What Does ‘Transformative Change’ Mean in Feminist Research and How might it be Achieved?

1. What Does ‘Transformative Change’ Mean in Feminist Research and How might it be Achieved? A Presentation is based on Ph.D Research Clíonadh O’ Keeffe The School of Political Science and Sociology, NUIG. DSAI Conference2015

2. GENDER EQUALITY AND THE POST 2015 AGENDA • Post 2015 Development Agenda has the potential to bring about lasting change in the power and choices women • We know that the concept of gender equality informing the targets now moved beyond a focus on the public sphere and now includes the household and the community. • Critically the gender goal and its targets consider a range of important factors that shape women's daily lives and their ability to realise their rights. These include: • the conditions and type of work in paid employment • the burden of unpaid caring labour, • the impact of violence and conflict and • whether women have control over their own resources and incomes.

3. Presentation Focus and Overview • Focus: ‘Transformative' aspect of the research questions and the methodology used in the analysis of gender relations and women's experiences of gender, poverty and violence in post independent Timor-Leste. • Presentation Overview i) Critiquing Gender Mainstreaming ii) A Transformative Methodology iii) Theorising for Transformation: Connell's Theory of Gender and Power

4. PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY IN POST CONFLICT CONTEXTS • Global strategies such as gender mainstreaming have been unable to successfully address gender inequality; • Failure of to recognise and address gender and power dynamics embedded within unequal social and economic structures that give rise to women's everyday hardships; • Understanding what a gender actually means has to be clarified if development and peacebuilding interventions are to successfully implement 'transformative' gender mainstreaming policies (True, 2013).

5. Gender Mainstreaming A Transformative Strategy? Empirically: Unable to challenge structures and practices that reproduce gender inequality. Theoretical deficits: lack of understanding of gender processes leading to gender inequality, context and specifically

6. Research Questions • What are the various dimensions of women's experiences of structural inequality? • How are gender, poverty and violence interacting in ways that shape the lives of women and reproduce gender inequality? • How might post-conflict dynamics be breaking up or exacerbating this mutually constitutive relationship?

7. Research Methodology and Methods • Qualitative, Feminist Standpoint: • Intersectional approach - FGD and Unstructured interviews • Four villages: two urban and two rural • Grounded Approach: focus on the private domain. • Iterative theorising: thematic analysis is followed by theoretical analysis 3 themes from within the data namely: Gendered Poverty and Standards of Living (motherhood) Gender-based Violence in the Family (Marriage) Gendered Politics in the village council

8. Gender AnalysisTheorising Gender, Poverty and ViolenceConnell and Beyond Connell’s Theory of Gender and Power: Understanding the meaning of gender in post-conflict context; Labour, Power, Cathexis Substantive theories GBV: substantive theory of violence in post-conflict context Poverty: Multiple dimensions of poverty: Chant and Kabeer, Lynch Conflict dimension: The back-lash: Being sensitive to the post-conflict context: Militarised and violent masculinities, maternal femininities

9. Conclusion • What does ‘transformative change’ mean and how might it be achieved? Gender relations: unpacking gender and poverty and violence (back to the research question); What have the women’s told me: The complex dynamics and role of power and norms in their everyday lives;