'Sustainable Development: an oxymoron?'

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INTRODUCTION:
Guest editor, ESTHER NJIRO, introduces the issue.

The rich gets richer and the poor get renewables: the WSSD, energy and women a malevolent perspective:
WENDY ANNECKE asks some pointed questions about sustainable development in the context of inequalities in energy use.

Environmental governance and women’s activism:
PRABHA KHOSLA looks at problems with global governance for sustainable development, and women’s struggles for gendered human-centred development in the global order.

‘Women are weak when they are amongst men’ - women’s participation in rural water committees in South Africa:
DAVID HEMSON argues that rural women’s effective participation in water projects is hindered by the rural social setting and gender dynamics.

False hope from micro-enterprise:
MANSURA KASSIM and SHERYL HENDRIKS look at problems with the informal enterprises of three women, arguing that women need to seek more innovative enterprise opportunities.

Local women talk about the Summit:
NOMBUSO SHABALALA spoke to women in her community, Kwa Mashu, a township north of Durban about their views on the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Double trouble: environmental injustice in South Durban:
DIANNE SCOTT, CATHERINE OELOFSE and CARADEE GUY look at women’s exposure to environmental risk in South Durban and the role they play in the struggle to improve their living environment.

Just another talk shop: activists’ views on the World Summit:
AGENDA asked gender and environmental activists how gender features at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Solar cookers: a potential mechanism for challenging gender stereotypes:
MARYANN GREEN writes that the introduction of solar cookers has the potential to challenge gender stereotypes in the home. However, using a case study in KwaZulu-Natal, she argues that the approach adopted when introducing the oven is critical to avoid entrenching gender stereotypes.

Community initiatives for sustainable development:
While the powerful deliberate, some communities in rural KwaZulu-Natal take the initiative to create sustainable development for themselves, writes ANIELA BATSCHARI.

South African Women’s National Coalition - working document of concerns and priorities for the World Summit Sustainable Development:
We, members and affiliates of the South African Women’s National Coalition, meeting in Johannesburg from May 10-12, 2002, in preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, recognise that many governments have been largely unsuccessful in implementing the principles and agreements of Agenda 21, the UNCED agreed outcomes, the Millenium Development Goals and other conventions and non-binding instruments.

Breaking free, choosing life: the international women’s caucus for the World Summit:
MARJORIE JOBSON reviews the history of women’s organising for sustainable development, and the international Women’s Caucus position at the World Summit.

STATUS OF WOMAN COLUMN: 

Searching for a viable microbicide - where are we now?
VICCI TALLIS gives an update on the advances made in development of a viable microbicide, potentially a women-controlled HIV prevention method.

Farewell speech by Pregs Govender, chairperson of the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and the Status of Women:
Delivered at the farewell ceremony hosted by the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and the Status of Women in Parliament, Cape Town, 30th May 2002.

NEWS SNIPPETS