Patrolling the Port

2018 ◽  
pp. 41-61
Author(s):  
Samantha Caslin
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Women Police

This chapter examines how the women street patrollers involved in the Liverpool Women Police Patrols and the Liverpool Vigilance Association (LVA) were able to carve out authority for themselves at a time when women’s participation in public life was contentious. The chapter shows that patrollers in these organisations were concerned to make sure that women in Liverpool were not behaving promiscuously, since promiscuity was considered to be an entry point for prostitution. It is argued that, together, the patrol workers of the LVA and the Liverpool Women Police Patrols enacted a moral watchfulness on the city’s streets. These patrollers were motivated by philanthropy and by the desire to show that they, as women, could be useful to society outside of the domestic sphere. But in promoting their own expertise and by intervening in the lives of women who did not always want their help, these patrollers reinforced the notion that some women, particularly working-class and migrant women, were morally vulnerable.

Experts in Womanhood

2018 ◽  
pp. 14-40
Author(s):  
Samantha Caslin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
World War ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Gender Ideals ◽  
Women Police ◽  
Working Class Women ◽  
The City ◽  
First World

This chapter examines the development of some of Liverpool’s most significant moral welfare organisations between the late-Victorian period and the end of the First World War. It unpacks the early historical trajectories of the House of Help, the Liverpool Vigilance Association, the Liverpool Catholic Women’s League and the Liverpool Women Police Patrols, and it argues that these organisations continued to view women’s relationship to the city through the lens of Victorian gender ideals. Moreover, the chapter examines how the pioneering and well-intended efforts of these organisations to craft a ‘respectable’ form of public womanhood during the first two decades of the twentieth century were still steeped in presumptions about the immorality of the working class, and working-class women in particular.

scholarly journals Gods, Gurus, Prophets and the Poor: Exploring Informal, Interfaith Exchanges among Working Class Female Workers in an Indian City

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 531
Author(s):  
Atreyee Sen
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Urban Workers ◽  
Indian City ◽  
The Face ◽  
Working Class Women

This article revolves around the narratives of Sabita (Muslim), Radha (Hindu) and Sharleen (Christian), migrant women in their mid-forties, who have been working as maids, cooks and cleaners in middle-class housing colonies in Kolkata, a city in eastern India. Informal understandings of gendered oppressions across religious traditions often dominate the conversations of the three working-class women. Like many labourers from slums and lower-class neighbourhoods, they meet and debate religious concerns in informal ‘resting places’ (under a tree, on a park bench, at a tea stall, on a train, at a corner of a railway platform). These anonymous spaces are usually devoid of religious symbols, as well as any moral surveillance of women’s colloquial abuse of male dominance in society. I show how the anecdotes of struggle, culled across multiple religious practices, intersect with the shared existential realities of these urban workers. They temporarily empower female members of the informal workforce in the city, to create loosely defined gendered solidarities in the face of patriarchal authority, and reflect on daily discrimination against economically marginalised migrant women. I argue that these fleeting urban rituals underline the more vital role of (what I describe as) poor people’s ‘casual philosophies’, in enhancing empathy and dialogue between communities that are characterised by political tensions in India.

Rwanda

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris Buss ◽  
Jerusa Ali
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Social Outcomes ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Female Politicians

Since the end of the genocide and civil war in Rwanda, various measures have been implemented to facilitate women’s political participation. This chapter looks to post-conflict Rwanda as a case study in the successes and limitations in efforts to increase women’s participation in public life. The chapter details the desired outcomes of increased political participation by women before turning to the Rwandan example. It argues that while the increased presence of women in public life has resulted in some positive economic, political, and social outcomes, the power of female politicians is largely limited and has not resulted in sustainable or equitable long-term policies. The chapter concludes that while Rwanda has formally adopted many of the international best practices of transitional justice, its overall gains in women’s participation are more uneven, contradictory, and nonlinear than is often recognized.

Women, Law and Employment in Pakistan: from ‘Protection’ to ‘Equal Treatment’?

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siobhan Mullally
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
Legislative Reform ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
International Labour Standards ◽  
The Public Sphere

This paper examines the legal regulation of women's employment in the public sphere in Pakistan. A large part of the legislation relating specifically to the employment of women is highly protective in nature. The 1973 Constitution of Pakistan assumes that women are in need of protection. This assumption is reflected in the labour legislation and in the international labour standards that have been adopted by Pakistan. Much of the existing Labour Code is a legacy of the colonial period and reflects the concerns of the early British factory movement to preserve female modesty and ‘protect’ women's roles within the domestic sphere. This paper attempts to identify those areas of the law most in need of reform if the protective approach to women's participation in the public sphere is to be transcended. Although legislative reform does not necessarily lead to a change in workplace practices, the existence of discriminatory legislation, gaps in existing legislation and a lack of adequate enforcement machinery constitute significant institutional barriers to women's participation in the public sphere. For these reasons, it is argued, calls for law reform and a focus on legislative reform as a strategy for change may be justified.

Women and Migration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Nicole Braun
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Culture ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Economic Independence ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
Extractive Economies ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Changing Demographics

African women’s experiences of migration and transregional movements have long been eclipsed by men’s histories of travel and journeying. However, this certainly does not mean that women have not historically participated in geographical movement, both with their families and independently. Reasons for women’s migratory practices are divergent, and they are informed by a kaleidoscope of shifting historical internal and external sociopolitical forces. Some of these include escape from violent conflict and war, slavery, environmental and economic hardship, and oppressive family constraints. The colonial era marked a period of intense migration in which men were forcibly moved to labor within extractive economies. Women, for their part, sometimes migrated without the approval of their own families, and against the colonial administration’s sanctions. Their experiences were shaped by struggles against all forms of patriarchal authority. As a result of changing demographics and social roles, the colonial city also assumed a reputation among colonials and Africans as a space of moral depravity motivated by consumer culture. Consequently, migrant women often faced stigma when they entered cities, and sometimes when they returned home. Women were attracted to towns and cities and what they came to represent—spaces where new opportunities could be explored. Opportunity came in the form of economic independence, marriage, romantic liaisons, and education. Most migrant women were confronted with being marginalized to the domestic sphere and informal sector. However, many women also acquired and honed their market acumen, amassing wealth which they often reinvested in family networks back in their natal villages, thus revealing circular modes of migration associated with multilocal networks.

GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF ALBANIAN WOMEN IN REP. OF MACEDONIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2443-2446
Author(s):  
Ibish Kadriu
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Social Infrastructure ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Economic Strengthening

In Macedonia, it is evident that gender equality is at a low level, Albanian women are still very little represented in social and political life, while measures to mitigate gender inequality have not yielded the expected outcomes, and it cannot be talked about the effectiveness of policies and programs to improve gender indicators. This paper, through the method of comparison and structured interview, aims to foster dialogue on the integration of gender equality in Macedonia, which means women's equal participation in the social, economic and political life of the country, equal opportunities to enjoy all rights and to put in service their individual potentials for the benefit of society. The objectives of this research are to: analyze the current situation of women in the Republic of Macedonia in the context of women's participation in politics and public life, its representation, identify opportunities including policies and institutions serving the gender equality as well as identify areas for intervention and recommend policies, programs and measures for problem solving and coping with challenges that represent gender equality and empowerment of Albanian women in this country. The reasons for the exclusion of Albanian women in public life are many, but more fundamental are traditions, way of life, and education of women and low employment percentage of Albanian women. There is no doubt that the use of open or closed lists of candidates, as well as their position on the list, plays a role. Research has shown that female counselors give more priority to issues related to health, social affairs, education and social infrastructure investments. However, women's involvement in politics and leading positions remains a challenge even though important steps have been taken to advance women's participation in political life, the gender gap remains a challenge for key political positions (ministerial and mayoral positions), and leading positions in governmental and public institutions. Women's economic strengthening is one of the priorities included in the national strategic documents on gender equality in the Republic of Macedonia adequately address this issue. However, different field analyzes and research show partial harmonization in limited access and contribution in terms of economic strengthening of women and girls.

Women at War in the Borderlands of the Early American Northeast

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina M. Martino
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
New France ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Gender Ideologies ◽  
Early American ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
History Of

Across the borderlands of the early American northeast, New England, New France, and Native nations deployed women with surprising frequency to the front lines of wars that determined control of North America. Far from serving as passive helpmates in a private, domestic sphere, women assumed wartime roles as essential public actors, wielding muskets, hatchets, and makeshift weapons while fighting for their families, communities, and nations. Revealing the fundamental importance of martial womanhood in this era, Gina M. Martino places borderlands women in a broad context of empire, cultural exchange, violence, and nation building, demonstrating how women's war making was embedded in national and imperial strategies of expansion and resistance. As Martino shows, women's participation in warfare was not considered transgressive; rather it was integral to traditional gender ideologies of the period, supporting rather than subverting established systems of gender difference.In returning these forgotten women to the history of the northeastern borderlands, this study challenges scholars to reconsider the flexibility of gender roles and reveals how women's participation in transatlantic systems of warfare shaped institutions, polities, and ideologies in the early modern period and the centuries that followed.

Gender and the Politics of Difference in the Czech Lands after Munich

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Gender Difference ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Second Republic ◽  
Politics Of Difference ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Czech Lands

This article examines gender politics in the Czech lands after the Munich conference of 1938. It first outlines the social policies of the Second Czechoslovak Republic and the laws it designed to redirect women's participation in the workforce and in public life. Then, it looks at women's own participation in this campaign to “reorient” gender relations, showing how some women hoped to use the new regime to help translate their beliefs about gender difference into policy. It uses debates over women's rights and the content of women's citizenship to show how the regime of the Second Republic was linked to other rightist regimes in Europe. It argues that all these regimes began to see the question of rights and citizenship in new terms, terms that were based on difference rather than equality.

A Case Study of Women's Participation in DIY in France: Towards an Increasingly Androgynous and Individualistic French Society?

2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-80
Author(s):  
Florence Potot
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labour ◽  
French Society ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Potential Indicator ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
The Public Sphere

Over the past decade, the traditionally masculine pursuit of DIY has attracted an increasing number of female practitioners in France, thus seemingly challenging the long-established gendered division of tasks observed in the domestic sphere. This case study of women's DIY practices in France analyses women's rationale for participation by contrasting agency with economic necessity. Drawing on vertical and horizontal segregation theories, women's participation in DIY is examined as a potential indicator of progress towards greater gender equality in the domestic sphere. Finally, the article argues that women's participation in DIY illustrates the increasing normalisation of an androgynous division of labour already observed in the public sphere. This results from the development of individualistic values that are increasingly challenging the prevalence of gender as a term of reference in the construction of social and individual identity.

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