From the Inside Out // De Dentro Hacia Afuera
“From the Inside Out” // “De Adentro Hacia Afuera,” is a project by the 4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative and Meninas Cartoneras Editorial in Madrid, Spain. The project gathered the voices and artistic expressions of people around the world that bore witness to the many ways that COVID-19 has impacted us and to create as a collective vision for the future. With our dual language platform, people from countries such as México, Spain, Perú, United States, Colombia, Chile, Portugal, Italia and others, have shared in either English or Spanish their experiences as narrative, poetry, photos, and/or drawings.
Their reflections on their experiences during COVID 19 respond to questions such as: What have you learned about yourself and your community? What was hidden in your life that has been uncovered? These stories and works of art also express a vision about the future and respond to inquiries such as: What are your worries, fears, hopes and dreams? What matters now? In this e-book, the different stages of our collective experience are organized to reflect care, loss, sorrow, comfort, thought, and hope, and to design the path we seek to trace together and as a way to create change in our world.
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Centering the Lived Experiences of Women For the Wellbeing of All by Lori DiPrete Brown et al.
Abstract: The UW-Madison 4W Initiative (Women and Wellbeing in Wisconsin and the World), began in 2014 as a collaboration between the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology, the Global Health Institute, and the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies (GWS). The global aspects of the Initiative were developed out of international studies programs related to women and microenterprise efforts in Mexico and Ecuador, rural health programs for women in Kenya, and existing partnerships in Ghana, Malawi, and Nepal. Convening the leaders of these programs created the necessary critical mass to establish the 4W Initiative, an interdisciplinary effort to promote gender equity, global wellbeing, and the full participation of women in society. 4W catalyzes existing and new research-to-action projects; sponsors grants and internships for UW-Madison faculty, staff, and students; and hosts scholarly exchanges on a range of topics related to gender and wellbeing. All 4W activities are guided by the lived experiences of women and 4W’s own collective leadership philosophy and wellbeing model. In partnership with GWS, 4W also administers the UNESCO Chair on Gender, Wellbeing, and a Culture of Peace, which was awarded to UW-Madison in 2016. Under the auspices of the chair, 4W uses the UN SDGs to inform intersectional gender analysis and strategies for overall social transformation. In this chapter, we describe the Initiative’s origins and approach, as well as identify lessons for other institutions of higher education that are looking to make local-to-global change around gender equity and wellbeing. This chapter also discuss 4W’s plans for the future and its own long-term sustainability.
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From a Three-Legged Stool to a Three-Dimensional
World: Integrating Rights, Gender and Indigenous
Knowledge into Sustainability Practice and Law By Lori DiPrete Brown et al.
Abstract: “Sustainable Development” has come a long way since the World Commission on Environment and Development first popularized the term in 1987. Virtually everyone is now familiar with the term Sustainable Development, from states to multinational corporations, and from affluent communities in the Global North to impoverished communities in the Global South. It received a new lease of life in 2015 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is recognized that sustainable development requires an inter-disciplinary, multi-level, and bottom-up approach, and that this ideal is easy to state but difficult to operationalize. Pursuant to deliberations at an international workshop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which aimed at fostering the exchange of ideas among diverse experts and developing solutions for effective inclusion of women and youth in climate change response strategies, we propose an innovative, practical three-dimensional model that enhances sustainability theory and practice with cross-cutting integration of human rights, gender equity, and Indigenous and local knowledge.
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Policies and Services for Survivors of Sex Trafficking: A Report of the 4W Streets of Hope Fora At the University of Wisconsin- Madison by Amy Vatne Bintliff et al.
Abstract: This document contains the presentation summaries from two fora hosted by the 4W STREETS Initiative to identify best practices and policy recommendations for addressing sex trafficking. STREETS of Hope I from 2015 focused on envisioning wellbeing and promising practices for aftercare for survivors of sexual exploitation, while STREETS of Hope II in 2018 examined sex trafficking in the context of migration.
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The Construction of Silence: Narratives of Nigerian Women Crossing into Europe by Esperanza Jorge et al.
Abstract: The trafficking of Nigerian women for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a phenomenon that has been visible in Spain since the 2000s. One of the entry routes is the southern European border from Morocco to Spain where access to the protection system is linked to the identification of women as “victims” of trafficking by Spanish Security Forces. Such identification requires the women to narrate their life stories, despite the silence and concealment in which they find themselves, making their narration rather difficult. From multi-sited ethnographic research and using an ecology of knowledge approach, we propose to analyze how women’s silence is built within the Nigerian trafficking journey and how women confront this silence. Results show that, far from being anchored in the victim category as passive and disempowered subjects, women not only provide fundamental knowledge to understand the phenomenon of trafficking but also propose concrete actions for its transformation.
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A Baseline Assessment: Data Collection and Analysis of Women Escort Advertisements Posted on Backpage.com in Madison, WI by Molly Liemontas and Madelyn Huibregtse
Abstract: This study will analyze the relationship between technology and sex trafficking in Madison, Wisconsin. This is a collaborative effort between the community of Madison and the University of Wisconsin 4W STREETS (Social Transformation to End Exploitation and Trafficking for Sex) Project. Aims of this study are to determine 1) the prevalence of postings of female escorts on Backpage.com in Madison, Wisconsin and 2) whether indicator tools can detect victims of online sex trafficking on postings under female escorts on Backpage.com. Data was collected from women who posted advertisements from February 1st, 2016 to May 31st, 2016 under the female escort section on Backpage.com in Madison, WI. An indicator tool was created from best available evidence and local contextual dynamics that were noted by a detective in Madison that works in the anti-trafficking field. Based on information collected, thirteen indicators were tracked on every advertisement. Documenting “yes” to indicator(s) observed on an ad suggested an increased potential for the woman to be at-risk for online sex trafficking. Based on the literature available, the following six variables were created, tracked, and analyzed: number of indicators observed on an ad, number of days an ad was posted, phone numbers and area codes, and self-identified race/ethnicity and age that were written on ads. The purpose of this study is to understand if there were any causal relationships from the data collected using the indicator tools and detecting victims of online sex trafficking.
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“And I Just Keep Building Myself Up”: A Grounded Theory of the Wellbeing of Middle School
Girls with Histories of Family Stressors Participating in an After-school Wellbeing Club by Amy Vatne Bintliff
Abstract: Subjective wellbeing is multid
imensional and thus, not easy to define, especially for adolescents who are experiencing stressful life events. This grounded theory study fills gaps in research by asking 7th and 8th grade girls who have experienced family stressors, “How do adolescent girls with histories of family stressors define and experience wellbeing in their daily lives?” In order to facilitate discussion around that theme, a group of ten girls with histories of family stressors participated in twenty hours of an after-school Wellbeing Club over the course of ten weeks. The Wellbeing Club activities included participatory discussion and art-based activities based on an emerging model of wellbeing entitled Gender, Wellbeing and the Ecological Commons: A Participatory Framework of Wellbeing for Women and Girls. Data included a graffiti wall, selfportraits, journals, semi-structured interviews, and field notes. Adolescents prioritize four components of wellbeing: connections, security, growth, and acceptance. To adolescents with histories of family stressors, wellbeing is facilitated through quality connections with peers, is impacted by levels of acceptance, is nurtured through growth and the sharing of one’s voice, and is dependent on feelings of security.
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Gender Analysis for One Health: Theoretical Perspectives and Recommendations for Practice by Sophie Friedson-Ridenour et al.
Abstract: One health emphasizes the interdependent health of humans, animals, and their shared environments and shows promise as an integrated, equitable transdisciplinary approach to important ecohealth issues. Notably, research or programming explicitly examining the intersection of gender and one health is limited, although females represent half of the human population and play important roles in human and animal health around the world. Recognizing these gaps, scholars from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with United States Department of Agriculture convened a consultative workshop, ‘‘Women and One Health,’’ in 2016. This paper outlines the workshop methods and highlights outcomes toward shared terminology and integration of frameworks from one health, gender analysis, and women in agriculture. Further, recommendations for education, policy, and service delivery at the intersection of women’s empowerment and one health are offered as important efforts toward the dual goals of gender equality and sustainable health of humans, animals, and their shared ecosystems.
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Feminist Leadership and the 4W Initiative: Reflections and Implications for Transformative Praxis in Higher Education by Lori DiPrete Brown and Olivia Dahlquist
Abstract: What is feminist leadership? How can we practice it? How can we practice it better? And how can we practice it everywhere? To offer insights into these questions, we consider common themes in the feminist leadership literature and relate them to the experience of an interdisciplinary campus-wide gender and wellbeing effort embedded in an institution of higher education. We begin with a summary of feminist leadership principles, followed by an overview of the structure, core principles, and practice of the 4W Initiative (Women and Wellbeing in Wisconsin and the World) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These summaries are followed by an exploration of consonances and dissonances that arise when feminist leadership theory is used to assess the 4W experience to date. We then present possibilities for integration and continued realization and expansion of feminist leadership.
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Lifelong Wellbeing for Survivors of Sex Trafficking: Collaborative Perspectives From Survivors, Researchers, and Service Providers by Amy Vatne Bintliff et al.
Abstract: This article summarizes a collaborative effort by researchers, service providers, and women who have experienced exploitation and trafficking for sex, to inform policy and practice related to care for survivors. The effort brought together current research program experience from around the world, and survivor perspectives, in a 2015 interactive forum entitled “STREETS of Hope: Listening to and Supporting Survivors of Human Trafficking.” A participatory approach to defining wellbeing, designed especially for use with vulnerable or highly marginalized populations of women and girls, provided the framework for the discussions. In addition, attempts were made to use principles of trauma-informed care during the workshop itself, toward the overall goals of 1) working as equals to inform research agendas; 2) gaining insights from survivors to improve services; and 3) providing survivors and all participants with a wellbeing model that can help them think and speak with specificity and clarity about their personal growth, wellbeing, and self-care.
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From ‘Machine’ to ‘Organism’ to Beyond the Models: Lessons from the 4W Initiative on
Complexity Theory for Organizational Leadership & Development by Eric Obscherning
Abstract: The context of free-market capitalism pressures organizations to prioritize efficiency. In response, organizations look to machines as a model for designing and directing organizational leadership and development. Modern social and political forces have allowed this model of organization as machine to proliferate and dominate, including in public and nonprofit organizations. However, this model has numerous problems both inherently and contextually given the new pressures of our contemporary society. Complexity theory may offer a new and improved model for organizations,one that transcends the inherent issues of the machine model and addresses these contemporary contextual pressures. But this new model is not without its own shortcomings. In a qualitative case-study, I examine how the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 4W Initiative (For Women and Wellbeing in Wisconsin and the World) uses this complexity model, what effects the model has demonstrated so far, how the Initiative could further embody the model, and how it could serve as an example for the university at large.
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