Women's Studies Commons^™

The Impact Of Media Influence About Hair Texture On Internalized Racial Oppression, Ethnic Identity, And Self-Efficacy, Kristy L. La Mar

Dissertations

Problem

African American women and matters of importance pertaining to African American women are understudied and lacking within research. Understanding the ways in which majority culture media influences aspects related to women of color, especially those pertaining to hair texture, and their impact is essential to bring about awareness and mobilize changes that will positively affect the lives of Black women. Representation matters. When minority women of any culture value the majority culture they tend to devalue themselves. Representation matters and is important because if self-esteem, worth, goodness, and virtue is only portrayed in majority culture aesthetics, internalization of those …

The Evolution Of Women Pastors In Mainline Protestant Denominations, Rita G. Burnett

Dissertations

Subsequent to receiving official approval from denominational authorities more than 40 years ago, an increasing number of women appear to be expressing a ministerial call upon their lives and entering pastoral leadership. Many women pastors find acceptance in mainline protestant denominations (MPD). Yet, despite improvements, women still face unique challenges in ministry compared with men. Nevertheless, they continue to pursue opportunities in ministry. Mentoring helps offset impediments and provides a professional development outlet for enhancing skill sets and empowering women to overcome these hurdles. Thus, the purpose behind this study remains to identify challenges faced by women pastors related to …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Workplace Culture Of Women In Information Technology Careers, Andrea Hemphill-Merrills

Dissertations

The information technology (IT) industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. According to the U.S, Department of Labor and Statistics (2015), employment opportunities are it is projected to grow by 12 percent from 2014 to 2024. While the number of employed women have increased, this has not been the case in the IT industry where the number of women has been in consistent decline since 1991. In order for the U.S. to be able to fill the demand for IT professionals, it must have access to a talent pool that includes women. There are many …

Understanding Women Leaders In A Male-Dominated Profession: A Study Of The United States Marine Corps' Women Generals, Marianne S. Waldrop

Dissertations

Contemporary organizations are increasingly realizing that future success requires a significant shift in leadership due to globalization, flattened organizational command and control structures, rapid technology growth, and the shift from manufacturing to service industries. Specifically, current leaders and scholars have begun to recognize the importance of employee diversity within organizations, and in particular the critical need to tap into the underutilized half of the population—women. Yet, the efforts to recruit, develop or retain women has been minimal, leading to metaphors such as glass ceiling and labyrinth, which characterize the institutional, social and personal barriers women encounter when seeking high-level leadership …

Exploring The Intersection Of Fat+Wom*N+Leadership: An Action Research Study, Jessica Jamese Williams

Dissertations

Cultural propaganda promotes an ever-changing feminine ideal which is parasitically reliant on women preoccupying themselves—ourselves—with our physical aesthetic. For women that identify as fat, most spaces openly neglect or are simply intolerant of her and even the stores meant for her are riddled with products meant to bind, reshape and essentially change her body. Fat women embody the paradox of being both conspicuous and unseen. Within systems, fat women are often silenced by shame, bias and discrimination; the unwanted and soiled identity hold us at the margins and serving as a barrier to effectively connect with others and practice leadership. …

An Exploration Of The Use Of Photovoice-Inspired Techniques To Facilitate Narrative Leadership In A Small Group Of Middle-Aged Women, Michelle M. Zive

Dissertations

Leadership often is defined as a persuasive relationship. Over the last two decades, narrative leadership has been viewed in the Leadership Studies literature as a source of persuasion. Narrative leaders use stories to impact others in both large-scale political and social movements, as well as in large-scale organizations. Even as this has been happening, the field also has begun to re-conceptualize leadership as a group rather than an individual process, a view of leadership sometimes characterized as shared leadership. There is limited understanding of whether narrative leadership operates in shared leadership situations and a dearth of literature about specific techniques …

Understanding The Role Of Women As Leaders In Mexican Politics: Looking Back And Moving Forward, Rafael Tovar Y Lopez-Portillo

Dissertations

The constant changes that occur in a globalized world have pushed gender equality to the forefront of many debates in the western world. Nevertheless, cultural values continue to influence the way in which governments, societies, and individuals behave in regard to the roles that men and women play. In Mexico, despite the cultural values that are embedded in society, women have been able to succeed in areas where, until a few decades ago, it would have been unimaginable. During the last forty years, the Mexican government has gone through a gradual transformation that has allowed women to become an active …

Disruptive Leadership: A Grounded Theory Study Of How Three Kentucky Women Are Leading Change, Christian N. Ryan

Dissertations

In this grounded theory study, I explored the process of leadership demonstrated by three women in south central Kentucky as a unique model of leadership: disruptive leadership. These citizen leaders seek to solve wicked problems, disrupting the unacceptable status quo by offering better alternatives. The study is guided by the following research questions: (1) What does it mean to be a disruptive leader?; (2) What are the central concerns of leaders facing wicked problems?; (3) What motivates leaders to solve such problems?; (4) What strategies are employed to address such problems?; and (5) How can disruptive leadership be distinguished from …

Building Within Our Borders: Black Women Reformers In The South From 1890 To 1920, Tonya D. Blair

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the reform work of four unsung black women reformers in Virginia from the post-Reconstruction period into the early twentieth century. The four women all spearheaded social reformist institutions and organizations such as industrial training schools, a settlement house, an orphanage, a home for the elderly, a girl’s reformatory/industrial school and a state federation of black women’s clubs. One of the selected women includes Jennie Dean, a former slave from northern Virginia, who founded an industrial training school for African-Americans in post-Civil War Manassas. Dean’s industrial school resulted from her tenacious drive to imbue former slaves with literacy …

Gender Inequity In The Representation Of Women As Superintendents In Mississippi Public Schools: The "No Problem Problem", Deidre Joy Seale Smith

Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the phenomenon of continuing underrepresentation of female superintendents in Mississippi K-12 public schools. The study was conducted during the 2014-2015 school year. At the time of the study, women represented 23% of the overall population of superintendents in Mississippi public schools. Fourteen women who were serving as superintendents in Mississippi during the 2014-2015 school year participated. Interviews were conducted, and the qualitative data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The data were analyzed using constructs associated with feminist theory, feminist postsructural and feminist standpoint theoretical frameworks. Two primary themes emerged as a result of this …

Protecting Dixie: Southern Girlhood In Children's Literature, 1852-1920, Laura Anne Hakala

Dissertations

Most scholarship about girlhood in children’s literature tends to rely on national models of girlhood. My project complicates those models by demonstrating how region shapes distinct forms of American girlhood. In particular, I examine representations of southern girlhood in children’s literature published between 1852 and 1920, drawing on the four types of literature that most featured southern girls during this time period: abolitionist literature, Confederate literature, postbellum plantation fiction, and family stories. Using a historicist methodology and spatial analysis, I place these texts in relation to information about the spatial arrangements and protocols of southern domestic sites. By viewing girlhood …

A Document In Death And Madness: A Cultural And Interdisciplinary Study Of Nineteenth-Century Art Song Settings On The Death Of Opelia, Jennifer Leigh Tipton

Dissertations

In the nineteenth century the character of Ophelia transformed from a minor role in Hamlet into one of the great muses of the Romantic period. Ophelia’s rise to an archetype of feminine madness was not a result of Shakespeare’s pen alone, but of the accumulation of interpretations of her character from actresses, artists, critics, writers, musicians, and social attitudes toward women. This paper focuses on nineteenth-century interpretations of her death, specifically art song.

A brief survey of the nineteenth-century European cultural and social climate pertaining to Ophelia is included in the paper:

*Shakespeare in France and Germany

*Nineteenth-Century Actresses in …

Battling The Separate Spheres: New Woman Writers And British Women Writers Of World War I, Christine Haskill

Dissertations

In “Battling the Separate Spheres,” I argue that New Woman writers’ interventions into gender discourse at the end of the nineteenth century shaped the feminist pacifist protests of World War I. This analysis illustrates that the discourses of gender and war are intertwined: the rise of the women’s movement in the nineteenth century was positioned as a sex war, and the gender ideology of the separate spheres helped to justify World War I. I examine two New Woman interventions into the separate spheres debates—the “sex war” of the fin de siècle. Olive Schreiner propels women into the public sphere, encouraging …

Reconceiving Self-Abnegation: Female Vulnerability As Embodied (Un)Sovereignty, Renee Lee Gardner

Dissertations

Liberal feminism views vulnerability as weakness and dominance as strength. This binary parallels nationalistic assertions of sovereignty. Within militaristic responses such as the U.S. retaliation to 9/11, however, we see the cost of refusing to acknowledge our vulnerability. In my analysis of eleven novels arising from eight distinct nation-states and representing historical moments from the final decades of slavery through the early post- 9/11 years, I use alternative (queer, postcolonial, Islamic) feminisms to read power in vulnerability. I explore female characters who deliberately self-abnegate – sacrificing their lives, bodies, voices, and children – but whose actions can be read as …

Female Head Athletic Trainers In Ncaa Division I (Ia Football) Athletics: How They Made It To The Top, Joanne Gorant

Dissertations

The profession of athletic training has opened its doors to women, who now slightly outnumber men in the profession (Shingles, 2001; WATC, 1997, 2005). Unfortunately, this representation does not carry over into positions of high rank. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of female head athletic trainers in NCAA Division I (IA football) institutions to focus on the issues of barriers to advancement and their ability to overcome them.

Using Hakim’s “preference theory” as a lens, this interpretive qualitative investigation utilized semi-structured, open-ended interviews to learn how participants advanced in the field of athletic …

Redefining Sisterhood: The New Nuns, Laywomen And Catholic Feminist Activism, 1953-1992, Alexandra Elizabeth Michaelides

Dissertations

The involvement of American Catholic women in the feminist movement after 1960 is considered an anomaly. Yet, Catholic feminist activism thrived in large American cities like Chicago. This dissertation works to explain the origins, trajectory, methods, and eventual radicalization of the Catholic feminist movement in the United States. I argue that the events of the Second Vatican Council and the Sister Formation Movement (an organized effort to educate American nuns) set the stage for unprecedented reforms, brought an excitement and optimism to women religious and laywomen, and led to unintended revolutionary consequences. Nuns and laywomen were optimistic that the church …

Disturbing The Power Equilibrium: How Notions Of Private And Public Construct The Lesbian Educator In The American School System, Lillian Petrovich Brandt

Dissertations

Educational institutions are places permeated with the dominant social ideology and are sites for social reproduction; that is, the American school socially reproduces the white, male heteronormativity of the American public life. These dominant institutions perpetuate privilege for some, but not for others who are not represented in the dominant discourse. At times rendered invisible and private inside the school, a lesbian educator, may, in fact, be visible and public outside the school. There is a paucity of research on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) educators, yet queer educators exist in the school setting in which a "don't ask …

Images Of God, Imago Dei And God's Relationship With Humanity Through The Image Of Mary's Breast Milk: A Focus Upon Sor María Anna Águeda De San Ignacio (1695-1756), Neomi Dolores Deanda

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an original contribution to the academic field of Theology, specifically Constructive Theology, because it begins the retrieval work of a woman's voice from seventeenth and eighteenth century Mexico, an entire area of historical and theological thought which has been globally under-explored. Analysis of María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's eighteenth century original publications give a glimpse into this woman's official authority during her time, which also presents a historical woman's voice who has held ecclesial authority.

This project engages María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's work to draw theological insights and further expand understandings about notions of …

Contemporary Clothing Issues Of Women Who Are Post-Mastectomy, Carol Beard

Dissertations

The intent of this three-paper format dissertation is to examine three topics germane to the clothing requirements and clothing acquisition of women who are postmastectomy. Each paper’s focus resides within a broader theme of addressing a population that has specialized clothing needs. While each study is independent in nature, they build on each other. The first paper describes the demographics of the population and how those demographics and treatment path for breast cancer provide a different framework for reaction to the retail offerings currently on the market. The next paper focuses on the association between demographics and treatment path of …

The Development Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Understanding Of Ellen G. White's Prophetic Gift, 1844-1889, Theodore N. Levterov

Dissertations

Topic. This study is a historical investigation examining the development of the Seventh-day Adventist understanding of Ellen White's prophetic gift between 1844 and 1889.

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and analyze the stages of the development of the Seventh-day Adventist understanding of Ellen G. White's prophetic gift from 1844 through 1889 from a historical perspective only. This research is not a theological study and therefore it is beyond its scope to judge, to prove, or to disprove the prophetic gift of Ellen White. It starts with 1844 when Ellen White claimed to have received her first …

The Color(S) Of Perfection: The Feminine Body, Beauty Ideals, And Identity In Postwar America, 1945-1970, Elizabeth M. Matelski

Dissertations

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a number of models have existed offering women a spectrum of ideal body types and varying opinions about the role of fitness and diet in achieving these forms. In the years following World War II, prescriptive literature, Hollywood, and popular culture in general created and perpetuated the postwar feminine ideal of "the Sweater girl" - a busty, curvaceous figure more sexual than maternal. Yet, this ideal gave way in little more than a decade. In the late 1960s, youth culture placed a cult-like status on Twiggy, a model with a 31-inch bust and 32-inch …

Storied Memories: Memory As Resistance In Contemporary Women's Literature, Sarah Katherine Foust Vinson

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the power for resistance contained within narratives of personal memory. By applying current psychological concepts of autobiographical memory theory to eight contemporary women's novels, Carole Maso's The Art Lover; Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale; Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina; Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory; Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible; Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things; Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place; and Toni Morrison's Paradise, I argue that it is in literature that we can examine both the workings of memory and the ways that authors use concepts of memory in their works to …

Mapping The Global Landscape In Women's Diasporic Writing, Martha Addante

Dissertations

As a contribution to the theory of cognitive mapping, the dissertation examines the ways in which contemporary novels by women writers of diasporic literature offer new conceptual maps of the present global space. This study argues there is a need for alternative mapping strategies that locate the female diasporic subject within the new global political economy. Fredric Jameson's theory of cognitive mapping and Arjun Appadurai's model of global flows provide a useful framework for mapping global space, yet each must be filtered through a feminist critique and modified by a feminist politics. Ultimately, the dissertation argues for a feminist theory …

Petticoat Government: Poems And Essays, Tiffany Ann Noonan

Dissertations

Petticoat Government is a collection of poems and essays that draw upon the varied lexicons of science, mythology, sports, literature, travel, art, fashion, and popular culture in an attempt to understand what deliminates womanhood. Using a mix of traditional and contemporary forms, these texts seek to complicate the myriad—and often conflicting—models of femaleness and the female body.

The Stressors And Coping Strategies Of Women In Leadership Positions, Patricia Ann Bernard

Dissertations

Purpose

According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) survey, 60% of employed women cited stress as their most serious problem at work. Working outside the home and balancing a family create conflicts between work and family obligations which become a likely cause of stress for women. While stress may be a problem among working women in general, it seems highly probable that women who function in leadership positions may experience additional stressors. Consequently, this study focused on investigating the stressors of women who currently function in leadership positions and the coping strategies they use to combat …

Treatment Of A Wife's Body In The Fiction Of Indian Sub-Continental Muslim Women Writers, Hafiza Nilofar Khan

Dissertations

Ismat Chughtai of India, Tehmina Durrani of Pakistan, and Selina Hossain of Bangladesh depict some of the sociological, religious and legal aspects of wife abuse that is a chronic, yet little discussed anathema in a Sub-Continental Muslim wife's life. "Treatment of the Wife's Body in the Fiction of Indian Sub-Continental Muslim Women Writers," examines the fiction and autobiographical works of these women writers who problematize the deeply ingrained traditional modes of domestic violence as perpetuated upon the minds and bodies of Sub-Continental Muslim wives. Chughtai, Hossain and Durrani identify culture specific practices such as child marriage, dowry, polygamy, honor crimes, …

Doers Of The Living Word: Gospel Ideology And The African American Womanist Novel, Rebecca Erin Huskey

Dissertations

In Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison issues a charge and illuminates the challenge that she and other African American writers face in defining the self through a racially oppressive language:

Neither blackness nor "people of color" stimulates in me notions of excessive, limitless love, anarchy, or routine dread. I cannot rely on these metaphorical shortcuts because I am a black writer struggling with and through a language that can powerfully evoke and enforce hidden signs of racial superiority, cultural hegemony, and dismissive "othering" of people and language which are by no means marginal or already and completely known and …

Motivational Factors That Influence African American Women To Serve As Michigan State Legislators, Rogenia Goza

Dissertations

Problem. The purpose of this study was to discover factors that influence the political career choice of African American women legislators to serve in the State of Michigan Congress. Therefore, this study focused on motivations that affected three African American women legislators' political experiences.

Method. This study used a case-study approach, and the end result is a multi-faceted case study of the political experiences of three State of Michigan African American women legislators. The techniques used in the ethnographic research---interviews, observations, note-taking, and reviews of public and personal documents---were intended to increase understanding of the observed phenomena. Data …

A Descriptive Multiple Case Study Of Caucasian Female Suicide Attempters: Risk And Protective Factors, Janice Johnson Browne

Dissertations

Problem

Suicide is a problem globally and in the United States. Suicide rates for youth have remained particularly high. Caucasian men complete more suicidal acts than women, but women are more frequent suicide attempters. To gain information about the phenomenon of female suicide attempting, it is important to study the attempter. Awareness of risk and protective factors is necessary to intervene and prevent future incidences of suicide and suicide attempting.

Methodology

For this research a descriptive case study design was utilized. Three suicide attempters who had attempted suicide one or more times in the past was the sample population for …

The Church As A Social Support For Women: Perspectives Of Female Members Of Selected Seventh-Day Adventist Churches, Norma Greenidge

Dissertations

Problem. The subject of social support and its role in health and well-being ofindividuals has become an important topic to many researchers. This study was designed to discover to what extent female members of Seventh-day Adventist churches perceive their church as providing them with social support.

Method. The instrument used was the Social Provision Scale which measures six aspects of social support--attachment, guidance, nurture, reliable alliance, social integration, and worth. Scores from the 99 White and 48 African American women were compared for each of the six aspects on the basis of ethnicity, age, and marital status using Analysis …