Episode 19: Caring in a Post Covid World

In a passionate and wide-ranging conversation, Kumi Naidoo and Aruna Rao explore hope, fear, Black Lives Matter, feminist principles, intersectionality and structural change. They ask whether the institutions that were set up to protect us, like the police, and to enable social change, such as social services, the UN, and international development organizations, have failed us and whether we should keep trying to change them from the inside or tear them down and start again.

Episode 18: Dismantling Patriarchy – Close Encounters and Imperfect Strategies

Look around you and you’ll find many conversations about reimagining and transforming how we live and work – from how we enable the plant to thrive, to new ways of envisioning economics. And in all kinds of organizations, we are seeing real challenges to what was previously unchecked – abusive power dynamics, toxic work environments, sexual harassment, racism, and discrimination against all kinds of people who don’t fit what was considered ‘the norm’. In this episode – the first in a series of three – Srilatha Batliwala, David Kelleher, Lisa Veneklasen, Joanne Sandler and Aruna Rao reflect on the their close encounters with patriarchy in organizations and the dynamics they tried to ignite to challenge them which they outlined in their article on Medium.

Episode 17: Intergenerational Conversations on Organizing for Gender Equality

On the eve of the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) in Paris, Aruna Rao and Joanne Sandler – veterans of the 1995 Beijing conference – have an intergenerational talk with three young activists: Priya Kvam and Amani Jui from Breakthrough US and Natalia Escruceria Price, an independent consultant formerly with JASS. Our exchange with these young activists highlights …

Episode 16: Are Our Strategies Fit for Purpose?

Gender mainstreaming and the two-track approach to achieve gender equality were two strategies for strengthening organizations’ action on gender equality that grew out of the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women. Twenty-six years later, the world looks very different with multiple crises of inequality, violence against women and LGBTIQ people, climate extinction and less faith in democracy and the old social contract. Have our strategies delivered on their promise?

Episode 15: Can the UN deliver a feminist future?

Can the UN Deliver a feminist future? This question is posed by Anne Marie Goetz (Professor, NYU) and Joanne Sandler (Senior Associate G@W and former Deputy ED, UN Women) in the June edition of Gender and Development. Join us for a lively discussion on this question in the latest episode of the Gender at Work podcast.

Episode 14: Letsema-5 years of changing community norms through dialogue

How do you break up violent ways of behaving and the exercise of power over? How do change what is considered normal? How do you create a new culture that values others no matter how different they are? A community in Gauteng, South Africa, supported by Gender at Work and the Labor Research Service, launched an initiative called Letsema 5 years ago to end gender based violence in their community.

Episode 13: Insubordinate Leadership

We are living in a time, which adrienne marie brown describes as apocalyptic – a time that demands that we draw our imagination to think beyond what is politically possible, which she says is “simply not enough”. What does feminist leadership look like in such times?

G@W-CREA Podcast Series, Episode 5: How can we reboot cross-movement alliance building for greater collective voice and impact?

At a time when conservative, fundamentalist and fascist forces appear to achieving political dominance, the need for progressive movements to build strong alliances and collective resistance appears paramount – yet, few such alliances are visible and sustaining cross-movement solidarity is very hard work. This episode explores why this is the case, what are the fault lines, and some success stories of cross-movement alliances and the lessons we can learn from them.