Women's Studies Commons^™

A Hand Of Steel In A Velvet Glove: Purpose And Fulfillment Through The Gender Sphere, Sylvie A. Shires

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Modern audiences have come to believe that the nineteenth-century woman was oppressed by a patriarchal society and that until women obtained the vote, they had no voice, and could exert no influence to improve either their lot or that of others. While many scholarly secondary sources, as well as popular culture, strongly support this view, this research challenges it, and posits that this generally accepted interpretation echoes stereotypes that became strong with the second wave of feminism, in the 1960s, but is not representative of nineteenth-century middle-class women in the Anglo-Saxon world.

This research examines the British middle-class woman of …

Writings: Syrian American Women’S Club December 4, 2008, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Speeches: Presented to the Syrian American Women’s Club December 4, 2008 by Dr. Edna Saffy.

Pugnacité Et Pouvoir: La Représentation Des Femmes Dans Les Fi Lms D’Ousmane Sembène, Sheila Petty

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

As a pioneer of African fi lmmaking, Ousmane Sembène has demonstrated a remarkable dedication to exploring the importance of women in African society. From the struggle against colonial oppression by Diouana in La Noire de… (1966) at the beginning of his career, to the character of Kiné and her struggle to build a life for her children in postcolonial Senegal in Faat Kiné (2000), Sembène has portrayed African women as agents of change and courage in their societies. This essay explores women’s representations in two fi lms from Sembène’s oeuvre, including Black Girl (1966) and Faat Kine (2000). Using narrative …

Ibsen’S Female Characters In Captivity: An Exploration Of Literature And Performance, Christina K. Forshey

Senior Honors Theses

In Henrik Ibsen’s plays, A Doll’s House, The Wild Duck, The Lady from the Sea, and Hedda Gabler, the theme of captivity is demonstrated in the female protagonists Nora, Hedvig, Ellida, and Hedda. The theme of captivity also serves as a performance guide for the portrayal of these characters. Ibsen’s female protagonists are in bondage to an object or person that manipulates the character’s mental and emotional senses. The character’s inner captivity reaches a climax where a decision must be made to abolish the chains of captivity or forever remain enslaved. Since the nineteenth century, the actor has greatly benefitted …

Rereading And Rewriting Women's History, Jacqueline Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In Margaret Atwood’s nonfiction book Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (2002), Atwood discusses the importance of the female writer’s responsibility, that to write as a woman or about women means that you take upon yourself the responsibility of writing as a form of negotiation with our female dead and with what these dead took with them—the truth about who they were. By rereading and rewriting our communal past, women writers pay tribute to our female ancestors by voicing their silent stories while also changing gender stereotypes, complicating who these women were, and acknowledging their accomplishments.

In her …

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

Journal of International Women's Studies

No abstract provided.

Women Entrepreneurship In Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises: The Case Of Ethiopia, Eshetu Bekele, Zeleke Worku

Journal of International Women's Studies

This research article examines factors that influence the long-term survival and viability of a random sample of 500 micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) located in five geographical regions of Ethiopia based on a 6-year long follow-up study. The objective of the study is to identify key predictors of long term survival and viability in small businesses and enterprises in Ethiopia, and to find out if small businesses and enterprises operated by male entrepreneurs perform better than those operated by female entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. Data was gathered on key determinants of survival such as access to finance, managerial skills, level …

I Love New York: Does New York Love Me?, Shannon B. Campbell, Steven S. Giannino, Chrystal R. China, Christopher S. Harris

Journal of International Women's Studies

This article seeks to highlight reality television’s most popular re-articulation of the Jezebel and the Sapphire stereotypes while assessing its implications for African American women. Nearly eight decades after their inception in mass mediated culture, the Jezebel and Sapphire stereotypes have been reborn in the form of Tiffany Pollard, better known as “New York,” and her mother “Sister Patterson” (respectively). Television acts as a powerful socialization agent, and thus plays a significant role in how audiences shape their racially stratified and gendered world. Researchers employed discourse analysis to provide the rich contextual data necessary to capture the effects of I …

The Economic Empowerment Of Women: The Case Of Working Women’S Forum, India, Shanthi Nachiappan, S.N. Soundara Rajan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Dr.Jaya Arunachalam, recipient of Padmasri founded Working Women’s Forum in 1978 with an objective of social and economic up-liftment of poorest of poor women in Tamilnadu, India. Now WWF has more than 700,000 women members. This case study deals with how technology has helped these micro entrepreneurs to accomplish their business more effectively and efficiently and how it has introduced drastic changes to their lifestyle.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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: 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

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)