Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Gender and Women's Studies'

Furnishing Gender is a collection of furniture and objects of the home that have been deliberately altered to explore and expose pervasive aspects of toxic masculinity. The work within examines aspects of rape culture, queer culture, and hetero-normal constructs that link our realities to the lies of masculinity and gender difference. It is my intent that the viewer become uncomfortable and my hope that they not shy away from this discomfort, but accept the exhibition’s challenge to be vulnerable, genuine, and to engage in conversations that confront the conventions of traditional gender roles and biases.

For decades, there has been a concern with the negative framing of black women in the media. Historically, black women are placed into four stereotypical frames: The Mammy, The Jezebel, The Sapphire and The Matriarch. However, in 2008, a new image of black women arose through Michelle Obama. She was well rounded — beautiful, intelligent, insightful, humorous, strong, yet soft all at the same time. This study seeks to understand the changes in the framing of black women since Michelle Obama’s time as First Lady.

More specifically, this study focuses on the medium of magazine journalism, which seems to be largely ignored in the realm of media studies. Thirty articles from a mainstream (Glamour) and a black women’s magazine (Essence) were analyzed for the presence of historical frames along with the emergence of new ones. The study employs the qualitative method of textual analysis as a way to determine frames and their meanings through a grounded theory approach.

The primary outcomes of this study are a greater understanding of how historical frames still affect how magazines, mainstream and black, frame black women, and the revealing of new frames that depart from those historical representations. Furthermore, this study will be used as a foundation for editors, writers, educators and students alike, to create more authentic and multifaceted stories about black women.

Although Latinos have historically served in the U.S. military, recent increases in the number of Latinas who have been recruited for the military make it imperative to explore how this experience affects their well-being. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Latinas who are serving or have served in the U.S. military, focusing on their identity and gender roles. I utilized a qualitative research design, wherein I interviewed four Latinas currently serving in the U.S. Army. The focus of the study was how Latinas experience their gender identity and gender roles through the perspective of identity theory and social identity theory. It also explored how they negotiate these aspects in a military environment. I used an interpretative phenomenological approach for this study, as this method allowed sufficient flexibility to delve into previously unexplored concepts in this population. Furthermore, I utilized the Marianismo Beliefs Scale (MBS; Castillo, Perez, Castillo, & Ghosheh, 2010) to perform data triangulation and to have a better understanding on how the women’s belief structures affect their experience. This research study is significant because it informed a salient gap in the literature regarding Latinas and the military. Furthermore, it will allow mental health practitioners to have a clearer understanding of how Latina military women experience military culture, which can affect treatment decision.

The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small African nation with an HIV prevalence rate of 27.4% in adults and up to 39% in pregnant women (Global Health Observatory, 2014). In 2012, life expectancy for a woman in Swaziland was 55-years (World Health Organization, 2014). Health entails more than the absence of disease. Although considered a lower middle-income country, 69% of Swazi citizens live in poverty and nearly one-third live in extremely poor circumstances. The degree to which upstream factors such as social conditions and the cultural environment impact individuals tends to be minimized in Westernized models of health behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the sociocultural factors that impact self-care and health maintenance of women in Swaziland. The goals related to this were to uncover the salient cultural values, beliefs and attitudes that affect the health of Swazi women, and to develop a deeper understanding of how strongly embedded cultural values are a determinant of health outcomes. Using Carspecken’s methodology of critical ethnography, which incorporates both observational and narrative methods, this study focused intensively on the life stories of four rural African women. The findings richly illustrate how social issues such as poverty and food insecurity impact the health of women and their children; and how traditional customs and practices both support and threaten the health of women and families. Women in this study experienced a loss of husband or extended family due to death or abandonment that resulted in losses in supports and resources. Additionally, they worried about the health and education of their children before personal health needs. They also reported chronic employment problems and mistrust in existing governmental agencies including the healthcare system. Application of the culturally sensitive Person-Environment-Neighborhood (PEN-3) model highlights areas of resilience, strengths, and resource targets and identifies the community as an appropriate entry level for health interventions.

Since the women’s liberation movement in the 1970s, the number of women in the American workforce has increased dramatically; however, the percentage of women in the C-Suite—those who reach the status of chief officer—remains below 10 percent nationally (Soares et al., 2013). This disparity, sometimes called the “glass ceiling,” remains, even though many companies have adopted important initiatives to promote women’s advancement. Although research has identified a complex set of factors involved in women’s achievement of the highest levels of success in contemporary corporate settings, including measurable achievements, such as education, experience, and technical proficiency and intangibles, such as emotional intelligence, leadership styles, and communication skill, a significance difference in women’s ability to break through the glass ceiling has still not been made.

Aimed at bridging that gap, this qualitative study gathers, through personal interviews, the experiences and perspectives of seventeen individuals, both men and women, of different races, cultures, and backgrounds, all of whom have reached the level of chief officer. Respondents were queried about their perception of the factors necessary to reach the C-Suite, as well as any factors required especially for women to arrive at that destination. The data gathered in the interviews included the subjects’ experiences from the process of their own advancement to the C-Suite and their observations of others’ experiences. The data were coded and analyzed according to recurring themes and patterns in the interviewees’ answers. The results point to a complex, nuanced, dynamic set of factors in the life of an otherwise qualified individual. Namely, four (4) such factors play a primary role in propelling aspiring women into the C-Suite: 1) executive traits; 2) preparation; 3) networking; and 4) engaging organizational culture. The findings offer an empowering promise that women can not only identify and gain the tools they need to accomplish their C-Suite goals, but also actively pursue and cultivate these assets in a way that offers success in both life and career.

Demonstrations in response to the harsh austerity budget in Greece which cut valuable government services, and the civil unrest in Athens specifically, are an outward, visible response to economic crisis. In an androcentric society such as Greece, women are disproportionately affected by the austerity measures because of the feminization of budget cuts. This ethnographic study explores how middle class women in Athens are coping economically, politically and socially in a national and global financial crisis. Through studying middle class Greek women, one can intensively illustrate the faults of neoliberal economic policies that pride themselves on the creation of the so-called middle class while simultaneously eliminating it. This research examines the survival strategies and adaptation methods of middle class women in Athens as well as placing them within the global economic context further displaying the fallacy of neoliberal economic policies as an economic growth agenda.

This thesis exposes unconscious gender bias in actor training and the entertainment industry. Such exposure will aid teachers and industry professionals in identifying language and practices that perpetuate this prejudice, and ultimately, effect revisions, forging a new standard for good acting. I posit that images generated by an industry that continues to drive this bias through unequal opportunities for women, double standards, and the preeminence of the male gaze in cinematic practices, contribute to situating women as objects of desire, rather than as subjects who command professional equity and respect. I will introduce the science behind this long-standing problem and the need to reorient the brain toward gender equality, thereby offering means through which students, educators, and industry professionals can forge an equitable environment, one that empowers young women to take ownership of their presence in the entertainment industry and thus society’s perception of them.

This communications study looks at gender-based self-reflexive theoretically guided practice, “praxis,” to explore the way in which a women's community media organization, femLINKpacific, pursues its goals of enhancing women's participation in governance structures and resiliency to extreme weather conditions. This study contributes to the nascent literature on mobile device and radio interaction by exploring the way in which women in rural Fiji utilize mobile devices to interact with femTALK, the community radio station of femLINKpacific. The study is based on the theoretical frameworks of inclusive innovation, post-development theory, and participatory communications theory in the context of gender-based ICT4D. Two main platforms, Mobile Suitcase Radio (MSR), a portable radio platform, and Women’s Weather Watch (WWW), a mobile-phone based weather reporting network, and an additional non-mediated communication venue of monthly women’s gatherings were explored through a 3-phase study, utilizing interviews and focus groups, with radio station staff and women leader’s networks.

Main findings included the role of WWW to transmit information for preparedness for Tropical Cyclone Winston, and indigenous food practices shared through the various platforms, as well as the role of MSR, when used in conjunction with the issues shared at the monthly consultations, to bring greater awareness to the women’s “voice.” This study extends to understanding the role of mutually supportive, systematic processes to enhance women's participation in governance structures, including the role and effectiveness of inter-ethnic groups in addressing community issues, and capacity building through incremental acclimatizing activities.

Despite the significant participation of women in the workforce, the gender wage gap has failed to close. The policy analysis examines the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA), a bill first introduced to Congress in 1963 and defeated on September 15, 2014. The PFA would help secure equal pay for equal work between males and females. The analysis of the PFA is based on a modified version of David Gil's framework. The analysis found that the gender gap persists across race and ethnicity, all levels of educational attainment, and careers. The PFA is the latest legislation addressing pay equity, following a succession of bills such as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2009.

Institutions of higher education have a glass ceiling: women are underrepresented in the college presidency with 30% of college presidents as women, 83% white and 17% women of color. By nature, the culture of higher education has been traditionally male centered, with female professors and researchers struggling to advance in their careers. Contributing factors that may lead to the lack of women college presidents may be linked to long-held systemic views of women and gender biases that create barriers in career advancement. The objective of this qualitative study is to explore the ways in which women, from their perceptions, navigated opportunities and managed obstacles as they advanced into the college presidency. For the women who did advance to the highest level of leadership in IHE—the college presidency—what did they experience as they advanced in their career, and what enabled them to navigate the system and transcend the barriers? Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis process through convergent and divergent coding tools. Four key findings emerged from this study: (1) Women were intelligent, talented, successful, savvy, and brave; (2) Servant Leadership; (3) Gender Fluid Characteristics; and (4) Support and Well-Being for current college presidents. This study offers an increased awareness of barriers that are limiting women from progressing to the college presidency in institutions of higher education. It also offers an increased awareness of the phenomenology of women college presidents and the ways that they managed obstacles and took advantage of opportunities as they advanced in their careers.

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify barriers for women to advance into executive management positions in STEM professions, and to identify strategies deemed to be effective for women to advance into STEM executive management positions, by women currently in STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry.

Conceptual Framework. The conceptual framework included 3 concepts: (a) cultural and societal factors; (b) mentorship, sponsorship, and networking; and (c) motivation and power levels. These concepts are connected to barriers women face when entering leadership and efforts to empower women entering leadership in the aerospace industry.

Methodology. This was a qualitative case study utilizing the transformative framework. The participants were 7 women in STEM executive management position in the aerospace industry. The participants responded to 8 open-ended questions designed to reveal barriers women in STEM executive management positions face and to highlight strategies deemed to be effective for women to advance into STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry.

Findings. Through data collection and analysis, the data indicated major themes consisting of work performance, big picture, strong work ethic, underrepresentation, and trusted networks. Other themes emerged such as diversity of thought, advocacy, mentorship, credibility, no plan for executive management, and unfavorable perception.

Conclusions and Recommendations. The findings revealed that 5 major themes emerged from the data analysis pertaining to barriers women face to career advancement and effective strategies used by successful women in STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry. It is recommended that this qualitative case study be replicated with a larger sample population. Additionally, future studies could explore other populations that would directly benefit from women in STEM executive management positions, such as men, millennials, aspiring women leaders, and other key stakeholders in the aerospace industry.

This case study explores the dynamics of a small long-term leaderless group of five, Jungian-oriented, women therapists. The group, meeting from 1992 to 2005, was originally convened to explore how women's initiatory journey is distinctive from men's. Refusing to adopt a leader, its non-hierarchical structure merited further exploration. The research questions were as follows: What are the individual and collective meanings given to a successful, long-term leaderless women's group? What aspects of the group contribute to its meaningfulness, vitality and longevity?

The dissertation adopts the metaphor and meta-framework of the Father's House and Mother's House, referring to two distinct ways women's consciousness develops. The Father's and Mother's House form a continuum that ranges from women's adaptation to conventional values and structures to women's ways of knowing and being. Extensive literature reviews describe consciousness in The Father's House, The Mother's House and Women in Groups.

Case study data illuminate both individual and group perspectives on the group's life. They include audio-taped individual interviews and group sessions, including typical and crisis sessions, along with researcher observations and reflections. The researcher conducted the study as a participant member.

Narrative analysis reveals three phases in the group's life: an initial phase exploring the dreams and visions of Christiana Morgan and Jung's Visions Seminars; a second phase of moving into a void with an unfolding emergent process; and a third phase following 9/11 in which the group attended to psychological trends manifesting in collective consciousness.

The Weaving chapter relates the group's experiences to the literature on women's groups, noting a key challenge faced by the group and by women generally—the dynamic of connection, disconnection, and re-connection.

The final chapter presents major conclusions drawn from the research: Women's groups serve a developmental function for women and can impact the collective in transformative ways. The Visions group found that the prevalent archetypal drama of saviour, victim, and persecutor must give way to new ways of relating. This study adds to our understanding of groups that learn organically and shows how a group functions when it lives in the Mother's House.

Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) is a burgeoning area of developing cosmetic surgery in the U.S., Britain, and Australia. Hotly debated, the procedure is caught up in cultural discourses of medicalization, on the one hand (arguing for the necessity of such procedures to correct a “defect” in female anatomy), and, on the other, condemnations of the practice as yet another market invention to capitalize on women’s traditional anxieties regarding beauty, especially with regard to genital anatomy. This dissertation situates FGCS historically and culturally within practices of neoliberal capitalism, new surgical technologies, changes in U.S. healthcare systems, increased bodily surveillance and advances in media technology, and a tradition of the development and use of standardized systems of classification within practices of Western medicine. It then illustrates how these factors work in concert to produce “defective” bodies and the technologies marketed as necessary to fix them.

This project considers questions of religious othering in the contemporary United States through the lens of popular post-religious narratives. These narratives salaciously depict mistreated women in order to demarcate certain religions as deviant; authors and pundits then use these narratives in order to justify outside intervention in specific religious communities. By closely analyzing a selection of contemporary narratives written about women from Muslim and fundamentalist Mormon communities with special attention to both the feminist enactments and tropes of captivity which permeate these texts, this project challenges simplistic portrayals of religious Others. In doing so, the analysis draws the reader's attention to the uncanny imitations in many of these texts: in arguing that certain religions "capture" their female adherents, authors of contemporary captivity narratives silence the voices of women whose stories they seek to illuminate. The dissertation also explores the ambivalent content of many of these narratives. When read against the grain, captivity literature offers surprising opportunities for nuanced explorations of religion, gender and agency.

Women have been experiencing challenges to upward mobility in executives’ positions because of negative stereotypes and social perceptions about their ability to be lead nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Despite their advancements in education, women are still not occupying leadership positions at the rate of their male counterparts. As a result, this study examined through a phenomenological lens the lived experiences of female CEOs on their perceptions about gender and their attitudes towards change as being open or their approach to change as being different to their male counterparts. The findings of this study revealed that it is the belief of female CEOs that gender matters. The results also pointed to female CEOs’ attitudes towards change as being more open and a different approach to change than their male counterparts. The qualitative methodology used was a phenomenological study drawing on multiple theoretical approaches. The main framework for this study, however, drew on the theoretical framework of the upper echelon theory to assist in the understanding of the complex operations of nonprofit organizations. Through theory tranquilizations, this study also examined other theoretical frameworks such as the glass ceiling theory, social role theory, expectations states theory as well as transactional leadership and transformational leadership, as they are all relevant to organizational leadership, attitudes towards change, and organizational stability and success.

The aim of this research is to explore whether and how gay and bisexual men experience street harassment—those public interactions committed by strangers that are targeted at individuals with specific (perceived) identities because of those identities. Street harassment is unwelcome and intimidating and makes people feed scared, uncomfortable, and humiliated, and research up to this point has mainly focused on the harassment of women by men. This study was conducted using only online methods, using a survey to interact with 331 gay and bisexual men from at least 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and 22 countries, in addition to follow-up interviews with 24 of those survey-takers. Ninety percent of the survey respondents reported sometimes, often, or always feeling unwelcome in public because of their sexual orientation, and 71.3 percent said they constantly assess their surroundings when navigating public spaces. This is not the case for everyone, though. Some men don't report these feelings because they may view victimization as inconsistent with their male identity, or they may just not experience it at all. The results also suggest important differences between the harassment of women vs. the harassment of gay/bisexual men. They also show interesting variety in experiences across identity categories—including age and race—in addition to differences depending on how men view their own masculinity and legibility of sexual orientation. Much more research is required to fully understand the experiences of particular groups, including transpeople, but that degree of focus was unfortunately beyond the scope of this study.

This research investigates the sociological, psychological, and physiological factors known to affect women’s career advancement opportunities. It examines how awareness and knowledge shared through the #MeToo (hashtag Me Too) movement influenced gender specific perceptions about the factors affecting women’s workplace opportunities. Finally, it recommends measures to alter the divergent gender perceptions that remain an obstacle to gender equality in the workplace.

This study was conducted because gender inequalities continue in the U.S. workplace in 2018. Currently women fail to advance in careers at the same rate as men, and they are paid 21% less for similar work with equal skills and experience. Women comprise approximately 51% of the U.S. population and 47% of the workforce, so equality would dictate a one-to-one male to female ratio throughout all levels of government and private industry. The current male to female ratio in the U.S. Congress is four-to-one. The male to female executive ratio in Fortune 500 companies is three-to-one, and in the U.S. Government it is two-to-one.

The researcher conducted a mixed method experimental study by comparing pre- and post-treatment interview and survey data to determine how much awareness and knowledge shared through the #MeToo mass media event impacted gender specific perceptions of women’s equality struggles in the workplace. The qualitative interview analysis indicated a moderate shift from divergent gender perceptions in Study 1 to convergent viewpoints in Study 2 following the #MeToo media events.

The quantitative analysis of pre- and post-treatment survey studies supported the qualitative findings and showed a 43% reduction in the gender perception gap in the post-event assessment.

With outcomes from three independent qualitative and quantitative investigations aligning, the researcher concluded the overall statistical results demonstrate a strong impact on men’s and women’s perceptions and a largely reduced gender perception gap following the #MeToo media events. Because it is unknown if those changes are permanent, the researcher believes future research could focus on awareness, education, and accountability initiatives to more adequately address gender equality problems in the workplace and bring about lasting change.

Gender inequality continues to impose limitations on the progress of women in a number of ways. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how female administrators have experienced gender inequality in the workplace in order to gain a better understanding of the barriers they have encountered. This study explored participants’ administrative background, experiences as an administrator, challenges encountered related to gender inequality, and what was learned (i.e., coping, strategies to address gender inequality). The findings revealed the main challenges participants’ encountered in the workplace were based on pay and promotion. Through this study, female administrators were given an outlet to express their concerns regarding gender inequality and provide their input concerning strategies that may be effective in addressing gender inequality in the workplace.

This quantitative research study examined differences in women’s giving motivation in a large membership based nonprofit across 3 types of women. The theoretical framework was based on the identification theory that postulates an individual‘s personal motivation to give was directly correlated to self-identification with an organization. The findings of this study indicated that overall 89% of the 855 respondents donated to another nonprofit with only 14% donating to the selected membership based nonprofit. As boundaries between nonprofit revenue sources and philanthropy are increasingly fluid, our theoretical understanding as well as our empirical research on fund development must expand to encompass these new fundraising strategies. The study summarizes the extant empirical literature on nonprofit financial development programs and compares this research to emerging work on women’s motivation for giving. Drawing on this literature, the study specifically calls for research on nonprofit fundraising that (a) gives greater attention to the links between volunteerism, identification and women’s giving motivation, (b) target marketing efforts of volunteerism and philanthropy to members with a bachelor’s or higher educational level, and (c) the data suggests the nonprofit sector should focus their efforts on approaches that deepen identification with the female donor base through programs that allow; service on boards, ongoing volunteer activities that change lives and more frequently asking for giving of financial resources.

Due to deeply held gender roles and cultural norms in organizations, women leaders struggle in their ability to lead authentically (Cook, 2012). Leading with authenticity encourages women to bring their whole self to work, providing them with the flexibility and freedom to exhibit their best qualities in the workplace. Authentic leadership serves to inspire women to believe in themselves and their abilities, enabling women to foster relationships and transparency that can transform work environments and corporate cultures to become more accepting of individual differences.

This study investigated the leadership experiences of professional women across multiple generations. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with 15 women leaders. Leaders were asked 12 interview questions aligned to five research questions. The questions focused on the past and current leadership experiences. Key findings of the study revealed 64 themes. As a result of the study, authenticity was identified as a significant contributor toward the success of women in leadership roles. Being true to self and being genuine was the most important factor of authenticity in both a women’s professional and personal life. The barriers and challenges that women face include bridging the gap between the male stereotype of leadership and the socially accepted female gender role. These challenges present obstacles for women leaders who attempt to embrace and emulate their true selves at work. Sometimes at the risk of losing their job. Women depend upon their faith, prayer, and practice of reflection and meditation to help them lead with authenticity. These strategies along with self-awareness help women to develop the courage needed to continue moving forward in their leadership practice.

Success for authentic women leaders is defined by their career and the ability to perform personally fulfilling work. Success is also defined by the leader’s ability to develop and maintain strong relationships with family and friends while also helping others. Recommendations for aspiring women leaders include most significantly the ability to be a leader of self, possessing high self-awareness and building self-confidence. These recommendations are followed by a practice of facing fears and embracing authenticity early in life and career.

This study explores a feminine system of power conceived of as a tripartite system of relatedness, comprised of three power centers: sourced through a generative relationship with ourselves, Life, and others. This theoretical dissertation describes feminine power’s roots as developed for and with women over the past decade.

I begin by situating the research within our present moment: the paradoxical situation of the rise of women, and decline in female happiness. I then examine various forms of power before describing the feminine power course. Next, I examine the feminine and relatedness (especially relational selves), followed by an exploration of disconnection, what holds us back culturally—individualism and the Western mind, cosmological lack, and shame (toxic anxiety) at the personal level.

I then describe the theoretical foundations of feminine power, by first focusing on the experiences and scholarship that directly informed my work including Self-Relations psychotherapy, Swimme and Spretnak’s ecological postmodernism course, the GDOC process, and collective intelligence. And finally I focus on transformative learning theory to explore the parallels between feminine power principles and methodologies and ways in which feminine power is informed by transformative learning, and can inform transformative learning.

This study endeavours to explicate the importance of relatedness as power and the transformative benefits of envisioning power in this way, especially as it relates to women who are seeking to self-actualize and participate in social transformation. Results will benefit women who want to realize these higher possibilities and also higher human potential in general. As well it will be of interest to educators and participants in the field of transformative learning and change as well as others who seek to understand and embrace the power of relatedness.