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Theses/Dissertations

2009

Women

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Lucy Diggs Slowe, Howard University Dean Of Women, 1922-1937: Educator, Administrator, Activist, Lisa R. Rasheed Dec 2009

Lucy Diggs Slowe, Howard University Dean Of Women, 1922-1937: Educator, Administrator, Activist, Lisa R. Rasheed

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

ABSTRACT LUCY DIGGS SLOWE, HOWARD UNIVERSITY DEAN OF WOMEN, 1922-1937: EDUCATOR, ADMINISTRATOR, ACTIVIST by Lisa R. Rasheed Within the last twenty years, some educational researchers initiated an emphasis to study the accomplishments and contributions of African-American women in higher education. Although they were marginally recognized, some African-American women forged into uncharted territories by providing examples of administrative leadership in post-secondary settings. Their triumphs and failures have gone unnoticed, leaving a vacant space in the chronicles of history in higher education. Little is know about one African-American woman, as an administrator at a co-educational institution in terms of her vision about …


Cardiovascular Reactivity To Forgiveness In Females, Carolyn Mccrocklin Dec 2009

Cardiovascular Reactivity To Forgiveness In Females, Carolyn Mccrocklin

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical evidence exists directly relating forgiveness to physiological markers of cardiovascular health based on the manner in which individuals respond to interpersonal offenses. Extant literature has identified the harmful effects of stress in cardiovascular disease and health in general and unforgiveness has been identified as a stressor with potential implications for cardiac health. Understanding cardiac response to the stress of unforgiveness may have favorable implications for heart disease prevention and treatment in women and may prove to be beneficial in reducing allostatic load.


Lake Salt: A Creative Thesis, Erica Lindsay Plummer Dec 2009

Lake Salt: A Creative Thesis, Erica Lindsay Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

This collection of short stories explores the different ways in which women experience suffering. The narrative focuses on the daily lives of women who have undergone some type of heartbreak. While the stories occasionally include the incident which leads to despair, the collection is more concerned with the way women function after a personal tragedy. The stories show the grace of people who continue to move forward when their lives are filled with suffering. Sexuality enters the stories and exposes both the triumph and destructive nature of sexuality. A critical introduction which explains how complication and beauty amplify story proceeds …


Roles, Responsibilities, Celebrations, And Post-Presidency Aspirations Of Female College Presidents, Almeda Jacks Dec 2009

Roles, Responsibilities, Celebrations, And Post-Presidency Aspirations Of Female College Presidents, Almeda Jacks

All Dissertations

Of the 3,300 university and college presidents in higher education in the United States, only 23% are held by females (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2007). The percentage of female students in most institutions in higher education is higher than those of male students.
The Central questions that guided this research study are as follows: What are the roles and responsibilities of presidents of higher educational institutions? How do presidents of higher education celebrate their professional and personal accomplishments? Additionally, what are the post-presidency aspirations of the eight women interviewed who all currently are in their first presidency position in …


Vaccination Nation: A Bioethical Feminist Inquiry Into The Political, Social And Ethical Controversy Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Kirsten Keller Morin Dec 2009

Vaccination Nation: A Bioethical Feminist Inquiry Into The Political, Social And Ethical Controversy Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccine, Kirsten Keller Morin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This theoretical inquiry has explored the political, social, and ethical controversy surrounding the government's push to mandate the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for adolescent girls. This vaccine has the potential of preventing cancer, specifically cervical cancer. There is a growing debate in this country whether this new HPV vaccine, Gardasil®, should be added to the list of school-mandated vaccines. Karen Houppert (2007) has stated that this particular "vaccine protects girls and women from cervical cancer and genital warts caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)" (p. 17). So, what is the controversy? It all started with the fact that this vaccine …


The Experience Of Fatigue And Quality Of Life In Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer, Andrea Shaffer Nov 2009

The Experience Of Fatigue And Quality Of Life In Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer, Andrea Shaffer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fatigue is the most prevalent and distressing symptom experienced by patients with advanced lung cancer and especially among those patients undergoing therapy. Advanced lung cancer and its associated symptoms can significantly impact the quality of life (QOL) of those who have the disease. The primary purpose of this study was to measure fatigue levels, characterize the fatigue experience, and assess for gender differences in perceptions of fatigue and QOL in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving chemotherapy. The secondary purpose of the study was to examine practice patterns in the ambulatory setting regarding the routine assessment of fatigue.

The study …


Overcoming Barriers: Women In The Superintendency, Claire Michael Miller Oct 2009

Overcoming Barriers: Women In The Superintendency, Claire Michael Miller

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

ABSTRACT OVERCOMING BARRIERS: WOMEN IN THE SUPERINTENDENCY by Claire M. Miller Women currently represent the largest number of teachers in the United States but remain underrepresented in the superintendent position. This suggests that the superintendency has been influenced by patriarchy. If women are to break through the barriers that prevent them from attaining a superintendency, we will need to understand the social construction of the position and women superintendents’ experiences with barriers. What do women in the superintendency think about what it means to be one of a few women in a male-dominated occupation? How does gender consciousness play a …


Race And Diagnosis : An Assesment Of Clinician Detection Of Eating Disorder Symtomatology In Asian, African-American, And White Women, Kristin Swenson Aug 2009

Race And Diagnosis : An Assesment Of Clinician Detection Of Eating Disorder Symtomatology In Asian, African-American, And White Women, Kristin Swenson

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to further explore the effect of race on clinicians' recognition of eating disorder symptomatology in Asian, African-American, and White women. This study replicated the work of Gordon, Brattole, Wingate, and Joiner (2006) in an attempt to re-affirm or challenge previous research findings found by Gordon et al., 2006, which suggest that clinicians identify eating disorder symptoms in White women more frequently than in African American women. The present study expanded Gordon et al.'s (2006) work by assessing clinicians' identification of eating disorder symptoms in Asian women and by examining themes in the qualitative …


Indigenous Andean Women In Colonial Textual Discourses, Sara Guengerich Aug 2009

Indigenous Andean Women In Colonial Textual Discourses, Sara Guengerich

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This dissertation combines historical and literary analysis to challenge a history of literary studies that reads colonial texts as reflecting a real historical domination of indigenous Andean women in a patriarchal society. Through a comparative examination of colonial chronicles and archival documents, I reconsider the portrayal of these women as having played the role of victims from the very beginning of colonial relations through the seventeenth century. Through these sources, I unveil these womens discursive agency that was expressed in archival documents, only to be suppressed in colonial chronicles and contemporary literary criticism.


The Temperance Worker As Social Reformer And Ethnographer As Exemplified In The Life And Work Of Jessie A. Ackermann., Margaret Shipley Carr Aug 2009

The Temperance Worker As Social Reformer And Ethnographer As Exemplified In The Life And Work Of Jessie A. Ackermann., Margaret Shipley Carr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project used primary historical documents from the Jessie A. Ackermann collection at ETSU's Archives of Appalachia, other books and documents from the temperance period, and recent scholarship on the subjects of temperance, suffrage, and women travelers and civilizers. As the second world missionary for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Ackermann traveled in order to establish WCT Unions and worked as a civilizer, feminist, and reporter of the conditions of women and the disadvantaged throughout the world.


Relays In Rebellion: The Power In Lilian Ngoyi And Fannie Lou Hamer, Cathy Laverne Freeman Aug 2009

Relays In Rebellion: The Power In Lilian Ngoyi And Fannie Lou Hamer, Cathy Laverne Freeman

History Theses

This thesis compares how Lilian Ngoyi of South Africa and Fannie Lou Hamer of the United States crafted political identities and assumed powerful leadership, respectively, in struggles against racial oppression via the African National Congress and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. The study asserts that Ngoyi and Hamer used alternative sources of personal power which arose from their location in the intersecting social categories of culture, gender and class. These categories challenge traditional disciplinary boundaries and complicate any analysis of political economy, state power relations and black liberation studies which minimize the contributions of women. Also, by analyzing resistance leadership …


Choice Ideology And The Parameters Of Its Practice: Alternative Abortion Narratives In New Mexico, Abigail Adams Jul 2009

Choice Ideology And The Parameters Of Its Practice: Alternative Abortion Narratives In New Mexico, Abigail Adams

Anthropology ETDs

The ideology of choice, embedded in the pro-choice, anti-abortion debate in the United States, is founded on Enlightenment notions that take the autonomous individual with perfect knowledge and rationality as the unit of analysis. The basic premise is that each woman 'chooses' from a variety of equally accessible options. Hidden in the political language of choice are the constraints all women face as they attempt to negotiate reproduction, especially if they wish to end a pregnancy. 'Choice' does not exist as an abstract freedom, but is situated within the realities of power and agency. This paper examines the ability of …


Sub-Ordination: Mary Magdalene, The Church, And The Ordination Of Women, Richard Bishop Jun 2009

Sub-Ordination: Mary Magdalene, The Church, And The Ordination Of Women, Richard Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that it cannot ordain women to the priesthood due to a lack of biblical warrant. The Church therefore relies upon the traditional concept of a Bridegroom-Bride relationship (read: Christ and His Church), which they say can only be maintained if a male priest serves as the representative of the invisible Christ for his Bride during the Eucharist. In this essay, we shall explore the role and treatment of Mary Magdalene and women in early texts and show that they actually did have prominent positions within at least some early Christian communities. Texts were altered, and …


Architectural Chastity Belts: The Window Motif As Instrument Of Discipline In Fifteenth-Century Italian Conduct Manuals And Art, Jennifer Megan Orendorf Jun 2009

Architectural Chastity Belts: The Window Motif As Instrument Of Discipline In Fifteenth-Century Italian Conduct Manuals And Art, Jennifer Megan Orendorf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the Italian thirst for excellence and knowledge burgeoned throughout the Quattrocento, the genre of instructional literature responded accordingly to social demands. Offering advice on a wide range of experience from the quotidian to the extraordinary, from superstition to scientific, conduct manuals appealed to readers of all Italian social classes. Investigating the relationship between this body of literature and the lives of contemporary women, this paper will focus specifically on those manuals which prescribe behaviors for women, and will investigate the reception of these precepts and the extent in which these notions informed and transformed women's lives.

In order to …


Secondary Analysis Of Diabetes And Psychological Distress In American Indian Women From The California Health Interview Survey (Chis)., Audry Marie Greenwell May 2009

Secondary Analysis Of Diabetes And Psychological Distress In American Indian Women From The California Health Interview Survey (Chis)., Audry Marie Greenwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since European settlers arrived to the United States (U.S.), American Indians (AI) have been separate and unequal members of society. After a long history of discrimination, ethnocide, genocide, and distrust, the AI have become a population with severe disparities, having the highest rates of diabetes, depression, suicide, tuberculosis, and alcoholism than any other minority or majority population in the U.S. The author's purpose for conducting this study was to explore a possible relationship between depression or psychological distress and diabetes in AI women.

AI women are the most under studied group in the country; therefore, a secondary analysis of the …


Before The Second Wave: College Women, Cultural Literacy, Sexuality And Identity, 1940--1965, Babette Faehmel May 2009

Before The Second Wave: College Women, Cultural Literacy, Sexuality And Identity, 1940--1965, Babette Faehmel

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation follows career-oriented college women over the course of their education in liberal arts programs and seeks to explain why so many of them, in departure from original plans of combining work and marriage, married and became full-time mothers. Using diaries, personal correspondences, and student publications, in conjunction with works from the social sciences, philosophy, and literature, I argue that these women's experiences need to be understood in the context of cultural conflicts over the definition of class, status, and national identity. Mid twentieth-century college women, I propose, began their education at a moment when the convergence of long-contested …


The Effectiveness Of Institutional Intervention At Minimizing Demographic Inertia And Improving The Representation Of Women Faculty In Higher Education, Amanda V. Bakian May 2009

The Effectiveness Of Institutional Intervention At Minimizing Demographic Inertia And Improving The Representation Of Women Faculty In Higher Education, Amanda V. Bakian

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Across all science and engineering disciplines, women currently receive 46% of the doctoral degrees granted annually. Despite gains in doctoral degrees earned by women over the past 30 years, they remain under-represented among full time tenured /tenure-track science and engineering faculty compared to their presence among degree recipients. The inequality gap is widest among full professors at 4 year research universities where women account for a mere 16% of all S&E full time full professors. Multiple hypothesis have been proposed to account for women's under-representation relative to men including those based on human capital/economic theory, feminist theory, innate biological gender …


Determinants Of Physical Activity Behavior And Self-Efficacy For Exercise Among African American Women, Bridget K. Robinson May 2009

Determinants Of Physical Activity Behavior And Self-Efficacy For Exercise Among African American Women, Bridget K. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Background: Inadequate physical activity behavior persists among African American women despite the widely documented benefits of physical activity. Literature notes a positive correlation between self-efficacy for exercise and physical activity behavior. In addition to socioeconomic factors, culturally influenced factors mediate self-efficacy for task such as physical activity. Past studies indicate differing perceptions related to religiosity and body image among African American populations. Additionally, reports indicate Southern and Midwestern states have the highest prevalence of obesity. These states are located in a geographical area known as the Bible belt. Moreover, 73.5% of the African American population in the U. S. resides …


A Descriptive Study Examining Motivation, Goal Orientations, Coaching, And Training Habits Of Women Ultrarunners, Rhonna Zena Krouse May 2009

A Descriptive Study Examining Motivation, Goal Orientations, Coaching, And Training Habits Of Women Ultrarunners, Rhonna Zena Krouse

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Ultrarunners are people who participate in running events that exceed the 26.2 mile marathon distance. Currently, women make up approximately 20% of this population. To date, no studies have investigated female ultrarunners. The present study sought to describe these women (N = 344) by evaluating motivational factors for participation, goal orientations, training habits, and coach utilization. Motivation was measured using the Motivation for Marathoners Scale (7 point Likert scale). General health orientation (M = 4.71± 1.06) and psychological coping (M = 4.71±1.03) were the two categories most endorsed whereas social motives were least endorsed (M = …


Formation Of A Support Group For Women With Multiple Sclerosis (Ms) In The Inner‐City Of Buffalo, Shelaine Rigby May 2009

Formation Of A Support Group For Women With Multiple Sclerosis (Ms) In The Inner‐City Of Buffalo, Shelaine Rigby

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project details the design of a Multiple Sclerosis support group for women in the Inner‐City of Buffalo. The author describes her plans to use her creative studies background, facilitation and leadership skills to impart knowledge to others like herself (women with MS), in hopes of increasing the quality of life they are currently experiencing by bringing them into contact with each other. This, in turn, will hopefully reduce isolation, feelings of loneliness and separation from friends and family.


Troubling Women: Female Texts And Voices Of The Northern Irish Conflict, 1969-1998, Kelly M. Twilley May 2009

Troubling Women: Female Texts And Voices Of The Northern Irish Conflict, 1969-1998, Kelly M. Twilley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the bloody conflict in Northern Ireland between the Irish nationalist community, those desiring a united Ireland, and the Ulster loyalist community, those longing to remain a part of the UK, known as the Troubles (1969-1998). More specifically, this thesis centers on the strong and courageous women who played undeniably significant roles throughout the conflict. Some women campaigned for better and equal rights for women, some protested for political justice, some picked up guns to fight, and still others advocated for peace. Using the real women of history as a guide, it will create a lens through which …


A Prison Within A Prison: Segregation Of Hiv Positive Inmates And Double Stigma, Emily Hilyer Gaskin Apr 2009

A Prison Within A Prison: Segregation Of Hiv Positive Inmates And Double Stigma, Emily Hilyer Gaskin

Anthropology Theses

Although the majority of state prison systems have made the move away from segregated housing for HIV positive inmates, a few still continue this practice. The purpose of this study was to learn more about the experiences of women who have carried the double stigma of being HIV positive prisoners who were segregated within the prison system because of their illness. Drawing on interviews with HIV positive women who served time in a segregated facility and are now released, I was able to explore how double stigma and segregation affect identity and daily life. By asking these women questions about …


Religion, The Law And The Human Rights Of Women In The Middle East: A Quantitative Analysis, Tyra Murielle Bouhamdan Apr 2009

Religion, The Law And The Human Rights Of Women In The Middle East: A Quantitative Analysis, Tyra Murielle Bouhamdan

Political Science Theses

The human rights of women in The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have been a subject of unresolved debate among sociologists, economists, and political scientists alike, as this region’s gender related human rights performance remains uniquely weaker compared to other geographic regions in the world. Most notably, the human rights of women in the region have been lagging in the area of family law. The following paper assesses gender inequity in the MENA region from a legal perspective, with a focus on family law and legal pluralism, and with the intent to shed light on domestic legal institutions as …


Media Exposure And Women's Fear Of Crime, Pamela C. Hooper Apr 2009

Media Exposure And Women's Fear Of Crime, Pamela C. Hooper

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between the media portrayal of women and crime on television and fear of crime among female viewers. Data from the National Opinion Survey of Crime and Justice was used. A weak relationship between media exposure and fear of crime was found. Consistent with previous research, a statistically significant gender difference was revealed. Women reported higher levels of fear overall. When television dramas were examined, women who watched these shows had a lower reported fear of crime. An unexpected inverse relationship emerged between women's age and fear of crime. This finding contradicts a majority of the …


Understanding The Relationship Between Women;S Participation And Health In Uttar Pradesh, India, Candace Hillary Feldman Feb 2009

Understanding The Relationship Between Women;S Participation And Health In Uttar Pradesh, India, Candace Hillary Feldman

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to better understand perceptions of the limitations, motivations and influence of women's political participation on the health of a community in northern India. This study was nested within a larger community-based participatory neonatal health intervention led by the Saksham study group. Eighteen small focus groups were held in the rural villages of Shivgarh, separated based on gender, age category, and parent study intervention status. Scenarios were presented on culturally sensitive, locally relevant topics surrounding the concept of women's health agency, defined generally as a woman's ability to advocate for better health. Qualitative …


Parents, Patriarchy, And Decision-Making Power: A Study Of Gender Relations As Reflected By Co-Residence Patterns Of Older Parents In The Immigrant Household, Lang Lin Feb 2009

Parents, Patriarchy, And Decision-Making Power: A Study Of Gender Relations As Reflected By Co-Residence Patterns Of Older Parents In The Immigrant Household, Lang Lin

Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014

This dissertation focuses on the living arrangements of multi-generational households among ten biggest immigrant groups in the United States. Specifically, it examines whether the husband's or the wife's older parents were more likely to be present. Co-residence patterns were taken as a proxy that reflected relative decision-making power in the family. A number of factors hypothesized to be associated with the outcome were examined to explore the effect of immigration on gender role ideology and gender relations in the post-1965 immigrant family. More than 102,000 multi-generational households from the 2000 U.S. Census were included in the analyses.

Results suggested that …


Retrospective Analysis Of A Breast Health Program On Routine Annual Mammography In Low-Income, Uninsured Women, Theresa Morrison Jan 2009

Retrospective Analysis Of A Breast Health Program On Routine Annual Mammography In Low-Income, Uninsured Women, Theresa Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Problem: Detection of breast cancer in women of low socioeconomic status, lacking health insurance, can be improved by increasing annual mammography rates, yet little is known about their screening behavior.

Purpose: A retrospective subject-controlled study of an ongoing Breast Health Program, at a not-for-profit, non-government assisted, volunteer clinic, was undertaken to examine mammography usage and discovery variables.

Design and Methods: English and Spanish speaking women 40 years old and over who viewed in a 7-minute breast health DVD and were offered free mammography were eligible for the study (N= 223). The Health Belief Model (HBM) (Becker, 1974) provided the study …


Occupation-Based Program To Reduce Revidicism [I.E. Recidivism] In Women Offenders, Kacie Moll, Ashley Tyre Jan 2009

Occupation-Based Program To Reduce Revidicism [I.E. Recidivism] In Women Offenders, Kacie Moll, Ashley Tyre

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Within the United States, women are known to be the fast growing population of inmates. The purpose of this project is to develop a gender specific occupation based life skills program to implement within a prison setting and continue once in the community. An extensive literature review was conducted on current programming available and what the current needs of women inmates are. Literature revealed that there is a high rate of recidivism among female inmates once released but the recidivism percentage decreased when programming was provided within the prison. The needs of women inmates are different then male inmates. As …


Social Support As A Moderator Between Health Status And Self-Esteem, Psychosocial Stress, And Mood In Old Order Amish Women, Christina L. Abbott Jan 2009

Social Support As A Moderator Between Health Status And Self-Esteem, Psychosocial Stress, And Mood In Old Order Amish Women, Christina L. Abbott

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The Amish population is growing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Kraybill, 2008) and Amish use of medical and psychological services provided by the outside world is increasingly common (Cates & Graham, 2002; Weyer et al., 2003). Yet, little is known about how Amish women perceive their health status or how these variables interact in this population. This study revealed an identifiable relationship between health status and psychological functioning in 288 Amish women, ages 18 to 45. As health improves, self-esteem and mood also improve. Of greater importance is the fact that when good social support is available, even Amish women in …


"In Order To Establish Justice": The Nineteenth-Century Woman Suffrage Movements Of Maine And New Brunswick, Shannon M. Risk Jan 2009

"In Order To Establish Justice": The Nineteenth-Century Woman Suffrage Movements Of Maine And New Brunswick, Shannon M. Risk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study of the nineteenth-century woman suffrage movements in Maine and New Brunswick brings to light the struggles of Americans and Canadians to define a wider democracy and citizenry amid times of profound socio-economic changes. Targeting the struggle for the female vote allows the historian to explore time-honored ideas about womanhood, manhood, and membership in a national political body. In the Borderlands of Maine and New Brunswick, a place where historians see cultural connections, the border loomed large. Borderlands historians have virtually ignored women’s political behavior in this region. This study will demonstrate that although Maine and New Brunswick women …