Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Climbing The Ladder: The Experiences Of Women Senior Leaders In Southern Baptist Colleges And Universities, Allison Barritt Langford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interview study was to explore the career pathways, barriers, and keys to success experienced by women senior administrators in Southern Baptist colleges and universities. The researcher conducted an interview study with both open-ended and closed survey questions. The interviews primarily involved open-ended questions without response options and were conducted via the telephone. The researcher targeted the population of 42 women senior-level administrators. From this population, 20 women participated in the study. The researcher interviewed the 20 participants and collected a vita for 16 of the 20 women in the sample. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Member …

Women And Propaganda In America During World War Ii: Methods In Which The United States Propaganda Organizations Targeted Various Age Groups Of Women, Julia Puscheck

History

No abstract provided.

Women's Participation In Transitional Justice Mechanisms: Comparing Transitional Processes In Timor Leste And Sierra Leone, Holly L. Guthrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women tend to suffer a disproportionate amount of sexual and reproductive violence during periods of conflict, though they generally participate at a lower rate than men in transitional justice processes. Because participation is discussed in procedural justice literature as being crucial to securing feelings of justice and dignity within victims of violence, the lack of women’s participation in transitional process indicates that justice outcomes could suffer without equitable participation of women. In light of this issue, this study uses a comparative case study analysis method to investigate women’s involvement in the transitional justice processes in Timor Leste and Sierra Leone …

Gender And Justice: The Experience Of Female Lawyers In Indiananapolis, Jessica Louise Nelson

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

"Gentleman M.B". is recorded in United States history as far back as 1638, and was a successful landowner, local leader, and attorney to the governor. What is not translated is that this gentleman was, in fact, a woman: Margaret Brent was the first known female attorney, and would be the only one allowed entrance to the Bar for more than 200 years. Even though centuries later, in 1869, Myra Bradwell (Illinois), Mary Magoon (Iowa) and Belle Mansfield (Iowa) gained access to the legal community, women remained an outcast minority until very recently. A mere two percent of the profession was …

Decoding Charlotte's Prevalence. A Kristevian Approach To The Representation Of Femininity In Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften, Zsuzsanna Rothne Zadori

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines Goethe’s portrayal of femininity in Die Wahlver-wandtschaften and how his depiction of all three central female characters relates to feminine ideals that were promoted through the theoretical gender debate of the late 1700s in Germany and Western Europe. I analyze Charlotte’s, Luciane’s, and Ottilie’s actions and interactions in various triadic character constellations in order to offer new insights into Goethe’s portrayal of femininity. In so doing, I argue that Goethe’s depiction of Charlotte holds the key to understanding how far Die Wahlverwandtschaften functions as (critical) commentary on the late Enlightenment gender discourse.

I maintain that the actions …

Invisible Mink, Jessie L Janeshek

Doctoral Dissertations

Emily Dickinson, Frances Sargent Osgood, and Sarah Piatt render the nineteenth-century “women’s sphere” ironically Unheimliche while simultaneously conveying it as the “home sweet home” the sentimental tradition prescribes it should be. These American women poets turn the domestic milieu into, as Paula Bennett phrases it, “the gothic mise en scene par excellence…the displacements, doublings, and anxieties characterizing gothic experience are the direct consequence of domestic ideology’s impact on the lives and psyches of ordinary bourgeois women (121-122).”

Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath continue to represent the Unheimliche home in their poetry through the middle of the twentieth century, specifically by …

Collaborating For Social Change: Photographic Empowerment And Activist Blogging, Jennifer Dana Weill

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Much of my coursework in my major, Women’s and Gender Studies, focuses on the way that certain identities have been privileged, oppressed, stereotyped and marginalized both socially and systematically on local and global scales. In particular, I study how societal institutions disadvantage and discriminate against non-hegemonic groups of people and the resistance and collaboration that these people have engaged in to challenge the dominant institutions.

These themes inspired me to design and create a collaborative photography collection on oppression and stereotyping among students at Syracuse University. The photographs are based on histories and stories that my participants shared with me …

Gender Identity And Social Networking: A Queer-Feminist Critique Of Facebook, Gregory David Sides

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The purpose of my project is to foster critical discussions of the on-line social networking site Facebook by analyzing gender politics as mechanisms used on Facebook to include or restrict acceptance of users. I implement a gender-queer methodology in my work. This methodology complicates traditional understandings of sex and gender, and views them as a fluid continuum where one might exist anywhere between male and female, and beyond. In lieu of a traditional academic paper, I have made the conscious choice to execute my methods, methodology, and critique into an art piece. This serves an important purpose of making my …

The Subject Representation Of Core Works In Women's Studies: A Critical Analysis Of The Library Of Congress Subject Headings, Susan E. Wood

Masters Theses

The system of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) has been the subject of feminist, critical examinations since the 1970s. Subject headings pertaining both to feminist literature and to women in general have been analyzed to determine how LCSH represents these topics. In this study, I contribute to this body of scholarship by analyzing and reporting on the nature of the LCSH subject representation of 52 core works published from 1986-1998 in the areas of feminist theory and women’s movements. These monographs were selected from the 3rd edition of Women’s Studies: A Recommended Bibliography (Krikos & Ingold, 2004). The analysis …

Bartleby The Original The Queer, Rebecca Epstein

Pomona Senior Theses

Insofar as human beings try to “know” we must define concepts, objects, actions. We label, we distinguish between one concept and another, and in doing this, we make categories. Labels are categories. Our categories are imperfect. Our labels are always relative, defined by and dependent on that which they exclude. The boundaries of our terms, what “counts” as something or what is considered to be within a certain term, are always shifting. Our definitions change based on our method of analysis. For instance, the definition of “human” is different in different disciplines, like science, philosophy, sociology, economics, etc. Given their …

Female Ph.D. Completion: How Field Of Study Moderates The Predictive Relationships Between Social And Academic Interactions With Faculty, Research Productivity And Degree Completion, Miki Yoshimura

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to seek further understanding of how field of study moderated the predictive relationships between social interactions with faculty, academic interactions with faculty, research productivity, and female Ph.D. students' degree completion. A survey was conducted to collect data on the participants' degree completion, satisfaction with social and academic interactions with faculty, research productivity as well as their field of study. The sample included 412 female former Ph.D. students in various fields at a large, public research university in the mid-Atlantic region who were enrolled between 1993 and 2004.

Logistic regression analyses were conducted to see …

From Fishing Weirs To Fancy Baskets: How Changes In Native American Basketry Forms Reflect Changes In The Economic Independence Of Native American Women During Colonization, Heidi J. Pickering

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Contrary to the absence of Native American women in many reports and journals of early explorers and colonists, Native American women from the Coastal Algonquin and Wasco/Wishram communities played a central role in early trade with Euro-Americans through their traditional socioeconomic status as agricultural and subsistence gatherers and inter/intra-tribal tradeswomen. These native women harvested available natural resources for food, bark, and fiber with which they fed their communities and constructed baskets in standard units of measurement for trade reflecting that pre-contact trade networks and food value systems were well established and highly valued. Through an examination of scholarly research regarding …

Concoctions And Life-Long Connections: Women In The Kitchen, Jeanne O'Farrell Eddy

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

This thesis examines the evolution of the American kitchen from the turn of the nineteenth century--historically, technologically, and socially--and the effect of such a transition on the lives of women. Following the introduction of such innovations as the kitchen sink, the cooking stove, the dishwasher, and the microwave oven, this thesis also examines the condition of women in the kitchen and observes the parallel growth, over time, of the kitchen and women's lives. The kitchen evolves from a place of imposed drudgery to that of the enlightened center of the home. We see that, as decades pass, the kitchen becomes …

Boundaries Of Modernity: Spanish Women Writers At The Turn Of The Twentieth Century, Carmen Arranz

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Spanish women writers that establish their literary careers early in twentieth century find themselves at an interesting historical crossroads as the world changes from an agrarian to an industrial paradigm. On one hand, this change leads to a strong current of traditionalism, to which most male writers adhere, as it offers the attractive idea of return to a pre-modern simplicity; on the other, this change opens up possibilities for social improvement and participation for those groups traditionally excluded from power. Embracing this change poses the opportunity for female subjects to reshape fundamental structures of society and, in sum, eventually create …

La Mujer Se Va Pa’Bajo: Women’S Health At The Intersections Of Nationality, Class, And Gender, Mary Alice Scott

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This research utilizes an intersectionality framework to examine the complexity of social location and its effects on women's health. By examining connections among the state, processes of globalization, and the production of health inequalities for poor women in a rural community in southern Veracruz, Mexico, the research highlights the nexus of nationality, class, and gender. Four interconnected contexts are explored: (1) women's increasing paid and unpaid labor in the context of a poverty of resources brought on by sustained economic crisis; (2) the maintenance of reproductive labor as the responsibility of women; (3) the development of migrant "illegality" and its …

The Effects Of Gestalt And Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Group Interventions On The Assertiveness And Self-Esteem Of Women With Physical Disabilities Facing Abuse, Cilene Susan Adam Rita

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the differential effects of Gestalt and Cognitive-Behavioral group therapy interventions on assertiveness and self-esteem among women with physical disabilities facing abuse. The eleven women, who met the study criteria, were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions, Gestalt Therapy (GT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group interventions. The Demographic Questionnaire (Adam Rita, 2009) documented personal characteristics of the participants. The criterion instruments were: a) RAS (Rathus, 1973), and b) CFSEI-2 (Form AD, Battle, 1992) measuring assertiveness and self-esteem respectively and were administered pre-and-post treatment. The research was conducted over a period of …

University Students' Attitudes Towards Body Hair And Hair Removal: An Exploration Of The Effects Of Background Characteristics, Socialization, And Societal Pressures, Bessie Rigakos

Wayne State University Dissertations

Body hair removal is a behavior that is taken for granted by many women in the United States. Existing feminist literature suggests that body hair removal is a major component of societal norms. This study aimed to contribute to the literature by exploring the social factors that influence the extent of women's depilation from public/visible body areas and private/hidden body areas, and the number of depilatory methods utilized. A total of 303 female students from Wayne State University completed questionnaires asking about their attitudes towards body hair/hair removal. It was confirmed that the vast majority (291 or 96%) remove their …

Storied Memories: Memory As Resistance In Contemporary Women's Literature, Sarah Katherine Foust Vinson

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the power for resistance contained within narratives of personal memory. By applying current psychological concepts of autobiographical memory theory to eight contemporary women's novels, Carole Maso's The Art Lover; Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina; Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory; Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible; Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things; Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place; and Toni Morrison's Paradise, I argue that it is in literature that we can examine both the workings of memory and the ways that authors use concepts of memory in their works to …

Manufacturing Menopause: An Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Menopause And Information Content On Pharmaceutical Web Sites, Deborah H. Charbonneau

Wayne State University Dissertations

Consumer-targeted prescription drug advertising serves as an interesting lens through which we can examine the portrayal of menopause in online drug advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the portrayal of menopause on web sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies for hormone therapies (HT). To unravel this question, a qualitative content analysis of web sites for FDA-approved hormone therapies was employed. A total number of 608 printed pages of web site content from eight web sites (N=8) were analyzed. Key findings elucidated how menopause was portrayed on the pharmaceutical web sites. First, descriptions of menopause articulated a biomedical perspective …

The Relationship Between Soft Body Composition And Bone Mineral Density In Premenopausal Hispanic And Caucasian Women, Clarelouise Anita Highfield

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Investigating the relationship between soft body composition and bone mineral density of premenopausal Hispanic and Caucasian women may help in determining strategies to lower the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between BMD and soft tissue body composition, including lean mass and fat mass, of premenopausal Caucasian and Hispanic women. METHODS: Participants were 76 Hispanic [mean ± SD age: 42.7 ± 4.6 y; ht: 161.3 ± 5.66 cm; body mass: 70.14 ± 15.09 kg; BMI: 26.92 ± 15.09 kg/m2] and 46 White [age: 43.8 ± 4.3 y; ht: 165.5 ± 6.16 cm; body mass: 66.37 …

Marriage Vows And Economic Discrimination: The Married Teacher Problem, Sabrina Thomas

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study analyzes the rapid increase of economic discrimination against married women teachers in the early twentieth century, particularly during the Depression. It challenges the notion that economic discrimination against married women teachers was simple, easy, and largely was unchallenged. I argue that the creation and proliferation of marriage bars in the early twentieth century involved a compounded and multifaceted set of economic and social concerns. Support for this argument is accomplished by examination of the national debate on marriage bars as well as careful investigation of the local debate illustrated in Huntington, West Virginia.

Three Waves Of Underground Feminism In "Soft" Conscious' Raising Novels, Jeannina Perez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the chapters of my thesis, I explore how "soft" consciousness-raising novels of the first, second and third-waves of feminism practice underground feminism by covertly exposing women's socio-political issues outside of the confines of feminist rhetoric. In moving away from the negative connotations of political language, the authors enable the education of female audiences otherwise out of reach. Working from and extending on various theorists, I construct a theoretical model for what I term underground feminism. Running on the principal of conducting feminist activism without using feminist rhetoric, underground feminism challenges the notion that "subtle" feminism means weak feminism. In …

Perspectives Of Executive Women: Life Choices And Balancing Career With Marriage And Children, Wendy James

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of executive women and their choices in balancing work with marriage and children. Research on women in the workplace tends to conflate categories of hourly workers, part-time employees, and middle- and upper-management careers. Yet, the literature on balancing career and family life does not adequately portray the experiences of executive women. The purpose of the study was to discover executive women's perceptions about their career, how they chose their path, and how their career choices affected their decisions about marriage and children. The research questions for this study examined: (a) The effect of executive …

A Vignette Study Examining The Accuracy Of Diagnosis: The Role Of Patient And Practitioner Gender And Race Match, Kevin Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

DIAGNOSING MENTAL ILLNESS

By

KEVIN JOHNSON

2010

Advisor: Dr. Janet R. Hankin

Major: Medical Sociology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology

A convenience snowball sample of 228 mental health practitioners were surveyed and administered two vignettes of persons with mental illness and a 12-question survey that included occupational background and attitudinal questions about diagnosing mental illness. The gender and race of the patients were randomly altered, while the symptoms and characteristics of mental illness remained constant for each vignette. Each practitioner assigned a DSM-IV diagnostic label for axis I and axis II on both vignettes. The surveys were coded …

Black And White Women In Blue: A Case Study Of Policewomen, Danielle Marie Teunion-Smith

Wayne State University Dissertations

This exploratory study examines the policing experiences of fourteen African American and White female police officers using interviews and observations. There is ample research that addresses the ability of women to perform policing duties, but most of the literature presumes that White and African American policewomen are a single aggregate. These ignored societal differences and social realities of black and white policewomen, based on distinctive assigned social positions, histories, images and location, possibly contribute to different perspectives and experiences in law enforcement. These same social realities shape occupational positions, perspectives, perceptions, and treatment within law enforcement organizations. There are broad …

Between Fact And Fiction: Writing By American Women In A Transnational Context, Hilary Jennifer Marcus

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Drawing on poststructuralist theories of gender, nation and modernity, this dissertation is an interdisciplinary exploration of American experimental women's writing and their linkages to and explorations of colonial and U.S. imperialist histories. "Between Fact and Fiction: Writing by American Women in a Transnational Context" considers experimental literary texts by women writing from diverse spaces across places and times as cultural texts that can provide important insights for understanding transnational politics of power and possibilities for disrupting power. The project examines a broad range of experimental literary texts by women including Gertrude Stein, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, …

"You Have No Boss Here To Work For": Women And Labor In Chesapeake Bay Fishing Communities, Elizabeth Marie O'Grady

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Inequities Of Contemporary French Women, Olivia Kuhlman

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the current situation of women in contemporary France. It analyzes the current situation of French women in education, the work force, politics, and French society, with the intent of uncovering the gender inequalities French women encounter in contemporary France.

Votes For Women: Women's Suffrage, Gendered Political Culture, And Progressive Era Masculinity In The State Of Indiana, Lindsay E. Rump

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This thesis will examine gendered political culture and masculinity in Indiana during the Progressive Era, leading up to the enfranchisement of women. Using articles from newspapers and periodicals, this work will examine how women were presented in the public sphere, how they were methodically portrayed as the lighter sex, used for advertising for clothing or appliances and never taken seriously as political figures. Then, this paper will ex plain the profile of women's suffrage in Indiana, how the women in this state began the fight for the vote, the women and the conventions that carried it onward, and finally their …

Modern Day Mary Poppins : Uncovering The Work Of Nannies And The Expectations Of Employers, Laura Ann Bunyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Throughout the past few decades the number of parents relying on child care has risen. Most research on parental use of child care focuses on relationships between employers and employees of differing racial-ethnic, social class, and educational status. This dissertation was designed to examine the experiences of those who perform nanny work, the process of selecting care, and understand the experiences of those who do not seek to maximize social space between employee and employer.