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Women are prevented from using contraceptives by their husbands in Zanzibar. In Uganda the baby boys of the AIDS-dead end up on the street.

It is impossible to fight HIV and AIDS without using the knowledge to be found among the locals. Especially women's knowledge and their networks must be used. Because a person's health is not only the result of individual choices, it is equally a result of environment, culture and society. Local culture and local institutions must be regarded as resources in the work against HIV and AIDS, not obstacles. This is the opinion of Vendelin Simon. The last two years he has been studying in Bergen at the 'Gender and Development' programme at the Centre for Women and Gender Research.

The Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research at the University of Oslo annually awards a prize for outstanding women's studies and gender research. In 2002 Ingunn Ikdahl won the prize for her master's thesis on women farmer's rights to land in Tanzania. Ikdahl's work has already impressed professionals, both nationally and internationally.

Young Muslim girls are often described as victims of a culture hostile towards women that deprives them of the possibility to control their own days and their own lives. Cand.polit. Nina Rundgren wanted to see how young Muslim girls in Stockholm experienced their personal situation, and give them a voice. The girls' statements assert that there is room for personal choice both within and beyond the framework set up by their culture.

The documentation centre for women, CENDOC-MUJER in Lima has made 26 volumes of women-related articles available in a database that is now being distributed to a network of women’s organisations throughout Peru.

Many women in Turkey want to use Islam to free themselves from traditional life-patterns. They think that Islam supports women getting an education, working and being politically active, at the same time as it emphasises women’s central role in the Muslim family.

Does Norse mythology and queer theory share any common ground? Brit Solli, archaeologist at the University of Tromsø, argues that Odin, one of the most important Viking gods, was queer – and that it is about time to reclaim the diversity that the Viking era represented both in culture and in opinion of gender. Solli writes about this and a lot more, in her interdisciplinary book in about the Viking era.

A so far untold part of Norwegian history is now presented in three companion volumes. Norwegian Immigration History was released by Pax Publishing Company earlier this fall. Seven professors aim to describe history with immigrants’ perspective from year 900 and to present time. How was the life of a slave? Where did the priests, the carpenters and the tradesmen come from? Who were the noblemen and kings – and where did they find their brides? Family negotiations, alliance building and forced marriages were the rule rather than the exception in earlier times.

Iran does not utilize the resources of women. Women are not promoted to managerial positions, many educated women are unemployed and few women are elected to parliament. Although there are few limitations to women leadership in the laws and religion, there are only a few women appointed to the high managerial positions in Iran. – This is an important hindrance to the development of Iran, says professor Shamsosadat Zahedi.

The solution for the Iranian women’s movement is that traditional and modern women’s organisations meet for dialogue. The traditional ones have their strength in their contact with women in the local communities, while the modern women’s groups have new ideas and closer contact with politicians, says Iranian researcher on women’s issues, Nahid Motie.

Female-headed households are usually looked upon as a social problem in Iran. Now the increasing number of female-headed households has caught the attention of both researchers and politicians. Iranian researcher on women’s issues, Nahid Motie, thinks it is important to avoid simple generalizations about these families’ difficult situation. – Many women have managed to create good lives for themselves and their children, she says.

Men who kill their wives in Iran state jealousy as cause, while women who kill their husband want to get out of the marriage. If the killer has any children he or she remains in jail; until the children reach legal age when they then decide whether mother or father will be executed. Criminologist Shahla Moazami has done research on spouse killing in Iran.

The number of women who study music and who make their mark on the Norwegian musical scene have increased the recent years. But the recruitment of women is lopsided. Women choose classical music, not jazz. In this article Trine Annfelt discusses jazz as a hegemonic masculine discourse and argues that this can contribute to explaining the distribution by gender and sexuality.

How gender power in society, research and politics is understood, interpreted and problematised depends upon your position and point of view. Therefore the Dane, the Swede and the Norwegian woman have different ways of looking at gender power. Additionally, each generation of women will have their own way of analysing power.

Norway and the other Scandinavian countries enjoy an international status as progressive countries in gender equality. But there is still much to do. The research project “Power and Democracy” has mapped out Norway’s power elite. 1725 Norwegian leaders have been interviewed in the study, and the numbers speak for themselves; we have a male power elite. Only 2 of 10 people included in the study’s sample were women. The military has the lowest proportion of female leaders – zero per cent.

Written by Professor Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen at the Centre for Feminist Research, University of Oslo. This article was written for the FAFO seminar; Tunisian-Norwegian research seminar on women and gender issues, February 16th 1998.