This thesis conducts a reconceptualisation of historical time as a means of reorienting feminist historiography and changing the ways that we construct and approach histories of feminism. Various feminist theorists have argued that feminist theory requires a multilinear, multidirectional model of historical time, to enable productive encounters and exchanges between past and present feminisms, and account for the coexistence of parallel, intersecting feminist trajectories. This is particularly crucial in light of the continuing dominance of the phasic ‘wave’ model of feminist history, which is bound to notions of linear succession and teleological progress, and severely curtails the ways in which diverse feminist histories can be mapped, understood and related to one another. However, whilst alternative, multilinear, multidirectional notions of historical time have been mooted, there is rarely any clarity or elaboration on what exactly what this might mean or how it might work. This, I suggest, is because ‘historical time’ is itself an under-investigated and under-articulated concept. My contribution in this thesis, therefore, is to offer a detailed study of historical time, which makes sense of the idea that historical time is multilinear and multidirectional. In the course of this investigation, I develop a ‘polytemporal’ model of historical time, arguing that historical time is generated through a mix of different temporalities and fields of time, including the ‘time of the trace’, ‘narrative time’, ‘calendar time’ and ‘generational time’. Analysing each of these ‘times’ in turn, the thesis offers a thorough and internally complex account of historical time, demonstrating how thinking history ‘polytemporally’ can work, and how historical time can be understood as multilinear and multidirectional. Further, it offers concrete suggestions as to how this reconceptualised model can translate into a more nuanced and effective feminist historiographical practice, which opens up conversations between past and present feminisms in order to positively transform our presents and futures.

This thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter provides an analysis of intergenerational mobility across countries, across cohorts and over the income distribution. It compares the patterns of intergenerational income mobility between fathers and sons in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among other findings, the analysis highlights that mobility is lowest for families at the extremes of the income distribution. Among university graduates, mobility is still lowest at the top. This calls for further research on the drivers of intergenerational mobility. The second chapter investigates why intergenerational earnings mobility is lowest at the top and at the bottom, by exploring the role of social networks. The implications of a simple model are tested on data from the United Kingdom. The inverse U-shaped mobility patterns are explained in two steps. First, a range of findings is consistent with the hypothesis that family friends affect the offspring’s educational and occupational choices. Second, the friend’s job is correlated to the parent’s job, in different ways at different income levels. Specifically, the richest and the poorest parents tend to have friends that are more similar to them than median parents. The third chapter examines the effects of job polarization on individuals and households by assessing the roles of occupational mobility, changes in occupational wage premia, mating patterns across occupations and female labour supply. The paper uses the British Household Panel Survey to examine the UK over 1991-2008. The findings suggest that most of the factors listed above have important roles. The period is characterised by pronounced movements in occupational premia and important roles for occupational mobility and assortative matching.

The aim of this study is to explore the lives and identities of gay Arab Muslim men living in the U.K., a group that has not been specifically or exclusively researched in any previous study within the British context. The thesis aims to demonstrate how various identities such as sexuality, race, ethnicity, gender and social class intersect with each other within three different contexts: in an intra-personal context, in the context of relationships with family and kin, and in the context of interactions in white-dominant gay and non-gay spaces. The thesis investigates the outcomes of these intersections and how these outcomes are managed and negotiated. The study’s epistemology aligns in a broad sense with feminist epistemological approaches in making subjugated voices and marginalised experiences heard. A qualitative research methodology is adopted involving individual interviews with 35 men. Intersectionality is utilised as a theoretical framework, and the thesis asserts that concepts such as intra-categorical and inter-categorical intersectionality are extremely useful for achieving an in-depth understanding of the complexities and nuances of the lived experiences and identities of these men, illustrating both the diversity of experience subsumed within supposedly homogeneous ethnic categorisations, and uncovering how these men’s interlocking identities may be characterised by experiences of multiple discriminations, including homophobia, racism and Islamophobia.

An examination of the employment situations of West Indian, white and Asian women waged workers in Britain reveals both shared characteristics and ethnic differences. My research considers the main similarities and differences and assesses the significance of four major determinants of women's employment options. Gender divisions within the labour market, state and employers' policies towards working mothers, cultural differences in the interpretation of gender roles and the ideology of parentcraft, and racial discrimination are examined. My analysis derives from an examination of existing literature and my own empirical research which was conducted during 1978 and 1979 In the Handsworth area of Birmingham. My research consists of a study of childcare facilities, a survey of local employment opportunities, which was conducted by means of interviews with major employers and follow-up enquiries in response to job vacancy advertisements, and semi-structured taped interviews with 31 West Indian, 22 Asian and 16 white mothers. Previous approaches to women's employment fail to recognise differences between women and do not sufficiently consider the relationship between the structure of the labour market and the role of women within the family. My research provides substantive evidence of the relationship between women's role in the family and their role in production, and demonstrates variations in the employment and family situation of women of different ethnic origins and the influence of state and employers' policies. I show that while a worker's gender is more significant than ethnic origin in determining their employment situation, ethnic differences must also be considered. Cultural variations in the interpretation of gender roles, and the ideology of motherhood, have a significant impact on the proportion of women who engage in paid labour, and the number of hours worked, while racial discrimination influences the type of work performed and the level of unemployment experienced by black workers.

Despite the growing evidence of the significant role of fathers in the emotion socialisation (ES) process, their ‘voice’ is scarce within the literature, leading to a dominant discourse surrounding maternal ES practices. ES occurs directly and indirectly with significant ‘scaffolding’ provided by parents, therefore emotion management is heavily socialised. Two ES practices aid or restrict children’s emotional self-regulation. Emotion coaching (EC) parents tend to use expression of emotion as opportunities for learning and development. Emotion dismissing (ED) parents are uncomfortable with negative emotions, so may dismiss, or use punitive responses. Fathers are thought to be shaped by socio-cultural norms and gender biases, therefore emotions may be socialised differentially, according to child gender and the type of emotion being displayed. An exploratory study of five fathers from a local authority in the East of England involved them responding to resource measures employing a combination of spoken and film scenarios reflecting negative emotions of sadness or anger in children. Transcribed data indicated that a number of positive ES approaches were being used. Future large-scale research with fathers from a broad demographic would strengthen the knowledge-base, perhaps also including partner and child opinions. There is a view that research regarding children’s emotional development should be considered incomplete, if data from fathers is not included.

This thesis explores the extent to which the incorporation of same-sex relationships into formal regulatory domains is working to reinforce heteronormativity. It focuses on this issue in relation to the provision of legal advice on civil partnership dissolution. It concentrates on three main questions: 1) How can same-sex relationships, in light of civil partnerships (and, by extension, same-sex marriage), help to challenge social and legal constructions about the gendered nature of roles in intimate relationships? 2) To what extent do solicitors construct the issues and legal framework as being identical in same-sex matters to different-sex cases? 3) How do lesbians and gay men understand and experience the law of financial relief? It is argued that heteronormative conceptions of gender have been carried over from (different-sex) marriage into civil partnership proceedings, and that lesbians and gay men have, to a large extent, been assimilated into the mainstream. That said, civil partner clients have also resisted the imposition of heterosexual norms on their relationship, preferring to settle dissolution matters on their own terms, and opposing substantive financial remedies such as maintenance and pension sharing. In this way, civil partnership dissolution does still pose some novel challenges for family law.

This study focuses upon the experience of identity through gathering and studying accounts of the personal and professional lives of twenty women who are headteachers and mothers in the North Midlands of England. The enquiry is shaped by a conceptual framework which grows out of an in depth review of the UK and international literature. The interplay between agency and structure within the social construction of a gendered identity and the value systems based upon this lead to a consideration of the history of headship and its reworking, within Government agenda, as school leadership through the National College for School Leadership. A consideration of research methodology explains the choice of survey as a qualitative approach influenced by the feminist stance, and a semi-structured interview method. Presentation and analysis of the fieldwork has an emphasis on ensuring that the subjects' voices are prioritised. The complex dialogic nature of identity is clearly heard and the women demonstrate that their struggle for agency within this demands a manipulation of Government and social agenda.

The Collection tells the story of Barbara, a fifty-something, Christian, teacher, wife, and mother, as she is forced to return home after her estranged father's death. Named executrix of his estate, Barbara navigates family secrets, repressed childhood trauma, and her mentally ill father's legacy. Using Attachment Theory and Intergenerational Theories of Personal Development, this research discusses the development and relationships of the characters in The Collection to demonstrate the connections between their child and adult selves—specifically, the role of Barbara's parents and childhood in her suppressed anger. Framed within the context of Carolyn G. Heilbrun's feminist critique of women writers and women characters, this paper connects socio-psychological theories to investigate how the patriarchal gender norms Barbara's mother instilled in her daughter result in Barbara's suppressed anger, strained interpersonal relationships and adult religiosity. The relationship between adult Barbara and her aging mother is discussed in context of these theories and compared against women characters in Siri Hustvedt's The Blazing World and Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge. Finally, the paper calls for further research into and understanding of the causes and effects of women's anger, as well as an essential shift in how both men and women are permitted to express emotions.

This thesis explores advertising as a ‘soft’ mode of governance understood in terms of a form of power which avoids instruments of coercion, involving instead certain practices of freedom and forms of pleasure. The main concern of the thesis is to analyse the mechanisms through which techniques of such ‘modest’ power interact with techniques of representation in order to define forms of femininity and shape self-fashioning practices of female consumers. The study is based on a comprehensive survey of a sample of television advertisements broadcast in Britain on three television channels with national coverage in May 2001 as well as on the analysis of a selected body of advertising trade literature. It draws on theoretical and methodological approaches from social anthropology and various strands of cultural studies. The thesis reveals that the way advertising attempts to influence consumers is in line with some aspects of neo-liberal style of governance. It argues that such a mode of governance seeks to regulate women’s ethical sensibilities by outlining the space of desire, power and pleasure, by stimulating the will for self-improvement and by providing advice about how women should think of and shape themselves.

Purpose This dissertation focuses at assessing the efficacy of shorter time intervals in the treatment of medical abortions along with the use of various follow up methods. Methods This initial part of dissertation was carried out as an extensive study of literature, followed by observational study on shorter time intervals and follow up methods for the feasibility of the study. The main dissertation met its research aims through an RCT of 121 women comparing shorter to standard time intervals and assessing the various follow up methods at the end of 2 weeks. The qualitative component of the study was achieved by conducting in-depth interviews of women undergoing medical abortion on various aspects of medical abortions with emphasis on shorter time intervals and follow up. Findings This research produced a number of key findings: the RCT showed that both treatments have equal efficacy and acceptability with minor differences in their side effects however the sample size was small to generalise the findings; the follow up methods showed varied responses with preference to confirmatory investigations at 2 weeks follow up. Conclusions The main conclusions drawn from this research were that shorter time intervals can be offered as an alternative to standard treatment intervals in well informed women, however a larger RCT is needed. In order to provide these treatments as outpatient robust follow up methods will need to be incorporated into the abortion services.