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Video games often contain sexist content that may be connected to negative consequences for female video game players, such as internalizing negative attitudes and beliefs about women. However, aspects of feminist identification may prevent such negative outcomes from occurring. The present study investigated the relationships among time spent playing video games, internalized misogyny, and the synthesis dimension of feminist identity, which is characterized by embracing the positive aspects of being a woman and incorporating feminine attributes into one's own unique personality. A total of 319 U.S. female video game players completed measures of media usage, internalized misogyny, and feminist identity. The authors tested a moderation model in which gaming predicted internalized misogyny and synthesis moderated this relationship. Gaming was positively associated with internalized misogyny at lower, but not higher, levels of synthesis. Thus, those who value the positive aspects of womanhood and have thoughtful and realistic perceptions of gender may be resistant to internalizing some harmful beliefs about women perpetuated in games. The present study provides evidence for the potential negative influence of cumulative video game exposure for some women and the protective effect of feminist identity synthesis. Counselors and activists should do work aimed at critically evaluating and challenging gendered messages in video games and affirming women's gender identities and feminine attributes. Game developers must consider the impact of their content on players and strive to create female characters that are agentic, complex, and competent. Conversely, gamers should avoid supporting games with depthless depictions of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If we take the time to look at the academy writ large and sociology as a discipline specifically, we can readily find the evidence to confirm a long‐standing exclusion of certain scholars from the academic mainstream. This exclusion is especially evident in the case of scholars of color, but also includes women, nonelites (e.g., college and graduate students who lack academic social capital from elders who have been through it and could help), and those who wish to push for a more humanist scientific agenda over purist positivist science. Sexism and racism keep us from seeing the best of our ideas emerge to bring the discipline forward. As if the pursuit of good work and good works are mutually exclusive, an embrace of purist positivism leads us to shun antiracist, antisexist, nonhumanist science, labeling it "advocacy" or worse, "activist," and conversely, ceding ground to those who wrap themselves in "objectivity" even as they may further regressive agendas. This article makes a case for the existence of an "outsider scholar," and outlines sociology's outsider problem. I argue that this problem endures at all levels of the academic endeavor, from undergraduate education all the way through to the ranks of administration. I conclude by offering remedies to lead us toward a more inclusive and social justice‐oriented sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hijab, the headscarf and cloak worn by some Muslim women, is often viewed through a lens of constraint, but in this article I emphasize its flexible use by women in Qatar, a wealthy, conservative Arabian Gulf nation. As part of a neoliberal agenda, the Qatari government frequently depicts female citizens using an "empowered woman" narrative that touts increased college enrollment, workforce participation, and sports involvement as evidence of a progressive gender milieu. Yet Qatar continues to be steeped in patriarchy and institutional gender discrimination. This domination finds its most visible expression in the scrutiny and regulation of women's clothing. In this article, I describe how Qatari women strategically modify, adjust, reimagine, and remove their hijabs to suit changing circumstances. These hijab micropractices—women's strategic and situational use of traditional Muslim clothing—are at times so infinitesimal they are easy to overlook. Yet they are significant because they enable Qatari women to exercise agency within the confines of clothing that is believed to signify Islamic patriarchy and female oppression. I argue that hijab micropractices are a means by which Qatari women resist these conditions, while maintaining a religious identity and commitment to family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the impact of the #MeToo movement in South Korea and Japan. In South Korea, #MeToo inspired many women to go public with their accusations in numerous high-profile cases. Those accusations inspired the mobilization of mass demonstrations and demands for legal reform. In South Korea, the movement's impact is evident in policy proposals and the revision of laws on sexual harassment and gender-based violence. In Japan, however, the movement has grown more slowly. Fewer women went public, and if they did, many remained anonymous. The movement remains limited to a small number of cases that resulted in the formation of a professional network to support women journalists. We argue that the different outcomes in these countries can be explained by the strength of women's engagement in civil society and the nature of the media coverage in each case. In both countries, however, women continue to face a powerful backlash that includes victim-blaming and social and professional sanctions for speaking up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women’s empowerment is an indicator of social change and a priority of the Sustainable Development Goals. Debate continues on what domains constitute women’s empowerment and how to measure empowerment across countries. Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) are the most widely available source of data on women’s empowerment. However, measurement invariance often is assumed, but not tested. We used DHS data from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda to test factor structure and measurement invariance of women’s empowerment among married women ages 15–49. Factor analysis confirmed a three-latent-domain model of women’s empowerment in each country capturing women’s human/social assets, gender attitudes related to wife abuse, and women’s participation in household decisions. Multi-country confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) identified an invariant three-factor model of women’s empowerment and a subset of country-specific items. Our results offer a standardized, invariant measure of women’s empowerment that can be applied to monitor women’s empowerment cross-nationally in East Africa, and possibly beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is wide engagement with large-scale land deals in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly from the perspectives of development and international political economy. Recently, scholars have increasingly pointed to a gendered lacuna in this literature. Engagement with gender tends to focus on potential differential impacts for men and women, and it also flags the need for more detailed empirical research of specific land deals. This paper draws from ethnographic data collected in Northern Sierra Leone to support the claim that the impacts of land deals are highly gendered, but it also argues that lineage in a land-owning family and patronage intersect with these gendered impacts. This data supports my claim that analysis of land deals should start from an understanding of the context-dependent, complex arrays of power and marginality. Such a starting point allows for a wider and ‘messier’ range of impacts and experiences to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers an introduction to the journal, which focuses upon secularism and whether or not it is bad for women. Items discussed include examining the topic through a feminist lens, comparing the topic to multiculturalism and its effects, and cultural differences on the topic, including a look at social conditions in the U.S. and India.

Social norms in patriarchal countries in the Middle East are changing at differing rates. In Qatar, expectations about education have shifted, and women's participation in higher education is normative. However, women's participation in the workforce remains relatively low, and women still are expected to perform all household and child-rearing activities. Interviews with 27 18-25 year-old Qatari women enrolled in college in Qatar are used to illustrate the conflict between norms about education, workforce, and family. Many young women resolve this normative conflict by giving preference to family over work and education. Other women hold conflicting norms and goals for their future without acknowledging the normative conflict. Overall, young women in this sample feared divorce, were uncertain about customary family safety nets, and thus desired financial independence so they would be able to support themselves if they were left alone later in life due to divorce, or the death of their husband. The Qatari government should revisit the appropriateness of continuing to emphasize the patriarchal family structure and socially conservative family norms, if they desire to advance women in their society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown women from marginalised communities have significant articulated needs for sanitation that are often unmet. Using focus group discussions with displaced Somali women living in rural villages in northern Kenya, this study found that women’s central concerns were for personal safety and convenience rather than hygiene; and for alleviation from the pain and discomfort associated with female genital mutilation and reproduction. Based on the findings, the article recommends organisations supporting sanitation initiatives should adopt approaches responsive to women’s particular concerns and needs. It makes specific recommendations for implementing an agenda of participation in a context where women are highly marginalised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the ways in which the gendered religious schemas pertaining to career and motherhood are set up and reinforced by the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Church and how these schemas affect the everyday lives of Mormons. We show how gender, class, and region intersect and impact how religious individuals interpret gendered religious schemas. Analysis of qualitative interview data shows that for very religious men and women, the gendered cultural schemas of work and motherhood are distinct and tend to constrain women. Considering the intersections of class with gender, the analysis shows that some middle-class Mormons reject oppositional cultural schemas and value work and career for women. Further, we find that Mormons outside of the cultural stronghold of Utah are more likely to reject Mormon religious schemas that pit career and motherhood as competing ideologies. In fact, some women participants describe being enabled in their careers by Mormon religious schemas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the notion of "The Bechdel Test," which measures women's film dialogue using a simple quantitative formula. Particular focus is given to the creator of the test, comic artist Alison Bechdel. Additional topics discussed include books about women's dialogue and voices in film, how blogs are using Bechdel's test to rate films and media scholars and their analysis.

Since its 2012 debut Girls has received an extraordinary amount of attention and criticism from both academic circles and popular culture critics. It has been critiqued for its depiction of female nudity and its portrayal of female sexual subjecthood. At the center of these debates is how author–star Lena Dunham’s body is positioned and utilized aesthetically and politically. This essay examines the brand of body politics and mode of female sexual subjecthood that the series creates and performs. In order to track how Girls produces this body politics and female sexual subjecthood I position it in relation to earlier feminist television series and indie cinema. This essay argues that Girls’ particular brand of body politics and the mode of female sexual subjecthood it depicts is characterized by emotional intimacy, irony and reflexivity. Furthermore I contend that Girls’ gender politics is enabled by the series’ utilization of a low-key aesthetic and the “smart” tendency, more commonly discussed in relation to American indie cinema. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Summary Women make up one-half of the world’s population, though two-thirds of the world’s non-literate adults are women, which highlight the pervasive denial of the basic human right to education experienced by women across the globe. While there is a sizeable literature on gender discrimination in girls’ schooling, we know very little about girls’ access to private schooling, despite its rapid growth around the world in recent years. Using two nationally representative datasets from household surveys conducted in India in 2005 and 2012, our paper aims to bridge this gap by examining the role of gender in private school choice. We argue that the gender of the child is potentially endogenous in India because parents continue to have children until they have a son. To redress this potential endogeneity, we exploit the variation in private school choice among 7–18 year olds born to the same parents within the same household in an attempt to minimize both child-invariant and child-varying household-level omitted variable bias. We then explore the nature of female (dis)advantage across different types of households, communities, and years with a view to assess the role of parental preferences in this respect and its change, if any. The analysis thus allows us to provide new evidence for the causal effect of gender on private school choice in India. Significant female disadvantage exists in both survey years, though the size of this disadvantage varies across sub-samples and years. Female disadvantage is significantly higher among younger (relative to eldest) girls and also in northern and northwestern (relative to western) regions, but it is lower among girls from poor (relative to rich) households, Christian (relative to Hindu high caste) households, and those with more educated mothers. Our results are robust, irrespective of whether or not we restrict the sample to those born to a household head. We infer that the observed within-household variations in female disadvantage across sub-samples reflect variations in non-altruistic parental preferences linked to deeply held cultural norms (for example, sons acting as old-age security and the exogamy of girls), access to schools and other public goods, and also job opportunities and returns to schooling for girls, thus posing considerable challenges in the attempt to secure “education for all.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the special issues or thematic sections of several journals that cover gender and feminism issues, including "Annals of Behavioral Medicine,"Asian Studies Reviews" and "Celebrity Studies." The special issue published by "Annals of Behavioral Medicine" in February 2014 talked about the LGBT health disparities, while the special issues released by "Asian Studies Reviews" and "Celebrity Studies" focused on Asian women and contemporary celebrity culture.

The article discusses the social, economic and political conditions of women and women's freedom throughout the world during the early 21st century, including women's economic conditions in Rwanda and gender inequality. It discusses the former Israeli Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and the percentage of women in Iceland's parliament.

The article discusses the prevalence of separation and divorce in India and discusses marital stability by region, family composition. religion and education. Topics include how changes in the marriage system has affected marriage stability in India, and other trends that are affecting divorce trends in Asia like changing demographic context, and participation of women in the labor force.

This article juxtaposes insights from recent urban policy mobilities scholarship on circulating knowledges with an in-depth examination of a longstanding (1976-2013) amalgam of groups and individuals whose focus is safer cities for women and girls. The article addresses three gaps. One, it is an empirical study that draws on in-depth knowledge of its authors to shed light on gender informed efforts to shift circulating knowledges relevant to policies to advance gender equality goals in cities. Two, it examines this terrain with a focus on a variety of actors who are not typically acknowledged as 'policy-makers'. Three, it provides new insights about the "connective tissue" of policy-making and in particular, the potential power of a methodological approach that recognizes the benefits of linking together women as 'experts in their own lives' with professionals who have 'a taste for justice'. The paper does so by highlighting three distinct ways in which such knowledge mobilization occurs, including: i) the takeup and adaptation of an already mobilized methodology called the Women's Safety Audit; ii) the circulation and engagement of both local and non-local people experts; and iii) organizational support for circulating knowledges and policy mobilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based upon research that explored how 89 eleven- and twelve-year-olds understood and explained men's violence against women. The research found that young people examined the motivations of individual male perpetrators though the context of heterosexuality. For the young people, adulthood appeared to generate a more rigid framework of heterosexuality, where the gender differences begin to exemplify inequality upon which justifications can be based. Young people's justifications can be collated into the themes of: heteronormativity, the endorsement of marriage, restrictive gender roles and blaming women for the violence. Violence is justified because inequality is not questioned - it is endorsed and taken for granted as being part of an adult heterosexual relationship. This has implications for young people's own existing and anticipated relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Land rights equity is seen as an important tool for increasing empowerment and economic welfare for women in developing countries. Accordingly, the objective of this paper is to empirically examine the role of women’s land ownership, either alone or jointly, as a means of improving their intra-household bargaining power in the areas of own healthcare, major household purchases, and visiting family or relatives. Using the 2001 and 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys and relevant econometric techniques, we find that land ownership has a positive and significant impact on women’s empowerment. In particular, we find two important patterns of results. First, accounting for the endogeneity of land ownership with inverse probability weighting, coarsened exact matching and instrumental variable methods makes its impact on empowerment higher. Previous research in this area had largely ignored the potential endogeneity of land ownership. Second, the impact is generally stronger in 2011 than in 2001. As evidenced in a number of empirical studies, the increase in women’s bargaining power can in turn translate into a redirection of resources toward women’s preferences, including higher investment in human capital of the household such as education, health, and nutrition. Therefore, our study indicates that in places where agriculture is the main source of economy for women, policies enhancing land rights equity have the potential to increase women’s empowerment and associated beneficial welfare effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the history of the "Community Development Journal" (CDJ) as it celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016. Particular focus is given to the goal of CDJ, as well as themes underlying CDJ issues. Also mentioned are postcolonial issue in community development programmes in India, racism within and between local communities and sustainable livelihood initiatives for women.

The article analyzes the various types of social change in Saudi Arabia. Topics discussed include the relaxation of religious laws, increase in rights for women, improving public perception of the U.S., the role of social media and the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) for the youth population of the country.

Women have for too long been excluded from the disarmament and arms control debate, despite being disproportionately affected by weapons. In order for women to partake as equals, the author emphasises how it is crucial for women to be portrayed as positive agents of change rather than weak and powerless victims. Williams sets out how civil society is responding to this imbalance while highlighting that there is still a long way to go until full gender equality Is reached in the debate at the national and International levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider the kitchen as domestic space that is at once gendered and gendering in its construction and use by women as they negotiate their social position across the life course. Deeply rooted patriarchal values structure Konkomba society in northern Ghana, and a woman's role is to be a wife, to prepare food in support of her husband's family and community. Although the normative definition of woman's role in society stems from a clear-cut division of labor between women and men, a woman must negotiate her social position and ability to fulfill these labor obligations; she becomes a woman and wife by working to gain access to and control over resources and labor. I explore the shifting dynamics of women's work and social position across the life course, emphasizing the transition from young woman to woman-as-wife-as-cook in her husband's community. These negotiations take place in the kitchen – a fiercely feminine space in which a woman becomes a wife when she earns the right to place hearth stones and prepare a ceremonial ‘first meal’ for her husband and his community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Household financial decision-making process is an important issue as it has shown to have implications on key development outcomes such as child health and education, nutrition, expenditure, and allocation of labor. Women's ability to have control over household finances and decisions also reflects, to some extent, their level of empowerment. This study focuses on the effect of ethnicity on decision making in a household. There is relatively limited research in this area and data obtained from households in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country, provides an opportunity for an in-depth examination of the ethnic dimension. The data is obtained from a random survey of 672 Malaysian urban households of which the selection of sample was strictly determined by the Department of Statistics Malaysia to ensure randomness. The findings show that there are differences across households of different ethnicity. Chinese households are found to be more traditional and patriarchal where decisions on household financial matters are more husband-dominated. Education contributes positively in giving women more control over household finances and decision-making. The results of the study highlight the importance of ethnicity in determining the level of household bargaining and decision-making power which has implications on strategies in marketing as well as national policies. Thus, any substantive and policy inferences in relations to women's empowerment must take into account the socio-cultural aspects, rather than based on overall national level analyses. The finding that education plays a significant role in empowering women is a positive outcome. With more Malaysian women attaining higher levels of education and becoming part of the workforce, their level of empowerment and wellbeing will improve and consequently provide a positive impact on key development outcomes of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades women's enlistment has continued to increase. In an effort to help social workers better meet the needs of female veterans, this study sought to learn women's enlistment motivations and postdeployment experiences. This qualitative study was nested within the Women Veterans Cohort Study. Using a semistructured interview guide, authors interviewed 18 enlisted female service members and veterans. The themes that emerged, based on grounded theory, included not only opportunity and calling, but also outcomes. Unexpectedly, enlistment resulted in a professional military career, with over half of the participants making the military their life’s work. Further study on the motivation, retention, and the reintegration needs of women postmilitary is necessary, particularly with military recruitment targets of 20 percent women by the year 2020 and the increased awareness of the military as a potentially hostile work environment for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented concerning the unintended consequences of equality discourse which has been the focus of feminist writings on Iran and Iranian women. These consequences include legitimizing equality and gender difference discourses as a dichotomy and emphasizing the status of middle- and upper-class women with access to the legal system. Information on how women use their power to conduct their life and enable their survival is offered.

In a collaborative autoethnographic process, we, three foreign-born female professors from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, and Korea explore how our personal status as immigrant women of color and social–institutional factors in US higher education affect our experiences in the academy. Based on experiences as graduate students and later as faculty and leaders, we trace the development of three empowering and transforming navigational strategies we utilized to survive and thrive at a US institution – exploiting multifocal lenses, reconfiguring identities, and engaging tempered radicalism. We discuss how the cultivation of a unique standpoint as outsiders/within can be a valuable resource for foreign-born women of color to advance active research agendas and to leverage their position in the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among Latinos, cultural values such asmachismoandmarianismomay promote inconsistent condom use representing a significant risk factor for HIV infection. Yet there continues to be a need for additional research to explore the influence these cultural values have on Latino men and women’s condom use attitudes and behaviours given increasing HIV rates of HIV infection among Latinos. The purpose of this study was to explore further Latino traditional culturally-ascribed attitudes and behaviour for emerging themes toward condom use among a diverse group of adult Latino men and women living in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. The study used a qualitative study-design and collected data from 16 focus groups with a total of 67 Latino men and women. Findings from the focus groups described attitudes and behaviours that counter traditional gender roles towards sex and expected sexual behaviours informed bymachismoandmarianismo. Common attitudes noted in the study include men’s classification of women as dirty-clean to determine condom use and women’s assertiveness during sexual encounters negotiating condom use – in favour and against it. As the findings of this study suggest, the process differ greatly between Latino men and women, having an impact on the risk behaviours in which each engage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The status of women in society is very diverse worldwide. Among many important traits associated with the differentiation of gender inequality is religion, which itself must be regarded as a fluid concept with interpretations and practices 'embedded' and thus varying with respect to cultural and historical relations. Admitting the complexity of the issues, some religious norms and traditions can contribute to the formation of gender inequalities and to subordinate the role of women in society. Using an exploratory quantitative analysis, the influence of religiosity on gender inequality in social, economic and political spheres is examined. Three categories of states have emerged from the analysis: (a) states where the majority of inhabitants are without religious affiliation, which display the lowest levels of gender inequality; (b) Christian and Buddhist societies, with average levels of gender inequality; and (c) states with the highest levels of gender inequality across the observed variables, whose inhabitants adhere to Islam and Hinduism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the separation between the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure (SGK) and Planned Parenthood (PP) in 2011. It cites several factors associated with the separation of SGK and PP such as internal divisions and messy confrontations. It also explores the association between woman's bodily autonomy and resource control in relation to the SGK PP conflict.