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Engaged Anthropology pp 121–145Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Gender and Universal Rights: Dilemmas and Anthropological Engagement

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Part of the Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference book series (ATSIAD)

Abstract

Scandinavian countries lead most rankings on gender equality and women’s rights. Anthropologists who work in development are continuously confronted with perceptions and practises countering the type of universal rights in question. This chapter examines the ways that anthropologists engage with sensitive issues of gender rights in development cooperation. With reference to the issue of gay rights in Tanzania and polygamy in Mozambique, it is argued that the role of applied anthropology should be to produce research-based knowledge on the situation of poor and vulnerable men and women—who are the ultimate target of all Scandinavian aid programs. Research of this type must give equal emphasis to relevance and scientific rigor and be methodologically innovative in order to relate to time and resource constraints and reach central decision-makers.

Keywords

  • Aid
  • Gender
  • Anthropology
  • Tanzania
  • Mozambique

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway

    Siri Lange & Inge Tvedten

Authors
  1. Siri Lange
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  2. Inge Tvedten
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Tone Bringa

  2. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Synnøve Bendixsen

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Lange, S., Tvedten, I. (2016). Gender and Universal Rights: Dilemmas and Anthropological Engagement. In: Bringa, T., Bendixsen, S. (eds) Engaged Anthropology. Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40484-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40484-4_7

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