Womens Studies International Forum最新文献

This paper aims at understanding transformations of cultural identity in Azerbaijan by exploring raptures, continuations, and re-formulations of marriage rituals during Soviet times (1920–1990). Seven women born in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and, raised in different regions of Soviet Azerbaijan were interviewed, sharing their memories of their own and their parents' marriage rituals. Their narratives provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between political, social, and economic factors that influenced Azerbaijani cultural identity, which historically has interacted with many different cultures. To examine the interaction of local cultural identity with the Soviet colonial power in time and space, we use Mikhail Bakhtin's ‘chronotope’, Stuart Hall's elaboration of ‘cultural identity,’ and Homi Bhabha's concepts of ‘hybridity’ and ‘third space.' We argue that despite Soviet influence, local cultural practices endured, keeping the Azerbaijani individual self-identity distinct.

This article explores the complexities of non-disclosure among female Dalit survivors of rape who negotiate between speech and silence as a means of exercising agency. It analyses the role of Brahmanical patriarchy, Dalit feminism and social constructionist theory to unpack the silence, shame, secrecy and cultural censorship surrounding sex and sexual violence both in India at large and for Dalit women in particular. The study comprised 28 qualitative interviews with Dalit women who had been raped by men; it employs Foucault's notion of resistance, regulation and subjectivity to explore when and to whom these participants chose to disclose their rape. It thus seeks to theories these women's varied responses to their rape as acts of agency and resistance, demonstrating how silence can operate on multiple levels: individual, family and community. It draws on India's #LoSHA movement to demonstrate the dangers of universalizing victim-survivors' experiences of sexual violence and to parse the complexities of speaking out or remaining silent and how these play out in individual and collective contexts. In focusing on Dalit women and situating their non-disclosure within an intersectional context, this work differentiates between the passivity of being silenced and the agency and resistance inherent in the decision to remain silent. Therefore, this paper makes a unique contribution to the literature on patriarchy, Dalit studies, feminism and social constructivism.

In light of public scandals and legislative pressure, Canadian universities have instituted sexualized violence policies in an attempt to curb harm on campus. As the first step, policy-making committees and task forces were established to spearhead institutional change. Using data from 49 qualitative interviews with feminist faculty across Canada, we examine how these policy-making committees utilized feminist expertise, particularly whether feminists with intersectional positionalities and expertise were invited to the table and if their expertise was used to inform the resulting institutional policies. As our findings illustrate, even though policies profess to seek or incorporate intersectionality, experts in intersectionality– particularly those with intersectional positionalities– are rarely invited or heard. As we argue in this article, post-secondary institutions actively work against intersectionality by narrowing the mandates of committees and siloing task forces from other Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) concerns. Additionally, invitations to serve as experts on sexualized violence committees are often reserved for feminists deemed by administrators to be palatable, and those invited who embody diversity are used to rubber stamp the process of creating sexualized violence responses instead of informing the policies. This article illustrates the various ways in which PSI committees' constitutions and their mandates tend to make intersectionality a performative rather than informative guiding principle.

This research investigates the risk of divorce in Pakistan, considering various aspects of gender roles. We used rare events logistic regression to determine the risk of divorce based on socioeconomic variables. We find that females are more likely to be divorced than their male counterparts in all estimation scenarios. While our analysis partially supports the gender role specialization theory, both males and females who do not participate in the labor market are less likely to divorce according to empirical analysis. We also found that people living in urban areas are more likely to divorce due to a lack of social integration. The risk of divorce in various occupations remained the same across years of education and rural/urban living. Our results show that years of education decrease the likelihood of divorce. The current study fills the literature gap by analyzing divorce risk in Pakistan using several theories and hypotheses, most of which are based on gender roles. The study provides a significant number of observations and data on both married and divorced individuals, enabling a thorough investigation of divorce risk in Pakistan.

The study highlights the unique experiences of socio-cultural transition among young ex-Soviet immigrant women who spent their formative years in Israel's urban periphery among resident Mizrahi Jews. It follows the complex dynamic in Russian-Mizrahi relations moving from mutual hostility and rejection to gradual adoption of Mizrahi habitus, often leading to marriage between Mizrahi men and Russian women. As part of a larger study of the migrant journeys in Israel's geo-social periphery, we interviewed 24 women belonging to Generation 1.5 who immigrated as children or adolescents. Most informants achieved some economic mobility despite their low starting positions, and many of them were married to Mizrahi partners. The interviews illuminate lingering ambivalence in the ongoing cultural encounter between Jewish Israelis of ex-Soviet and Middle-Eastern origin. They show how gendered body praxis around dress, hair, and other visual elements; communicative styles, as well as cooking and domestic habits of many migrant women of Ashkenazi (European) origin were transformed by adopting local Mizrahi features. Most informants spoke of this change as adaptive for their integration in the new milieu, but over time they came to appreciate the positive facets of Mizrahi habitus and family life. Our findings shed light on the evolving boundary-work between hosts and immigrants by means of gendered and embodied cultural transition.

The gendered patterning of urban street names as part of the spatial production of broader male-centric memorial landscapes has been documented in a growing body of scholarship. Scholars from various cognate fields, such as cultural geography, gender and memory studies, and urban sociology, have unraveled the stark gender disparities favoring men inscribed into symbolic landscapes through place names, public monuments, and other memorial artefacts. This article sets out to overcome some of the limitations characterizing this strand of research – namely, the lack of statistical sophistication and the preference for case studies based on singular cities – by developing a multi-level modelling of gendered street nomenclature at the national level. The approach developed in this paper employs the complete collection of urban street names in Romania to assess the empirical adequacy of five hypotheses regarding the gendered structuring of the country's urban namescape. This analysis highlights the factors underpinning the variation of gender disparities in terms of Romania's historical regions, ethnic demographics and local ethnopolitics, city ranking within the national territorial administration and intra-urban stratification of the road network, as well as the effects brought about by postsocialist transformations.

Mobile money (MM) is pivotal to improving financial inclusion and socio-economic well-being. However, many women in developing countries are excluded from its use. While there are existing studies that have interrogated the predictors of MM use by women, the problem persists in most low-and-middle-income countries probably due to the scarcity of location specific interventions in addressing the low rates. Thus, this study examines the determinants of MM use by women at a local context disaggregated along national, rural, and urban scales in Nigeria to achieve effective policy formulation tailored towards the uniqueness of the different geographical locations. Drawing on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, this study provides evidence that MM use by women varies substantially between urban and rural areas and these disparities are driven by spatial differences in socio-economic, enabling, and contextual factors. The study recommends that policy makers need to address women's socio-economic problems from a spatial viewpoint to ensure that they fully benefit from the advantages of MM.

The 2022 South Korean presidential election campaign saw populist politicians, especially conservative parties, leverage gender conflicts and misogyny to attract young male swing voters. But there has been limited scholarly attention to the connection between gender and populist politics, particularly in South Korea, with research primarily focused on women's voting patterns, their political party representation, and on populist politics in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Existing research identifies that common strategies employed by populist politicians include anti-feminist discourses, reference to crises in masculinity, and appeals to emotion and affect. This paper examines how South Korean populist politics has utilized gender conflicts since democratization, considering the evolution of ‘gender wars’ in the South Korean context. It specifically delves into the strategies employed by conservative populist politicians from the People Power Party (PPP) during the 2022 election campaigns. These strategies, although similar to those of right-wing populists in Europe and the US, emphasized three key issues unique to South Korea: compulsory military service, low fertility rates, and the dismantling of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. This South Korean case contributes significantly to academic discussions about populist politics and gender, contextualized within the local political, social, and cultural context.

Rural women entrepreneurship plays a pivotal role in poverty eradication and inclusive development, yet many women in developing nations, including Tanzania, grapple with challenges hindering their enterprise success. This study delves into these challenges and explores resilience strategies for positive transformations. Primary data was collected from 540 women-led enterprises in the Tabora region between April and June 2022, analyzed using the One-parameter logistic, and Ordinary Robust Least Square models. The One-parameter logistic model, suited for binary outcomes, reveals nuanced challenges faced by rural women entrepreneurs, with government policy, regulatory environment, and education and training showing positive and significant relationships to discrimination, while cultural factors, infrastructure, and socioeconomic characteristics exhibit negative significant relationships. The Ordinary Robust Least Square model indicates that resilience strategies, including diversification of income streams, access to credit, skills development training, sustainable agriculture practices, and value addition programs, significantly influence women entrepreneurs' performance. These strategies empower women to overcome challenges and thrive. Conclusively, the study advocates for targeted policy interventions fostering education, financial inclusion, and sector-specific support to empower and enhance the resilience of women entrepreneurs, contributing to broader socioeconomic development.

This paper explores the critical issue of decolonizing meanings within the context of the climate crisis and land-based adaptations, specifically focusing on Indigenous women's perspectives in Western Canada. The study focuses on the intricate relationship between Indigenous knowledge, culture, and the environment, emphasizing the unique insights that Indigenous women bring to the discourse surrounding climate change and adaptation. Drawing on the decolonial feminist research approach, community engagement, and participatory research methods, the paper highlights the diverse ways Indigenous women conceptualize the climate crisis and respond to the impacts of the climate crisis on their traditional lands. It critically examines the colonial legacies that have shaped environmental policies and interventions, often marginalizing Indigenous voices and perspectives. The findings advocate the importance of centering Indigenous women's knowledge and experiences in climate change discourse and policy-making. By decolonizing meanings, the paper advocates for a more inclusive and equitable approach to land-based adaptations that acknowledges the resilience and wisdom embedded in Indigenous land-based learning and practice. This research contributes to the ongoing dialogue on sustainable and culturally sensitive strategies for addressing the climate crisis, fostering a deeper understanding of the intersections between gender, Indigeneity, and environmental justice.