Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Silences Between: Are Lesbians Irrelevant? World Social Forum, Mumbai, India, 16-21 January, Susan Hawthorne

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this essay, I reflect on my experience at the Mumbai World Social Forum in 2004. I begin with a discussion of silence as methodology in research with, by and about lesbians. I examine the silence around lesbian politics as well as the silences between lesbian activists and those they encounter in discussion, political activism and research settings. I explore some of the differences and similarities between Australia and India both within the mainstream culture and in the freedoms or otherwise of lesbians. I then go on to describe the workshop I organized for the Mumbai World Social Forum on …

A Conversation With Onyango Oloo At The Wsf Nairobi 2007, Patricia Willis, Onyango Oloo

Journal of International Women's Studies

Onyango Oloo, National Coordinator for the Kenyan Social Forum 2006 and who also served on the Nairobi Organizing Council for the World Social Forum Nairobi 2007, has gained notoriety as an outspoken advocate for women’s leadership at the World Social Forum. His widely circulated article, “Gendering WSF Nairobi 2007 - Conceptual Underpinnings,” raised expectations among some readers about the role women would play at the Nairobi forum. In this interview, completed in the midst of that event, Onyango reflects on the evolution of his own feminist consciousness and the tactics he feels need to be implemented in order to infuse …

Parallel Or Integrated ‘Other Worlds’: Possibilities For Alliance-Building For Sexual And Reproductive Rights, Barbara Klugman

Journal of International Women's Studies

The author proposes that the paradigms within which struggles for reproductive and sexual rights are waged fail to engage with those dimensions of sexuality and reproduction that are inscribed into the broader organization of social and economic life nationally and globally. In the case of reproductive rights she argues that the possibility of delivering quality reproductive health services is determined not only by ideological struggles regarding people’s right to control their sexual and reproductive selves but also by the extent of the state’s commitment to delivery of services as well as global factors influencing state capacity, such as debt, or …

Ways Of Being: Feminist Activism And Theorizing At The Global Feminist Dialogues In Porte Alegre, Brazil, 2005, Amanda Gouws

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article attempts to capture some reflections by an African feminist scholar and activist on the activism and academic debate at the Global Feminist Dialogues (FD) in Porte Alegre, Brazil in January 2005. The activism and the space for dialogue is a feminist space that includes different types of feminism, but is also a space that attempts to build a movement within diverse feminist networks. This form of activism is contrasted with the depoliticization of activism caused by gender mainstreaming in Africa. The academic debate at the FD takes place in the intersections between activism and theorizing and opens a …

Transnational Feminisms And The World Social Forum: Encounters And Transformations In Anti-Globalization Spaces, Janet Conway

Journal of International Women's Studies

What would it mean to place feminism(s) – as movement(s), politics and ethics – at the centre of our understandings of the World Social Forum? The author argues that transnational feminisms have been among the significant forces constituting the WSF, although this has been uneven across different time-spaces and scales of the WSF. She further asserts that transnational feminisms, understood as movement(s), politics and ethics, are making particular and irreducible contributions to contemporary emancipatory movements in and beyond the WSF. This study historicizes and analyzes some major expressions of transnational feminism at the WSF with implications for understanding the inter-relationality …

India Sutra, Susan Hawthorne

Journal of International Women's Studies

The complete “India Sutra” appears in The Butterfly Effect by Susan Hawthorne (Spinifex Press, 2005).

“Otro Mundo Es Posible”: Women Power In The Vi Caracas World Social Forum And The Bolivarian Revolution, Renée Kasinsky

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is an insider’s account of the participation of a Boston delegate at the World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela in January 2006. She relates the stories of women who attended the WSF and those women who through their leadership in their communities create a new world order based on the major themes of the WSF. The health and welfare missions created by the Bolivarian revolution of Hugo Chávez are testimony to the theme of the forum that through the process of participatory democracy “Otro Mundo Es Posible”.

Is ‘Another’ Public Sphere Actually Possible? The Case Of “Women Without” In The European Social Forum Process As A Critical Test For Deliberative Democracy, Nicole Doerr

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper presents results of a cross-national comparative research project on the case of democracy in the European Social Forums (ESFs) process over the period from 2003 to 2005. The various progressive social movements engaged in the European Social Forums process try to construct “another world” and “another public sphere” internally within their own practices of participatory and deliberative democracy in public forums. This includes fighting discriminations against women in general and women from non-western European parts of the world in particular. I take as my point of departure the case of “women without,” that is women activists who lack …

Gender In The Bamako Polycentric World Social Forum (2006): Is Another World Possible?, Aurelie Latoures

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores a gender analysis of the Bamako Polycentric World Social Forum, 2006. Thus far, gender has been marginalized in the World Social Forum process, despite the progressive tone of the project for “another world,” indirectly alluding to gender equality. The Bamako WSF 2006 is an interesting case study to assess gender institutionalisation, as for the first time African women activists were massively integrated into the discussions. Additionally, national organizers dedicated a specific venue for gender issues, the Women’s World. What was the impact of these two features for the “engendering” of the WSF?

The Lady In The Looking-Glass: Reflections On The Self In Virginia Woolf, Stephen Howard

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay addresses Virginia Woolf’s exploration of the concept of the self through reference to a range of her prose writings. In these writings, Woolf questions whether the self is unitary, constant and finally knowable, or fragmented, unstable and inscrutable; whether the self is merged with other people, and constructed from interactions with the world; and whether or not a durable and fixed self-image is a necessary prerequisite for successful social interaction. Woolf’s engagement with the conventions of biography is examined primarily through the lens of two short stories: ‘The Lady in the Looking-Glass’ and ‘An Unwritten Novel.’ I argue …

Introduction: Identity, Difference And New Feminisms, Celia Roberts, Melanie Waters

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

As You Wear: Cross-Dressing And Identity Politics In Jackie Kay’S Trumpet, Alice Walker

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores the theories and practices of cross-dressing through the lens of Jackie Kay’s novel, Trumpet (1998). In the course of Trumpet, Kay explores the life of a fictional protagonist, ‘Joss Moody,’ who was born a woman but lived as a man. With close reference to recent critiques of cross-dressing, this paper conducts a detailed analysis of identity, gender, and personal autonomy as they are constructed within the terms of Kay’s text. Furthermore, it works to illustrate the complex ways in which gender and individuality intersect in contemporary cultures, while exposing the logic of gender binarism to intense …

Cyberqueers In Taiwan: Locating Histories Of The Margins, Terri He

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this paper I direct the focus to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) online communities in Taiwan. On the one hand, I argue that such online communities in Taiwan are worthwhile researching and deserve special academic attention because they touch upon Taiwan’s perpetual difference in the world as a de-facto, thereby questioning how a transnational perspective permanently influences or even changes the way national identity is or is not formulated. On the other, against the backdrop of globalisation, I highlight the fact of under-theorisation of issues and politics of sexuality dissidence in a non-western, non-dominant location and culture such …

The Missing Rhetoric Of Gender In Responses To Abu Ghraib, Alexandra Murphy

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores Western responses to the torture inflicted upon Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at the Abu Ghraib facility near Baghdad. More specifically, however, this paper examines responses to photographic representations of this torture, which began to surface in the April of 2004. The analysis that follows engages closely with the status of the photographs as images, arguing that existing critical interpretations fail to account for the particular issues and problems that the visual image presents. Through detailed reference work by Judith Butler and Susan Sontag, this paper will also interrogate the limitations of recent theoretical approaches to the …

Journalists In Feminist Clothing: Men And Women Reporting Afghan Women During Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001, Corinne Fowler

Journal of International Women's Studies

The following discussion is based on an extensive survey of UK mainstream television news reports broadcast between September and December 2001 during the military attacks on Afghanistan, known as Operation Enduring Freedom. Also conducted was a survey of British radio and print media published and produced within the specified period. I argue that the 2001 news media coverage of Afghanistan was an important precursor to current debates about Muslim women in Europe and the United States since it highlights many of the contradictions and hypocrisies housed within western public discourses on women’s rights. Detailing numerous examples, I contend that the …

Feminism And The Politics Of Representation: Towards A Critical And Ethical Encounter With “Others”, Amy Hinterberger

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay begins from the position that a speaking subject in feminism occupies a place of power and authority which requires a commitment to an ethical involvement in the representation of ‘others.’ Specifically, this essay will address feminist concerns of speaking for others and the concerns raised by the dangers of representing across differences of race, sexuality, gender and cultures. First, it will critique feminist claims to political effectivity as a solution to ethical representation. Second, it will look at how hierarchies of oppression and privileged ontological positions are inconsistently represented in feminist discussions. Lastly, it will briefly examine how …

Unbending Gender Narratives In African Literature, Charles C. Fonchingong

Journal of International Women's Studies

The last century has witnessed an upsurge in literature triggered by the feminist movement. This unprecedented event has transformed the various literary genres that are being deconstructed to suit the changing times. African literature has not been spared by the universalized world order. The paper attempts a re-analysis of gender inequality from the pre-colonial to post-colonial period from the lenses of literary narratives. Male writers like Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, and Cyprain Ekwensi in their literary mass are accused of condoning patriarchy, are deeply entrenched in a macho conviviality and a one dimensional and minimalised …

Attitudes Toward Women Managers In Turkey And Pakistan, Semra Güney, Raheel Gohar, Sevcan Kılıç Akıncı, Mehmet Mutlu Akıncı

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines managerial attitudes toward women managers in Turkey and Pakistan by using “Managerial Attitudes toward Women Executives Scale (MATWES)” and draws a cross-cultural comparison between these two countries’ respondents. Significant differences were found in several managerial attitudes between these two countries’ respondents, and both women and men in Turkey have a negative attitude toward women managers as compared to Pakistani respondents. In contrast to the early findings in the literature, women’s attitudes toward women managers in Turkey were more negative than that of men’s while Pakistani women have more favorable attitudes than Turkish women toward women managers. The …

Women And The Hiv/Aids Epidemic: The Issue Of School Age Girls’ Awareness In Nigeria, Solomon O. Momoh, Ailemen I. Moses, Maria M. Ugiomoh

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study was conducted to examine women and the HIV/AIDS epidemic: the issue of school age girls’ awareness in Nigeria information was elicited from 1,222 randomly selected regular under-graduate female students from the 11 faculties of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, with the use of a standardized structured questionnaire. Results of the major objective of the study, that is the level of HIV/AIDS awareness among female undergraduate students, showed a moderate level of awareness, including other specific objectives of age, level of study and marital status. In contrast, at the graduate level—the 600 level of study—medical students showed a high …

The Health Condition Of Older Women In Ghana: A Case Study Of Accra City, Chuks J. Mba

Journal of International Women's Studies

In the context of increased rural-urban migration, social exclusion of some of the recent urban arrivals and the sharp change in life style in urban communities, some of the most critical health problems of older people may be found in cities. This paper attempts to characterize the general health condition of older women (50 years and over) in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. It employs secondary analysis of data from the Accra Women’s Survey, 2004. The findings broadly suggest that an overwhelming majority of older women lack basic education, are not in any form of paid employment, and are widowed, separated …

Book Review: A Lot To Learn: Girls, Women, And Education In The 20th Century, S. M. Belcher

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of A Lot to Learn: Girls, Women, and Education in the 20th Century by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj

Book Review: Women In The New Millennium: The Global Revolution, Kristin Blakely

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Women in the New Millennium: The Global Revolution by Anne R. Breneman and Rebecca A. Mbuh

Book Review: Victims As Offenders: The Paradox Of Women’S Violence In Relationships, Rachel Kalish

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Victims as Offenders: The Paradox of Women’s Violence in Relationships by Susan L. Miller

Rocking The Cradle To Rocking The World: The Role Of Muslim Female Fighters, Farhana Ali

Journal of International Women's Studies

Attacks by the mujahidaat are arguably more deadly than those conducted by male fighters and could motivate other Muslim women to adopt suicide as the tactic of choice. The use of Muslim women to conduct martyrdom, or suicide, operations by male-dominated terrorist groups could have implications on the jihadi mindset, challenging more conservative groups such as Al Qaeda, to reconsider the utility of the Muslim woman on the front lines of jihad. These terrorist groups will likely exploit women to conduct operations on their behalf to advance their goals and achieve tactical gain.

Muslim women are increasingly joining the global …

Ahmadi Women Reconciling Faith With Vulnerable Reality Through Education, Huma Ahmed-Ghosh

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper presents the perceptions, attitudes and views of a group of Ahmadi women in Southern California through the eyes of their local leader. The specific focus is on ways in which Ahmadi women engage in cultural/religious community building within a racially and ethnically hostile environment since 9/11. Of particular concern are ways in which gender norms are reflected in Ahmadi women’s push toward formal and cultural education in their efforts to maintain their faith, culture and sense of community as they interface with the broader U.S. society. Given the current anti-Islamic climate in the U.S., the Ahmadis offer an …

Arab Women’S Education And Gender Perceptions: An Insider Analysis, Amani Hamdan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Studies focusing exclusively on the connection between Arab Muslim women’s educational pursuits and their gender perceptions, and how their gender perceptions may have changed as a result of living in two different cultures, are rarely conducted. Additionally, the factors that may influence an Arab Muslim woman’s educational pursuits seem seldom investigated. This article is highlighting some factors that may influence Arab Muslim women’s gender perceptions. In researching Arab Muslim women’s experiences, I considered the diversity and multiplicity of their race, ethnicity, class, and experience. How Arab Muslim women construct the gender aspect of their identities and how these identities may …

The Jamaican Female Skills Surplus And Earnings Deficit: A Holistic Explanation, Dawn Richards Elliott

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper addresses the poor socio-economic performance of Jamaican females despite superior human capital. A holistic explanation exploring female lifestyle choices is advanced since discipline-specific theories fail to explain occupational clustering and the resulting earnings gap. It is hypothesized that both reflect lifestyle constraints, which may be linked to characteristics of the social environment. Since these constraints affect different groups of women differently, then policies designed to reduce occupational dis-similarity and female-male earnings gap must adapt a dis-aggregated analysis. Catherine Hakim’s model of female dis-aggregation and data from the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Survey, LSMS, are used to advance …

A Gender-Based Analysis Of Performance Of Small And Medium Printing Firms In Metro Manila, Milagros F. Malaya

Journal of International Women's Studies

The objective of the paper is to present a comparative analysis of the performance of men-owned and women-owned businesses. The study uses a multidimensional framework of entrepreneurial success, where the indicators refer to the financial, non-financial and personal goals indicated in literature as being important to entrepreneurs. Economic performance was measured as change in sales and profitability for a period of one year and over three years. Data were obtained from printing firms based in Metro Manila, Philippines, a country in Southeast Asia. That no variations attributed to gender were found in firm performance on the short-term scale further support …

Interaction Between Objective And Subjective Occupational Conditions Affecting Physical Health Of Women Workers, Jinky Leilanie Lu

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is an investigation on the interaction between the subjective and objective occupational conditions in affecting the overall health of women workers in industries that have accommodated information technology. The sample consisted of 23 establishments and 630 women respondents. Results show that the most prevalent issues among workers in the electronics industry included the need to upgrade skills, repetitive and fast paced work, pressure at work, and work that entailed both physically and mentally demanding tasks. It was found that the overall good physical health of the workers was affected by these factors: overtime, mental work, close monitoring, medium industries, …

Myopic Feminist Individualism In A.S. Byatt’S Arabian Nights’ Tale: ‘The Djinn In The Nightingale’S Eye’, Kathleen Williams Renk

Journal of International Women's Studies

I take as my point of departure Jane Campbell’s view that Byatt’s “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” “exposes the gaps … between the worlds in which twentieth-century women live,” as I situate Byatt’s story within its literary, political, and feminist framework. Viewing “The Djinn” as a condensed pastiche of what Byatt terms “the greatest story ever told,” One Thousand and One Nights, rather than a fairy or wonder tale, I read this tale in relation to Chilla Bulbeck’s insights in Re-orienting Western Feminisms: Women’s Diversity in a Postcolonial World. I argue that in her Arabian Nights’ Tale, …