Women's Studies Commons^™

Women's Human Capital And Economic Growth In The Middle East And North Africa, Fatemeh Torabi, Mohammad Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi

Journal of International Women's Studies

The process of demographic transition has increased the share of the working-age population in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This situation has created an opportunity for economic growth, called the demographic dividend. Global comparisons show that a favorable age structure has not always resulted in a boost in economic growth. In order to take a full advantage of the MENA’s demographic dividend, it is important to identify different factors contributing to economic growth in this region. Investment in women’s human capital is expected to have important implications for the region’s economic growth and for maximizing the benefits created …

Women Councilors For Women's Empowerment In Pakistan, Iqtidar Ali Shah, Arshad Aziz, M. Shakil Ahmad

Journal of International Women's Studies

There are considerable disparities between the status of men and women in Pakistan. In Global Gender Gap Report 2014, Pakistan is ranked at 141 among 142 countries of the world and the overall gender gap calculated is 44.78%. Pakistan occupies the last place in the regional ranking of gender gap. In order to reduce this gap, empower women and reduce poverty, the government of Pakistan has adopted various social, economic, legal and political strategies and policies. The reservation of 33% seats for women at union council (village level), tehsil council (sub-district level) and district council level under the new local …

Unveiling The Mysteries Of Aceh, Indonesia: Local And Global Intersections Of Women's Agency, Siti Kusujiarti, Elizabeth W. Miano, Annie L. Pryor, Breanna R. Ryan

Journal of International Women's Studies

Forces of globalization, local culture, and Islam continuously inform one another and dynamically manifest in cultures across the world. Scholars often assume that these influences may have distinct and independent effects. However, we argue that these global forces occur simultaneously and they may contradict or complement each other along a spectrum within Aceh, Indonesia. The manifestations and responses vary depending on the nature of the interactions of global and local factors. This spectrum represents various ways in which women negotiate identity and agency, specifically within the context of the implementation of Shari’ah Law. This research investigates the specific ways in …

East Indian Women And Leadership Roles During Indentured Servitude In British Guiana 1838-1920, Lomarsh Roopnarine

Journal of International Women's Studies

The following article examines leadership roles among indentured East Indian women in British Guiana (now Guyana). The research shows that leadership roles among indentured East Indian women were not as broad as those among indentured East Indian men. The main reasons for this are that Indian women were recruited from the lower ranks of Indian society, which stymied leadership roles, and the authoritarian structure of the plantation system, which supported patriarchal trends. Moreover, the colonial records do not reveal leadership roles among Indian women because the records are based on imperial domination and exploitation, reflecting anecdotal rather than analytical evidence. …

An Assessment Of The Constitutional, Legislative And Judicial Measures Against Harmful Cultural Practices That Violate Sexual And Reproductive Rights Of Women In South Africa, John Cantius Mubangizi

Journal of International Women's Studies

Sexual and reproductive rights of women are widely violated and abused in Africa, partly because of numerous gender-based cultural and traditional practices. All these practices exist to varying extents in many African countries—including South Africa. The Bill of Rights in the South African Constitution has several provisions that relate to the protection of sexual and reproductive rights of women, but the Constitution also provides for the right to culture, which allows for traditional and cultural practices—some of which violate certain human rights norms including the sexual and reproductive rights of women. International and constitutional protection notwithstanding, such rights can only …

Textually Mediated Labour Activism: An Examination Of The Ladies Auxiliary Of The Canadian Mine Mill & Smelter Workers Union, 1940s-1960s, Elizabeth Quinlan, Andrea Quinlan

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper examines the activism of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mine Mill and Smelter Workers Union – Canada (MMSW) in the 1940s and 1950s. Drawing on Institutional Ethnography (IE), this paper examines the work of individual MMSW Auxiliary locals across Canada and the ways in which localized political action was coordinated through texts. The paper focuses on how Ladies Auxiliary locals activated two kinds of texts, the MMSW Ladies Auxiliary (LA) Constitution and the district and national Auxiliary newsletters, and examines how these texts coordinated Ladies Auxiliary members’ union work. The paper reveals the political organizing efforts of the …

Addressing The Safety And Trauma Issues Of Abused Women: A Cross-Canada Study Of Ywca Shelters, Leslie M. Tutty

Journal of International Women's Studies

Shelters for women are often seen as the major resource for intimate partner violence, yet few evaluations have been published. This study describes the needs, trauma symptoms and safety issues of 368 women as they enter and leave emergency shelters in ten Canadian violence against women emergency shelters; nine operated by the YWCA and a private shelter in Nova Scotia. The results capture the nature of the abuse, what the women wanted from shelter residence, the services they received, and their plans for afterwards. On shelter entry, on the Danger Assessment over 75% of women residents fell in the range …

Reducing Poverty Among Arab And Muslim Women: The Case Of Arab Women In Israel, Yosef Jabareen

Journal of International Women's Studies

The international experience suggests that work is the best way of lifting families out of poverty. Thus, this paper assumes that one crucial policy, among many others, aimed at poverty reduction is to increase the women’s participation in the labour market and their access to decent work. This issue is critical among Arab and Muslim women around the world in general and among Arab women in Israel since the participation rate of women in the labour market is quite low and about 55% of the Arab families live under the poverty line. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the reasons …

Prostitution In Thailand: Representations In Fiction And Narrative Non-Fiction, Lisa Lines

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper explores problematic Western approaches to women working as prostitutes within the ‘sex tourism’ industry in Thailand through an examination of how their situation is portrayed in the various English-language fiction and non-fiction narratives written on this topic. The first half of this study focuses on the context, practices and working conditions of the Thai sex tourism industry. This is then used as the lens through which to analyse the approaches to Thai sex tourism in Western mainstream literature.

Four books were analysed for their depiction of Thai prostitutes, with a focus on the plots, themes and characterisations of …

Professional Female Bodybuilding: Self-Determination Theory Approach, Mark T. Suffolk

Journal of International Women's Studies

Female professional bodybuilders have received a substantial amount of scholarly and media attention. However, investigations have largely been conducted from a pathologizing perspective. This exploratory research investigated the female bodybuilding community from a positive development perspective. Thematic analysis was applied to twenty four publicly available online video interviews of female professional bodybuilders ranging in age from 29-49 years to understand the reasons as to why females take up the sport of bodybuilding, and to identify factors that contribute towards continued participation. Identified themes were framed within Self-Determination Theory. The findings indicate that pursuing bodybuilding can provide mechanisms that link the …

Femininities And Masculinities In Brazilian Women's Football: Resistance And Compliance, Jorge Knijnik

Journal of International Women's Studies

Football is not only one of the major cultural manifestations of Brazilian society; it is also the pinnacle of the country’s hegemonic masculinity, a bastion into which women should not be allowed. Despite some progress and several international sporting successes achieved over the last few decades, Brazilian female footballers still endure extreme gender prejudice when playing football in Brazil. Gender discrimination blocks their access to minimal conditions of football training and playing at recreational and competitive levels. This paper aims to discuss gender issues that pervade Brazilian football. The paper applies a multifaceted theoretical background, combining a psychoanalytical view of …

Social Media And The Spiral Of Silence: The Case Of Kuwaiti Female Students Political Discourse On Twitter, Ali A. Dashti, Hamed H. Al-Abdullah, Hasan A. Johar

Journal of International Women's Studies

The theory of the Spiral of Silence (Noelle-Neumann, 1984), explained why the view of a minority is not presented when the majority view dominates the public sphere. For years the theory of the spiral of silence was used to describe the isolation of minority opinions when seeking help from traditional media, which play a significant role in increasing the isolation. The fear of isolation makes many people afraid of exchanging their views face-to-face with others. The main fear comes from identifying the people who hold a minority opinion. However, with the proliferation of social networks people have moved online to …

An Empirical Study Of The Perception Of Undergraduates Of Nigerian Females' Participation In Science, Technology And Mathematics, Lucy Eraikhuemen, I. K. Oteze

Journal of International Women's Studies

Science, Technology and Mathematics (STM) have been identified as the bed rock or foundation of wealth and consequently an imperative for national development. It has also been argued that in this era of globalization only persons with appreciable knowledge, skills and abilities in STM are required in the job market. Female gender discrimination is also said to be evident in the school system of many developing countries. This study was design to investigate the perception of undergraduates of Nigerian females’ participation in STM. The study focused on subjects’ awareness of the problem of under representation of females in STM, expected …

Gender Representation In English And Arabic Foreign Language Textbooks In Iran: A Comparative Approach, Mitra Baghdadi, Ali Rezaei

Journal of International Women's Studies

Female educational attainment in Iran has been increasing since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran. This study investigated whether this female superiority is reflected or supported in Iranian textbooks. The study investigated how gender roles are represented in Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and AFL (Arabic as a Foreign Language) textbooks. “Criteria for Analysis of the Equality of Gender Representation” by Rifkin, was used for content analysis. These criteria are grouped into two main categories of ‘pictorial’ and ‘verbal’. The results showed that with no exception and in all criteria, males were represented significantly more than …

Exploring The Contribution Of Teaching And Learning Processes: Constructing Students’ Gender Identity In An Early Years Classroom Of A Government Girls Primary School In Pakistan, Amina Bibi Baig

Journal of International Women's Studies

The construction of gender identity is a complex process which begins at a very early formative age. In these formative years, children begin making sense of how men and women are positioned in society. Schools as important institutions play a significant role in this process particularly with reference to students’ understanding of the gender relationships around them. This article reports on a study which explored how gender identity construction takes place in a single sex (girls) classroom for early years. The study investigated the teacher-student interactions and student-student interactions in the real environment of the classroom. Qualitative research guided the …

Testimony On The Equal Pay Act [H. 1733/S. 983], Ann Bookman

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

Testimony on the Equal Pay Act [H. 1733/S. 983] by Ann Bookman, PhD, delivered at the Massachusetts State House, 2015 July 21.

Culture On The Move: Depression-Era Documentary And Migrant California, Joseph Entin

Criticism

California on the Breadlines: Dorothea Lange, Paul Taylor, and the Making of a New Deal Narrative by Jan Goggans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. Pp. 368. $40.00 cloth.

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, Univeristy College

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Dramatizing Power And Resistance: Images Of Women In Pakistani And Indian Alternative Theater, Sobia Mubarak

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Pakistani and Indian plays that illustrate the nexus of power relations that operate in Pakistan and India to disempower women and the way women resist by creating dialogic spaces or fissures in the exploitative system. I have selected plays by Ajoka Theater in Pakistan and plays dealing with the similar thematic concerns by notable Indian playwrights to explore common grounds and points of departure. I have chosen four images of women depicting diverse modes of oppression associated with women’s bodies that are dealt with in these plays.

Chapter 1 examines Barri/The Acquittal by Ajoka theater, and Mother …

An Exploration Of Health Providers' Responses To Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv) In Malaysia, Kee Pau

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

This grounded theory study aimed to examine factors that influence Malaysian health providers' attitudes, knowledge, and responses to IPV survivors, including health providers' perceptions of IPV, factors that influenced the ways they work with IPV survivors, factors they perceived toward influencing IPV survivors' help-seeking behaviors, and their recommendations for improving IPV training. Seventeen (N = 17) participants were recruited using snowball sampling and theoretical sampling was utilized to ensure the data was saturated. The results found nine superordinate themes that highlights health providers' perceptions of IPV in general, conceptualization of IPV, institutional factors, health providers' personal factors, sociocultural factors, …

The Spectacle Of Orphanhood: Reimagining Orphans In Postbellum Fiction, Afrin Zeenat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Orphan iconography has always been deployed in American literature and culture, but nineteenth-century American literature, fiction in particular, abounds in orphans, both real and imaginary. The orphan’s amphibious nature is hailed and demonized as the epitome of individualism and unbridled freedom, and also as the location of society’s anxiety. This complicated and conflicted construction of orphans animates the Social and cultural realm in postbellum America, foregrounding issues of class, race, and gender.

Ophelia And The Feminine Construct, Lilly E. Romestant

Oglethorpe Journal of Undergraduate Research

In Shakespeare's celebrated tragic masterpiece, Hamlet, one of the most controversial and seminal characters, Ophelia, continues to have a heavy influence on contemporary culture today in some unexpected ways. Her prevalence in mainstream media––including film, literature, drama, and music homages––validates not only her importance now but also reimagines and reinforces her parallel importance at the time of her debut in 1603. Her association with global teenage culture, suicide, and mental illness, puts her in the unique position of being heralded, generation after generation, as an icon of depression in female youth. This can be both positive and negative, as …

Appropriating The Restoration: Fictional Place And Time In Rose Tremain’S Restoration: A Novel Of Seventeenth-Century England, Judith Bailey Slagle

ETSU Faculty Works

Excerpt: It was the sixties—albeit the 1660s—a time for tricksters, rakes, subversive women and sexual energy on the stage. It was a time of fun for those with the means to partake of it. The “good old days” are, of course, always better from a distance, but writers on through the twentieth century found the Restoration an apt setting for their fictions about prostitution, political intrigue, and tragic or comic historical events, especially for the cinema.

“Ain’T No Real Pimps Out There No More”: Street-Involved Women’S Characterizations Of Men Who Facilitate Street-Based Sex Work, Susan Dewey, Rhett Epler

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

Drawing upon five years of ethnographic research with over 100 Denver, Colorado women involved in street­‐based sex work and drug use, this paper explores what the women's discursive framings of men who facilitate women's sex work activities reveal about the exclusionary social and criminal justice practices that shape their lives.

Oscuridad Unraveled, Orlinda Pacheco

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Oscuridad Unraveled is a compilation of many stylistic poems. There are narrative poems interspersed with somewhat surreal poems that tell a story about the Oscuridad as a child and adult. As Oscuridad’s childhood story is unfolding so is her adult story causing a cyclical motion within reader and writer, or maybe a rollercoaster with many loops and turns. Nonetheless, it begins with poems that shaped a small innocent girl and leads to the creation of the adult woman who cannot have children, who embraces the passion of being “the other” and luxury of sex without consequence. This is a story …

Lost In Translation: Regressive Femininity In American J-Horror Remakes, Matthew Ducca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the ways in which the representation of female characters changes between Japanese horror films and the subsequent American remakes. The success of Gore Verbinski's The Ring (2002) sparked a mass American interest in Japan's contemporary horror cinema, resulting in a myriad of remakes to saturate the market. However, the adaptation process resulted in alterations of the source material to better conform to gender stereotypes and conventions associated with the American conception of the horror genre. Valerie Wee and Steven Rawle's research regarding cultural and gender differences between Ringu and The Ring is expanded to also include similar …

The Pulitzer Prize And Women: An Investigation Into Three Decades Of Winning Plays By Female Dramatists (1981-2009), Kathleen Potts

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dramas by women had won the Pulitzer Prize six times in the years spanning from 1921 to 1958, followed by an unexplained absence of female winners from 1959 to 1980. Then in the 1980s three women won and women continued to win up until the present day. Covering three decades - the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s - this dissertation investigates these Pulitzer Prize-winning plays by female dramatists: Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley; 'night, Mother by Marsha Norman; The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein; How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel; W;t (a.k.a. Wit) by Margaret Edson; …

All Consuming Self-Destructiveness: Images Of Female Attractiveness In Fashion Advertising And The Impact On Women's Body Satisfaction, Self-Presentations On Social Networks, And Beauty-Related Consumption Behavior, Maria Christoforou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sociocultural stereotypes of feminine beauty are widespread in almost every form of popular media, but most pervasively in fashion advertising. The fashion advertising industry overwhelms women with images that represent what is considered to be the "ideal beauty." In reality, for most women such stereotypes of beauty are almost totally unachievable, as the ideal beauty portrayed in advertisements is based on absolute perfection. Advertisers' use of such extreme and unrealistic role models implies that in order for a woman to be considered beautiful she must be perfect, which makes it difficult for her to achieve any level of contentment with …

Affecting Neoliberal Public Health Care: Interdependent Relationality Between Disabled Care Recipients And Their Care Providers, Akemi Nishida

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I trace the neoliberal turn of a public health-care program, Medicaid, and its effects on those who are involved in it: disabled care recipients and their care providers. Also examined is the emergence of an affective relationality between these individuals through their daily practices of care. In 1993, Medicaid went through a neoliberal turn that accelerated its privatization. I investigate the ways in which this turn--in company with the neoliberal transition of other welfare programs and the rise of a transnational care industry--further deployed a gendered, raced, classed, and immigration-based division of care labor that commodified and …

The Journal Of Mother Studies: A Peer Reviewed, International, Interdisciplinary, Open-Acess, Digital Humanities Hybrid Project, Martha Joy Rose

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Academic Journals are an established forum for educators and researchers to disseminate information within their field. Journals act as mediators of knowledge, advancing the canons within specific areas of study. There are currently two journals that focus on motherhood from an interdisciplinary perspective and one that focuses on fathers. However, none of these determine a specific foundational definition of what the field is, what it hopes to study, and how it will advance itself. Rather, these journals are general collections of a great number of things that touch on varying subjects regarding motherhood and fatherhood. This thesis argues for the …