Women's Studies Commons^™

Editorial, Tiantian Zheng

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Birth On The Threshold: Childbirth And Modernity In South India By Cecilia Van Hollen. Berkeley, Ca. University Of California Press, 2003, Kathryn Coffey

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Woman’S Identity And The Qur’An: A New Reading. Nimat Hafez Barazangi. University Press Of Florida. 2004. Isbn: 0-8130-2785-3, Mark Davidheiser

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Call To Action: A Pay Equity Resource Guide, Kacie Kelly

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Women continue to enter the workforce at record levels and laws on the state and federal levels prohibit gender discrimination in the workplace. Yet employment discrimination persists and women’s wages remain lower than men’s wages for comparable positions and occupations. With the 2005 publication of GETTING EVEN: Why Women Don’t Get Paid as Much as Men and What To Do About It by Economist and former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy, the issue of wage equity is finally receiving the widespread and sustained attention it deserves.

This resource guide provides an overview of the issues related to the wage gap …

The Ngo-Ification Of The Anti-Trafficking Movement In The United States: A Case Study Of The Coalition To Abolish Slavery And Trafficking, Jennifer Lynne Musto

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

While NGOs proffer valuable services to trafficked persons, this paper maps how increased professionalization of the anti-trafficking movement in the U.S. has curtailed trafficked persons’ efforts to organize a movement that speaks to their experiences and needs. In order to highlight tensions and exclusionary practices that exist within the professionally centered U.S. anti-trafficking movement, I present one case study of a Los Angeles based NGO dedicated to providing social services and political advocacy to trafficked persons. By examining the micropolitics of advocacy work, this paper explores how funding pressures and ideological debates about prostitution have delimited trafficked persons’ ability to …

When Tragedy Hits: A Concise Socio-Cultural Analysis Of Sex Trafficking Of Young Iranian Women, Sholeh Shahroki

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

In this paper, I focus predominantly on the cultural context of sex trafficking of young Iranian women into the underground markets of the Persian Gulf region. Neither human trafficking nor sex trade is a modern trait. While these age-old practices have been the subject of protest by the moralists and the liberal feminists alike, rarely does the discourse of eradication of human trafficking and the restoration of the abject bodies include a remedy to revise the local and common gendered belief that allows for these informal economies to proliferate. New trends of sex-trade in the Gulf region have emerged out …

From Thailand With Love: Transnational Marriage Migration In The Global Care Economy, Sine Plambech

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

Women from Asia are increasingly traversing borders to marry men in the Western world. This article presents ethnographic research focused on Thai women married to Danish men. The existing discourse portrays these Thai ”mail order brides” through a discourse of victimization. First, they are commonly portrayed as being uprooted and permanently alienated from Thailand. Second, they are seen as merely victims of Third World poverty. A third portrayal sees them as a contraband commodity in illegal human trafficking. As a result, they are seen as victims of simple male domination. This raises two socio-political problems. First, the discourse does not …

Beyond Trafficking, Agency And Rights: A Capabilities Perspective On Filipina Experiences Of Domestic Work In Paris And Hong Kong, Leah Briones

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

Current analyses of trafficking in unskilled female migrant labour are dominated by the concepts of victimisation, agency and rights. So far, however, such concepts have done more to legitimate receiving countries’ border control protection than to protect the livelihood needs of these migrant workers. Drawing on the experiences of Filipina domestic workers in Paris and Hong Kong, this paper uses Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach to question the efficacy of the current anti-trafficking discourse.

Anti-Trafficking Campaign And Karaoke Bar Hostesses In China, Tiantian Zheng

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

This article discusses the adverse effect upon sex workers of China’s abolitionist policy that focuses on forced prostitution and launches anti-trafficking campaigns. The argument developed in this paper is based on over twenty months of fieldwork between 1999 and 2002 in Dalian. I will first discuss karaoke bar industry and China’s policy of anti-trafficking campaigns. I will then demonstrate the impact of this policy on hostesses in karaoke bars. I will follow it with an account of how, unlike the government’s perception of forced prostitution, hostesses voluntarily choose their profession and actively seek sex work in countries such as Japan …

Akua Kuenyehia (Ed.). Women And Law In West Africa: Gender Relations In The Family- A West African Perspective (Accra: Women And Law In West Africa, 2003. Pp. Xv, 215. Graphs, Tables.), Emma Nesper

Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies

No abstract provided.

Women's Work And The Informal Sector: Case Studies Of Egypt's Feminization Of The Textile And Garment Industries And Market Vendors, Engi Assaad El-Maghraby

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Islamic Law And Women's Rights: Questioning The Validity Of The Reservations Invoking Islamic Law To The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw), Malak Khalil

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will attempt to demonstrate that the reservations invoking Islamic law to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are invalid. Reservations to human rights treaties in general are problematic, because these ones not only govern the relationship between States, but they also govern the relationship between the State and its citizens. Thus, finding a balance between state sovereignty, the pillar of international law and the rights of the people remains a challenge in the international arena. Another dimension of the argument is analyzing the validity of claiming Islamic law as a basis …

The Good, Bad, And Ugly: Doctoral Educational Experiences Of Selected African American Women, Augusta Deneal

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the complex phenomena of African American doctoral persistence. Specifically, this study described the experiences of eight African American women in terms of how they preserved, persisted, and succeed in their doctoral programs. This research study used the Critical Race Theory as a theoretical foundation with insights particularly from Black Feminists (Collins, 1990, 1994; Forman, 1997; Hooks, 1984) and rising minority scholars (Green & Scott, 2003; HowardHamilton, 2003; Jarmon, 2003; Johnson-Bailey, 2003; Jones, 2005). Grounded theory methodology (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1990) was used to generate a theory of doctoral …

Doctoral Education Among Latter-Day Saint (Lds) Women: A Phenomenological Study Of A Mother's Choice To Achieve, Jonathan Glade Hall

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) have been compellingly counseled by church leaders that motherhood should be women’s greatest ambition, and as such that it should demand mothers’ full-time in the home; at the same time they have been taught to get all of the education that they can. Mothers with young families must decide if they should continue their educational pursuits, or spend their full-time in the home. This study sought to fill a gap in the literature and understand the lived experience of these women by researching how LDS mothers with young children …

La Mujer Guerrillera En Recuerdo Y Texto: Nicaragua Y El Salvador, Berta Avila

Pitzer Senior Theses

La mujer guerrillera en Latinoamérica es un fenómeno del siglo veinte. Los conflictos armados de Centroamérica crearon condiciones donde la mujer se vio obligada a salir de su rol femenino tradicional para asistir en la lucha armada. Nicaragua y El Salvador son dos países donde los conflictos llegaron a un final, sea por medio de un derrocamiento exitoso del gobierno o por acuerdos de paz. Las mujeres que decidieron participar activamente en la lucha contra el gobierno llegaron a ese punto por vías diferentes y con diferentes metas, pero la experiencia de ser mujer en un ambiente tradicionalmente dominado por …

Patchwork Memories: A Mother-Daughter Memoir, Maggie Gordon

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Patchwork Memories is a relational memoir that illustrates the experiences of a mother and daughter. It was written over the course of six months, from September, 2007 to March, 2008.

I began writing the memoir exactly two weeks after my mother passed away from a four-and-a-half year battle with lung cancer. Originally, the story was to become a “straight” memoir, but after a couple weeks, I found myself creeping into the stories just as often as my mother appeared. I decided it would be inappropriate to write a memoir about a woman who could not offer her own insights about …

Sparkle: What Every Teenage Girl Should Know, Alexandria D’Angelo

Senior Honors Projects

As a journalism major with an interest in women’s studies, I took time to educate myself about the tactics that the magazine media use to sell themselves. I focused on magazines, because I am a print-oriented journalism student with the goal of working for a newspaper or a magazine after graduation. During my research, I found that there are few publications in this country offering sound advice to problems that teenage girls face on a daily basis. Most magazines for teenage girls focus on celebrity style, gossip and make-up tips. There is nothing wrong with this form of entertainment, especially …

“Do You Not Know What Happens To Mothers In America?”, Angela Santopietro

Senior Honors Projects

Joan Kofodimos, author of, Balancing Act: How Managers Can Integrate Successful Careers and Fulfilling Personal Lives (1993), defines work-family integration as, “Having a satisfying, healthy, and productive life that includes work, play, and love; that integrates a range of life activities with attention to self and to personal and spiritual development; and that expresses a person’s unique wishes, interests, and values.” It is particularly important to help working mothers gain work-family integration, also known as work-family balance, because of the effects on family, work, and society. The burden of work and family often falls disproportionately on the shoulders of working …

Planning And Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?, Annamaria Lusardi, Olivia S. Mitchell

Dartmouth Scholarship

Many older US households have done little or no planning for retirement, and there is a substantial population that seems to undersave for retirement. Of particular concern is the relative position of older women, who are more vulnerable to old-age poverty due to their longer longevity. This paper uses data from a special module we devised on planning and financial literacy in the 2004 Health and Retirement Study. It shows that women display much lower levels of financial literacy than the older population as a whole. In addition, women who are less financially literate are also less likely to plan …

The Shifting Sands Of Success: Digital Planning Case Study Utilizing Library Science/Archive Graduate Students, Danelle L. Moon

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Art Therapy With Native American Cancer Survivors: An Observation Of Nonverbal Communication Styles, Kathryn Dengler

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

There is a high morbidity rate among Native American women with breast cancer. Research suggests that traditional beliefs in addition to miscommunication within the healthcare setting may affect the treatment Natives receive. This study observed the nonverbal communication patterns of ten Native American cancer survivors participating in an art psychoeducational workshop. Mapping techniques and situational analysis were used to observe nonverbal communication patterns during the workshop. It was hypothesized that Native Americans would use nonverbal cues more readily than verbal communication.

The results of the study supported the hypothesis. Nonverbal cues were the primary means of communication throughout the workshop. …

Effects Of Protégé-Mentor Gender Mix On Organisational Commitment, David E. Okurame

Journal of International Women's Studies

This study examined the interaction effects of protégé and mentor gender on organisational commitment in the Nigerian work setting. Data was collected from one hundred and sixty-one dyads in four gender combinations through a survey of a large government owned health institution. Results revealed that mean scores of all-male, all female, and the female protégé-male mentor dyads were comparable while that of male protégé-female mentor was significantly low. Whereas organisational commitment was better for male protégés when their mentors were males, it was better for females when mentors were females. The study narrows the gap created by the dearth of …

The Mauritian Election Of 2005: An Unprecedented Increase Of Women In Parliament, Mi Yung Yoon, Sheila Bunwaree

Journal of International Women's Studies

Before the 2005 election, women’s legislative representation in Mauritius had always been one of the lowest in the African continent, and the lowest in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Although the number of women in the Mauritian legislature has fluctuated over time, the latest election on July 3, 2005 brought an unprecedented increase in the number of women from 4 (5.7 per cent) to 12 (17.1 per cent) in its 70-member legislature. Before this increase, the number of female members of parliament (MPs) had never exceeded six. If so, what contributed to such a sharp increase? This study addresses …

Emergence Of Women From ‘Private’ To ‘Public’: A Narrative Of Power Politics From Mizoram, Anup Shekhar Chakraborty

Journal of International Women's Studies

Understanding the complex state-building process in Mizoram requires the systematic mapping of the discourses and narratives of ‘inclusion’ and ‘exclusion’ at all levels which is thoroughly dictated by those in power. The region’s ‘Histories’ of statecraft and policies displays a distinct narrative than that of mainland India. The ‘Northeast’ in general and Mizoram in particular, provides a unique experience in understanding the trends in everyday politics as ‘a living space’ in contemporary India. Mizoram, as a category in contemporary Indian politics reminds one of ‘the protracted insurgency led by the legendary Laldenga and the Mizo National Front’. The region remains …

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 …

Organizational Role Stress Indices Affecting Burnout Among Nurses, Jinky Leilanie Lu

Journal of International Women's Studies

This was a cross sectional study, which aimed to determine the interaction between situational, factors, role stressors, hazard exposure and personal factors among 246 nurses consisting most of females (78.5%) from the different wards and units in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). The dominance of female sin the profession reinforce the prevailing notion that the caring professions such as nursing are relegated to women. This gives the study its gender perspective. Almost half (49.6%) of the respondents reported being ill due to work in the past year, and 56.1% missed work because of an illness. Correlation statistics using the Spearman’s …

Creating Alternative And Demedicalized Spaces: Testimonial Narrative On Disability, Culture, And Racialization, Parin Dossa

Journal of International Women's Studies

The literature on disability, gender and “race” has benefited from the political economy perspective. With its emphasis on unmasking the workings of power, this perspective has brought into relief the systemic, institutionalized and spatial oppression of disabled persons, compounded in the case of gender and “race.” This narrative of deconstruction, however, remains incomplete in the absence of voice and subjectivity of persons with disabilities. Using narrative moments, recounted by an immigrant woman with two “disabled” children, this paper makes a case for an integrated framework for a study of racialized persons with disabilities. Here, the margins2 are not out there …

Dilemmas Of Islamic And Secular Feminists And Feminisms, Huma Ahmed-Ghosh

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores ways in which a multifaceted understanding of Islamic feminism can contribute to productive dialogue about the future of Muslim women in both Islamic and secular states. Towards that end I will discuss the numerous interpretations of Islamic, secular, collaborative and hybrid feminisms that have surfaced in Islamic and non-Islamic nations. There is a pragmatic value to developing a standard for Islamic feminism that can be “modern” and held up to more oppressive local conditions/politics and their extremes of patriarchy. To do this, one needs a comprehensive review of what local oppressions exist in specific countries and what …

Deconstructing Islamization In Pakistan: Sabiha Sumar Wages Feminist Cinematic Jihad Through A Documentary Lens, Rahat Imran

Journal of International Women's Studies

Over half a billion Muslim women live in vastly different lands, cultures, societies, economies, and political systems. Yet, as Iranian scholar Mahnaz Afkhami points out, Muslim women’s oppressions are similar due to gender-discrimination under Islamic Sharia laws and patriarchal doctrines that are exercised in the name of religion and culture. Pakistan has been a prime example of how religious fundamentalism and politicization of religion can transform a secular society into one held hostage by Islamic extremist doctrines and gender-specific laws. It is a cause for hope and celebration then that its progressive and secular elements, particularly educated, urban women, have …

The Sita Syndrome: Examining The Communicative Aspects Of Domestic Violence From A South Asian Perspective, Archana Pathak Bhatt

Journal of International Women's Studies

This essay explores the communicative aspects of domestic violence by articulating the Eurocentric components of domestic violence research. Utilizing a post-colonial ethnography, this essay reconceptualizes domestic violence from a South Asian perspective, articulating the ways in which relational violence, its acceptance and its social function are gendered.