Women's Studies Commons^™

Women's Empowerment By Group Sewing Training: A Microfinance Study In El Salvador, Sharleen Andrews

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This case study explored the lived experiences of 8 participants in a microfinance sewing program in El Salvador. Numerous studies focused on empowering women by employing microfinance projects or programs in many countries; however, a lack of empirical data exists regarding Salvadoran women's perceptions about how a sewing program with teamwork affects women's empowerment. The purpose of this case study was to understand the women's personal stories, their obstacles as well as any factors they saw as empowering them. Guided by a constructionist framework, a sample of 8 participants: 5 who were sewing students and 3 who were employees, who …

Female Veterans' Combat Experience And Ptsd On Male Partners' Psychological Distress And Relationship Quality, Theresa Denise Abraham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Female veterans' combat exposure to trauma places them at risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which has consequences for healthful reintegration to family and civilian life. Previous research found that wives who provide continuous care to male veterans with PTSD experience symptoms of psychological distress; however, little research has been conducted on the influence of female veterans' PTSD on their intimate male partners' (IMPs) psychological well-being. A multivariate correlational design was used to examine the influence of female veteran PTSD on psychological distress and relationship quality in IMPs. The couples' adaption to traumatic stress model was used as the …

Lived Experiences Of Women Receiving Substance Abuse Treatment From Male Counselors, Robert C. Bennett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cost of the misuse of drugs is significant. The impact is felt across multiple systems across America and is covered mostly by federal, state, and local governments. Women comprise a significant portion of the persons using illicit drugs. Treatment is an effective way of reducing substance misuse. However, research into the efficacy of treatment for women lag that of men. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that women receiving substance abuse treatment from a man had shorter stays in treatment and poorer outcomes than those who had a female counselor while in treatment. Phenomenological and relational-cultural …

African American Female Clergy In Dual Clergy Marriage, Demetra Keyanna-Michelle Hutchinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Burgeoning evidence has shown rapid growth of licensed and ordained female clergy within the Protestant church. Consequently, dual clergy couples have also increased in number. Research has suggested that African American female clergy have experienced greater challenges than male clergy in leadership roles in the church, including social isolation, sexism, and glass-ceiling barriers. Female clergy are also disproportionately affected by mental and physical health complications including depression, obesity, and burnout. Guided by adult personal resilience theory and its tenets of determination, endurance, adaptability, and recuperability, this interpretive phenomenological study focused on exploring the lived experiences of 13 African American female …

Investigation Of Posttraumatic Growth On Health Behaviors With Self-Efficacy As A Mediator, Annissa Pellicano

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has been accumulating on the positive outcomes that people may experience following trauma. However, scholarly literature is deficient in the area of investigating the association among centrality of event (CE), posttraumatic growth (PTG), and health behaviors of women with histories of sexual trauma. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to (a) determine the extent of the relationship between CE and PTG, (b) explore the relationship between PTG and health behaviors (i.e., drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, and physical activity), and (c) to determine whether general self-efficacy (SE) mediated these relationships. The theoretical frameworks used to inform this …

Yoga As A Women’S Population Health Intervention, Lisa Ann Clow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women’s mortality rate in the United States has increased in almost every age group in the past several years. However, more women in the United States are choosing yoga as a complementary health approach to improve general well-being. Thus, research on yoga and other factors that affect women’s health in the United States may inform public health initiatives to address the health disparities in women’s mortality rates. Grounded in the health belief model, the purpose of this study was to explore whether the factors of practicing the components of yoga, doctor’s recommendation for increased physical activity, body mass index (BMI) …

Financial Strategies For Long-Term Success In Women-Owned Small Businesses, Melissa Renee Dyer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, many small businesses fail within the first 5 years due to poor implementation of long term financial strategies. Researchers and business practitioners indicated that women small business owners face challenges in financing their small businesses beyond 5 years due to a lack of long-term financial strategies. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore long term financial strategies women use to sustain their small businesses beyond 5 years. The general theory of entrepreneurship was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 11 women small business owners in …

Predictive Factors Of Drug Court Completion For Female Participants, Shannon Jordan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women comprise one of the fastest growing populations of the criminal justice system, yet little research exists concerning the success of these women completing a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. Trauma theory was applied to inform the variables in this quantitative correlational study. The predictive nature of age, educational level, marital status, violent criminal history, and mental health problems for women were examined in relation to completion of a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. A convenience sample from secondary, archival data was obtained from a criminal justice agency in Washington, DC. The dataset included women who participated in …

Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Practices And Enterprise Longevity: A Multiple Case Study, Debra Howard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women entrepreneurs are emerging in the national economy as important players, yet gender bias and stereotypes still exist in organizations that prevent firms from taking advantage of women'€™s potential as leaders in entrepreneurial ventures. At the same time, traditional leadership models are lacking in diversity and unanswered questions remain regarding the role of gender in entrepreneurial leadership and enterprise sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative study, which used an exploratory, multiple-case research design, was to gain insight into the leadership practices of women entrepreneurial leaders and the implications of these practices for enterprise longevity 5 years after their business'€™s start-up …

The Social Interaction Model Of Objectification: A Process Model Of Goal-Based Objectifying Exchanges Between Men And Women, Sarah Gervais, Gemma Sáez, Abigail R. Riemer, Olivier Klein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

People perceive and treat women as sex objects in social exchanges. The interaction processes through which women are objectified, however, have rarely been considered. To address this gap in the literature, we propose the Social Interaction Model of Objectification (SIMO). Rooted in social exchange and objectification theories, the SIMO predicts objectifying behaviors stemming from sexual goals between men and women. We propose that the behavioral dynamics of objectification can be understood through a series of goal-based exchange processes that are shaped by patriarchy. Articulating the SIMO and its predictions for Behavior in social interactions, we describe the scant social psychological …

Sororal Bonds Actualized: Sisterhood In Charlotte Bronte's Shirley And Louisa May Alcott's Work, Lorin Richard

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gaps In Bringing In The Bystander: An Intersectional Approach To Campus-Based Sexual Violence Prevention, Anne E. Rudzinski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper draws upon pilot-test data from an intersectional approach to a sexual violence prevention program on university campuses. While many programs have been created to address the sexual violence epidemic, many focus heavily on white, heterosexual, and cisgender scenarios. This research utilizes the Bringing in the Bystander® workshop, a community-based prevention initiative focused on preventing sexual violence through inspiring students to intervene in pro-social ways. In this analysis, the program maintained the same pedagogical structure, but contained a wider variety of narratives designed to include stories and scenarios about contexts relevant to the experiences of LGBTQ+ and racialized students. …

A Phenomenological Research Study On The Effects Of Paternal Abandonment On Hispanic Women In South Florida And Their Conflict Management Skills, Diana Herrera

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Even though women who have been abandoned by their fathers at a young age are more likely to exhibit destructive behaviors as adults, there are cases in which women develop new social skills and become successful at building new relationships (Stolberg, Complair & Wells, 1987). The main purpose for this phenomenological research wasto understand the shared experiences of Hispanic women who were abandoned by their fathers at a young age and explore their conflict management skills. This research wasguided by the following research question: What are the lived experiences of Hispanic women who were abandoned by their fathers before the …

Mandated Representation: The Effect Of Legislative Gender Quotas On Attitudes Toward Gender Equality, Rustin Suray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do gender quotas actually change attitudes toward gender equality? Research suggests that quotas influence gender norms but very little work has looked at whether individual attitudes themselves change when gender quotas are enacted. This paper attempts to fill this void by studying the relationship between quota implementation and gender attitudes at a cross-national level using longitudinal survey data from the World Values Survey in a two-level random intercept multi-level model. This type of model is appropriate because it does not assume that individual observations in the data are independent from one another. The individual respondents from the WVS data are …

An Examination Of Oppression Via Anti-Abortion Legislation, Saphronia P. Carson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis utilizes a reproductive justice framework to discuss the impact of anti-abortion legislation and the anti-abortion movement on women of color and low-income women, arguing that reduced access to abortion is oppressive to minority women. Chapter 1 outlines the theoretical framework of this thesis, focusing on feminist Marxism, Intersectionality, Critical Race Theory, and radical and third wave feminist perspectives. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the anti-abortion movement and the major state and federal laws and court cases that have defined women's access to abortion in the United States, including Roe v Wade, the Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood v …

Bearing Witness To Sexual Violence As A Violation Of Women's Rights, Josh Segalewitz

Joyce Durham Essay Contest in Women's and Gender Studies

On January 21, 2017, masses of people around the globe gathered for one of the largest collections of public protest in history. It is estimated that over seven million people gathered to raise awareness of human rights violations towards several different groups. However, perhaps the largest common trope was echoed time and time again in the phrase, "women's rights are human rights." Conversations surrounding women's rights have been pushed to the forefront of human rights discourse in the recent past, and although there has certainly been a lot of progress towards the universal enforcement of women's rights, the role of …

The New Horizons Of Ideal Womanhood In Antebellum America: Christine Elliot And Linda Brent, Elizabeth (Katy) Lewis

Scripps Senior Theses

With Christine Elliot and Linda Brent, we have two types of the supposed ungendering of women: in Christine, public lecturing and the self-propulsion of one young woman into the public, male sphere, and the ungendering through objectification and dehumanization of Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861. We’ll see both young women reject the accusations that they are being de-femininized by engaging in the work or survival modes that they are utilizing. We’ll see both characters assert that femininity can encompass their transgressions, that femininity is more resilient, and that women’s rightful …

"Must Be Heavyset": Casting Women, Fat Stigma, And Broadway Bodies, Ryan Donovan

Publications and Research

This article surveys how contemporary Broadway musicals cast fat women and focuses on Hairspray. The use of fat suits and contractual weight clauses figure into the discussion of fat stigma and casting practices. Seemingly body-positive musicals both celebrate and undermine the identities staged in them.

Bad Gurley Feminism: The Myth Of Post-War Domesticity, Erin Amann Holliday-Karre

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

According to feminist history, the 1950s constitute a lapse in feminist literature as women in the post-war era were ushered into the realm of domesticity. In this article I argue that this perceived literary “gap” was both created and perpetuated by feminist historians and scholars who insist that Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963) was the defining feminist text of the time. I offer an alternative discourse to that of Friedan by presenting feminist writers who challenge, rather than adopt, masculine ideology as the means to women’s empowerment. I end by encouraging feminists to allow commonly dismissed feminists from the …

Looking More Into Our Economic Class: Makings Of A Standpoint, Jessica Eylem

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Everyone has their own experiences that lead them to their own feminist consciousness. It creates who we are, both as a person and as a feminist. My own experiences in life have led me to consider the standpoints of class within our society, especially within academia. From the beginning of my academic career, I have been told to hide the social class that I am in to fit in with those around me. Academia is based off of appearance, perpetuated by the glass ceiling and everyone is expected to behave and act in a certain way to succeed. Through a …

Disability, Neurodiversity, And Feminism, Hannah Simpson

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This position statement explores the overlap between feminist and disability studies as a strand of intersectional feminism, with particular attention to the graduate school and early career context.

Female Disparity And Political Participation In The Kentucky State Legislature; The Presence Of Female Legislative Candidates And Their Effect On Voter Turnout In The Kentucky Electorate, Trenton K. Patrick

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Female disparity in the political process in the state of Kentucky follows the same distinct pattern of female disparity all across state legislatures in the United States, and in the federal legislative branch. Female representation and parity in the political process is vital to the success of governmental bodies due to the benefits that the female perspective offers to governmental processes. After extensive review of the existing literature, it is clear that there is a gap in the literature when it comes to understanding how the presence of a female candidate effects the total turnout rate, female turnout rate, and …

Women Coaches Navigating The Leadership Labyrinth At A Division Ii Regional Comprehensive University: Queering Discourse And Narratives, Julie A. Wienski

Higher Education: Doctoral Research Projects

Representation by female head coaches in the NCAA is at an all-time low. This study analyzed an institution (LSU) where women’s representation and gender equity is higher than average. Using a qualitative inquiry approach applying Critical Narrative and Foucauldian Dispositive Analyses in a queering fashion, the study explored ways in which institutional (macro) discourses shaped individual (micro) daily narratives. The overarching goal for this study was to reveal themes, language and discourse informing women’s coaches’ recruitment, retention and persistence at an NCAA Division II and Regional Comprehensive University excelling in gender equity and inclusivity.

Findings indicated power-knowledge connections via Foucauldian …

Contextualizing Sexual Assault Data Collection On College Campuses: A Socio-Technical Approach, Anushikha Sharma

Honors Theses

Sexual assault is a rampant issue on college campuses in the United States. Colleges and universities use a variety of survey instruments to collect data regarding sexual assault as a means to improve campus culture, policies, and resources. These instruments contain a wealth of associated information in the form of metadata, that is, data about data.

This project takes a human-centered socio-technical approach to understanding the data collection processes associated with sexual assault, specifically, on the campus of Bucknell University. By identifying the underlying metadata within the data collection processes, this research contextualizes and critiques the process of data collection, …

Cultivating Chingona Power: A Study On The Chingona Identity, Celia Orosco Haro

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Mujeres across the country are claiming the Chingona identity and using it to cultivate their Chingona strength, feel empowered, and live for their own approval. A Chingona in this newly reclaimed use means a woman who embodies confidence, acceptance of self, reclamation of sexuality, siguiendo le adelante por su propio camino sin importarle lo que digan los demás, rejects social and cultural norms/expectations of women, and uses her strengths to empower and uplift others. Through the reclamation of this identity, these mujeres are moving beyond being hijas de la chingada to being Chingonas. This research highlights the Chingona identity …

The Implications Of Science And Technology For Chinese Women: A Cultural Study Of The Chinese Era Of Reforms, Wenjing Liu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Abstract

This dissertation addresses the gendered implications of science and technology in the era of reforms. It argues that in this era, which began in 1978 and continues today, science and technology are highly romanticized as nearly omnipotent. This results in its being embedded not only into ordinary Chinese people’s lives, hoping to bring them positive changes, but also into the Chinese government’s political practices, hoping to achieve its political purposes through science and technology. It also points out that in the era of reforms, Chinese women’s lived experiences are full of tensions, struggles, and conflicts, as evidenced by the …

Teresa Carreño’S Early Years In Caracas: Cultural Intersections Of Piano Virtuosity, Gender, And Nation-Building In The Nineteenth Century, Laura Pita

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation studies the musical activities of the Venezuelan pianist and composer Teresa Carreño (1853-1917) during her formative years in Caracas. It examines the sources that pertain to her musical environment, early piano training, and first compositions in the context of the growth in Caracas of the practices of recreational sociability, the increasing influence of virtuosic music, and the tradition of private concert-making sponsored by devoted music amateurs. This study argues that Teresa Carreño’s musical upbringing occurred in a social and cultural context in which Enlightenment-framed ideologies of civilization and social progress, shaped in fundamental ways the perceptions of the …

Gender, Politics, Market Segmentation, And Taste: Adult Contemporary Radio At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Saesha Senger

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation explores issues of gender politics, market segmentation, and taste through an examination of the contributions of several artists who have achieved Adult Contemporary (AC) chart success. The scope of the project is limited to a period when many artists who figured prominently in both the broader mainstream of American popular music and the more specific Adult Contemporary category were most commercially viable: from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. My contention is that, as gender politics and gendered social norms continued to change in the United States at this time, Adult Contemporary – the chart, the format, and the …

Where We Belong: Spatial Imagining In American Women’S Life Narratives, 1859-1912, Gokce Tekeli

Theses and Dissertations--English

Where We Belong: Spatial Imagining in American Women’s Life Narratives, 1859-1912, studies three marginalized and disadvantaged American women’s self-life narratives during a transitional period in American history. In this dissertation, I am taking an interdisciplinary approach. Where We Belong borrows from social geography, new materialism, and autobiography studies in order to complicate critical discussions of women’s space and place in nineteenth-century women’s self-life narratives. Each chapter of Where We Belong presents a case study with the goal to provide a broader understanding of women’s strategies of belonging due to and despite their spatial exclusions. The overarching emphasis in each …

Show Her It's A Man's World: How The Femme Fatale Became A Vehicle For Propaganda, Leann Bishop

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

During World War II women joined the workforce in droves due to propaganda such as Rosie the Riveter. When Soldiers began returning from the war they wanted stability and normalcy. They wanted to return to the America they left where women ran the household and men went to work. Women, however, experienced a new sense of freedom from working and wanted to continue their liberation. It was during this time that femme fatales, the sultry women of film noir became popular. They represented the liberated women of the 1940s. The film industry saw an opportunity to use these women found …