Advocacy on gender, race and ethnicity in
the management of public policies
Advocacy on gender, race and ethnicity in
the management of public policies
International seminars UK
Watch the recordings, read about our guests and find out about future seminars.
Wed 8th Feb:
Gender, Care and Livelihoods in Times of Crisis
Thur 23rd Mar:
Discussing Gender and Intersectional Approaches to Resilience
Tue 2nd May:
Gender, care and livelihoods in times of crisis
Guests from women-led unions, grassroots organisations and NGOs defending the rights of women informal workers, care givers, and Afro-descendant communities provided insights into how they resist against everyday risks and disasters, and the strategies they have implemented to produce social change.
How do crises and disasters disrupt reproductive work? And how do communities organise and resist in the face of those extreme events to sustain their livelihoods?
1
"Care is the first act of productivity in any society. We need to value this kind of work – not least because we will all be caregivers and we will all be looked after at some point in our lives."
This interactive panel brought together 6 of our GRRIPP commissioned projects from Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, India and Zimbabwe to discuss “Gender, care and livelihoods in times of crisis”, chaired by Dr Louisa Acciari.
The panellists:
(Pictured above, left to right)
-
Gloria Sepúlveda from Ciudades y territorios que cuidan (Cities and territories that care), Chile
-
Olga Segovia from Ciudades y territorios que cuidan (Cities and territories that care), Chile
-
Maria Silvanete Benedito de Sousa Lermen from Cosmonucleação, Brazil
-
Ruth Diaz from FENAMUTRA (National Federation of Working Women), Dominican Republic
-
Charity Chenga from Echoes of Humanity, Zimbabwe
-
Paromita Sen from Sewa Bharat (Bharat Self-Employed Women), India
Credit: GRRIPP UK
3
The panellists shared their perspectives on care and livelihoods, the work of their projects, and how their communities managed (or didn't) through Covid-19. Three key messages were shared collectively:
-
Care is the first act of productivity in any society. We need to value this kind of work – not least because we will all be caregivers and we will all be looked after at some point in our lives.
-
We must start from the principle that it is necessary to value indigenous knowledge and territorial practices around care.
-
The ultimate challenge is in visibilising care work and understanding that it’s integral to how we as a society interact with each other.
2
"it is necessary to value indigenous knowledge and territorial practices around care"
"The ultimate challenge is in visibilising care work and understanding that it is integral to how we as a society interact with each other."
Watch the seminar
The event was livestreamed, recorded and had simultaneous live translation in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Below you can watch the recording in English.
(From left to right):
GRRIPP global co-ordinator Dr Louisa Acciari, Gloria Sepúlveda of GRRIPP Project Ciudadanas Cuidando, Susana Herrera Quezada, Chilean Ambassador to the UK, Verónica Contreras of GRRIPP Project Ciudadanas Cuidando, Olga Segovia from GRRIPP Project SUR
Credit: GRRIPP UK
Credit: GRRIPP UK
Gender, care and livelihoods in times of crisis
Time stamps:
0:00 - Preliminary address by Dr Louisa Acciari
4:06 - Panellist introductions
10:30 - "How do you understand and define 'care' and what does it mean for you and the group you work with?'
27:46 - 'Explain the work your organisation has been doing during COVID-19 and your strategies of resisting and surviving'
1:12:06 - Questions
About our panellists:
Gloria Sepúlveda, Chile
A sociologist by trade and the project coordinator of the project "Plan to explore the infrastructure of neighbourhood care" in Chile. She is a caregiver, care activist of the Ciudadanas Cuidando Collective, and works for several urban and territorial development organisations.
Maria Silvanete Benedito de Sousa Lermen, Brazil
A popular educator, advisor in community health, healer, advisor of ancestral portals, agroforest-maker, practitioner, and researcher of the experiences of peoples. She works to foster the revaluation and exchange of local knowledge produced by traditional communities.
Charity Chenga, Zimbabwe
A founding member of Echoes of Humanity in the Machitenda village in Zimbabwe, she has worked to improve local transportation infrastructure to promote women's economic development without compromising their health. Her work focuses on establishing community engagement and trust, with a background as both a practitioner and researcher in community development.
Olga Segovia, Chile
An architect, coordinator of the Women and Habitat Network of Latin America and the Caribbean (2013-2019); she is the author of several research and consulting projects on urban and local development, public spaces, care from a gender perspective. She has worked for multiple national Chilean organisations, as well as the European Union, and several UN organisations.
Ruth Diaz, Dominican Republic
President of FENAMUTRA (the National Federation of Working Women), she also founded unions for women in the healthcare and domestic sectors. Her work focuses on targeting gendered inequality, violations of working rights and injustice. With FENAMUTRA she runs seminars and courses providing training for home workers and has campaigned widely for worker's rights.
Paromita Sen, India
Research manager at SEWA Bharat, she has spent the last decade conducting research on gender and marginalisation across the Global South, with the goal of enabling access to voice and power for marginalised communities. She is currently working with informal women workers, and supporting their empowerment through evidence generation, collectivisim and upskilling, and advocating with them.
