Constitution of Project

The GILJ project is for a duration of 3 years. The project focuses on 4 case study countries:

For each country, a Senior Researcher and a Junior Researcher lead the project in relation to their country of study. The researchers are skilled in both fieldwork and analysis of data and their backgrounds range across both social science and law, including anthropology, psychology, sociology and law/socio-legal studies.

The topics for each country were chosen because they reflected an issue that was most relevant in the field of non-discrimination against women at the local level.  It was considered that civil society already evidenced usage of international law, in both discourse and by way of practice, to promote women’s human rights in these areas at the local level.

It is a key part of the project that differences and similarities between the countries will be analysed rigorously to ensure a full and accurate reflection of ethnographically-detailed responses on how and when localisation takes place.

In addition to the researchers on-the-ground in each country, the GILJ project has a research director, project manager, law and society adviser (socio-legal), legal research adviser and some student project assistants.  The project also has principal advisors based in universities in several locations across the world whose role is to advise on the direction, content and analysis of the research work.

Methodology

The methodology used in this project links together methodologies and theories from social sciences with socio-legal approaches. The aim is to extend beyond traditional legal analysis into what can be viewed more as a merged and holistic approach able to account for legal pluralism and differing legal voices and interpretations. As such, the project analyses the dynamic interplay of law with social, political and economic contexts and relations and seeks to locate law in society, rather than viewing it as either extraneous to or purely impartial vis-à-vis society.

To this end, innovative methodology is being used, including the invocation of the ethnographic method, coupled with theoretical (textual) readings in feminist legal analysis, transformational law and policy, international law, sustainable development and women’s human rights.

The project follows a Delphic process whereby a feedback loop is established. This loop means that the fieldwork feeds back into the original sources directing analysis of the project, (namely, archival material and the readings discussed above), to assess the viability of original assumptions and hypotheses made at the outset.  The researchers conduct interviews with members of CSOs and relevant civil society actors and initial analyses of this information is made by the researcher from her disciplinary background, taking into account as far as possible, her understanding of relevant legal theories. In turn, legal advisers review the research and provide initial legal commentary.  The process then switches to observation of the relevant CSO members or civil society actors in action to cross-reference the information provided by them with their interview answers and wider relevant information gathered by the researchers. These observations then inform interpretation of both the fieldwork data and the theoretical influences outlined above.  The research work is then compiled and analysed by both social science and legal advisers to create both overviews and final products, such as working manuals, books and course training.

Finally, and importantly, the documentation produced is returned to those civil society actors and CSOs who participated, in order to ensure that they benefit directly from the findings and can continue to move forward with the observations, analysis and recommendations provided. The GILJ project is also considering ways by which the momentum can be continued post-project.

This methodology is trans-disciplinary and intersectional, aiming to avoid any tendency to compartmentalise the research approach into one knowledge-field.  This conjoined approach is fostered inter-personally by regular interaction between researchers and project advisers, via meetings and digital media, during which they are able to raise challenges and solutions arising out of their research.  The interactive and trans-disciplinary approaches enable a wider and more in-depth analysis of the rationales and underpinnings of implementing, applying and enforcing international laws in the field of women’s human rights, unconstrained by the limits of researching in isolation.

Gender and Sustainable Development

Discrimination based on gender prevents women from participating fully in, and benefiting from, the implementation and strengthening of sustainable development initiatives.  Sustainable development is a multi-faceted approach to improving the lives of all people and is a gender aware concept at its core, with the advancement of women a key element of the successful achievement of sustainable development. Gender is a construct of society, by which socially determined roles are allotted to women and men via a range of factors including history, religion, culture, economics and ethnicity.

When the role of a woman in any given social context is defined in terms that prevent her from being able to actively participate in sustainable development, whether it be in decision-making and voting, participation in projects, belonging to civil society groups, accessing information and justice, ownership of and access to resources, or becoming an active part of sustainable governance, then the goals of sustainable development will be hampered in that society or social context.  Incorporation of a gender perspective into sustainable development policy, law and projects enables more sustainable, just, equitable and relevant development that provides for the full and equal participation of both women and men.

The GILJ project focuses on key areas of sustainable development – water rights, education and health – worldwide, women have lower education and health status, lower incomes and reduced access to resources than men.  In each of these areas, poverty, gender assumptions (cultural and social), conventional development approaches and lack of knowledge threaten the ability of women to take advantage of their human rights and be fully involved in the goal of sustainable development. The ability of law to enable improved participation and benefit-sharing by women in sustainable development is a key focus.