Romantic Love, Gender Imbalance and Feminist Readings in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea

Even though Iris Murdoch’s novels depict a profoundly patriarchal society, most scholars have generally failed to identify any feminist aspirations in her work. This article aims to reassess her legacy as a writer by analysing from a feminist perspective one of her most acclaimed novels, The Sea, The Sea (1978). The tension between the androcentric approach of a self-deluded male narrator and a female author whose worldview is strongly influenced by her gender results in a feminist critique which is not based on the recovery of a female voice, but on the exploration of patriarchy within the novel and the production of a feminist epistemology derived from a dialogue between Murdoch’s fiction and philosophy.

An exploration of female underrepresentation on executive boards in the Dutch hotel industry through an ethical lens

PurposeThis paper elucidates female underrepresentation on executive boards in the Dutch hotel industry through a “feminist” stakeholder perspective, which persists despite public opinion and government initiatives to resolve this enigma. It contributes to this discussion by examining Rhenish governance structures through a “feminist” stakeholder-focused rationale, complementing prevailing Anglo-Saxon shareholder-focused governance research.Design/methodology/approachEleven in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with hotel executive board representatives and five with sublevel management representatives. Saturation was achieved by interviewing all females on Dutch hotel corporate boards regarding their career experiences compared with those of female general managers and male counterparts.FindingsThis paper finds a prevailing “masculinist” perspective of an idealized shareholder-orientated executive and a “feminist” perspective of a humanized stakeholder-orientated executive expressed within the interviews. While the former sacrifices family for their career, the latter balances their family with their career. The former fosters presupposed gender norms, with females commonly sacrificing their careers while males sacrifice their families. Notably, most executives predominantly supported the humanized stakeholder-orientated executive, while recognizing that micro-, meso- and macro-structural barriers remain.Originality/valueThis paper addresses a lacuna in the ethical literature in exploring female executive representation in Rhenish stakeholder-focused governance structures, as opposed to Anglo-Saxon shareholder-focused ones. It found a “masculinist” perspective of an idealized shareholder-focused executive archetype and a “feminist” perspective of a humanized stakeholder-focused executive archetype. Notably, contrary to perceived business norms, several interviewees rejected the former as it is incompatible with family and work, instead seeking the latter which balances between family and work.

"Why are you single, baby?" Reasons for being single based on a Brazilian research

Single people are often asked about the reasons for non-marriage, in a context where, despite several changes in the field of intimacy, adults are still expected to marry. Based on a thesis study on the subject of singleness in Brazil, in the city of Salvador, Bahia, this text presents the main reasons for singleness, declared by single middle-class adults who live alone in this city. The study used a feminist perspective, with the category gender as the basis for data analysis, in an intersectional way with social class, race, generation, sexuality and territoriality. It used mixed methods with a combination of instruments: questionnaire, focus groups, biographical interviews, and field observations. The findings collaborate to observe gender differences and closeness in reasons for singleness: relational reasons prevailing for women and being single as a choice for men.

The ‘Handmaid’ and the ‘Chambermaid’: A Comparative Analysis of Atwood’s Seminal Novel from a Feminist Perspective

This article is an analysis from a feminist perspective of the two Romanian translations of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. By adopting Antoine Berman’s three pronged model of translation criticism, I attempt to identify several differences between the translations. Therefore, it will prove pertinent to see whether the translators adhere to the author’s style, are faithful to the tone, imagery, wordplay and ludic nature of the text, if they prefer to steer clear of more adventurous translation strategies and opt for a source-oriented translation, keeping to the initial structure and employing mostly syntactic strategies. Another important element that surfaces and plays a paramount role is that of the translator’s visibility, more precisely those instances wherein she makes her voice known, be it through an explanatory footnote or, perhaps, a translator’s gloss at the end of the translated text. The translators’ own backgrounds are relevant in the case at hand as well, as their experience and formation influence their preferences for a certain style and translation strategies

“If your institution refuses to provide what you need, create it yourself”: Feminist praxis on #AcademicTwitter

Previous research has demonstrated the impact that Twitter can have for promoting and discussing a feminist agenda. Given the gendered neoliberalism that exists within academia, tweets under the hashtag “#AcademicTwitter” may also be an important space for feminist praxis. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no empirical work analysing the function of “Academic Twitter” from a distinctly feminist perspective. Thus, we asked “How is Academic Twitter used for feminist praxis?”. We conducted a reflexive thematic analysis of 596 tweets containing the hashtag #AcademicTwitter. This generated four themes showing how Academic Twitter can be a valuable site for feminist praxis, by enabling academics to “give testimony to academia”, “access the hidden curriculum”, and engage in both “academic kindness” and “resistance and advocacy”. Despite these benefits, we also observed a tension between Academic Twitter as a site for feminist practice yet also as potentially complicit in promoting the competitiveness and overwork that pervades academia. We recommend that future feminist research interrogates the ways in which more diverse forms of feminist praxis, including more negative experiences, are negotiated on Academic Twitter.

JATISABA (2015) AND ELEVEN MINUTES (2003) FROM A PSYCHOANALYTIC FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

This study analyzes Jatisaba, a novel by Ramayda Akmal and Eleven Minutes, a novel by Paulo Coelho, within a comparative literature framework. It aims to compare the transformation of the main female characters and their struggle to survive in both novels. By means of a descriptive qualitative method, the research was conducted from a psychoanalytic feminist perspective. This perspective believes that women are not born inferior, but some factors in her life have been placing them in an inferior position to men. The study resulted in the following findings. First, the main characters of both novels, Mae and Maria, underwent a psychological transformation throughout their life journeys of surviving human trafficking, sexual harassment and prostitution and navigating their love lives Both of them were brought up by a mother with a strong character that could protect them from castration and gender inferiority as a woman. Second, Mae and Maria’s struggle to survive became the cause of their resistance against patriarchal values with the power of their femininity. Third, the difference between the endings of the two novels reflects the different social and cultural values in the respective stories that greatly influence the female characters’ lives. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa novel Jatisaba karya Ramayda Akmal dari Indonesia dan Eleven Minutes karya Paulo Coelho dari Brazil menggunakan pendekatan sastra banding. Penelitian ini mengungkap transformasi karakter dari tokoh utama perempuan dalam kedua novel dan cara mereka bertahan hidup dalam dunia yang didominasi oleh budaya patriarki. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif dan perspektif feminis psikoanalisis. Perspektif ini berpandangan bahwa perempuan tidak dilahirkan sebagai makhluk inferior, tetapi ada beberapa faktor dalam hidup mereka yang dapat menyebabkan mereka berada pada posisi inferior. Hasil penelitian mengungkap tiga hal berikut ini. Pertama, transformasi psikologis dari tokoh utama perempuan dalam kedua novel, Mae dan Maria, merupakan hasil dari perjalanan hidup mereka melalui pengalaman-pengalaman seperti perdagangan manusia, kekerasan seksual dan prostitusi serta kehidupan percintaan. Keduanya dibesarkan oleh sosok ibu yang tangguh yang melindungi mereka dari kastrasi dan inferioritas sebagai perempuan. Kedua, perjuangan untuk bertahan hidup yang ditunjukkan Maria dan Mae menggambarkan perlawanan terhadap nilai-nilai patriarki menggunakan femininitas mereka Ketiga, pengaruh faktor-faktor sosial dan budaya terhadap pembentukan karakter kedua tokoh utama tersebut tercermin dalam akhir cerita yang berbeda antara novel Jatisaba dan Eleven Minutes.

Labours of Care in Sport

Meena Gopal’s essay employs a feminist perspective of care and an autoethnographic method to explore the dimensions of a nurturing, mentoring practice in athletics. It is done through an unravelling of school, club and social intersections, illuminating possibilities of a sports commons even while nurturing competitive excellence. The labours of mentoring and care in the arena of athletics hopes to generate sport as a space that is participatory, inclusive and emancipatory. In the 1980s, the skewed nature of public schools meant that sport received less state support, while private institutions were able to nurture some sports talent due to sustained mentorship.

Breve aproximación a los discursos gerenciales desde la perspectiva feminista

Resumen: En este escrito se presenta un resumen de la obra Mujeres y discursos gerenciales. Hacia la autogestión feminista (2020), donde se abordan desde una perspectiva feminista los discursos gerenciales dirigidos a las mujeres, desvelando la falsa neutralidad de sus premisas y la perpetuación de modelos de género dicotómicos en el seno de la gestión. Al mismo tiempo, se apunta a la actual mercantilización de las identidades y del movimiento por la igualdad, señalando los peligrosos virajes discursivos a los que se está sometiendo a dicho movimiento en la actualidad. Abstract: In this article we present a summary of the work Mujeres y discursos gerenciales. Hacia la autogestión feminista (2020), where management discourses aimed at women are approached from a feminist perspective, revealing the false neutrality of their premises and the perpetuation of dichotomous gender models within management. At the same time, it points to the current commercialization of identities and the movement for equality, pointing out the dangerous discursive shifts that this movement is currently undergoing. Palabras clave: discursos gerenciales, teoría feminista, liderazgo, despolitización. Keywords: managerial discourses, feminist theory, leadership, depoliticization.