Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Feasibility Of Off-Grid Solar Energy Enabling Sustainable Development Of Women In Rural Kenya, Laura Hellqvist

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines the attempts of the government of Kenya and international development agenda to achieve the objective of providing energy access for all and facilitate empowerment and poverty reduction to the rural areas within the framework of sustainable development goals. Energy has been recognised as the key enabler of economic and social development, however, the efforts to bring energy access to women within rural communities are falling short. The policy tools and economic instruments prescribed to address energy deficiency are not designed according to the local socio-economic conditions, which will be examined through empirical evidence produced from an energy …

‘Angry Young Women’ Disrupting The Canon In Late Soviet Latvian Literature: Andra Neiburga’S Early Prose Fiction, Sandra Meškova

Journal of International Women's Studies

In the late phase of ‘developed socialism’, shortly before Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms of perestroika or reconstruction in the Soviet Union in 1985 had reached Latvian cultural establishment, a young generation of poets, writers, playwrights, journalists, musicians, cinema and theatre artists throughout the socialist bloc countries and the Soviet Union initiated new trends in culture. In Soviet Latvia, the new trends in prose fiction produced by young writers were labelled the ‘new wave’. Among them emerged a group of women writers called ‘angry young women’ who challenged the established canon of socialist realism by addressing new themes including the negative sides …

Demi Bride Trafficking: A Unique Trend Of Human Trafficking From South-East Asia To China, Laetitia Lhomme, Siren Zhong, Billie Du

Journal of International Women's Studies

Every year, hundreds of thousands of women and girls from Southeast Asia are forced or tricked into marrying Chinese men who exploit them for sex and childbearing. Although an emerging body of research and reports has revealed the scale and living conditions of the trafficked brides, there have not yet been systematic studies that would help stakeholders understand the real needs of the victims. Bride trafficking victims are generally defined as those who are deprived of their rights and married against their will. However, our investigation found that in China, cases which involve seemingly willing victims are barely covered by …

Iraqi Women’S Leadership And State-Building, Batool H. Alwan, Sana K. Qati, Inass A. Ali

Journal of International Women's Studies

After 2003, Iraq witnessed radical changes in its political system. These changes occurred after many wars, multiple sanctions, and an external occupation during which its infrastructure and institutions were destroyed until it became one of the failed states from which the most serious problems that affect international security and stability emanate. It has also become an environment of conflict and multiple renewed crises, the most important of which is a crisis of leadership and state-building, which has become a necessity to discuss. This research focuses on the topic of the leadership crisis in Iraq and we look to women as …

Effect Of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs When The Head Of The Household Is Female In Mexico, Yaura Yong Rubio-Sanchez, Eduardo Rodríguez-Juárez, Sergio Demetrio Polo Jiménez

Journal of International Women's Studies

The objective of this article is to examine the impact of the OPORTUNIDADES-PROSPERA conditional cash transfer program on women heads of household in Mexico. The target of the empowerment of women household heads in the program is predominantly focused on developing human capital, shown by the increase of children in the school by the women household heads. The database was based on the data gathered through the Survey unique questionnaire of socio-economic information (CUIS) realized by the Social Development Secretariat (SEDESOL), through the PROSPERA National Coordination, which operate the OPORTUNIDADES-PROSPERA Program. The database that was analyzed consisted of 3,762 families …

Women's Studies: The Possibility Of Rethinking And Designing The Foundations Of Modern Culture, Hamid Sajadi

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’S Fleabag(S): Direct Address And Narrative Control From Stage To Small Screen, Jessica Beaumont

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay explores the television comedy Fleabag (BBC 2016-2019) which was adapted from a theatrical monologue and owes its mode of direct address to this dramatic past. The original one-woman show, written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, and, like the BBC Three television adaptation that followed in 2016, follows the story of a sexually promiscuous young woman, known to the audience only as ‘Fleabag,’ struggling with the death of her closest friend. The essay is concerned with the application of auteur theory, which becomes relevant to a discussion of the …

How Should An Understanding Of Gender Shape Our Approach To The Production Of Knowledge?, Alice R. Dunn

Journal of International Women's Studies

For feminists, the question of what it means to take a feminist approach to the knowledge production process itself is of paramount importance. Drawing on postcolonial and intersectional thought and embedded in a discussion of the realities of the academic research process, this paper questions how an understanding of gender should shape such an approach. Ultimately, it argues the importance of moving beyond self-reflexivity alone and towards an understanding of research as a process of representation.

Starting from the intuition that feminist normative theorising should be grounded in women’s experiences, I first consider how the starting point and end point …

Salvation As Violence: Anti-Trafficking And The Rehabilitation Of Rescued Filipino Women Into Moral Subjects, Sharmila Parmanand

Journal of International Women's Studies

Philippine anti-trafficking and women’s rights legislation constructs sex work as victimhood. This understanding of prostitution positions interventions such as raids, rescue operations, and rehabilitation programs as core strategies for “protecting” and “empowering” all sex workers, regardless of their individual circumstances. Rehabilitation in this context refers to a range of psychosocial, medical, education, legal, protective custody, and economic services that help those designated as victims recover and reintegrate into society. There is a glaring lack of data on whether the socio-economic situations of rehabilitated women have improved and the current spaces for political advocacy by “survivors” are controlled by their rescuers. …

What Does It Mean To ‘Decolonise’ Gender Studies?: Theorising The Decolonial Capacities Of Gender Performativity And Intersectionality, Julianne Mcshane

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper argues for an understanding of Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality as decolonial methodologies, alternative epistemologies, and forms of political praxis within gender studies, specifically focusing on the field’s institutionalisation within Western universities, given both their historic complicity in naturalising imperialist ideas and my own lived experience studying within them. I argue that gender performativity and intersectionality act as decolonial methodologies by revealing the respective erasures of constructedness and situatedness within certain dysconscious, imperialist conceptions of ‘gender’ grounded in Whiteness, as well as how these erasures remain otherwise hidden and/or naturalised (to …

Polymorph: Female Embodiment In Louise Bourgeois’S Sculptures, Cécile Huber

Journal of International Women's Studies

Artistic works provide unique ways of understanding the gendered and sexual subject. Bringing together a feminist psychoanalytic materialist approach inspired by Rosi Braidotti with the work of the artist Louise Bourgeois, this essay highlights how sculpture in particular can show the polymorphy of female embodiment. It thereby moves beyond previous interpretations of Bourgeois, which mainly drew on Freud’s and Klein’s psychoanalytic theory. Focusing on three works by Bourgeois, Torso/Self-Portrait (1963–64), Janus Fleuri (1968), and Maman (1999), I argue that these sculptures show amorph, ambiguous, and hybrid modes of embodiment. All three examples thus illustrate the lived polymorphy of the subject’s …

Social Reproduction Theory: On Regulating Reproduction, Understanding Oppression And As A Lens On Forced Sterilisation, Lydia Glover

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper considers Marxist feminism’s two main schools of thought – ‘dual systems theory’ and ‘social reproduction theory’ - and brings those theoretical perspectives into dialogue with a topic that is often neglected in feminist discussions of reproductive rights: forced sterilisation. The two material examples explored here are the historical forced sterilisation of Black (cisgender) women in the USA and the current coercive sterilisation of transgender men and women in the USA.

Looking first to the theoretical understandings of oppression, social reproduction theory will be distinguished from the dual systems approach. The dual systems reading of Marx understands gender and …

Intimate Partner Femicide In The Serbian Mainstream Media: Maintaining The Patriarchal Narrative Through Online Newspaper Readers’ Comments, Jovana Čvorić

Journal of International Women's Studies

Femicide represents the most extreme form of male violence against women (MVAW) and a growing problem in contemporary Serbian society. Despite the long-term struggle of the feminist movement to turn (lethal) MVAW into a political issue, it has remained in a private domain, out of the public eye. Due to the lack of official statistics on cases of femicide, news reports are the only source of information on this phenomenon. However, media reporting on this topic is problematic. From a feminist standpoint, this paper seeks to show how the maintenance of the patriarchal narrative about MVAW in the Serbian media …

Queering History With Sarah Waters: Tipping The Velvet, Lesbian Erotic Reading And The Queer Historical Novel, Naoise Murphy

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay outlines how Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet (1998) illuminates the challenges involved in doing queer history. Waters’ lesbian historical novel queries the ‘official’ historical record and reflects on a fundamental tension in queer historical research; the distinction drawn between social constructedness and essentialism, alterity and continuity. Through playful re-enactment of the work of the academic researcher, the novel protests against being read as an authentic depiction of Victorian lesbian sexuality. Instead, it offers a postmodern metafictional response to the field of queer history, which broadens the questions we ask of the discipline. By enacting the process of historical …

The Post Pandemic University, Possibilities, Practices And Pedagogies: And New Writings In Feminist And Women’S Studies—Winning And Short-Listed Entries From The 2020 Feminist Studies Association’S (Fsa) Annual Student Essay Competition, Carli Rowell

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Effects Of Work-Family Conflict, Family-Work Conflict, And Work-Life Balance On Saudi Female Teachers’ Performance In The Public Education Sector With Job Satisfaction As A Moderator, Adel Ismail Al-Alawi, Eman Al-Saffar, Zahra H. Almohammedsaleh, Hessa Alotaibi, Ebtesam I. Al-Alawi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and work-life balance on female teachers in the public education sector in Saudi Arabia as well as to analyze the impact of job satisfaction as a moderator for the independent variables.

Methodology: This paper is based on quantitative research methods that included a survey of employees. The constructs of work-family conflict, family-work conflict, and work-life balance were formed using the bivariate and correlation analysis done in SPSS. A scatterplot was used to identify the relationships between the moderating factor of job …

A Life Boat, Shahd A. Nahel, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

“Creating a Lifeboat” is a story of a Syrian refugee woman who rises from the ashes to build a life for herself and family. The story reveals Adeebah’s agency and role in adapting to the new life in USA as a refugee. It depicts how Adeebah steps outside her comfort zone to challenge gender norms and engage in economic activities such as working in restaurants and catering food. Adeebah exerts her agency as active participant in shaping her life as well as her family’s. She uses her talent of painting and finds herself an artist who sells her paintings in …

Title: Out Of Time: The Queer Politics Of Postcoloniality. Author: Rahul Rao. Publication Year: 2020. Publisher: Oxford University Press. City: New York. Number Of Pages: 262 (Including Bibliography & Index); 223 (Excluding Bibliography & Index). No Illustrations Or Photographs; No Appendix; Index (Pp. 255-262). Hardcover: $99.00; Paperback: $29.95; Available As Ebook On Kindle, $19.99., Shraddha Chatterjee

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight For Sex Workers Rights. 2018. Molly Smith And Juno Mac. London: Verso (278 Pages Inclusive Of An Index). No Illustrations Or Photographs Included. Paperback ($22.61-$27.65). Isbn-13: 978-1-78663-361-3., Evania Pietrangelo-Porco

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Title: Naming A Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing In Darkness. Author: K. Melchor Quick Hall Publication Date: 2020. Publisher: Routledgecity: Abingdon, Uk And New York, Ny. Length: 193 Pp. No Illustrations Or Photographs. Index Included. Price: Hardback $128 Ebook $39.16, Kristen B. Waters

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Title: Handbook On Gender And Health. Author(S): Jasmine Gideon (Ed.). Publication Year: 2016. Publisher: Edward Elgar, City: London, Uk. Total Number Of Pages: 640. Illustrations: Yes. Photographs: No. Appendix, Or Index Are Included: Yes. Price For Hardcover And/Or Paperback Copy: Us$265.50/E-Book: Us$65.00, Mateus A. De Faria

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Title: Feminism For The 99 Percent: A Manifesto. Authors: Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, Nancy Fraser, 2019. Verso: London, New York. 85 Pages Including Postface. Us $11.91 Paperback. Isbn-13:978-1-78873-442-4, Isbn-13:978-1-78873-444-8 (Us Ebk). Radical Feminism And Its Possibilities, Soma Mandal

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Haile, Resa, And, Bower, Tamara R. (Eds.). (2019). Villains, Victims, And Violets: Agency And Feminism In The Original Sherlock Holmes Canon. Brownwalker Press. Paperback. 316 Pages., Billy Tringali

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Packing: A Poem, Qazi M. Noor

Journal of International Women's Studies

For the student planning to venture out of their home and set sail for higher studies, the busiest time of the year is in the Fall. University application season is hard, but it is harder still to pack one’s bags and leave everything familiar behind. The international student feels especially divided at a time like this: the excitement of experiencing something new and the feeling of bereavement while leaving their world behind. “Packing” speaks of the act of taking with one the things that are important, special, and worthwhile. Though it is virtually impossible to carry one’s whole world in …

Encountering Feminism: Freeing Borders In A Conservative Society, Bassmah B. Altaher

Journal of International Women's Studies

What made Feminism the core of my academic and spiritual journey was the multiple questions that yearned for answers. I craved to feel the warmth of echoes created by various women with their tales. I needed assurance that women were not left powerless, and that they did have a silenced voice suppressed somehow, and somewhere, which was emerging gradually in time with a sense of pride and achievement. Above all, I wanted to know if that was all there was for me? I asked myself: As an Arab woman, is yielding to the norms and laws of a patriarchal society …

Social Protest Folklore And Student Critical Consciousness, Elise M. Brenner

Journal of International Women's Studies

Bridgewater State University undergraduate Introduction to Folklore students, overwhelmingly young and white, with little to no experience with folklore, found a voice to honor and highlight liberatory and social justice-oriented protest folklore in and around the world and in their own experiences. Students in the fall 2020 Introduction to Folklore classes were confronted in life-altering ways with a global pandemic that endangered them and their loved ones and shone a light on hideous health inequities. The relentless killings of black people stripped away any illusions that systemic racism and white supremacy were not daily, ever-present forces. At the same time, …

The Kutanda Botso Ritual As A Means Of Preventing Femicide Targeting Biological Mothers In Shona Communities Of Zimbabwe, Norman Chavasa

Journal of International Women's Studies

Although femicide perpetrated by adult sons and daughters against their biological mothers is not a new phenomenon in the Shona communities of Zimbabwe, the problem has escalated significantly in recent years. In response, this study focuses on kutanda botso (ritual cleansing to appease the aggrieved spirit of the deceased biological mother) a ritual process taken up by adult sons or daughters who disrupt the social norm. They have been taught not to verbally abuse, assault or kill as they will suffer the consequences of an avenging spirit. An analysis shows that kutanda botso has a dual role: Firstly, the fear …

Effects Of Violence Against Women On Higher Education In Mizoram, India, Lokanath Mishra

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study is an empirical research aimed at identifying the causes of violence against women in graduate schools in Mizoram, and its effect on higher education. The researcher adopted a mixed approach and used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to analyze the context, dynamics and practices implemented in Mizoram Graduate Schools to minimize violence against women. Four forms of abuse, namely physical, verbal, sexual and psychological violence against women, have been seen in various Mizoram degree colleges. Youth fashion, hostile family environment, pressure of examination, peer group, disabilities of women, influence of drugs and alcohol and computer gadgets are main causes …

Gender Disparities In Witchcraft Beliefs: A Challenge To Nigerian And African Historiography, Uche U. Okonkwo, V.O Eze, Victor Ukaogo, Stella Okoye-Ugwu, F.O Orabueze

Journal of International Women's Studies

The understanding of how gender roles are assigned to abstract issues like witchcraft beliefs, remains a challenge to contemporary African historians. Witchcraft as a significant area of humanistic study, has not sufficiently engaged historians and literary critics. Scholars in Religious and Cultural Studies in Nigeria have made efforts to interpret witchcraft as an aspect of the tradition of various Nigerian groups. In this paper, witchcraft is examined as a phenomenon and a historical assumption based on gender disparity. Combining primary sources from the National Archives of Nigeria and secondary sources in books and journals, this research dissects witchcraft stigmatizations in …

Gender Representation In Elementary And Middle School Social Studies Textbooks In Turkey, Melis Akay Şahi̇n, Mehmet Açikalin

Journal of International Women's Studies

Gender inequality, stereotyping, and discrimination against women are issues that continue to spark debate in many countries. Women’s rights advocates in Turkey continue to struggle to reduce gender inequalities and stereotypes in every aspect of life. Education is one of the major fields where these issues should be explored and discussed. Because textbooks are the main teaching materials in a classroom, it is crucial to examine the ways in which they depict gender. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how gender is represented in social studies textbooks. Thus, all elementary and middle school social studies textbooks in …