CGDS

  By: Sipa Kurda   Every March, the Center of Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) celebrates women’s history month, during which a number of events are organized to highlight the history of women around the world, including their struggles and accomplishments. CGDS strives to create spaces for people through their events in which they can express their ideas and share their experiences.    This year, on March 8, celebrated as International Women’s Day, CGDS Director Dr. Choman Hardi, Deputy Director Dr. Lynn Rose, and Researcher Dr. Twana Hassan took part in “Bridging Perspectives,” an online panel discussion with the London School of Economics (LSE) Department of Government. Dr. Lynn Rose moderated the discussion, which focused on the role of harmful social and gender norms in society that force women to stay at home and wait for marriage and stop thinking about their education and future careers. Dr. Paul Kirby, Dr. Mazeda Hossain, and Leah Kenny from LSE also spoke about the inequality and injustices people face because of their gender. AUIS students also had the opportunity to join the webinar and take part in breakout discussions to express their ideas about masculinity and gender-based violence.    Dr. Rose described how well the discussion went and how active the participants were saying, “It was a great blend of people with a lot of different areas of expertise, and their perspectives were fresh and new.”   “As for the student sessions that followed the panel, the students said that they had the space to talk, and it was very much student-focused even through there were senior scholars in the group,” she continued.     AUIS student Parosh Abdulla explained what she liked best about participating in the session. “I liked how they presented research about different topics done in different countries and how at the end we got the chance to have a discussion with the researchers, professors, and panelists.”    Raz Abdulla, also an AUIS student who took part in the discussion, said, “I merely attended the discussion as an audience member and I found it highly informative.”    Fellow student participant Zhera Bazaz added, “I believe the program was a great opportunity to see the different issues that each community faces in terms of sexism and discrimination.” He continued, “Personally, I was able to learn a lot about my community and also about foreign communities and their struggles to achieve equality. It was also an opportunity to learn about the successes and failures of other movements in different countries and how to utilize that knowledge and implement it on our community.”   CGDS researcher Dr. Hassan further explained the value of having students participate in the online event. “The participation of young students and dividing them into small groups was also another interesting point about the panel. This led to sharing questions and thoughts about gender, masculinity and equality among the participants.”   This year’s International Women’s Day event went online, but students and CGDS staff still had to opportunity to mark the day and express realities faced by women in the modern day. The value of having events like this is that participants are given a safe space to speak about their experiences and as Raz Abdulla shared, opportunities like this would be beneficial to the wider community going forward.  

  New Five-Year Project to Study Gender Justice in Conflict-Affected Societies   The Center for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) at American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) announced today the start of a five-year, £896,000  research project with the London School of Economics (LSE). The project is part of the UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to support interdisciplinary research hubs around the world working towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.   CGDS’s Dr. Choman Hardi, a professor at AUIS, is a Co-Director of the Masculinities and Sexualities strand, one of six strands under LSE’s Gender, Justice, and Security Hub that will examine gender-related injustice and insecurity in communities around the world. As Co-Director, Dr. Hardi will coordinate research projects at six universities and other not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Hardi’s own research at AUIS, titled “Masculinity, Sexuality, and Violence,” will investigate transitional masculinity and violence prevention in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.   “It is great to be on the verge of so much new research, knowledge, and creativity,” Dr. Hardi said. “Research about masculinity in this region is in its infancy. This project aims to investigate the mechanisms that construct an entitled and violent masculinity which victimises women, with the aim of positively transforming it.”   The new GCRF project is the latest initiative for CGDS, which was awarded a €900,000 grant by the European Union in October 2018 to fund a two-year project aimed at strengthening educational development in the field of gender studies in three countries (Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon) and community capacity building in gender awareness and advocacy. CGDS projects funded by other grants in the last two years include a partnership with Ball State University’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program and a partnership with Internews focusing on Sexual-and Gender-Based Violence in the media. Initiated and founded in 2015 at AUIS by Dr. Hardi, in November 2017 the Center introduced an interdisciplinary gender studies minor at the University, the first of its kind in Iraq.