Digital Commons Network^™

Gendering Disability To Enable Disability Rights Law, Michelle Travis

Michelle A. Travis

The Second Woman In The Theater Of Villedieu, Nina Ekstein

Nina C Ekstein

Best known for her prose fiction, Marie-Catherine Desjardins de Villedieu was also a successful playwright. Her three tragi-comedies (Manlius, Nitétis, and Le Favori), while significantly dissimilar in many respects, share an unusual feature. All three plays foreground the figure of the second woman, second because her role is clearly less central to the play's action than that of another woman character. In each case, the relationships between this second woman and the other characters of the play defy the traditional categories of the seventeenth-century stage. Furthermore, the second woman is not an object of desire. The differences between the first …

Rethinking Work And Family Policy: The Making And Taking Of Parental Leave In Australia, Marian Baird, Adam Seth Litwin

Adam Seth Litwin

Despite the continued increase in female participation rates, Australia remains one of only two developed nations in the world without a paid maternity leave scheme. While research interest and public policy debate about paid maternity leave entitlements continues, little is known about the actual utilization of the 52 weeks unpaid parental leave that is currently available to all employees. Moreover, research and policy debate on the availability and provision of paid paternity leave has only just begun. This paper argues that, given the gendered nature of employee entitlements, it is time to re-evaluate all aspects of parental leave policy in …

Women And Abortion In Canada: What's Law Got To Do With It?, Shelley Gavigan

Shelley A. M. Gavigan

This article explores the relationship of feminism, the state, and the law with specific reference to abortion legislation in Canada. It is inspired in part by a kindling of marxist interest in law (Hay et al. 1975, Thompson 1977, Hall et al. 1978, Pashukanis 1978, Cain and Hunt 1979, Fine et al. 1979, Sumner 1979, Fine 1984) and in part by the work of British feminists such as Mary McIntosh, Michele Barrett, Carol Smart, and Elizabeth Wilson.

Law, Gender And Ideology, Shelley Gavigan

Shelley A. M. Gavigan

In this paper, I want to explore the argument that courts are primarily ideological rather than instrumental or coercive institutions. How do courts, in interpreting 'the law' and selecting 'principles,' also identify, interpret and elaborate upon what is 'natural'? What are 'basic social values'? What are 'fundamental rights'? If the primary function of the courts is ideological, what is most important is not whether courts resolve disputes or how many disputes they process, but rather their capacity and opportunity to exert ideological influence.In my view, a consideration of the concept of ideology - a concept derived from social theory rather …

Anxiety, Stress, And Self-Esteem Across Genders In A University Sample: Exploring The Role Of Body Avoidance, Richelle Murphy, Peta Stapleton

Peta B. Stapleton

The present study aimed to investigate whether university students’ body avoidance behaviors could be predicted by their level of self-esteem, anxiety, and stress, as well as their BMI and gender. University students (n = 86) completed a self-report package and results indicated that anxiety was the most important predictor of body avoidance for university students. Gender was also predictive of avoidance for university students. Post Hoc analyses indicated that body avoidance, anxiety, stress, and BMI, were higher for female university students, yet no difference was found for self-esteem between genders. These results suggest preliminary evidence for the importance of elevated …

Experiences Of Australian Siblings Of An Individual With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Vicki Bitsika, Christopher Sharpley, Rebecca Mailli

Vicki Bitsika

The experiences of 75 non-Autism Spectrum Disorder (NASD) children and adolescents who had a sibling with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were investigated. Differences were found according to age and gender for issues such as amount of time spent with their sibling and access to parents. Having a younger sibling with an ASD was associated with a lower level of confidence in being able to live their lives as they wished. Female NASD participants commented that their lives were more influenced than male NASD participants. About half of all NASD participants reported inconsistencies in family rule adherences and parental expectation.

Rethinking Women's And Gender Studies, Gender And Education, Colleen Mcgloin

Colleen McGloin

This compilation of scholarly articles examines the (inter)disciplinary field of Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) looking at the genealogy of WGS, its foundational principles, its language and practices. The work considers the use of language, in particular the way certain terminology within the field invites engagement with the political aims of WGS, or limits its potential for more rigorous pedagogical practices and analytic frameworks. Chapters are organised into five sections: ‘foundational assumptions’, ‘ubiquitous descriptions’, ‘epistemologies rethought’, ‘silences and disavowals’, and ‘establishment challenges’. Within these themes, specific terms (among them ‘feminism’, ‘interdisciplinarity’, ‘pedagogy’, ‘intersectionality’, and ‘community’) are examined for their application …

Is It Me Or Her? How Gender Composition Influences Interpersonally Sensitive Behavior On Collaborative Cross-Boundary Projects, Michele Williams

Michele Williams

This paper investigates how professional workers’ willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is influenced by the gender and power of their interaction partners. We call into question the idea that mixed-gender interactions involve more interpersonal sensitivity than all-male interactions primarily because women demonstrate more interpersonal sensitivity than do men. Rather, we argue that the social category “women” can evoke more sensitive behavior from others such that men as well as women contribute to an increase in sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions. We further argue that the presence of women may trigger increased sensitivity such that men can also be the recipients …

Through An Other Looking Glass: Gender, Social Issues, And The Media Impact On Body Image, Jennifer Irwin, Patricia Tucker

Trish Tucker

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences In Cognitive Function Of Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia, Mei Han, Xu-Feng Huang, Da Chen, Mei Xiu, Li Hui, Haibo Liu, Thomas Kosten, Xiang Zhang

Xu-Feng Huang

Schizophrenic patients have cognitive impairments, but gender differences in these cognitive deficits have had limited study. This study assessed cognitive functioning in 471 subjects including 122 male and 78 female schizophrenic patients and 141 male and 130 female healthy controls. We found that immediate memory, language, delayed memory and total RBANS scores were significantly decreased in schizophrenia compared with healthy controls for both genders. Male patients had significant lower immediate memory, delayed memory and total RBANS scores than female patients, and healthy controls showed a similar gender difference. The RBANS showed modest correlations with PANSS scores, duration of illness and …

Men's Collective Struggles For Gender Justice: The Case Of Antiviolence Activism, Michael Flood

Michael G Flood

No abstract provided.

Differences In Gender And Performance In Off-Road Triathlon, Romuald Lepers, Paul Stapley

Dr Paul J Stapley

The aims of this study were: (1) to examine performance trends and compare elite male and female athletes at the off-road triathlon (1.5-km swim, 30-km mountain biking, and 11-km trail running) world championships since its inception in 1996, and (2) to compare gender-related differences between off-road triathlon and conventional road-based triathlon. Linear regression analyses and ANOVA were used to examine performance trends and differences between the sexes. Elite male performance times stabilized over the 2005-2009 period, whereas elite female performance times continued to improve, especially for the run leg. Differences in performance times between the sexes were less marked in …

Nation As Partnership: Law, "Race," And Gender In Aotearoa New Zealand's Treaty Settlements, Nan Seuffert

Professor Nan Seuffert

This article uses postcolonial theory to analyze the dynamic convergence of two significant international trends in Aotearoa New Zealand: the movement for reparations for historical colonial injustices, and the economic reform process known as ‘‘structural adjustment,’’ or Reaganomics in the United States, which was intended to produce a competitive nation of individual entrepreneurs. It argues that analysis of the interrelationships of law, ‘‘race,’’ gender, and nation in this convergence illuminates the reproduction and reshaping of colonial tropes, or historical racial configurations produced through colonization, in these current trends. In Aotearoa New Zealand, claims by indigenous Maori activists for self-determination and …

Gender Classification Using A New Pyramidal Neural Network, Son Lam Phung, Abdesselam Bouzerdoum

Professor Salim Bouzerdoum

We propose a novel neural network for classification of visual patterns. The new network, called pyramidal neural network or PyraNet, has a hierarchical structure with two types of processing layers, namely pyramidal layers and 1-D layers. The PyraNet is motivated by two concepts: the image pyramids and local receptive fields. In the new network, nonlinear 2-D are trained to perform both 2-D analysis and data reduction. In this paper, we present a fast training method for the PyraNet that is based on resilient back-propagation and weight decay, and apply the new network to classify gender from facial images.

Trafficking Modernities: Gender And Cultural Authority In The Case Of The Woman Organist, Lilian Frost, Jane Hunt

Jane Hunt

According to the local press, Frost as both soloist and accompanist on piano and organ was reported to exhibit a musical maturity beyond her years, and stamina considered unusual for a 'young lady', but clearly this was problematic. Jealous minded organists of the sterner sex are apt to say that ladies cannot play the organ; but the meritorious performance by Miss Frost dispels that illusion; for here is a lady who can play the organ. This appeared to provoke a shift in reportage on Frost's performances: whereas previously newspaper reports repeated an established complimentary four-lined riff, detailed reviews soon replaced …

Insights Into Teaching About Race, Class And Gender: Pedagogy And Curriculum, Evan Poata-Smith

Evan S. Te Ahu Poata-Smith

No abstract provided.

A Dead-End Street: Female Immigrants And Child Care, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] Over the past few decades, two highly significant, yet distinctly different influences have affected the U.S. labor market: the mass movement of adult women with young children into the labor force and an upsurge in mass immigration that includes a disproportionate number of unskilled and poorly-educated women from the Third World. Among these are many who have entered illegally. Estimates of the number of unskilled domestic workers residing illegally in the United States range between 50,000 and 150,000.

A Dead-End Street: Female Immigrants And Child Care, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] Over the past few decades, two highly significant, yet distinctly different influences have affected the U.S. labor market: the mass movement of adult women with young children into the labor force and an upsurge in mass immigration that includes a disproportionate number of unskilled and poorly-educated women from the Third World. Among these are many who have entered illegally. Estimates of the number of unskilled domestic workers residing illegally in the United States range between 50,000 and 150,000.

Economic Transition And New Patterns Of Parent-Adult Child Coresidence In Urban China, Qian Forrest Zhang

Qian Forrest ZHANG

This study uses national data from the 1996 Life History and Social change in Contemporary China survey (N = 3,087) to gauge the effect of the economic transition on parent-adult child coresidence in urban China. Previous studies find that, thanks to state actions, traditional patterns in coresidence persisted in post-Mao urban China. This study still finds high levels of coresidence. China's aging population, coupled with an underdeveloped social security system, means that the traditional role of family will remain strong. It also uncovers three new patterns, however, best explained as caused by changes in the economic realm. First, the coresidence …

"Having It His Way: The Construction Of Masculinity In Fast Food Tv Advertising", Carrie Freeman, Debra Merskin

Carrie P Freeman

No abstract provided.

Attributionally More Complex People Show Less Punitiveness And Racism, Kim-Pong Tam, Al Au, Angela K.-Y. Leung

Ka Yee Angela LEUNG

Based on past findings that attributionally more complex people make less fundamental attribution error, it was hypothesized that they would show less punitiveness and racism. In a study of 102 undergraduates, this hypothesis received robust support. The effect of attributional complexity was significant in two different punitiveness measures, a rehabilitation support measure, and two different racism measures. Also, this effect still held when demographic variables, crime victimization history, and need for cognition were statistically controlled. Moreover, attributional complexity mediated the effect of need for cognition and gender on punitiveness and racism. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Negotiating The Gender Divide: Lessons From The Negotiation And Organizational Behavior Literatures, Carol Kulik, Mara Olekalns

Mara Olekalns

Employment relationships are increasingly personalized, with more employment conditions open to negotiation. Although the intended goal of this personalization is a better and more satisfying employment relationship, personalization may systematically disadvantage members of some demographic groups. This disadvantage is evident for women, who routinely negotiate less desirable employment terms than men. This gender-based gap in outcomes is frequently attributed to differences in the ways that men and women negotiate. We review the negotiation research demonstrating that women are systematically disadvantaged in negotiations and the organizational behavior research examining the backlash experienced by agentic women. We use the Stereotype Content Model …

"Law's Outsiders": An Interview With Alex Sharpe, Linnéa Wegerstad, Niklas Selberg

Linnéa Wegerstad

In May 2012 Alex Sharpe, Professor of Law at Keele University, UK, visited Lund University where she participated in a series of seminars and workshops organised around a central motif in her work: the legal outsider. As part of her visit she presented a version of a paper recently published in the Modern Law Review titled “Transgender Marriage and the Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History.” The paper focused on and challenged the legal and wider cultural framing of non-disclosure of gender history as harmful and as unethical. The paper is her latest intervention and forms part of a substantial …

Gauging Gender: A Metaphysics, Stephen Asma

Stephen T Asma

In this article the author discusses sex and gender in human beings and examines how the study of science, particularly biology, has influenced the study of these subjects in higher education. It traces the evolution of sex and gender studies in academe, comments on the failure of many humanities scholars to dismiss biology in studying human behavior, and explores ways in which psychoanalysis, social constructionism, and metaphysics have informed the debate over the differences between sex and gender. Other topics include research conducted by Anne Fausto-Sterling regarding intersexed people, scientific tests focusing on sexual preference in rats, and thoughts by …

Towards A Gender Inclusive Information And Communications Technology Curriculum : A Perspective From Graduates In The Workforce, Anthony Koppi, Judy Sheard, Fazel Naghdy, Sylvia Edwards, Wayne Brookes

Professor Fazel Naghdy

No abstract provided.

Body Matters, Meenakshi Durham

Meenakshi Gigi Durham

An essay is presented on genderscapes, the physical conditions of women's lives that challenge the notion of a virtual disembodied self in cyberspace as people focus on social networking, tweeting and texting. Hidden beneath cyberscapes are what the author terms genderscapes as more women are reportedly becoming victims of injustice including domestic violence, and women's bodies experiencing real pain. The author discusses materiality in terms of economics, social power and opportunity which lead to corporeality.

Body Matters, Meenakshi Durham

Meenakshi Gigi Durham

An essay is presented on genderscapes, the physical conditions of women's lives that challenge the notion of a virtual disembodied self in cyberspace as people focus on social networking, tweeting and texting. Hidden beneath cyberscapes are what the author terms genderscapes as more women are reportedly becoming victims of injustice including domestic violence, and women's bodies experiencing real pain. The author discusses materiality in terms of economics, social power and opportunity which lead to corporeality.

Finding A Jewel: Identity And Gendered Space In Islamic Finance, Karen Ahmed

Karen Hunt Ahmed

In this article, I explore how globalization discourses practices work together to form the identities of female Islamic bankers working in the first stand-alone women’s Islamic bank in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. An Islamic bank interacts with the individual by providing a discursive and physical space in which the subject can shape and respond to her desire to identify and engage with the debates in the global Muslim community about morality, practice and the role of Islam in every day life. Global financial systems and local gender practices are embodied in these buildings in a kind of financial purdah: building …

The Geography Of The Class Culture Wars, Lisa R. Pruitt

Lisa R Pruitt

No abstract provided.