Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

"Speaking Back" To The Self: A Call For "Voice Notes" As Reflexive Practice For Feminist Ethnographers, Fawzia Haeri Mazanderani

Journal of International Women's Studies

While what comprises “feminist research methods” is subject to debate, research with a feminist orientation is often characterised by heightened reflexivity and a recognition of the subjective nature of knowledge claims (Ryan-Flood and Gill, 2010). By drawing upon ethnographic research conducted among young people in post-apartheid South Africa, this paper interrogates the potential value of audio recordings or “voice notes” during fieldwork, in conjunction with the more traditional form of the fieldwork diary. I argue that, by providing an additional means through which to articulate the inevitable messiness of fieldwork, the recording of “voice notes” enables the researcher to “speak …

Post/Feminist Impulses: Neoliberal Ideology And Class Politics In Annie Wang’S The People’S Republic Of Desire (2006), Kelly Yin Nga Tse

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper critically examines post/feminist imperatives in relation to neoliberal ethos and class dynamics in The People’s Republic of Desire (2006) by transnational Chinese women writer, Annie Wang (b. 1972). While the novel positions itself as a transnational satire of the Western-styled consumptive furor in post-socialist China, its textual focus on a class-based commodity culture demands a critical consideration of its neoliberal investments. In probing Wang’s text, this paper adopts a feminist reading that attends to how neoliberal ideology and class politics operate together to corroborate a postfeminist stance. The awareness of feminist ethics notwithstanding, the text’s overall postfeminist disposition …

Mothers, Morality And Abortion: The Politics Of Reproduction In The Formation Of The German Nation, Yvonne Frankfurth

Journal of International Women's Studies

A substantial amount of literature dealing with conceptualisations of the nation has neglected the importance that gender and the politics of reproduction play in the construction of national identities. Analysing images of political campaigns and activists as well as public discourses on motherhood, abortion and childcare, I will illustrate the importance that gender and sexuality assumed in German nation-building projects before and after its unification in 1990.

After 1949, East and West German ideas of nationhood were premised on opposing ideas of gender roles, in that politicians within these two German nations mobilised distinct gender identities to assert their respective …

Nymphs And Nymphomania: Mythological Medicine And Classical Nudity In Nineteenth Century Britain, Isabella Luta

Journal of International Women's Studies

The concept of women being overwhelmed by excessive sexual desire had been present in medical discourse for a long time, but the nineteenth century saw a shift from describing this using the term ‘Furor Uterinus’ to ‘Nymphomania’. In this paper I will investigate the significance behind this change and explore how myth influenced medicine to tackle the question of why ‘Nymphomania’ became the preferred term for excessive female sexuality in the 19th century. I will consider the connections between artistic depictions of nymphs and medical descriptions of nymphomaniacs, whilst exploring the etymology of ‘Nymphomania’ and ambiguous uses of Latin and …

Sleeping Beauties: Mummies And The Fairy-Tale Genre At The Fin De Siècle, Eleanor Dobson

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay examines the relationship between mummy fiction and the fairy-tale genre in the closing years of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth. It argues that dormant and perfectly-preserved female mummies that populate much of fin-de-siècle mummy fiction emulate the figure of Sleeping Beauty or Snow White, preserved in glass coffins or museum display cases. Concurrently, it observes that while the suggestion of the marriage of the mummy is raised in a number of these texts, any chance of longstanding romantic union is often foiled, in contrast to the distinctly marital “happily-ever-after”s characteristic of the fairy …

Feminist Epistemology And The Question Of Difference Reconfigured: What Can Wittgenstein Tell Us About "Women"?, Jana Cattien

Journal of International Women's Studies

Feminist standpoint theory is an important tool of many a feminist activist. It provides us with the epistemological justification to take women’s experiences seriously – not as an obstacle to “objectivity”, but as a form of epistemic privilege. This paper takes postmodern and intersectional critiques of feminist standpoint theory as a critical point of departure to re-examine the debate around the relevance of the signifier “women” in feminist epistemology. Its aim is two-fold: first, it seeks to shed new light on these criticisms by using the lived experiences of mixed-race women as an innovative lens through which to examine the …

Introduction: New Writings In Feminist Studies, Laura Clancy, Charlotte Mathieson

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Elder Northfield's Home Or, Sacrificed On The Mormon Altar: A Story Of The Blighting Curse Of Polygamy, Pamela Hayes-Bohanan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Elder Northfield’s Home or, Sacrificed on the Mormon Altar: A Story of the Blighting Curse of Polygamy, by A. Jennie Bartlett. University of Nebraska Press, 2015

Book Review: Feminist Edges Of The Qur'an, Merna Aboul-Ezz

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Feminist Edges of the Qur'an, by Aysha A. Hidayatullah. Oxford University Press, 2014

Book Review: Survival On The Edge: Seawomen Of Iceland, Wendy K. Rockne

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Survival on the Edge: Seawomen of Iceland, by Margaret Willson. University of Washington, 2016

Book Review: Science, Gender, And History: The Fantastic In Mary Shelley And Margaret Atwood, William Tringali

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Science, Gender, and History: The Fantastic in Mary Shelley and Margaret Atwood, by Suparna Banerjee. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014

Book Review: Questioning The 'Muslim Woman': Identity And Insecurity In An Urban Indian Locality, Aatina N. Malik

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Questioning the ‘Muslim Woman’: Identity and Insecurity in an Urban Indian Locality, by Nida Kirmani. Routledge, 2013

Book Review: Virginia Woolf: Essays On The Self, Margarita Esther Sánchez Cuervo

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Virginia Woolf: Essays on the Self, by Joanna Kavenna. Notting Hill Editions, 2014

Book Review: Women And The City, Women In The City: A Gendered Perspective On Ottoman Urban History, Deniz Zeynep Leuenberger

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Women and the City, Women in the City: A Gendered Perspective on Ottoman Urban History, by Nazan Maksudya. Berghahn Books, 2014

Book Review: Making Change - Nordic Examples Of Working Towards Gender Equality In The Media, Meghan Murphy

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Making Change – Nordic Examples of Working Towards Gender Equality in the Media, edited by Maria Edström & Ragnhild Mølster. Nordicom, 2014

Overcoming Obstacles To Educational Access For Kenyan Girls: A Qualitative Study, Norah Mwakio

Journal of International Women's Studies

Despite the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, having its third goal as promoting gender equality and empowering women, and even with all new progress in equality, Kenya is still lagging behind when comparing the educational opportunities of boys and girls. In most cases where cultural beliefs are involved, the girl-child falls victim to violation of her rights, including her rights to education and freedom of expression. Many girls are forced into early marriages, experience Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and sexual exploitation, among many other concerns and at some point they all lead to her inability to …

'Better Off Dead' - Sasha's Story Of Living With Vaginal Fistula, Glory Joy Gatwiri, Helen Jaqueline Mclaren

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper draws on the narrative of a Samburu woman, whom we call Sasha, from northern Kenya. She has been living with recto- and vesico-vaginal fistula for more than ten years. Her homeland is characterized by abject poverty, patriarchy and traditional practices involving witchcraft, which is intertwined with the teachings of Christian evangelist missionaries that traverse the last two centuries. Sasha’s research interview offered representations of the broader social and political aspects affecting women with vaginal fistula and how this influences their lived experiences. We suggest that this condition is more than a biomedical issue, which we explain through our …

Aids Awareness Interventions For Women: The Role Of Voluntary Organizations In The Secunderabad And Hyderabad Region Of Southwestern India, G.S. Chayadevi, Bindu A. Bambah

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this paper, we examine the role of Voluntary organizations (VO’s) in combating the incidence of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases among Female Sex Workers in Hyderabad and Secundrabad. These are twin cities in the newly formed state of Telangana state in the southwestern region of India, called the Deccan Plateau. We trace the evolution of VO’s towards becoming agents of information and prevention of AIDS in the region. Our focus is on how VOs’ interventions impact the prevention of HIV among female sex workers. The activities that contribute towards this aim are sexual health, counseling, medication and continuous health …

Sexual Identity And Disturbed Intellectual Female Terrain In J. M. Coetzee's Foe And Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's The Ship: An Ecofeminist Reading, Jihan Zakarriya

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines the representation of mental and cultural subjugation in J. M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986) and Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s The Ship (1970) from an ecofeminist perspective. Central to the ecofeminist theory is the deconstruction of the systematic ways within which cultural and political forces act, and which do not merely buttress gender inequality, but also produce oppressive patriarchal and hierarchal social, spatial and environmental systems. This paper specifically relates the psychological effects of sexism and discrimination on the female characters in the two novels to both the workings of the social laws in their societies and the cultural and …

A Comparative Study In The Mena Region Within Gender Equality Perspective, Rania F. Al-Rabadi, Anas N. Al-Rabadi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article presents key findings of basic research in the MENA region via a comparative perspective of active citizenship and gender equality. The article discusses the pre-existing inequality in the family and presents a significant issue in Bahrain, for there is a Sunni-Shi’ite division, which Jordan does not have. This is relevant to citizenship and gender equality for how family codes have an effect on women’s political participation in both countries. The political participation will be analysed via women constitutional rights. Whether this right is really exercised in Jordan and Bahrain remains arguable. Other important issues are the state machinery …

The Maternal Lineage: Orality And Language In Natalia Ginzburg's Family Sayings, Veruska Cantelli

Journal of International Women's Studies

As its title, Family Sayings, suggests, it is through a body of sayings, stories, poems and songs, recalled by her mother, that the author Natalia Ginzburg tells the story of her family before, during and after WWII. Within the turmoil and chaos of the fascist regime and the war, there is a language, a lexicon, capable of establishing a comforting and familiar zone for the members of the family. Through repetitions of sayings and sketches, Natalia Ginzburg will present a work, partly oral and partly written, blurring the relationship between author/reader and storyteller/listener. In a time when consumerism is rampant …

Can My Wife Be Virtual-Adulterous? An Experiential Study On Facebook, Emotional Infidelity And Self-Disclosure, Okorie Nelson, Abiodun Salawu

Journal of International Women's Studies

Emotional infidelity is a perennial concern and negatively affects marriages in many modern societies. The advent of social media networks has heightened the alarming rate of emotional infidelity across the globe. This study examines the influence of Facebook on emotional infidelity and self-disclosure among married women. The study uses the media dependency theory, which stipulates that social media platforms, such as Facebook, serve as a potent channel for self-disclosure and emotional infidelity among individuals. The survey method was adopted in the study and a questionnaire used as an instrument to collect data. Two null hypotheses were tested with Pearson product …

Women, Serpent And Devil: Female Devilry In Hindu And Biblical Myth And Its Cultural Representation: A Comparative Study, Suman Chakraborty

Journal of International Women's Studies

Association of Women with Serpent and Devil or evil is common in today’s popular movies and literature. A large number of movies have been made on serpent woman, or Nagin-Kanya, both in India and the West in the last century. But the root of this popular trend lies in Genesis of the Bible, and its interpretations by the theologians and the church fathers. In India, this motif came with British literary and cultural products through colonization. Though we get references of figures (Ulupi in the Mahabharata, myth of snake-goddess Manasa) similar to the western serpent women in pre-colonial Indian …

Enemies Of The State: Curbing Women Activists Advocating Rape Reform In Sudan, Liv Tønnessen

Journal of International Women's Studies

Sudanese women activists launched a legal campaign in 2009 calling attention to how the country’s Sharia-based Criminal Act of 1991 produced impunity for sexual assault in the Darfur conflict. After years of mobilization, Sudan enacted rape reform in 2015. While on the surface a success story, extensive interviews conducted in Khartoum suggest that this regime-controlled rape reform is more about the struggle of an authoritarian state to keep an emerging independent women’s movement under control, rather than the protection of rape victims in Darfur. By situating the reform within the broader political dynamics of the International Criminal Courts’ (ICC) arrest …

Parental Educational Aspiration And Gender Inequality Of Rural Children In Bangladesh: The Role Of Parental Attitudes Of Traditional Gender Role, Gender Biased Capability, And Gender, Shahidul Islam Sarker, A.H.M. Zehadul Karim, Samrat Mohammad Abu Suffiun

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study investigates how gender inequality in higher education is produced by the attitudes of parents in rural Bangladesh. To this end we examine (i) parental traditional gender role attitude, (ii) parental attitude toward girls’ capability and (iii) parental gender biased investment attitude as three types of parental attitudes based on the responses of 435 rural parents in which 52.05% were parents of boys and 56.25% of girls. We conduct logistic regression analysis to determine whether the observe variables (these three types of attitudes) significantly predict the odds of parental aspiration for higher education and whether the effects of these …

Women's Rights And Voice In The Ready-Made Garments Sector Of Bangladesh: Evidence From Theory And Practice, Dilruba Shoma Chowdhury

Journal of International Women's Studies

Since the 1980s, the ready–made garments (RMG) sector has opened up the door that allowed poor people, particularly women, to potentially lead a better life in Bangladesh. Economic globalisation has led to the growth of more employment opportunities for those women who are from the most disadvantaged sector of the society and the greatest beneficiaries of employment in the RMG sector as they have gained the power to earn. However, these women workers are also the most vulnerable to the weak legal provisions and compliance enforcement of this sector. Given the situation, the intention of the study is to highlight …

Women In Management: Challenges And Gaps In Public Institutions In Ethiopia, Worku Mekonnen Tadesse

Journal of International Women's Studies

The major purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges and gaps as related to executive women in public institutions in Ethiopia. A survey and analytical study approach was employed to investigate the case. The respondents were selected from all 23 ministerial head offices located in Addis Ababa. A sample of forty-nine executive women was identified to assess the challenges and gaps of women who hold managerial positions in their respective organizations with an availability sampling technique. Results indicate that the executive’s family related issues did not impact women’s career progress; however, the study also revealed that socio-cultural factors …

Exploring The Relationship Between Gender And Acceptance Of Authority At An Arab School In Israel, Nohad A’Li, Rima'a Da'as

Journal of International Women's Studies

The purpose of this paper to fill a gap in the literature on “leadership” in Arab schools, which are part of a patriarchal society, specifically on the issues of principal gender and acceptance of his or her authority. Previous studies have argued that attitudes toward the school principal's role are related to culture and social structure. However, those studies did not take into account the effects of employee gender on acceptance of a male or female principal's authority. Teachers (N = 240) from 10 Arab elementary schools in northern Israel participated in this study. The Analysis of Variance-ANOVA revealed differences …

Globalization As A Racial Project: Implications For Human Trafficking, Sarah Hupp Williamson

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay considers the potential impact of viewing globalization as a racial project in relation to human trafficking. Through an examination of a wide variety of scholarly sources and the work of Omi and Winant (2015), this essay presents the argument that globalization itself is a racial project by tracing how race is interwoven with the processes of globalization. It then asserts the implications this conceptualization of globalization has for human trafficking, and particularly anti-trafficking efforts. Finally, it argues for the power of using such a conceptual framework and suggests the incorporation of a critical globalization perspective for future studies …

Islamic Values In Elderly Care In Finland: The Perspective Of Muslim Women Caregivers, Shahnaj Begum, Marjaana Seppänen

Journal of International Women's Studies

In recent decades, care-providing services in Finland have engaged care professionals with diverse cultural backgrounds, including Islamic cultures. Muslim women who adhere strictly to Islamic values in such work sometimes find it difficult to cope with the practices at care service institutions. In this article, we consider the experiences of Muslim women care professionals in such work, an environment that entails multiple interactions at different levels, among themselves and with care receivers.