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As of late, there has been debate about the importance of recognizing women in agriculture as farmers. The demand to be recognized is backed by women's significant contribution to the household economy. Scholars have attempted to establish a correlation between land ownership and women's empowerment in agriculture. This is an oversimplification of the situation of women farmers and their empowerment, especially in the context of tribal society where women have better access to and control over community and forest resources. We undertook this study to examine if having land and other resources is a prerequisite for the empowerment of tribal women farmers. The study is based on a primary survey conducted by a network of civil society organizations (CSOs) that enhance the livelihoods of tribal women in Madhya Pradesh, India. The analysis is informed by the researchers' decade-long experience of working with tribal women farmers, our visits to the villages during the study period, and the available literature. The survey's findings indicate that having resources is necessary but not sufficient on its own for the empowerment of tribal women. Additionally, the survey points out that having better access to and control over resources has a very weak to weak correlation with decision-making, leadership, and well-being outcomes. Many ethnographic studies and our direct work with tribal communities in Central India show that agency is also exercised through the work tribal women put in and the knowledge they have. Moreover, understanding the agency of tribal women requires a nuanced and close observation of women's assertions and negotiations in their everyday lives. We believe it is crucial to examine how tribal women perceive their immediate environment, as well as their relationships with people, nature, work, and kinship affiliations. Therefore, this paper calls for future ethnographic studies to understand tribal women's agency and an in-depth exploration of sociocultural contexts in which tribal women live. Keywords: Tribal women, Empowerment, Resources, Agency, India, Farming., Introduction Over a quarter of all farmers worldwide are women (FAO, 2011). Women's role in India is even more crucial, where 80% of rural women work in agriculture (Patel & [...]

Adivasis have become visible in debates around indigeneity, identity politics, conversion, development, and displacement, and more recently on climate change. However, gender remains a comparatively marginalized theme and Adivasi women or tribal women remain marginalized subjects. This article explores the broad themes and conceptual frameworks around which Adivasi women have gained maximum visibility in colonial and postcolonial India. It analyzes the trends in available research on Adivasi women and the problems involved. The article underlines the need to widen our research canvas, ask more questions, and consider more layers and complexities in research pursuits. Keywords: Adivasis, Tribal women, Indigenous women, India, Development, Empowerment, Colonialism, Introduction In an online search for academic books and articles on tribal women or Adivasi (2) women of India, there are three broad themes that appear repeatedly and prominently: their [...]

Research on happiness focuses on urban dwellers, and studies done in rural areas leave much to be desired. Existing scholarship also overlooks how women's economic and socio-cultural roles contribute to happiness levels in relation to health, education, and safety issues. To address such a gap, this study examines and evaluates the perspectives of indigenous and tribal women on happiness, specifically those who belong to Indian rural communities and Filipino Alangan-Mangyan indigenous peoples. We argue that while happiness is considered a mental state, it is still a very social concept. In other words, social forces may make or break one's happiness. The study's first part is one-on-one interviews with Filipino Alangan-Mangyan women regarding their perspectives on happiness. For these women, happiness is rooted in the absence of individual and family problems, conflicts, fights, misunderstandings, typhoons, disasters, deaths, and illnesses. The second part of the study is a systematic review of Indian tribal women's perspectives on happiness. We find that the happiness of these women stems from improved standards of living, cultural practices, educational level, age, location, absence of discrimination, marital status, reproductive health status, and political participation. Our study suggests that one common feature of both groups is that their happiness is often achieved when basic needs and rights are met. Therefore, happiness should be treated as a fundamental human right since it presupposes the individuals' ability to access basic needs like food, education, employment, and healthcare. Keywords: Happiness, Women, Indigenous peoples, India, Philippines, Introduction Happiness is a feeling of joy, pleasure, and satisfaction when something good happens to a person or they do something enjoyable. Happiness is an emotion that one gets from [...]

Adivasis are the original inhabitants of India, and their history has been plagued by suffering and deprivation. From the Aryan invasion of 1400 B.C. to the British colonial period, Adivasis have been subjected to domination, displacement, organized loot of resources, and suppression. They are still experiencing forced displacement and other forms of injustice and inequalities in the name of capitalist development. The Indian government took many positive steps to change the condition of Scheduled Tribes (the constitutional term for Adivasi), but despite these governmental actions, no significant changes have been witnessed in their livelihood. A vast majority of the Adivasi population cannot use governmental facilities. The condition of Adivasi women is even worse than that of Adivasi men. PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a nonprofit, non-government organization started in the 1980s with the vision of bringing positive changes to the lives of less privileged people, primarily works on problems of severe poverty, illiteracy, high infant mortality, and social evils like dowry, slavery, and wife burning. The present work presents a brief history of the Adivasi and the constitutional debate over the term Adivasi, a highlight of the measures taken by the government, and a discussion of the difficult life circumstances faced by Adivasi women. This paper critically explores the pattern of crime against Adivasi women. It further focuses on the innovative and effective strategies and community-based approaches that PRADAN embraced in helping to improve the lives of Adivasi women. Specifically, this paper will discuss how Adivasi women are becoming united through PRADAN's Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and other women's organizations formed by PRADAN, such as Narmada Mahila Sangh (NMS), Damodar Mahila Mandal (DMM), and Nari Adalat (Women's Court) that provide justice and hope to Adivasi women. Keywords: Adivasi, Inequality, Indian constitution, Crime, PRADAN, Women's development, Self-help groups, Introduction There are more than 300 million indigenous populations across the globe according to the United Nations, and 104 million of them reside in India, equaling 8.6% of the country's [...]

In this paper, I examine the understanding of agency among the tribal young women attending college in Pratapgarh (Rajasthan), India. Particularly in light of this shift in their living and academic spaces, I look at how they interpret and perform their agency when it comes to being in a romantic relationship and getting married. It is not uncommon for tribal members to engage in romantic relationships and to seek love marriages. The number of young women migrating for education is increasing. As a result of educational migration, the practice of live-in relationships, romantic relationships, and love marriages has also increased over time among tribal youths. The data for this study were collected over nine months from interviews, group decisions, and participant observation of tribal young women in places they frequent, such as college campuses, hostels, homes, markets, and parks. In addition, the narratives of their parents and other family members are also analyzed to explore this aspect of agency, space, and marriage. In various domains encompassing academic and domestic spheres, my investigation has revealed that tribal young women exhibit agency concerning their involvement in romantic relationships and their preferences for either love or arranged marriages. Notably, a prevailing pattern emerges among most of my participants, regardless of their current romantic status or chosen marital arrangement, which centers around their post-wedding aspirations to pursue their education and attain government employment, thereby fostering financial independence. For these participants, marriage serves as a conduit through which they can sustain their educational pursuits even after entering into matrimony, facilitated by the support and assistance from their partner and in-laws. In addition to providing emotional and moral encouragement, these marital arrangements offer financial assistance, further reinforcing the participants' willingness to embrace matrimony while pursuing their education. Keywords: Educational migration, Gender, Agency, Marriage, Romantic relationships, India., Introduction Many sociologists and anthropologists have studied agency in their work as it is understood together with structuralism, practice theory, gender, and migration (Ortner, 1984; Wharton, 1991; Ahearn, 2001). However, [...]

Financial education is required to enhance financial literacy for socio-economic development. This paper aims to understand the financial literacy level among the Scheduled Tribes of India, specifically the Mao-Naga tribe women of Northeast India. The current paper is based on secondary data and adheres to the steps and process of a systematic review. Prominent authors, times, tribes, countries, journals, and keywords have been identified for the comprehensive analysis. Since the goal of this paper is to review the existing literature regarding financial literacy among tribals, the findings indicate that financial education intervention, socio-cultural practices, social affinity, and early life financial experience affect individuals' financial literacy. It has also been observed that a productive pathway to achieve financial literacy and inclusion lies in integrating financial education programs within the socio-cultural practices of tribal women. Thus, financial literacy can enhance the financial well-being that is necessary for socio-economic development among Mao-Naga tribal women. This paper can help governments, central bank regulators, and researchers know the essential elements of financial literacy and identify the pertinent areas for further empowerment among sub-groups of the population, especially among tribal women of Northeast India. Keywords: Financial education, Socio-cultural practices, Northeast India, Mao-Naga tribe, Financial literacy, Tribal women, Introduction Globalization, changes in life span, retirement plans, massive migrations to urban sectors, and constant financial crises necessitate financial literacy as one of the remedial practices for individuals, society, and [...]

The Adivasi people, termed Scheduled Tribes in India, have a lifeworld entwined with nature, land, and resources. Their relationship with the land produces a particular form of lived experience. This interface between land and culture that shapes the body of knowledge is not written or recorded like other practices and traditions. Adivasi/Tribal women play an important role in articulating this knowledge and contributing to its formation. However, this particular lived experience, especially concerning women, has not received the recognition it deserves within the context of mainstream feminism, which has not paid attention to Adivasi/Tribal women as victims of colonial and imperialist oppression. However, the Adivasi/Tribal struggle over land rights in India is also a feminist struggle. Adivasi/Tribal feminism fails to be encapsulated by the colonial lens of the body/earth dichotomy. This paper critically analyzes narratives from the Chotanagpur (Central Plateau of India) and the Northeast region of India, capturing the Adivasi/Tribal women's worldview and their struggles to save their territory. By exploring the oral history of women-led struggles and movements, this paper argues that the theoretical framework of Adivasi/Tribal feminism emerges organically from Adivasi/Tribal perspectives about land, paving the way for a more comprehensive understanding of their struggles and aspirations. Keywords: Adivasi, Indigeneity, Adivasi/Tribal feminism, Land, Oral history, Adivasi/Tribal knowledge, India., Introduction Most of the Adivasi (3) tribal communities in India share a symbiotic relationship with land and natural resources; their lifeworld involves a close interface with land, which is reflected [...]

This article examines the understanding of collectivism and sisterhood among Oraon tribal women in the Netarhat Field Firing Range movement. Further, this study discusses tribal women's consciousness of repressive operations of the state and of their experiences of triple oppression as a tribal group, as women, and as activists. Tribal women's goals, however, are much more than women's liberation; they demand tribal autonomy and the right to forest resources so that tribal people can live peacefully in their regions. This study also looks at how a group of women shared their gender-based grievances as well as their everyday struggle under militarized control of their villages. Often, women's groups are at the forefront of rallies and marches, mobilizing the villagers and attending village meetings, but the male-dominated society rarely views women's revolutionary accomplishments as an effort of sisterhood. The state government agreed to the tribal demand not to re-notify the Netarhat Field Firing Range Project, not only because of the efforts of the men of the society but also due to women's willpower, solidarity, and bravery within the movement. Using the narrative approach, this research aims to explore tribal women's lived experiences and everyday struggle during the Netarhat field firing range project with reference to fieldwork conducted in the villages of Mahuadanr, Banari, Navatoli, and Sakhuapani where tribal women activists played a key role. Until now, tribal women's lived experiences, narratives, and consciousness during the different contemporary movements of Jharkhand have been ignored by most scholars. Studying this site is very relevant to understanding tribal women's questions, issues, and feminist standpoints. The fieldwork for this paper was conducted as part of the author's PhD research in Chotanagpur and the Kolhan regions of Jharkhand state, India. The study found that the Netarhat Field Firing Range movement was based on truth claims and followed the Gandhian ideology of non-violence to achieve rights. Further, this paper explores the sisterhood and solidarity amongst tribal women activists, and how non-tribal activists helped strengthen the tribal movements. Keywords: Tribal women, Tribal activism, Military, Activism, Feminist standpoints, Sisterhood, India, Triple oppression, Introduction On August 17, 2022, the Jharkhand government agreed to cancel the Netarhat Field Firing Range Project because it conflicted with the public interest. This historic decision, made by the [...]

The idea of 'indigeneity' is context-specific. In Europe, social groups such as the Sami people in Scandinavia and the Basques in Spain and France are identified as indigenous owing to [...]

Christina N. Baker, Black Women Directors. Rutgers University Press, 2022. (Quick Takes: Movies & Popular Culture series.) 174 pp. notes, bibl. filmog. index, pap., $17.95, ISBN 978-1978813335. Maylei Blackwell, Scales [...]

'How long shall the fair daughters of Africa be compelled to bury their minds and talents beneath a load of iron pots and kettles? Until union, knowledge and love begin [...]

There is considerable scholarship on the subject of neoliberalism, but few scholars dig deep into its intersection with gender and gender roles in society. In their book, The Gender Order [...]

There was this professor, called Mali. Actually, his name was Ali, a common enough name for a Turkish man. However, during his time as a student in France, he had [...]

The Gendered War, authored by Sanjib Kr Biswas and Priyanka Tripathi, evaluates select feminist ethnographic narratives to uncover the role and contribution of women in the Bangladesh Liberation War of [...]

Organized Muslim Women in Turkey, authored by AySe Dursun, provides a comprehensive overview of the socio-political landscape in Turkey, particularly focusing on the role of organized Muslim women. The organized [...]

Film Information: Title: Street Heroines Director: Alexandra Henry Producer: Alexandra Henry, Jordan Noel Hawkes & Valiant Pictures Release Year: 2021 Length in minutes: 71 Genre: Documentary Original language: English, Spanish [...]

Film Information: Title: No Straight Lines--The rise of queer comics Director and Producer: Vivian Kleiman Release Year: 2023 Length in Minutes: 78 Genre: Documentary Original Language: English Educational Distributor: GOOD [...]

Although at a slow rate, the gender roles of women are changing in India. Today, Indian women are assuming responsibilities far beyond those of a traditional household. However, the question arises: are the gender roles of men changing? Is Indian society open to the idea of a stay-at-home husband? To address these concerns, we conducted interviews with unmarried women and men, followed by a thematic analysis. Ninety-seven percent of male respondents expressed reluctance towards becoming a stay-at-home husband, while 86% of female respondents indicated a hesitancy to marry someone with that inclination. Major reasons cited by males included 'gender role conditioning,' 'embarrassment,' and 'power imbalance in the relationship.' Female respondents cited those three reasons as well, but also added 'financial burden on one partner' and 'natural liking towards ambitious men' as the primary reasons for not wanting to marry a stay-at-home husband. The article concludes with suggestions for action items that Indian schools, media, and government can take to attempt to change gender roles and attitudes toward stay-at-home-husbands. Keywords: Stay-at-home husband, Househusband, Gender roles, Gender role conflict, Indian family, Introduction Family responsibilities are among the significant factors preventing women from focusing on their careers (Mayrhofer et al., 2008; Kirchmeyer, 2006; Paa & McWhirter, 2000; Lobel & St. Clair, 1992; [...]

Domestic migrant workers living with their employers is one of the major causes of cases of high inequality globally. To ease this problem, the Indonesian government has attempted to empower women ex-migrant workers by prohibiting them from returning to work in the domestic sector abroad. This empowerment program was implemented through the sustainability training program of the Community of Migrant Worker's Families (KKBM) from 2017 to 2019. The government hoped that by focusing on entrepreneurship, former migrant laborers would be able to achieve financial independence. Most of them, however, decided to return to their previous jobs or to work overseas after completing the training. By using a qualitative case study method, this study sought to assess communication strategies and offer solutions; it was focused on the period from March 2019 to October 2019, after the program had ended. The results showed that the bottom-up communication strategy for the empowerment program through KKBM did not work well because the government's communication in the program implementation was conducted vertically and one-way without fully involving women ex-migrant workers or emphasizing the program goals. In addition, the sustainability of the program was not carried out appropriately. Instead, it was only focused on low-power community organizers. Keywords: Women ex-migrant workers, Indonesia, Empowerment program, KKBM, Communicative action, Introduction Since the 1980s in Indonesia, becoming a migrant worker has been a tradition, with the primary motivation being to increase family income (Mulyana & Octavianti, 2018). Most Indonesian women [...]

Film Information Title: Finding Her Beat Directors: Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett Producers: Shiho Fukuda, Dawn Mikkelson, Caroline Mariko Stucky, and Jennifer Weir Year: 2022 Length: 89 minutes Genre: Documentary, [...]

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the research output and status of women academics in science fields in Jordan. The rationale is to identify trends as well as challenges to advise policy makers and university administrators on how to promote more involvement of women academics within the university. A survey of two sections was developed. The first section included 36 items that measure demographics and challenges in academic, research, administrative, and family contexts. The second section included questions regarding motivators and barriers to academic research. Participants were prompted to respond per the Likert's Scale, where the responses were later categorized to a dichotomous variable (e.g., yes/no responses). The tools' reliability and validity were tested in a pilot study conducted among 36 participants as well as from feedback from experts in the field. A description of the profile of women scientists in Jordan is presented. There was no significant difference between married and unmarried academics and their responses regarding opportunities and challenges faced in research. Additionally, there was no significant difference in responses between those who are married to academics and those married to non-academics. Furthermore, the t-test showed that those who expressed dissatisfaction with promotion rules in their universities significantly expressed facing more challenges than those satisfied with promotion regulations. This is the first comprehensive study investigating women academics in Jordan in specific and in the Middle East region in general. Whereas previous research in the literature focused on comparing women academics' progress and achievements with that of men academics, the novelty of this study lies in investigating sub-populations of women academics and identifying factors that affect academic achievement among women themselves. The article also offers suggestions for tailored intervention to improve the professional growth of women scientists in Jordan. Keywords: Academia, Jordanian women, Scientific research, Promotion, Introduction Many women choose academia as a career because they simply find themselves in it. Others choose it for its flexibility and high job security which helps in relieving the [...]

Theater proposes an alternative reality and different possible identities offering a framework of how representation works in performances, and it further provides an understanding of the transformative potential of enactment. The attempt to retrieve and re-write women's histories through performances develops a culture of reconstructive capacities that resists absorption into the dominant culture. In theater, women have asserted their own vision and exercised their own viewpoints, expanding feminist space and communicating with spectators by employing publicly encoded signs. The folk theater of India, in particular, provides a public space to the (silenced) subaltern to assert agency and question the modalities of power, exclusion, images, and strategies that marginalize women. The paper examines Indian women's roles on stage and in the folk theater of Chhattisgarh from the 1980s onwards and shows how feminist performances redefine gender binaries and contest popular consciousness. By voicing women's perspectives, the women performers and women narrators of the epic Mahabharata in folk performances restructure and alter the stage. This paper explores themes of gender, power, construction of theatrical space, and the shifts in feminist positioning created by Teejan Bai and other women Pandwani performers and Kathagayakas. Keywords: Women performers, Theater, Folk performances, Representation, Feminism, Pandwani, Indian folk theater., Introduction Folklore is a representation and marker of culture and identity. Alan Dundes stated that by analyzing folklore, the researcher understands 'general patterns of culture' and elevates the 'levels of [...]

In recent years, studies on gender inequality have increased because of the 1995 World Conference on Women, which aimed to increase women's participation in decision-making and exercising power. This paper investigates this research question: How does participation by gender on corporate boards and in directorships impact the rest of the decision-making positions? We conducted this study to give evidence of the gender inequality that exists on boards of directors and within leadership positions in Mexico with the aim of proposing strategies to remedy this situation. The hypothesis is that if men make up the majority of corporate boards and directorships, the difficulty for women to attain these positions increases. This exploratory study originates from the 2019 report Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective and analyzes reports of 29 companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, including financial services, media technology, telecommunications, consumer products, industry, energy, and health sectors. The results show that in the countries studied, including Mexico, the predominance of men in directorships and corporate boardrooms prevails. We highlight that in countries where women have been included in decision-making positions, the presence of women in functional directorship positions is increasingly common. Although in Mexico a movement to demand the constitutional right to equality was followed by the establishment of positive measures in favor of women, the initiative to set gender quotas as a fair practice in forming corporate boards and filling directorship positions has not taken hold. This has motivated us to argue for a norm in favor of equality in the positions of directors and board members. Keywords: Corporate boards, Directorship, Gender equality, Gender norms, Business leadership, Mexico, Introduction Almost half a century has passed since the first World Conference on Women (1975) was held at the insistence of the Commission on the Legal and Social Condition of [...]

Beekeeping is an activity with positive effects for biodiversity and food security; furthermore, it is compatible with the conservation objectives of protected areas. Likewise, previous studies show that the participation of women in beekeeping projects gives them access to paid work and triggers the possibility of their empowerment. The aim of the article is to explore the process of women's empowerment as one of the social results that derives from the meliponic farmers and beekeepers' projects implemented in the protected area of the Usumacinta Canyon, Mexico. For this research project, visits were made to the places of honey production in the Usumacinta Canyon, notes were collected from participant observation and unstructured interviews were taken at the site. The findings indicate that the participation of women in these projects has given them access to material resources, such as earning income from their work, and they exhibited other dimensions of the empowerment process, in particular agency--the ability to define and achieve their goals. Keywords: Women's empowerment, Beekeeping, Usumacinta Canyon, Mexican women, Participant observation, Women's agency, Protected areas., Introduction Protected areas constitute a strategy in the conservation of biodiversity, the number and extension of which was promoted after the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, mainly in [...]

This article reports on a study of the effect of matrilineality on a community's social fabric in the Morogoro region of Tanzania. We used water information-sharing networks as a proxy for social interaction, with water accessibility, functionality, and quality being highly problematic in the area under study. This is a situation that particularly affects women, who are generally responsible for household water provision yet are excluded from water management institutions. Drawing on network and survey data and focus group discussions, the differences in inter-gender interaction, inclusiveness, and women's status were explored by comparing a matrilineal and mixed patri-matrilineal community. We found less gender homophily and exclusion of women divorcees in water-related information networks in the matrilineal community. In both villages, chairmen received and shared most water information while women acted as informal information hubs. While there was no clear difference in women's participation in local water decision-making bodies between the two communities, intrahousehold decision-making data showed that women in the matrilineal community made more decisions on their own regarding water investment. Keywords: Matrilineality, Water information-sharing networks, Social network analysis, Ecofeminism, Ecology, Tanzania, Introduction While patrilineality is dominant in most societies, the presence of matrilineality (lineage and inheritance passing through the female line) alongside patrilineal communities offers an opportunity to compare the effects [...]

This research utilizes a capability approach to query the extent to which dominant conceptualizations of women's micro-entrepreneurship enhance both economic and social development outcomes. Microenterprise programs speak directly to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly regarding poverty (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5), and decent work (SDG 8). However, microenterprise programs are embedded in institutional and normative definitions that limit women as 'entrepreneurial,' thereby affecting women's microenterprise motivations, characteristics, and capabilities. As a result, women's enterprises continue to be largely informal and home-based subsistence enterprises that offer a low-quality employment option and fail to deliver 'empowerment' outcomes. Data from focus group participants and econometric analysis of survey responses from 487 women micro-entrepreneurs in Kandy, Sri Lanka are used to compare women's micro-entrepreneurial success in terms of both financial and empowerment outcomes. A novel conceptualization of the capabilities approach is presented with an original analytical framework that critically redefines enterprise success in terms of women's empowerment: whether micro-entrepreneurship expands the menu of what women can be and do in their households and communities. In seeking to uncover differences among women, this work steps away from the more common comparison of men versus women. An iterative approach to defining success outcomes establishes that adding empowerment indicators to definitions of success highlights unique gender constraints on women's micro-entrepreneurship not shown by purely financial outcome measures. The data analysis results suggest that women's microentrepreneurship is significantly impacted by discriminatory social constraints and household norms that reduce both their enterprise success and potential for increasing empowerment. Keywords: Sustainable development goals, Microenterprise, Sri Lanka, Women entrepreneurs, Women's empowerment, Introduction Nearly 40 years after the microcredit craze sparked by the work of Mohammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agenda emerged [...]

This article examines the challenging of Orientalist and Western discourses and of patriarchal authority over Eastern women in Wafa Faith Hallam's memoir The Road from Morocco. The conventional representation of these women is revisited as Saadia in the memoir debunks the passivity and docility with which they are associated by exercising her agency and trespassing the sacred cultural and physical frontiers. Regardless of being introduced to confinement in the private space of a harem since her infancy, Saadia manages to liberate herself first through leaving the allegedly sacred frontiers of the house and trespassing in public space which is discursively assumed to belong to men, and second through dismantling the patriarchal authority of her husband by applying for a divorce and starting a business in spite of his refusal. This article argues that the representation of Saadia invalidates the discursive portrayals of Moroccan women as being passive and confined in the domestic private space of harem and deconstructs patriarchal authority. Keywords: Moroccan Women, Orientalism, Space, Patriarchy, Harem, The Road from Morocco, Wafa Faith Hallam, Introduction Arab women have been victimized by the early Orientalists' representation in art, fiction, travel writing, and later in cinema. They are mostly depicted as passive beings confined in the [...]

This article examines whether incorporating the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda of the United Nations Security Council into the international refugee regime may give refugee women greater potential to participate in decision-making processes. In addition to recognizing the need to protect women in conflict settings, the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda also promotes women's participation in order to achieve sustainable peace. The article focuses on Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees globally. The article explores the extent to which the protection and participation of refugee women in Turkey are balanced in the activities of national and international actors, and it advises adopting a national action plan on refugee women in line with the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. We conducted qualitative research and carried out a field study in Turkey to engage with the article's main research question. In the field study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with participants from international organizations, international and national non-governmental organizations, and state institutions. We argue that refugee women's participation is frequently reduced to a formality and is constrained by the restrictions imposed by governmental and humanitarian agencies. A national action plan that considers the rights, ambitions, and expectations of refugee women in Turkey would not only strengthen their protection from violence but also encourage their agency. Under a legally binding framework, all stakeholders--refugee women, international organizations, donors, nongovernmental organizations, and the state--would be obliged to encourage refugee women's participation in decision-making processes and mechanisms at varying levels and fields. We argue that a national action plan would challenge the traditional and patriarchal stereotypes regarding refugee women and enable all relevant stakeholders to promote refugee women's agency in a systematic way. Keywords: Refugee women, The Women, Peace, and Security Agenda, Turkey, Protection of women, Women's agency, Introduction When refugee women came to Turkey, most of them did not accept their living conditions and told themselves that they could do more, shape their own future, and control [...]

The term Siddi refers to the African diaspora communities in India, who initially arrived in the 13th century with the Islamic invaders in Gujarat (then Sindh) as slaves, palace guards, traders, and musicians from the eastern parts of Africa, including Ethiopia, Zanzibar, Sudan, and Tanzania. In the 15th century, another group of Africans from South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique were brought to India by the Portuguese colonizers as slaves. The majority of the histories of the Siddi community are androcentric in nature, focusing on the contributions of African men and male spiritual figures towards the development of the Siddi community in India. However, this paper offers a more diverse and deeper analysis that uncovers the role of women spiritual figures like Mai Misra, Makhaan Devi, and goddess Luxmi, and the role of Siddi women in the cultural and spiritual evolution of Siddi practices. This article analyzes how women spiritual figures and spiritual practices contribute to Siddi culture in Gujarat and offer Siddi women empowerment and agency. The thematic and theoretical arguments in this article are supported by a kin study on the patterns and intentions of Mai Misra worship in Gujarat. Keywords: Mai Misra, Siddi women, Spiritual practices, Women's empowerment, Cultural evolution, Gujar, Zikrs, Dahmals, Introduction: Oceans, Spirits, and Women Generally, the different forms of existing narratives on transoceanic travels and diasporic culture have systemically and historically ignored the roles and contributions of women. Women [...]

This paper demonstrates how gender abuse is not merely restricted to hierarchical gender oppression but also operates within an intersectional framework where gender is intertwined with hierarchical caste exploitation. While revisiting White bourgeois feminism, bell hooks emphasizes the incorporation of different marginal perspectives to make feminism an all-encompassing radical movement, accessible to everyone. Inspired by the lens that hooks uses to interpret Black feminism and the Indian scholars who approach Dalit feminism from an intersectional standpoint, I analyze Sujatha Gidla's autobiography Ants among Elephants (2017), a family story of a lower-middle-class rural South Indian Dalit woman. I argue for the need to bring different axes of oppression--such as inter-caste and intra-caste dimensions along with linguistic and regional hierarchies--into conversation with each other. The primary focus of my analysis of the autobiography are three topics--the narrative voice, the author's personal experience, and the intersectional aspect of domination in Dalit women's experience as recounted in the text. My paper highlights the literary aspect of the text by tracing Dalit rage in the narratorial voice that undercuts the mostly objective family narrative, following hooks' reconceptualization of Black rage. Dalit representation is shaped and informed by the psychological consequence of internalized inferiority as a result of looking at themselves and being looked at by others only in terms of absence. Bearing in mind that every strand in the interlocked webs of oppression critically informs the other, ignoring any one strand at the cost of another might render the task of liberation truncated and incomplete. This study, therefore, brings to the fore the need to address interlocking strands of oppression if a struggle for the liberation of any marginalized group can have a real impact on society. Keywords: Dalits, Caste, Class, Gender, Intersectionality, Narrative voice, Rage, bell hooks, Sujatha Gidla, Introduction In her path-breaking work Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, bell hooks attempts a comprehensive discussion of feminism wherein she pinpoints the flaws that plague mainstream feminism in the [...]

Spain and Catalonia are timely and crucial examples for analyzing homonationalism and queer and trans reproduction with Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART). This essay employs Puar's (2013) formulation of 'homonationalism' as an ideology that privileges LGBTIQ people while simultaneously discriminating against other types of people. The Catalan independence process provides us with important insights into the relationship and interdependence between queer and trans reproduction and the state or nation. Queer and trans people's reproduction is dependent on the laws of the state, the state depends on the reproduction of its population, and most Western EU-states want to appear as LGBTIQ-friendly. A selection of eight in-depth interviews will be analyzed with the following questions in mind: Are there any differences between Spain and Catalonia concerning access to queer and trans reproduction? Do comments regarding queer and trans reproduction employ racializing or homonationalist ideologies? Is queer and trans reproduction an issue in the Catalan independence process? How do queer and trans people based in Catalonia navigate their reproductive challenges in relation to Spain and Catalonia? These interviews formed part of an EU-funded project on queer and trans reproduction in Europe. In this article, we highlight both the struggles for queer and trans reproduction as well as the complicity of some queer and trans people's reproduction with homonationalist strategies, and whether and how Spain and Catalonia deploy these homonationalist tools. Keywords: Homonationalism, Queer and trans reproduction, Spain, Catalonia, 'Feminazis', Introduction In eight in-depth interviews with queer and trans people living in Spain and Catalonia who want to reproduce with ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) (3) or who have already used [...]

In this regular issue of the Journal of International Women's Studies, we present scholarly articles, film reviews, book reviews, and creative writing addressing diverse topics in Women's and Gender Studies [...]

The documentary Beyond Men and Masculinity explores the negative impact of traditional masculinity on men's mental and emotional health, as well as its broader societal implications. It advocates for a redefined version of masculinity based on vulnerability, compassion, and equality. The experts in the documentary emphasize the need for men to express their emotions, challenge traditional gender norms, and create a more just and equitable society. By redefining masculinity, the documentary envisions a future where men can thrive beyond rigid expectations and embrace their authentic selves, leading to improved mental health, reduced violence, and stronger communities. Keywords: Masculinity, Mental health, Vulnerability, Compassion, Equality, Emotional expression, Societal transformation, Film Information Title: Beyond Men and Masculinity Director: Alex Gabbay Country of origin: United Kingdom Year: 2020 Length: 56 minutes Original language: English, Japanese, and Hebrew with English subtitles Genre: [...]

This study investigated the plight of working mothers of children under the age of 18 at the University of Nigeria within the context of work-family conflict, using data from a cross-sectional sample of 485 academic and non-academic staff selected through a multi-staged sampling technique. Data were obtained using questionnaires and seven IDI (in-depth interview) respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages and frequency tables, while the Chi-square was used to examine the study variables. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between couples living together and the stress experience of working mothers with under-age children. The findings further show that there is a statistically significant relationship between the staff category of working mothers and the experience of stress. This underscored the recommendation that the government needs to review the working conditions of women and support workplace policies that allow flexibility and support for working mothers. Social workers are also recommended to be involved in some government and organization policies that will help to reduce work overload for working mothers. Keywords: Work-life balance, Stress, Working mothers, Nigerian universities, Higher education., Introduction Nowadays, mothers are expanding their lives in different careers while maintaining their traditional obligations at home (Adhikari, 2012). As a result, balancing family and work responsibilities remains a crucial [...]

Today, many women are excluded from the labor market despite having a good education. Perhaps the most obvious reason for this situation is the gender-based division of labor. Because of this division of labor, women are mostly considered to be responsible for domestic work and care work and it becomes difficult for them to go out of the house. Such women are not able to participate in the labor market due to their domestic responsibilities and are currently considered inactive. Economic inactivity, a huge problem for many European countries including Turkey, excludes a great potential human resource that will be productive for the economy if more women work. Many countries offer different solutions to solve the inactivity problem. The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic has also led people to work more flexibly and at home. The VirtualCall Project, which received grant support from the European Union, is one of these solution proposals. (2) This project aims to involve inactive women as home call center workers through simultaneous distance training in the listed countries with a consortium formed with the participation of partner institutions from Turkey, Spain, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The main purpose of this project is to diversify women's employment in line with the needs of the labor market and to create new employment opportunities for women within the scope of a comprehensive training program. The aims of this study are to draw attention to the economic inactivity problem of women, which is the result of the gender-based division of labor, and to introduce the VirtualCall Project as a solution proposal. In line with this purpose, economic inactivity will be defined, then the division of labor based on gender will be discussed, and suggestions for solutions will be put forward. Keywords: Gender-based division of labor, Economic inactivity of women, Turkey, VirtualCall Project, Feminist economics, Introduction Compared to 50 years ago, the current unemployment rate for women seems to have decreased considerably, but the employment rate of women is still below an adequate level. This [...]

Histories of sexology often examine moments of censorship in which sexological knowledge was repressed, banned, or destroyed. Familiar examples include the Bedborough trial, which resulted in the censorship of John [...]

States of Liberation: Gay Men between Dictatorship and Democracy in Cold War Germany. By Samuel Clowes Hunf.ke. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022. Pp. 357. $38.95 (paper); $38.95 (e-book). How [...]

The Weimar Constitution in 1919 nominally abolished censorship, even though visual materials such as films and images as well as texts were still subjected to legal restrictions. Unlike Wilhelmine Germany, [...]

What Nudism Exposes: An Unconventional History of Postwar Canada. By Mary-Ann Shantz. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022. Pp. 253. $89.95 (cloth); $37.95 (paper). Undressed Toronto: From the Swimming Hole to Sunnyside, [...]

'It will incite an official protest from the episcopate,' wrote Mikolaj Kozakiewicz, president of the Polish Planned Parenthood Association, in his peer review of a sex education handbook intended for [...]

In 1972 a cinema advertisement publicizing the work of the Brook Advisory Centre (BAC)--the first center in Britain to provide contraceptive advice for unmarried people--was screened at different cinema locations [...]

On January 13, 1925, an editorial in the Times of India warned readers of a 'class of books ... equally if not more objectionable' than erotic novels, a class that [...]

It has been clear that the history of censorship is intertwined with the history of sexual science since the latter became a serious object of enquiry in the 1970s amid [...]