Living Paradox in Riverine Bangladesh: Whiteheadian Perspectives on Ganga Devi and Khwaja Khijir

1969 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveeda Khan
Keyword(s):  
Alfred North Whitehead ◽  
Physical Entity ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Changing Climate ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many

We begin with the words of rural and riverine women from Bangladesh recalling the events of their children's deaths by drowning. These events are cast as the work of supernatural beings, specifically Ganga Devi and Khwaja Khijir, who compel the mothers into forgetfulness and entice the children to the water. Is this a disavowal of loss and responsibility? This article considers that the women, specifically those from northern Bangladesh, assert not only their understanding of the losses that they have suffered but also their changing relationship to the river and its changing nature through their evocations of mythological figures. Alongside the many experiences of the river, the article takes note of its experience as paradoxical, with paradoxicality serving as the occasion for the coming together of the mythological, the material, and the social. The article draws upon Alfred North Whitehead to interrelate the strata of myths and their permutations, with the women's experiences of the river, and the river as a physical entity, allowing us to explore how the women's expressions portend the changing climate.

Muslim Women’s Experiences of Higher Education in Britain

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 46-69
Author(s):  
Fauzia Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
The Social ◽  
University Experiences

I explore British South Asian Muslim women’s experiences of higher education and how it impacts identity construction and negotiation. Through semi-structured interviews with thirty-five undergraduate and post-graduate Muslim female university students, I reflect on their perceived and actual experiences. By stressing how representations of them influence their participation and experiences, I analyze how individual subjectivities are mediated and negotiated while reflecting common experiences. I also consider their accounts of the social and personal benefits they felt that they gained during their studies, as well as to the more disturbing and racialized aspects of their experiences. They differentiated between three overlapping forms of beneficial experience: academic, social, and personal. While instances of anti-Muslim racism were rare or subtle, certain university structures and expectations of what being a mainstream student means often contributed to a noted sense of “othering.” I conclude by highlighting how their accounts of their university experiences directly challenge those stereotypes that misrepresent educated Muslim women as “religious and cultural rebels.”

scholarly journals Consequences of Gossiping on Women Empowerment

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
Shumaila Umer ◽  
Zaheruddin Othman ◽  
Kalthum Bt Haji Hassan ◽  
Rahila Umer ◽  
Habib Ur Rehman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Inductive Approach ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Interviews

AbstractGossip is prevalent and is widespread in human society. Gossip has been denigrated as ‘idle talk’, mostly among women based on ‘trifling or groundless rumour’. The nature and intensity of gossiping victimise women in society. Consequently, women bear serious threat to their well standardized lives. The study aims to understand the women’s experiences with gossiping as a barrier to empowerment. This is a qualitative study with inductive approach. Men and Women are selected as a informants for this study. The data were congregated through in-depth interviews. The results indicate that gossiping or fear of being gossiped is a strong social control in the social setup of Balochistan. This prevents women from being empowered. This paper is intended to be a contribution to exploiting the ideas of women about gossiping as an essential social control or barrier for empowering women.

Women and Genocide in Africa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Jessee
Keyword(s):  
Gender Identity ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
International Law ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Resistance Movements ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Written Sources

Genocide, defined in international law as killings and related mass atrocities that are committed “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” has negatively impacted countless communities across Africa over the centuries. The resulting historical literature is strongest regarding those genocides that occurred in the 20th and 21st centuries due to a tendency to privilege written sources. Within this literature, African women’s experiences remain understudied compared to the experiences of men, despite widespread recognition that genocides often affect people differently according to their gender identity. However, in looking at the widely studied examples of colonial genocides in Belgian-occupied Congo (1885–1908) and German-occupied Namibia (1904–1908), and the subsequent genocides in Burundi (1972), Rwanda (1994), and Sudan (2003–2008), it becomes evident that perpetrators have targeted women in particular ways as part of their broader efforts to exterminate unwanted communities. While women are frequently killed alongside men during genocides, the literature on these case studies abounds with examples of sexual violence, particularly rape, that the perpetrators inflict upon women as part of their efforts to undermine the social vitality of their intended victims’ communities. Women’s experiences of genocide are often far more diverse than the literature’s singular focus on sexual violence suggests, however. The case of Rwanda demonstrates that women can also serve as combatants and perpetrators, while the case of Belgian-occupied Congo reveals that women can lead resistance movements in opposition to genocidal violence. Similarly, German-occupied Namibia and Rwanda demonstrate that women can serve important roles in rebuilding their communities and advocating for recognition and reparations in the post-genocide period. Scholars are beginning to pay greater attention to women’s diverse experiences of genocide, but there is a great deal of research to be undertaken, particularly regarding how different facets of women’s identities, such as class, ethnicity, and socio-economic status, among others, shape their experiences of genocide.

scholarly journals “Apa salahku?”: Interrogating social policy problem representations of domestic violence within Singapore's Malay/Muslim population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabilah Husna Binte Abdul Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Problem Representations

<p><b>What’s the problem of domestic violence (DV) represented to be in Singapore’s social policy? This thesis interrogates the social policy responses to DV by looking at its discursive effects on Singapore’s Indigenous Malay/Muslim population. Undergirding the study is a theoretical understanding of structural intersectionality, which allows for a recognition of the unique identity of the Malay/Muslim population in Singapore. Such an approach contextualises Malay/Muslim women’s experiences of DV against the backdrop of Singapore’s colonial history and its current Anglo-Chinese political hegemony, which adopts a neoliberal, patriarchal and authoritarian form of governance. </b></p> <p>Through qualitative interviews with seven professional advocates working in the social sector and public service, and in-depth analysis of policy documents and first-hand accounts, I examined the ways in which the problem of DV has been imagined and, thus, remedied. Using thematic analysis and taking some inspiration from Carol Bacchi’s post-structuralist “What’s the problem represented to be?” analytical tool, I identified the representations of DV that are found in the interviews and first-hand accounts by survivors and uncover the implicit problematisations within the discourses. These representations show that DV within the Malay/Muslim population is seen as experiences of patriarchal and religious authoritarianism, housing and income insecurity, inadequacies with informal strategies of resistance, and limitations of formal forms of resistance. Then, using the WPR mode of questioning more conventionally, I analysed policy documents and solutions, such as counselling, public education and criminal justice solutions, to reflect on the parameters and limits of how DV has been problematised and where policies fall short in addressing Malay/Muslim women’s experiences according to discourse. </p> <p>The study concludes that social policy solutions define DV within the Malay/Muslim population largely as cultural problems, divorced from the historical and structural context it operates within. Problem representations also mute the overarching ideological position of Singapore’s governance. </p> <p>The findings urge advocates and policy-makers to commit to a structural intersectional framework that actively dismantles the neoliberal capitalist systems and patriarchal ideologies legitimised by the State, which underpin and intensify experiences of DV among Malay/Muslim women and other marginalised groups.</p>

Visible and invisible ageing: beauty work as a response to ageism

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 653-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA HURD CLARKE ◽  
MERIDITH GRIFFIN
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
Romantic Partner ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Hair Dye ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Invisibility ◽  
Depth Interviews

ABSTRACTThis paper examines how older women experience and respond to ageism in relation to their changing physical appearances and within the context of their personal relationships and places of employment. We elucidate the two definitions of ageism that emerged in in-depth interviews with 44 women aged 50 to 70 years: the social obsession with youthfulness and discrimination against older adults. We examine the women's arguments that their ageing appearances were pivotal to their experience of ageism and underscored their engagement in beauty work such as hair dye, make-up, cosmetic surgery, and non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The women suggested that they engaged in beauty work for the following underlying motivations: the fight against invisibility, a life-long investment in appearance, the desire to attract or retain a romantic partner, and employment related-ageism. We contend that the women's experiences highlight a tension between being physically and socially visible by virtue of looking youthful, and the realities of growing older. In other words, social invisibility arises from the acquisition of visible signs of ageing and compels women to make their chronological ages imperceptible through the use of beauty work. The study extends the research and theorising on gendered ageism and provides an example of how women's experiences of ageing and ageism are deeply rooted in their appearances and in the ageist, sexist perceptions of older women's bodies.

scholarly journals Trajectory experience of motherhood

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-44
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Gajek
Keyword(s):  
Personal Experience ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Single Dimension ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Women's Identity ◽  
The Social

Motherhood, which includes the process of becoming and being a mother, is understood as an institution or as personal experience, and both these perspectives are interdependent. The institution of motherhood, which is necessary for the functioning of societies, shapes women’s living conditions, influences their choices, frames desirable behaviours, gives the highest priority to the social role of the mother, and limits women’s identity to a single dimension. The experience of women-mothers is juxtaposed with the idea of sacrificing oneself for the good of another human being. The stories of motherhood analysed for the purpose of this article were published on the fanpage Żałuję rodzicielstwa [I regret parenthood] and clearly indicate that being a mother can be a trajectory experience associated with overpowering suffering. Women’s experiences were inscribed in the subsequent phases of a trajectory process identified by F. Schütze and G. Reimann, and the reflection on those experiences leads, among other things, to the conclusion that both mothers who have undertaken biographical work on their own experiences, as well as those who have not done so, most often organise their further life with the trajectory in the background, without fundamentally changing their personal situation.

scholarly journals “Apa salahku?”: Interrogating social policy problem representations of domestic violence within Singapore's Malay/Muslim population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabilah Husna Binte Abdul Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Problem Representations

<p><b>What’s the problem of domestic violence (DV) represented to be in Singapore’s social policy? This thesis interrogates the social policy responses to DV by looking at its discursive effects on Singapore’s Indigenous Malay/Muslim population. Undergirding the study is a theoretical understanding of structural intersectionality, which allows for a recognition of the unique identity of the Malay/Muslim population in Singapore. Such an approach contextualises Malay/Muslim women’s experiences of DV against the backdrop of Singapore’s colonial history and its current Anglo-Chinese political hegemony, which adopts a neoliberal, patriarchal and authoritarian form of governance. </b></p> <p>Through qualitative interviews with seven professional advocates working in the social sector and public service, and in-depth analysis of policy documents and first-hand accounts, I examined the ways in which the problem of DV has been imagined and, thus, remedied. Using thematic analysis and taking some inspiration from Carol Bacchi’s post-structuralist “What’s the problem represented to be?” analytical tool, I identified the representations of DV that are found in the interviews and first-hand accounts by survivors and uncover the implicit problematisations within the discourses. These representations show that DV within the Malay/Muslim population is seen as experiences of patriarchal and religious authoritarianism, housing and income insecurity, inadequacies with informal strategies of resistance, and limitations of formal forms of resistance. Then, using the WPR mode of questioning more conventionally, I analysed policy documents and solutions, such as counselling, public education and criminal justice solutions, to reflect on the parameters and limits of how DV has been problematised and where policies fall short in addressing Malay/Muslim women’s experiences according to discourse. </p> <p>The study concludes that social policy solutions define DV within the Malay/Muslim population largely as cultural problems, divorced from the historical and structural context it operates within. Problem representations also mute the overarching ideological position of Singapore’s governance. </p> <p>The findings urge advocates and policy-makers to commit to a structural intersectional framework that actively dismantles the neoliberal capitalist systems and patriarchal ideologies legitimised by the State, which underpin and intensify experiences of DV among Malay/Muslim women and other marginalised groups.</p>

Consideration of gender in diagnosis and management of blood-borne viruses: the case of hepatitis C

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Olsen ◽  
Meredith Temple-Smith ◽  
Cathy Banwell
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
Qualitative Investigation ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
Social Wellbeing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gender Specific

Gender-sensitive health education and clinical management are key components of successful care for people living with chronic illness, yet there is little research available on the specific needs of women living with hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection. This paper reports on a qualitative investigation of HCV diagnosis, symptoms, health care and wellbeing among 109 women living with HCV in two major cities in Australia. Women’s experiences of HCV reflect several gender-specific needs around diagnosis, reproductive health and psycho-social wellbeing. Personal relationships were central to women’s experiences of health and health care and remained dominant in their considerations for the future. Particularly because women are more likely than men to be responsible for family, we highlight the need to consider the social issues of stigma, poverty and drug use when caring for Australian women living with HCV.

Tits, Tokenism, and Trash-Talk

Gaming Sexism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 56-85
Author(s):  
Amanda C. Cote
Keyword(s):  
Female Characters ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
The Many ◽  
Over Time

Chapters 2 and 3 collectively focus on the forces female gamers encounter that work to maintain “core” as a definable, masculine sphere. This chapter explores the many instances of overt sexism, where the sexist nature of a behavior or trend is obvious, present in gaming. Drawing on interviews with female gamers, the chapter argues that women’s experiences rarely reflect the diversification narrative—that games are becoming more welcoming. Rather, women continue to struggle with hypersexualized female characters, games that lack playable female characters or offer only underdeveloped “token” women, and, of course, interpersonal harassment from other players. These behaviors and themes work to relegate women to the margins of gaming rather than allowing them to enter the cultural “core.” Further, the fact that games’ masculinized hegemony has been normalized over time often encourages female gamers to buy into and accept their own exclusion. At the same time, the obvious nature of overt sexism perhaps offers more opportunities for intervention than the less obvious moments of implicit sexism addressed in chapter 3.

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