During her interviews with Mai Mai rebels in the DRC, combatants expressed a strong desire to demobilize if provided with job opportunities and livelihoods.

The Mai Mai originally formed to protect Congolese villages and minerals from the Rwandan Interhamwe. Many young men without economic opportunities joined the rebels who make their living scavenging and stealing from local communities. Life as a rebel soldier cuts young men off from social interaction and marriage prospects. But many yearn for the chance to start a normal family life. Within this context, soldiers may rape out of bitterness or a psychological “war fog.” While professionalizing the rebel groups, or incorporating them into the national army, might lower the risk of GBV during conflict, Kelly asserts that economic empowerment would have the greatest impact in de-militarizing the Congo and bringing combatants back into everyday life.

The presentations thus forcefully raised this question: Is the best way to prevent GBV during war to change the culture of war or improve livelihoods through development?

In his new book Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand, Duncan McCargo, professor of politics at the University of Leeds, provides insight with a story. Walking through a Malay village in Southern Thailand shortly after the kidnapping and murder of two marines, McCargo noticed Thai soldiers digging holes in front of each house. He learned that the soldiers were creating fish ponds in order to bring “economic empowerment” to the village to prevent further violence.

McCargo asks: would a fish pond have saved the lives of the two marines? Some (fish) food for thought.

Laura Wilson is a candidate for an M.A. degree in international development studies at The George Washington University with a focus on gender, human rights and development. She received a B.S. degree in foreign service from Georgetown University in 2007. She is currently the program assistant for the International Development Studies program.

Image: “Mother & baby wait…” from Farchana Refugee Camp in Chad, photo by Lin Piwowarczyk, from Flickr user physiciansforhumanrights, licensed with Creative Commons.