In honor of International Women’s Day, 8 March, 2021, CGDS participated in “Bridging Perspectives” in collaboration with the London School of Economics Department of Government. Dr. Lynn Rose, CGDS Deputy Director, moderated the panel, titled “Gender Justice and Gender Norms.” The panel aimed at considering the role of harmful social and gender norms. Through gender norms, girls and women have their mobility restricted, are forced into marriage, are prevented from going to school, and are often exposed to sexual violence. The first panelist, Dr Paul Kirby, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow in the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE, and a Co-Director of Gender, Justice and Security Hub, spoke about women’s day, men’s day, and hegemonic masculinity. Next, Dr Choman Hardi, CGDS Founder and Director, spoke about masculinity and violence in the context of research currently underway. Third, co-presenters Dr Mazeda Hossain, Associate Professorial Research Fellow in the Centre for Women, Peace & Security at LSE and Ms. Leah Kenny, a Research Officer within the Centre for Women, Peace and Security, summarized their work on family planning norms. The final speaker was Dr. Twana Hassan, from CGDS, who is our Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Twana spoke about the legal aspects of masculinity and violence as well as his team’s research on Kurdish proverbs. Following the panelists, LSE and AUIS students joined breakout rooms so as to continue the discussions with the panelists. AUIS students included Ms. Kizhe Jabbar, Ms. Naivan Sartip Abdalrahman, Mr. Parosh Abdulla, Ms. Raz Mohammed Abdulla, Ms. Sawen Gelas, and Mr. Zheera J. Hassan. CGDS partners with LSE, with funding from the UK International Research Fund, in a five-year project on the study of masculinities.
Photo Description: We see a poster for the event, with the color photo of one woman on the left and three women and two men, in black and white, on the right. A banner in light blue provides information about the event, and more information in a purple circle tells us about the moderator.