Women and Militarization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Social Institutions ◽  
African Women ◽  
Agricultural Labor ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Enslaved Women ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
And Gender

African women are profoundly affected by warfare and its consequences in their societies. Militarization describes the violent processes that transform communities’ social, political, economic, and cultural spheres beyond the battlefield. These effects are gendered. Militarization transforms the social institutions that gender and define women’s personhood—marriage, motherhood, daughter, wife, widow, concubine, slave, domestic laborer, etc. Since these institutions are references for social continuity and discontinuity, conflict turns women into symbols of nationalistic significance and centers their procreative power and roles within regimes of morality. Militarization facilitates transformations in gendered roles and sexualities—women became soldiers and auxiliary wartime laborers, as well as the strategic targets of armed violence. Economic, social, and political status were key in determining women’s experiences of conflict and militarization. Elite women are often better-positioned to maintain their personal safety and access leadership roles in their communities during and after conflict. Low-status women were more vulnerable to enslavement, sexual/domestic violence, food insecurity, disease, displacement, and death. Women’s myriad experiences of militarization challenge false assumptions about the incontrovertible linkages between masculinity and belligerence or femininity and pacifism. Militarization alters how women realize optimal futures due to changes in gendered-access to authority, legal accountability, as well as perceptions of moral order and the division between public and domestic life. A handful of ancient and medieval noble women provide legendary exploits of warrior queens, who mobilized armies toward political unification or the defense of their societies. In several centralized African societies, noble women—as queen mothers or reign mates—constrained and bolstered the authority of male leaders. Dahomey fielded female regiments in battle. The warfare affiliated with long-distance slave trades and 19th-century state building created dichotomous experiences for elite and slave women. Elite African women depended on the resources generated from slave export, as well as benefited from the domestic and agricultural labor of captured and enslaved women. European colonization and the spread of monotheistic Abrahamic religions altered African women’s experiences of militarization. The gendered biases of written sources obscure the degree to which women participated in the militarization of their societies within political and/or religious conquest. Colonization normalized gender-restricted access to power and militancy, as well as entrenched patriarchy and gender dichotomies that equated masculinity with martiality and femininity with nonviolence. Anticolonial, revolutionary rhetoric championed African women’s participation in wars of decolonization—as freedom fighters and mothers within new nations. Women experienced great personal and communal violence in the postcolonial military dictatorships that prioritized patriarchal and violent power. During the 1990s, Western industries of humanitarianism and global media propagated stereotypical portrayals of African women as victims of male-perpetrated violence and as innate peacemakers. To the contrary, African women have played myriad roles in societies experiencing secessionist wars, military dictatorships, genocide, warlords, and Salafist militarization.

Girly Games and Girl Gamers

Gaming Sexism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 86-110
Author(s):  
Amanda C. Cote
Keyword(s):  
Gender Relations ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Gaming Industry ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Casual Games ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Insight Into

Where chapter 2 focused on overt sexism, this chapter explores the subtler, but equally damaging, impacts of inferential sexism, or factors that appear to be nondiscriminatory but rest on limiting assumptions about gender and gender relations. The chapter finds that participants feel misunderstood by the gaming industry, which offers women infantilizing or stereotypical “girly games” rather than crafting interesting games for adult women. It also finds that women often face surprised reactions to their presence in gaming spaces or assumptions that they game to meet men. Like overt harassment, this makes female gamers feel abnormal or out of place and serves to preserve gaming’s existing hegemony, limiting women’s ability to affect game culture. Furthermore, this chapter reveals that the rise of casual games has complicated this situation rather than improved it. In this way, this chapter both addresses new aspects of women’s experiences in masculinized spaces and provides insight into the casualized era’s ongoing trials.

Gender, Nation, and Situated Intersectionality: The Case of Catalan Pro-independence Feminism

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 608-636
Author(s):  
Maria Rodó-Zárate
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Independence Movement ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Stateless Nations ◽  
And Gender

AbstractDebates on nation, self-determination, and nationalism tend to ignore the gender dimension, women's experiences, and feminist proposals on such issues. In turn, feminist discussions on the intersection of oppressions generally avoid the national identity of stateless nations as a source of oppression. In this article, I relate feminism and nationalism through an intersectional framework in the context of the Catalan pro-independence movement. Since the 1970s, Catalan feminists have been developing theories and practices that relate gender and nationality from an intersectional perspective, which may challenge hegemonic genealogies of intersectionality and general assumptions about the relation between nationalism and gender. Focusing on developments made by feminist activists from past and present times, I argue that women are key agents in national construction and that situated intersectional frameworks may provide new insights into relations among axes of inequalities beyond the Anglocentric perspective.

scholarly journals The Strives, Struggles, and Successes of Women Diagnosed With ADHD as Adults

SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401770179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mira Elise Glaser Holthe ◽  
Eva Langvik
Keyword(s):  
Gender Norms ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Negative Judgment ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Media ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Specific

The objective of the study was to aid an understanding of women’s experiences of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with special consideration of the role of stigma and gender-specific issues. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with five women aged 32 to 50 years, all diagnosed with ADHD as adults. The interviews were analyzed in accordance with thematic analysis. The data analyses were centered around five core themes: (a) from unidentified childhood ADHD to adult diagnosis, (b) present main symptoms and challenges, (c) conflict between ADHD symptoms and gender norms and expectations, (d) stigma of ADHD: “People think it’s a fake disease,” and (e) managing ADHD symptoms and identifying strengths. Despite their difficulties, all participants are highly educated and employed, and differ from common portrayals of individuals with ADHD as observably hyperactive, disruptive, or globally impaired. The participants are reluctant about disclosure of their diagnosis, due to fear of negative judgment and lack of understanding from others. The findings highlight the importance of recognizing and targeting ADHD as a serious disorder that yields continuing, and even increasing, impairment in multiple areas into adulthood. Gender-specific issues of ADHD need to be examined further, particularly challenges associated with motherhood. Stigma and the conflict between ADHD symptoms and gender norms complicate women’s experiences of living with ADHD, and should be essential areas of focus in research, educational settings, and the media.

“Un abrazo a la distancia”: An Exploration of Spanish-Speaking Women’s Experiences with Pregnancy and Social Isolation in an Urban U.S. Setting

2021 ◽  
pp. 154041532110410
Author(s):  
Talia Robledo-Gil ◽  
Shakkaura Kemet ◽  
Meredith Pensak ◽  
Abigail Cutler ◽  
Blair McNamara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Gestational Age ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Language Preference ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: Research on Spanish-speaking Latina/Hispanic women's experiences during pregnancy is limited. Methods: We recruited women from urban, walk-in pregnancy testing clinics from June 2014 to June 2015. Women aged 16–44 years, at less than 24 weeks gestational age, who spoke either English or Spanish were eligible and completed an enrollment questionnaire and individual interview according to language preference. During qualitative interviews, we explored pregnancy intentions, initial reactions to a new pregnancy, and feelings about the impact of this pregnancy on relationships and daily life. Qualitative narrative content analysis was conducted using Atlas.ti software. Results: Among interviews with 31 Spanish-speaking Latina/Hispanic pregnant women, participants’ average age was 28 years old with a mean gestational age of 7 weeks. We identified social isolation as the most common theme, characterized by four interwoven and overlapping subthemes: (1) sola—the experience of feeling alone; (2) familismo cercano—the importance of close relationships; (3) familismo lejano—overcoming long distance relationships; and (4) mi patria—preserving homeland cultural connectedness. Conclusions: Spanish-speaking Latina/Hispanic pregnant women described experiencing multiple aspects of social isolation. Language preference may suggest risk of social isolation, necessitating provider awareness and support initiatives to improve social support and lessen social isolation among newly pregnant, Spanish-speaking Latina women.

Gender Subjectification and Schooling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslee Grey
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Moral Virtues ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Early Schooling ◽  
Institutional Contexts ◽  
Gendered Roles ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Function

Formal education supports various goals related to the transmission of a society’s values, from teaching basic literacy to instilling moral virtues. Although schools serve as places of assimilation and socialization into dominant norms, schools are also spaces where young people experiment with their own ideals and self-expressions. Researchers interested in how young people learn to inhabit gendered roles or “positions” highlight the significant role that schooling plays in gender subjectification. Put simply, gender subjectification is the process by which one becomes recognizable to oneself (and to others) as a gendered subject. Schools are key institutions where individuals learn to negotiate their places in society and to consider possible futures. Through interacting with one another and with the overt and hidden curricula in school, as well as with various social structures outside school, individuals are shaped by various discourses that involve desires, beliefs, rituals, policies, and practices. Education research focusing on gender subjectification has explored the mechanisms by which schools shape and reproduce, for example, the gendered knowledge that young people come to internalize and take up as “normal” or acceptable for themselves and for others, as well as what they resist or reject. As with all social institutions, a school is subject to and influenced by various communications that circulate and intersect inside and outside the school walls. These discourses include but are not limited to “official” communications such as laws, policies, and state- or district-sanctioned curriculum materials, various conversations circulating among media and fora, and conversations from peer groups, the home, and community groups. From these diverse and often contradictory sets of discourses, schools privilege and disseminate their own “discursive selections” concerning gender. These selections work on and through students to shape possibilities as well as place constraints on not only how students understand themselves as gendered subjects but also how they come to those understandings. Studies investigating education and gender suggest that inequities and inequalities often begin in early schooling and have long-lasting implications both inside and outside schools. School and classroom discourses tend to privilege hegemonic (meaning dominant and normative) notions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality while silencing, punishing, and, in some cases, even criminalizing differences. Research concerned with gender subjectification and school has addressed numerous significant questions such as: What are the gendered landscapes of schooling, and how do individuals experience those landscapes? What are the everyday discourses and practices of schooling (both formal and informal) that work on how gender gets “done,” and how do these aspects interact and function? How does school impose constraints on, as well as offer possibilities for, gender subjectivity, when institutional contexts that shape subjectivities are also in motion? Ultimately, these questions concern the role that schooling has in shaping how individuals think about and “do” selfhood. In general, critical studies of gender and subjectification gesture toward hope and possibilities for more equality, more consensuality, and more inclusivity of individual differences.

scholarly journals Redefining the Boundaries of Hidden Homelessness: An Examination of the Experiences of Women in Toronto and Barrie

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Muzorewa
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Frontline Workers ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Following the devolution of affordable housing to lower levels of government, municipalities have been partnering with private developers to address the growing problem of hidden homelessness, through the inclusionary housing (IH) policy. Very little has been written about this policy in Ontario, hence the purpose of this qualitative case study was (i) to uncover how women experience hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie, (ii) to analyze, understand, and evaluate the implementation of IH policy in Ontario, and (iii) to examine the effect of IH policy as it relates to women experiencing hidden homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women who were currently experiencing hidden homelessness or had a history of hidden homelessness, five policy experts, two private developers, and five frontline workers from community organizations working to end homelessness in Toronto and Barrie. An intersectional gender-based analysis was used to uncover the prevalence of hidden homelessness among women, and the effect of the IH policy in addressing this problem. Data analysis was done using thematic analysis and particular attention was given to women’s experiences with hidden homelessness and the perspectives of policy-makers and stakeholders. The findings suggests that, women experiencing hidden homelessness were situated within a hostile housing market where some were compelled to live in unsafe, substandard, overcrowded conditions, and were exposed to violence, while others lived in houses they could not afford, often working two jobs to cover rent. Although the introduction of Bill 7of the Affordable Housing Act, 2016, gave municipalities authority to implement IH strategies to boost affordable housing stock, yet slow implementation processes, challenges in negotiating a happy medium, red tape and the high cost of land, minimizes the effect of the IH strategy in Ontario. As such, the IH policy has not yielded any significant effect in Toronto or Barrie, and is only targeted at middle to upper middle income earners, at the exclusion of low-income women experiencing hidden homelessness. In addition, poor conceptualization of gendered homelessness, coupled with the absence of gendered statistics, and gender neutrality in the formulation and implementation of the IH policy, exacerbates women’s experiences with hidden homelessness. Moreover, a lack of political will to end homelessness further dampens the effects of IH strategies. Participants suggested a more integrative, multidimensional approach to ending homelessness.

Diversity in Studying Gender and IT

2011 ◽  
pp. 216-223
Author(s):  
Michael J. Gallivan
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
It Use ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
The Past ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Gender And It

Over the past decade, the IS literature has been transformed from one that has virtually ignored gender issues to one in which gender frequently appears center stage. Just 8 years ago, Gefen and Straub (1997, p. 390) noted that “gender has been generally missing from IT behavioral research.” Other scholars have also drawn attention to the paucity of gender research in the IS literature even into the 21st century. For instance, Adam, Howcroft, and Richardson (2004, p. 223) noted that “whilst interest in gender has begun to permeate and influence other disciplines, the domain of IS has remained fairly watertight against incursions from gender analysis.” In the past few years, however, the IS field has made considerable headway in terms of the number of studies that address gender analyses of IT use and women’s experiences in the IT profession. Some advances include special journal issues (Adam, Howcroft, & Richardson, 2002; Gurak & Ebeltoft-Kraske, 1999), an edited book (Green & Adam 2001), and even a focused IS conference track on gender and diversity issues.1 This growing interest in the subject of gender and IT has been accompanied by recent claims by scholars regarding appropriate ways to define, conceptualize, and study gender. For instance, the first papers in leading North American journals that prominently featured gender during the 1990s were all quantitative, survey-based studies—either of gender differences in IT use (Gefen & Straub, 1997; Venkatesh & Morris, 2000) or comparative studies of men and women IT employees (Igbaria & Baroudi, 1995; Truman & Baroudi, 1994). Adam et al. (2004) criticized such quantitative approaches to gender in their conceptual review of gender in IS research, noting three shortcomings: Such studies (a) overlook the literature on gender from the social studies of technology field, (b) dichotomize gender into a nominal category, and (c) fail to provide a rationale for why the experiences of men and women differ with regard to IT. They conclude that: ... it is the style of explanation that is problematic in these papers. In a nutshell, this research has difficulty explaining the phenomena it apparently uncovers as it does not adequately theorise the construct of gender, nor indeed the construct of technology. (p. 227) Their critique of many studies is on target, especially quantitative studies in which the authors neglect to provide insights into factors that shape the different experiences of men and women regarding IT usage or IT-related career experiences. A variety of labels have been employed to describe the underlying logic for why men’s and women’s experiences and behavior may differ: social constructivism (Wilson, 2002), social shaping (McKenzie & Wajcman, 1985), essentialism (Wajcman, 1991), feminist standpoint theory (Harding, 1991), radical feminism (Daly, 1992), the individual-differences perspective (Trauth, 2002), gender as performance, and others. Some of these traditions of scholarship related to gender are more popular in different parts of the world, in different academic disciplines, and at different times in the evolution of various disciplines. The key message that readers should draw from this critique by Adam et al. (2004) is that all researchers should clearly articulate their conceptualization of gender, including fundamental beliefs the authors hold for what gender means and for why the attitudes, behaviors, and experiences of men and women may be similar to or different from each other. Such articulation of authors’ beliefs about gender is highly advantageous—whether their studies compare the beliefs or experiences of men and women, or whether they examine just women (or men) in isolation. Second, I support the advice by Adam et al. that researchers should be cautious about citing certain theories as explanations for differences between men and women whose premises were grounded in an earlier era given that we live “in a world where women make up a much larger proportion of the workforce than when many of the original reference studies were conducted” (p. 228). On the other hand, it is important that researchers not conclude from their critique of the gender and IS literature that all quantitative, positivist studies of gender and IT are necessarily suspect. I fear, however, that many readers will draw exactly this conclusion. If one were to dismiss all quantitative, positivist studies on IT and gender, this would eliminate nearly 75% of the studies of gender and IT that have been published to date. To reject these studies would, in effect, return us to an era that Adam et al. (2004, p. 223) criticize as being characterized by “difficulties of finding published research on the topic of gender and IS, whether that be interpretivist or positivist in emphasis.”

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