“Every Knot Has Someone To Undo It.” Using The Capabilities Approach As A Lens To View The Status Of Women Leading Up To The Arab Spring In Syria,
2012
Bridgewater State University
“Every Knot Has Someone To Undo It.” Using The Capabilities Approach As A Lens To View The Status Of Women Leading Up To The Arab Spring In Syria, Lorraine Charles, Kate Denman
Journal of International Women's Studies
The status of women in Syria has undergone great change in the last century and particularly in the decade leading up to the Syrian Arab Spring. Despite this advancement, many women are still not permitted the freedom to convert their capabilities into chosen valued activities and achievements. This has resulted in a lack of agency to decide, act and bring change in Syria. Most women do not partake in political and public life and, due to the nature of the regime and the socio-cultural landscape, their freedom to make decisions affecting their status within the public and private sphere is …
Failing The Masses: Buthaina Shabaan And The Public Intellectual Crisis,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Failing The Masses: Buthaina Shabaan And The Public Intellectual Crisis, Asaad Al-Saleh
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article discusses the problematic and double-sided role of the public intellectual in the Syrian revolution, which started on March 15, 2011 and is still unfolding. When recently challenged by Syrians, the regime enforced its control by carrying out military operations against its own citizens, not without endorsement by a large portion of the population. The article follows the case of Buthaina Shabaan (b.1953-), the writer, professor, and advocate of the Syrian regime. While spurring the populace to embrace the possibility of democratic reform, this female intellectual has accepted—even embraced—the political control employed by an authoritarian one-party regime, which uses …
The Muslim Sisters And The January 25th Revolution,
2012
Bridgewater State University
The Muslim Sisters And The January 25th Revolution, Mona Farag
Journal of International Women's Studies
As the world watched in anticipation and trepidation the powerful force that was the January 25 revolution, one vital question stuck in everyone’s mind: how large was the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the events that took place during those 18 days prior to the stepping down of Mubarak? More importantly, with the newfound sense of freedom and democracy that has overtaken Egypt’s streets, how will the future of the Muslim Sisters be impacted? This paper will focus on the activities spearheaded by the Muslim Sisters during the revolution and the months leading up to the People’s and Legislative …
Social Learning Theory In The Frontline Documentary “The Merchants Of Cool”,
2012
Arcadia University
Social Learning Theory In The Frontline Documentary “The Merchants Of Cool”, Alixe A. Wiley
Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works
In the Frontline documentary The Merchants of Cool, the relationship between major media conglomerates and their hedonistic teenage customers is examined through exploring the different tactics industries use to discover and market the next “cool” thing. Industries maintain what the documentary refers to as a “feedback loop” with their customers, which is a cyclic, supply-and-demand relationship that blurs the line between fiction and reality. It has become impossible to tell which side is imitating the other: who do the products and trends that define popular youth culture belong to? What's more, are the sexual and aggressive hormone-fueled behaviors on …
Women Empowerment Through Higher Education In Gilgit-Baltistan,
2012
Aga Khan University
Women Empowerment Through Higher Education In Gilgit-Baltistan, Khush Funer Murtaza
Professional Development Centre, Gilgit
The growing social awareness across the globe has brought a number of issues to the fore among which gender equality and empowerment of women are very significant. Discrimination against women in the form of male-female differentiation constitutes the core of the gender-biased system. Education is the biggest liberating force and rise in the levels of education, which nourishes progressive outlook, and the advent of industrialization and moderanization have effected a sea change in the attitudes and thinking pattern of the people. The empowerment is not essentially political, in the fact, political empowerment will not succeed in the absence of economic …
Women’S Political Leadership In Massachusetts,
2012
University of Massachusetts Boston
Women’S Political Leadership In Massachusetts, Paige Ransford, Meryl Thomson, Sarah Healey
Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy
The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP) at UMass Boston’s McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies has been tracking the election of women at the municipal level in Massachusetts since 1996. In 2003, the Project expanded to include all New England states. CWPPP remains the only research center in the United States that regularly tracks women’s political representation at the local level.
Gender And Political Transformation In Societies At War,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Gender And Political Transformation In Societies At War, Jill A. Irvine, Maureen Hays-Mitchell
Journal of International Women's Studies
In recent years, the role of gender in societies undergoing significant political change has received increasing attention both theoretically, in the literature on democratization, and practically in the international financial support provided women’s groups for the promotion of democracy. As a result, scholars and policy-makers are well positioned to consider systematically (i) the relationship between gender and democratic transformation in general, and (ii) the conditions under which women’s groups and other activists can effectively promote gender equality in the emerging governmental structures. This themed issue investigates a set of questions and cases in need of thorough and methodical analysis: the …
The Way Forward For Girls’ Education In Afghanistan,
2012
Bridgewater State University
The Way Forward For Girls’ Education In Afghanistan, Carolyn Kissane
Journal of International Women's Studies
Lack of rights and access to education are problems that have challenged Afghan women throughout the history of their country. True political reform in Afghanistan is contingent upon the solving of these problems, as women’s education is essential not only for the development of a more stable government, but also for raising living standards. Women’s lack of access to education in Afghanistan is reinforced by beliefs rooted in the religious and familial tradition of community. Although Islamic ideologies have often been distorted and manipulated by leaders to control and subjugate the lives of women, Islam cannot be ignored in the …
The Struggle Over Boundary And Memory: Nation, Borders, And Gender In Jewish Israel,
2012
Bridgewater State University
The Struggle Over Boundary And Memory: Nation, Borders, And Gender In Jewish Israel, Tamar Mayer
Journal of International Women's Studies
The attachment of a nation to its ancestral homeland is indisputable. Yet, when the nation does not have a clear idea of the geographical parameters of its territory, the boundaries often get defined by others and through war. In the case of Israel, however, especially since 1967, the Jewish homeland has been defined and shaped not simply by war but by government policies that support the Settlement Project in the occupied territories of the West Bank. While Jewish men and women historically have had different roles in defining Israel’s boundaries – men as defenders of borders and women as enablers …
Our Mothers Have Spoken: Synthesizing Old And New Forms Of Women’S Political Authority In Liberia,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Our Mothers Have Spoken: Synthesizing Old And New Forms Of Women’S Political Authority In Liberia, Mary Moran
Journal of International Women's Studies
This paper argues that the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the Liberian presidency is best understood in the historical and cultural context of pre-war authority-bearing positions available to women, rather than as an outcome of the Liberian civil war itself. Against a literature that tends to view “traditional” African societies as hostile to both democracy and women’s rights, I contend that gender, conflict, and democracy are inter-twined in more complex relationships. Post-conflict societies such as Liberia are interesting not only as sites of intervention by international organizations seeking to capitalize on the “window of opportunity” available to re-make …
‘For My Torturer’: An African Woman’S Transformative Art Of Truth, Justice And Peace-Making During Colonialism,
2012
Bridgewater State University
‘For My Torturer’: An African Woman’S Transformative Art Of Truth, Justice And Peace-Making During Colonialism, Priya Narismulu
Journal of International Women's Studies
Against a range of injustices African women have made powerful challenges to structural, gender and repressive violence through their interventions in questions of justice, dialogue, creativity and transformation. This article addresses an activist’s interventions against colonial oppression by examining gender as the central variable in the relationship between justice and activism in African women’s creative literature. The poem “For my Torturer, Lieutenant D…” was written in prison by the Algerian activist Leila Djabali who navigated the silences and challenges of gender, age and national identity (postcolonial). It challenges the violence of colonial and patriarchal silencing to expose torture and rape …
Unexpected Consequences Of Everyday Life During The Maoist Insurgency In Nepal,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Unexpected Consequences Of Everyday Life During The Maoist Insurgency In Nepal, Judith Pettigrew
Journal of International Women's Studies
This article examines gendered aspects of women’s lives in a hill village in central Nepal during the decade-long civil war (1996-2006). The predominantly middle aged and elderly women discussed in the paper were not directly influenced by Maoist equality agendas, nor have they been – as yet – significantly empowered by the recent post-conflict gender reservations. Rather, the paper argues that it was via the unintended consequences of the conflict – their unexpected leadership of a village development project – that these women forged an alternative path towards gender transformation.
“Subjects Of Change”: Feminist Geopolitics And Gendered Truth-Telling In Guatemala,
2012
Bridgewater State University
“Subjects Of Change”: Feminist Geopolitics And Gendered Truth-Telling In Guatemala, Rebecca Patterson-Markowitz, Elizabeth Oglesby, Sallie Marston
Journal of International Women's Studies
This paper explores the often-undervalued role of gender in transitional justice mechanisms and the importance of women’s struggles and agency in that regard. We focus on the efforts of the women’s movement in Guatemala to address questions of justice and healing for survivors of gendered violence during Guatemala’s 36-year internal armed conflict. We discuss how the initial transitional justice measures of documenting gendered war crimes in the context of a genocide were subsequently taken up by the women’s movement and how their endeavors to further expose sexual violence have resulted in notable interventions. Interviews with key organizational activists as well …
Gender And Conflict Transformation In Israel/Palestine,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Gender And Conflict Transformation In Israel/Palestine, Simona Sharoni
Journal of International Women's Studies
A careful examination of women’s involvement in peacebuilding and conflict transformation in Israel and Palestine provides a unique perspective on key turning points in the history of the conflict in the past two and one-half decades, since the first Palestinian uprising, knows as the Intifada. The article analyzes the changes in modes of organizing, as well as in the broader vision and key strategies of women’s organizing, mostly at the grassroots level, on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide. By exposing the gendered dimensions of the conflict, women activists have began to transform the cultures of their respective collectivities, …
Challenging Bosnian Women’S Identity As Rape Victims, As Unending Victims: The ‘Other’ Sex In Times Of War,
2012
Bridgewater State University
Challenging Bosnian Women’S Identity As Rape Victims, As Unending Victims: The ‘Other’ Sex In Times Of War, Olivera Simić
Journal of International Women's Studies
In this paper I reflect on my attendance of the Women’s Worlds 2011 congress held in Ottawa, Canada. I analyze responses of the international feminist audience to the paper I presented during the congress. The paper offered an analysis of the empirical data collected during my fieldwork in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2008 and was concerned with Bosnian women and their sexual relationships with peacekeepers during the war and in post conflict BiH. I argue that because of an almost exclusive focus on mass rapes endured by Bosnian women during the war and a vast feminist literature focused on …
Women, Sustainability, And Development,
2012
University of Kentucky
Women, Sustainability, And Development, Alison Huddleston
Kaleidoscope
No abstract provided.
Gender Depiction In Preschool Books: A Comparison Between Early Care And Education Classrooms In The United States And Norway,
2012
University of Denver
Gender Depiction In Preschool Books: A Comparison Between Early Care And Education Classrooms In The United States And Norway, Cathrine Aasen Floyd
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Preschool children's perceptions around gender identity and development can be influenced by their experiences. With many children spending a portion of their day in child care, the environmental factors of these programs are important. One aspect of the environment can impact preschool children is the books that are available to them. For over 40 years, children's literature in the United States has been studied and found to be biased in their portrayal of males and females. Males were more often found as main characters and depicted as capable leaders and thinkers. Female characters were shown as weaker, often appearing in …
Thank You For Being A Friend: Women's Self-Disclosures And Social Support On Facebook,
2012
Syracuse University
Thank You For Being A Friend: Women's Self-Disclosures And Social Support On Facebook, Emily A. Dolan
Media Studies - Theses
This study focused on women's self-disclosures on Facebook and how they functioned to both gain and give support on the site. After employing 17 textual analyses of participants' Facebook pages and 17 in-depth interviews, a variety of themes emerged in regards to how and why women give and seek support on the site, the types of information disclosed, and the benefits of self-disclosing to gain support on the site. More specifically, results indicate that gender role expectations, which for women include exhibiting behaviors that convey warmth, kindness and politeness, play a large role in giving and receiving support on the …
Content Of Sexual Assault Prevention Programs: What Evidence Could Change College Women's Minds?,
2012
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Content Of Sexual Assault Prevention Programs: What Evidence Could Change College Women's Minds?, Abigail Lee Moser
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Sexual assault is a serious health issue for college women. Unfortunately, the results of previous research revealed that intervention programs designed for women have been largely ineffective at changing women's attitudes, knowledge, and victimization concerning sexual assault. The purpose of the present investigation was to identify forms of persuasive evidence that women report as having changed their attitudes, knowledge, and behavior concerning sexual assault. Focus groups were used to identify common themes college women use to explain their understandings of these topics. These focus groups discussed how close family members impacted their behaviors concerning sexual assault, how they gained their …
The Journey Narrative: The Trope Of Women's Mobility And Travel In Contemporary Arab Women's Literary Narratives,
2012
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Journey Narrative: The Trope Of Women's Mobility And Travel In Contemporary Arab Women's Literary Narratives, Banan Al-Daraiseh
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This study examines the trope of women's journey and the various kinds of movement and travel it includes employed and represented by three contemporary Arab women literary writers, Ghada Samman, Ahdaf Soueif, and Leila Aboulela in their literary narratives as well as travelogue in the case of Samman. The primary texts analyzed in this study are Samman's Beirut 75 and The Body Is a Traveling Suitcase, Soueif's In the Eye of the Sun, and Aboulela's The Translator and Minaret. These texts demonstrate how the journey trope becomes a fresh narrative strategy used by Arab women writers that …
