Fieldwork

This project will employ a two–phase data collection strategy that will allow for an expansive analysis of the status of empowerment and inclusion in select post-war contexts. (See Case Studies). 

PHASE I

The first phase comprises a comprehensive analysis of laws, policies and institutions designed to promote women’s inclusion and gender parity. The project builds on existing research to explore post-conflict empowerment initiatives and their impacts on societal gender relations (Tripp 2015; Kang 2015). We analyze publicly available government documents, legal frameworks and national strategies to map post–conflict gender reforms in the areas of family law , criminal justice reform, and political participation.

In order to map subnational variation in implementation, we supplement  data from the UN's Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database, the University of Edinburgh's Political Settlements PA-X database, the Inter-Parliamentary Union Quota Project, and the UN FAO Gender and Land Rights Database with primary source, in-country analyses of law and policy reform. 

Data will be organized and consolidated into a publicly-available dataset that documents the full array of laws, policies, and institutions designed to promote women’s equality and empowerment after war across six focus cases.

PHASE II

The second phase of the project will comprise fieldwork in the six focus countries, to elucidate the processes through which gender-sensitive reforms affect women from different ethnic, linguistic, racial, class, caste, religious and geographic backgrounds. 

Fieldwork will combine traditional qualitative approaches (including interviews and focus groups) with participatory feminist research methodologies in order to capture the complexity and nuance of women's lived experiences of emancipation and oppression. Tools such as Photovoice, creative co-production workshops, and narrative biographies, afford us insights that transcend question-answer responses, and foreground reflection, contradiction and complexity.

During both phases of the project, we collaborate closely with in-country interlocutors, research teams, and organizations, in order to develop frameworks for data collection, analysis and dissemination. We work closely with local partners to establish meaningful and policy-relevant dissemination strategies both domestically and for international actors championing women's empowerment initiatives in the aftermath of war.