Academic literature on the topic 'Changing identity of women'

Stand-up comedians do not only aim to get their audience entertained. They also try to trigger audience epistemic and ideological engagement with different humour contents. This is done by them through the transactional frames of ideologies and social identity embedded in comedic routines. This study seeks to analyse a growing presence of Rapport management framework and gender representations that challenge and seek to change existing gender stereotypes about women not supporting women. Three female African stand-up comedians have been selected for this study. Two joking performances of Helen Paul (Nigeria comedian), Tumi Morake (South African comedian), and Heiress Jacinta (Ghanaian comedian) were transcribed using the researchers’ notations. Four jokes each were purposively selected from the performances of each of the comedians, and the transcribed data was analysed using Spencer-Oatey’s (2000) Rapport Management theory, and van Dijk’s (2000) ideological Square. The study reveals that African female comedians identify gender binaries and they use their jokes to project ideologies about it. These ideologies influence perceptions of the social identity of the African woman. It is evident, from the data, that the African female comedians predominantly challenge ideologies that are not positive about the female gender, sometimes by ‘de-emphasising positive things about the male gender’, but also by emphasizing female rapport that busts contrary stereotypes. In the process, the female comedians deploy several different linguistic strategies, which the study also explores.

Identity formation in political and occupational domains was examined from young to middle adulthood based on an ongoing longitudinal study. In addition to the participants’ identity status (diffused, moratorium, foreclosed, achieved), we assessed their perceived importance of politics, future orientation, and career stability four times in adulthood, at ages 27, 36, 42, and 50. The number of participants varied between analyses, from 168 to 291. Changes in the economic situation in Finland from 1986 to 2009 provided a context for the study. Data collections at ages 36 (in 1995) and 50 (in 2009) took place during economic recessions, and at age 42 (in 2001) during an economic boom. The results were discussed from both age-graded and history-graded perspectives. Developmental trends in political and occupational identity were reversed across age and changes in the economic situation. Political identity was at its lowest level and occupational identity was at its highest level at age 42 during the economic boom. Political identity progressed at a time of economic recession at age 50, whereas occupational identity regressed. In women, identity changes were associated with personal career stability. The perceived importance of politics increased concurrently with political identity achievement. During the recession when they were age 50, women tended to worry about future financial problems, while men perceived their future depending decreasingly on themselves and increasingly on the world situation. The results indicate that macro-level economic conditions may have psychological implications on people’s conceptions of themselves that are worth considering in developmental studies.

This article investigates Islamic veiling (hijab), an issue that has occupied center stage in the public debate in Tajikistan. State officials and institutions view it as alien (begona), while proponents argue it is a religious obligation (farz) to be fulfilled by every pious woman, especially outside of her domestic settings. I detail the limitations and functionalities that hijab offers for women in contemporary Tajikistan. In particular, as women experience increased pressure to seek employment outside of the home, there appears to be a need to construct new, socially acceptable, mechanisms to manifest conformity to patriarchy and to protect female purity (iffat) and honor (nomus): hijab and (pious) Islamic identity can potentially offer both. This study is based upon analysis of the existing literature on veiling in diverse contexts and the author’s field research in Tajikistan.

The portrayal of women in Indian English novels is a complicated and changing component of literature that has changed with time. It is critical to remember that Indian English literature is immensely diverse and that women are not portrayed uniformly throughout. The portrayal of women in Indian English literature does share certain common themes. The portrayal of women frequently reflects India’s immense cultural diversity. The depiction of female characters varies depending on the cultures, groups and customs present. Traditional roles for women in the novels of Manohar Malgonkar include wives; mothers and daughters frequently take on the role of carers and are required to respect traditional family and social norms. Women characters were neglected and men played an important role in his novels. The present study will concentrate on comprehensive portrayal of man-woman relationship in his selected novels. It also depicts the characterization of women in his selected novels.

Gender is often identified with sex and gender, even though they have different concepts. It is associated with men and women who are socially and culturally formed. Understanding about masculine and feminine discourses are formed to identify gender identity which men must behave masculine and women must behave feminine. Taking William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night play as its object, this study aims to see how gender identity displayed and describe the ambiguity of gender identity that is acted by character in the play. The data which were taken from the play were analyzed by relating them to the secondary data taken from references discussing the gender identity depicted in the play. The study concluded that sex, gender and sexual orientation are something that is fluid, not natural and changing and constructed by social conditions. Changes of the identity can be said changing with the form performativity shown, namely by disguise.

Gender is often identified with sex and gender, even though they have different concepts. It is associated with men and women who are socially and culturally formed. Understanding about masculine and feminine discourses are formed to identify gender identity which men must behave masculine and women must behave feminine. Taking William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night play as its object, this study aims to see how gender identity displayed and describe the ambiguity of gender identity that is acted by character in the play. The data which were taken from the play were analyzed by relating them to the secondary data taken from references discussing the gender identity depicted in the play. The study concluded that sex, gender and sexual orientation are something that is fluid, not natural and changing and constructed by social conditions. Changes of the identity can be said changing with the form performativity shown, namely by disguise.

Matrimonial advertisements provide an unobtrusive site where the image, construction and perpetuation of normative heterosexuality are observed through socio-cultural discourses. The current study focuses on self-representation and gender role expectations in 550 classified matrimonial ads from two popular newspapers (The Daily Dawn, The Daily Jang) in Pakistan. Gender differences in desirable physical attributes, occupational preferences and personality traits are examined. The results revealed that gender polarization in ideal spousal occupations, and the relative variability in gender identities of women as compared to men. A strong preference for pretty and slim women is observed. Implications for the sexual objectification of women and changing gender roles in changing socioeconomic landscape of Pakistan is due to the impact of globalization.

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2007.
"September 2007."
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-37).
The human voice is an important indicator of a person's gender. For male-to-female transgender individuals (or transsexuals) the voice is one of the most difficult parts of the gender transition. Males have larger and heavier vocal apparatuses (larynx and vocal folds), which generally produce a lower sound. Transgender women can have voice surgery, but it can sometimes cause a Minnie Mouse-like falsetto or the complete loss of the voice. As a result, many transgendered women turn to specially trained voice therapists to learn how to speak more convincingly like women. The voice's pitch, although important, is not the only factor in creating a more female sound. Intonation, resonance, volume, speech patterns and formant frequencies also play significant roles in making a realistic feminine sound. There continue to be many unanswered questions about how listeners perceive the voices of transgender women and how best to blend the voices of transwomen into a comfortable range. Transgender women have many hurdles to face as they transition from male to female, and possessing an authentic voice is a way to smooth out the bumpy path they face.
by Katharine Stoel Gammon.
S.M.in Science Writing

This thesis explores the lives and experiences of farm women through identifying and elaborating their changing subjectivities as 'farm wives': a career entered through marriage rather than by vocational preference. It does this through using auto/ethnographic and ethnographic approaches in a study that engaged nine informants principally, but many more through its conduct. Importantly, the thesis gives voice and legitimacy to the place and dreams of women on farms and it has exposed silences that have been 'a shelter for power'. This exposé has been a revelation to those farming women and men who have lived secluded, private lives furiously protecting a myth of the farm 'wife' as fulfilled and happy while living life vicariously, largely through her husband's achievements. Issues of power, gender, isolation and entrapment are revealed through advancing issues of subjective change within a zealous and often unforgiving culture where the myth and propaganda do not match the realities of these women's lives. Maintaining self and maintaining culture far from being manifested as times of stability, require some volatility as they both command transformative and, sometimes, contradictory change to sustain the woman's humanness while ensuring the sustainability of the New Zealand icon – the family farm. Central to the resolution of how farming women sustain and transform their 'selves', are their capacities for intentionality, agency and empowerment. An ability to negotiate or renegotiate a life for one's 'self' is entangled in the complex web of relations between farm, work, family and culture. While influenced by personal intent and agency, this sense of self is informed by one's personal history. Intentionality, then, is a critical concept to consider in attempting to isolate motivational drives; in seeking resolution for such dilemmas. Intention comprises individual agency exercised as personal choice, as opposed to social agency constrained in the form of pressure to conform and meet cultural expectations. However, many of these women have difficulty isolating personal intention due to social and cultural intent dominating their thinking and actions to a point where they sub-consciously take ownership of those objectives. It seems from the participating women, though, that a drive for self-knowledge is compelling. Advanced here is an elaboration of how these 'farm wives' negotiated, reconstructed and reshaped their sense of self, and, at times, also strongly resisted and dis-identified with the social world in which they found themselves unwittingly, and at times unwillingly embedded. Calls are made for challenging and changing cultural expectations while prioritising women's needs. Key contributions concern the salience of : (1) the central role of 'becoming' and 'belonging' as a function of managing geographical, psychosocial, financial, emotional, intellectual and genderised isolations, along with negotiating a culture of masculinisation; (2) maintenance of self existing as a function of a sense of belonging, without which maintenance is elusive and issues of entrapment often manifest as matriarchal power and control between competing generations of women; (3) maintenance and transformation of one's 'self' critically requiring strength of personal agency; and (4) the negotiations of women who continue to defy the norms, reasserting resistance while negotiating 'self' and in doing so transform both their 'self' and their culture. Needs for further enquiry are raised regarding: the cultural relationships between patriarchy and matriarchy and ensuing entrapments; the cultural lag of farming culture in regard to feminist change; and the sustainability of individuals struggling to 'belong' to a culture not of their choosing. Saliently, this research has resonated with New Zealand farming women of all ages and also with young farming men who are struggling with the resistance of young women to marry onto farms. The response, while challenging, indicates strong relevance and critical need.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Faculty of Education
Full Text

The Appalachian region is known for its beautiful mountains, close-knit communities, and health care disparities including higher rates of cancer and premature mortality. Being diagnosed with cancer in the region may present a unique experience for survivors in regards to family cancer communication and changing personal identities. In a multiphasic study, the stories of 29 female Appalachian cancer survivors were collected through either a day-long modified story circle event (n=26) or an in-depth interview (n=3). Qualitative content analysis was used to identify emergent themes in the data. The analysis revealed 5 types of family cancer communication and five barriers to family cancer communication. The analysis additionally revealed the identity struggle women experience between maintaining traditional Appalachian gender roles and surviving cancer. These findings suggest that female Appalachian cancer survivors appear to have additional challenges that may make the cancer experience in Appalachia unique.

Historically non-heterosexual individuals have faced prejudice and discrimination in daily life. Non-heterosexuals experience oppression and discrimination that affect personal development on all levels. An increased awareness of sexual identity development could create more inclusive sexual identity models, better understanding for counselor educators, and better training for counselors on issues of sexual identity. The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences that influence sexual identity in women who love women. This study required that subjects attach meaning to sexual identity formation. Qualitative research methodologies were used in the study. Participants were selected for this study in a thoughtful and purposeful manner and within specified parameters. Data were collected through two face-to-face interviews with the participants; member checking and peer debriefing offered consistency through the use of a semi-structured interview guide. Phenomenological approach and constant comparison was used for data analysis. From the data collected, four themes emerged: I was Just Different, Information Seeking, View of Self as a Woman Within the Context of Culture, and Contextual Relationships. Findings of this study did not support a stage model of sexual identity development. Instead, this study supported the view that sexual identity is fluid and strongly related to relationships with peer groups. All participants reported that sexual identity formation was a painful process.

Early menopause has been constructed by discourses of biological determinism as an untimely, but natural, failure of the female body. Medical discourses in particular have interpreted early menopause as a congenital irregularity and a rare anomaly of menopause at midlife. In this thesis I challenge the notion that early menopause is an innate imperfection related only to women’s age. I propose that early menopause is dependent upon the cultural interpretations of individual women and is constituted through the mercurial and multiple discourses of women who have this embodied experience. Moreover, I reveal that early menopause is a contemporary condition and that its location in history is inextricably bound to discourses of risk, naturalism and the self. Further I make the assumption that having an early menopause both affects and is an effect of women’s fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. I have drawn upon a broad range of sources to provide a sociological analysis of early menopause. Literature on early menopause is dominated by positivist discourses, yet many alternate discourses negotiate these influential constructions. I suggest here that the perception of early menopause as a natural fault is merely a construction by medical discourses and does not incorporate the dynamic discourses of early-menopausal women. Moreover, the restriction of early menopause to a genetic female failure excludes the majority of women who have an early menopause through iatrogenisis. This omission occurs through the failure of positivist discourses to accommodate diversity in discourses. Recent sociological and feminist studies have vindicated menopausal women. They have reconstructed menopause through notions of embodiment and have removed the veil of negativity used by the medical sciences to contain menopausal women (Komesaroff, Rothfield and Daly 1997). The visibility of menopausal women, however, remains connected to age. Menopause has been created as a predictable consequence of aging and as such has come to be synonymous with middle age. Nowadays, even men are said to experience menopause at midlife (Carruthers 1996). But early menopause is constituted within the discourses of women who have this experience. Medico-scientific discourses, based upon theories of genetic inevitability, disregard this perspective. Consequently early menopause is subsumed by naturalistic discourses that relate menopause to midlife. Such restraint reflects the unease created by menopause that does not coincide with prescribed life stages. Women's experiences of their changing bodies are largely unheard. Thus, women who have an early menopause are faced with a chasm of ‘cultural non-recognition’ (Fraser 1997). Conjointly with this discursive repression early-menopausal women face social imbalances that are transacted as both cause and consequence of early menopause. In particular the contemporary creation of early menopause is bound to the social and historical location of women as a group. Women are exploited by the institution of medicine, ‘exposure to environmental toxicity’ (Fraser 1997: 11) and commercialization as causes of early menopause. Yet the corporeal effects of practices of risk avoidance (Beck 1993), social practices (Shilling 1993) and Western consumerism (Lupton 1994) fail to be recognized. I address these problematics through a poststructural and feminist critique that assumes moments of commonality among women, while at the same time recognizes shifting and multiple differences (Nicholson 1999). I suggest here that early menopause falls into cultural misrecognition in Fraser's (1997) terms and argue that it is united concurrently with the gender injustice of androcentrism (Fraser 1997: 21). Fraser (1997: 16) suggests that it is only by relating these dual problematics that we are able to make sense of current dilemmas. Thus I have critiqued early menopause through a connection between individual embodied experiences of early menopause and early menopause as a modern phenomenon that is specific to women. I have attempted to unravel these arguments that simultaneously call to ‘... abolish gender differentiation and to valorize gender specificity’ (Fraser 1997: 21) while at the same time acknowledging their interconnectedness. An approach of merely combining women’s discourses with overarching social issues would be inadequate as not only do these problematics intersect but they also can be opposed. As Fraser (1997: 25) notes with her theory, redressing one aspect of cultural or social analysis can further imbalance another. For instance making visible the diversity and uniqueness of individual experiences of early menopause could detract from acknowledging the contemporary construction of early menopause through social inequality. Crucial to this understanding is a destabilizing of the binary construction of differences between the sexes that makes way for a reconstruction of early menopause through ‘sexual slippage’ (Matus 1995). In this thesis I look for a subtlety between the particular and the collective that views early menopause as concurrently a singular and changeable experience as well as imbedded in social practice. I suggest that these concepts are entwined as interactive effects of early menopause. Thus I have analyzed the bivalent problematics of the embodiment and social location of early menopause as imbricated, dynamic and unending discourses. From this perspective I reviewed the literature that was available on early menopause. In Chapter One I look to descriptions of early menopause and note that it has disappeared into a conglomeration of disparate, mostly medical, discourses that are contradictory. Nevertheless medical discourses offer ‘conclusive’ definitions of early menopause that are based on naturalistic views of the body (Shilling 1994). The determinants used are inconsistent and do not include women's discourses of early menopause. Thus, dominant medical discourses obscure women’s embodied experiences of early menopause and ignore the contemporary causes of early menopause. In Chapter Two I examine the causes of early menopause as a way of explaining the disparity between medical discourses and my anecdotal observations of early menopause as a fairly common contemporary occurrence. The relatively recent escalation in gynaecological surgery, especially hysterectomy, appears to account almost single-handedly for early menopause as a current phenomenon. Moreover, the extraordinary number of women who have their uterus removed at hysterectomy can be interpreted as a modern implementation of ancient anxieties. Women's sexuality has been constructed throughout history as problematic and this unease has been translated through women's bodies as dangerous and in need of control (Greer 1992). Thus social concerns which have evolved historically have emerged through the representation of a woman's uterus as an unseen, dark and mysterious risk (Beck 1993). Medical discourses define this risk and are able to negate the so-called dangers of women's sexuality through the surgical removal of their organs. Widespread negotiation of medical discourses is apparent, as hysterectomy in the modern Western world is the most common of all surgical operations (Hufnagel 1989). It is overwhelmingly the most common cause of early menopause as well. I examine also the historical condemnation of infertile women and how this anxiety has been transposed to the modern world through the commercialization of reproduction. Transactions of this social unease can cause early menopause. For instance the medical technology of in-vitro fertilization (I.V.F.) has been offered as a panacea for the infertility of early menopause but, paradoxically, can cause early menopause as well. Conception through technology has been normalized as a viable option for women who are unable to conceive and understandings of I.V.F. have moved into everyday discourse. Medical discourses have constructed fertility as a saleable item and infertile women expect that they can purchase this merchandise. Human eggs have become lucrative commodities that now are available in the market place. Egg ‘donation’ for I.V.F. programs can hasten the attrition rate of eggs and can cause early menopause in some pre-menopausal women (Rowland 1992: 24). Even the recycling of a woman’s uterus supposedly has become a possibility through the transferring of this ‘used’ organ at hysterectomy to a recipient woman who can use the other woman’s uterus as a ‘gestational garage’ (Rogers 1998). In this way women have been disembodied as mechanical systems with inter-changeable body parts and the potentially detrimental consequences of these commercial transactions are ignored. In addition I show how early menopause can be caused by the connection between the self and the social structure. Women's subjectivity is constituted through the cultural discourses available to them and these discourses affect social behaviour (Lupton 1995). For instance smoking and dieting have been identified as causes of early menopause. These activities have been related to the creation of women’s bodies as hetero-sexually desirable and are endemic to young women (Evans-Young 1995). This suggests that cultural causes of early menopause are transactions of sexual politics. Yet there is a paucity of literature that acknowledges the relationship between women’s subjectivity and early menopause. Thus the second chapter exposes a link between sexual politics and causes of early menopause through women's relationships with risk, naturalism and the self. In Chapter Three I deconstruct early menopause through theoretical considerations. I rely on an overarching poststructuralism that embraces the concept of fragmented plural discourses and the subjectivity of menopausal women as a continuous process (Komesaroff 1997: 61). I have woven these variables through broad feminist critiques (Leonard 1997). Through this eclectic approach I hoped to find some loose alignment between the corporeal, ontological and embodied dimensions of early menopause. The recurring themes of sexuality, fertility and subjectivity emerge through deconstructing discourses of sexual difference as immutable and non-negotiable; exposing ‘premature ovarian failure’ as a discursive construction that censures early-menopausal women; and acknowledging the discourses of individual women as unique, diverse and dynamic. I looked to a method of exposing some of these individual discourses and in Chapter Four I describe a critical research process aimed at understanding early menopause as a lived experience. In the remaining chapters I align these ontological arguments with an analysis of the discourses of women who had experienced or were experiencing an early menopause. This section partly relieves the ‘cultural non-recognition’ of the discourses of early-menopausal women. I recorded the narratives of fifty early-menopausal women through in-depth interviews and used this empirical data to direct the study. This data provides the opportunity to understand early menopause as an assortment of embodied experiences. For instance women’s experiences of age at commencement of menopause spanned over three and half decades. They did not reflect the age specifications prescribed by medical discourses. Rather women interpreted their experiences within their own discourses and determined their menopause as early based upon the expectations of their cultural context. Many of the women experienced changes attributed to menopause at midlife. It was not these changes that were significant to early-menopausal women it was how each woman translated these changes that provided meanings of early menopause. In Chapter Five I introduce the women through a table that connects the varying experiences of each woman. This profile shows that, in the main, the women’s experiences of early menopause were unexpected. I suggest that this is due to the disparity between early-menopausal women’s experiences and the current age and social norms of menopause. By bracketing the women into cohorts patterns emerged displaying differences between women who had menopause in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties. Adolescent women had intense feelings of abnormality and despair. Women who were in their twenties were less devastated by menopause than the younger women but described their sexuality and self-identity as changing. And although some women in their thirties were shocked or dismayed to have an early menopause others were ambivalent or happy. These women also described their sexuality and self-identity through changing discourses. A number of the women who were in their forties said that they were ‘too young for the menopause’ but were far less despondent than the younger women. It seemed that the greater the distance between age norms and social norms the more negatively women responded. Age norms that determine the social norms of women's lives through a ‘biological clock’ are constructed to reflect social values. But age is a social construction that changes over time. Thus it would appear that women’s changing bodies and changing discourses of early menopause are in the process of recreating age and social norms around menopause. In Chapter Six I draw upon women’s narratives that describe a connection between early menopause and sexuality. Yet the respondents were not unified in their constructions of sexuality. For instance a number of the women rejected the containment of their sexuality as absolute and defined in terms of bi-lateral hetero-sexual opposition. The discourses of these women constructed their sexuality as continuously flexible. Some early-menopausal women described this sexual mobility as an equivocal relationship between their sexuality, reproductive capacity and female organs. Other women articulated their sexuality as vacillating, ambiguous and unrepresentative of the so-called ‘true woman’. Several felt that they were not meant to have female reproductive organs at all. Nearly one third of the women had had their uterus removed at hysterectomy and the reproductive organs of two women were rudimentary. Women’s narratives showed that the social value of fertility influences constructions of early menopause. In Chapter Seven I record the contrast between the poignant responses of women who wished to have a baby of their own and other women who resisted discourses that entwine reproductivity with being a woman. For instance some women negotiated fertility through economic discourses of consumerism with the expectation that they could purchase conception as a commodity. Other women welcomed their early menopause as freedom from contraceptive concerns and others had no interest in reproduction at all. Thus discord arose through discourses that problematize early-menopausal women as non-reproductive and discourses that value variability. In addition many of the women’s accounts constructed their subjectivity as mobile, challenging the notion that discourses of the self are immutable. Chapter Eight presents narratives which suggest that the subjectivity of many women was altered continuously by early menopause. Yet some of the women rejected the construction of their subjectivity as unfluctuating. These contradictions reflect the uncertainties of the contemporary world. Nevertheless most respondents found that the tethering of menopause to constructions of midlife was incongruous with their own experiences. Many women refused to accept the label of social redundancy attached to middle-aged women. They moved their subjectivity beyond the reproductive body to a shifting and tractable identity of the self. This thesis demonstrates that the medical construction of early menopause as a rare and natural female flaw varies from women's experiences which suggest that early menopause is common and discursively constructed. This disparity has occurred through the privilege placed upon the construction of bodies as immutable and sexually static. This privileging has obscured the multi-dimensional causes of early menopause and given preference to a mono-causal theory. By exposing the variety of causes of early menopause the medical construction of women through a universal and unalterable body of reproduction is challenged. Moreover, women's discourses of early menopause demonstrate that the medical reduction of early menopause to a spontaneous bio-chemical malfunction has ignored the volatility of women’s embodied experiences. Women experience early menopause variously and through mercurial discourses. I suggest here that women's discourses of their experiences of early menopause reflect recurring and restructuring philosophical quandaries of fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. While there can be no representative claims made from this thesis it contributes to an understanding of the embodied experiences of early menopause. It provides an understanding of the creation of early menopause through social practices and goes part way to redressing the problematics of what Fraser terms ‘cultural non-recognition’. But, more importantly, it acknowledges early menopause as a variety of experiences where women interpret their changing bodies through changing discourses.

AbstractReal “material” societies differ from one society to another; and therefore, the impact of the globalized virtual society on them varies according to whether they are conservative, and subject to political authority, or open and liberal. This chapter attempts to link the economic factor in Saudi society and its positive impact on the economic and social rights granted to Saudi women in the Saudi Vision 2030, as well as on the Saudi leadership’s decisions related to Saudi women. The analysis focuses on the reduction of restrictions on their material identity, the “Black Abaya”. It then examines how these decisions were reflected in changing the colour and shape of the Saudi Abaya in material society first, before changing appearances in virtual society, and not the other way around.

AbstractIn her The TV Crime Drama, Turnbull (The TV Crime Drama. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2014) argues that “the portrayal of women in the crime drama series has served as an index of women’s changing role in society while providing a catalyst for debate, both in the popular press and in the field of feminist media studies”. Moving from these premises, our aim is to analyse the Italian series Petra (Sky 2020–) within the larger context of contemporary European TV crime productions, to investigate the recurrences, similarities, and differences in the construction, representation, and consumption of TV female detectives, through a conceptualization of what has been called “mediated cultural encounters” (Bondebjerg et al. Transnational European Television Drama: Production, Genres and Audiences. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). We consider Rosi Braidotti’s claim of the necessity of a “post nationalistic understanding of cultural identity” (2001) as a framework of analysis for the inter-related issues of gender, multiculturalism, and European identities.

AbstractWith more emphasis placed on culturally responsive teaching, the field has become aware of recognizing the cultural capital students bring into the classroom but what about the teacher? This study closely examined the “lived stories” of three minority women seeking to answer the question: How does their cultural identity influence their teaching in regards to classroom curriculum, environment and relationships with students? With three participants, the researcher included, the main method of research was narrative inquiry, using interviews to gain insight on their background, teaching, and experiences with culture in the classroom. In addition to interviews, journals were employed to evidence researcher experiences. After a clean transcription, all data was then coded to reveal major themes. After researching the cultural identity of minority teachers, there was an awareness of their culture influencing their classroom. Major themes to emerge from the data were: minority teachers as role models and culturally responsive teaching. Although not obvious to participants but only through reflection, minority teachers had something more to offer students. They provided a unique perspective to which some students might relate. With an ever-changing demographic, it is advantageous to have diversity among educators that mirrors that of the student population.

AbstractThis essay analyzes the gender disparities in Guaraní education and literacy in the province of Paraguay during the colonial era through the mid-nineteenth century, based on original Guaraní texts and other archival sources, including school censuses and Guaraní schoolwork. The use of the Native language, in written and spoken forms, proved to be a contentious issue in Paraguay, reflecting the cultural resiliency of the Guaraní, the forces of cultural domination, and the relationship between education, literacy, and gender. Fashion is an element in this analysis as well, because the types of clothing worn reflected the Guaraníes’ changing sense of identity. While the Jesuits encouraged the study and use of the Guaraní language in the mission schools, Bourbon language reforms altered education in the missions in the mid-eighteenth century by the requirements of the colonial state to teach the Guaraní Spanish. Nonetheless, there was a degree of tolerance to the use of the Native language so that the Guaraní could understand their lessons. However, there was no formal education in Paraguay for women and girls until after 1856.

The changing business environment and its growing acceptance of women have influenced the motivations of women to consider entrepreneurship as an alternative career path. Women are well-represented as entrepreneurs in some sectors; however, they remain heavily underrepresented in areas such as science, engineering and technology (SET). While studies have been conducted amongst female entrepreneurs in traditionally female sectors, such as retail and personal services, little attention has been paid the motivations and pre-entrepreneurial careers of women who establish ventures in technology-based areas. The pre-entrepreneurial career is important in influencing an entrepreneur’s social, human and financial capital which plays a pivotal role in shaping the start-up venture and growth. Greater understanding of the motivations and pre-entrepreneurial pathways of women in technology might help identify ways of encouraging more women to consider taking that career-path. Research reported here addresses the gap in the literature by exploring the pre-entrepreneurial careers and start-up motivations of 18 female technology entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland, using data collected through an exploratory, interview-based study. Implications for theory, policy and practice are explored.

The Design for Manufacture (DSM) method allows product development and presentation of several other alternatives in a comparative form (matrix). It gives also the opportunity for the product to be analysed and to produce a flexible method to optimize it, by significantly reducing the costs. The process analysis by DSM requires data collection through technical document inspection and interviews with shoe designers. This could be an iterative and time consuming process. A deeper understanding of the system, usually results in changing the relationships between parameters. However, once the initial model is produced, it will be the basis for future developments. The analysed data for DSM were more accurate and fast collected because of the 3D and 2D CAD software used. Based on designed models for elderly women, the initial set of system/ model’s parameters were identified. The system’s elements are not only physical components, but also performance requirements. The reason for including performance requirements in DSM matrix was to find their relationship with design parameters and to compare from this point of view, different model’s design and finally to improve it. The selected products are more difficult to be designed because of their destination and the elderly feet characteristics. The main objectives of this study were to: determine the relationships among design parameters of the shoes for the elderly; obtain the DSM matrix which will be the basis for developing an algorithm to reorder design steps by following the specific parametric restrictions. To achieve an optimal parametric order and to identify the transition process, a partitioning algorithm developed by Pektas, S.T. in 2003 was used.

Students and practitioners of architecture challenge the hegemonic Whiteness, maleness, cisheteronormativity, and capitalist control of these disciplines as a means of democratizing and decolonizing practice to create conditions for Black self-determination. This paper considers how architectural professionals have responded to contemporary movements for social justice in the United States and the ways in which some are more and some less successful at addressing the intersecting nature of identity-based oppressions. Organizations and convenings, including the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), Black in Design, the Design Futures Public Interest Design Student Leadership Forum, Equity by Design, and the Architecture Lobby are considered from 2012 to the pre-pandemic spring of 2020, with a focus on the emergence of new spaces and shifts in how existing spaces engage with activist movements as a result of changing political conditions. The paper provides historical background and constructive critique. It concludes with recommendations for creating institutions that respond proactively, rather than reactively, to racist violence, sexual harassment, assault, and exploitation, and for making lasting meaning of these injustices when they occur. The roles Black people and other people of color, particularly women, have played, and the roles White people, particularly men, and White institutions must play in creating an antiracist, feminist architecture are a focus of this paper.

Abstract The oil and gas industry in the Gulf has been vital in contributing to Qatar's economy. With the industry's rapid growth, there was a need for an exponentially larger workforce. Gender imbalance still remains one of the industry's challenges in a largely male-dominated field. However, the good news is that the female workforce has gradually increased. The rise in female engineers and scientists in the industry has resulted in, among other things, better opportunities to access higher education and training in the oil and gas field. However, there remain some obstacles that aspiring female engineers face. Based on interviews conducted with several engineers who work in multinational oil and gas companies in the Gulf states, we discuss existing challenges and issues many women engineers still encounter today. The interviewees also noted some improvements and provided helpful advice for the females aspiring to be engineers. We interviewed several female and male engineers, some of whom occupy managerial positions while others work in the fields. The interviews were conducted on Zoom over several weeks, and we then transcribed the interviews. We then analyzed the interview transcripts using a corpora analysis software, LancsBox, with each transcript separated as its own corpus. KWIC (keyword in context) tool was used to isolate a single keyword (for example, "female" or "girl") to find out how often those keywords were used and in what context in a sentence for each corpus, which helped identify the various themes that were discussed during the interview, such as gender and the workplace, challenges in the workplace, barriers to work and life balance, to list a few. The interviewees recounted their experiences, and from that data, we describe their challenges, successes, and recommendations to make the oil and gas industry in the Gulf accommodating for both genders. The challenges they describe include a lack of appropriate facilities for women on the field; sexist or difficult treatment from male counterparts, managers, and family members; a gender pay gap; and a lack of policies or incentives that support women to achieve executive positions in their companies. Some of the successes they shared include strides being made to encourage women to enter STEM programs in schools and STEM careers, a changing environment for the prevalence and inclusion of women in the oil and gas industry, and a change of culture in the world surrounding the image of women in the STEM industry. Several female interviewees mentioned familial support in their educational pursuit, suggested the creation of mentorship programs and recommended having more female role models in the industry.

This report aims to identify a selection of programmes and projects undertaken by countries under their respective National Action Plans. It focuses on discrete, large-scale initiatives that specifically target aspects of the WPS agenda and aim to influence change outside the implementing agencies, rather than changing agencies’ own policies and practices. Common themes that appear frequently across these programmes and projects include: supporting global pools of technical capacity on WPS and on peacebuilding generally; training military, police, and other personnel from partner countries, including building women’s professional capacities as well as training personnel in WPS-related good practices; supporting WPS networks and forums to share experience and expertise; extensive use of multilateral mechanisms for channelling funding and for sharing technical capacity; extensive support to and collaboration with civil society organisations; initiatives focusing on combating violent extremism and counter-terrorism; initiatives focusing on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse in peacekeeping and humanitarian contexts; a wide range of commitments to stopping gender-based violence; and support for sexual and reproductive health initiatives. All of the countries discussed in this report also undertake considerable efforts to change policies and practices within their own agencies. In addition, all of the countries discussed in this report undertake a range of initiatives focused on individual countries; smaller donors, in particular, often focus many of their own programmes on single countries while using multilateral mechanisms to engage at the regional and global scales. However, in accordance with the terms of reference for this report, these types of activities are not discussed below. In the time available for this report, it was possible to review six countries’ activities. These countries were selected for inclusion because they had sufficient documentation readily accessible in the form of action plans, implementation plans, and progress reports; they are donor countries with significant international activities that may be considered peers to the UK; and/or they have been cited in the literature as being leaders in promoting the WPS agenda.

This CREID Policy Briefing provides recommendations to address the marginalisation, discrimination and exclusion faced by Kakai women in Iraq. Members of the Kakai minority have faced discrimination and marginalisation during many different periods of the Iraqi state. Prior to the US occupation of Iraq in 2003, Kakais were deported to other regions as part of a government drive to alter the demographics of Kurdish majority areas. After 2003, the Kakais faced oppression as a minority group during a long period of sectarian fighting. This oppression continued with the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist attack on Iraq in 2014. The marginalisation of the Kakais is exacerbated by a lack of legal recognition and differing views over their minority status.