India

Breakthrough's multimedia campaign "Bell Bajao" (Ring the Bell), urges men to take a stand against domestic violence. The extraordinary campaign, launched on August 20, 2008, has reached over 35 million people throughout India through TV and radio spots, print ads, mobile video vans, and an online presence.

This essay is based on issues relating to a study of sexuality among low-income college students in Mumbai. Low-income students were made the focus because: existing urban studies are on English speaking students in 'elite' colleges; sex education programmes had not really started in 'non-elite' colleges, and these students' behaviour could be affected by their lack of resources. Data were collected during 1996-1998, from four colleges catering to low income students in the city. Boys and girls in the eleventh standard in high school and in third year undergraduate college were interviewed. In the first phase, qualitative data were gathered using 10 focus group discussions and interviews with 87 students. This was used to design a survey which used a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 966 students participated in the survey.

The Women's Tribunal was conceived as an opportunity for grassroots women leaders across the country to come together and make a strong statement on the experiences of women who face acute social and economic discrimination - including dalits, denotified & nomadic tribes, adivasis, forest dwellers, Muslim minorities, women with disabilities and single women.

About 400 women from 20 states presented their experiences, testimonies and petitions as part of this effort. The event saw the involvement of distinguished panel of jurists, academia, trade unions, and national networks.

Good governance and gender equality have been at the cutting edge of development debates over the last decade. Empirical evidence shows that both are central to development. This gap between de jure and de facto equality has sharpened the focus on women access to, and participation in, structures and processes of governance. It is now generally accepted that unless women constitute a `critical mass of at least one third of those in decision making, their mere presence makes little difference to the outcomes of governance. The mere presence of women in structures of governance justifiable in its own right in equity terms does not guarantee that gender considerations are mainstreamed in laws, policies and programmes.

Understanding of gender issues in governance, therefore, requires looking at participation and decision making of women and men in the different institutions. Therefore, addressing gender gaps in governance would entail what is the meaning of engendering different institutions and at what levels, for good governance to take place.

Women have to be an equal beneficiary to the advantages offered by the technology, the products and processes which emerge from their use. 

The importance of gender aware macro-economic analysis has increased with many developing countries, including India, embarking upon Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), since women and men are differentially affected by such programmes.