Exploring ‘Neutrality’ in the Educational Setting: Gender Imbalances in Some Classroom Practices Among Moroccan EFL Students

The aim of the present study is to investigate some biased teaching and learning practices in the classroom context. Special focus geared to the analysis of both male and female classroom interactions along with an examination of teachers’ unconscious bias either in their practices with their students and/or in their choice and use of some teaching materials exploited as topics for class discussion or for evaluation. A three sections’ survey administered to second Baccalaureate students studying EFL in Meknes to serve as a data collection tool for this study. The findings crop up from a quantitative analysis of the data seem to align with prior research in this area substantiating the argument that female language learners are found to be at a great disadvantage. They denied the right to take their learning share of the classroom talk; they not been granted equal time and attention like boys, and they have been excluded far more often from their appealing topics. The paper ends up with a conclusion along with some practical recommendations to help combat this educational mishap. Without any awareness regarding the prevalence and the common overuse of these imbalanced practices, female language learners in particular will continue to be subject to a number of learning barriers, which may hinder them from bringing their potentials into fullness.

Gender, Territory and Entrepreneurship among Unemployed Graduates in Physical Activities and Sports: The Case of Tunisia

Nationally, Tunisia is not entrepreneurial. It shows a deficit in the creation of innovative businesses. At the regional level, the revitalization of disadvantaged regions facing a problem of underemployment, in particular of highly educated graduates, is justified by the revitalizing entrepreneurial behavior in these areas. This observation is also valid in the sports sector, where unemployment has reached 100% since 2011. Because of this system crisis, which has broken out in Tunisia, we propose in what follows to consider the aspects relating to regional deficiencies by gender, in terms of sports entrepreneurship. The objective of this study is to identify the outlines of a regional catching-up strategy, so that the creation of a ludo-sports project is a challenge that graduates of stapsistes should take up that graduates of stapsistes should take up, pertaining the spirit of equity between the two sexes. This equality is not only desired for an objective of social justice, but also as an essential condition for complementarity and healthy economic development. The results of this quantitative study with 300 unemployed stapsistes belonging to three regions of Tunisia (Kef, Grand Tunis and Gafsa), revealed a favorable entrepreneurial behaviour towards a very favorable entrepreneurial reaction towards the creation of project and a positive correlation between gender, territory and entrepreneurship factors. However, only the Gafsois group seems to be different from the other groups, as it shows a very strong correlation, explained in particular by the socio-cultural factors related to the region.

Towards Combatting Violence against Women’s Access to Land Ownership in Morocco

Assorted kinds of violence and discrimination against women’s access to land ownership seem to be the most criticized the moment their dismissal is no longer a necessity for the Moroccan Legislator. It is hard to deny that all rights and obligations related to access to land, seen as a tangible resource, constitute the first-rate concerns of citizenship. As such, women not only call for an austere equality to men in the broadest sense of the term, but also for access to key positions in the society mainly through access to the means of production1 (El Yaagoubi, 2012: 33). The idea that women are landowners has become an in-vogue question. It is possible to say that women are heading towards building a social class that is becoming more voluble and visible. A reform of their tenure status is imperative bearing in mind that land property is directly associated with power. It is therefore appropriate that legal regimes of different land statuses take into consideration the benefits of this category given the fact that women constitute more than half of the population.

Feminist Occidentalist Discourse in ‘Shehrazad Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems’ by Fatima Mernissi

Occidental discourses tend to revise orientalist images about the orient. Many authors have taken the responsibility of giving a new voice to the occident and among those is Fatima Mernissi. In this regard, this paper aims at discussing the shift that has marked the writings of Fatima Mernissi with a particular focus on her book, ‘Shehrazad Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems’. It is undeniable that Fatima Mernissi‘s thoughts have known a radical change in terms of ideology and discourse. ‘Shehrazad Goes West’ seems to promote an Occidentalist discourse that isn’t based on appropriating orientalist rhetorical images of the orient but rather on revising/ reconsidering the tropes of essentialism, dehumanization and fixity that Orientalist texts usually opt for. From an auto-orientalist discourse that Mernissi advocated in her narrative Dreams of Trespass, we move to another discourse that manifests itself in ‘Shehrazad Goes West’, which is Occidentalism. In this article, based on a postcolonial feminist approach, I argue that Fatima Mernissi uses another approach of occidentalism in her construction of Western gender relations and the space of Western Harem. Instead of constructing a counter-hegemonic discourse to orientalism that based on misrepresenting the “other” and denying their voices, Eastern representation of the West in ‘Shehrazad Goes West’ does not keep with the same rhetoric of orientalism; rather it dismantles that logic which victimized people of the East and replaces it with a humane vocabulary. Moreover, the Occidentalist approach appropriated in the book does not only target the occident but also the orient resulting on what Abdelkbir Khatibi calls “double critiques”. The significance of this paper lies in highlighting such a potentially inclusive and democratic discourse that would counterbalance the politics of othering inherent in the discourse of orientalism.

Arab Women and Feminist Movements in Israel are Between the Hammer of Society and the Anvil of Law

The aim of this research is to reveal the status and image of Arab women and feminist movement in Israel, as it discusses the reality of citizens of Israel and the extent to which they have access to and enjoy their civil, economic, social and political rights. On the one hand, it also analyses women’s rights from the perspective of a society governed by customs and traditions. This is represented by the authority of the male over the female, because the Arab society is a biased society between males and females to some extent, and on the other hand it demonstrates a comparative view with the international law, agreements and treaties that provided for ensuring the protection of women’s rights. Through this study, the researcher believes that Arab women bear the burdens of submitting themselves to nationalism and the Arab minority on the one hand and the burdens of racial discrimination against Arabs in general and against women in particular. In addition, the local authority responsible for Arab regions and cities bears part of the violations of women’s rights in employment that affect their role in the labor market. This is because it does not carry out its responsibility towards the Arab minority as required, and specifically with regard to securing suitable job opportunities for women, securing public transportation, and suitable places for women with children.

Impact of Moroccan Female MPs on the Decision Making Process: Challenges and Limitations

The notion of gender has always been a debatable issue especially when it comes to power relations. This article is an attempt to shed light on the major forms and patterns that face these female MPs to impact the decision making process in relation to males. It focuses mainly on the nature and forms these MPs can have as decision makers. To achieve this aim, we look at the effectiveness of these women in decision zones. Female MPs were interviewed especially to evaluate the outcome of a long struggle that attempts to change the pre-constructed images associated with these female effectiveness. Moroccan female members of the parliament’s impact on decision making process is mostly governed by a set of cultural and political formations; it is not a question of time or space, but mostly in how these notions have been constructed to meet special aims.

Trend Analysis of Crime against Women in Manipur, India

The issue of women in Manipur is ascribed to two points. One point relates to the positive aspects of women such as their responsible roles in economy, polity and socio-cultural affairs in the state. The other point is focused on the crimes against women in the state. There are many crimes against women in the state such as sexual harassment, rape, molestation, domestic crimes, intimidation, kidnapping, attempt to rape, attempt to molestation, etc. All the major indigenous communities in the state namely Meitei, Muslims locally known as Pangal, tribes such as Naga and some sections of Kuki are the victims of such crimes. This paper is focusing on various forms of crimes against women. In this piece, an attempt has been made to scrutinize the different aspects of crimes against women in Manipur.

The Visual ‘Masculinization’ of Moroccan EFL Textbooks: A Social Semiotic Analysis

The aim of this paper is to examine and assess the portrayal of women and men in the visual contents of Moroccan English as Foreign Language (MEFL, henceforth) textbooks from a social semiotic perspective. Central to the analysis here is Goffman’s (1979) theoretical model of gender display recently heralded as a more powerful technique to unfold the semiotic positioning of women and men in visual images. The analysis of a corpus of photographic data has helped unveil an array of social and cultural misconceptions in discrimination of women. Female characters continue to be linked with submissiveness, absent-mindedness, and socio-psychological vulnerability. They are further presented associated with menial activities, low-status jobs, and oftentimes being positioned in the backstage behind men. The paper ends up presenting the conclusion along with some implications.

The Role of Royal Women in the Establishment of Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur (1489-1534)

The role of women in politics has remained an area of interest, but there is still a dearth of research the documents of such participation. Given the dominance of patriarchal values, it has generally been accepted that there was little scope for women to participate in public/political life. However, history does throw up a few names of queens like Raziya Sultana, Nur Jahan, Chand Bibi, Jijabai, Tarabai, and Ahilyabai Holkar, who must, however, be seen as rather exceptional cases. This does not mean that there were no women in politics other than these. An attempt is made in this paper to throw light on the role of women in the establishment of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur. The establishment period (1489-1534) was the period of the first three sultans. During these 45 years the mother of the founder Sultan Yusuf Adil Shah, his foster sister Dilshad Agha and Queen Bubuji Khanum played an important role, which helped to establish the Sultanate on a firm foundation.

Historicizing Feminism in Pakistan

This paper is historisization of feminism/feminist movement in Pakistan which has been influenced by national and global rearrangement of power, nationalism, dictatorship, democracy and the War on Terror (WoT). It presents the evolution and transformation of feminism in Pakistan since its inception; also gives an overview of the issues, challenges and achievements of the feminism and how it has evolved to its recent form passing through over seven decades of its journey. It also tries to address the question, where it goes from here, whether the feminist movement expands its scope, or shrivels into little niche pockets of identity-based resistance, is a question for the future. The article heavily relies on desk review of literature produced on feminism in Pakistan. Additionally, a qualitative research was carried out to explore subjectivities, realities, and opinions of women who have been part of feminist movement through in-depth interviews. The second part of in depth interviews included opponents of feminism both men and women belonging to religious right. A purposive and judgement sample was selected keeping in mind the research questions as well as consideration of research resources available. In-depth interviews method of inquiry of Feminist Research Methodology (FRM) was utilised to gain insights and opinions of preselected research participants.