Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons^™

Vulnerability, Resilience And Well-Being Of Intermarriage: An Ethnographic Approach To Korean Women, Jang-Ae Yang, Kyoung-Ho Shin

Journal of International Women's Studies

Korean women who immigrate into the U.S. following their American husbands face a harsh reality. A new Korean wife and American husband may find themselves in unfamiliar situations that expose their marital life to vulnerability and cause their marriage to end quickly. This study endeavors to describe the diverse patterns of inequality in the marital life of select couples, and the resilience that Korean women display in their American lives after marital crises, such as divorce. The study also explores the relationship between “social factors,” including financial status, familial relations, age, activities in the community, and the situation of “psychosocial …

Elaborating The Ideological And Structural Content Of Women’S Work In A Globalized Economy, Jinky Leilanie Lu

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women’s employment in the global market now has been increasing as a result of globalization and internationalization of labour. This study has two main objectives in its attempt to analyze the relations of gender, the global market, and health in the workplace. First, the article tries to elucidate the structural content of work as seen in the work organization; and second, to elaborate the ideological content of work as defined by ideologies of the organization, of the state and of the market production system. The study used quantitative methodology through surveys of 630 women workers in 23 establishments, as well …

Female Adolescents’ Attitude Towards Sexually Risky Behaviors, Janet F. Wang, Patricia S. Simoni, Ying Wu, Christine Banvard

Journal of International Women's Studies

This cross-sectional survey examines the association between attitudes and female adolescents’ sexually risky behaviors. A sample of 159 subjects, aged 14 – 20 from three high schools in West Virginia participated in the study. The results indicate that 60.3% (n = 96) reported having had sexual intercourse and, of this sexually active group, 60.4% (n = 58) stated that they had sex the first time at age 15 or younger. Fifty-five percent (n = 88) reported at least one of the following behaviors: (1) sexual initiation at age 15 or younger, (2) frequent sexual intercourse last month, (3) multiple sex …

Deconstructing Masculinity In A ‘Female Bastion’: Ambiguities, Contradictions And Insights, Charles C. Fonchingong

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article is informed by my experiences teaching women’s studies and specifically feminist theory to predominantly female and male students offering Women’s studies. As a mainstream academic discipline at the University of Buea, housing the only such Department in Cameroon’s Higher Education system, this study uncovers the broader polemics regarding gender and women’s studies.

Against the backdrop of a patriarchal society, this study attempts to account for the shifting strands on masculinity and femininity and gender transgressions as played out by students taking women’s studies. It also analyses the notions, misconceptions and stereotypes that characterise the discipline of women’s studies, …

Book Review: Gender And Career In Japan, Cecilia Manrique

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Gender and Career in Japan, edited by Atsuko Suzuki, translated by Leonie R. Stickland

Introduction: A Decade Of The Journal Of International Women’S Studies, Diana Fox, Katherine Side

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Implications For Health Care Practice And Improved Policies For Victims Of Sexual Violence In The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Haleigh Hanlon

Journal of International Women's Studies

As violent conflict ravages the Democratic Republic of Congo, thousands of women and girls are victims of sexual violence. Unfortunately, there are few services available to this population. While the exact number of victims is uncertain, the available data indicate the large scale of women and girls affected by sexual violence, and the urgent need for aid, services, and better policies to improve care. This humanitarian crisis is slowly gaining Western attention, but the current demand for humanitarian action and improved policies is greatest in the following three categories which will be addressed in the body of the work below: …

The Impact Of Sexual Harassment On Turnover Intentions, Absenteeism, And Job Satisfaction: Findings From Argentina, Brazil And Chile, Rebecca S. Merkin

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study, which tested the effects of sexual harassment on consequences previously indicated in US studies, (i.e., overall turnover intentions, overall absenteeism and job dissatisfaction), was conducted with 8108 employees chosen by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in three Latin American countries – Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Multivariate and logistic regression were employed while controlling for age, education, gender, marital status, and race to analyze ILO’s database. Significant results revealed that Latin American employees who were sexually harassed were likely to have more turnover intentions and to engage in more absenteeism; yet they did not experience a significant decrease in …

Women’S Health Challenges In A Low-Income Philippine Urban Neighborhood, Fiscalina Amadora-Nolasco

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study privileges women’s views of health to determine the categories and beliefs through which they create meanings in their lives, particularly in assessing the influence of health problems on their well-being, and whether they have implicit ideas of how it might be possible for them to live a healthy life. To determine what constitutes the domain of women’s health problems and how they view these given the limitations of socioeconomic, political and environmental conditions of the community in which they live, interviews were conducted with 40 mothers in Paradise Island, Barangay Looc, Mandaue City, Philippines, between 2002-2004 as part …

The Role Of Gender, Self-Efficacy, Age And Extroversion On Smoking Behaviour Among Ambrose Alli University Students, Ekpoma, Nigeria, S. O. Momoh, H. O. Imhonde, E. Omagbe

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined the role of gender, self-efficacy, age and extroversion on smoking behavior among Ambrose Alli University Students. Two hundred and fifty (250) undergraduates participated in the study (males 160 and females 90). Questionnaire was used in collecting data that were analyzed in this study. The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections: the demographic variables, extroversion scale, self-efficacy scale and attitude toward smoking scale. Two out of the four hypotheses tested were supported. Results of the independent t-test indicated that there was a significant difference in the onset of smoking between females and males (t = 2.354, df = 248, …

Breasts & The Beestings: Rethinking Breast-Feeding Practices, Maternity Rituals, & Maternal Attachment In Britain & Ireland, Susan Hogan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Viewing the wider collective rituals of childbirth as liminal is helpful in understanding the highly contested nature of many cultural practices. With English & Irish historical examples, this essay will argue that it has been to the advantage of women that they maintain a wide range of post-partum taboos and rituals. The themes of postpartum pollution and female power are developed in the context of wet-nursing and the withholding of colostrum. ‘Churching’, evident in the medieval period in Britain, continues to this very day, though in a simplified form. The colostrum taboo and ideas about the transmission of personality via …

William Faulkner And The Mithraic Midwife, Owen Elmore

Journal of International Women's Studies

The two parts of William Faulkner’s If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem—“The Wild Palms” and “Old Man”—mirror one another; the second story reflects a more familiar way of illustrating the same theme as the first. Each story emphasizes the other, building the shared theme subversive of traditional gender roles. It is also my feeling that Faulkner inverts Arthurian motifs to tell both stories (especially “The Wild Palms,” though most assume “Old Man” to be the more romantically accessible tale) exactly as Nathaniel Hawthorne did to tell The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne’s bifurcating of the Grail legend in order to reclaim …

Implications Of Missionary Education For Women In Nigeria: A Historical Analysis, Uche Uwaezuoke Okonkwo, Mary-Noelle Ethel Ezeh

Journal of International Women's Studies

Education is a key factor in human development and social transformation. The problematic of women development in Nigeria traces its roots in the type of education dispensed by missionary agencies and the British colonial administration. Christian Missionaries were the first to initiate the development of western education in Nigeria. Government participation first took the form of giving limited financial assistance to voluntary agencies and gradually developed into the recognition of education as the responsibility of the Government. The present study is a historical analysis of the evolution of the development of education in Nigeria in relation to the contemporary women …

Negotiating And Navigating The Rough Terrain Of Transnational Feminist Research, Tanya Bahkru

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article examines aspects of feminist methodology pertinent to carrying out transnational research within an era of globalization. I explore the use of self-reflexivity, engagement with conceptualizations of insider/outsider, and the employment of feminist critiques of notions of objectivity within the research process as feminist methodological tools relevant to transnational feminist research. I argue that in an age of globalization, such methodological frameworks and tools are necessary in research committed to feminist contestations of globalization in that the nature of transnational research sustains an ever dynamic and shifting landscape of personal, political, and geographical relationships. This article draws upon my …

The Role Of Education In The Empowerment Of Women In A District Of West Bengal, India: Reflections On A Survey Of Women, Haimanti Mukhopadhyay

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article aims to probe the role of education in the empowerment of women in the district of Malda, West Bengal, India. In an exhaustive survey comprising forty two villages, the article tries to unearth the status of women, attitude towards girls’ education in society, problems hindering the education of women, the importance of marriage in women’s life affecting education as well as the empowerment of women. The article also highlights that educated and economically empowered women have said a firm “no” to the prevalent malice of the dowry, thus directly bearing the fruit of economic empowerment in society of …

Book Review: Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory And Practice For Composition Studies, Jessie Blackburn

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Literacy, Sexuality, Pedagogy: Theory and Practice for Composition Studies by Jonathan Alexander

Book Review: Cuban Convents In The Age Of Enlightened Reform, 1761-1807, Jualynne E. Dodson

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Cuban Convents in the Age of Enlightened Reform, 1761-1807 by John J. Clune, Jr.

Book Review: Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage, Kinitra D. Brooks

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage by Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas

Book Review: The Dressed Society: Clothing, The Body And Some Meanings Of The World, Karen Mclaughlin

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of The Dressed Society: Clothing, the Body and Some Meanings of the World by Peter Corrigan

Book Review: The Cairo Consensus: Demographics Surveys, Women’S Empowerment, And Regime, Lisa Ho

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of The Cairo Consensus: Demographics Surveys, Women’s Empowerment, and Regime Change in Population Policy by Saul Halfon

Book Review: Tapestries Of Hope, Threads Of Love: The Arpillera Movement In Chile, Margaret D. Stetz

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile by Marjorie Agosin

Film Review: Marion, Betty J. Glass

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Marion by Ry Russo-Young (filmmaker)

Film Review: Judith Butler: Philosophical Encounters Of The Third Kind, Cierra Olivia Thomas-Williams

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Judith Butler: Philosophical Encounters of the Third Kind by Paule Zadjermann (filmmaker)

Nigeria: The Dominance Of Rape, Chineze J. Onyejekwe

Journal of International Women's Studies

Despite decades of feminist activism, men continue to rape women at appalling rates. This paper evaluates the failure of the Nigerian state to enforce laws to protect women against rape. Rape is also shown to be a global problem. The flaws in the Law’s definition of rape are examined. Women’s action-oriented responses and initiatives against these abuses are highlighted.

Introduction: Women’S Activism For Gender Equity In Africa, Lisa Bernstein, Catherine Ndinda

Journal of International Women's Studies

This special joint issue of the Journal of International Women’s Studies (JIWS) and WAGADU focuses on women’s activism and women’s movements in different countries and cultures throughout Africa and the African Diaspora. The project represents a collaboration between two online, open-access journals that address gender and women’s issues within a transnational and cross-cultural context. The essays, which are distributed between the two journals, use interdisciplinary feminist and activist approaches to reveal the different forms of personal and communal actions being undertaken by African women today in cultural, social, economic, and political arenas. In showing the diversity of African women’s activism; …

“How Can I Stay Silent?”: One Woman’S Struggles For Environmental Justice In Lesotho, Yvonne A. Braun

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article explores one woman’s activism in the context of a large scale dam and infrastructure project in Southern Africa. Since 1986, Lesotho and South Africa are building one of the largest multi-dam water schemes in the world, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). Local communities impacted by the LHWP face resettlement, increased risk of impoverishment, and changed access to natural resources. Much like with other projects of this type and scale (Scudder, 2006), the multidimensional costs of the $8 billion dollar World Bank funded water scheme will fall hardest on rural women. Rural Basotho women are at the front …

Witch-Hunting, Globalization, And Feminist Solidarity In Africa Today, Silvia Federici

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Rural Livelihoods, Hiv/Aids And Women’S Activism: The Struggle For Gender Equality In Primary Education In Uganda, Doris M. Kakuru

Journal of International Women's Studies

In Uganda, various stake holders including the government, NGOs, and women activists have undeniably played important roles in the combat for gender equality in primary education. However, there is evidence that success has not yet been realized. This article is based on research conducted to discover why gender inequalities in Uganda’s Universal Primary Education persist despite deliberate measures to eradicate them. Two questions are addressed, namely: does HIV/AIDS contribute to the persistence of gender inequality in rural areas? What is the importance of linking theory and practice in women’s activism in such a context? The findings reveal that HIV/AIDS affects …

Gender Dimensions In Geo-Spatial Security Research: Disciplinary Confrontations, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley, Nathalie Stephenne, Mercè Agüera Cabo

Journal of International Women's Studies

Several EU policy papers have called for an improved dialogue between security policymakers, social science researchers and science and technology researchers working on security (Pullinger, 2006). To increase the understanding of gender dimensions in security, the traditional technological response can be complemented by socio-political knowledge. Gender inequities in the socio-economic and political spheres can be analysed by such a comprehensive socio-political and technological approach. In the field of geo-spatial security research, Hyndman (2004) proposes to bridge a gap between gender studies and geographical analysis of security. In this paper, a workshop is used to illustrate both the potential and the …

Violence Against Women In Northern Uganda: The Neglected Health Consequences Of War, Helen Liebling-Kalifani, Ruth Ojiambo-Ochieng, Angela Marshall, Juliet Were-Oguttu, Seggane Musisi, Eugene Kinyanda

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article presents a summary of research intervention work carried out in war-affected Northern Uganda by Isis-WICCE, a women’s international non-government organisation, in conjunction with the Ugandan Medical Association and funded by Medica Mondiale, a German-based foundation. The findings of this research demonstrate the serious effects of sexual violence and torture experienced on women’s physical and psychological health. However, this paper also describes women’s key role in trying to bring peace to this region, as well as their resistance and survival strategies. It is recommended that funding is urgently required for the provision of sustainable, gender sensitive physical and psychological …