Monthly Corner
Laura Hughston - Blog
Arnoux Mouafo Nopi & Dimitri Tsona Zapzi - Article
Prof. Wangari Mwai and Prof. Catherine Ndungo - BOOK
- Understanding Gender and Identity Through The Gender Dictionary
Publisher: Bleeding Ink Scribes
RAI SENGUPTA - gender-transformative evaluation tools
This synthesis draws on evidence from 17 humanitarian evaluations across diverse crisis settings. It identifies key feminist evaluation innovations across four domains - design, methods, analysis, and ethics - illustrating how feminist principles can be embedded throughout the evaluation process. It also surfaces broader shifts required at policy, institutional, and practice levels to realise the transformative potential of feminist approaches in humanitarian contexts.
The toolkit translates these insights into applied guidance for evaluators and organisations. It provides step-by-step support across the full evaluation cycle, including planning, design, methods, analysis, ethics, and dissemination. Drawing on global feminist evaluation practice, humanitarian guidance, and gender evaluation standards, it includes adaptable tools, participatory and arts-based methods, guiding questions, and templates for field application.
Ritu Dewan & Swat Raju - Article
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In Promises & Reality 2026 Citizen’s Review of Year 2 of the NDA-III Government. Coordinated by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, June 20, 2026. pp 94-100.
UTTHAN - Research Report
Traversing the path with women farmers in their fields and in our reflections/writings, a stark observation was the sheer lack of localized and regional vocabulary and terminology to adequately capture and communicate the understanding of climate change and mitigation strategies, informed by the unique experiences and needs of small and marginal women farmers. This is what propelled our research - to examine how women farmers perceive, express, experience, and respond to climate variability across
Our Research Report centres the lived experiences, generational knowledge, and resilience strategies of small and marginal women farmers from the coastal (Bhavnagar) and hilly (Dahod & Panchmahal) regions i.e two contrasting agro-climatic zones of Gujarat. Through their voices, the study reveals exactly how climate change intersects with gender, land rights, labour burdens, and food security.
Events
Vacancies
About the job
At Includovate, we are expanding our Pacific Research & Evaluation Talent Pool and inviting researchers, evaluators, consultants, and development practitioners to join a growing network of professionals committed to creating meaningful social impact.
As a feminist research incubator and certified social enterprise, Includovate works with partners including UNICEF, UNFPA, the ILO, governments, and development organisations across 23+ countries. Our work spans gender equality, social inclusion, health, disability, youth, climate, WASH, market systems, and other development priorities.
We are particularly keen to connect with experts from:
📍 Papua New Guinea
📍 Solomon Islands
📍 Vanuatu
📍 Timor-Leste
📍 Fiji
📍 Samoa
📍 Tonga
📍 Indonesia
📍 Australia
and across the wider Pacific region.
We welcome expertise in:
✓ Research, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning
✓ Gender Equality & Social Inclusion
✓ Health & SRHR
✓ Disability Inclusion
✓ Youth Development
✓ Climate & Environment
✓ WASH
✓ Market Systems Development
✓ Governance & Community Development
Whether your expertise lies in data collection, research, evaluation, technical advisory, facilitation, or team leadership, we would love to hear from you.
By joining our Talent Pool, you become part of a trusted network of professionals who may be considered for future research, evaluation, advisory, and consulting opportunities across the Pacific region and beyond.
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/eyF66S7H
Beyond Access: The Unspoken Barrier for Married Women in Higher Education
Yet while we rejoice at this advancement, let's pose a more awkward question: Are women truly receiving equal opportunities once they enter higher education? This question becomes important when we consider the experiences of married women in higher education and research.
When Marriage Becomes an Academic Assumption
One specific problem that I have been noticing in the higher education setting is how a married female student is treated when she approaches professors for the supervision of her dissertation and/or for research opportunities. A student may be a good student, may truly have a passion for research, and may want to conduct useful research. However, there can be an assumption that since she is married, she does not have sufficient time to dedicate to research, primarily focused on her academic skills.
The arguments are simple: She is a family woman. She might not be able to devote enough time. Research takes a lot of dedication.
Of course, family duties are real and challenging enough, and nobody’s denying that. The issue starts when marital status is used to question a woman's commitment to academics. Marriage does not automatically equate to the woman's inability, lack of ambition, or lack of commitment to her education.
The Contradiction
What’s noteworthy about this issue is that there can sometimes be a contradiction between what we say with respect to empowering women and what women actually experience in classrooms and in academia in general. We constantly hear people speaking on women's empowerment, the status of gender, women’s schooling and equal opportunities. But empowerment should mean more than just encouraging women to go into classrooms and universities. It also involves trusting women with academic duties and opportunities when they are in place.
When a professor talks about gender equality and at the same time assumes that married women can't do a job well even though she is married, then there is a contradiction and that needs to be reflected.
This is not to say that all professors discriminate against married women or that all married students have this issue. Where these assumptions have an impact on academic opportunities, however, they represent an important gender issue that should be discussed.
From Equality of Access to Equality of Opportunity
The key emphasis on gender equality in education for a long time was access. Is there any reason why girls cannot go to school? Are women allowed to study in universities? Should women be given a chance to go to school?
These questions remain salient. But today we need to ask some other questions also:
Is everyone eligible for research opportunities? From whom does encouragement come for doctoral studies? Who is given the responsibility of long-term academic projects?
These questions take us from equality of access to equality of opportunity. A woman going into university is just the start. Her personal situation mustn't automatically be used to base her academic potential.
Family responsibilities are not a measure of academic ability
Another important consideration concerns the question of marriage and family responsibilities as potential barriers to academic achievement. While many women successfully balance their family responsibilities along with pursuing postgraduate education, research, employment and professional careers, it’s true that for some women such flexibility might be essential depending on particular circumstances. Needing this flexibility doesn’t equate to lack of commitment.
Rather than focusing on whether women will be able to do it all perfectly – we need to focus on creating supportive and flexible academic environments within our educational institutions. With the right mix of supportive supervision, reasonable timelines, clear expectations and relevant academic support – much can be done for those who want to balance both their professional responsibilities and family obligations
What Should Academic Institutions Do?
To achieve gender equality in higher education, it is necessary to develop more transparent and fair academic practices.
First, marital status should not be an informal criterion for choosing students for research opportunities or dissertation supervision.
Secondly, students should be judged on academic readiness, research interests, commitment, skills and feasibility of the research proposal.
Third, supervisors need to be explicit about their expectations. If for a given research project a certain amount of time commitment is required, this should be openly communicated with the students and not assumed based on marital status.
Fourth, universities should foster a supportive and inclusive research culture for students from various life situations.
Above all, instructors must critically examine their own beliefs. Not all gender bias is manifested as overt discrimination. At times it appears as a simple assumption that seems harmless: “Well, she is married, so she may not be able to dedicate all her time.”
However, when that assumption becomes a barrier to someone's opportunity, it can be a big rock in the road.
We Have Come Far—But There Is More to Do
It’s important to acknowledge the progress we’ve already made – for example, women’s participation in education. In many ways, our involvement in education has seen an enormous increase and deserves celebration. That said, progress shouldn’t prevent us from raising hard-hitting questions such as what lies ahead if we want true gender equality – going beyond simply putting more women through educational institutions.
The problem is really one of making sure women get an equal measure of trust, opportunity, mentorship, and academic recognition once they arrive at these institutions. As a married woman, you shouldn’t need to prove your extraordinariness to get over the hurdle that comes from being married. You should be assessed based on what’s important when evaluating students and researchers — the quality of their work, their commitment, their potential.
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