CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Abylkasymova, Medina |
|---|---|
| Title | Changing Gender Norms: Impact of the Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS) Methodology on Housework Distribution and Women's Agency in Kyrgyzstan |
| Summary | This paper seeks to critically review the NGOs’ women empowerment approaches in Kyrgyzstan. The case study of the GALS methodology as a tool for women empowerment and gender norms change in Kyrgyzstan was analyzed through key informant interviews and a desk review of the project documents to explore the gaps between what was sought and what was achieved by the project. The postcolonial feminist theory with its critical response to the stereotypical image of the Third World Woman was applied to the analyses. I criticize the NGOs’ language and bases of report writing which is generally biased and creates the results they want to see at the top. My contribution focus on how the NGO reports and evaluations justify and narratively build their truth for the donors while excluding the facts of beneficiaries’ resistant or ignorant attitudes towards the interventions. I came up with the term ‘collective gooding’ to explain the rationale behind the NGOs’ strive for the good reports by the NGOs’ donor funding and Kyrgyzstan as a country with high foreign aid dependency. Strategically using the women as victims of domestic violence and patriarchal gender norms and applying biased project results measurement tools (beneficiary testimonials and counting the number of events and participants) NGOs secure their grants, skillfully avoiding addressing the women’s issues presented in the project proposals. |
| Supervisor | Renkin Hadley Z. |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/abylkasymova_medina.pdf |
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