A critical study on female roles in television commercials of Bangladesh

Media representation of female gender roles in advertising are relentlessly contested themes in a traditional society. Stereotypical representation not only limits the socially accepted traditional roles of gender, but also has an impact on how people perceive women. This study has focused on how women characters are constructed in order to understand reflection of stereotypical gender norms in Bangladeshi television commercials. Stuart Hall’s representation theory has adapted as the framework for conceptualizing the context of this study and scrutinizing the data. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, this paper has explored how such representations constitute unequal gender identities, traditional norms and perpetuate subtle forms of colorism towards women. This study found that dominant patriarchal ideology is deeply embedded in television commercials of Bangladesh; there is a discrimination towards the construction of women's image. Moreover, such media representations generate the ideology of beauty in a negative way and push the concept of colorism towards women.

Expected Competencies of Construction Management Graduates Working in China

Construction manager competencies in today's construction industry are the key factors of project success. Compared to traditional roles, they are faced with a situation showing a gradual shift in their roles and functions especially projects nowadays are encountering more and more complicated issues during construction phase and the increasing complexity of projects poses huge demand for construction managers possessing competencies capable to adapt to this changing industry environment by their knowledge and skills gained through training especially during their early years of construction management education received in polytechnics or universities. Such kind of training builds the foundations for construction managers enabling to develop further a way to adapt to the escalating expectations of the clients and more important related to the development of leadership, management and problem-solving skills construction organisations are looking for. This paper aim to evaluate the expected competencies of construction management graduates in China focusing on the development of construction manager during their early training and how the education institutes can make sure their curriculums capable to prepare learners for the changing needs of construction industry in China. The result of this study is to provide a theoretical basis for the excellent construction management curriculum design, thus encouraging education institutes to adopt industry-oriented approach to deal with ever-changing construction industry.

Thematic Representation and Linguo-Cognitive Structure of the Businesswoman Image from the Perspective of Gender-Professional Axiology

The article is devoted to the field modeling of the verbal representation of the stereotypical image of a businesswoman - a new phenomenon in the Russian mentality. A comprehensive description is carried out in the sociolinguistic, linguo-cognitive, discursive and gender aspects based on the integrative cognitive-functional analysis of the linguo-culturally marked components of the stereotype image by the methods of a semantic-cognitive, discursive, contextual, conceptual analysis, the method of field modeling and interpretation of the data obtained. The described fragment of the worldview is a pioneering field of comprehension of new phenomena of reality in the framework of the analysis of business discourse and national conceptual spheres. The empirical material of the study was the results of a survey of professional feminine and masculine groups. The nucleus of the heterostereotype of a businesswoman was revealed, based on the ideas enshrined in the minds of the male entrepreneurs - feminine strategies of business communication and an integral set of roles and status positions of the performer and assistant, in which the leading place is given to men, and the secondary - to women. In addition, the analyzed linguistic material demonstrated the transformation of traditional female roles of a wife and a mother towards male roles of a breadwinner and a leader. So, the autoimage of a businesswoman is a complex cognitive structure that includes a set of social roles and functions, numerous gender prescriptions and stereotypes. The nucleus of auto-representations of a businesswoman has also made up a cognitive attribute of female business communication strategies. The feminine role-playing set, according to the women entrepreneurs, includes the traditional roles of a housewife, a mother, a wife, a weak woman, a parity spouse and a hybrid feminine-masculine image. According to the study, the actualization of new feminine roles does not eliminate the socio-cultural background of a womans development in society, but tends to preserve traditional female behavior patterns in combination with components determined by civilizational processes.

Women and the Age-Group System among the Ijebu of Southwestern Nigeria

Contemporary studies have revealed that Yoruba women, particularly Ijebu women, have contributed to the development of Yorubaland. Apart from the traditional roles of women in Yorubaland, Ijebu women have cut a niche for themselves in the age-grouping system. It is the intent of this study to estab­lish the contributions of Ijebu women to the upliftment of their society and indeed of the Ijebu nation. This study therefore reveals that women in regberegbe (age group) organizations have contributed immensely to the development of Ijebuland. Just as men in age groups have benefitted, the women's age groups have also enjoyed government patronage, support, and interest. This was demonstrated when the Ogun State government offered employment to some of the age group members. The involvement of these women has shown that Ijebu women are active in the development of Ijebuland through the age-group system and this has further debunked the erroneous public opinion that Ijebu women are party-goers and docile. On the contrary, they are hard-working, so­cial, nationalistic, and community-development oriented.

Identity and Writing: the Case of Eastern Sephardic Women

Access to written culture, which began to be widespread among Sephardic women in the former Ottoman Empire at the end of the nineteenth century, opens a new perspective in gender studies of the Jewish minority in Muslim societies. Writing constitutes one of the main vehicles through which individuals appropriate their own identity and culture. In this sense, female Eastern Sephardic writers represent a fascinating example of how a cultural minority elaborates its consciousness and the awareness of its past. This article deals with this specific issue: the way that both the first Sephardic female writers and those who followed were able to elaborate a new identity through the act of writing and the awareness of its multiple possibilities. The first Sephardic female writers (Reina Hakohén, Rosa Gabay and Laura Papo) show us their contradictions: the identification with the traditional roles of women, the continuous justifications of their work as writers, the redefinition of what means to be a female writer in the context of Eastern Sephardic societies.

Understanding the Narratives of Pateros Mothers’ Resistance under the Philippine Drug War

This article highlights the case of the Ronda ng Kababaihan, a women’s volunteer organization established to conduct night patrols in their neighborhood after witnessing drug-related killings in Pateros. Guided by the political motherhood framework, this study argues that the members use their traditional roles as mothers to legitimize their presence in the streets and the public sphere, and they practice mothering to maintain good relations with the community, police, and local authorities. Data are drawn from in-depth interviews with mothers and participant observation of nightly patrols of the organization. This study problematizes the debate between the essentialist and constructivist views on motherhood – in understanding motherhood in political terms either as an emotionally motivated and apolitical extension of the domestic duties or as an avenue for the reconstruction of gendered roles and collective identities.

Feminist Criticism in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Ibrahim Ahmed’s Janî Gel

This paper investigates the concepts of Feminism and Feminist Criticisms to identify their features in two novels; Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Ibrahim Ahmed’s Janî Gel. The theoretical and historical backgrounds of Feminism and the other Feminist Criticisms are presented according to their importance. The paper then introduces the two novels by presenting their plot summary. This paper tries to answer how two prominent writers, one British and one Kurdish, discuss women issues. The author wants to investigate whether both writers’ cultural upbringing and social background affect the way they present women in their respective novels. Through quotations taken from the novels, one learns about the writers’ ideas regarding women’s issues; economic, social, psychological, and political. In conclusion, the present study argues that women’s experiences in English society and Kurdish society have many similarities; however, despite the many similarities, there lay differences regarding the attitudes of both writers towards women issues and representation. For instance, Wood presents an ideal female character to oppose women’s traditional roles in society in her novel. On the other hand, Ahmed paints vivid imagery of what women go through without solid women characters. Thus, this paper hopes to provide future students and researchers with helpful material on Feminism, Feminist Criticisms, and the analysis of both novels, especially the Kurdish one, since research is scarce on it.

Feminist Criticism in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Ibrahim Ahmed’s Janî Gel

This paper investigates the concepts of Feminism and Feminist Criticisms to identify their features in two novels; Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Ibrahim Ahmed’s Janî Gel. The theoretical and historical backgrounds of Feminism and the other Feminist Criticisms are presented according to their importance. The paper then introduces the two novels by presenting their plot summary. This paper tries to answer how two prominent writers, one British and one Kurdish, discuss women issues. The author wants to investigate whether both writers’ cultural upbringing and social background affect the way they present women in their respective novels. Through quotations taken from the novels, one learns about the writers’ ideas regarding women’s issues; economic, social, psychological, and political. In conclusion, the present study argues that women’s experiences in English society and Kurdish society have many similarities; however, despite the many similarities, there lay differences regarding the attitudes of both writers towards women issues and representation. For instance, Wood presents an ideal female character to oppose women’s traditional roles in society in her novel. On the other hand, Ahmed paints vivid imagery of what women go through without solid women characters. Thus, this paper hopes to provide future students and researchers with helpful material on Feminism, Feminist Criticisms, and the analysis of both novels, especially the Kurdish one, since research is scarce on it.

Accounting and gender equality in (times of) crisis: toward an accounting that accommodates for emotional work?

PurposeEmpirically, this paper questions whether accounting can help cope with crisis and preserve some form of feminist ideals. Theoretically, this paper aims to explore how accounting affects the division of emotional work in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relies on a qualitative study that investigates “life under lockdown” during the COVID crisis and focuses on middle-class well-educated couples aspiring for some form of gender equality and who introduced accounting tools (schedules, charts, to-do-lists, etc.) in their daily life to achieve it.FindingsThe paper argues that accounting tools are not able to prevent couples from adopting traditional ways of carrying out emotional work. By favoring the masculine way of displaying emotions, they make invisible women's efforts for comforting. They even mask the unequal distribution of emotional work under some form of “neoliberal equality”. Also, in a context where middle-class standards are perceived as crucial to meet for both parents to keep their social position, accounting tools, by holding parents accountable for these standards, let no time to find alternative ways of living. Consequently, traditional roles become impossible to reverse.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper investigates accounting, gender and emotions by showing the importance of making emotional work visible at a household but also at an organizational and societal level. It calls for an “integrative” emotional display that is crucial for resilience in times of crisis and invites to challenge neoliberal middle-class standards that make household life difficult for most women. Theoretically, it invites for further exploring how accounting tools are constructed and negotiated and how unpredictable elements of life other than emotions affect gender when accounting tools are introduced in times of crisis.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the literature on gender-in-accounting by introducing the concept of emotional work and showing how accounting tools affect the gendered division of emotional work in praxis.

How Does Male Readership Impact Character Portrayals in Contemporary Young Adult Adventure Novels?

Adventure fiction has traditionally followed a male protagonist in their search for selfhood and saviorhood. In the case of contemporary adventure fiction, authors are likely to follow the conventions of the adventure story in order to fit the genre’s stereotypes, which in turn reinforce gender stereotypes. This research paper discusses how contemporary young adult adventure novels typically perform within society’s narrowly defined perception of male readership. While the novels attempt to perpetuate powerful female roles, the male characters fit the fantasy of traditional, male adventure stories. After analyzing traditional stories such as Paradise Lost and Beowulf and modern novels such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, I conclude that there are disparities between the portrayal of male and female characters: from the main hero to the minor characters to the antagonists, young adult adventure novels tend to follow traditional tropes in order to satisfy male readers. Even if the authors subvert the patriarchal tropes by adding female heroines or helpful minor characters, the overall work of literature creates a fantasy world that reinforces the traditional roles and desires expected of young boys. In time, these portrayals could encourage male readers to act patronizingly or dismissively toward girls and women.