Gender Focus

Somewhere over the rainbow nation: gay, lesbian and bisexual activism in South Africa - Ryan Richard Thoreson

2008-10-02T07:52:00.002+01:00

This study addresses the apparent paradox that South Africa's gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) movement, although opposed by the vast majority of the population, has progressed much faster since democratisation in 1994 than other GLB movements worldwide. Why have the movement's legal victories - especially on same-sex marriage, which is little-discussed in the scholarly literature - not been overturned by a hostile public? My answer considers the political alignments of the post-apartheid era, the tactical responses of the movement and its opponents, and the attempts of both sides to site their arguements within the broader masterframes of liberation of tradition. The GLB movement has succeeded because stable political alignments allow it to concentrate on lobbying and litigation, where it has compellingly argues that its own agenda dovetails with that of the ruling elite. The countermovement, in contrast, has focused on electoral politics, has lacked internal cohesion, and has been unable to craft a message that resonates with the beliefs and values of post-apartheid nationalism - weaknesses that to date have impeded popular opposition from interfering with the GLB movement's legal victories and that are likely to continue doing so unless elite alignments change.
From: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 34 no. 3 (2008)

Journal of Southern African Studies - September 2008

2008-10-01T14:42:00.003+01:00

‘The Story in which the Children are Sent to Throw the Sleeping Sun into the Sky’: Power, Identity and Difference in a /Xam Narrative - Michael Wessels
Costly Mythologies: The Concentration Camps of the South African War in Afrikaner Historiography* - Elizabeth Van Heyningen
The Carnegie Commission and the Backlash against Welfare State-Building in South Africa, 1931–1937 - Jeremy Seekings
Memories as Weapons: The Politics of Peace and Silence in Post-Civil War Mozambique - Victor Igreja
The ‘Intimate Politics’ of Fieldwork: Monica Hunter and her African Assistants, Pondoland and the Eastern Cape, 1931–1932 * - Andrew Bank
‘A South African Revolutionary, but a Lady of the British Empire’: Helen Joseph and the Anti-Apartheid Movement - Barbara Caine
The Hole in Rhodesia's Bucket: White Emigration and the End of Settler Rule* - Josiah Brownell
‘With Hard Work and Determination You Can Make it Here’: Narratives of Identity among German Immigrants in Post-Colonial Namibia* - Heidi Armbruster
Urban Violence in Colonial Africa: A Case for South African Exceptionalism - Gary Kynoch
‘Absent Breadwinners’: Father–Child Connections and Paternal Support in Rural South Africa - Sangeetha Madhavan; Nicholas W. Townsend; Anita I. Garey
African Independent Churches in Post-Apartheid South Africa: New Political Interpretations* - Barbara Bompani
Somewhere over the Rainbow Nation: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Activism in South Africa - Ryan Richard Thoreson
The Politics of Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa - Roger Tangri; Roger Southall
The Cold War and the End of White Supremacy in Southern Africa - Zachary Kagan-Guthrie

Review of African Political Economy - No. 117 (2008)

2008-10-01T14:37:00.002+01:00

Scrambling to the bottom? Mining, resources and underdevelopment - Ray Bush
Regulation and legitimacy in the mining industry in Africa: where does Canada stand? - Bonnie Campbell
Liberalisation of the gold mining sector in Burkina Faso - Sabine Luning
Copper mining agreements in Zambia: renegotiation or law reform? - John Lungu
Enter the dragon? Chinese oil companies and resistance in the Niger Delta - Cyril I Obi
Oil, sovereignty and self-determination: equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara - Alicia Campos
Uranium goes critical in Niger: Tuareg rebellions threaten Sahelian conflagration - Jeremy Keenan
Mining investment and community struggles - Daniel Owusu-Koranteng
Hope and oil: expectations in Sao Tome e Principe - Gisa Weszkalnys
Copper and controversy in the DR Congo - Henry Kippin
The Zimbabwe arms shipment campaign - Miles Larmer
Child poverty in Africa - Meredeth Turshen
Memories of Ruth First in Mozambique - Joao Paulo Borges Coelho

Armed Forces and Society - October 2008

2008-10-01T14:29:00.002+01:00

Special issue: Sociology at military academies around the Globe

Sociology in military officer education - David R Segal and Morten G Ender
Teaching sociology at Sain-Cyr; 1983-2004 and beyond: a personal account - Bernard Boene
Van Doorn and beyond: from teaching sociology to interdisciplinary, problem-based learning in Dutch officer training - Rene Moelker and Joseph Soeters
Sociology at West Point - Morten G Ender, Ryan Kelty and Irving Smith
Sociology in the Canadian military academy curriculum - Franklin C Pinch and Eric Ouellet
Sociology at military academies: the Swedish case - Erna Danielsson and Alise Weibull
The enigmatic history of sociology at the United States Naval Academy - Stephen C Trainor, Donald H Horner Jr and David R Segal
The expanding role of sociology at Japan National Defense Academy: from none to some and more? - Hitoshi Kawano
Officer education at the South African Military Academy: social science but no sociology - Lindy Heinecken and Deon Visser
Teaching sociology in military educational institutions of Russia - Igor V Obraztsov
In search of modernity and reationality: the evolution of Turkish Military Academy curricula in a historical perspective - Mesut Uyar and A Kadir Varoglu

Monthly Review - July/August 2008

2008-10-01T14:26:00.002+01:00

Ecology: the moment of truth - an introduction - John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark and Richard York
Peak oil and energy imperialism - John Bellamy Foster
The political economy and ecology of biofuels - Fred Magdoff
Climate change, limits to growth, and the imperative for socialism - Minqi Li
The scientific case for modern anthropogenic global warming - John W Farley
The Oceanic crisis: capitalism and the degradation of marine ecosystems - Brett Clark and Rebecca Clausen
Framing India's hydraulic crisis: the politics of the modern large dam - Rohan D'Souza
Blue covenant - the alternative water source - Maude Barlow

Gender roles in agricultural knowledge in a land settlement context: the case of Mupfurudzi, Zimbabwe - Netsayi M Mudege

2008-10-01T14:21:00.001+01:00

The present paper discusses the social construction and reconstruction of gender roles in relation to agricultural knowledge claims in a land resettlement area. Many women were politically active in the war of liberation where the land question dominated the agenda. However, at independence this question was framed in terms of race, and gender issues were sidelined. Despite the fact that women were not resettled in their own right, they are not simply victims of the system but manoeuvre within the system to gain advantages. This paper discusses strategies that women use to challenge the males in their families and the resultant confliicts and contradictions. It also discusses decision-making, investments and poverty as concepts and practices that can illuminate the gendering and gendered nauture of knowledge in resettlement schemes. Claims of knowledge by both men and women arei nn the final analysis claims to the owndership of household and famly resources.
From: Development Bank of South Africa, October 2008

The effects of visual priming on information processing in child sexual offenders - Kirsten Keown

2008-09-30T08:18:00.001+01:00

Child sexual offenders are hypothesized to hold offence-supportive beliefs that set them apart from others. The current study seeks support for this view via a cognitive-experimental approach. Child sexual offenders and offender controls were exposed to pictures of semi-clothed children (priming condition) or clothed, mature adults (control condition). Participants then read ambiguous sentences describing children's actions that could be interpreted in a sexualized manner. Next, participants completed a surprise recognition test in which half the sentences were re-presented in an unambiguously sexual form, and half in an unambiguously non-sexual form. Contrary to hypotheses, primed and/or control child sexual offenders did not show a memory bias for sexualized sentences, suggesting that they did not interpret the original sentences in line with offence-supportive beliefs. Results raise questions about whether child sexual offenders universally hold abnormal beliefs that facilitate their offending. Results also highlight the need for further experimental research within this field.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

What do we know about the efficacy of group work for sexual offenders with an intellectual disability? - Jenny A Keeling

2008-09-30T08:17:00.001+01:00

Research into the treatment of sexual offenders with an intellectual disability has increased over the past decade. This research can be used to investigate the efficacy of treatment; however, empirical limitations of the research make generalizations difficult. Marques has provided a framework for examining treatment efficacy that emphasizes the contribution of researchers and clinicians to report treatment outcomes rather than a strict reliance on rigorous empirical investigations, such as controlled outcome research. This review uses Marques' framework to present an overview about group treatment for sexual offenders with an intellectual disability using nine identified studies. This paper attempts to consolidate our knowledge about specific treatment issues, while demonstrating the varied outcomes that are reported in the literature. In employing this framework, the literature suggests that our knowledge can be substantially improved by research addressing specific areas of treatment.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression - Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

Is sexually abusive behaviour in personality disordered impatients analogous to sexual offences committed prior to hospitalization? - Michael Daffern

2008-09-30T08:15:00.001+01:00

Sexually abusive behaviour by personality disordered patients presents a serious threat to the integrity of staff-patient relationships and the safety of other residents. The occurrence of such behaviour is also problematic for the offending patient, as it may impact on perceived treatment needs and their access to the community. This paper reports on a study of sexually abusive behaviour in a high security psychiatric hospital. It also examines the relationship between these behaviours and patients' history of sexual offending. The results showed a high frequency of low-severity sexually abusive behaviour and no significant associations between sexually abusive behaviour during hospitalization and sexual offence history. These findings imply that low-severity sexually abusive behaviour within secure settings may be determined, partly, by environmental conditions. This sexual abuse may also be functionally dissimilar to severe sexual abuse perpetrated in the community. The meaning and determinants of sexual abuse within secure settings must be scrutinized carefully and comprehensively before they are considered analogous to previous sexual offences.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

Adolescents accessing indecent images of children - Alisdair A Gillespie

2008-09-30T08:14:00.001+01:00

This paper considers the legal consequences of adolescents accessing indecent images of children. It challenges the current default position that such behaviour is illegal and worthy of punishment. The paper seeks to understand the circumstances in which adolescents may seek age-appropriate material and considers whether this is more blameworthy than those who engage in physical sexual contact with other adolescents. By examining the legal frameworks of indecent images and contact offending the paper concludes that there is unfair disparity within the criminal justice system.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression - Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

Moral development of solo juvenile sex offenders - Eveline van Vugt et al

2008-09-30T08:13:00.001+01:00

This study compared the moral development of solo juvenile male sex offenders (n = 20) and juvenile male non-offenders (n = 76), aged 13-19 years, from lower socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. The Moral Orientation Measure (MOM) was used to assess punishment- and victim-based moral orientation in sexual and non-sexual situations. Moral judgement was assessed with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure - Short Form (SRM-SF), with questions added on sexual offending and the offender's own victim(s). Offenders did not differ from non-offenders in victim-based orientation, but they showed weaker punishment-based orientation in sexual and non-sexual situations. No differences in moral judgement were found. However, lower stages of moral judgement were observed when the offenders' own victim was involved, confirming specific moral deficits in solo juvenile sex offenders. Delay in moral judgement proved to be associated with cognitive distortions. It was concluded that the treatment of solo juvenile sex offenders should challenge own victim-related cognitive distortions.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression - Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

A human rights-based practice framework for sexual offenders - Tony Ward and Marie Connelly

2008-09-30T08:11:00.001+01:00

Human rights create a protective zone around people and allow them the opportunity to further their own valued personal projects without interference from others. In our view, the emphasis on community rights and protection may, paradoxically, reduce the effectiveness of sex offender rehabilitation by ignoring or failing to ensure that offenders' core human interests are met. In this paper we consider how rights-based values and ideas can be integrated into therapeutic work with sex offenders in a way that safeguards the interests of offenders and the community. To this end we develop a rights-based normative framework (the Offender Practice Framework: OPF) that is orientated around the three strands of justice and accountability, offender needs and risk, and the utilization of empirically supported interventions and strength-based approaches. We examine the utility of this framework for the different phases of sex offender practice.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 2 (2008)

Beyond numbers - Teresa Sacchet

2008-09-17T07:31:00.002+01:00

This article considers the impact of electoral quotas for women. Most studies have either focused on whether particular policies increase the numbers of women elected or assessed the extent to which a greater number of women in the legislature produces more gender-sensitive legislation. However, little attention has been paid to the cultural changes that can result from adopting gender quotas. This article argues that, although increasing the number of women in legislatures may improve the attention to gender issues, broader processes are involved. Latin American women's activism and alliances have been critical in ensuring the expansion of women's rights and increasing the number of women elected. Quotas, and the debate surrounding their adoption, have provided an incentive for women's collective action and fostered the politicization of gender issues. An analysis of the impact of quotas, therefore, must recognize these broader impacts.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (September 2008)

Fifty/fifty by 2020 - Gretchen Bauer

2008-09-17T07:27:00.001+01:00

During the last two decades large numbers of women have entered parliaments in several east and southern African countries. In late 2007, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa in southern Africa and Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in east Africa all had national legislatures ranging from 25 to nearly 50 per cent women, placing them in the top 26 worldwide. This is far above the Sub-Saharan African and world averages of about 17 per cent women in a single or lower house of parliament. This developmen tis part of a global trend whereby women are using electoral gender quotas to take a 'fast track' to equal legislative representation. The sis countries identified there share a set of common characteristics explaining women's electoral success, with one important difference. The three southern African cases have all increased their percentages of women in parliament using a proportional representation electoral system and voluntary political party based quotas. The three east African cases have done the same through the use of a mix of electoral systems and mandatory 'special' or 'reserved' seats for women. This article describes the two alternatives, discusses their impact on women's descriptive and substantive representation in these six African countries and concludes with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of electoral gender quota.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (September 2008)

A gender gap not closed by quotas - Petra Meier

2008-09-17T07:23:00.002+01:00

The article argues that while legislation on sex quotas can be seen as a renegotiation of the public sphere at macro level, suggesting a formal recognition of gender equality and a subsequent redistribution of power positions, it does not necessarily imply recognition of the issue at micro level. Nearly a decade after the first sex quotas act had been adopted, a survey among Flemish politicians reveals a gender gap on such quotas. Male and female politicians differ in their acceptance and perception of sex quotas. They also differ in their explanations of women's under-representation in politics, and relate these explanations to the need for these quotas. This distinction between a macro and a micro level might offer clues as to the dynamics explaining why sex quotas remain controversial, even when they have been adopted.
From: Intenational Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (September 2008)

Gender quotas - Drude Dahlerup

2008-09-17T07:17:00.002+01:00

The recent introduction of electoral gender quotas all over the world represents an interesting new research area, since quotas touch upon so many central themes in feminist theory, political theory and policy analysis. The three articles on gender quotas in this cluster discuss 'classic' themes in quotas research such as quota discourses, implementation of different types of quotas in different electoral systems, and the effects of gender quotas. But the articles also contribute to expanding our research agenda with new lines of enquiry, such as attitudes towards quotas after introduction of quotas; or the importance of mobilization around the demand for quotas in spite of poor results in terms of increasing women's representation. In this introduction to the three articles, it is argued that we need research into the question of why male dominated parliaments all over the world introduce gender quotas. It seems obvious that motives other than pure feminist ones are involved, since politics is after all a world of mixed motives, bargaining and compromises. Also, the introduction argues that there is a need for further developing our concepts and methods when studying the impact of gender quotas and the effect of women's representation in general. Different results may derive not solely from different cases, but also from the use of disparate criteria for this evaluation.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (September 2008)

Eco/Feminism on the edge - Catriona Mortimer-Sandilands

2008-09-17T07:15:00.001+01:00

In this commentary I extend and converse with Niamh Moore's account of ecofeminist politics at Clayoquot Sound during the 1993 peace camp. In agreeing with her argument that such activist moments are more complex than the charges of maternalism and essentialism that have been thrown at them, I support her genealogical approach to understanding the particular gender relations that unfolded during the protest. In addition, I suggest that an understanding of the wider gender politics of the region, in addition to further consideration of other ecofeminst problematiques, would extend and enrich such analyses of ecofeminist activisms.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (September 2008)

Ecofeminism without nature? - Stacy Alaimo

2008-09-17T07:11:00.001+01:00

The essay 'Eco/Feminism, non-violence and the future of feminism' takes on an important issue within ecofeminism and feminist theory generally - the relationship between maternalism, pacifism, ecofeminism, and essentialism - arguing for new ways of reading 'eco/feminist' activism as an engaged mode of theory. Ironically, even though the purpose of the peace camp in Clayoquot Sound was to protest the logging of the rainforest, this essay does not examine the meaning of nature or environmentalism for the protestors. Nature becomes a mere background for the gendered human drama that unfolds. It is crucial that we interrogate the grounds, purposes, and consequences of linking environmentalism and feminism, by analyzing specific articulations within particular places and contexts. Whether or not it is beneficial to merge feminism and environmentalism remains an open question.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (September 2008)

Eco/Feminism, non-violence and the future of feminism - Niamh Moore

2008-09-17T07:05:00.002+01:00

This article turns to an eco/feminist peace camp of the early 1990s in order to revisit the often passionate and troubled debates in feminism about pacifism, non-violence, maternalism and esentialism. Many readings of feminist peace activism, and eco/feminism, have collapsed a complicated politics into simple manifestations of maternalism, while at the same time reducing maternalism to essentialism. In this process essentialism has been invoked to disavow feminist peace activism and eco/feminist activism. Yet the critique of esentialism has now been the subject of much reflection by feminists. Rather than ascribing the category of 'essentialism', genealogical approaches attend to how the categories of 'essentialism' and 'woman' are invoked and to what ends. Such approaches thereby open up possibilities for understanding eco-feminist activism beyond esentialism. While an eco/feminist peace camp may appear an archetypal site for the re-inscription and repetition of essentialism, I suggest that without to returning to such sites it will remain impossible to go beyond essentialism. Through a genealogical examination of contestations over the meanings and practice of eco/feminism at the camp, I understand this late-twentiety century peace camp, not as a quaint throwback to the disavowed activism of the 1970s and 1980s, but as a site through which the future of eco/feminist politics was, and can be re-imagined.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 3 (Septem ber 2008)

Of heads and hearts: women in doctoral education at a Canadian university - Sarah Wall

2008-08-18T07:43:00.003+01:00

The doctoral degree represents an important academic achievement, affording its holder great potential to contribute to knowledge development and social and economic change. The challenge of undertaking doctoral study, however, can obscure the ultimate benefits of possessing a PhD. For women in doctoral programs, the stresses associated with advanced education can be compounded in distinctive ways. Traditional gender roles and gendered organizational hierarchies combine to make doctoral education an inherently different process for men and women. This exploratory qualitative study investigates the unique perspectives of female, Canadian PhD students in the arts and humanities regarding their programs, research interests, supervisors, perceptions of interpersonal and organizational social support, and career plans, linking them to the literature on women in academic organizations.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31

Performance versus social invisibility: what can be learned from the wailing culture of old-age Yemenite-Jewish women? - Tova Gamliel

2008-08-18T07:40:00.003+01:00

This article appears in response to a recent call in feminist gerontology for further research into the condition of elderly women in Western societies, especially those in ethnic groups. The focal point is the widespread claim that elderly women suffer from social invisibility and low self-esteem. The article addresses the issue by describing the case of the wailing culture of Yemenite-Jewish women who live in Israel today. Its purpose is to present and analyze women's wailing as a cultural performance of feminist identity in old age, and by doing so, to provide an alternative narrative about images and experiences of elderly women. The article also discusses the value of caring performance for the social images of elderly women in Western societies.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31

Body image and ageing: older women and the embodiment of trauma - Laura Hurd Clarke and Meredith Griffin

2008-08-18T07:31:00.003+01:00

While the mental and emotional impacts of trauma have been well documented, the research concerning trauma and body image is largely focused on childhood sexual abuse and disordered eating, and little is known about older women's experiences and perspectives. Addressing this gap in the lterature, this article examines how women make embodied sense of early and late life trauma and how these negative life events shape their body images over the life course. Using feminist theory and the concept of intimate terrorism, we analyze the strategies that older women use to cope with the embodied repercussions of adversity. Thus, we elucidate how the women consciously manipulated their bodies, employed various kinds of beauty work, turned to external outlets and sources of support, and engaged in internal processes of recovery in their efforts to emotionally and physically transcend the lasting consequences of traumatic events.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Minority women will change the world! : perspectives on multiple discrimination in Japan - David Chapman et al

2008-08-18T07:18:00.002+01:00

At the 1995 Beijing Conference and the 2000 'Beijing plus five' meeting, NGOs from Japan were well-represented. These NGOs published English-language books for dissemination at the conferences, and Japanese-language reports and books for the purpose of raising consciousness within Japan. Participation in these conferences and the production of English-language books had the effect of strengthening the transnational connections between feminists in Japan and in other countries. The production of Japanese-language publications and the dissemination of reports on the international conferences within Japan had the function of providing a transnational context for the issues being faced by feminists within Japan. In this article we use one publication stimulated by these international activities, Minority wimen will the change the world: multiple discrimination against minority women (Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru: Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugo Saetsu). [Hansabetsu Kokusai Undo Nihon linkai (Eds.) (2001). Mainoriti Josei ga Sekai o Kaeru! Mainoriti Josei ni taisuru Fukugo Sabetsu. Osaka: Kaiho Shuppansha.] as a case study in exploring how activists within Japan understand multiple discrimination experienced in Japan on the basis of gender, class and ethnicity. Additionally, we investigate how the contributors to this book challenge the noton of racialised and gendered difference as a separate and unconnected categories. The book also reveals parallel and divergent experiences of marginalisation and suggest strategies for collaboration among minority women within and outside Japan. Our analysis therefore is situated in the context of recent discussions of transnational feminism, and theorisations of the mutual constitution of structures of inequality based on gender, class and ethnicised difference.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31

Feminist activism within bureaucracy: process of formulating and implementing regulations governing the protection of women's rights in Taipei

2008-08-18T07:14:00.001+01:00

This study documents and analyses the process of the formulation of the 'Regulations Governing the Protection of Women's Rights' in Taipei, Taiwan China a feminist experiment the author engineered as an activist in the City Government. Scholars and experts from the feminist community involved in working with women bureaucrats adopted both the 'outsider tactic' of consciousness-raising and the 'insider tactic' of lobbying for support. The creation of the Regulations outside the women's policy agency and without legal mandate or outside pressure doemonstrates the vitality and versatility of feminist activism. The author identifies an active and visible feminist community and special bond of sisterhood as the crucial elements that led to the success of the project.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

From test-tube women to bodies without women - Renate Klein

2008-08-18T07:05:00.002+01:00

In this article I summarise twenty-five years of international feminist resistance to reproductive and genetic engineering. Drawing on the work of FINRRAGE (Feminist International Network of Resistance to Reproductive and Genetic Engineering) I list the main objections of feminist critics to the global commodification of women. Under the guise of 'doing good' and the catch cry 'women want it' (i.e. allegedly to alleviate the suffering of infertility/too much fertility, or eliminate genetic imperfection), reproductive and genetic engineers have reduced women - and their babies - to a series of body parts and tissues that can be traded, screened and eliminated at will. Discussions include the many physiological as well as psychological dangers inherent in the medicalisation of in/fertile womens's lives and their children through the Big Business of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and related genetic technologies in a global context. I also critically examine the pro-technology position of liberal feminists including their much touted concept of 'choice'. Lastly , I ask where the recent opening of the door to embryonic stem cell research via commercial and 'altruistic' egg cell 'donation' is taking sociey and how long it will be before cloning of human beings is justified as 'for our own good' and women's alienation to their own body (parts) will lead to their annihilation.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Examining the relationship between sexual offenders and their victims: interpersonal differences between stranger and non-stranger sexual offences

2008-08-06T10:44:00.002+01:00

The present study examined the behavioural differences in sexual assault offences in relation to the offender-victim relationship (Stranger versus non-stranger). These differences were examined specifically in the context of four interpersonal themes of interaction: dominance, submission, hostility and cooperation. The details of 100 sexual offence cases (50 stranger and 50 non-stranger) were content-analysed, generating 58 dichotomous variables, covering offender and victim behaviour during the offence. X2 tests comparing the two samples found that offenders who were strangers to their victims were more likely than non-stranger offenders to display behaviours that indicate a hostile, violent offence style. In contrast, those offenders who knew their victims were more likely than strangers to display a less violent and more personal, compliance-gaining offence style, These findigs are discussed in terms of their implications for offender rehabilitation and victim support.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Refining the deviancy categorization of child abusers - Rebecca Mandeville-Norden

2008-08-06T10:40:00.001+01:00

There are currently two 'doses' of treatment available to sex offenders within the UK Probation Service: a longer dose for offenders who demonstrate significant difficulties in numerous areas, and a shorter dose for those who demonstrate less pronounced difficulties in fewer areas. Allocation to treatment is based typically on an offender's level of 'deviancy', which is a two-level categorization method derived from an offender's pre-treatment scores in a battery of psychometric assessments. This paper examines the utility of this method in terms of its success in allocating offenders to the most appropriate treatement, with particular reference to how this compares with a more recently developed three-level categorization method. Evidence from recent studies that examine the short- and longer-term effectiveness of sex offender treatment offers evidence to support Beech's 'deviancy' categorization method, while the three-level categorization method appear to be more successful in describing offenders with difficulties in a limited number of areas.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Victim ranking among sex offenders - Jos Buschman et al

2008-08-06T10:37:00.001+01:00

A previous exploratory study of the Child Molester Empathy Measure (CMEM) focused on the difference between offenders' normal level of general empathy and the way in which a sample of Dutch offenders viewed their own victims. The authors found that, regardless of their level of general victim empathy, all offenders thought that their own victims were better off than the unknown victims of sexual offenders. In order to study this ranking phenomenon more closely, the authors replicated the study procedure with Dutch and Australian offenders. The authors rated each offender's responses for three child victims o the CMEM on an n-dimensional column vector and compared these data with their answers to the same questions related to two adult victims. The results are presented in this paper.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Child molester or paedophile? Sociolegal versus psychopathological classification of sexual offenders against children - Steven Feelgood

2008-08-06T10:32:00.003+01:00

In the present study we analysed to what extent the categories used in empirical child molester research were sociolegal (based on offence types) or psychopathological (based on nomological systems of psychological types of mental disorders). Based on a systematic Medline and PsycInfo search, 714 empirical studies on child molesters from 1972 to 2004 were analysed with regard to the categories and diagnostic procedures used. The majority of studies used a grouping procedure based on an offence-orientated criterion (child molesters versus others), whereas only a few referred to diagnoses and, hence, to nomological systems utilized in clinical psychology and psychiatry. The results also indicated the presence of extensive classification pluralism and a dominance of publication in specialized forensic journals. Critical consequences of this research practice are discussed with regard to comparability of studies, heterogeneity of study groups, theory development and, particularly, the generalizability of child molester research. Finally, we propose a research strategy that is grounded more profoundly in methodological considerations and a more interdisciplinary orientation in sexual offender research.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Recidivism among juvenile sex offenders after residential treatment - Jan Hendriks and Catrien Bijleveld

2008-08-06T09:27:00.002+01:00

Recidivism after residential treatment for a sex offence was studied for 114 male adolescent juvenile sex offenders. The juveniles had been treated for an average period of two years and four months. The median time at risk after leaving the institution was nine years. Almost a third of the young men re-offended with a serious offence. Eleven % committed a sex offence; 27% committed a non-sexual violent offence; approximately a third of the respondents re-offended with a range of other acts; and 30% did not re-offend at all. Sexual recidivism appears to be related to the prior selection of a (very) young victim, and choice as a victim of a girl from outside the offender's family. Seventy % of sexual recidivism takes place during the first three years after discharge. Violent recidivism is linked with the offender's ethnicity, parental neglect, the quality of relationships with peers and classification by the institution as an opportunistic sex offender. We recommend greater differentiation in treatment offered, and improvement of follow-up provision.
From: Journal of Sexual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Factors associated with recidivism among intrafamilial child molesters - Drew A Kingston et al

2008-08-06T09:20:00.002+01:00

This study examined factors that could potentially differentiate between sexual, violent and criminal recidivist and non-recidivist incest offenders (n=295). The objective of the study was to extend a previous study conducted on incest offenders by increasing the sample size, adding seven years to the follow-up and attempting to address some of the limitations identified in the previous study. Results indicated, that by the end of the 19th year (mean=10.78), 9.8%, 20% and 27.5% of incest offenders were charged or convicted of a sexual, violent or criminal offence, respectively. This study identified a number of predictor variables demonstrating either moderate or strong associations with recidivism (i.e. Cohen's effect size), some of which are changeable and, thus, should be considered important treatment targets for this type of offender. Specifically, sexual recidivists had higher psychopathy scores than non-recidivists. Violent recidivists were younger, demonstrated more problems with alcoholism, were more hostile, had higher psychopathy scores and had more previous criminal charges and/or convictions than non-recidivists. Finally, criminal recidivists were younger, demonstrated more problems with alcoholism, were more hostile, had higher psychopathy scores and had more previous violent and criminal charges and/or convictions than non-recidivists.
From: Journal of Secual Aggression, Vol. 14 no. 1 (2008)

Abortion law reform in Latin America: lessons for advocacy - Gillian Kane

2008-07-17T07:32:00.001+01:00

Latin America's transition to democracy in the 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by the increased political participation of women, who demanded not only equal rights, but also insisted that addressing women's specific interests was key to establishing a truly representative democracy. Many in the Latin American women's movement saw the right to safe, legal abortion as fundamental. To date, their demand for this has gone largely unfulfilled, except in Cuba. There is no panacea to rescinding punitive abortion laws. However, the region is currently witnessing shifts in government policies on abortion, both progressive and retrogressive, which suggest that there is potential for substantive reform.
This article will use the recent experiences of Colombia, Mexico City, and Nicaragua to highlight shared challenges, establish linkages with other countries in the region, and demonstrate that the many different strategies which would have been adopted present an opportunity to expand access to safe, legal abortion throughout Latin America.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

The decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico City: how did abortion rights become a political priority? - Maria Luisa Sanches Fuentes et al

2008-07-17T07:28:00.003+01:00

In the last decade, there has been a clear tendency toward liberalising abortion laws at the international level. In April 2007, this trend reached the Federal District of Mexico City. Landmark legislation decriminalised abortion on demand for up to 12 weeks of gestation. In a region where abortion is still legally proscribed and stigmatised to the detriment of women's health, lives and rights, what explains Mexico City's historic decriminalisation of abortion? How and why did this issue become a political priority? To analyse this question, we propose applying a framework (developed by Jeremy Shiffman and Stephanie Smith) on the generation of political priorities for global health initiatives to the case study of the decriminalisation of abortion in Mexico City. We find that such an analysis of the Mexico City process, using Shiffman and Smith's four categories, combined with our perspective as NGO activists, offers a compelling and comprehensive explanation of this historic advance toward the recognition of women's abortion rights.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

New vistas in contraceptive technology - Saumya RamaRao et al

2008-07-17T07:24:00.002+01:00

Population forecasts predict that by 2050, about 150 million women (and couples) of child-bearing age will need contraception, and many of them are likely to find their needs unmet, due to problems of access, availability, and acceptability of the contraceptive options for one or both partners. Current contraceptive options are largely intended for use by women (pills, intrauterine devices [IUDs], injectables and implants), with condoms and vasectomy being the only two options for men. In many countries, contraceptive use tends to be in the woman's domain, in part due to the nature of the contraceptive. This article discusses how women's health advocates have been able to raise important concerns regarding contraceptive technology and its development. It also reviews the range of new contraceptives that addresses issues of user autonomy and controllability, offers protection against pregnancy and STIs and HIV, and addresses male needs and concerns.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (July 2008)

Embracing the rights of people in prostitution and sex workers, to address HIV and AIDS effectively - Supriya Pillai et al

2008-07-17T07:21:00.002+01:00

As the world's HIV crisis grows, strategies continue to focus on containing the pandemic within high-risk populations. Is there a more effective way of engaging and approaching marginalised populations to help combat the global pandemic than the strategies pursued to date? If so, what would such an approach look like? This article will analyse the work of Sampada Gramin Mahila Sanstha (SANGRAM) and Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad (VAMP), based in India. Through grassroots mobilisation and advocacy, SANGRAM and VAMP demonstrate how people in prostitution and sex workers can create effective strategies for HIV prevention, care, and treatment from a rights-based approach.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (July 2008)

Migration, development, and reproductive health: selected experiences of an NGO in Ireland - Tanya Bakhru

2008-07-17T07:18:00.002+01:00

This article explores the relationship between globalisation and development, recent trends in migration, and the changing face of reproductive health services and needs in the Republic of Ireland. Using the Irish Family Planning Association as a case, I demonstrate that newly emerging migration patterns impact on the administrative and clinic-based work of non-government organisations (NGOs) working on reproductive health in Ireland. These patterns are challenging and re-shaping the policy and practices of such organisations, as they address the different needs of women living in Ireland.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

Mapping multilateral development banks' spending on reproductive health and HIV and AIDS - Suzanna Dennis and Elaine Zuckerman

2008-07-17T07:03:00.002+01:00

This article draws on recent research by Gender Action, presented in a ground-breaking report investigating multilateral development banks' (MDBs) spending on reproductive health and HIV and AIDS. Gender Action demonstrates a decline in World Bank loans and grants for reproductive health and HIV and AIDS, and little contribution to this sector from the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, or Inter-American Development Bank. Mapping also charts unmet MDB commitments to reproductive health and HIV and AIDS, and harmful loan conditions such as restricting public spending, which undermine poor countries' ability to address these key public health issues.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

Shaping women's reproductive decisions: the case of Georgia - Mariam Gagoshashvili

2008-07-16T14:39:00.001+01:00

This article discusses decisions that women in Georgia make concerning their reproductive lives. Based on 26 in-depth interviews conducted in the urban and rural areas of Georgia, the research explores how women's reproductive experiences and decisions are shaped by different factors even in the context of liberal state legislation concerning reproductive rights. The article demonstrates that patriarchal family structures, and traditional and religious values, exert powerful control over women's reproductive lives. Nevertheless, some women develop methods of resistance in order to carry out their decisions regarding their procreative capacities.
From: Gender and Development, Vol 16 no 2 (2008)

Experiences of abortion in Nepal and menstrual regulation in Bangladesh: a gender analysis - Amit Bhandari et al

2008-07-16T14:34:00.002+01:00

The extent to which abortion and menstrual regulation services are safe, legal and women-friendly is a strong proxy of gender equity. This article draws on women's voices from Nepal and Bangladesh to illustrate that even where services are provided legally, women can still face multiple barriers to access to services, and problematic quality of care. This is exacerbated by the stigma which surounds these services. Stigma is directly related to gender inequality, and is constructed at both the community and provider level. It is imperative to overcome these barriers by promoting gender equality across the board, in all services and all contexts.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

Sexuality, health, and human rights: self-identified priorities of indigenous women in Peru - Astrid Bant and Francoise Girard

2008-07-16T14:31:00.001+01:00

The link between sexuality and development is often not well understood, or it is thought to be a frivolous subject, to be addressed after other, more 'important' needs are met. But, from the perspective of indigenous women in Latin America, the right to control sexuality is in fact a crucial element in the improvement of their daily lives. Participatory assessments of health problems with Andean and Amazon women in Peru demonstrate that sexual-rights issues, particularly those related to gender inequality, are identified by the women themselves as the most important obstacles to their good health and well-being.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

Reaching the girls left behind - Judith Bruce and Kelly Hallman

2008-07-16T14:24:00.004+01:00

HIV and AIDS prevention efforts have relied heavily on providing inforMation, and have sometimes provided a weak link to services, without perceiving or addressing the factors which make adolescent girls particularly vulnerable. Social factors, such as friendship networks, and economic factors, such as financial literacy and financial goals, independently but synergistically decrease girls' risk of coerced sex or exchanges of sex for money, and increase their ability to cope in HIV-affected households. Current work focusing on HIV and youth is failing to reach many of the most vulnerable girls. This article discusses the innovative interventions in four African countries, which explicitly address the distinctive social, economic, and cultural factors that shape girls' vulnerability, and build up their health, social, and economic assets.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 2 (2008)

Who owns the body? Indigenous African discourses of the body and contemporary sexual rights rhetoric - Chimaraoke O Izugbara

2008-07-16T14:19:00.002+01:00

The realisation of sexual rights remains a daunting challenge in most of sub-Saharan Africa despite the articulation of these rights in several international documents and national laws. In this paper, we highlight a possible but neglected reason why this is so. Current sexual rights declarations derive from the notion that the body, as a physical entity, belongs to the individual. However our work in two southeastern Nigerian cultures, the Ngwa-Igbo and the Ubang, shows that there is at least one alternative view of the body, which constructs it as the property of the wider community, rather than that of the individual. In the two cultures in question, rights are embodied in the community, which also lays powerful caims on all its members, including the claim of body ownership. Individuals are thus more likely to seek and realise their rights within the communal space, rather than by standing alone. The assumption that individuals always hold the ultimate right to their bodies is problematic and may constrain the effectiveness of rights-based programmes and interventions in general, and of work around sexual rights in particular.
From: Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 16 (31) 2008

Health services for survivors of gender-based violence in Northern Uganda: a case study - Mirkka Henttonen et al

2008-07-16T14:13:00.002+01:00

The 20-year war in northern Uganda has resulted in up to 1.7 million people being internally displaced, and impoverishment and vulnerability to violence amongst the civilian population. This qualitative study examined the status of health services available for the survivors of gender-based violence in the Gulu district, northern Uganda. Semi-structured interviews were carried out in 2006 with 26 experts on gender-based violence and general health providers, and guidelines on gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian settings were used to prepare the interview guides and analyse the findings. Some legislation and programmes do exist on gender-based violence. Hoever, health facilities lacked sufficiently qualified staff and medical supplies to adequately detect and manage survivors, and confidential treatment and counselling counld not be ensured. There was inter-sectoral collaboration, but greater resources are required to increase coverage and effectiveness of services. Intimate partner violence, sexual abuse of girls aged under 18, sexual harassment and early and forced marriage may be more commoon than rape by strangers. As the IASC guidelines focus on sexual violence by strangers and do not address other forms of gender-based violence, we suggest the need to explore this issue further to determine whether a broader concept of gender-based violence should be inorporated into the guidelines.
From: Reproductive Health Matters Vol. 16 (31) 2008

The need for priority reproductive health services for displaced Iraqi women and girls - Sarah K Chynoweth

2008-07-16T14:07:00.002+01:00

Disregarding reproductive health in situations of conflict or natural disaster has serious consequences, particularly for women and girls affected by the emergency. In an effort to protect the health and save the lives of women and girls in crises, internatational standards for five priority reproductive health activities that must be implemented at the onset of an emergency have been established for humanitarian actors: humanitarian coordination, prevention of and response to sexual violence, minimisation of HIV transmission, reduction of maternal and neonatal death and disability, and planning for comprehensive reproductive health services. The extent of implementation of these essential activities is explored in this paper in the context of refugees in Jordan fleeing the war in Iraq. Significant gaps in each area exist, particularly coordination and prevention of sexual violence and care for survivors. Recommendations for those responding to this crisis include designating a focal point to coordinate implementation of priority reproductive health services, preventing sexual exploitation and providing clinical care for survivors of sexual violence, providing emergency obstetric care for all refugees, including a 24-hour referral system, ensuring adherence to standards to prevent HIV transmission, making condoms free and available, and planning for comprehensive reproductive health services.
From: Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 16 no. 31 (2008)

Legal aspects of conflict-induced migration by women - Audrey Macklin

2008-07-16T14:01:00.002+01:00

This paper surveys the international legal frameworks, including the many guidelines, handbooks, resolutions, toolkits, conclusions and manuals produced by various United Nations bodies, that confirm an awareness of the protection issues specific to women and girls displaced by conflict. It explores the extent to which these documents address the gendered impacts of conflict-induced migration, and the role of United Nations bodies as international governmental organisations in implementing these norms. The main focus is upon internally displaced women and women refugees. In addition to problems of enforcing compliance with existing guidelines, the paper concludes that two areas - developing strategies to accommodate the realities of long-term, even permanent displacement and enhancing women's literal and legal literacy - require much greater attention on the part of governmental and non-governmental international organisations.
From: Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 16 no. 31 (2008)

Third World Quarterly - Vol. 29 no. 5 (2008)

2008-07-09T13:34:00.002+01:00

Tourism and Development in the Global South: the issues - Frances Brown; Derek Hall
Pro-poor Tourism: a critique - David Harrison
Pro-poor Tourism: a response - Harold Goodwin
Consequences of Climate Policy for International Tourist Arrivals in Developing Countries - Stefan Gössling; Paul Peeters; Daniel Scott
Buying Innocence: child-sex tourists in Thailand - Heather Montgomery
Using Authenticity to Achieve Competitive Advantage in Medical Tourism in the English-speaking Caribbean - Donna Chambers; Bryan McIntosh
Politics, Economics and Tourism Development in Egypt: insights into the sectoral transformations of a neo-patrimonial rentier state - Thomas Richter; Christian Steiner
Tourism and Sustainable Livelihoods: the case of Taiwan - Ming-Huang Lee
Cuba's Tourism ‘Boom’: a curse or a blessing? - Stephen Wilkinson
Influencing Tourism at the Grassroots Level: the role of ngo Tourism Concern - Tricia Barnett
Mapping Educational Tourists' Experience in the UK: understanding international students - Rong Huang
Finding a Way Forward: an agenda for research - Derek Hall; Frances Brown

Townships in transition: women's caring keeps the township together - Maren Bak

2008-07-09T13:31:00.001+01:00

This article is based on a qualitative community study that explores the everyday life of black South African women living in a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. Through the life stories told by the women, their contribution to the township's social fabric becomes apparent. Based on these life stories, an analysis of transitions in the gendered division of labour and more specifically the gendered division of care as well as of transitions in family formation is presented and discussed. Finally, the article argues that governmental efforts to improve life in the township through, for example, developmental social welfare must be embedded in a deeper understanding of gendered power processes in order to avoid continuing to exploit women's caring capacities and also must promote caring masculinities if the township is to keep together.
From: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 34 no. 2 (June 2008)

Export-oriented policies, women's work burden and human development in Mauritius - Myriam Blin

2008-07-09T13:15:00.002+01:00

This article attempts to understand how the feminisation of the labour force triggered by export-oriented policies has affected women's work burden in Mauritius. The article explores factors influencing women's labour supply (measured as hours worked in the productive economy) and women's hours of housework, and it further analyses hw work burden experiences vary between women of different social backgrounds. The analysis is based on the use of mixed methods consisting of a quantitative survey in the industrial sector and a qualitative survey in the industrial and services sectors. The results show, among other things, that women and the social reproductive process are not only affected differently depending on women's socio-economic background, but also depending on a complex mixture of different socio-economic processes.
From: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 34 no. 2 (June 2008)

Working class women, gambling and the dream of happiness - Emma Casey

2008-07-02T13:19:00.001+01:00

This paper offers an account of the relationship between gender, class and notions of happiness. It draws on recent research conducted into the experiences of working class women who play the UK National Lottery. In particular, it explores the notion that gambling offers working class women the opportunity to dream of the 'good life' - of enhancing their lives and of making 'improvements' to their own and their families' well-being. In this paper, the discourse of happiness will be examined, and the tacit assumption that working class women in particular are prone to turning to gambling as a last ditch attempt to personal and emotional fulfilment will be challenged. The paper argues that developing understandings of culture and consumption practices is imperative for producing a more complex understanding of the subjective realities of working class women's everyday lives. By engaging with feminist accounts of respectability, daydream and fantasy, the paper will present a thorough exploration of National Lottery play in working class women's everyday experiences of happiness.
From: Feminist Review 89 (2008)

'Period problems' at the coalface - Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt and Kathryn Robinson

2008-07-02T13:14:00.002+01:00

Menstruation leave for women workers brings into the public domain of mining ongoing debates around protective legislation for women. It brings into focus the presumed tensions between gender equity and gender difference with regard to women's economic citizenship. Large-scale mining in East Kalimantan in Indonesia has offered some opportunities to poor and unskilled rural women to find formal jobs in the mines as truck and heavy equipment operators. This paper presents a case study of women in mining occupations, considers the implications of current menstruation leave provisions on the employment of women in the mines and raises serious issues related to gender equity in the workplace. The involvement of women in a non-conventional workplace such as the mine pits, providing a novel site for contestation over the rights of women workers, illuminates a less-debated area in feminist studies, especially in view of the significant ongoing changes in the Indonesian framework for industrial relations.
From: Feminist Review 89 (2008)

The making of 'undeserving' homeless women: a gendered analysis of homeless policy in South Korea from 1997 to 2001 - Jesook Song

2008-07-02T13:08:00.002+01:00

The Asian Debt Crisis of 1997-2001 led to drastically higher levels of unemployment, resulting in enormous social anxiety and shock. For the first time in its history, South Korea's attention was forcibly drawn to homeless people. Both the new government of the first civilian president, Kim Dae Jung, and an emerging civil society began to pay unprecedented attention to homeless issues. In this new context, homelessness was constructed as a product of the economic crisis. However, although certain homeless men who fit the category of employability and rehabilitation were considered 'deserving', long-term street living people and homeless women were disregarded and further marginalized through specific gendered processes. In particular, homeless women were rendered invisible and considered 'undeserving' because they fell outside of normative gender expectations, including the idea that a woman's place was in the home, regardless of their ability or desire to work. Building upon 'needs-talk' analysis created by Nancy Fraser, this paper exposes the important role of gender norms in the making of a neoliberal welfare citizenship in South Korea, by arguing that the narratives of homeless policy administrators and shelter managers designated homeless women as 'undeserving' welfare citizens.
From: Feminist Review 89

Country matters: sexing the reconciled Republic of Australia - Fiona Probyn-Rapsey

2008-07-02T13:03:00.002+01:00

This essay analyses how Australian postcolonial discourses, influenced by both Republicanism and Reconciliation, deploy the trope of woman to signify political change in both feminist and cultural debates about belonging, national legitimacy and sovereignty. I point out that white feminist rejection of the Queen in favour of embracing indigeneity is itself complicit with a history of 'incorporating' and assimilating indigeneity - a complicity that is sublimated in favour of a triumphant rejection of imperial white womanhood. The essay looks at a contemporary Australian novel, media depictions of Paul Keating's 'embrace' of Queen Elizabeth II (as a kind of captivity narrative), critical whiteness studies' 'rejection' of the Queen and the misrecognition of Australia's distinct characteristics as a 'settler culture' (that incorporates indigeneity) within Australian feminist debates and claims of 'transgression' that are made for interracial relationships in Australia.
From: Feminist Review 89 (2008)

Feminism, policy and women's safety during Australia's 'war on terror'- Ruth Phillips

2008-07-02T12:57:00.002+01:00

The main argument in this article is that the Australian government in power from 1996 to November 2007 failed women's domestic security by denying the central policy role of women's organizations in the struggle against domestic violence and by successfully expunging public debate on gender issues in Austtralian governance, while participating in the 'war on terrror' to guard national security. In bringing together a discussion about the war on terror and the importance of feminism for women's security, key issues about feminism, race and gender are considered. This article also explores the prevalence of violence against women and the social implications of the lack of leadership in public debate aout the gendered nature of violence against women. Under the Australian government led by Prime Minister John Howard that gained power in 1996 and was defeated in 2007, women's organizations lost financial support and women's policy infrastructure was decimated. Violence against women, however, continued to increase, reaffirming women's place in Australian society as insecure and dangerous. After more than 30 years of struggle to maintain domestic violence and sexual assault as serious social policy problems, provide services, support and advocacy for women who are victims of violence and assault, women's organizations are coming to terms with a society where there is a blindness to the role of gender in violence against women.
From: Feminist review 89 (2008)

Feminist-nation building in Afghanistan : an examination of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) - Jennifer L Fluri

2008-07-02T12:48:00.002+01:00

Women-led political organizations that employ feminist and nationalist ideologies and operate as separate from, rather than associated with, male-dominated or patriarchal nationalist groups are both significant and under-explored areas of gender, feminist, and nationalism studies. This article investigates the feminist and nationalist vision of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). RAWA exemplifies an effective political movement that intersects feminist and nationalist politics, where women are active, rather than symbolic, participants witin the organization, and help to shape an ideological construction of the Afghan nation. RAWA subsequently links its struggle for women's rights (through feminism) with its nationalist goals for democracy and secularism. This article also analyses RAWA's use of conservative nationalist methods to reproduce the future of the organization and to develope 'citizens' for its idealized nation, while countering existing patriarchal social and familial structures through a re-configuration of women's roles in the family, community, and nation. This inquiry is based on geographic and feminist examinations of RAWA's organizational structure, literature, and political goals obtained through content analyses of RAWA's political literature and through interviews with RAWA members and supporters living as refugees in Pakistan in the summer of 2003 and winter of 2004/5. RAWA is an instructive example of counter-patriarchal and nationalist feminist politics that questions patriarchal definitions of the nation and its citizenry by reconfiguring gender norms and redefining gender relations in the family as a mirror of the nation.
From: Feminist Review 89

Desire, Duras and melancholia: theorizing desire after the 'affective turn' - Kristyn Gorton

2008-07-02T12:38:00.002+01:00

This article considers how the concept of desire can be theorized in light of recent work on emotion and affect. In doing so, it questions what desire does and how desire can be theorized, particularly within cinema. Instead of arguing that we must move away from a psychoanalytic interpretation of desire, I ask how this approach can be revitalized and reconsidered through work on affect. This article also highlights the way in which Lacanian and Deleuzian models of desire are constantly set in opposition to each other; in so doing, it sees to move beyond this impasse and gesture towards alternative ways of theorizing desire. One of the central issues foregrounded within psychoanalytic theory is the process of remembering and forgetting: the method through which the subject can 'let go' and move forward. This relationship is figured primarily in terms of the discourse between self and other. Marguerite Duras' work questions this process of 'letting go' and offers an alternative conceptualization of desire through her use of melancholia. Beyond an intrinsic interest in her work, because Duras has been admired by psychoanalytic, feminist and Deleuzian scholars, her films present an opportunity to rethink a theorization of desire in light of competing interpretations. In discussing melancholia in terms of Duras' work, this paper also considers the extent to which her use of Hiroshima as a backdrop to the affair presented in the film colonizes desire and its transformative potential.
From: Feminist Review 89 (2008)

Hirsi Ali and van Gogh's Submission: Reinforcing the Islam vs women binary - Iveta Jusova

2008-06-24T08:00:00.002+01:00

This article presents a textual and visual analysis of Hirsi Ali and van Gogh's controversial short film, Submission: Part 1 [Submission: Part 1. (2004). Dir. Theo van Gogh. Script Ayaan Hirsi Ali.]. It argues that while Hirsi Ali's stated objective in Submission, as well as in her public statements and more recent writings, has been to combat domestic violence in Muslim communities, the rhetorical strategies she embraces frequently reinforce unproductive orientalist stereotypes of Islam and Muslim women and men. The article problematizes Hirsi Ali's strategies by drawing on Uma Narayan's analysis of the roles played by non-Western academics in debates concerning Third-World women's issues. And it compares Hirsi Ali's condemnation of Islam's abuse of women with feminist critiques of the same articulated by other Muslim academics, such as Leila Ahmed, whose feminist assessment of Islam is historically grounded and is strategically combined with a critique of derogatory Western stereotypes of Muslims.
From: Womens Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Telling stories, creating (and saving) her life - Mineke Bosch

2008-06-24T07:48:00.002+01:00

In this article the Dutch historian and biographer Mineke Bosch analyzes the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who in 1992 was admitted to the Netherlands as a Somalian refugee, and who in the wake of September 11, 2001 quickly rose to a prominent position at a national, and even international scale. Why did she publish an American ghostwritten autobiography at the age of 37? Was it a farewell document to the Netherlands - it was published first in a Dutch translation in October 2006 - or should we see the publication of Mijn vrijheid (My Freedom) Infidel as a kind of credentials for the American nation? Bosch looks at Hirsi Ali's autobiography in the perspective of a long autobiographical tradition and strong feminist counter tradition with distinctie narrative lines, plots and counterplots, posing the question how Hirsi Ali presents her life. The reading reveals that the autobiography is indebted to the (male, archetypal and enlightenment) plot of individual accomplishment, as well as to a so-called 'feminist orientalism'.
From: Womens Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Progressing through labour and delivery - JaneMaree Maher

2008-06-24T07:39:00.002+01:00

In many accounts of birthing in Western societies, a divergence between 'medical time' and 'natural birthing time' is identified as a key point of conflict between women's expectations and experiences and medical protocols for birthing. Obstetrical control, with its focus on delineated birth stages and time limits, is represented in conflict with women's birthing rhythms. Drawing on interview data and contemporary feminist theorisations of time, this article suggests that this model of temporal conflict fails to capture the complexity of birthing time since a sense of temporal progress towards delivery is important to labouring women, as well as part of the medical model of birth.

The data was gathered through individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews wthich lasted between 60 and 90 min with ten women in Melbourne, Australia. Women birthing drew on formal and informal information sources to situate their embodied experiences, working hard to develop their own timelines for the task of birthing. The findings suggest that women's experiences of birth cannot simply be understood as conflicts between medical timelines, and 'natural' birthing temporalities, since women used comunication about time to develop their own birth stories and generate a sense of progress and forward movement towards delivery.

From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

From outsiders to motherhood to reinventing the family - Victoria Clarke

2008-06-24T07:32:00.002+01:00

This article provides a feminist critical psychological analysis of the psychological literature on lesbian parenting. Rather than offer an overview of the findings and methods and an evaluation of the scientific merit of the literature, the aim of this article is to examine the construction of lesbians as parents and the evolving history of the category 'lesbian mother' in psychological research. The period under analysis begins with the construction of lesbians as outsiders to motherhood in the work of early sexologists and ends with the construction of lesbians as reinventing the family in the work of lesbian and gay psychologists. Five phases of research are identified and the analysis explores what research in each phase reveals about the social and political meanings of lesbians raising children. The article concludes by charting the emergence of feminist critiques of the psychological literature. These critiques raise important questions about the regulatory role of psychology and the (re)production of heteronormativity in research on lesbian parenting.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Variation in labor market participation of married women in Turkey - Ayse Gunduz-Hosgor

2008-06-24T07:10:00.002+01:00

We explore the role of paid work in women's empowerment in Turkey by analyzing the variation in employment status and occupational position of Turkish women according to socio-economic and geographic background characteristics, characteristics of their marriage and gender role attitudes. Being employed is seen as a major instrument in making women less dependent on their families and freeing them from the suppressing influence of patriarchal ideologies. However, only 35% of married women are gainfully employed and half of them work as (family) farm workers. Women engaged in the formal economy are more highly educated, have husbands with higher occupations, have fewer children, live in the West and urban areas, are less suppressed by their families and have less traditional gender role attitudes. Not speaking Turkish is a major obstacle to economic independency for ethnic women. Findings basically support the U-curve hypothesis which predicts that with increasing modernization female employment first decreases and then increases. However, the effects of modernization are overshadowed by the strong influence of patriarchal ideology that tends to confine Turkish women to the private domain. The major way out of the web of patriarchal restrictions seems to be via education.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Changing roles and attitudes of women staying behind in split households when men emigrate - Nicholas P Glytsos

2008-06-24T07:04:00.003+01:00

This article deals with the neglected issue of changing roles and attitudes of women staying behind when the male members of the family emigrate. It focuses on emigration from the small Greek island of Kythera, with the population of Kytherian origin in Australia more than 20 times its current inhabitants. Male emigration to Australia, just before and after the second World War, would not have been possible had women (wives and daughters) not taken on the role and activities of the departing husband, son or brother. This new role of women brought about considerable changes in the running and the sustenance of the household, as well as in attitudes vis-a-vis the micro-social environment of the village, and the island at large. The article analyzes various social and economic dimensions of the new regime of the split migrant household and highlights the gender issues emerging from the new responsibilities and activities of the women involved.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Reconnecting: women and reconciliation in Australia - Julie Matthews and Lucinda Aberdeen

2008-06-24T06:54:00.002+01:00

This article highlights the activist and intellectual work of women in relation to reconciliation and emphasises the importance of woman's perspectives in considering its nature and purpose. The article is the outcome of participation in a women's gathering where interviews were conducted with seven women activists about their work and commitment to reconciliation. Reconciliation in this context was not, as often represented in government policy, a straightforward set of practices, but a way of living which reconnects country, kin, culture, sharing, knowing and learning. If the process of reconciliation is to asist women in their efforts to address the contemporary effects of colonial dispossession, governments, agencies and individuals must take heed of the knowledge and pedagogical work which this article indicates are already at large.
We understand that research undertaken with Aboriginal people involving the production of a representational resource, no matter how well intentioned, must grapple with the vexed politics of representation concerning who can speak for whom. By way of partial solution to this problematic, we adopt a methodological approach which is mindful of the colonising practices of research and seeks to be sensitive to the complex and often contradictory ways in which women are positioned and position themselves in representational practices and meaning making.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008)

Globalization as racialized, sexualized violence - Rauna Kuokkanen

2008-06-24T06:45:00.002+01:00

In my article, I suggest that indigenous women are among the hardest hit by economic globalization - the expansion of markets, trade liberalization and cheapening of labour - and that globalization represents a multifaceted violence against indigenous women. I consider this with the help of two examples. First, I discuss the largely ignored case of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada and how the interlocking systems of oppression (colonization, patriarchy and capitalism) are further intensified by globalization. Second, I examine the death of a Hopi woman, Private Piestewa, in the context of militarization, history of colonization and globalization. I analyse these examples in an intersectional framework that reveals the links between colonization, patriarchy and capitalism all of which inform the current processes of globalization.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, June 2008

Small victories but slow progress: An examination of women in politics in Malawi - Rebecca Tiessen

2008-06-23T14:37:00.002+01:00

Between 1994 and 2006, Malawi experienced some gains in women's political participation and increased representation in Parliament. However, Malawi has not fared as well as many of its African neighbours in its efforts to promote women in leadership positions. In this article I examine the factors that contribute to Malawi's weak performance in this regard, including a political history of patriarchal rule, a political culture of neopatrimonialism, limited opportunities for women to demand access to positions of power (including no significant political transformation creating space for women's participation) and a social and cultural context which discourages women from entering politics. I examine these challenges to the political participation of women by drawing on feminist literature, as well as quantitative and qualitative data from a 2001 Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) study and twenty interviews with women in Malawi conducted in 2005.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, June 2008

Managing the woman issue - Barbara Pini et al

2008-06-23T14:31:00.003+01:00

Recent international accounts of gender and governance have highlighted complexities surrounding the political mobilization of women on the one hand, and the reconfiguration of the state on the other. The trajectories taken by women's movements have intersected and interacted with a rapidly changing political opportunity structure and with increasingly unfavourable shifts in dominant discourses. In the past, Australia has been heralded as a woman-friendly state, complete with femocrats overseeing gendered policy analysis of mainstream programmes as well as a broad range of women's service. Recent discursive shifts, however, combined with the changing architecture of the state and a women's movement largely in abeyance, have resulted in the 'fall of the femocrat' and increasing marginalization of feminist agendas. As observed elsewhere, such shifts position women in ways that only selectively recognize them and their capacities and needs. We extend such critiques by mapping over time the engagement with the state of a particular group of rural women. This case study enables us to identify both the heterogeneity of contemporary governance, and the complex, multi-level responses to farm women's agitation for greater industry recognition.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, June 2008

Women seeking asylum - Jane Freedman

2008-06-23T14:21:00.002+01:00

The issue of asylum seekers and refugees has been a major source of debate in European countries in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to the gendered impacts of recent developments in asylum policy and legislation. This article will explore the difficulties of women seeking asylum in France in order to analyse the way that the asylum decision-making process operates through gendered lenses that ignore the complexity of women's experiences. The multiple actors involved in the process, and the role played by discretionary power in the decision making on asylum means it is impossible to point to just one source of gendered inequalities within this process, and thus a careful unpacking of legislation, jurisprudence and official policies but also of more informal procedures and practices is required.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, June 2008

Time-use studies - Valerie Bryson

2008-06-23T14:15:00.002+01:00

Many feminists see inequalities in time use as a key aspect of male privilege and female disadvantage. Many also see quantitative time-use studies as an important resource, providing empirical evidence to support their claims. However, more theoretical work on the nature and meaning of time suggests that the studies are based on male experiences and assumptions. As such, they cannot capture the implications of caring responsibilities, and their use both obscures important aspects of temporal inequality and reinforces the hegemony of male perspectives. This article assesses these arguements, focusing on western democracies and using childcare in the UK as a case study. It finds that some time-use research has indeed misrepresented the extent and nature of continuing temporal inequalities. However, some more recent work is clearly informed by feminist concerns and has the potential to provide more sophisticated understanding. The article concludes that time-use studies can serve as a feminist tool, but only if their limitations are recognized.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, June 2008

Men's crops and women's crops - Edward R Carr

2008-06-19T14:05:00.002+01:00

The study of gender and development is an area of inquiry fraught with tension between 'theoretical' and 'practical' concerns. This article seeks to intervene in the standoff between these concerns by examining the mismatch between the conclusions one can draw about gendered patterns of agriculture in Ghana if one adopts either a 'mainstream' or a feminist post-structuralist approach to gender. By illustrating the ways in which mainstream approaches to gender and development conceal important variability in the vulnerabilities experienced by those often lumped into the categories of 'woman' and 'man', this examination shows how contemporay writing on gender and development might inform 'practical' development efforts in a manner that results in measurably improved project outcomes.
From: World Development, Vol. 36 no. 5 (2008)

Women and fish-for-sex: transactional sex, HIV/AIDS and gender in African fisheries - Christophe Bene

2008-06-19T14:02:00.003+01:00

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of fish-for-sex in small-scale fisheries and discusses its apparent links to HIV/AIDS and transactional sex practices. The research reveals that fish-for-sex is not an anecdotal phenomenon but a practice increasingly reported in many different developing countries, with the largest number of cases observed in Sub-Saharan African inland fisheries. An overview of the main narratives that attempt to explain the occurrence of FFS practices is presented, along with other discourses and preconceptions, and their limits discussed. The analysis outlines the many different and complex dimensions of fish-for-sex transactions. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations.
From: World Development, Vol. 36 no. 5 (2008)

Iran's pieta: motherhood, sacrifice and film in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war - Roxanne Varzi

2008-04-25T08:45:00.002+01:00

The Iran-Iraq war, which took place from 1980 to 1988, was one of the longest and bloodiest conventional wars in the hstory of the last century. The war was also the largest mobilization of the Iranian population and was achieved primarily by producing and promoting a culture of martyrdom based on religious themes found in Shi'i Islam. It was the war that created and consolidated what we know today as the Islamic republic of Iran. For years there have been two popular public discourses in post-war Iran: the secular discourse, which is to evade, to ignore, to escape to the Caspian; and then the state's discourse, of the strong, mourning women and the heroic martyrs. it is the group of women who exist betwixt the dominant discourses of the secular versus the religious and the idea of womanhood versus motherhood thatI am interested in exploring here by looking at the most recent work of a secular female filmmaker, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad.
From: Feminist Review 88 (2008)

Women's organizing and the conflict in Iraq since 2003 - Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt

2008-04-25T08:17:00.004+01:00

This article examines the development of a women's movement in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. It describes the types of activities and the strategies of different women activists, as well as highlighting the main divisions among them. The article also discusses the various ways in which the ongoing occupation and escalating violence in Iraq as shaped women's activism and the objectof their struggles. Communal and sectarian tensions had been fostered by the previous regime as well as by the political opposition in exile prior to 2003, but the systematic destruction of national institutions, such as the army and the police, by the occupation forces, has led to a flare-up of the sectarian conflict. The article concldes by evaluating women's activism in terms of its contributions to conflict on the one hand and national reconciliation on the other.
From: Feminist Review 88 (2008)

Gendered embodiments: mapping the body-politic of the raped woman and the nation in Bangladesh - Nayanika Mookherjee

2008-04-25T07:31:00.001+01:00

There has been much academic work outlining the complex links between women and the nation. Women provide legitimacy to the political projects of the nation in particular social and historical contexts. This article focuses on the gendered symbolization of the nation through the rhetoric of the 'motherland' and the manipulation of this rhetoric in the context of national struggle in Bangladesh. Is how the ways in which the visual represention of this 'motherland' as fertile countryside, and its idealization primarily through rural landscapes has enabled a crystallization of essentialist gender roles for women. This article is particularly interested in how these images had to be reconciled with the subjectivities of women raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War (Muktijuddho) and the role of the aestheticizing sensibilities of Bangladesh's middle class in that process.
From: Feminist Review 88 (2008)

Gender, war and militarism: making and questioning the links - Lynne Segal

2008-04-25T07:25:00.002+01:00

The gender dynamics of militarism have traditionally been seen as straightforward, given the cultural mythologies of warfare and the disciplining of 'masculunity' that occurs in the training and use of men's capacity for violence in the armed services. However, women's relation to both war and peace has been varied and complex. It is women who have often been most prominent in working for peace, although there are no necessary links between women and opposition to militarism. In addition, more women than ever are serving in many of today's armies, with feminists rather uncertain on how to relate to this phenomenon. In this article, I explore some of the complexities of applying gender analyses to militarism and peace work in sites of conflict today, looking most closely at the Israeli feminist group, New Profile, and their insistence upon the costs of the militarized nature of Isareli society. They expose the very permeable boundaries between the military and civil society, as violence seeps into the broader feminist analysis offered by researchers such as Cynthia Enloe and Cynthia Cockburn, who have for decades been writing about the 'masculinist' postures and practices of warfare, as well as the situation of women caught up in them. Finally, I suggest that rethinking the gendered nature of warfare must also emcompass the costs of war to men, whose fundamental vulnerability to psychological abuse and physical injury is often downplayed, whether in mainstream accounts of warfare or on more specific gender analysis. Feminists need to pay careful attention to masculinity and its fragmentations in addressing the topic of gender, war and militarism.
From: Feminist Review 88 (2008)

'New wars' and gendered economies - V Spike Peterson

2008-04-25T07:20:00.001+01:00

This paper draws on the 'new wars' literature and global political economy research to explore how feminists and other critical analysts might investigate linkages between, and the gendering of, licit and illicit informal activities in relation to transnational financing of new wars. The paper considers the interdependence (co-constitution) of reproductive, productive and virtual economies, and aims to illuminate the intersection of race, gender, and economic inequalities (within and among states) as structural features of neoliberal globalization. Finally,the paper develops an analytical framing of coping, combat and criminal informal economies, which overlap and interact but entail distinctive sets of actors, motivations, and activities. A brief description of each economy is followed by suggesting how it is genedered and how this might inform feminist theory/practice in relation to war.
From: Feminist Review 88 (2008)

Investing in women farmers to eliminate food insecurity in southern Africa: policy-related research from Mozambique - Rose Gawaya

2008-04-14T14:28:00.001+01:00

About 70 percent of the population in southern Africa depends on agriculture as the main source of food, income and employment. Women produce an estimated 70 per cent of the food in the region. Recent studies have pointed to governments' failure to invest in women farmers as one of the major contributing factors to food insecurity in Southern Africa (Drimmie and Mousseaux 2004). This article shares the findings of some Oxfam GB research, conducted in 2006, into government policy towards women farmers in southern Africa. It focuses on Mozambique.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Women and rural livelihood training: a case study from Papua New Guinea - Miranda Cahn and Mathias Liu

2008-04-14T14:23:00.001+01:00

The Integrated Agriculture Training Program (IATP) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) aimed to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in the East New Britain Province, by providing targeted training and information services to both men and women. While this AusAID-funded project is now complete, the programme has continued on a self-funding basis. This article describes how the IATP attempted to ensure the integration of rural women's interests, and respond to their needs in a country where gender inequality prevails, and where rural extension programmes have traditionally focused on men. The article argues that despite the programme having considerable success in implementing appropriate training for women, meeting the needs of rural women and making positive impacts on women's livelihoods, its success in responding to gender concerns has been limited by constraints which are themselves due to gender inequality. These constraints are : lower-than-anticipated participation of women in the courses, the lower educational level of women, and difficulties women have in implementing changes to their livelihoods after training.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

The value of gender analyses in humanitarian livelihoods programming: a case study from Nias Island, Indonesia - Annette Salkeld

2008-04-14T14:19:00.001+01:00

This article argues that in order for a rural livelihoods programme to respond to the differing needs of women and men, it is essential that a gender analysis is undertaken. A gender analysis will provide information on the livelihood strategies, needs, and aspirations of women and men. The article describes a gender analysis that was undertaken as part of Oxfam GB's humanitarian livelihoods programme on Nias Island, Indonesia, in 2007. Due to a range of issues, this analysis was undertaken over a year after the programme started, and highlights some challenges the programme faced as a result of not having this information from the outset. It ends by discussing the ways in which the programme has learnt from this experience.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Gender, efficiency, poverty reduction and empowerment - Ranjani K Murthy et al

2008-04-14T14:16:00.002+01:00

Through an analysis of the impact of two phases of a bio-agriculture and credit project of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in southern India, this article argues that there is no automatic link between agriculture and credit projects' goals of increasing women's efficiency, reducing women's poverty, and women's empowerment. It posits that these links have to be consciously fostered through particular measures. Supporting women's economic efficiency as a means to further their empowerment must be differentiated from increasing 'women's efficiency' for other goals.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (2008)

AIDS, women, land and natural resources in Africa: current challenges - Judy Oglethorpe and Nancy Gelman

2008-04-14T14:13:00.002+01:00

AIDS-affected households in rural Africa often turn to natural resources as a livelihood safety net. Yet women affected by AIDS have less time for sound resource management, and indigenous knowledge is lost when parents die before educating their children. As demand and inappropriate use grow, resource depletion and land degradation increase. In many countries, widows cannot inherit land. As poverty deepens in the wake of AIDS, women and girls are often forced into prostitution, accelerating the spread of HIV. Multi-sectoral approaches by development, health and environmental organisations can reduce the impact of HIV and AIDS on women, rural communities, and the natural environment, through health work integrated with alternative livelihoods and women's empowerment.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Remarriage after spousal death: options facing widows and implications for livelihood security - Felicity Thomas

2008-04-14T14:08:00.001+01:00

Remarriage following the death of a spouse has important implications for individual and household livelihoods in rural areas. Research in the Caprivi Region of Namibia found that while widowers commonly remarry, the 'traditional' option open to women through widow inheritance has been outlawed. While forcing widows off the land is now prohibited, socio-cultural pressures, the status of the woman's children, and a lack of basic support from the late husband's relatives can result in a more subtle form of property disinheritance. In addition to upheaval caused by relocation, many widows are limited in undertaking livelihood activities, constrained in their capacity to engage in profitable income-earning opportunities, and heavily reliant on the support of others.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Using rights-based and gender-analysis arguments for land rights for women - Nuria Pena et al

2008-04-14T14:06:00.004+01:00

The purpose of this article is to revisit the issue of land, and explain why it is still critical to women's empowerment. This is done by looking at it from a rights-based approach and a gender and development perspective. The article draws on case studies of an NGO working on enhancing women's land rights in Nicaragua. It highlights why land continues to be central to women's empowerment, and makes some suggestions on what development organisations can do to ensure continued support.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Women's perceptions of land ownership: a case study from Kutch District, Gujarat, India - Gouthami and Meena Rajgor

2008-04-14T13:59:00.002+01:00

In August 2005, a campaign was initiated in Kutch District, Gujarat, India, to obtain government land for landless families. Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), a grassroots collective of rural women, supported women's land and property rights in the context of the campaign. In this article, we assess the impact of this campaign on women in Kutch, given that the applications for land were filed either in their own names or along with their menfolk. Land is yet to be handed over to the families, yet the process of claiming it has, in itself, clarified women's views about the relative importance of property rights for their lives and position in society. The process of discussion that KMVS initiated has also provoked some of the women to take a first step in owning property by speaking up within their families.
From: Gender and development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (March 2008)

Measuring progress on gender and agriculture in the 1982 and 2008 World Development Reports - Revecca Holmes and Rachel Slater

2008-04-14T13:55:00.001+01:00

More than two decades separate two World Development Reports (WDRs) on agriculture: the first was published in 1982, the second in 2008. In this article, we ask what these documents can tell us about the evolution of gender analysis of the agriculture sector in those 25 years, and find that at the heart of the question is a far more difficult debate: what should we realistically expect the WDR to deliver on in terms of specific policy on gender issues? Whilst WDR 2008, as expected, provides a significantly improved analysis and understanding of gender inequality and uses it as a mechanism for understanding impediments to growth, at the same time, it lacks gender analysis of some fundamental concerns, which are key to reducing poverty and promoting agricultural growth for development.
From: Gender and Development, Vol. 16 no. 1 (2008)

Non-traditional agricultural export industries: conditions for women workers in Colombia and Peru - Nora Ferm

2008-04-14T13:51:00.003+01:00

Women comprise the majority of the workforce in many non-traditional agricultural export (NTAE) industries, which international lending and aid agencies espouse as a development solution for rural poor people. In the Peruvian asparagus industry and the Colombian cut-flower plantations, however, women workers endure unsafe and substandard conditions. Local organisations creatively employ various strategies, ranging from legislative advocacy to direct services for workers, to promote women's rights in this sector, but their efficacy is limited by governments' failure to pass and enforce comprhensive labour laws, and judicial procedures that favour employers.
From: Gender and Development Vol. 16 no. 1 (2008)

Gender inequality in politics - Emanuela Lombardo

2008-03-10T11:23:00.001+01:00

This article explores how the issue of 'gender inequality in politics' is framed in Spain and in the European Union (EU), asking to what extent policy discourses on the issue address gender bias in political institutions. Drawing on research carried out within the European project MAGEEQ, it discusses how the problem and solution to gender inequality in politics are framed in the two cases, to what extent policy discourses are gendered, which actors have a voice in the debates, and who are deemed to be the 'problem holders' and target groups of the measures taken in response. The comparison between Spain and the EU, which is based mainly on the analysis of official policy documents, shows that policy frames on gender inequality in politics present a similar pattern in the two cases, and that they address inequality but not always in the most gender-sensitive and consistent ways.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (March 2008)

Setting the agenda - Denise M Horn

2008-03-10T11:20:00.002+01:00

Foreign funding for women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during democratic transition plays a crucial role in shaping values and attitudes within civil society. Concepts of feminism, gender equality and the role of women in democratic politics are affected by the discourse established by foreign funders. In this article, the role of US and Nordic gender politics are examined in the Estonian context using a feminist constructivist framework. I explore that the effects of neoliberal versus social-democratic gender policies and conclude that, while funding for women's NGOs serves to create a necessary discourse on women's equality, these policies may actually serve the funders' needs to gain geopolitical influence in the region.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (2008)

Working-class women theorize globalization - Jacqueline Ellis

2008-03-10T11:15:00.002+01:00

I analyze working-class women's intellectual understanding of the labor they perform and its connection to the global processes - economic, political and cultural - that surround them. Incorporating feminist and cultural theories of globalization, I examine working-class women's oral histories and letters as theoretical texts, and explicate the relationships between labor, culture, critical consumption, the physicality of work and the individual imagination constructed in their narratives.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (2008)

Rescaling the state, restructuring social relations - Melanie Samson

2008-03-10T10:56:00.002+01:00

The literatures on rescaling of the State and feminist analyses of state restructuring have generally spoken past one another. Recent work by feminist theorists that begins to bridge this gap looks at gender in isolation from race and class and focuses primarily on the implications of state rescaling for service recipients. By contrast this article focuses on the relationship between state rescaling in post-apartheid South Africa and the restructuring of racialized, gendered social relations in the labour market. Despite policy commitments to 'developmental local government', rescaling of the State South African style is market-oriented and driven by an accommodationist approach to globalization. Drawing on a detailed analysis of the shift to a 'contracting local state' in Johannesburg and the resulting restructuring in the waste management sector, it is argued tht this rescaling of the State was shaped by pre-existing racialized gender relations in the workplace and labour market, which it in turn entrenched and exacerbated, infusing these social relations with new content and meaning. Feminist analysis of state rescaling must therefore include analysis of the gendered and racialized social relations within the scales of the workplace, labour market and the local State.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (2008)

Mini flexibilization at sea - Christine BN Chin

2008-03-10T10:37:00.002+01:00

Cruise line employment of men and women contract seafarers from all over the world since the late twentieth century has produced what is called multinational or 'mini UN' crew on board large modern cruise ships. This phenomenon is encouraged by open ship registries that legally endorse and affirm the flexibilization of labour at sea. Labour flexibilization processes, however, are not characterised solely by the demand and supply of low wage seafarers. Rather, they are mediated by perceived traits ascribed to seafarers' passport citizenship, physiognomy and biological sex. Men seafarers from countries of the Global North and South, respectively and overwhelmingly dominate the shipboard positions of senior officers and lower level support staff. Women's positioning in this uniquely stratified maritime workforce depends perceptively as well on the association of nationality, race/ethnicity and gender, with that of shipboard work. Thus, although cruise ship crew diversity appears to signify a globalized multi-cultural workforce and site at sea, seafarer recruitment and shipboard placement according to specific intersections of identity modalities disclose a troubling trend of constructing and affirming the kind of hierarchical identites reminiscent of land-based practices in the past centuries.
From: International Feminist Journal of Politics, Vol. 10 no. 1 (2008)

Rural medical marriages: understanding symbolic violence in the social practice of gender - Angela Durey

2008-03-04T14:03:00.001+01:00

This article examines the social practice of gender amongst rural GPs and in rural medical marriages and considers Bourdieu's notions of symbolic violence and misrecognition important elements in understanding how inequitable gender relations are sustained and reproduced. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in rural Western Australia amongst GPs and their spouses/partners, I explore the notion that gender as a structural or organising principle impacts on expectations and experiences of roles in the workplace and in the home. Compliance with conventional views of male as provider and female as primary caregiver raises questions about the advantages of conformity and the costs of challenge. Nonetheless, contesting dominant ideas and practices that do not serve the interests of non-dominant groups may well cause conflict but can lead to change.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 73-86

'Why doesnt she just leave?': belonging, disruption and domestic violence - Suellen Murray

2008-03-04T13:59:00.004+01:00

From the 1970s, a feminist response to domestic violence in Australia was to assist women to leave their homes to escape domestic violence. In doing so, women's (and their children's) lives and their belongingness to place and to family were disrupted. Indeed, discourses about domestic violence assumed that women's lives would be disrupted. More recently, in Australia, legal and other reforms have allowed for the greater possibility of a woman remaining safely in her own home (and her violent partner being removed) and retaining some sense, at least, of her belonging to place. However, further significant policy and attitudinal change is required. In this article, I explore the gap between the experiences of women and the policies and legislation that have been in place to provide assistance and protection, and how this has changed over the past three decades. In particular, I examine what it means to leave home or to stay at home in relation to domestic violence and I consider what they mean in terms of belonging to family and to place.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 65-72

The ideology of choice. Overstating progress and hiding injustice in the lives of young women: findings from a study in North Queensland, Australia

2008-03-04T13:50:00.002+01:00

The pervasive and popularised concept of a freshly modernised and progressive world for girls and young women has been ushered in by theories of post-industrial individualisation, neo-liberalism and its dovetailing with liberal variants of feminism. Such optimistic notions of new-found freedom for women in Western democracies celebrate the shrinking of imposed constraints and exclusions and the enthusiastic endorsement of individual choice. This article reports on recently completed empirical research in an Australian context which questions just how dramatically the lives of young women have changed. It identifies the role that the lauded concept of choice plays in overstating women's advancement and disguising socially generated inequality. In particular, young women in this study comprehend domestic violence, unequal parenting and housework as matters of choice, while also implicitly understanding that they do not live up to the imagined unencumbered rational choice individuals of liberalism.
The implications of an invigorated conservative, masculinist agenda disguised in a women's rights discourse are discussed. Feminists are confronted with a changed socio-political climate where the subordination of girls and women is allowed to occur more covertly within a framework of ostensible commitment to equality, the valorisation of choice and through seductive incitements to individual responsibility.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 53-64

Radical activism and accidental philanthropy: the impact of first wave feminist activism on the later construction of child care policies in Australia

2008-03-04T13:46:00.002+01:00

The goal of this article is to present an historical re-assessment of the impact of women's activism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century on later constructions of child care policy in Australia and the United States of America. This re-assessment is drawn from a larger critical feminist study on the way child care policies shape the material lives of women in the USA and Australia. Centralising the experiences and activities of women, in this historical cross-national comparison, challenges the assumption that 'first wave' feminist activism was narrowly constructed and similar across western contexts, and highlights the importance, in historical and contemporary contexts, of radical feminist engagement with the state in achieving positive social policy outcomes for women.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 42-52

Aging and activism in the context of the British Dominions Woman Suffrage Union, 1914-1922 - Kay Whitehead and Lynne Trethewey

2008-03-04T13:43:00.003+01:00

This article examines the activism of two London-based women, Harriet Newcomb and Margaret Hodge, who founded and led the British Dominions Woman Suffrage Union from 1914. We show that through the BDWSU and affiliated organizations Newcomb and Hodge promoted the suffrage cause internationally as well as education and social reform in London. Of particular note is the fact that Newcomb and Hodge were aged in their sixties during this time of their frenetic activism. Thus we highlight the importance of their friendships with younger women and socialist feminist networks in supporting them to manage the physical dimensions of the aging process and sustain their political work in the immediate postwar era.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 30-41

Sisterhood at the frong: friendship, comradeship, and the feminine appropriation of military heroism among World War 1 First Aid Nursing Yeomanry

2008-03-04T13:27:00.002+01:00

This article focuses on friendship and comradeship among First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) volunteers serving on the Western Front during the First World War. I discuss the distinction between, and the gendering of, friendship and comradeship, and make the case that the conditions of FANY service were not destructive of female friendships as they were for male combatants. I argue that the unstainability of emotional connection in the context of FANY autonomy and independence instead provided the foundation for the development of a comradeship that resulted in the feminine appropriation of military heroism. Such appropriation gave authentic claim to this masculine space and helped set the stage for women's participation in other aspects of public life.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 16-29

Ethnographies of gendered displacement: women's experiences in South Asia under neo-liberal globalisation - Ruchira Ganguly-Scrase

2008-03-04T13:15:00.002+01:00

The world is now characterised by extensive and rapid movements of people. An increasingly important issue for the Asia Pacific region is the rising number of people who are becoming displaced within their homelands as a result of a multitude of interconnected factors. The majority of displaced persons and refugees in our region are women and children. Yet, they are severely underrepresented in refugee determination processes, claims for asylum and settlement. This article will examine the neo-liberal global context in which women's experiences of forced migrations are situated. Over the past two decades the implementation of neo-liberal policies has not only resulted in colossal displacements, but have simultaneously given rise to exclusionary politics. While globalisatrion conjures up a vision of a borderless world, as a result of free flow of goods, this article will show that increasingly nation states have hardened their attitudes towards the displaced, emphasising the distinction between 'economic' migrants and political refugees. Based on recent fieldwork among internally displaced women and cross-border forced migrants in South Asia, our article will map out the ways in which the aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal agendas and the rise of exclusionary politics result in greater social inequalities for women. By focusing on the ways in which women confront and interpret the commonalities and differences of dislocation, this article will evaluate the contemporary applicability of the concept of 'refugee' in post-colonial states and highlight the significance of gendered displacements.
From: Women's Studies International Forum 31 (2008) 1-15

Council of Women World Leaders

2008-02-29T09:17:00.004+01:00

The Council of Women World Leaders is a network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers.

The Council's mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. A ministerial initiative that engages sitting and former women ministers and cabinet members is an integral and essential part of the Council structure.

The Council and Ministerial Initiative create a global architecture for giving a collective voice to women at the highest levels of government. Their mission is to promote good governance and enhance the experience of democracy globally by increasing the number, effectiveness, and visibility of women world leaders.

The Council currently has 36 Members.

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Women, ageing and health: a framework for action

2008-02-27T07:58:00.002+01:00

What help can be directed at older women?

By: United Nations Population Fund
Published by: World Health Organization , 2007
Via: Eldis

This report summarises the evidence about women, ageing and health from a gender perspective and provides a framework for developing action plans to improve the health and well-being of ageing women.

It is argued that as they age, women and men share the basic needs and concerns related to the enjoyment of human rights such as shelter, food, access to health services, dignity, independence and freedom from abuse. The evidence shows however, that when judged in terms of the likelihood of being poor, vulnerable and lacking in access to affordable health care, older women merit special attention.

(http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/684_filename_ageing.pdf)

An introduction to the use of gender indicators at policy, programme, and project levels

2008-02-12T08:16:00.000+01:00

How can gender indicators best be used at policy, project and programme levels?

By: U. Murray
Published by: International Training Centre, International Labour Organisation, 2007
Via: Eldis

Briefing note aimed at those interested in the development and use of gender indicators at the policy, programme and project level. The authors argue that both quantitative and qualitative indicators can be used and that gender indicators can provide policy makers with detailed information to guide interventions. A number of practical tips for developing gender indicators are also discussed.

(http://gender.itcilo.org/cms/images/stories/Tools%20materials/gender_
briefing_note_1_gender_indicators.pdf)

Women employed in science and technology

2008-02-08T07:07:00.000+01:00

European Statistics

Published in: Statistics in Focus, 1/2008
Via: ResourceShelf

Increasing the human resources in science and technology is a key objective in order to meet the target set by the Lisbon summit in 2000 of making Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. One way of achieving this is by using the existing pool of highly trained women.

(http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259&_
dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&p_product_code=KS-SF-08-010)