When we talk about technology and software development, it is normal to think of robots, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual worlds. We rarely, or never, think about the social sciences. We do not associate the humanities with technology; they seem like opposing fields that never come together.

Child sex trafficking, child pornography, and sexual abuse of minors is a serious, growing issue all around the world. Even worse, it seems to be perpetuated by education officials at alarming rates. Unfortunately, and for unknown reasons, data and statistics regarding sex offenders in both public school and higher education remain scarce to come by.

A study analyzing recent arrests for possession or distribution of child sexual exploitation materials has put together a profile of those offenders most likely to be associated with higher education. According to the study, conducted by Lori Handrahan, child pornography offenders associated with higher education overwhelmingly tended to be white, male, and on the faculty.

Over half of the arrests and prosecutions for use of child pornography found that offenders were in leadership positions, and 30% had received institutional awards for professional excellence.

Read more at https://bit.ly/3vPR9G2.

Child sex trafficking isn’t the first thing most people think of when they consider sexual harassment and assault in higher education. But it’s more common than you may think. And perpetrators are almost all white, male academics, according to a study by Lori Handrahan, Ph.D. More than half held leadership positions on campus.

Higher Ed Dive reports on how a $400k settlement over misgendering a trans student may foreshadow more Title IX clashes. After a faculty member did so at Shawnee State University, officials took disciplinary action against him. Nicholas Meriweather sued the institution for infringing on his free speech and religious rights. A federal appeals court abided in Meriweather’s favor, and Shawnee State is paying a settlement of $400,000 in damages and attorney fees.

Journal of Human Trafficking, and corresponding database, is the most complete picture of sex offenses against children in higher education published anywhere, ever.

Biggest analysis of sexual offenders employed by US universities says sector has been complacent on safeguarding

This paper is the product of a review of recent literature on issues of gender in the context of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. It was prepared as background material for an international workshop on gender equity and peacebuilding jointly convened by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

On January 12, 2001, the Carnegie Endowment hosted a symposium to discuss the Clinton administration's legacy in promoting democracy abroad. Harold Koh, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor since November 1998, was the featured speaker.

The five-country USAID/CAR Gender Assessment was conducted from October 10 to November 22, 2009. It was jointly funded by the Women in Development Indefinite Quantity Contract (WID IQC) Task Order for Short-Term Technical Assistance and Training (STTA&T), implemented by DevTech Systems, Inc., and the USAID/Central Asian Republics (CAR) regional mission based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with country offices in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

CENTRAL ASIA L’ASIE CENTRALE

While there is hardly a corner of the world that has not been affected in one way or another by the events of September 11, the repercussions are especially evident in the region known as Soviet Central Asia.2

The thesis tracks the emergence of western forms of nationalism in republics of PostSoviet Central Asia, and assesses the likelihood of ethnic conflict in the region, and its probably consequences. It also considers the means by which the heterogenous populations in Central Asia may be more effectively accommodated within the individual republics.

Hunting for women : bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

Nearly twenty years ago, when the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children was held in Stockholm, Sweden (August 1996),1 the problem of sexual exploitation of children (SEC) facing the international community was imputed to a discrete and well characterised group of offenders.

Despite ratifying multiple international human rights conventions, democratizing national legislation, and increasing women’s presence in the government, non-consensual bride kidnapping has become a rampant practice in Kyrgyzstan. This paper seeks to answer why bride kidnapping is on the rise in light of the government’s progressive efforts; it further seeks to understand the cultural significance of the practice in Kyrgyz society to suggest a novel understanding in the context of human trafficking.

Until recently, the role of women in nationalism and governance has received little scholarly attention, perhaps because men have historically exercised near exclusive control over nations and states. This is ironic because it is women who create the nation/state.

Each year, we set aside the month of March to celebrate and recognize women’s research on women. Since 2013, the Women’s Research on Women Symposium, sponsored by the College of Education and Human Development’s Education Leadership Research Center, Office of Organizational Development and Diversity Initiatives, Women’s Faculty Network, and Women’s and Gender Studies, is an annual event at Texas A&M University, where our community comes together and recognizes our very own female faculty conducting research on girls, women, and gender.

This post will be dedicated to clarify some concepts, such as national identity and gender, and shortly explain how and why they relate to each other. I will present a few theories of how national identity is constructed and maintained, to elaborate on my first out of three questions presented in my introductory post

Hunting for women : bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

Democracy, anticipated by American and other Western powers to prevent economic chaos and political conflict within and among states, is not evolving as expected. This research argues that part of the failure resides in United States democracy assistance's inadequate consideration of gender within democracy programming.

Kyrgyzstan (also “Kyrgyz,” “Kirgizia,” or “Kirghizia”), officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked and mountainous country in Central Asia. It borders Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and the People's Republic of China to the southeast.

Education is a key element in shaping the worldview of the next generation and determines society's core values, ideology, and basic understanding of human rights. While Kyrgyzstan is a secular state, Islamic education, backed by Arab and Turkish sponsors, continues to increase in popularity with the construction of thousands of mosques and dozens of new Islamic educational institutions.

Using data from the 2011 and 2016 Life in Kyrgyzstan surveys, we examine Kyrgyz women’s labour supply elasticities at the extensive margin.

Kyrgyz Republic

Kyrgyz Respublikasy

CAPITAL : Bishkek

FLAG : Red field with a yellow sun in the center; in the center of the sun is a red ring crossed by two sets of three lines, a stylized representation of the vent in a Kyrgyz yurt.

Gendering ethnicity : implications for democracy assistance

This exploratory small-scale, qualitative study examines the current state of gender norms in the Kyrgyz Republic by focusing on two concrete sets of observable behaviors: bride kidnapping and women’s low civic participation.

Democracy, anticipated by American and other Western powers to prevent economic chaos and political conflict within and among states, is not evolving as expected. Since 1991, Western governments have been providing large amounts of democratic assistance to the former Soviet Union, yet, few if any, of the recipient countries have developed into genuine democracies.

Domestic violence and abduction for forced marriage (bride-kidnapping) are pervasive forms of violence against women in Kyrgyzstan. Although statistics are not available, great numbers of women and girls in Kyrgyzstan have experienced these serious violations of their most fundamental human rights. The problems of domestic violence and abduction have long been neglected by government officials, and urgently need to be addressed.

Wilson Center - Lori Handrahan