Weaving Womanhood into Warfare: Gender-Hybrid Narratives of Amazons Penthesilea and Diana Prince

Largely rooted in ancient Greek essentialism, Western dichotomies of masculinity and femininity have been historically used to divide the sexes and limit women’s involvement in male institutions of power. The female warrior is an anomalous case. Fictional tropes of this type, especially the Amazons of Greek mythology, embody both masculine and feminine associations to exist in the separate spheres of womanhood and military heroism. Two transhistorical Amazons—Penthesilea (from Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica) and Diana Prince (from the 2017 film Wonder Woman)—were analyzed to explore the evolution of Western perceptions on powerful women in traditionally male spheres of influence. Guided by gender and classics theories, a thematic and narrative analysis focusing on the characters’ gender hybridity (the combination of masculine and feminine distinctions) demonstrated new understandings: Penthesilea’s story demonstrates that hybridity in antiquity reinforced the hegemonic implications of gender essentialism. Diana’s modern hybridity empowers female success in male realms. Nonetheless, both narratives establish the difficulty of crossing gendered boundaries, as compromise and defeat accompany hybridity. Comparing ancient and modern adaptations of the Amazons reveals that while women’s presence in masculine spheres remains tentative in Western society, reimagined female warriors represent increasing acceptance towards women adopting hybrid roles in public expressions of power.

Female success

Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings: Female entrepreneurs do not face the same challenges as male entrepreneurs, especially in emerging markets. For most, there are additional uncertainties and institutional biases that must be overcome. Originality: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Horizontal orientation facilitates pollinator attraction and rain avoidance in radially symmetrical flowers

PremiseFloral angle, such as upward, horizontal, and downward orientation are known to evolve under both biotic and abiotic agents to enhance pollination success in zoophilious plants. Adaptive significance of horizontal orientation in radially symmetrical (actinomorphic) flowers under biotic and abiotic selection pressures were largely unknown, although those in bilaterally symmetrical flowers have been well studied.MethodsUsing experimentally angle changed flowers, we examined the effects of flower angle on pollinator behaviors, pollination success and rain avoidance in a population of insect-pollinated Platycodon grandiflorus. We further investigated the frequency and amount of precipitation in the flowering season and pollen damage by water in this species. Main results: Horizontally oriented flowers received more visitations and pollen grains on the stigma in male and/or female phases than downward and/or upward oriented flowers and avoided pollen damage by rainfall compared to upward oriented flowers. The pollen germination experiment showed that approximately 30% of pollen grains burst in distilled water, thus pollen damage by rainfall was potentially serious in P. garndiflorus.ConclusionIn this study, our field experiments revealed that upward flowers cannot avoid damage from rainfall during the flowering period whereas both upward and downward flowers suffered from pollinator limitation in female success. Thus, horizontal flower orientation is suggested to be adaptive in this insect-pollinated actinomorphic species which blooms in the rainy season.

Making Her Case: Dramatisation, Feminism, and the Law in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Biopic On the Basis of Sex

The portrayal of women in film has experienced a remarkable increase in recent years (see for example The Iron Lady, Hidden Figures, Jackie, or Judy). Female biographical film becomes particularly powerful when its entire theme and ideology centres around the law and politics of gender and sex, as is the case in Mimi Leder’s biopic On the Basis of Sex (2018) about the life of the late US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The gender-conscious film portrays and dramatises the life of a determined woman who, despite struggles and sex-based discriminations, has transformed the justice system in terms of gender equality and the protection of women’s rights since the 1970s. This article argues that by negotiating the intertwinement of personal life and public achievement, the film covers pivotal issues of the feminist biopic such as the dissolving of traditional gender roles and a narrative of female success but also points to a collective notion of the biopic in its attempt to initiate wider political and societal discourses. The dramatisation of Ginsburg’s life in the form of a feminist courtroom biopic celebrates Ginsburg’s legacy via a strong affective, political focus and a juxtaposition of private and public, personal and professional, accompanied by an aesthetics of symbolism and symmetry.

Inhibited Intentionality and Cultural work: Reconsidering Gender and Female Success

In this paper we suggest ways to reconsider the question regarding the relationship gender and creativity. First, we review the theoretical literature on gender and creativity, concluding that the dominant thought is that men are prevalent in making creative achievements, particularly when connected to the notion of ‘genius.’ Second, we review the empirical studies on gender and creativity, a body of literature that comes to the same overall conclusion. Third, we present an empirical case, a Scandinavian design school in which the relationship between gender and creativity is more nuanced, complex, and more dependent on context than both the theoretical and empirical literature would suggest. Based on this case, traits that are often described as hindrances for female agency and creativity are reconsidered. We conclude by suggesting that in certain creative contexts women use their ‘hindrances’ to produce fruitful strategies for overcoming historical gender inequalities, thus turning Iris Young’s classical argument--that women embody limitations--to give a productive and positive account of how women may become successful in creative work.