Representations of Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to COVID-19 in the Zambian media

Despite the growing visibility of religious women’s responses to COVID-19 in the media, the discourses of religion and the pandemic in emerging scholarship were preoccupied with the responses of churches to COVID-19, and neglected the contributions of religious women to the pandemic in Zambia. This article, therefore, explores the interface between religion and COVID-19 through the representations of the responses of Roman Catholic religious sisters to the pandemic, in the media in Zambia, from a religious health asset (RHA) perspective. The study drew on two objectives, namely, to describe the representations of Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to COVID-19 in the media; and to explain the nature of the Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to the pandemic as represented in the media with a focus on the utilisation of RHAs. It drew on an interpretive case study in which data were collected through content analysis. It shows that the responses of the religious sisters were covered more in Catholic related media. These responses ranged from providing key COVID-19 messages, integrating COVID-19 in the existing programmes to providing basic equipment and food to the needy communities as shaped by the utilisation of RHAs at their disposal, and as informed by their prophetic mission. The article argues that the Roman Catholic religious sisters’ responses to the pandemic affirmed women’s active roles in combating the pandemic.Contribution: The article’s contribution lies in adding the narratives of women’s contributions to the pandemic in the early stages of the outbreak of COVID-19 to women theologies scholarship in Africa. And also, extending the utilisation of RHAs to the new pandemic and the implications it draws on the need for engendering religious responses to the pandemic by capturing women’s narratives during a pandemic as part of constructing women theologies in the face of COVID-19.

Hi-Tech-Oriented National Service: The Free Choice of Religious Women Recruits and the De-Monopolization of the Israeli Military

In recent years, Israel has witnessed two significant processes that challenge the dominant republican discourse that prioritizes military over national-civic service (known as The Israeli national-civilian service—NCS)in terms of contributing the constitution of citizenship and of the material and symbolic convertibility offered to service candidates. The first is related to the expanding range of roles offered in the NCS. The second, related process, which is our current focus, occurs among young religious women from the urban upper-middle class who respond to this expansion by seeking to serve in technological roles, given their high qualifications. Combined, these processes transform the status of the NCS and accelerate the de-monopolization of military service. To examine the contribution of religious young women to the change in the status of service in Israel, we conducted a narrative analysis of interviews with service candidates. Our analysis revealed their strategic use of four different discourses: the neo-liberal economic discourse, the liberal rights and self-realization discourse, the ethnonational discourse, and the religious gender discourse. The way the participants negotiated the four discourses to justify their selection of either military or national-civic service structured their agency as actors transforming the power equation between the two types of service.

Incunabula in Communities of Canonesses Regular and Tertiaries Related to the Devotio Moderna

This contribution discusses the hitherto overlooked ownership of the earliest printed books (incunabula) by Netherlandish female religious communities of tertiaries and canonesses regular connected to the religious reform movement of the Devotio moderna. Studies of book ownership and book collections in these communities have tended to focus on manuscripts. From the last decades of the fifteenth century onwards, however, these religious women increasingly came in contact with printed books, even though the involvement of the Devotio moderna with the printing press was limited. The discussion focuses on the channels via which tertiaries and canonesses acquired books produced by commercially operating printers, the ways in which incunabula affected what these (semi-)religious women read, as well as the ratio between printed books in Latin and the vernacular, and their function(s) within these communities. Thus the essay intends to sketch a preliminary image of the role of incunabula in female convents, and advocates a more inclusive approach of female religious book ownership.

Building Emotional Resilience: Japanese Women’s Religious and Spiritual Coping Strategies in the Time of COVID-19

This paper explores the moderating effect of religious and spiritual coping mechanisms on the COVID-19 pandemic-induced emotional distress among a group of Japanese women practising temple meditation and yoga. A growing body of literature identifies religion and spirituality as sources of coping mechanisms for emotional distress during the pandemic, in that they enable individuals to find ways to improve subjective well-being and quality of life. The study uses a descriptive phenomenological approach, drawing upon narratives collected between September 2020 and June 2021 from thirty-two respondents composed of a mix of religious-affiliated and self-identified non-religious women practising temple meditation and yoga. Findings indicate that more women, including religious affiliates, have favoured spiritual coping mechanisms in the forms of meditation and body–mind practices to build emotional resilience. This reflects a quest for greater subjective well-being to compensate for the increased burden of emotional care during the pandemic. Overall, while organised religions have come to appropriate more holistic forms of spirituality to respond to demands of emotional care, body–mind spiritual practices have become more appealing for younger religious and non-religious Japanese women alike, in that they downplay gender-conforming ideas of the care economy with its emphasis on dedication and dependency.

The “Tempered Radical” Revolution: Multifocal Strategies of Religious-Zionist Feminism in Israel

Agunah activism, a flagship struggle of Religious-Zionist feminism, links gender politics, Jewish-Orthodox politics, and national Israeli politics. This qualitative study focuses on agunah activists’ strategies and conceptions of change, highlighting the complex ways religious women radically transform conservative contexts, complicated by intersections of religion, gender, and state. It examines dynamic boundary-work and how activists deploy the inner workings of “the Halakhic framework” to shift creatively between social positioning, ideological or cultural positioning, and a political positioning to create “change from within”. My case study troubles the premise that religion and feminism are antithetical, and that distinct identities or set social locations predetermine social movements’ frames or actions. I expand upon the term “tempered radicals” which challenges reformist/revolutionary and conservative/radical binaries. “Tempered radical” strategies are two-pronged: a tempered mode of modulation and moderation to rock the boat without falling out (avoid the red lines, find “the right way”) and a radical mode of stirring the sea and creating horizons (arrive there, one way or another). Dynamically holding both modes together, through a “multifocal lens”—the world-as-it-is and the world-as-it-should-be—enables their strategic maneuverings. They remain “within” while radically transforming individuals, communities, Jewish law, Orthodox society and the Israeli public sphere. This study demonstrates how religious and gendered structures are at once constitutive and mutable.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Childbirth Preparation Courses on Women’s Self-Efficacy among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Religious Women in Israel

Background: This study examined the effectiveness of a birth preparation course on coping with childbirth among primigravid ultra-orthodox Jewish women in Israel. Methods: In total, 130 ultra-orthodox 25–35-week primigravid women were divided into a study (n = 100, participated in birth preparation courses) and a control (n = 30, did not participate in the courses) group. A questionnaire was delivered three times: T1—before the course/delivery, T2—two–three days after delivery, and T3—a month after delivery. Results: At T3, self-efficacy among the study group was higher than in the control group. Differences in self-efficacy were found over time regardless of the group (F(2,246) = 12.83, p < 0.001), as a time–group interaction effect (F(2,246) = 10.20, p < 0.01). Self-efficacy in the study group (Mean, M = 3.40, Standard deviation, SD = 0.63 at T1) dropped to M = 3.06, SD = 0.76 at T2 and rose to M = 3.34, SD = 0.64 at T3. In the control group, self-efficacy (M = 3.53, SD = 0.56 at T1) dropped to M = 3.26, SD = 0.63 at T2 and to M = 2.95, SD = 0.76 at T3. Discussion: The childbirth preparation course was found to be effective in raising self-efficacy among primigravid ultra-orthodox religious women when compared to the control group.

O envelhecimento de mulheres religiosas (freiras): implicações para a enfermagem

Objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a percepção e o enfrentamento do processo de envelhecimento pela mulher religiosa consagrada. Método: pesquisa descritiva, qualitativa. Foram realizadas 32 entrevistas semiestruturadas e analisadas segundo a sistematização de conteúdo temático-categorial. Resultados: emergiram três categorias: 1) “envelhecimento”, que se desdobra em três subcategorias: a percepção do envelhecimento; a negação do processo de envelhecimento e o enfrentamento do processo de envelhecimento; 2) “vida religiosa”, que possui duas subcategorias: missão/ser religiosa e oração: a conexão com Deus; 3) “cuidado”, que se divide nas subcategorias: a realidade do cuidado e; como deveria ser o cuidado realizado. Conclusões: As mulheres religiosas consagradas necessitam de um cuidado humanístico e não apenas biomédico. Os profissionais que as atendem precisam respeitar suas histórias de vida e avaliar a possibilidade de continuidade de sua missão, adaptando sua vida de serviço à suas possibilidades funcionais e cognitivas.Descritores: Envelhecimento, Mulher, Freira, Enfermagem. The aging of religious women (nuns): implications for nursingAbstract: The focus of this study was to investigate the perception and coping with the aging process by consecrated religious women. Method: descriptive, qualitative research. 32 semi-structured interviews were carried out and analyzed according to the systematization of thematic-categorical content. Results: Three categories emerged: 1) “aging”, which is divided into three subcategories: the perception of aging; the denial of the aging process and facing the aging process; 2) “religious life”, which has two subcategories: mission/being religious and prayer: the connection with God; 3) “care”, which is divided into the subcategories: the reality of care and; how care should be performed. Conclusions: Consecrated religious women need humanistic and not just biomedical care. The professionals who assist them need to respect their life stories and evaluate the possibility of continuing their mission, adapting their service life to their functional and cognitive possibilities.Descriptors: Aging, Woman, Nun, Nursing. El envejecimiento de las religiosas (monjas): implicaciones para la enfermeríaResumen: El objetivo de este estudio fue investigar la percepción y el enfrentamiento del proceso de envejecimiento por parte de las religiosas consagradas. Método: investigación descriptiva, cualitativa. Se realizaron 32 entrevistas semiestructuradas y se analizaron según la sistematización de contenido temático-categórico. Resultados: surgieron tres categorías: 1) “envejecimiento”, que se divide en tres subcategorías: la percepción del envejecimiento; la negación del proceso de envejecimiento y afrontar el proceso de envejecimiento; 2) “vida religiosa”, que tiene dos subcategorías: misión/ser religioso y oración: la conexión con Dios; 3) “cuidado”, que se divide en las subcategorías: la realidad del cuidado y; cómo se debe tener cuidado. Conclusiones: Las religiosas consagradas necesitan cuidados humanistas y no solo biomédicos. Los profesionales que les asisten deben respetar sus historias de vida y evaluar la posibilidad de continuar su misión, adaptando su vida útil a sus posibilidades funcionales y cognitivas.Descriptores: Envejecimiento, Mujer, Monja, Enfermería.

Muslim female activism in social discourse of the republic of Tatarstan

Nowadays the stress turns from traditional forms of activism to new forms of it and mostly it is implemented in internet sphere. Today social nets become the place of formation and development of social discourse. In framework of this paper, several prominent Muslim female blogs in Instagram are examined. So contemporary Muslim women actively join in the information field, find their niche and ac- quire audience in social nets too. At the present point they represent themselves primarily as wives and mothers, thus they get social approval for being in public sphere. However, the example of contemporary Muslim bloggers tends to transform traditional conception of religious women and her behavioral pat- terns. Now Muslim women-bloggers do not make any statements, denoting their civil rights or political positions, generally they are oriented on female auditory. Their activity is an example of the way to imple- ment your right of appearance in public sphere, saving your religious identity.

A Froward Woman Beloved of God

This chapter argues the importance of gender culture in seventeenth-century spirituality and gender politics in the response of the magistrates to Hutchinson in particular, and strong religious women in general. The chapter begins with a reconsideration of the patriarchal nature of this society and the political and social threats represented by nonconforming women. The chapter returns to witchcraft and midwifery in connection with conversion mysticism: three female identities very similar in themselves and, apparently, equally threatening. Finally, the chapter returns to the beginning point: the growing Puritan concentration upon rational religion in comparison with the experiential, spirit mysticism that characterized the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In its reconstruction of a female religiosity, the argument connects the historically constructed nature of women with the Puritan construction of a masculine God and a feminine soul, and the sexual nature of Puritan spirituality.