Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Women Empowerment And Community Development Through Ecotourism, Katherine S. Barry

Capstone Collection

Eco-tourism is generically and broadly considered to be a trendy topic for the privileged traveler to obtain an “authentic cultural experience”. This paper aims to disprove common misperceptions and present failures the system has created. Eco-tourism is an over-exploited and under-utilized tool in the field of sustainable development. Many resorts and “cultural” tours dominant, while local people suffer economically, social and environmentally. However, in the far-reaches of the Kakamega rainforest, there is group that is filling the environmental, social and economic gap in the field of sustainable tourism. They are the Isecheno Women’s Conservation Group, empowering and educating women to …

Engendering The Classroom: A Look At Constructions Of ‘Gender’ And Empowerment Within Teachers’ Trainings In Northern India, Martha Snow

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Education for girls in India has been a crucial area of study for the past 20 years; however, the main focus of attention has been on issues of girls’ access to school only. This study moves beyond this, seeking to gain critical insight into how ‘gender’ is being understood within the classroom via teachers. Teachers’ trainings conducted by the government and by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were examined through interviews with teachers and coordinators of teachers’ trainings, along with experts on gender and feminism in Delhi and Jaipur, Rajasthan. These interviews focused on the content and quality of teachers’ trainings, and …

The Role Of Mothers In Muslim Families In Ouakam, Dakar: Navigating Traditional Gender Roles In A Modern Context, Emily Goodhue

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My study is on the role of women in Muslim families in Dakar, Senegal. What are they expected to do for their families? How do these women feel about their position and role in their families? What aspects of their role in the family do they enjoy and which do they wish were different? How is their role changing as more women enter the workforce? This topic interests me because many people in the United States have a negative perception of the position of women in Muslim societies. They claim that these women are oppressed and that the women suffer …

Accessing Justice, Evaluating Agency: How 12 Women In Cape Town Perceive Their Local Police Services With Respect To Their Race, Class, Gender, And Geographic Location, Ellen Moore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Policing in South Africa has a long, twisted history that is still evident in some current police practices and especially in the public’s perceptions of the police. In addition to historical factors such as colonial rule and apartheid, people’s perceptions of the police are also affected by their race, class, gender, and geographic location. Although these factors’ can be considered to have an individual effect on perceptions, it is through a complex understanding of how they relate to one another that a true understanding of a person’s perception can be reached. The inspiration for this study stemmed from these concepts …

The Implications Of Privileged Gay Politics On Queer Aberrations: Interrogating South Africa’S Nongovernmental Industrial Complex, Vijay Sachdev

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The phenomena to address and confront social issues as a career path has shifted the way communities experience the realm of activism. This research addresses the effort emphasized in gay and lesbian activism on the Nongovernmental Industrial Complex as a platform for social transformation. These structures have notably been co-opted by neo-liberalism and the State. In South Africa, the gay and lesbian movement have its roots dug into legal reform which becomes conservative and relies on the rhetoric of identity politics to gain recognition without addressing redistribution and systems of oppression. Through three case studies culminating in a comparative study …

Changing The Very Fabric Of Society: A Case Study Of The Fundación Entre Mujeres Holistic Empowerment Model, Briana Frenchmore

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The women of rural northern Nicaragua live in a context that is shaped by the inequalities of gender and class that originate in machista culture and the dominant economic system. To confront this reality, the non-government organization, Fundación Entre Mujeres (FEM) works from the “Gender and Development” (GAD) approach using a model of holistic women’s empowerment. To create social change, FEM’s programs focus on ideological, economic, and organizational empowerment. This investigation seeks to understand how FEM carries out its holistic empowerment model within communities, while reflecting on the strengths of their methodology and the challenges they face in creating social …

In What Ways Does Research-Based Gender-Specific Youth Programming Affect Girls’ Development Post-Program?, Alaina Ennamorati

Capstone Collection

Current girls’ development research in the United States shows that female adolescents are experiencing an increase in depression rates, eating disorders, and lower self-esteem. Many feminists believe the societal culture in which girls are growing up in is hazardous, with the acceptance and perpetuation of oversexualization, objectification, and stereotyping by all different types of media. The following capstone research takes a case study real world flexible design approach at the high school leadership program at Hardy Girls Healthy Women (HGHW), a nonprofit in Waterville, Maine that works to create a world where women and girls feel equality, independence and safety. …

The Social And Economic Impact Of Mpesa On The Lives Of Women In The Fishing Industry On Lake Victoria, Danielle White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study will examine the social and economic impact of the mobile banking system, MPESA, in the lives of women in the fishing industry on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The study aims to discover what MPESA is being used for and how its use is affecting the lives of its female users. It will not only study the immediate impact on women, but also the impact on the interactions with their families and communities, as well as the fishing industry. The study aims to determine whether or not MPESA is beneficial to these women and if it is, how the …

Whose Gay Town Is Cape Town? An Examination Of Cape Town’S Gay Village And The Production Of A Queer White Patriarchy., Mollie Beebe

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

My ISP works to illuminate the diversity of LGBTQI experiences and lives in Cape Town. I do this through discussing the privilege necessary to "come out" in Cape Town and, subsequently, have access to The Pink Village, Cape Town's gay district. By Bringing in theory on "coming out" as a white experience and the queer movement as re-centering white normativity, I work to openly discuss how a history of exclusion has lived on in Cape Town's gay district and pushed the more marginalized gay communities out of the city center. Through academic research, participant observation in both the gay village …

El Microcrédito Como Herramienta Para Promover La Autonomía Económica Y El Empoderamiento Social En Mujeres De Bajos Recursos En El Conurbano Norte: El Caso De “Mujeres 2000” / Microcredits As A Tool To Promote Economic Autonomy And Social Empowerment In Women With Few Resources In The Northern Metropolitan Area: The Case Of “Mujeres 2000”, Stephanie Allen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In recent years, Argentina has been faced with many economic downfalls, specifically the economic crisis of 2001. These economic hardships led to higher rates of poverty and unemployment throughout the country. The populations most affected but such harsh economic downturns were the already vulnerable; one of which being women. Many women in Argentina and throughout Latin America occupy a lower position in society and often bear most of the burden of poverty and unemployment.

As a response to the isolation of some groups from the formal economic system, the idea of microfinance took shape. Presently in Argentina there exist over …

Lo Personal Es Político: La Lucha Por La Legalización Del Aborto En Chile, A Través De La Organización Feminista, Católicas Por El Derecho A Decidir, Gavin Odabashian

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper investigates the work of a small collective of women—Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir—and the practice of their activism in Valparaíso, Chile. I focus on the ways in which these women are strategically mobilizing as an organization to fight for justice for women in Chile—more specifically, for gender equality, access to reproductive rights, and the legalization of abortion in all cases. I examine the history of the organization, its form and structure, the projects and campaigns they are currently working on, the individual experiences of the women working within the organization, their perspectives on their work, …

‘Boys Boys’ Talk, ‘Girls Girls’ Talk: Gendered Approaches And Strategies Towards Modern Contraceptive Use In Urban Kumasi, Yasmin Boakye

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Objective: The objectives of this project were three-fold:

1. How do men and women in the urban area of Kumasi come to understand the major forms of contraception available in Ghana?

2.Are there significant differences in the ways that men and women come to understand contraceptive methods, and are these differences influenced by region, religious affiliation, age, and socioeconomic level?

3. How are these understandings either reinforced, shifted, or broken down by the Ghanaian government’s reproductive health efforts, the work of NGO’s focused on family planning, religious beliefs, and social relationships?

Methodology: During the 30 day long research period I …

Efectos De La Redaccion De Leyes Y Campanas Sobre Violencia De Genero: Cómo La Redacción De Las Leyes Y Las Campañas De La Violencia De Género Afectan A La Comunidad Española - How The Writing Of Laws And Campaigns Against Gender Violence Affect The Spanish Community, Taylor Leen

Spain: Language, Community, and Social Change

The idea for this project came from many influences. Firstly, my deep love for language has been one of the sole motivators for this project. From a very early age, I grew an appreciation for learning other languages. I was always fascinated by words and expressions. Learning how to say something in another language was like learning a secret code for me. My studies of the Spanish language only fomented my passion for learning. Having been abroad for a year, first in Madrid and now in Granada, I have realized the deep connection between language, culture and society. One can …

Creating Dignity Out Of Despair: The Impact Of The 2009 Decriminalization Of Homosexuality In Delhi, Diana Boesch

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was created in 1860 and outlawed “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” In the following years, even after independence, India used Section 377 to prosecute child sexual abusers. While the law was rarely used to prosecute adult same-sex intercourse, it created widespread homophobia and harassment for LGBT Indians. Finally, in 2001 the Naz Foundation filed a petition against Section 377. On July 2, 2009 the Delhi High Court struck down Section 377 in its application to adult consensual same-sex intercourse. The decision sparked celebration within the LGBT community, a massive media response, …

Indicadores De Maduracion Sexual Y Su Relacion Con Indices De Masa Corporal (Imc) Y Habitos De Alimentacion En Escolares Femeninas De Arica, Chile, Melissa Colden

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The basis of this investigation came from recent evidence that the age of puberty, specifically with respect to young girls, has fallen notably in the past decade. This trend exists in Chile, as well as other countries such as the United States, and has presented itself alongside a portentous epidemic of obesity and malnutrition. Knowing the risks of both disorders, and how their affects have already been manifested in the adolescent population in Chile and the city of Arica, this study sought to develop a relationship between body mass index (BMI) and pubertal development, including the appearance of secondary sexual …

Making Changes And Coming Full Circle: A Look At How Women Farmers In Oregon And Washington Define Their Own Identities, Realities, And Contributions, Courtney Bauman

Capstone Collection

This paper investigates how women farmers in Oregon and Washington define their own identities, realities, and contributions as farmers, and it looks at how those definitions may be changing. Primary data was collected by interviewing 14 women farmers in the states of Oregon and Washington. Participants were selected to represent a variety of age groups, cultural backgrounds, years of experience farming, and farm size and type. Thus, in investigating the experiences of women farmers, the realities of young and beginning farmers; aging farmers; immigrant farmers and farmers of color; and small and family farmers are also explored.

Findings reveal that …