Women, Sports, and Activism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Cooky
Keyword(s):  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
The United States ◽  
First Century ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Feminist Activism ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
A Site

Unlike other issues that have generated highly visible popular social movements in the United States, gender inequality in sports has not attracted similar levels of attention among U.S. feminist activists. Moreover, sport has not played a significant role in what constitutes the “canon” of feminist writings on activism, and is often overlooked in feminist collections, women’s studies textbooks, and anthologies. This chapter draws upon the scholarship in feminist sport studies to focus on three issues related to women’s activism in sports: sports as a site for women’s advocacy and activism; sports as a site for women’s empowerment; and female athleticism as cultural iconography in discursive articulations of feminist activism and women’s empowerment. The chapter concludes with insights on the potential for intersections between women’s sports advocacy and feminist activism in women’s sports at the turn of the twenty-first century, and offers possible directions for future research.

Positive Correlation Between Women’s Status and Intimate Partner Violence Suggests Violence Backlash in Mwanza, Tanzania

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110500
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Kilgallen ◽  
Susan B. Schaffnit ◽  
Yusufu Kumogola ◽  
Anthony Galura ◽  
Mark Urassa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Low Fertility ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Increased Risk

Urbanization in low and middle-income nations is characterized by economic and demographic shifts largely understood to be beneficial to women’s empowerment. These changes include increased education and wage-labor opportunities, a disruption of traditional patrilocal residence systems, and reductions in spousal age gap and fertility. However, such changes may drive a “violence backlash,” with men increasing intimate partner violence (IPV) in efforts to challenge women’s shifting status. To date, tests of this idea primarily relate to women’s changing economic status, with less known about the demographic correlates of IPV in urbanizing settings. Addressing this, we conducted a cross-sectional study of IPV behavior and attitudes in an urbanizing community in Mwanza, northern Tanzania ( n = 317). Consistent with a violence backlash, IPV was reported more often among women educated at higher levels than their husband, and women earning similar, rather than lower, wages to their husband were more likely to report that he condones IPV. These findings were independent of women’s absolute education and income. Furthermore, less frequent paternal kin contact, and relatively small spousal age gaps, generally understood to boost women’s empowerment, were associated with an increased risk of experiencing IPV. Less frequent paternal kin contact was also associated with an increased likelihood that a husband condones IPV. Contrary to our predictions, relatively lower fertility, generally linked to higher women’s empowerment, did not predict IPV behavior and women with high, rather than low, fertility were more likely to report that their husband condones IPV. Overall, our results support the notion of a violence backlash corresponding to economic changes for women that accompany urbanization. In contrast, demographic changes associated with urbanization have more variable relationships. Drawing on these results, we suggest future research avenues for better understanding the vulnerability of women to IPV in urbanizing settings.

From Ink to Web and Beyond

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather McKee Hurwitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Women Activists ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
History Of ◽  
Feminist Movements

Mainstream media ignores the breadth and diversity of women’s activism and often features sexist, racist, and sexualized portrayals of women. Also, women hold disproportionately fewer jobs in media industries than men. Despite these challenges, women activists protest gender inequality and advocate a variety of other goals using traditional and new social media. This chapter examines the history of women’s media activism in the United States from women activists’ use of mainstream and alternative newspapers, magazines, radio, and television, to how activists adopted Internet technologies and new digital media strategies starting in the 1990s, to how contemporary feminists protest with Facebook and hashtag activism today. I argue that women activists’ use of new social media may necessitate significant shifts in how we research continuity and diversity in women’s and feminist movements, and how we conceptualize resources, micromobilization, and leadership in social movements broadly. I conclude with several suggestions for future research.

An Examination of Women’s Sports Coverage on the Twitter Accounts of Local Television Sports Broadcasters

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Hull
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Market Size ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Local Television ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
Female Sports

This study examines the amount of coverage given to women’s sports by local television sports broadcasters on Twitter. A total of 19,649 tweets from 201 local sports broadcasters throughout the United States were examined using content analytic methods during a constructed 2-week period. Results demonstrated that while a majority of the local sports broadcasters did tweet about women’s sports, these tweets represented only about 5% of the overall number of messages. Further examination demonstrates that female sports broadcasters tweeted about women’s sports less frequently than male sports broadcasters did. Additionally, broadcasters in smaller cities were more likely to report about women’s sports than those in larger cities. While results are consistent with previous research on gender representation on nationally televised highlight shows, these findings are significant because they demonstrate that there is a relationship between gender of broadcaster and market size in relation to the number of tweets about women’s sports. Additionally, data are from Twitter, in which there are no time constraints that would seemingly limit the amount of women’s sports that could be mentioned by a sportscaster.

scholarly journals The effects of microfinance on women’s empowerment: new evidence from Bangladesh

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1745-1757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mafizur Rahman ◽  
Rasheda Khanam ◽  
Son Nghiem
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Baseline Data ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of microcredit on women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh using the latest primary data. Design/methodology/approach Primary data have been collected by a household survey in the four districts of Bangladesh. Logistic regression is used to estimate the odd of improving women empowerment after participating in microfinance. Findings The results show positive impacts of microfinance on most of the selected indicators for women’s empowerment. Research limitations/implications Lack of control groups and baseline data are the main limitation of this research. Future research can address this issue by selecting institutions with baseline data or control groups. Practical implications The findings of the study can help policy makers to adopt appropriate policies that integrate empowerment in development projects with women. Social implications The results of this research could encourage more women to participate in microfinance activities and development projects. Originality/value This research provides the most updated data from a primary survey in Bangladesh. The authors also mitigate the possible selection biases by using a fixed-effects estimator.

scholarly journals Supporting Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan: Lessons for Donors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Khan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Women's Activism ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Donor Support

In a context where democratic culture and civil society space are under threat, rights-based organisations face increased restrictions on their activities, and donors are finding it harder to engage with them. However, findings show that donor support is crucial for successful women’s empowerment initiatives. Our research on women’s activism in Pakistan suggests donors should strategically support women’s social and political action for empowerment and accountability by continuing to support advocacy organisations, which develop women’s skills to engage with participatory political processes.

scholarly journals Tourism development, entrepreneurship and women's empowerment – Focus on Serbian countryside

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darko B. Vukovic ◽  
Marko Petrovic ◽  
Moinak Maiti ◽  
Aleksandra Vujko
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Local Character ◽  
Self Employment ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe starting premise of this study is that women's empowerment is the goal for self-realization and that the support that comes from local tourism stakeholders represents an adequate base. In many rural areas, women have established self-help groups (SHGs), which facilitate the interaction with a wide range of stakeholders. The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of SHGs on female entrepreneurship and self-employment in tourism.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the research question, this study adopted a quantitative research that included a sample of 513 women in a less-advanced rural area in Serbia. For the data analysis, the generalized linear regression model (GLM) was used.FindingsAccording to the results, self-employment is the leading goal of women's empowerment.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation in the research and the authors’ suggestion for future research is to increase the sample size of female respondents, so examination of their attitudes and role in the travel business in their local settings might reach higher significance. The second issue that the authors would like to point out is a highly local character of our study, so the future research should involve other rural areas in the country and from abroad (e.g. similar undeveloped countryside with noticeable, active women's role in local entrepreneurship).Practical implicationsThe most important practical implications of this paper are twofold: (1) the results of the research have shown that the tourist potential of rural areas can be enhanced through local tourism stakeholders' support; (2) women without professional interest or jobs in rural areas, especially in the areas where the population is traditionally dominated by men (husband/brother/father), have a chance to earn and to be economically more independent. This research can affect future studies to investigate other aspects of empowerment depending on the difference of regions, from one side, and also alternative opportunities for tourism and local development in less-advanced rural areas, from another side.Originality/valueThe study analyzes the tourism potential of the rural areas (which are less advanced and mostly very poor in developing countries, such as Serbia). In this case, there are opportunities to increase employment, social inclusion of women, development of new tourism strategies, implementation of destination marketing, etc. Moreover, it contributes to future research in the field of stakeholders in tourism strategies.

Measuring Sprawl

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Laidley
Keyword(s):  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
The United States ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
First Century ◽  
Urban Literature ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Popular Subject ◽  
Housing Outcomes

Sprawl is a popular subject in the urban literature, yet conceptualization and measurement have proven elusive. Projects which focus either on empirical advances in the quantification of urban form or related phenomena like travel behavior are rarely conversant, leading to a fundamental disconnect between operationalizing the concept and modeling its effects. Here, I build on previous work in developing a new index of sprawl and examine changes in urban morphology at the metropolitan level in the United States from 2000 to 2010. I then illustrate face validity by outlining suggestive relationships between the index and associated environmental and housing outcomes, while comparing it with other commonly used measures. I find that sprawl continues into the twenty-first century, and that this proposed measure demonstrates initial face validity with respect to key environmental and housing outcomes. I conclude with a discussion of the results and suggestions for future research.

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