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Gender
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Gender
Positively impacting women and enhancing their role in society is an essential part of international development projects. Arizona State University brings focused expertise and real world experience in improving outcomes for women in developing countries to international development projects. The university’s assets in women and gender studies curriculum, training, and program design have been integrated into multiple USAID-funded projects, and can be adapted to fit the unique needs of any international development project. ASU has several key capabilities for promoting gender equality:
- ASU faculty experts have developed proprietary gender consciousness and inclusion modules designed to tackle the issue of gender inequality and promote female empowerment through international development projects, including the USAID-funded VOCTEC program. Modules can be integrated into technical workshops for educators, professionals, policymakers and community leaders.
- ASU’s Women and Gender Studies program is one of the largest, most vibrant in the country. The program addresses practical issues as well as theory, and specializes in topics including health, law and political participation, and its faculty experts are available for international development project teams.
- The Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology aims to increase the participation of women and girls of color in STEM fields by providing evidence-based, research-driven programs that engage participants in socially relevant technology experiences. The center provides one of the few technology programs that connects culturally relevant practices with project-based technology activities that encourage girls of color to develop socially relevant, researched products in areas of digital media, coding and robotics. The program’s materials and models are adaptable to the needs of any developing country’s challenges related to women in STEM.
FEATURED PROJECT
Center for Gender and Leadership Studies at Yerevan State University (Armenia)
In 2013, ASU partnered with USAID and Armenia’s Yerevan State University to plan and launch a new Center for Gender and Leadership Studies at YSU. Modeled after ASU’s successful programming in Women and Gender Studies, the center developed a new master’s degree in Women and Gender Studies, and now promotes career advancement for women university graduates, conducts outreach activities, and advances public policy research on issues related to gender equality and women’s leadership. The project leveraged ASU’s expertise in women and gender to conduct a national survey of attitudes and experiences on gender issues, establish a national “gender barometer” to track progress on gender rights, and strengthen relations with Armenian rights NGOs.
Visiting scholars from Yerevan State University (credit: ASU Now)