Women's Studies Commons^™

Review: Gourd Girls, Teresa Pacheco

Georgia Library Quarterly

Review of the non-fiction book "Gourd Girls," by Priscilla Wilson.

Women Of Talent: Gender And Government Appointments In Massachusetts, 2002–2007, Carol Hardy-Fanta, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Despite the high educational and occupational attainment—and considerable talent—of women in Massachusetts, the state ranks just 22nd in the nation on women's overall share of top executive, legislative, and judicial posts, compared to their share of the population. The goals of this study were to (1) calculate the percentage of women holding senior-level positions in state government at these four points in time; (2) analyze the distribution of appointments by type of position and executive office; (3) provide possible explanations for the status of women’s representation in these positions; and (4) offer recommendations that will serve to promote the appointment …

Women's Studies Newsletter October 2007, Women's Studies Program, Wright State University

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Newsletter

This is a seven page newsletter created by the Wright State University Women's Studies Program documenting current affairs, events, as well as other happenings on campus.

This inaugural issue highlights a student winning a Graduate Support Scheme award from the London School of Economics, new faculty bios, a calendar of events, a listing of approved Women's Studies Courses for Winter 2008, and more.

Brazen (Fall 2007), Hollins University

Brazen - Gender & Women's Studies Department Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Community Feminism And Politics; A Case Study Of Santa Clara County As The Feminist Capital, 1975-2006, Danelle L. Moon

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Women's Research Institute Of Nevada Newsletter, Joanne Goodwin, Women's Research Institute Of Nevada

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Writing The World: Ursula K. Le Guin And Margaret Atwood’S Literary Contributions To Ecofeminism, Melissa Messer

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Along with the philosophical writings of ecofeminism’s greatest proponents and critics, the growth of ecofeminist philosophy has relied heavily on fiction writers. The term ecofeminism was coined in 1975, and the following year ecofeminism found fertile ground for exploration and growth in March Peircy’s science fiction novel, Woman on the Edge of Time (1976). The social, academic, and literary trends leading up to the emergence of ecofeminism, however, began well before 1975. Both Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood are speculative fiction authors whose work before and after 1975 examines important ecofeminist topics and contributes to the growth of …

The Emergence Of Organized Feminist Resistance To Sexual Harassment In The United States In The 1970s, Carrie N. Baker

Study of Women, Gender, & Sexuality: Faculty Publications

The first organized resistance to sexual harassment grew out of the women’s movement, emerging at the intersection of activism against employment discrimination and feminist opposition to violence against women. The issue of sexual harassment brought together women’s workplace concerns with resistance to male sexual aggression. In the mid-1970s two organizations formed to focus primarily on sexual harassment—Working Women United in Ithaca, New York, and the Alliance Against Sexual Coercion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Based on archival materials and interviews, this article documents the early movement against sexual harassment, focusing particularly on the feminist activists who founded these organizations—who they were and …

Female Sport Role Models: A Content Analysis Of Espn.Com, Michelle Lou Redmond

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Opportunities for girls to participate in sports are growing by the minute. However, adolescent girls are dropping out from participating in athletics with many possible explanations. One explanation is the limited and sometimes controversial media attention female athletes receive. How are girls to know there is a sporting world out there for them if they are unable to see positive female athletic role models to emulate?

This study investigated ESPN.com to discover the trends of college basketball reporting during the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's basketball tournaments. A content analysis was performed on ESPN .com to see if the media …

Race In Feminism: Critiques Of Bodily Self-Determination In Ida B. Wells And Anna Julia Cooper, Stephanie Athey

Trotter Review

If, as Angela Davis has argued, "the last decade of the nineteenth century was a critical moment in the development of modern racism," the same can be said of the development of modern feminism. Late nineteenth-century feminism, like institutional racism, saw "major institutional supports and ideological justifications" take shape across this period. Organizations of American women, both black and white, were shaping political arguments and crafting activist agendas in a post-Reconstruction America increasingly enamored of hereditary science, prone to lynching, and possessed of a virulent nationalism. This essay takes a historical view of "womanhood," bodily self-determination and well-being, concepts now …

Allen Keiswetter On Women In The Middle East: Past And Present By Nikki R. Keddie. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 416pp., Allen Keiswetter

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Women in the Middle East: Past and Present by Nikki R. Keddie. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. 416pp.

Book Review: Akron’S “Better Half”: Women’S Clubs And The Humanization Of The City, Jennifer L. Adams

Communication & Theatre Faculty Publications

Review of Akron’s “Better Half”: Women’s Clubs and the Humanization of the City, 1825-1925 by Kathleen L. Endres

Iranian Women And The Civil Rights Movement In Iran: Feminism Interacted, Majid Mohammadi

Journal of International Women's Studies

After presenting a compendium of the structural and ideological gender inequalities in the Iranian society, mostly in post-revolutionary era, this article provides basic information and analysis about Iranian feminists in the civil rights movement framework. It also reviews the relationship between Iranian feminism on the one hand and democratization process and demand for vindication of civil rights of all Iranian citizens as the main issues of this movement on the other. This review will be done in three parts: the essence of Iranian feminism in post-revolutionary Iran including a sustained critique of Iranian feminism, the interactions of women activists and …

The Land Of Lalla-Ded: Politicization Of Kashmir And Construction Of The Kashmiri Woman, Nyla Ali Khan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Over the years, tremendous political and social turmoil has been generated in the state of Jammu and Kashmir by the forces of religious fundamentalism and by an exclusionary nationalism that seeks to erode the cultural syncretism that is part of the ethos of Kashmir. Kashmiri women are now suffering from some of the more predictable afflictions of women caught in conflict situations: psychological trauma, destitution, and acute poverty that put them at increased risk of trafficking. The ethnographic field research, which I undertook, was a method of seeking reconnection sans condescension by simultaneously belonging to and resisting the discursive community …

Birds Of Freedom? Perspectives On Female Emancipation And Sri Lanka’S Liberation Tigers Of Tamil Eelam, Kim Jordan, Myriam Denov

Journal of International Women's Studies

Over the last decade, females have been an integral part of fighting forces in both international conflicts and in armed struggle in at least 38 internal conflicts. While some scholars argue that recent wars have thrust women into new roles, enabling them to transform their social situations, identities and destinies, others question whether females achieve ‘emancipation’ through active participation in warfare. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka that has been engaged in conflict with the Sri Lankan government since 1983, and actively recruits female cadres, provides an interesting context to explore issues of female empowerment in …

Reflections On Islamic Identity, Citizenship Rights And Women’S Struggle For Gender Justice: Illustration From India, Sabiha Hussain

Journal of International Women's Studies

Women’s rights face an uncertain future throughout much of the Islamic world. The fate of women’s rights throughout the Islamic world crucially hinges upon the outcome of debates on reforms of family and penal codes including new understandings of Islamic law and teaching. It requires mention that there is no monolithic trend of women’s struggle for gender justice even in Islamic countries. It varies with the cultural setting, the political structure of the state and the location of the community. In the Islamic world, the question of gender justice often becomes a struggle to be fought at two levels: against …

Beyond Caliban’S Curses: The Decolonial Feminist Literacy Of Sycorax, Irene Lara

Journal of International Women's Studies

Working from the perspective of decolonial feminism, this essay critiques works that view Caliban in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611) as a symbol of resistance to eurocentrism, as represented in the character of Prospero. I focus on the literary figure Sycorax, the racialized, sexualized and witched mother of Caliban, because the celebration of Caliban as a symbol of subaltern resistance in Latin American/Latino studies has led to her discursive erasure or marginalization. I critically trace appropriations of Caliban, as well as Miranda (Prospero’s daughter), that silence Sycorax. Fundamentally urging the construction of a “literacy of Sycorax,” this essay explores the eurocentric …

Land Loss And Garifuna Women’S Activism On Honduras’ North Coast, Keri Vacanti Brondo

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper reports on the gendered impacts of Honduras’ neoliberal agrarian legislation within the context of tourism development. It draws on ethnographic research with the Afro-indigenous Garifuna to demonstrate how women have been most affected by land privatization on the north coast of Honduras. Garifuna communities are matrifocal and land had historically been passed through matrilineal lines. As the coastal land market expands, Garifuna women have lost their territorial control. The paper also treats Garifuna women’s activism as they resist coastal development strategies and shifts in landholding. While women have been key figures in the Garifuna movement to title and …

Access To Healthcare Vis-À-Vis Women’S Reproductive Health In Cameroon, Michael Soh

Journal of International Women's Studies

All over the world, several million women die each year, and 90% of them in developing countries from pregnancy and childbirth related causes (World Health Organisation Magazine on Women’s Health, 1995). Nearly all of these are preventable, yet in Cameroon, this is far-fetched. This study questions why women die from these causes? Is it due to government neglect, and/or women’s callous attitude toward pregnancy and/or the patriarchal control of women? Are healthcare facilities lacking or rudimentary, inadequately staffed, and/or expensive? This study argues that limited access to healthcare facilities drains women’s reproductive health down the spiral in Munyenge-Cameroon.

Via open-ended …

Gender Discrimination: Beliefs And Experiences: A Comparative Perspective Of Women And Men In The Delhi Police, Punam Sahgal

Journal of International Women's Studies

Gender roles are learnt through the socialization process and subsequently extend to the work context where women and men are believed to have different characteristics and are therefore treated differently. The pervasiveness of workplace gender differences influence hiring practices, salaries and career growth opportunities for women. Gender-based work behavior differences are perceived to be much greater in male dominated professions like the police. While research suggests that there is no evidence that policewomen perform differently from their male counterparts in their day-to-day activities of police, negative male attitudes towards women in police significantly obstruct the advancement of policewomen. Induction of …

Gender Disparities In Living Arrangements Of Older People In Ghana: Evidence From The 2003 Ghana Demographic And Health Survey, Chuks J. Mba

Journal of International Women's Studies

In this study, the living arrangements of persons aged 60 years and older in Ghana are examined. The data for the study emanate from the household roster component of the most recent nationally representative sample survey, the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The focus is on socio-economic and demographic characteristics, as well as co-residential patterns, of the elderly persons. Additionally, use is made of the 1960-2000 census results of Ghana in order to through light on the emerging phenomenon of population ageing in the country. The results show that the proportion of persons aged 60 years or older in …

Gender Responsive Entrepreneurial Economy Of Nigeria: Enabling Women In A Disabling Environment, May Nwoye

Journal of International Women's Studies

Growth and development are among the most exciting subjects in economics, and the application of their principles to developing countries especially the African economies, is both needed and timely. In Nigeria, women have historically been disadvantaged in accessing not only material resources like property and credit, but also have been deprived of resources like education, market information and modern technology. All of these factors have negative implications for the type of enterprises that women are engaged in. This paper highlights the various economic constraints faced by women in Nigeria, as a result of limitations imposed on them by nature and …

Gender Differentiation Among Farmers In The Agricultural Sector In Benguet, Philippines, Jinky Leilanie Lu

Journal of International Women's Studies

This is a cross sectional study on gender differences in work distribution, means of production, decision making, illness and hazard exposure among male and female vegetable farmers. Personal interviews were conducted among 39 vegetable growers in Benguet. Bivariate analysis showed that the husband’s control over income is associated with decision making power in regard household expenditures, except food (p=.050). The illness data showed that the most common illness among the wives involves the respiratory tract, such as cough (7.7%) and asthma (5.1%). Among the husbands, the most common was back pain (10.3%) followed by hypertension, blurred vision and cough (7.7% …

World Ywca Leaders And The Un Decade For Women, Karen Garner

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay analyzes the contributions of three Young Women’s Christian Association leaders who chaired the nongovernmental organization forum planning committees during the UN Decade for Women (1975-1985). It assesses the effectiveness of their leadership and addresses questions of distribution and uses of power within women’s international NGOs and in relationship to the global feminist community.

Violence In The Family: A Preliminary Investigation And Overview Of Wife Battering In Africa, Adewale Rotimi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines wife battering in Africa although it is a world-wide phenomenon. Due to the hidden nature of the problem accurate statistics on it are hard to come by. In many parts of Africa, wife battering is accepted as a part of the culture. This is reinforced by the sex role socialization of women, which encourages and emphasizes submissiveness. The victims of wife battering don’t always leave the abusive environment because of lack of family and community support. Divorce is not always a viable alternative due to the stigma attached to it. Wife battering must be discouraged through legislation, …

Gender Awareness Of Rural Women In Bangladesh, Shahnaj Parveen

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study aims to determine the social status of rural women and their level of gender awareness (GA) in three villages within the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. Data were collected from 156 respondents through group discussions and personal interviews from December 2002 to April 2003. Women’s social status and GA was determined following the Likert scale method. The study reveals that personal income and physical beauty of rural women are the most important factors determining a higher social status while women with distressed conditions including mental and physical disabilities were found to have a lower social status. Among ten pre-selected …

Economic Empowerment Of Women Through Four Psychotherapies In Two Local Government Areas, Nigeria, J. O. Osiki

Journal of International Women's Studies

There is currently a need for more researches to investigate indicators of voluntary/compulsive non-income generating activities and, or behaviour among adult females. Participants of the study were subjected to the quasi-experimental research design adopting the 5x1x5 matrices and 143 adult females screened through the Work Disposition Scale (WDS) and selected from four locations in two Local Government areas of Edo State, Nigeria. Participants were exposed to 5 weeks of intervention using selected work/career enrichment programmes submerged in four psychotherapies. Participants notably in the four intervention groups (i.e. ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’) except those of ‘E’ showed appreciable Mean-score differences …

Respecting The East, Embracing The West: A Tribute To The Women Of The Maritime Sikh Society, Pavna Sodhi

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article pays homage to the women of the Maritime Sikh Society as they juxtapose values from the western and eastern cultures into one mindset. Their quest to preserve, transmit and share their Punjabi culture is reflective in the cohesiveness of their community and religious congregation. Unfortunately, similar to most immigrants, this population dealt with a variety of obstacles in order to develop a bicultural identity and live comfortably in their third space. A third space represents a safe, mutually respectful, comfortable and authentic environment, which encourages an individual to be proud of his or her ethnic heritage and in …

The Social World Of Prostitutes And Devadasis: A Study Of The Social Structure And Its Politics In Early Modern India, Karuna Sharma

Journal of International Women's Studies

This research paper discusses two groups of professional women who had a distinct place in the sexual economy of the period under review. By analyzing the actions and situations of prostitutes and the devadasis (literally meaning servants of God) in terms of a broader context of relationships, I consider the sexual-services and the entertainment provided by them as a meaningful labor, which got integrated at both the social and cultural levels. I have looked at how and to whom the prostitutes and the devadasis sold their labor, and how they related to other women, to men, and to various social …

Book Review: Convent Life In Colonial Mexico: A Tale Of Two Communities, Margaret E. Boyle

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Convent Life in Colonial Mexico: A Tale of Two Communities by Stephanie L. Kirk