Institute of Development Studies

Re-envisioning Representations of Women

12 February - Kristina Hallez

As part of their ongoing commitment to creative forms of communications the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Consortium are holding a photography competition to explore women's agency in the community.

Changing Focus photography competition 

The Middle East hub of the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium (Pathways), based at IDS, is holding a photography competition dedicated to garnering innovative images of the ways women experience empowerment in Egypt.

The Changing Focus Photography Competition aims to encourage local photographers to engage with depictions of women's agency and the interaction of women within the community.

Applicants have been asked to submit photo samples and an application, in which they describe the meaning and intention behind their selected photos. Certain applicants will be selected to participate in a workshop focusing on representations of gender within art (especially photography) and the use of photographic technique to convey and conceptualise how women in Egypt experience empowerment. The workshop will be lead by Egyptian artists and activists/academics engaged in promoting gender awareness and equality. Afterwards, participants will be asked to produce new images, incorporating the ideas and techniques discussed in the workshop. Participants will submit the new photos, along with a proposal for their own project pertaining to women, which will be collated in an exhibit. The winner of the competition will be judged on both photographic merit and the strength of their proposal.

Creative communications and sharing knowledge

Changing Focus represents part of a larger objective within Pathways: a commitment to creative and dynamic forms of communications and sharing research outputs. Engaging with definitions and conceptualisations of women's empowerment, a primary research theme of Pathways, will be addressed through an artistic lens for a wide audience. The photographic outputs of the competition will also be shared alongside photographs from similar photography competitions held in Pathways hubs in Bangladesh and Ghana. These photos can show the manifold aspects of empowerment, from an Egyptian locus as well as a wider global context.

The images produced are intended to display the current and changing position of women in Egypt, with reference to conceptions of women's empowerment and the promotion of gender equity. In an effort to collaborate with other organisations working with the same concepts in Egypt, the Middle East hub has been in contact with the GTZ, the foreign aid branch of the German government, about their project Egypt at Work. Egypt at Work focuses on youth unemployment in Egypt, using job fairs, training workshops and photography to connect Egyptian youth to the labour market. GTZ invited young job seekers to participate in photography training sessions that involved learning technical photography skills and discussions about representing and dignifying work. These employment facilitators then went out into the community and photographed and interacted with people working in a range of jobs (for example: blacksmiths, tailors, printers, mechanics). The photos were displayed at a community exhibit which was well-received by community members. Including the experiences of these employment facilitators represents an opportunity to discuss techniques used for dignifying work and how the same concepts or framework may apply to representations of empowerment. The use of public exhibitions, like the one held as a part of the Egypt at Work project, serves to engage the public and works to mainstream different images and associations, be it toward dignifying work or women's agency.

For more details about the competition including the terms and conditions of entry see:
http://pathwaysmiddleeast.wordpress.com/

Kristina Hallez is a Research Assistant at the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, a partner of the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium.

Photo: Amanda Kerdahi Matt, an applicant for the Changing Focus photo competition.

Related Projects

• Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium - International research and communications programme finding out what works to enhance women’s empowerment (Ongoing)