WWW: Women's Words on the Web

Celebrating Mountain Women - Enabling our electronic voice - Sharing our successes and problems

Natural Resources and the Environment

Role of Mountain Women in the Management of Sustainable Eco-Systems http://www.skk.uit.no/WW99/papers/Kunwar Chhaya.pdf

Women living in rural areas or mountain areas have a special relationship with the environment. This paper was by the Himalayan Action Research Centre at the 8^th interdisciplinary Congress on Women - Women's World '99, 1999.

Women Speak Out on Mining: Global http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/motherlode/gold/women4.html

Articles about women who protest when their communities are threatened by the mining and oil industries in the United States, Africa, India, Peru, and the Philippines.

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Health and Well Being

Mountain Women, their issues and concerns http://education.vsnl.com/phalguni/

This site features the stories of women of Garhwal Himalaya and several studies relating to women's reproductive and old age health.

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Entrepreneurship

The Business of Art. New Mexico WOMAN Magazine http://www.nmwoman.com/981112/boa.html

In some states, steel is big business. In others, it’s corn or wheat or dairy products. In New Mexico, art is big business. This site explores how some women were able to make a business of selling their traditional crafts.

La Jicarita News October 1999 - Community Advocacy for Northern New Mexico http://www.lajicarita.org/99oct.htm

Tierra Wools - Community Development in Action. By Kay Matthews. An article about Tierra Wools, a women's weaving cooperative in the Chama Valley of New Mexico that was organized to give indigenous women a marketable skill.

The Mountain Women Storytellers http://www.themountainwomen.com/

This site was started by several women who have a business telling stories of the mountains in West Virginia in the eastern United States. Included are examples of their stories, scheduled events and tips on how to start your own business.

WINGS, Women's Initiative Network Group, Three Founders http://www.wingsnet.org/three.htm

WINGS was created by three women entrepreneurs who had successfully developed their own businesses in Appalacian Kentucky, a mountain area of the United States which has few employment opportunities for women. The site describes the WINGS program of entrepreneurial training, marketing consultation and networking opportunities for women interested in starting their own business. It also provides an online forum for members to share information about their businesses and themselves.

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Legal, Political, and Human Rights

Mountain Women Development Centre http://www.ysparmaruniversity.org/mwdc.html

The Mountain Women Development Centre at Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, was established to specifically emphasis gender in our activities; keeping in view the current policy emphasis on the issue at state as well as at national level. The centre was established in collaboration with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal in August, 1995. MWDC’s major emphasis has been on enhancing the feeling of self-worth among the rural women mainly through- (i) catering to the needs of rural women in respect of their major occupation - farming and (ii) evolving strategies and working for their social, economic and psychological upliftment.

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Culture and Indigenous Knowledge

Future Generations, Tibet, QNNP Qomolangma (Everest) National Nature Preserve, Qomolangma Women http://www.future.org/PAGES/4_TIBET/qnnp_women.html

Mountain Women: Life on the Margin. "When we listen to statistics and social scientists, we get an overview of the special challenges facing women who live in fragile, mountain environments. When we listen to the voices of the women who live and work in the mountains of the world, we get a glimpse of their aspirations and of the challenges they face. We need to listen more carefully to these women because on them falls the daily burden, and the heaviest burden, of preserving a resource that has value to us all, wherever we live."

This site includes stories of six women's lives, problems and successes; and their role in helping to build a school in a small village.

Glenat Presse: Magazines de Montagnes http://www.glenatpresse.com/lalpe/12/e.htm

Abstracts from L'Alpe magazine about women living in the Alps and Pyrenees mountains of Europe.

Our Process and Techniques - The Blackberry Hill Stitchers http://www.graphtronics.net/psjones/process.htm

The Blackberry Hill stitchers are descendants of Appalachian mountain women who made beautiful patchwork quilts from scraps of fabric cut from old clothes, feed sacks, and anything else available. Unlike today’s quilters, these mountain women sewed to provide the only warm bedding their families would have for cold winter nights. This site offers the quilts which are made now for sale following the traditional design and processes.

Role of Tribal Women in Production Activities: A Case Study http://www.iucn.org/themes/pmns/indigenous/das.html

Role of Tribal Women in Production Activities: A Case Study from Chittagong Hill Tracts. This study concerns the role of women in two tribes from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. The study describes local livelihoods, and the roles of women in decision-making. Findings reveal that women spend 68%, 95% and 85% of their time in field activities, domestic chores and livestock rearing, respectively. They also play important roles in decision making. But, unfortunately, their contributions in farm management and the economy are often ignored and not given emphasis. The study also indicates that in spite of neglect, the tribal women are interested in adopting new technologies.

The Story of Francis Wisner: The Last of Idaho's Mountain Women http://www.isu.edu/~wattron/stories4.htm

This is a short piece about Francis Wisner, the last of the mountain women living in the Central Idaho Wilderness in the United States. She lived 72 years, most of it--45 years to be exact--along the Salmon River, deep within the wilderness. She buried two husbands, and for the last 20 years of her life she lived alone tending her garden and writing a column for a small town newspaper.

Women of the Santa Cruz Mountains http://www.mnn.net/women.htm

Stories of 9 women who lived in the Santa Cruz mountains of California in the 19^th and early 20^th century. From Clarissa who arrived in California in 1852 after a voyage of 103 days around Cape Horn to Sara who traveled by automobile to Washington DC with several other women in 1915, these women were all pioneers in their individual ways. However, they shared a love of the sometimes harsh and unforgiving mountains where they made their homes.

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Books, Speeches, and Indices

Books on Women's Studies Published in India http://www.vedamsbooks.com/women.htm

Vedam Books carries a selection of books on Women Studies published recently in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Each of these books are further linked to show the complete table of contents and excerpts from the jacket and preface. You may order online, via e-mail, or via mail. The cost includes the book plus shipping charges. Examples of recently published books are:

• Gender and Narrative/edited by Jasbir Jain and Supriya Agarwal.
• Invoking Goddesses : Gender Politics in Indian Religion/edited by Nilima Chitgopekar
• Living Death : Trauma of Widowhood in India/edited by V. Mohini Giri.
• Reproductive Child Health/R.N. Pati.
• Woman and Empire : Representations in the Writings of British India (1858-1900)/Indrani Sen. Women Education/edited by S. Venkataiah.
• Women and Indian Society : Options and Constraints/Andal N.
• Women and Law in India/Nomita Aggarwal.
• Women as Educators/edited by Digumarti Bhaskara Rao, Digumarti Pushpa Latha and Digumarti Harshitha.

Books on Women's Studies from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/

From category books > nonfiction > women's studies. Amazon carries a selection of books on women's studies and has a good search engine. A description of each book is included on the site. Some examples of relevant titles are:

• On Sidesaddles to Heaven: The Women of the Rocky Mountain Mission by Laurie Winn Carlson; Caxton PressClimbing: A woman's Guide by Shelley Presson;McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
• Tents in the Clouds: The First Himalayan Expedition by Monica Jackson, et al, Seal Press Feminist Pub
• Purchase Knob: Essays from a Mountain Notebook by Kathryn K. McNeil, Susan Renfrew (illustrator); Fithian Press
• The Magnificent Mountain Women: Adventures in the Colorado Rockies by Janet Robertson; University of Nebraska Press
• Leading Out: Mountaineering Stories of Adventurous Women, by Rachael da Silva et al; Seal Press Feminist Pub
• Letters of a Women Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart;Universith of Nebraska Press

Gifts of Speech: Women's Speeches from Around the World http://gos.sbc.edu/

Speeches made by women from 1848 through 2001. There is a good search engine. Some relevant speeches are:

• Moving Vigorously into the Future, 1984 speech by Gloria Shatto commemorating Berry College in Georgia that was founded by Martha Berry to help hill children gain an education http://gos.sbc.edu/s/shatto.html

• Solitude of Self, 1892 address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American rights pioneer, to the US Congressional Committee http://gos.sbc.edu/s/stantoncady1.html

• Conserving Nature: An Act of Faith, 1993 speech by Kathryn Fuller, conservationist lawyer, to the Ecology and Spirituality Converence at the National Cathedral http://gos.sbc.edu/s/fuller2.html

• Bottlenecks of Development in Africa, 1995 speech by Wangari Maathai, Kenya environmentalist and human rights activist, at the 4^th UN World Women's Conference in Beijing, China http://gos.sbc.edu/m/maathai.html

• While Inaugurating the Open Discussions on Development of Women in 50 Years of Independence, by Usha Narayanan, First Lade of India, at the International Women's Day 1998 http://gos.sbc.edu/n/narayanan.html

• Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation, 1993, by Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, at Sweet Briar College http://gos.sbc.edu/m/mankiller.html

South Asia: Women Studies: Nepal http://www.lib.washington.edu/Southasia/Women/nepal.html

This site is an index to other sites and papers. Topic categories are General, Agriculture, Crimes Against Women, Education and Economic Empowerment, Health, and Status (Women's Rights).

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Browsing Classification: Sociology and Demography: Gender: General
Sociologie et démographie: Genre, Sexe
Sociología y demografía: Género

Citation: Scott, Jan. 2002. Mountain Women's Words on the Web.