Rethinking Inclusion and Gender empowerment: A participatory action research

The ReIncluGen project aims to conceptualise gender empowerment building on the innovative theoretical concept of ‘situated intersectionality’ and study, co-evaluate and co-develop good practices of civil society organisations (CSOs) and media outlets that fight structural gender violence and promote gender empowerment and inclusion. Using participatory and co-creative action research with European CSOs and their members will help us to examine the situated meanings of gender empowerment within different societal spheres with explicit attention to migrant women and girls and their diversity and agency. In doing so we will include a wide variety of CSOs working with and for migrant women and girls focusing on themes such as gender equality, (sexual) violence, representation, socio-cultural participation and labour market integration using education, networking, legal counselling and psychological therapy. To consider the socio-political landscape, we will focus on Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Spain, which vary in terms of gender policies and inequalities and may also impact the CSO practises to foster empowerment. The research objectives are threefold. The first is to use a bottom-up and participatory approach to move beyond the written diversity and gender equality policies and unpack the different conceptualisations of gender ‘empowerment’ across spheres and contexts. The second is to conduct an evaluation and impact assessment of empowering and inclusive trajectories applied in distinct CSOs in order to co-design innovative tools to support their gender empowerment and inclusion. We aim to understand their rationale, linkage with prevailing policies, contextual preconditions of their success, and study their applicability across different organisations, countries and cultural contexts. The third is to examine the discourses and actions of media and digital cultures in strengthening gender empowerment and how they are used and implemented by CSOs.