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This study examines how the second-wave feminist movement, its members and their goals for equal rights were represented in two UK and two US newspapers (The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Times, and the Daily Mirror) between 1968 and 1982, a period which encompasses the movement's formation, peak and decline in both countries. Through the use of both quantitative content analysis and qualitative critical discourse analysis, this study reveals patterns of coverage, but more importantly, provides insights into how such coverage was constructed. One of my main findings was that, despite socio-political differences, both the US and the UK used a similar range of discourses when addressing both the women's movement and its goals for equal rights. Though the particular details of discourses varied to accommodate culture differences, my analysis indicates the prominence of both capitalist and patriarchal ideologies in the US and the UK, as well as the similarities in counter-discourses used to challenge them. Additionally, though overall, coverage of both topics can best be described as fragmented and contradictory, I argue that there was significantly more "positive" or supportive articles on the women's movement than previous scholars have noted. Such articles engaged with issues, reported the movement in a serious way, and used supportive voices to legitimise the movement. At the same time however, I contend that most of such stories were not as "positive" as it initially appeared. While on the surface they appeared to champion the women's movement, these news stories only rarely addressed the ways in which capitalism and patriarchy oppressed women as a group. Additionally, several such "positive" articles tended to de-legitimise certain aspects of the women's movement, often by "othering" those whom journalists deemed to have failed to adhere to feminine norms. The failure to challenge traditional gender roles helped turn feminism into a dirty word, by disassociating it from its political goals (particularly equal rights, which gained wide-spread acceptance), and de-legitimising the movement as a political collective. These problems are still associated with press reporting of feminism today.

The research examines the forces that affect the deliberation and passage of gender-related policy in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. It analyses the formal and informal institutions that organise the legislative environment and influence gender policy processes and outcomes. I developed an original database that traces all 1,561 gender-related bills deliberated in the lower house for the past 20 years, through each stage of the legislative process. I make a comparison between three different governments and present a detailed examination of bill content through both quantitative and qualitative analyses and interviews with members of the women’s caucus. The thesis is divided into three parts. First, the historical background, description of the case study and mapping of the formal and informal networks, connections and rules that affect gender policy. Second, the collection and analysis of evidence in each government using five variables: legislative agenda control; the executive; the women’s caucus and women’s movements; international agreements; and religiously-based opposition. And third, a comparison between the three governments and the trends seen in terms of the different themes deliberated. The research shows that there was a clear increase in gender bills presented and enacted over time as a result of changes in the institutional context, in particular the election of the Workers’ Party (PT) and the establishment of a Women’s Policy Agency. Although action by women’s organisations during all stages of the legislative process was a fundamental condition for positive outcomes, on its own it would not have been sufficient to accomplish change. The ability of the women’s caucus and women’s movements to reach their goals varied depending on the institutional context. Influential forces such as party elites and the elected executive played a key role.

This thesis considers new possibilities for the object as a site of emancipation from and resistance to neoliberal models of subjectivity. In particular, I propose new queer and feminist object positions and practices as potentially rupturing the matrices of taste, labour, identity, and subjectivity as they are reproduced in both the material form (the institutional display and trade of art objects) and thematic content of contemporary art, particularly in ‘the West’. The first chapter critiques the objectification qua subject production of neoliberal capitalism, exemplified in the mechanisms of Human Resources Management (HRM) particularly within the university. The chapter also begins to posit queer, trans and non-binary (1) bodies as outside of this proper subject production, as (abject) objects that break the flow of capitalism. The second chapter critiques ‘participatory practice’, exemplified here by Tino Sehgal, Renzo Martens and Santiago Sierra, as a practice which objectifies people-as-artistic-material under the guise of the production of empathy, experience, emotion and intersubjectivity. I argue that participatory practice is melancholic in that it is a terminal mourning for the lost art object of 1968,(2) which fails to recognise this loss, thus destroying itself as art dissolves into capitalist life. I suggest that resistance to this process might happen at the site of the body-as-material, in the voice and actions of the worker-participant who constitutes the artwork. The third chapter queers the melancholia of the participatory artwork through the figure of the zombie, who dies (even commits suicide) and then returns to life and to rebellion. The chapter proposes ‘undead sex acts’ as sex acts sited in abjection and/or objecthood which challenge the reproductive logics of straight sex, as well as the insistence on sex as an act situated in the realm of the proper sexual subject, which excludes and incarcerates those who fall outside of this delineation. (1) Non-binary’ refers to people whose gender lies outside of male and female binaries. (2) See Lucy Lippard and John Chandler, ‘The Dematerialization of Art’, Art International, 12:2, 1968, 31-36.

This study sheds light on the largely under-investigated area of older women’s identity constructions in peer-group conversations, focusing, in the first instance, on age identities. Self-recorded conversational data of a group of elderly female friends are used, supplemented by ethnographic observations, interviews and a sample of Greek Cypriot media. A social interactional approach to identities, within an ethnomethodological theoretical framework, and a toolkit from membership categorisation analysis and conversation analysis are employed. The discussion focuses on certain phenomena that make relevant old-age identities, either explicitly or as evident from previous research, and also on practices that constitute a very frequent conversational routine of the participants. More specifically, the use of old-age categorisations, painful tellings and tellings of homemaking activities are investigated. Firstly, age identities, as they emerge from the situated use of explicit old-age categorial references and terms of address, are analysed. It is shown that, through the employment of age categorisations, the participants repeatedly disassociate the self from decline-related old-age identities. Secondly, tellings of painful experiences of oneself, an activity that has been found, in earlier research, to be inextricably linked with elderly discourse, as well as their humorous rendering, are examined. It is shown that ill health, bereavement and death are constructed as non-problematic topics of discussion and as normal and expected states. Thirdly, the interactional construction of homemaking activities is investigated. It is found that the informants place great emphasis on claiming the identities of culinary expert and good homemaker and by doing so they also negotiate a host of other extra-situational identities, such as gender, friendship and family roles and ultimately age. On the whole, this bottom-up analysis contributes to ageing and communication research by foregrounding the importance of peer-group interactions and by giving a rare view into older women’s communicative practices and situated understanding of self.

Adopting feminist methodology, this research explores the work and motherhood choices of female paramedics with the aim of adding to knowledge in the area of ‘women and work’. Primarily, it aims to investigate the difference of opinion between Hakim (1996, 2000) and Crompton and Harris (1998) about the extent of the determinative effect of lifestyle choices. Paramedics have a well-evidenced high level of work attachment. This provides a unique, distinctive and original means of testing their respective views. The research finds that contrary to Hakim, work attachment or orientation to work is not a sole determinative of women’s workplace position to the extent that they ultimately have absolute free choice (Hakim 1996, 2000) as constraints exist which serve to limit this (Crompton and Harris 1998). Secondly, exploration of the respondents’ narratives necessarily provides insight into the role of their husbands/partners. Adding to knowledge in the area of modern parenting and its impact on women’s choices, the research finds that in contrast to the somewhat limited adoption of ‘new fatherhood’ and ‘shared parenting’ in households found in other research (Bittman 2004; Bianchi et al 2006; Fox 2009), my respondents tended to epitomise the ideal model of ‘50-50’ in the fullest sense. Lastly, undertaking this research in the ambulance service setting where 24/7-365 working is required of all paramedics has provided the unique means of exploring whether women’s work choices now extend beyond 9-5. The research found that shift work is not a barrier to women’s workplace position but in fact an enabler of it. The research concludes that despite assertions to the contrary, women do have more choice than previously if they want it enough and can overcome the constraints. The ‘best of both worlds’ is potentially more viable today, if that is what women want.

This thesis takes the UK feminist publishers Virago as its subject, tracking the company from its inception in 1973 to the present day. The main focus is on the literary output of the press, alongside its success as a business, putting both of these aspects in the context of wider feminist debates. In the first section, which spans 1973-1983, the thesis examines the limited cultural roles - of wife, mother or sex object - available to women as second-wave feminism gets underway. Virago plays a key role in challenging these stereotypes, both through publication of feminist theory and fiction, and through the example of its own female staff who defy such cultural expectations. This section foregrounds the historical sexism of the book industry - from publishing to sales, reviewing to writing. The second section examines the period 1984-1994, taking in the fragmentation of feminism that results from exploration of race, class, sexuality and other identity politics. Once again, Virago can be located at the heart of these debates, publishing key texts and authors, as well as validating new genres of women's writing by making crime, sci-fi, romantic and other types of new feminist fiction available. This section examines, too, the extent to which publishing becomes more inclusive of women - both in terms of their representation in the industry and the recognition of their worth as consumers of literature. In the final section, spannmg 1995-2007, the focus is on the queering of gender, embodiment and sexuality post-Butler, and the further dissolution of feminism - made evident in the disavowal of the' f-word'. Queer notions of gender trouble the validity of a publisher that is defined through its insistence on the difference of sex - Virago publishes only women's writing. The press's sale in 1995 to a multinational conglomerate also troubles the notion that Virago can still be figured as an independent outlet for women's writing. The thesis will thus examine the extent to which, in its past and current structures, Virago can be said to direct or to diverge from changing feminist ideologies.

This thesis reports on an exploratory study of the relationship between the Internet and women’s empowerment in China. The theoretical framework of the study combines feminist theorisations of power – the core concept of empowerment – with insights from sociological perspectives on power and gender, as well as collective action theory. This allows for the conceptualisation of women’s empowerment as a dynamic process that is shaped by a set of communicative practices. Focusing on female Chinese bloggers and women’s groups of different organisational types, this study aims to explore the respective ways in which these two types of women actors use the Internet with a view to examining whether, and the extent to which it enables them to generate a sense of empowerment. The empirical data mainly derives from interviews with female bloggers and with staff members from different women’s groups, as well as from a features analysis and social network analysis of the sampled blogs and official websites of studied groups. Overall, the findings suggest that the opportunities offered by the Internet for women’s empowerment through awareness-raising, social interactions, and the organising of collective action, are limited. For female bloggers, their activities do not translate the new communicative practices afforded by the Internet into concrete action to bring about changes in their everyday life. On the contrary, blogs become an alternative platform to discipline their behaviours and to reinforce patriarchal gendered norms. Moreover, the research finds that the promise of empowerment is further undermined by the pervasive commercialisation of the Internet and state control. For women’s groups, contextual factors prevent them from fully realising the potential of the Internet for increasing their organisational visibility, promoting public awareness about gender issues, building a sense of the collective, campaigning, or networking. The major barriers in these processes are state control, a lack of resources, online censorship, and at times, competition from commercial sites. In this respect, the Internet does not play a significant role in forming a collective to challenge existing unjust power relations.