How are modern cities creating hostile and exclusionary urban spaces? Who has the right to access and fully participate in cities?

In this interview with Dr. Nourhan Bassam, feminist urbanist, architect, author and founder of The Gendered City, we explored how urban spaces reflect societal and gender norms, often reinforcing power imbalances and marginalizing individuals from diverse gender, racial, economic, and religious backgrounds.

We discussed how outdated urban planning designs confine individuals to specific gender roles and behaviors, limiting their access to—and safe, meaningful participation in—city environments.

We also reflected on current efforts by modern cities to address gender-based violence and power inequalities in areas like mobility, transportation, housing, and employment (including unpaid care labor). 

Additionally, we considered how feminist perspectives on urbanism are shaping what non-sexist cities could look like, both today and in the future.

Join us in this exploration, ⁠follow us on LinkedIn ⁠and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Recommended links to this episode:

• The Gendered City Official Website 
• The Gendered City book
• Fem.DES Network
• Feminist Placemaking
• Women After Dark Series
• Fem Green

How outdated are U.S. immigration laws? What are the long-term, intended and unintended consequences of Trump Administration new executive orders such as the repeal of the Ending Sensitive Zones Policy, the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the USAID Funding Freeze, and the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule?

Are anti-immigration discourses genuinely focused on 'protecting' women, both domestically and abroad, or are they driven by other underlying goals and agendas?

In this interview with Melanie Nezer, Vice President of Advocacy and External Relations at Women’s Refugee Commission, we explored how recent executive actions fail to protect vulnerable groups, including women, children, and victims of different forms of violence, drug trafficking, and human trafficking who are seeking asylum and safety in the U.S.

We also examined the critical link between rising U.S. and global military spending and the violent conflicts that are driving populations to flee their home countries in search of protection abroad.

Join us in this exploration, follow us on LinkedIn and⁠⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠⁠⁠⁠

Listen to related episodes:  

• 86. Chloé Meulewaeter on Global Military Spending & Demilitarization Efforts
• 95. Jose R. Rivera-Gonzalez on US Withdrawal of Afghanistan
• 190. Dr. William T. Armaline on The Crisis of Human Rights in the Age of Global Capitalism
• 193. Devon Cone on USAID Funding Freeze: A Worldwide Setback for Refugee Women

Recommended links to this episode:

• ⁠Women’s Refugee Commission Official Website
• WRC Crisis Response Programs
• In Name Only: The False Allure of Anti-Immigration Policies That Claim to Protect Women from Harm
• The Global Gag Rule Endangers Refugee Women’s Lives
• Women’s Refugee Commission’s Statement on the Laken Riley Act
• Elimination of “Sensitive Zones” Will Create Fear, Cause Harm to Immigrant Women and Kids Seeking Safety From Domestic Abuse

What are the long-term, intended and unintended consequences of the USAID funding freeze? How the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule, and other executive orders from the new Trump Administration related to the US-Mexico border and the End of the Sensitive Zones Policy will impact the rights, safety, and lives of refugee women and girls in the U.S. and worldwide?

In this interview with Devon Cone, Senior Advocate for Women and Girls at Refugees International, we explored the factors behind the growing disinterest in the protection of migrants' human rights and we examined how these measures will disproportionately affect women and girls fleeing violent conflict in Afghanistan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, and countries in the Northern Triangle of Central America.

Join us in this exploration and⁠⁠⁠ subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠⁠⁠

Listen to related episodes:  

• 91. Dr. Paul Slovic & Dr. Scott Slovic on the Science Behind the Limits of Compassion
• 112. Devon Cone on COVID-19 Impact on Migration & Humanitarian Crises

• 179. Marta Saiz on Human Rights Journalism & Foreign Affairs

• 190. Dr. William T. Armaline on The Crisis of Human Rights in the Age of Global Capitalism

Recommended links to this episode:

• Refugees International Official Website
• What Do President Trump’s Week One Actions Mean for Refugees International’s Global Advocacy?
• No Model of Refuge: Sudanese Refugees in Egypt
• The Nuba Mountains: A Window into the Sudan Crisis
• Gaza Dispatches: Hunger and Siege
• “They Left Us Without Any Support”: Afghans in Pakistan Waiting for Solutions

• In Apparent Quid Pro Quo Deal, Panama and Costa Rica Facilitating U.S.-Sponsored Human Rights Violations of Asylum Seekers 
• Tell Your Member of Congress: Save USAID, Save Lives

What is the health impact of the work we do in International Relations and Humanitarian Settings?

In this interview with Nicole Steward, MSW and author of the new book Radical Self-Care, we delved into how shock doctrines, global conflicts, media narratives, and disaster relief efforts impact not only everyday people but also those on the frontlines—doctors, crisis responders, soldiers, diplomats, peacemakers, activists, journalists, and political leaders.

We explored how racial, economic and social systems, along with work environments, thrive on people working in survival mode and how conditions like vicarious trauma, moral injury, burnout, compassion fatigue, ptsd and depression affect the health and decision-making of those of us driving change.

We uncovered simple yet powerful approaches to radical self-care and liberation pedagogies, aimed at fostering both personal and collective healing as well as systemic transformation.

Nicole is a social worker with more than two decades working in foster youth services, rape crisis, juvenile justice, and in education as a behavior intervention specialist, and foster youth/homeless youth liaison. She is a certified yoga instructor and author of the new book Radical Self-Care for helpers, healers and changemakers.

Join us in this exploration and⁠⁠ subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠⁠

Listen to related episodes:  

• Ep. 24 Kimberly Loh on Compassionate Conversations
• Ep. 91 Dr. Paul Slovic & Dr. Scott Slovic on the Science Behind the Limits of Compassion
• Ep. 142 Psychology in International Relations
• Ep. 169 Jeff Hardy on The Care for Peace and Our Second Human Evolution
• Ep. 180 Dr. L. Ayu Saraswati on Pain, Power and Transnational Feminism

Recommended links to this episode:

• Nicole Steward Website
• Radical Self-Care for Helpers, Healers, and Changemakers
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• How do colonial, state, gender-based, and spiritual forms of violence impact the rights of Wayuu women in La Guajira? How do the governments of Venezuela and Colombia differ or align in their recognition and protection of the Wayuu indigenous population's rights and cosmovisions?

  An interview with Dayanna Palmar Uriana, Wayuu woman, lawyer, journalist and Non-Residential Fellow of the Violence, Inequality and Power Lab of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice.

  Join us in this exploration and⁠subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠
  

  Listen to related episodes:  

  • Ep. 131 Annette Perez on Anti-Racism & 2022 Presidential Elections in Colombia
  • Ep. 149 Kirthi Jayakumar on Anticolonialism in International Relations
  • Ep. 151 Dr. Luke Moffett on Reparations in Post-Conflict Societies
  • Ep. 180 Dr. L. Ayu Saraswati on Pain, Power and Transnational Feminism

  Recommended links to this episode:

  • Dayanna Palmar Uriana LinkedIn
  • Discrimination Against Wayuu Women as a System of Collective Violence Against the Wayuu Indigenous People in Venezuela and Colombia by Dayanna Palmar Uriana
  • La Discriminación hacia la Mujer Wayuu como Sistema de Violencia Colectiva en el Pueblo Wayuu en Venezuela y Colombia
  • La encrucijada wayuu: respeto a los derechos frente a energías limpias
  • Crónica: el gota a gota que viola los derechos del pueblo wayuu
  • Local stories of justice and reparation in the face of extractivism in Latin America
  • El Estado y La Guajira
  • NotiWayuu

  
  

  
  

How global capitalism intersects with inter-state relations? How are forces of private equity and transnational capital shaping the domestic and foreign policies that governments design to fulfill capital accumulation and geopolitical interests - often at the expense of human and environmental rights and dignity?

An interview with Dr. William T. Armaline, Professor of Sociology and Human Rights at the San José State University and co-author of the new book Human Rights Praxis and the Struggle for Survival with Davita Silfen Glasberg.

Join us in this exploration and subscribe to our podcast newsletter community here.⁠

Listen to related episodes: 

Ep. 86 Chloé Meulewaeter on Global Military Spending & Demilitarization Efforts

Ep. 91 Dr. Paul Slovic & Dr. Scott Slovic on the Science Behind the Limits of Compassion

Ep. 151 Dr. Luke Moffett on Reparations in Post-Conflict Societies

Ep. 180 Dr. L. Ayu Saraswati on Pain, Power and Transnational Feminism

Recommended links to this episode:

Are Feminist Foreign Policy models building a Global Project? Is it based on a universal “feminist idealism” or a “Western” view of “modernization” to end systemic unequal power and oppressions?  How is Mexico's FFP playing a part on this Global Hegemonic Project?

What racial, care and (de)colonial power dynamics are influencing FFP’s models creation and implementation in the Latin America region? 

An interview with María Paulina Rivera Chávez, doctoral fellow at the University of Potsdam.

Listen to related episodes: 

Recommended links to this episode:

🌟Join our podcast newsletter community here.

Will the world be less equal in 2030 than in 2015? How are international financial flows, government debt burdens, austerity measures and colonial legacies affecting the achievement or backsliding of Gender Equality laws, policies, social and cultural norms? 

 Is money the big "silent" player in the advancement of SDG5? If so, why? Is Gender Equality a goal that can *only* make sense through economic lenses?

How are current data sets and data gaps helping paint a picture of the progress or decline of Gender Equality worldwide?

A review and commentary on the latest report 2024 SDG Gender Index by Equal Measures 2030. 

Join us in this exploration, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @womanhood _ ir. 

Recommended links:

How are the wounded masculine and feminine shaping Domestic and Foreign Affairs?

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How do we measure an Individual, State or System has “too much” power?

How are Individuals and Structures of Governance envisioning the acquisition, distribution and removal of Power(s)? If power exists in relation, are humans framing abundance of power through self and collective defeating or thriving modes? 

Why is an abundance of violence in Politics and IR normalized while an abundance of nonviolence, love and empathy is disregarded, if not seen, as incompatible with these fields? 

Is there a “fair” and “nonviolent” way to have an Abundance of Power in Politics and IR that doesn’t bring others the perception of being stripped away from their own power, that doesn’t fuel the notion of Scarcity?

Let’s continue the conversation, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @womanhood_ir 

Listen to related episodes:

Recommended reading: Allowing Light In - Substack