Women's Studies Commons^™

Amanda Baldwin's Master's Portfolio, Amanda Baldwin

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This is the final portfolio for my Master's of Arts in the field of English. It includes an analytical narrative along with four projects that I feel best illustrate my knowledge, skills, and growth. These four pieces are entitled "Putting a Feminist Twist on Classic Literature," "Teaching Antigone in the Modern Classroom," “Feminism and Racial Studies in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees,” and “Literacy Narrative Analysis.”

An Exploration Of Voice, Kristyn Montgomery

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

This combination of four pieces reflects an overarching theme of researching the ways that our foundations and experiences shape us, either by our own hands or by the hands of others. This is a final portfolio that was submitted to the English Department of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the field of English.

Undoing The Unhinged Woman: An Examination Of Contemporary Media Representation Of Women And Ideology, Alyssa Scanlon

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

The unhinged woman is a character trope that has popped up frequently in mainstream media for the past few years. This trope is utilized as a way to present an alternative representation of women; one that functions as being empowering, complex, and overall a new and positive representation of a constant misrepresented minority in media. Proceeding with a textual analysis of the 2014 film Gone Girl and the 2020 miniseries The Undoing, I was able to examine the salient attributes through a feminist lens. Further discovering that the unhinged woman trope is actually detrimental to the overall representation of women …

Quest For Selfhood: Women Artists In The South Asian Visual Arts, Prachi Priyanka

Journal of International Women's Studies

There has been a recent increase in country-focused publications on women artists in Southeast Asia that highlight the newfound interest in feminist-inspired discourses and histories of women artists. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have shared a common history and culture for millennia. The socio-economic cultural patterns in these three countries are very similar, particularly when it comes to the status of women. Notwithstanding the difference in religions followed and practiced in these countries, the women here more-or-less experience similar challenges in their advancement. These three countries have traditionally suffered from poverty, illiteracy, health and infrastructure issues, and are bracketed as third …

Modern-Day Fantasy: The Progressive Role Of The Active Female, Elizabeth Turello

Sacred Heart University Scholar

Compared to other genres of literature, modern-day fantasy is often disregarded as Eurocentric and homogeneous. In this article, I argue such critiques fail to take stock of the influential and progressive role women have played within modern-day fantasy since its creation by J.R.R. Tolkien. This article primarily focuses on modern-day fantasy works from three decades that coincide with a wave of feminism, beginning with Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the 1950s and continuing with J.K. Rowling’s early nineties and aughts Harry Potter series as well as Leigh Bardugo’s mid-2010’s duology, Six of Crows. This article discusses the direct …

Naming And Re(Claiming) Feminism In Orthodoxy: Voicing The Gender And Religious Identities Of Greek Orthodox Women, Anne Marie Adams

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study of the effects of Greek Orthodoxy on the gender and religious identity meaning-making of five Greek-American women. The emergent themes from this study indicate that participants’ gender and religious identities were heavily influenced by the dueling tensions and contradictions between patriarchy and feminism, conservative traditionalism and modernity, and secular life and the religious community (i.e., family and church). Underpinning this study are Narrative Identity Theory and Feminist Standpoint Theory. Portraiture methodology was employed across three semi-structured interviews, as well as three written/video reflection journals to reveal how women, as articulated through their own perspectives, …

Abenomics’ Effect On Gender Inequality In Japanese Society And The Workplace, Arianna C. Johnson

Honors College Theses

In this study, I determine the extent to which Japan’s shrinking workforce population has been affected by gender roles. Many Asian countries are experiencing a prominent decline in birth rate and population, which has increased global interest in these issues. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Japanese government officials have eagerly responded, pushing Japanese women into the labor force as a possible solution. However, this decision has unanticipated drawbacks, which require officials to address Japanese women’s concerns in and outside of the workplace. I argue that the Japanese government will have more success by addressing these needs, creating a more gender-equal …

Material Witnesses: Deconstructing Networks Of Credibility And Objectivity In Medical Narratives From Mary Toft To The Contraceptive Pill, Krista Elizabeth Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that to better understand the tangled, embedded human and nonhuman subjects and how their testimonies function in western medical history, we need to first understand their erasure. By using relationality as a reading method, I break apart who and with whom individuals make medical decisions by considering what constitutes evidence. In the Mary Toft case, expert witnessing informs the ways in which a reader trusts what the narrator claims. The medicolegal conventions of courtroom testimony shape the ways in which medical men wrote their pamphlets. These men shore up their credibility through descriptions of nonhuman …

A Life Boat, Shahd A. Nahel, Manal Al-Natour

Journal of International Women's Studies

“Creating a Lifeboat” is a story of a Syrian refugee woman who rises from the ashes to build a life for herself and family. The story reveals Adeebah’s agency and role in adapting to the new life in USA as a refugee. It depicts how Adeebah steps outside her comfort zone to challenge gender norms and engage in economic activities such as working in restaurants and catering food. Adeebah exerts her agency as active participant in shaping her life as well as her family’s. She uses her talent of painting and finds herself an artist who sells her paintings in …

Explaining The Lack Of Progress In Yemeni Women’S Empowerment: Are Women Leaders The Problem?, Nadia Al-Sakkaf

Journal of International Women's Studies

Despite the existence of women’s empowerment policies and the appointments of women leaders to oversee the implementation and sometimes design of those policies, the Republic of Yemen has repeatedly ranked last in the WEF Gender Gap Index since 2006. Is this a problem of capacity? Are the women leaders, who are driving the national women’s development agenda forward, lacking in this field? This article investigates this question through a mixed-method research by surveying and interviewing Yemeni women leaders who were involved in empowerment policies in health, education, economic participation and political empowerment between 2006 and 2014. Findings from this research …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of Journal Of International Women’S Studies For Period Of 2002-2019: Current Status, Development, And Future Research Directions, Rohail Hassan, Meghna Chhabra, Arfan Shahzad, Diana Fox, Sohail Hasan

Journal of International Women's Studies

This research paper aims to present a thorough overview of the Journal of International Women’s Studies (JIWS). The Scopus database has been used to study the most prolific writers and frequently cited papers of the JIWS. This article considered 907 papers, which offers a map of the knowledge produced and circulated by the JIWS. It offers insights into publication activities, prominent themes, citation trends, and the state of collaborations among the contributors to the JIWS and the journal’s aggregate contributions to the area of Women’s Studies. Moreover, by analyzing the correlation of keywords and how they are clustered together, the …

Southern African Women’S Struggle To Both Uphold Tradition And Promote Women’S Equality In The Family, Sophia Bierly

Copley Library Undergraduate Research Awards

A woman in modern Limpopo, South Africa explained traditional marital expectations by re-telling what her aunt once said to her: “Lady, you must know that this man is your head, you are the neck. Whatever he is telling you, or whatever he is saying, that’s the word, he’s the head, you don’t have to challenge him”.1 This quote shows that unequal familial structures pervade Southern Africa. The traditional structure of marriage in Southern Africa empowers mothers while disparaging wives, consequently minimizing young women’s economic opportunities, while preserving older women’s economic security. Traditional Southern African marital customs have significant influence over …

Oral Interview: Contextualizing The Women's Rights Movement In Tunisia Through Family History, Walid Zarrad

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

In their path towards emancipation and equal rights, Tunisian women have gone through a number of phases that seem to be directly linked to legal changes and cultural factors. In fact, the Code of Personal Status (CPS) of 1956 seems to be a milestone in the women’s movement, and its following amendments continued on this path. However, it is a lot more complex than that. A piece of legislation officially passing is not a simple determinant of the state of Women’s Rights in a country.

Through Dorra Mahfoudh Draoui’s “Report on Gender and Marriage in Tunisian Society” and my interview …

Excerpts From Silence – Radical Critical Feminism And Adolescent Girls’ Social Emotional Development: A Case Study Of Red River Middle School, Jessamyn Lockhart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The development of healthy social emotional skills is critical for adolescents to stay engaged in school, develop positive self-esteem, and engage in healthy relationships over the course of their life. Adolescent girls seem to be particularly vulnerable during the period of adolescence and attention must be paid to their specific needs. There is a call for social emotional learning in schools to be more robust (especially during a crisis like the pandemic) and more thoughtfully differentiated to meet the needs of all students. The purpose of this case study was to understand if and how school leadership in one rural …

A Civil Society: The Public Space Of Freemason Women In France, 1744–1944, James Smith Allen

University of Nebraska Press: Sample Books and Chapters

A Civil Society explores the struggle to initiate women as full participants in the masonic brotherhood that shared in the rise of France’s civil society and its “civic morality” on behalf of women’s rights. As a vital component of the third sector during France’s modernization, freemasonry empowered women in complex social networks, contributing to a more liberal republic, a more open society, and a more engaged public culture.

James Smith Allen shows that although women initially met with stiff resistance, their induction into the brotherhood was a significant step in the development of French civil society, including the promotion of …

Mothers Behind Cameras: Mother-Artist, Mother-Child Dyads In Sally Mann’S Immediate Family And Elinor Carucci’S Mother, Hayley A. Pierpont

Scripps Senior Theses

Women, particularly mothers, are often made invisible within narratives of their own family and domestic spaces, despite their role as creators and maintainers of those spaces. This perpetuation of invisibility is threaded throughout the history of artistic practices, (photography especially). Contemporary mother-artists Sally Mann and Elinor Carucci confront and unapologetically reflect their singular experience(s) with motherhood through their photography, which addresses the symbiotic dyads of mother-child and mother-artist. This thesis focuses on an analysis of four images: Mann’s The Wet Bed and Lee’s Dirty Hands, and Carucci’s Trying to Protect Emanuelle and I Will Protect You. In both …

Feminism By Proxy: Jane Austen’S Critique Of Patriarchal Society In Pride And Prejudice And Emma, Alexis Miller

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Reading Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Emma from a feminist perspective reveals Austen’s desire for progressive marriages built on equality and love. Comparing the characteristics and eventual marriages of Austen’s heroines, Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse, to other women and relationships in her novels highlights their uniqueness as women of agency who desire more than the society of Regency England offered women. Through such comparisons, Austen brilliantly displays her critique of the patriarchal society and the limitations that it set on women. Her critique is further established in the two novels through her emphasis on breaking down the false patriarchal …

“Ain’T My Mama’S Broken Heart”: The Mothers And Daughters Of Hillbilly Feminism, Alyssa Dewees

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The women of country music have long defied the genre's patriarchal associations and used their music as a platform for subversive social messages about gender inequality, and in the past several decades, the country music establishment has grown more willing to alter its image and accommodate these feminist themes. Because country music is marketed and understood by many of its fans as a representation of a lifestyle, this shift in expectations for women’s social roles and possibilities in the genre has an impact on the women who identify themselves with the particular rural, down-home image country music aims to define. …

The Poetics Of Pakistani Patriarchy: A Critical Analysis Of The Protest-Signs In Women’S March Pakistan 2019, Amer Akhtar, Selina Aziz, Neelum Almas

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The Pakistani variant of Women’s March Aurat March celebrated its second year in March 2019. The current study focuses on the issues raised by the participants during Aurat March 2019 to define patriarchy from a Pakistani-out-on-the-street feminist struggle. It analyses the protest signs, slogans, messages, and concerns raised through banners in the march. The paper attempts to offer a unique perspective on Pakistani patriarchy by analyzing the voice of the women instead of any theorization or enactment of the voice. It employs visual and textual methods to understand the view of the participants and finds that the participants of the …

Theorizing #Girlboss Culture: Mediated Neoliberal Feminisms From Influencers To Multi-Level Marketing Schemes, Frankie Mastrangelo

Theses and Dissertations

I define girlboss feminism as emergent, mediated formations of neoliberal feminism that equate feminist empowerment with financial success, market competition, individualized work-life balance, and curated digital and physical presences driven by self-monetization. I look toward how the mediation of girlboss feminism utilizes branded and affective engagements with representational politics, discourses of authenticity and rebellion, as well as meritocratic aspiration to promote cultural interest in conceptualizing feminism in ways that are divorced from collective, intersectional struggle. I question the stakes involved in reducing feminist interrogations and commitments to discourses of representation, visibility, and meritocracy. I argue that while girlboss feminism may …

Woman To Woman: Community And Belonging Among Lesbian And Queer Feminist Activists In Haifa, Israel, Lauren Copeland

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

This dissertation focuses on experiences of belonging among lesbian and queer feminist activist women in the women-only organization Isha L’Isha. As the oldest feminist organization in Israel, Isha L’Isha was established in 1983 and has roots dating back to the 1970s. I spent one year (2017-2018) engaging in participant observation and conducting 40 interviews with current and former members of the group. Using Isha L’Isha as a lens through which to examine the multilayered ways in which gendered activism shapes experiences of belonging, this project centers the experiences and narratives of four women: Talma, Sophie, Amira, and Maya.

This work …

Divine Narcissism: Raising A Secure Middle-Aged Adult, Rachel Sachs Riverwood

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Utilizing an arts-based feminist autoethnographic stance and method, this dissertation is an evocative exploration of the process and experience of attempting to develop a cohesive identity and build a secure attachment to the self. The author uses countercultural methods—prioritizing and centralizing her experience and uncovering and acting in defiance of oppressive norms—to identify and experience their impact on her identity and intra- and inter- personal relationships. Various tensions are explored, including the suppression of self and desire, self-objectification, fearful-avoidant attachment, and shame; and their influence on engaging in emotional and sexual intimacy is examined. Critique on the role of female …

The Effect Of Politicians, Racism, And Corporations On The Opioid Epidemic In New Hampshire, Rachel E. Young

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

From Tajikistan To Russia And Back: Understanding Changes In Gender Relations Through The Lived Experiences Of Tajik Migrant Workers In Russia, Tahmina Shokirova

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is the story of Tajik migrant workers who have lived and worked in Russia. It examines how gender relations of power change in the context of labour migration through the lived experiences of the migrants. The study asks the overarching research question: How do gender relations change in the context of Tajik labour migration to Russia? Following the social constructionist epistemology, gender is framed through the lens of post-structural, intersectional, and transnational feminist theories. The study employs a conceptual framework that integrates the following into a coherent whole: feminist theories of gender relations, the general context of international …

Andrea Revised: Andrea Dworkin: The Feminist As Revolutionary By Martin Duberman, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Engaging Feminism, Transforming Institutions: How Community Engagement Professionals Employ Critical Feminist Praxis To Re-Imagine And Re-Shape The Public Purpose Of Higher Education, Patricia Star Plaxton-Moore

Doctoral Dissertations

Most higher education institutions have mission statements articulating a commitment to serve the public good, and venerate the broader historical project of higher education as a force that improves the lives of individuals and communities. However, the public purpose of higher education is perpetually embattled by intersecting forces of neoliberalism, positivism, and settler colonialism that emphasize priorities like generating revenue, chasing prestige, developing real estate, and connecting students with high paying careers. As our society continues to grapple with pervasive social and environmental injustices, it is imperative that we clarify and strengthen higher education’s civic role in shaping a more …

Between The Lines: Reflexive Misogyny And Remediated Forms In A Secret Online Group Of Women Poets, Rae Elizabeth Snobl

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines an online, secret writing community for 1,800+ women-only poets called “The Retreat.” Analysis of two years of Facebook posts and interviews with group members revealed a noticeable membership split between those publishing through conventional literary venues, the “traditional poets,” and social media poets. These “Instapoets,” as labeled by popular media each had between 10,000 to 125,000+ followers on sites like Instagram and Facebook—significant numbers when seen in the context of readership and monetizing. Yet, their digital, snippet poems did not hold to the literary norms of poetry, both in form and publishing method. This led to a …

Playing With Noise: Anne Elliot, The Narrator, And Sound In Jane Austen's And Adrian Shergold's Persuasion, Brianna R. Phillips

The Corinthian

This paper pushes against the critical tradition that views silence or listening in relation to passivity and powerlessness by exploring the role of noise in Jane Austen’s Persuasion and in Adrian Shergold’s experimental 2007 film adaptation of that novel and how sound relates to Anne Elliot’s emotional legibility. Austen fills the narrative landscape with sounds that are filtered almost exclusively through Anne so that even when she is silent, she is “making noise” through her focalizations and through free indirect narration. Both Austen and Shergold align noise with Anne’s emotions such that Anne’s sensorial responses to shocking, loud, and disruptive …

Discourse And Discography: The Pushback Of Female Writers, Characters, And Pop Stars, Amara D. Stroud

Honors College Theses

In my senior thesis, I will be analyzing and comparing early modern literature and “pop” music in order to follow the development of women’s ability to gain power. Throughout history, there has been an ongoing struggle for women’s equity in education, publishing, and socially acceptable actions. While it may seem that comparing literature from the 17^th Century to current pop lyrics, there are major connections that show a consistent female struggle - the inability to voice one’s true feelings due to the reaction of an educated man or an unchanging society. My thesis will focus on literary works such …

Discourse And Discography: The Pushback Of Female Writers, Characters, And Pop Stars, Amara D. Stroud

Honors College Theses

In my senior thesis, I will be analyzing and comparing early modern literature and contemporary popular music in order to follow the development of women’s ability to gain power. Throughout history, there has been an ongoing struggle for women’s equity in education, publishing, and socially acceptable actions. Though the connection between literature and pop music is unordinary, there are major connections that show a consistent female struggle - the inability to voice one’s true feelings due to the reaction of an educated man or an unchanging society. Overall, the response of female characters, authors, and artists is to show their …