Digital Commons Network^™

The Women Of Justice: Narratives Of Women Attorneys In California During The 1960s And 1990s, Sarah Zion

Master's Theses

This thesis interviews two women attorneys who have not previously shared their stories to relate their experience of going to law school and entering the field after graduation. The study of women lawyers and their stories is not a new topic, however, there is a focus in the scholarship to only explore the tales of the women who reached the big firsts, such as first female lawyer or first female judge. By providing interviews of women who have not reached these big accomplishments, the field gains a more rounded understanding of the history of female lawyers. The two women interviewed …

Women Under Colonial Coverture: Divorce, Property Rights, And Inheritance In Early Massachusetts, Sarah Anne Hogue

Master's Theses

This thesis focuses on the evolution of women's legal rights - property, inheritance, and divorce- in colonial Massachusetts between 1630 and 1690. The project explores how and to what extent the legal doctrine of coverture- which severely limited married women’s legal rights- functioned in the Massachusetts Bay Colony under its Puritan government. This study examines how coverture directly impacted women’s property and divorce rights in the courts of law in the colonial Massachusetts legal system. It uses primary documents, such as official court records and Puritan sermons, to examine women’s legal rights in that colony through the intersecting lenses of …

The Ill-Treatment Of Their Countrywoman: Liberated African Women, Violence, And Power In Tortola, 1807–1834, Arianna Browne

Master's Theses

In 1807, Parliament passed an Act to abolish the slave trade, leading to the Royal Navy’s campaign of policing international waters and seizing ships suspected of illegal trading. As the Royal Navy captured slave ships as prizes of war and condemned enslaved Africans to Vice-Admiralty courts, formerly enslaved Africans became “captured negroes” or “liberated Africans,” making the subjects in the British colonies. This work, which takes a microhistorical approach to investigate the everyday experiences of liberated Africans in Tortola during the early nineteenth century, focuses on the violent conditions of liberated African women, demonstrating that abolition consisted of violent contradictions …

Misogynoir: Undergraduate Experiences By Black Women, Briettny Curtner

Master's Theses

The Black female voice whispers within literature because of the limited focus on their lived experiences, specifically of undergraduate Black women. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how Black women in pursuit of a baccalaureate degree navigate racism and sexism. Additionally, this study explored participant resonance with the characteristics and perceived conflicts of the Strong Black Women (SBW) schema. Six Black women from a comprehensive public university in the West participated in a qualitative interview and member checking. The following are emergent themes found as a result of this study: oppositional framing, navigation of intergroup comparisons, inferiority …

Underrepresentation Of Women In American Politics, Lindsey Crane

Master's Theses

In this project I studied why women are underrepresented in state legislatures. I conducted a data set ranging from 2000 to 2018 for forty-three US states, analyzing the percentage of women who won and the number of women who ran in the elections. Using this data, I found evidence that personal life choices have the most effect on rather women want to run for political office and successfully pursue political careers. Having this specific quantitative dataset, the study provides a better understanding to why women are still widely underrepresented on the state level. I also find that my independent variables …

Replanting Our Roots: A Best Practices Analysis On How To Empower Arab Migrant Women And Develop Leadership Through Service Work, Linda Ereikat

Master's Theses

This research is focused on identifying the best practices and methods used by community service providers who serve Arab immigrant women, a heavily marginalized and isolated demographic. Specifically, this research seeks to answer, what are the best practices for community engagement, leadership, and empowerment in the lives of Arab migrant women in San Francisco? I examine the elements of community empowerment, engagement, leadership, and methods of providing services from the Asian Women’s Shelter, the Chinatown Community Development Center, and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center. The methods used were personal interviews with key leaders of these organizations. The Arab Resource …

The Denial Of Black Victimhood: Examining Attitudes Of Sexual Assault And Victim-Blaming On A College Campus, A Continued Analysis, Odia Kane

Master's Theses

This study examines the attribution of guilt and victimhood in the context of rape on predominately white college campuses. The study is comprised of two samples; Sample 1 (n=362) and Sample 2 (n=1,144) of students from a New England university. Each participant read a vignette regarding two classmates: a female victim, Taneesha or Madeline, and a male perpetrator, Jamal or Connor, completing a group project. The findings of this study are critical because they analyze the surrounding attitudes of the treatment of victims of sexual assault and assess the social and political climate of rape culture on college campuses.

Representations Of Women And Minorities Groups In Comics, Laticia Donelle Marshall

Master's Theses

The focus of this research is to examine the representation of women and minority groups within comic books. Comic books are a cultural product that involves many actors when it comes to changing the representations of women and minorities. Therefore, this research focused on examining not only literary works but also the actions and contributions of producers and consumers throughout the publication of American comics. In the chapters, I examined the various representations of women, African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians in comic books. To conduct my research on changing cultural productions, I used the method of textual analysis …

The Mission And Role Of Women In Graeco-Roman And Judeo-Christian Contexts, Fabienne Liana Maslet

Master's Theses

The place of women in the world has changed and progressed in the past decades. When I was a young girl, women were not really valued in the Church and in the service for God. There were always excuses not to allow them to serve God and they were rejected in a lot of areas in the Church service. However, the worse thing is that frequently women are the ones who are belittling themselves, who denigrate themselves, who undermine themselves or the capacities that God gave them to be used in Church. This occurs because they had been educated this …

The Avenues Of Social And Economic Empowerment For Women In Ghana's Poor Urban Settlements, Comfort Amoah

Master's Theses

Poor urban settlements have over the years and in the present been described as places of despair and destitution with its inhabitants especially women referred to as the most poor and vulnerable of the society. This research however attempts to provide a complete elevation of the Avenues of Social and Economic Empowerment for Women in Ghana’s Poor Urban Settlements by using three contextual framework such as the social networks available to women and the political opportunities available to them in their communities and the role of men and women in achieving this agenda and how it has reshaped the status …

(T)Witch Hunting: A Crusade Against Women And Femininity In The Digital Age, Marcus Garcia

Master's Theses

The digital world is an integral part of everyday life regarded as an extension of the self and the physical world. The advent of live video streaming services offers a more interactive form of social media than existing photo and video sharing platforms, like Facebook or Instagram. Twitch, a social video streaming service where people watch live broadcasts of video game play and other various forms of creative content, has contributed to the creation and growth of online communities where variations and similarities between online and offline self are made visible. Early research, specifically concerned with cyberbullying, identifies age, gender, …

Political Revolutions And Women's Progress: Why The Egyptian Arab Spring Failed To Deliver On The Promises Of Women's Rights, Anne Song

Master's Theses

The mass participation of women in the 2011 Egyptian Arab Spring began what many thought would be a new feminist movement. As news cycles started showing the central role of women in the Arab Spring, many people including the women who demonstrated believed women’s rights were on the horizon. This study shows why the 2011 Arab Spring did not deliver on the promises of women’s rights in Egypt. Explaining the historical, religious, and societal influences on women’s rights in Egypt, and using data from the Arab Barometer and reports from the World Bank and UN, this study shows that the …

Voices From The Margins: Service Providers Perspectives On Empowering Refugee Women, Deidra Ann Coleman

Master's Theses

Refugee women face considerable challenges while fleeing their countries, and attempting to adjust to their new lives in their host country. As a result of being both a woman, and a member of a marginalized group, refugee women tend to suffer disproportionately during displacement and and resettlement (UNHCR, 2015). They are more likely to be discriminated due their gender and ethnicity, and to lack the necessary community supports and resources needed to overcome barriers they encounter. In response to the refugee crisis, service organizations have emphasized empowerment as a key way to improve the lives of refugee women. While there …

Factors Associated With Violence Against Women In Rural India, Jennifer Lardner

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Women In Wartime Shipyards: Operating A Drill Press Was Like Using An Egg Beater, Carol A. Strohmetz

Master's Theses

This research examines the duality of the roles of American women during World War II. The research draws upon oral histories, newspaper accounts and advertisements, music and films of the time, letters and family scrapbooks, and primary and secondary sources. Most prior research focuses on either women in the workforce or women in the home. This research synthesizes all aspects of the lives of women as they navigated the hostile terrain of the male workforce and continued to perform the duties assigned to them by society. This research highlights the multiple roles that women successfully executed as they cared for …

Domestic Violence Among Asian Indian Immigrant Women In The United States, Teuta Peja

Master's Theses

This study looks at how domestic violence is conceptualized by the research studies on

Asian Indian immigrant communities in the United States through different periods of time, and

how sociocultural factors are associated with domestic violence. Using the meta-synthesis

descriptive method, I analyzed and interpreted the findings of four research studies conducted

between 1995-2016 that included in-depth interviews with Asian Indian immigrant women who

experienced domestic violence. The analysis focuses on changes of the patterns of abuse, helping behavior, and leaving the abusive marriage as an option. The changes in U.S. domestic

violence legislation and policy regarding immigration and domestic …

A Comparative Analysis Of Access To Reproductive Health Care In Laos And Southeast Asia, Malakhone Sonethavong

Master's Theses

This thesis research aims to unravel main barriers that prevent women from being able to access reproductive health care in Laos in comparison with other two Southeast Asia countries which are Thailand and Vietnam. The comparison of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will be explored through an analysis of a literature review. This research explores the critical issues and on finding a mutual understanding between the role of the policy makers and the implementers of policies. At the end of the research, some recommendations on health care system improvement and personal perspective towards the rights of women on reproductive health and …

Beyond The Cloth: Exploring How Women Are Represented In Human Rights Organizations Through Bangladesh's Garment Industry, Briawna Gillespie

Master's Theses

Understanding Beyond the Cloth

This thesis conducts a textual analysis of several human rights organizations. It looks at how human rights organizations represent women in the garment industry. I investigate a variety of organizations and look at how they utilize women’s voices to demonstrate how human rights organizations frame women’s narratives in a way that supports their own claims. When organizations representing women in this way, it only limits women’s voices from being heard and hinders them from being empowered and a leading force in the industry. On the one hand, we see organizations create spaces where women’s narratives are …

The Impact Of Cargo Bikes On The Travel Patterns Of Women, Jana E. Schwartz

Master's Theses

There are a number of issues preventing the rollout of cargo bikes as a transportation mode in the United States. One concern that has been raised is whether cargo bikes can function as a gender equitable transportation solution in the United States, given documented gender gaps in national bike riding statistics and ongoing inequities in childcare in 2-parent heterosexual households. The research is aimed at reviewing the practicality, enjoyment, and outcome of cargo bike use as a gender equitable transportation solution. This research contributes to new knowledge in gender equitable transportation in 2 ways — a) gender-focused analysis of survey …

Looking Backward, Moving Forward: The Experiences Of Indo-Fijian Immigrant Women In California, Ambrita Nand

Master's Theses

This study helps address gaps in knowledge concerning the lives of Indo-Fijian immigrant women in California and offers a space for their voices to be heard. The subsequent chapters investigate the lives of five Indo-Fijian immigrant women and their experiences upon migrating to Modesto, California. Using a qualitative research approach, data were collected through participant observations, semi-structured in-depth interviews and informal conversations. The data are presented as anthropological silhouettes, a form of life-writing (the recording of events and experiences of a life), which explores each individual woman’s experience with life in Fiji to her eventual migration and transition to life …

The Influence Of Backlash On Self-Sexualization And Cognitive Depletion, Mallory Helen Elizabeth Nurse Grembowski

Master's Theses

A woman who acts agentically in the workplace is more likely to be disliked and viewed as less competent than a woman who acts caring and communal. The negative consequences for acting outside of a cultural stereotype are called backlash. Cultural gender stereotypes for western society depict women as warm and communal while men are agentic and independent. Women in the workplace act outside of the cultural stereotype, and thus face backlash from their peers. This study examines the extent to which women utilize self-sexualization as a recovery strategy to cope with the fear of backlash, and ultimately how these …

Stereotype Threat, Self-Affirmation, And Women's Statistics Performance, Blanca Tapia

Master's Theses

Stereotype threat (fear of confirming a negative group stereotype that in turn can inhibit academic performance) has been implicated in the gender gap observed in the field of mathematics. Even though stereotype threat depresses women's performance, there has been much research reporting various interventions that ameliorate its negative effects. The current study investigated stereotype threat specifically in statistics--an unexplored area in the research literature --and the alleviating effects of self-affirmation. Participants in three conditions (control, stereotype threat, stereotype threat + affirmation) completed a statistics test. In both stereotype threat conditions participants were given a verbal prime to induce stereotype threat, …

Lynn Hershman Leeson's Roberta Breitmore And The Art Of Becoming A Woman, Maayan Glaser-Koren

Master's Theses

Throughout the emergence of second-wave feminism in the 1970s, social and political activism inspired female artists to create powerful artworks that critiqued institutional discrimination and supported women's reproductive rights and workplace equality. Feminist artists raised the public's awareness of women's issues by making women the subject of their artwork. In California especially, these creators turned to performance art, often taking their creations to the streets.

This thesis focuses on Lynn Hershman Leeson's performance, Roberta Breitmore (1974-1978), and examines how, through the steps of the performance, the piece's fictitious title character became a living resident of San Francisco. It will explore …

Minority Health Perceptions In The Lower Mississippi Delta: A Grounded Theory Study Using Photovoice Methodology, Savanna Beth Sims

Master's Theses

The Lower Mississippi Delta (LMD) region has a large minority population with concentrations of poverty and health disparities much higher than other parts of the country. The purpose of this project was to assess the health perceptions of minority women living in the LMD using a combination of PhotoVoice and journal reflections. After an initial interview, 10 women were provided digital cameras and asked to take photographs that reflected the health of their communities. A final interview was conducted to glean more information from the women about their photographs. Seven Black women and two Latinas completed the study. The photographs, …

Risk And Protective Factors That Affect Married Women’S Reproductive Health In A Low-Income Community In Mumbai, India, Benjamin D. Hallowell

Master's Theses

In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), symptoms of reproductive morbidities are the most common health problem reported by women. Women in developing countries are often at higher risk for these problems due to the social, behavioral, cultural, infrastructural, and demographic barriers they face in daily life and in receiving medical treatment. Previous studies conducted in LMICs have found an association between women’s self-reported symptoms of reproductive morbidity and negative life situations and have suggested, that rather than a biomedical issue, women in LMICs may express these symptoms to reflect other problems in their lives. Currently, however, women who self-report symptoms …

Women In Leadership And The Politics Of Power, Caitlin Maeve Kendall

Master's Theses

With the use of intimate interviews, this qualitative research study employed an experiential, story-telling approach to gather a more thorough understanding of individual female experiences in leadership positions in the field of education in relation to the literature on female leadership in a gendered workforce. Although this study only included the experiences of several women leaders in the field of education in the Chicago area, the preexisting research on the topic guided the interview questions and divulged the nexus between a culture of systematic gendered hierarchy in the workplace and the strategies and characteristics of success employed by female leaders …

Between, Patricia Valeria Pinedo

Master's Theses

This thesis is a collection of poetry based on the farm worker Grape Boycott of 1965-1970. Through personal narrative and formal poetic techniques, the collection presents a migrant family struggling to understand where it belongs in choosing between joining the boycott or not. The Mexican-American family is depicted in relation to struggles of the time, thus emphasizing the historical situation. The collection asks each reader what side of the Grape Boycott he or she would have joined. The poems shed light on the internal struggle of those who both joined and did not join the boycott.

Building Women’S Solidarity To Advance Women’S Rights In Bolivia, Luzdary Hammad

Master's Theses

This paper takes a historical look at the deep-seated ethnic and class divisions between women in Bolivia. It also examines the cultural challenges that help explain the status of women in Bolivia and the obstacles women face to become politically active. It provides the theories of decolonization and depatriachalization as practical ways Bolivia can move past their colonial and patriarchal history. It also looks into what feminism means overall in Latin America and what strategies Latin American women have used to make change for women. It then provides a political history of Bolivia from 1994 to the present giving the …

Women And The Second Estate In 16th Century Zambezia: Gendered Powers, A 'Puppet' African Queen And Succession In Vakaranga Society, 1500–1700, George G. Levin

Master's Theses

Women in vaKaranga society of the 15th to 17th centuries have been portrayed as oppressed by an "extremely patriarchal" system, but the reality, while still fitting the simple classification of a 'patriarchal' monarchy, indicates quite a bit more negotiation of gendered powers than women, as a class, experienced in the Mediterranean or East Asia. The vaKaranga were the architects of Great Zimbabwe, the capital of a growing state, colonizing their cousins of the Zambezi river, which their Kusi-Mashariki Bantu forefathers had traversed southward a millennium before. Civil war had (apparently) split one nation into two states, Mutapa (Monomotapa) and Khami …

Empowerment And Health In A Low Income Community In Mumbai, India, Lwendo Moonzwe

Master's Theses

The data on which this thesis is based were collected in three study communities located in a marginalized area of Mumbai. We draw on two data sources: in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with 66 married women and a survey sample of 260 married women. This thesis examines the relationship between empowerment to women’s self-reported general health status and women’s self-reported health during pregnancy in low-income communities in Mumbai. The results of the analysis show that empowerment functions differently in relation to women’s general health situation and their pregnancy status. Findings indicate that women who are more empowered are more likely to …