Womens Studies International Forum最新文献

Women's entrepreneurship in China remains an under-researched topic from a marital angle, especially the significant effects of marital status in hypergamy, a type of marriage in which the socioeconomic status of the woman is lower than that of the man. This paper fills this research gap by investigating the relationship between marriage and women's entrepreneurship, particularly different effects of marital status based on the data from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), a nationwide survey in mainland China. The findings reveal that women in education-based hypergamy (men's education levels are higher than women's) are less likely to establish a business, whereas women in income-based hypergamy (men's incomes are higher than women's) are more likely to undertake entrepreneurship. In addition, raising more children would strengthen the negative impact of education-based hypergamy on women entrepreneurs. Moreover, we examine the mediation roles of decision-making power and social capital for the underlying mechanisms of education-based hypergamy and income-based hypergamy respectively. Our study contributes to existing literature on the correlation between marriage (hypergamy in particular) and female entrepreneurship in China, meanwhile applies the theories of power-dependence, opportunity cost and bargaining to better comprehend the martial influence on female entrepreneurship, and draws practical implications for developing countries.

Despite extensive research on media representation in feminist studies, the inequality in media visibility of femicide victims remains a relatively less discussed aspect. This study investigated the Missing White Woman Syndrome of domestic and foreign femicide victims on the Turkish Twitter. Data on femicide cases was collected from the Monument Counter (Anıt Sayaç) platform and Twitter between January 2018 and March 2023. Our sample included 135 foreign and 139 Turkish victims, whose nationality, age, marital status, and social status were analyzed. Using Twitter's advanced search option, victim names were examined as exact phrases and hashtags within 30 days of the femicide. The findings indicated disparities in the Twitter visibility of femicide cases between Turkish and foreign victims. Foreign femicide victims showed more limited visibility than Turkish victims, and factors such as social status, age, and marital status affected visibility. By highlighting the prevalence of the Missing White Woman Syndrome in relation to femicide, the research underlined the importance of recognizing and challenging biases in social media representation to foster greater awareness, empathy, and social change to combat violence against women in Turkey and beyond.

South Korean Millennials have exceptional educational, cultural, and professional backgrounds compared to other generations, but they are overqualified and underemployed in the country's competitive job market. Moreover, Korean Millennial women face more complex forms of discrimination than Korean men. Thus far, most empirical studies have illuminated the problem of unemployment rather than that of underemployment, and studies of women in underemployment are even rarer still. This study employed a feminist methodological approach, conducting qualitative interviews in order to reveal well-educated Korean Millennial women's job experiences and how living in a male-dominated society and patriarchal system affects them. This study used thematic analysis to examine ten underemployed Korean Millennial women's job experiences. Through feminist qualitative interviews, the ten women not only revealed their experiences of being subjugated as women employees at work, they also highlighted both the negative and positive sides of being underemployed.

This paper examines the conflicts and challenges faced by women managers in Japan following the introduction of a new law in 2020 which merely obliges employers to take preventive measures against workplace bullying and pawahara (power harassment), but does not stipulate any criminal punishment for corporations or individuals responsible for workplace harassment, or the specific grounds for victims to have the right to claim damages. Cases are left to be disputed and decided in a costly and complicated process of arbitration, which could further exacerbate the precarious position of vulnerable workers, including women managers who are not only a small minority, but many are also marginal players in the workplace where job promotions do not enhance their participation in corporate decision-making. This paper elucidates how the new law ironically enables employers to legitimize discriminatory practices and acts of harassment against women, with serious, long-term ramifications on the emotional and mental health of these workers, as well as on the gendered workforce in Japan amidst global trends towards improving gender equality.

This study will show how the Hungarian ruling FIDESZ government has built its so-called family-friendly system, which has both nationalized and privatized the process of reproduction together. First, we discuss the demographic discourse and family mainstreaming as the basis of “righteous motherhood” producing more children together with hate campaigns, second, we argue that one of the reasons why most women voted for FIDESZ despite the collapsing health care system, the education system, growing inflation, corruption, and Putin's friendship is exactly the convincingly crafted cult of righteous motherhood. While some of the literature still uses Nazi Germany as a historical analogy to explain the FIDESZ government's family policy as forcing women back into the kitchen, with this it loses the ability to recognize what is new in the illiberal politics with its built-in conscious application of ambiguities of righteous motherhood, we call Janus-faced, secures electoral support to these regimes.

Gender equality is a fundamental human right and the foundation for a sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous world. Achieving gender equality and women's empowerment is integral to each sustainable development goal. Higher education and research institutions must create a working environment and organisational culture based on equal opportunities and the promotion of good relations based on protected characteristics such as gender, race, disability, or age. The paper aims to examine the experiences of Albanian universities regarding gender mainstreaming. The aim is to understand the level of commitment of Albanian universities to achieving gender equality and to identify gaps and weaknesses. The analysis was based methodologically on gender indicators from several public and non-public Albanian universities and statistical indicators published by INSTAT for all Albanian universities. The analysis focused on gender indicators regarding access to education, progress in career and gender representation in decision-making bodies. The paper found that while implementing a gender mainstreaming strategy is important and shows progress, there are still many challenges. Horizontal segregation is still present. Women are less represented at the top position of academic career progression than their average presence among teaching staff. They remain underrepresented in academic and administrative leadership and decision-making positions in universities. This diagnosis allows for evident actual measures, reinforces existing structures, and defines goals based on the needs detected.

Sexism in the judicial system is a persistent problem in countries where women frequently are held to a different moral standard than men. As such, some advocates and legal experts argue that feminist judging practices are necessary for ensuring women's access to justice. While many studies focus on the effect of sexism on gender inequality in politics, the extent to which sexism may lead to further gender inequality in the judiciary remains understudied. Additionally, much research on feminist judging relies on qualitative data from trial or court transcripts to determine judges' approaches, but quantitative examinations of feminist judging are still few. Drawing on a mixed methods sequential explanatory approach, our study examines how sexism contributes to shaping the support for feminist judging in the Indonesian Islamic judiciary. We use several cases of polygamy, marriage dispensation, divorce involving domestic violence, and post-divorce alimony as proxies to measure the support for feminist judging. The findings show that hostile sexism is not statistically associated with the support for feminist judging, but benevolent sexism facilitates judges' support for feminist approaches. Female judges are more likely to support feminist judging than male judges.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention) imposes on States Parties the need to address holistically all forms of violence against women, including honour-based violence not only by prosecuting such conduct, but also by preventing it and, above all, protecting its victims. While some northern European countries have addressed it, this form of violence against women has not yet received the attention it deserves in some Mediterranean European countries. This paper uses Spain as a case study to expose its deficient institutional and regulatory approach and lack of visibility of this form of violence against women. It analyses this reality phenomenologically, examines the legal and institutional response to it from a victim-centred perspective, and proposes ways to overcome this situation.

The present study investigates: (a) how a partner's contribution to housework is associated with couple bonding activities among Korean women in dual-earner couples and (b) whether this association varies by socioeconomic status. Using eight waves from the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women & Families (N = 5758), we estimated fixed effects models to account for individual-level heterogeneity. Engagement in couple bonding activities was measured by the frequency of physical and cultural activities with a partner. Fixed effects estimates showed that a partner's contribution to housework is positively associated with engagement in physical and cultural activities with a partner. The association between a partner's contribution to housework and physical and cultural activities was more pronounced among women in dual-earner couples in which the woman was highly educated. The association for cultural activities, not physical activities, was amplified by household income. This study supports the notion that a more equal distribution of housework is important for improving the quality of life in a marriage.

Women's empowerment fundamentally shifts power relations, a systematic process of removing deeply embedded unequal power structures. Drawing upon qualitative data from Grameen Bank China (GBC) and an inductive case study, this paper asserts an empowering methodology based on preconditions for membership and three mechanisms through which traditional gendered hierarchical power relations shift: relational justice, self-governance, and repetitive praxis. Women's empowerment, to achieve equal and shared relationships, is neither imposed on women nor naturally occurring among poor rural Chinese women. The findings suggest a development intervention and the crucial front-line worker who facilitates empowerment by “nudging” GBC women borrowers to empower themselves.