Cross-border Migration and Gender Boundaries in Central Eastern Europe – Female Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-509
Author(s):  
Ágnes Erőss ◽  
Monika Mária Váradi ◽  
Doris Wastl-Walter
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Labour Migration ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Livelihood Strategy ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Dual Earner ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Boundaries

In post-Socialist countries, cross-border labour migration has become a common individual and family livelihood strategy. The paper is based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with two ethnic Hungarian women whose lives have been significantly reshaped by cross-border migration. Focusing on the interplay of gender and cross-border migration, our aim is to reveal how gender roles and boundaries are reinforced and repositioned by labour migration in the post-socialist context where both the socialist dual-earner model and conventional ideas of family and gender roles simultaneously prevail. We found that cross-border migration challenged these women to pursue diverse strategies to balance their roles of breadwinner, wife, and mother responsible for reproductive work. Nevertheless, the boundaries between female and male work or status were neither discursively nor in practice transgressed. Thus, the effect of cross-border migration on altering gender boundaries in post-socialist peripheries is limited.

scholarly journals Rhythmic Gymnastics vs. Boxing: Gender Stereotypes From the Two Poles of Female Sport

2013 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piroska Béki ◽  
Andrea Gál
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Team Sports ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Ice Hockey ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rhythmic Gymnastics ◽  
Femininity And Masculinity ◽  
And Gender

Abstract In recent decades, women have begun to take up types of physical activity traditionally considered masculine. They appeared in previously one-gender team sports such as football or water polo, and nowadays they are also involved in ice hockey, canoeing, and are active in numerous combat sports as well. On the other hand, men have entered sport fields previously only available to women, such as rhythmic gymnastics. By this, sport can be regarded not only as a scene of gender stereotyping, but also a scene of redefining the concepts of masculinity-femininity in the negotiating of gender relations. Owing to these phenomena, there has been an emergence of studies analyzing sports from a gender aspect as well as the generalizations related to athletes involved in these sports. These studies have primarily focused on the constructions of gender identities and gender roles of women participating in traditionally masculine sports (football, weightlifting, and bodybuilding). This paper presents the results of empirical research designed to explore the opinions of top athletes involved in sports considered to be the most masculine and most feminine by the public and by sport experts: rhythmic gymnastics and boxing. They discussed their own sport and each other’s sport. With the information obtained from the structured interviews (n=22), it became possible to compare their social background, sport socialization and sport selection, as well as their conceptions of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity. As a conclusion of the research, it can be stated that from the aspects examined differences could mostly be observed in the circumstances of sport selection, but representatives of the two sports also diverged remarkably in their judgments about each other’s sport. While female boxers did not voice extreme opinions about rhythmic gymnastics, representatives of the sport regarded to be the most feminine reflected on boxing in a stereotypical and prejudiced way, even given their lack of experience.

scholarly journals Reaching across the Mekong: Local Socioeconomic and Gender Effects of Lao-Thai Crossborder Linkages

2011 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Edgardo Gomez ◽  
Nittana Southiseng ◽  
John Walsh ◽  
Samuel Sapuay
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Local Effects ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Physical Setting ◽  
And Gender

Following trade agreements between ASEAN states, the expansion of cross-border roads and bridges between Laos and Thailand has linked local communities and distant markets in increasingly diverse ways. Although the planned impacts of such integration are expected to be beneficial, effects on the ground vary, as witnessed at a sleepy outpost in Xayabury and a more vibrant crossing in Savannakhet. This paper discusses first the physical setting of such border facilities, and then explores their actual local effects on traders’ activities, highlighting changes in gender roles and perceptions of entrepreneurial competition participated in by women in the two research sites.

scholarly journals Women smuggling and the men who help them: gender, corruption and illicit networks in Senegal

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Howson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Social Boundaries ◽  
Occupational Identity ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Gendered Patterns ◽  
And Gender ◽  
State Representatives

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates gendered patterns of corruption and access to illicit networks among female cross-border traders near the Senegambian border. Despite a discourse of generosity and solidarity, access to corrupt networks is mediated by class and gender, furthering social differentiation, especially insofar as it depends on geographic and socio-economic affinity with customs officers, state representatives and well-connected transporters. Issues of organisational culture, occupational identity and interpersonal negotiations of power represent important sources of corruption that require an understanding of the actual dynamics of public administration. While smuggling depends on contesting legal and social boundaries, the most successful traders (and transporters) strive to fulfil ideal gender roles as closely as possible. Ironically, trading on poverty and feminine vulnerability only works for relatively affluent women.

Post-socialist producer

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Szczepanik
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Media Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Production Studies ◽  
Central Eastern Europe ◽  
The Media ◽  
Critical Production

This article focuses on a profession of key importance for understanding today’s screen industries in Central-Eastern Europe: the independent producer. Using the approach of critical production studies, the article focuses on producers’ ‘reflexivity’ to reveal how their professional identity is being constructed and how they are positioning themselves within the broader ecology of the media industry. By analysing a set of semi-structured interviews with Czech producers of all kinds, this article identifies five recurrent tropes related to their ‘self-conceptions’. The tropes demonstrate how the producers perform their identities differently from their UK or US counterparts: as largely disempowered, dependent on public support and on the powerful public service broadcaster, desperately looking for more stability, autonomy and recognition.

scholarly journals ‘Lasses are much easier to get on with’: The gendered labour of a female ethnographer in an all-male group

2021 ◽  
pp. 146879412098408
Author(s):  
Kate Haddow
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Male Group ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
Access To The Field ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Fitting In ◽  
The Town

This article addresses the complexities of being a female ethnographer studying an all-male group, as well as the advantages and the effects this had on the researcher. It draws on research undertaken for a doctoral research project, employing ethnography and semi-structured interviews to explore ‘hidden’ food insecurity in the town of Middlesbrough, with predominantly male participants. The existing literature surrounding research and gender addresses the problems associated with gender differences in the field such as fitting in, sexualisation and sexist treatment and confinement to traditional gender roles. This research highlighted many problems associated with being a female ethnographer but that ultimately gender was beneficial in gaining and maintaining access to the field. It concludes by arguing for academia to develop the notion of ‘hidden ethnography’, alongside a recognition that researchers should be supported emotionally in problems they face in the field.

scholarly journals “They Came Home Over-Empowered”: Identifying Masculinities and Femininities in Food Insecurity Situations in Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Bonatti ◽  
Juliano Borba ◽  
Izabela Schlindwein ◽  
Constance Rybak ◽  
Stefan Sieber
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Theater Of The Oppressed ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
And Gender

Gender inequality, embedded in sociocultural structures, persists in Tanzania. It is particularly manifest in access to productive resources, income-generating and employment opportunities, time-use, and educational possibilities. Seeking to contribute to the study of gender roles in Tanzania in the context of food insecurity, this paper presents findings regarding the social role of gender drawn from a study of food security problems and family experiences in Dodoma, Tanzania. The methodology comprised two phases: (1) Face-to-face structured interviews with 333 households; and (2) workshops based on TO—Theater of the Oppressed. These two phases were complemented by repeated research stays in the Dodoma region. TO helps to understand the connections between the private universe of families and their narratives about food insecurity. From the voices of community members in Dodoma, we identify aspects of how men and women perceive the food insecurity situation. Results show that there are several contextual factors related to food insecurity at the community level, and that issues related to domestic violence also appear when cultural patrons and gender roles are questioned. Based on theory and the data collected, we seek not only to comprehend how food insecurity and gender roles are interconnected, but also how to think about new forms of public policies that support gender equality among men and women in rural areas. We conclude that transdisciplinary studies on food insecurity can help public policies address complex scenarios, comprising the multiple and conflicting values present in sociocultural issues, while taking into account individual community needs and specificities.

scholarly journals Being a ‘good’ mother: Immigrant mothers of disabled children

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 1198-1212
Author(s):  
Kyung Mee Kim ◽  
Se Kwang Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Gender Roles ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Immigrant Status ◽  
Disabled Children ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
Work Strategies ◽  
And Gender

In South Korea, disability and immigration are hidden and invisible phenomena. This article examines how immigrant mothers experience the intersection of immigrant status and mothering a disabled child. Through semi-structured interviews with 16 immigrant mothers, this study found that the values of Confucian familism regarding motherhood and gender roles influenced how these immigrant mothers behaved. The study also found that immigrant mothers faced multiple forms of stigma and discrimination as a result of negative socio-cultural views of disability and immigration. Therefore, the article suggests a need for inter-professional, anti-oppression work strategies to support immigrant mothers of disabled children, along with education for social workers about these issues.

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