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Full-Text Articles in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Educational Migration And Agency Among Tribal Young Women, Deepika Kumari Meena
Educational Migration And Agency Among Tribal Young Women, Deepika Kumari Meena
Journal of International Women's Studies
In this paper, I examine the understanding of agency among the tribal young women attending college in Pratapgarh (Rajasthan), India. Particularly in light of this shift in their living and academic spaces, I look at how they interpret and perform their agency when it comes to being in a romantic relationship and getting married. It is not uncommon for tribal members to engage in romantic relationships and to seek love marriages. The number of young women migrating for education is increasing. As a result of educational migration, the practice of live-in relationships, romantic relationships, and love marriages has also increased …
The Other Dimensions Of Dalit Oppression: Tracing Intersectionality Through Ants Among Elephants, Arundhati Sen
The Other Dimensions Of Dalit Oppression: Tracing Intersectionality Through Ants Among Elephants, Arundhati Sen
Journal of International Women's Studies
This paper demonstrates how gender abuse is not merely restricted to hierarchical gender oppression but also operates within an intersectional framework where gender is intertwined with hierarchical caste exploitation. While revisiting White bourgeois feminism, bell hooks emphasizes the incorporation of different marginal perspectives to make feminism an all-encompassing radical movement, accessible to everyone. Inspired by the lens that hooks uses to interpret Black feminism and the Indian scholars who approach Dalit feminism from an intersectional standpoint, I analyze Sujatha Gidla’s autobiography Ants among Elephants (2017), a family story of a lower-middle-class rural South Indian Dalit woman. I argue for the …
Joyland: A Story Of Unquenchable Desires, Salma Javed
Joyland: A Story Of Unquenchable Desires, Salma Javed
Journal of International Women's Studies
Contrary to the title, Saim Sadiq’s debut work Joyland is about struggling with gender identities and unquenchable desires in a conventional society. This heart-breaking drama of a conservative family belongs to the exceptional kind of cinema that sews craft with content. This poignant tale contains such intrigue that the viewers feel glued to the aching narrative until the very last minutes of the movie. The storyline follows three men protagonists from a damaged family, and four women characters, including a transgender woman. The story takes a turn when Haider, one of the main characters, falls in love with Biba, a …
We Deliver: The Condition Of The Woman Academic In India Today, Ananya Dutta Gupta
We Deliver: The Condition Of The Woman Academic In India Today, Ananya Dutta Gupta
Journal of International Women's Studies
This auto-ethnographic essay draws upon Foucault’s Archaeology of Knowledge to discuss the condition of Indian women in the Humanities in academia today. While acknowledging the encouragingly gender-inclusive projections in India’s National Education Policy vision statement from 2020, I argue for more probing engagement with the concrete reality of being a woman teacher and researcher in the increasingly competitive and corporatized milieu of higher education. My methodology has been a close reading of the NEP’s vision statement to analyze recurrences of terms and concepts as pointers to its discursive field. I argue that this policy statement implicitly envisions an empowered new-age …
Feminist Foreign Policy And The War In Ukraine: Hollow Framework Or Rallying Force?, Sara J. Chehab
Feminist Foreign Policy And The War In Ukraine: Hollow Framework Or Rallying Force?, Sara J. Chehab
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article examines the applicability of Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) frameworks following the 2022 Russia-Ukraine War. By looking at how Sweden, France, Canada, and Mexico responded to the war in the February 2022 to January 2023 period, the paper seeks to examine whether states’ reactions were in line with their FFP commitments or whether FFP was placed on the backburner in the face of a major threat. While there has not been a common feminist response to the war in Ukraine because states have responded through different means without consistently employing their FFP principles, the article argues that a clear …
Excavation Of Silenced Voices: (Re)Visiting Menka Shivdasani’S Frazil Through The Modern Feminist Discourse Of Indian Writing In English, Rangnath Thakur, Binod Mishra
Excavation Of Silenced Voices: (Re)Visiting Menka Shivdasani’S Frazil Through The Modern Feminist Discourse Of Indian Writing In English, Rangnath Thakur, Binod Mishra
Journal of International Women's Studies
The postmodernist phase of Indian English writing is characterized by the voices of many strong women expressing a feminist exploration of alternative discourses in women’s writing which are distinguished from the patriarchal framework of literary discourse. Along with Kamala Das, Meena Alexander, Imtiaz Dharkar, and Eunice de Souza, Menka Shivdasani is an active voice in contemporary Indian English poetry. Shivdasani is a prolific poet who has written poetry on various social, cultural, religious, and personal issues. Her four poetry collections include Nirvana at Ten Rupees (1990), Stet (2001), Safe House (2015), and Frazil (2018). Through her poetry, she has endeavored …
Assertion Or Transgression: A Critical Study Of Surpankha As An Unwelcomed Girl Child In Kavita Kané’S Lanka’S Princess, Nancy Sharma, Smita Jha
Assertion Or Transgression: A Critical Study Of Surpankha As An Unwelcomed Girl Child In Kavita Kané’S Lanka’S Princess, Nancy Sharma, Smita Jha
Journal of International Women's Studies
Kavita Kané’s Lanka’s Princess is the retelling of Ramayana3 from the perspective of the often misrepresented and misunderstood character of Surpankha,4 the daughter of rishi (sage) Vishravas and rakshasi (monster) Kaiskesi. Kavita Kané uses myths as a pretext to defy the idea of an ideal femininity in her book. Kané’s representation humanizes the character of Surpankha (translation: woman with sharp fingernails) who was born as the beautiful princess Meenakshi, but her defiant demeanor caused her brother Ravan to give her the name of Surpankha. Kané’s work exhibits the inner thought process of an unwelcome girl child in the family who …
Mary Sidney’S The Tragedy Of Antony And Fadwa Tuqan’S A Mountainous Journey: Language, Gender Politics, And The Emergence Of Authorial Identities, Bilal Hamamra
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article engages with the critical lenses of new historicism and presentism, using Fadwa Tuqan’s A Mountainous Journey and the discourse of Palestinian female martyrs as contemporary intertexts to scrutinize women’s silence, speech, and authorial identity in Mary Sidney’s early modern English work The Tragedy of Antony. I contend this text enabled Sidney to construct a narrative of mourning for her brother Philip Sidney, just as Tuqan uses her writing to mourn her brother Ibrahim Tuqan. It is argued here that Sidney’s and Tuqan’s creation of their authorial identities emanated from their close relationships with their brothers. I argue that …
Masculinist Constructions Of Nationalism In India: Gender, Body Politics, And Hindi Cinema, Nupur Ray
Masculinist Constructions Of Nationalism In India: Gender, Body Politics, And Hindi Cinema, Nupur Ray
Journal of International Women's Studies
Nationalism is an evocative concept with multiple philosophies around its meanings, purposes and contentions. Symbols, imagery, and spectacle play an important role in cultural expressions of nationalism that sustain an emotional response. The paper argues that imaginative constructs of nationalism in India are primarily constructed around women’s bodily metaphors, sexual norms, and their maternal roles in families. Popular culture, particularly cinema, tends to reinforce power hierarchies in which women symbolizing the nation are in need of protection by men or the state as a masculine authority. Hindi cinema has been an integral part of the socio-cultural lives of people in …
Globalization And Migration: The Great Gender Equalizer?, Akm Ahsan Ullah, Sharifah Nurul Huda Alkaff, Shirley Chin Wei Lee, Diotima Chattoraj, Jannatul Ferdous
Globalization And Migration: The Great Gender Equalizer?, Akm Ahsan Ullah, Sharifah Nurul Huda Alkaff, Shirley Chin Wei Lee, Diotima Chattoraj, Jannatul Ferdous
Journal of International Women's Studies
Globalization has been extensively debated in a range of contexts, from trade to borders, international relations, and conflict. It appears to be a positive force for women as many scholars contend that it has offered women new opportunities, thus enhancing greater gender equality in many countries where traditional patriarchal structures are firmly entrenched. However, some scholars are more skeptical of the benefits of globalization for women. They note that despite women gaining an increasing share of employment opportunities in a globalized world, the expected redistribution of domestic, household, and childcare responsibilities often did not materialize. They also argue that multinational …
Feminist Theorizing In The International Relations Discipline, Inass Abdulsada Ali
Feminist Theorizing In The International Relations Discipline, Inass Abdulsada Ali
Journal of International Women's Studies
The discipline of International Relations has been a science for almost a century and has undergone considerable development and dynamism as a field of knowledge. In the aftermath of the First World War, traditional idealistic trends prevailed. Still, after the end of the Second World War, the theory of realism dominated the analysis of international relations, international politics, and its laws and mechanisms. With the inter-paradigm debate of the 1980s, a broad spectrum of theories of international relations emerged, the most significant of which are critical theories including feminism. Feminist theory has since become central to the debates about global …
Iranian Women's Movement: Political Opportunities And New Forces, Hamid Sajadi
Iranian Women's Movement: Political Opportunities And New Forces, Hamid Sajadi
Journal of International Women's Studies
The Iranian women's movement emerged and was sustained in an unprecedented way, although neither the movement's procedure nor the nature of the Iranian protesters' economic and social demands throughout the course of the previous ten years made its formation plausible. While unions have traditionally coordinated many Iranian protests, the present women's movement is non-union, has a national reach, and has been going strong for several months despite fierce government resistance. This study reviews the history and achievements of the women's protest movement in Iran since September 2022. In the past, women's activities have been severely constrained and suppressed by Iran's …
Gender Responsive Pedagogy Practices: Secondary School Science Teachers In Ethiopia, Mollaw Abrha, Asrat Dagnew Kelkay, Amera Seifu
Gender Responsive Pedagogy Practices: Secondary School Science Teachers In Ethiopia, Mollaw Abrha, Asrat Dagnew Kelkay, Amera Seifu
Journal of International Women's Studies
This paper examines the current status of secondary school science teachers' gender-responsive pedagogy (GRP) practices. Women’s participation in secondary school teaching is a major concern in many regions of the world. The use of instructional strategies that promote gender inclusion and sensitivity in initial teacher training is very important in the development of teachers. In this paper, the use of gender-responsive pedagogy in Ethiopia’s secondary school program is highlighted. Using data from baseline, midterm, and end-line surveys, the paper addresses how tutors and mentors use gender-responsive pedagogy and the changes that have occurred as a result. The study adopted a …
Veiled Figures: Attached Settler Women In Andaman’S Post-Colonial Archive, Raka Banerjee
Veiled Figures: Attached Settler Women In Andaman’S Post-Colonial Archive, Raka Banerjee
Journal of International Women's Studies
Dominant discourse on India’s eastern Partition (1947) has constructed settlement as a masculine prerogative and man as the settler prototype. Women were eligible for rehabilitation on account of being “attached” to a male guardian, who would be assigned the head of the household in granting state benefits. In the case of these attached settler women transported by the state to Andaman Islands, a range of marginalities–region, gender, caste, and class–intersect with each other to create a veiled figure. The essay locates the settler women in the island’s post-colonial government archive to bring out the state’s construction of gendered settler subjecthood. …
Female Empowerment And The Preservation Of Local Handicraft Home-Based Industries In Java, Emy Susanti, Siti Mas’Udah, Tri Winarni Soenarto Putri, Anna Fatchiya, Lanny Ramli
Female Empowerment And The Preservation Of Local Handicraft Home-Based Industries In Java, Emy Susanti, Siti Mas’Udah, Tri Winarni Soenarto Putri, Anna Fatchiya, Lanny Ramli
Journal of International Women's Studies
This study demonstrates the central role of women in preserving local cultural handicrafts as a home-based industry and the role of government bodies and stake holders in preserving these cultural handicrafts. The study focuses on five villages located in four regencies on the island of Java. Data collection was obtained through interviews and questionnaires. Over the course of one month data was collected from 258 craftswomen and managers as respondents. The results show the importance of the roles occupied by women within local handicraft industries. These women are often viewed as subordinate to their male counterparts, yet these women are …
Two Poems, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Two Poems, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Journal of International Women's Studies
The poems “Other Fish to Fry” and “Lives of Others” reflect on how South Asian women fall victim to social systems and prejudices about gender. The first poem, “Other Fish to Fry,” metaphorically presents a mother bird and its kids, who represent women suffering from discrimination and torture. “Lives of Others” also depicts women who migrate to Middle Eastern countries in order to earn money and bring solvency to their families. But over time, they are victimized by landlords and brokers who regularly torture them. As a result, both poems address violence against South Asian women, including heinous crimes such …
“Gender At The Root Of Everyday Life”: Equity, Activism, And The Perspectives Of Diana J. Fox, Goutam Karmakar
“Gender At The Root Of Everyday Life”: Equity, Activism, And The Perspectives Of Diana J. Fox, Goutam Karmakar
Journal of International Women's Studies
This in-depth conversation with Diana J. Fox, Professor of Anthropology at Bridgewater State University, Massachusetts, United States, and a cultural and applied anthropologist, scholar-activist, and documentary film producer, puts emphasis on how Fox’s research demonstrates that a decolonial feminist viewpoint inspires and even necessitates that Indigenous feminisms be at the center, and that researchers from the global north have a responsibility to do so. In this interview, Fox talks about how, as a feminist decolonial/anticolonial anthropologist, she has worked for global gender justice and equality throughout her career, especially within the Anglophone Caribbean, which is where the bulk of her …
Gender, Sexuality And Representation In Pakistani Literature: Qandeel Baloch As A Victim Of Honor Killing, Nukhbah Taj Langah, Sumera Umrani
Gender, Sexuality And Representation In Pakistani Literature: Qandeel Baloch As A Victim Of Honor Killing, Nukhbah Taj Langah, Sumera Umrani
Journal of International Women's Studies
The article discusses women’s bodies as victims of violence by regarding gender as a stereotype as compared to a social construct within the context of Pakistan. The primary sources for this analysis are a sample of investigative journalism based on the life of a Pakistani social media figure Qandeel Baloch as depicted in The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch (2018) by Sanam Maher. We contend that the conventional expectations of women in Pakistan have resulted in crimes like honor killing. Through textual analysis of Maher’s account, we debate the concept of honor killing within the Pakistani context, with …
Labour As Violence In Dalit Households: Reading Autobiographical Narratives By Dalit Women, Pratibha
Labour As Violence In Dalit Households: Reading Autobiographical Narratives By Dalit Women, Pratibha
Journal of International Women's Studies
The everyday concerns of Dalit women are frequently overlooked in discourses about the emancipation of Dalits from Brahminical hegemony in favor of issues deemed weightier, such as reform ideology, caste conflicts, and political power struggles. The micro-politics of the sexual division of labour in Dalit households, with its corrosive effects on the well-being and self-perception of Dalit women, has remained side-lined. Even when discussed with reference to caste and gender intersectionality, the labour consigned to Dalit women is spoken of in additive terms to explicate their “double oppression” or victimisation through sexual exploitation at the hands of upper caste men. …
“Other” And “Othering” In The Intersectionality Of Inequalities: Alevi Women’S Experiences In Private And Public Spaces, Tuğba Metin Açer
“Other” And “Othering” In The Intersectionality Of Inequalities: Alevi Women’S Experiences In Private And Public Spaces, Tuğba Metin Açer
Journal of International Women's Studies
Turkey is one of those geographies where ethnic and sectarian communities live together. Ethnic and sectarian differences in social life create a fragile structure in terms of "othering" and position groups against one another. Alevis are one of the several ethno-religious communities of Turkey that are positioned against Sunni Muslims. In Turkish literature, othering experiences of Alevis are discussed within the framework of totalizing discourses by reducing this issue to the category of sects, thus creating inequality in the social space which is generally related to the Alevis’ ethno-religious identity. Furthermore, it is observed that women’s experiences are ignored in …
Gender Mainstreaming Challenges And Opportunities In Government Agencies In Selected Government Offices In Fogera District, Ethiopia, Asrat Dagnew Kelkay
Gender Mainstreaming Challenges And Opportunities In Government Agencies In Selected Government Offices In Fogera District, Ethiopia, Asrat Dagnew Kelkay
Journal of International Women's Studies
The main objectives of this study were to assess current gender mainstreaming practices and to identify opportunities and challenges in mainstreaming of gender issues in selected government offices in Fogera district, Ethiopia. The specific objectives of the study were to assess and analyze the practice of gender mainstreaming, to identify the existing opportunities for gender mainstreaming and to examine the major practical problems that inhibit gender mainstreaming. The study used qualitative research methods and case study research design. Consequently, purposive sampling was used to select the informants and discussants of the study. The findings showed that most participants of the …
Transactional Sex In Nigerian Universities Among Female Students: Drivers And Safety Concerns, E. K. Oyeoku, N. E. Ibezim, P. C. Agwu, U. O. Okoye
Transactional Sex In Nigerian Universities Among Female Students: Drivers And Safety Concerns, E. K. Oyeoku, N. E. Ibezim, P. C. Agwu, U. O. Okoye
Journal of International Women's Studies
Freedom away from parents and guardians for students in higher institutions could have effects on their sexual decisions and behaviours, which when not guided could portend devastating consequences. Such a decision could lead to indulging in transactional sex (TS), a kind of sexual relationship that is adopted in exchange for material and non-material benefits. In this study, we underscored why female students are involved in TS in some Nigerian universities and offer potential remedies that could mitigate or prevent associated negative consequences. The study relied on a qualitative research methodology, adopting in-depth interviews to source data from 40 female students …
Women’S Labour Force Participation: Economic Growth Nexus In Sub-Saharan African Countries, Chinasa E. Urama, Ezebuilo R. Ukwueze, Divine N. Obodoechi, Oliver E. Ogbonna, Afamefuna A. Eze, Oluwaseun B. Alade, Paschaline N. Ugwu
Women’S Labour Force Participation: Economic Growth Nexus In Sub-Saharan African Countries, Chinasa E. Urama, Ezebuilo R. Ukwueze, Divine N. Obodoechi, Oliver E. Ogbonna, Afamefuna A. Eze, Oluwaseun B. Alade, Paschaline N. Ugwu
Journal of International Women's Studies
Women’s labour force participation is an aspect of empowerment and a leeway to achieving the SDGs due to the contribution of women’s labour to economic growth. This study investigated the impact of women labour force participation on economic growth in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Important lessons were drawn from Israel as to how Israel has been empowering and currently improving women’s labour force participation and economic growth in general. The study employed a two-step system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) with panel data from 35 selected SSA countries. The findings showed a positive relationship between gross fixed capital formation, female …
Deconstructing Gendered Vumilia (Perseverance) Theology In Times Of The Gender-Based Violence Pandemic, Esther Mombo, Heleen Joziasse
Deconstructing Gendered Vumilia (Perseverance) Theology In Times Of The Gender-Based Violence Pandemic, Esther Mombo, Heleen Joziasse
Journal of International Women's Studies
During the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of gender-based violence (GBV) dramatically increased. While the Kenyan governmental bodies are held responsible for their inadequate response to this “national disaster of GBV”, the role of the Kenyan churches is hardly criticized. The churches neither spoke out against this prevalent injustice, nor did they openly support the victims of GBV. Furthermore, it could be argued that churches, through their patriarchal structures and cultural and doctrinal teachings, have contributed to this disaster. This article is written from a woman’s perspective and focused on the notion of vumilia, or perseverance, an important notion in the lived …
Women, Do We Support One Another? Voting Behavior Of Indonesian Female College Students For A Female Candidate Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic, Tri Windari, Budi Suryadi
Women, Do We Support One Another? Voting Behavior Of Indonesian Female College Students For A Female Candidate Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic, Tri Windari, Budi Suryadi
Journal of International Women's Studies
This study seeks to analyze and describe the voting behavior of female college students for a female candidate in Indonesia at Banjarmasin Mayoral Election in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, political campaigns were mainly switched to communication and information technology with a lack of mass gatherings and direct political campaigns due to Covid-19 health protocols. In a predominantly Muslim and highly patriarchal society, this is also the second time this province to have a female candidate for this position and the first time for this city. Amidst the negative stereotypes of a female candidate and the attacks from the …
Networking Voices Against Violence: Online Activism And Transnational Feminism In Local-Global Contexts, Sutanuka Banerjee, Lipika Kankaria
Networking Voices Against Violence: Online Activism And Transnational Feminism In Local-Global Contexts, Sutanuka Banerjee, Lipika Kankaria
Journal of International Women's Studies
Contemporary feminism manifests itself in the form of blogs, hashtags, e-magazines, and digitally planned protests through online communities that address the prevailing concerns of feminists in the digital age. This feminist approach to digital activism aims to reclaim the power of technology which is inherently hegemonic and masculinist by creating alternate spaces and modes of protest. Transnational feminism is increasingly being shaped by online discourses and the new digital space enables social movements in shaping feminist solidarity and complex netizen identities. This paper adopts discourse analysis of online contents that question the prevalent patriarchal system in South Asia and thus …
Addressing Gender Disparities Through Folklore: A Cultural Study Of Female Child Appellation Among The Bāsukuma Of Tanzania, John P. Madoshi
Addressing Gender Disparities Through Folklore: A Cultural Study Of Female Child Appellation Among The Bāsukuma Of Tanzania, John P. Madoshi
Journal of International Women's Studies
Among the Bāsukuma, folklore plays a significant role in describing different issues pertaining to their society and culture. Gender is one of the important issues emulated through female appellation. Some of the female names describe a gender tug of war which involves not only married couples but also families of the couples. In this conflict, names particularly of female children are used by each side as a means of channeling a particular message which signifies grievances of the sufferers. Nevertheless, the appellation is done in such a metaphoric way as to call for a meticulous literary examination analysis.
Folk Song “Hua’Er” In Northwest China: “Younger Sisters” And The Gender Relationship, Ma Rui
Folk Song “Hua’Er” In Northwest China: “Younger Sisters” And The Gender Relationship, Ma Rui
Journal of International Women's Studies
Chinese folk songs remain largely unheard-of outside China. The broad purpose of this essay is to bring one peculiar form of folk songs that is commonly circulated in Northwest China—Hua’er—into the spotlight. The essay attempts to reveal four types of female images as observed in romantic Hua’er, which is followed by an analysis of the gender relationship mirrored from the images and characterized by male-dominated hierarchy. Additionally, two ideas are offered as interpretation on the construction of the gender hierarchy. One is the impacts of Islam and Tibetan Buddhism which are two principal religions in Northwest China; the other is …
Gender Perspective On Tourism's Influence On The Local Community: A Literature Review, Nuria Abellan Calvet, Jordi Arcos-Pumarola, Laia Encinar-Prat
Gender Perspective On Tourism's Influence On The Local Community: A Literature Review, Nuria Abellan Calvet, Jordi Arcos-Pumarola, Laia Encinar-Prat
Journal of International Women's Studies
The tourism industry integrates multiple actors interrelated through a variety of dynamics and characteristics. To address this complexity, tourism studies integrate different disciplines and perspectives in order to comprehend the tourism phenomenon. One of the main topics of tourism studies has been its impact on local communities. The conjunction of these research lines with the gender perspective discloses how tourism interrelates with the host territory's particular gender dynamics. In this context, the present study aims to explore and analyse the current state of academic research on tourism's influence on the local community from a gender perspective. In this way, we …
Dalit Women: Narratives Of Vulnerability, Violence, And A Culture Of Impunity, Bhushan Sharma
Dalit Women: Narratives Of Vulnerability, Violence, And A Culture Of Impunity, Bhushan Sharma
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.