The central focus of this thesis is the storytelling of place and the place of storytelling. These elements comprise the geoliterary terrains of narrative, the cultural matrix in which texts are sited, produced and received, including the lifeworld of the author. The texts under scrutiny in this research have been written by women during the interwar years of the 20th Century in Britain and Australia. One of the primary aims of the thesis is to explore the geoliterary terrains (including the space known as the middlebrow) of these texts in light of their relative neglect by contemporary critics in comparison with the prominence given to works written by men during this period. Analysis of the texts through the lens of locational feminism (Friedman, 1998, p.5) provides the framework for an interdisciplinary inquiry that draws on geography, feminist literary criticism and new historicism. The examination of the first of the texts, Hostages to Fortune (1933), is centred on the politics of the domestic space and the main character, Catherine’s experiences of domestic life. The chapter dealing with the second novel, A Charmed Circle (1929), while still engaging with the politics of domesticity and the everyday, also pursues the more psychological space of individual and family life as well as locating the interior spaces of the author’s lifeworld. The inquiry broadens out into spiritual and regional landscapes in the probing of The Nine Tailors (1934) which is set in the Fens of East Anglia. Expanding still further into empire, nation and identity, the fourth of the novels, The Invaluable Mystery, set in Australia, is explored in terms of the politics of place. More discussion of these sub-themes ensues as the therapeutic landscape of High Rising (1933) located in an imagined setting, is investigated and the links between the author and the writing of the novel are under scrutiny. The substantive themes of domesticity, home and nation are found to be embedded in these works and in the lifeworlds of their authors. The critical neglect of the texts is located within a set of cultural and material practices that marginalised women writers during this period. This marginalisation is in turn located within a longer historical practice of attempting to silence women’s narratives. Operating beside/against these practices are the imperative of storytelling and women’s ‘will to be known’ through narrative.

Introduction: Existing literature focuses on the risks that prostitutes pose to society rather than the occupational risks they face. Most of this work has been conducted with women who work on the streets, although estimates suggest that indoor prostitution (saunas and private flats) in particular is a growing area of commercial sex. This thesis aims to examine the social and economic organisation of commercial sex work in the UK across the three settings of street, sauna and private flats, paying particular attention to the health and safety implications for the women involved. Results: Women in the study reported high levels of social disadvantage that influenced their entry into prostitution; almost half were first paid for sex before they were eighteen and a minority were first forced into prostitution. The working conditions and routines of the three workplaces are described, focusing on the key social and structural features of the workplace, women’s autonomy and working rules, along with their potential impact upon general health, work related stress and safety. Few differences were found in the sexual and reproductive health of women working in different settings. However, as a group, prostitutes had far poorer sexual and reproductive health than non-prostitute women. High levels of violence were reported across the study, mainly from clients, but also pimps and other women. This was patterned by workplace, with street workers significantly more likely to experience violence than either sauna or flat workers. Conclusion: Prostitutes do not represent a threat to the health and safety of their clients; rather, data from this study suggest that the reverse is true. Prostitute health (e.g. sexual and reproductive health, drug use) is poorer than that of non-prostitute women in the UK, and as such, prostitutes represent a group with specialist health and welfare needs. The illegality, stigma and organisation of prostitution further impede women’s health and safety. The findings of this study can be used to tailor health services for prostitutes, as well as inform policy and future research

Within the social sciences, the extensive literature on homosexuality as a socio-cultural construct and on ‘queer’ identities and experiences generally focuses on Western European or Anglo-American societies. Sexuality and homosexuality remain relatively unexplored fields of enquiry within Russian studies, even if it is usually acknowledged that the complex transformations undergone by Russian society since the fall of the communist system have deeply affected sexual practices and attitudes to sex and sexuality. This thesis addresses a gap in the literature by exploring how ‘lesbian’ identities, broadly understood as encompassing the whole spectrum of LBT (lesbian, bisexual, transgender/transsexual) women’s sexualities, are (re)constructed and (re)negotiated in contemporary Russia. It draws on data generated through participant observation, ethnographic interviews with sixty-one queer-identified women, and expert interviews with activists in local community initiatives; ethnographic data is framed within a broader analysis of discourses on lesbianism in popular culture and the media. The thesis critically assesses the centrality of the ‘East/West’ binary in the existing literature on Russian sexualities. Rather than imposing Western-centric categories of identity, it explores women’s own identifications and the meanings they attach to them, framing them within shifting discourses on sexuality, gender and morality across the Soviet and post-Soviet period. The thesis also looks at how sexual identities are performed, negotiated and expressed across everyday contexts such as the home, the workplace, and the street. It interrogates women’s strategies of identity negotiation, highlighting the constraining effects of heteronormative and gendered notions of respectability, but also foregrounding the importance of individual agency. The thesis also maps ‘lesbian/queer’ space in the different urban settings of Moscow and provincial Ul’ianovsk. It explores how ‘lesbian/queer’ space is collectively carved out of the city landscape, while also examining the cultural practices and patterns of socialising attached to specific ‘lesbian’ settings; it also highlights the role of ‘lesbian/queer’ space in validating and performatively producing shared notions of non-heteronormative sexual identities.

Using an anti-oppressive life-story methodology, this research analyses the experience and impact of child sexual abuse on the lives of seven young men aged between 15 and 23. In recognising the sensitivity of the study, and that the young men's experiences are recent, particular attention is paid to the impact of the research and the relevance of social work practitioner research. The study advances an analytical framework, which draws on the tensions between structuralism and poststructuralism Theoretical connections are made between the centrality of sexuality and power in post-structuralism, and the nature of experiences of child sexual abuse. This framework has a wide application for future studies, and has particular implications for future non-pathologising social work practice with sexually abused young men. Asymmetrical power relationships are shown to be characteristic of child sexual abuse. The thesis argues that it is important to understand the diversity, and socially contextualised nature of the young men's experiences, in surviving the impact and aftermath of child sexual abuse. The thesis recognises the importance of understanding the resistance of the young men, and identifies some of the survival strategies they employed, in the extreme and adverse circumstances in which they became immersed. An oppressive context of patriarchal relations, characterised by compulsory heterosexism and homophobia has shaped and exacerbated the young men's harmful experiences. Internalised oppression and power relationships generate beliefs and subsequent responses which affirm and perpetuate oppressive social constructions, and consequent marginalisation. Through its anti-oppressive methodology, its analytical framework, and its use of prior substantive knowledge and experience, the study presents a strong and fresh link between research, social work practice and future research. In making this link, the study explicates the role and skills of the practitioner researcher, and thereby strengthens the academic discipline of social work.

Across East Central Europe, postcommunist transformation is being effected through the discourses of gender. It is in this context that debate around abortion has surfaced repeatedly in Poland. This is an empirical case study of Polish postcommunist transformation centred on gender and in particular, on abortion debate. It focuses on the connection between discourses of Polish nationhood, democracy and gender, contributing to the fields of gender and postcommunism, gender and nation, and comparative reproductive politics. Using a discourse analysis methodology, this thesis analyses Polish abortion debate centred around the 1996 liberalisation of abortion amendment, a ‘moment’ previously neglected in scholarly research. It considers three sites at which abortion debate surfaces, Parliament, press reportage and opinion polls, and analyses how each constructs its role as mechanism and instrument of democracy through its participation in abortion debate. Abortion is a symbolic issue used to create, sustain and contest political identities, a site through which nationalist pasts and futures are imagined, and through which democratic political projects are articulated. Thus abortion is a key symbolic stand-in issue that represents competing democratic and nation-building projects, a site where politics is ‘made’: abortion thus comes to emblematise psotcommunist Polish transformation. Through their participation in Polish abortion debate, Sejm, media and opinion polls legitimate their claims to be primary definers of the ‘new’ Poland, claiming key rolls as mediators between ‘politics’ and the ‘people’. Gender is crucial to the nation-building projects constructed through abortion at all three sites, however this dimension is often suppressed. The thesis further argues that there are grounds for a limited and partial feminist recuperation of the liberalisation ‘moment’. However, it concludes, whilst abortion is fundamentally about women’s equal citizenship rights, having very real and material consequences for Polish women, debate around the liberalisation amendment does not principally revolve around gender.

This is a socio-legal study about law, empowerment and access to justice for women domestic workers in Pakistan. There are no official statistics available on the number of women working in this informal employment sector, neither are there any in-depth research studies carried out on the subject of women in domestic service in Pakistan. Therefore this exploratory study attempts to fill the gap in existing literature by providing information about the profile, nature, working and living conditions of women domestic workers. It provides a starting point towards an understanding of the situation of women in domestic service by listening to their voices and lived experiences. By using feminist legal perspectives, Islamic perspectives on woinen's work and legal pluralism, the present study questions the efficacy of law as a tool for empowering women domestic workers in their struggle against exploitative treatment in the workplace. Grounded theory methodology is followed to collect empirical data about domestic service in Pakistan. Semi-structured group and individual interviews have been carried out at four sites in Karachi and Peshawar, Pakistan. A few case studies have also been included to substantiate some of the major themes arising during fieldwork. Listening to voices of women in domestic service has provided an opportunity to uncover the hidden lives of women domestic workers who work in the privacy of homes. The present study also explores the nature of domestic service, dynamics of employer-employee relations and complexities of class, gender and multiple identities impacting on these relationships. The study finally argues that in the presence of plural legal frameworks formal law alone cannot empower women in domestic service. Therefore for an effective implementation of law it is equally pertinent to look into non-legal strategies so that access to justice can be made possible for these women.

This pro-feminist study aimed at developing an understanding of mothering in the context of domestic violence in contemporary Britain. Despite more than three decades of feminist activism and scholarship in'the field of domestic violence and a broad and detailed understanding of women's experiences of abuse by their intimate partners, little has been written on mothering in this context, particularly from women's experiences. Moreover, a critical evaluation of the literature in the field of domestic violence revealed a tendency to draw upon a deficit model of mothering and to blame abused women in regard to their mothering. This study was located within a research agenda that builds on women's experiences and efforts in order to overcome mother-blaming. It was based upon a qualitative and participa'tive methodology, and five group interviews and 20 individual interviews were carried out with a total of 26 women. It focused on women's experiences of mothering through domestic violence as well as during and after the separation process, and located these experiences within a comprehensive understanding of the institution of motherhood. The findings from this study extend the understanding of the difficulties involved in mothering in the context of domestic violence, which are due to the interaction between the particular context created by the violence and the ideologies and structures that underpin the institution of motherhood. Furthermore, the findings challenge a deficit model of mothering in the context of domestic violence, and demonstrate that women who have experienced domestic violence typically strive to be 'good' mothers and develop a range of strategies in their attempts to meet the standards that underpin the dominant social construction of 'good' mothering. The findings from this study also demonstrated that women are able to identify positive support, but their experiences more often tend to emphasise the failure of such support to materialise. These findings have major implications in terms of supporting women through their experiences of mothering in the context of domestic violence.

Sociological accounts of political activism in African Caribbean and Asian communities in Britain have largely overlooked the role of black women as agents and have contributed toward an image of passivity, apathy and exclusion. This thesis examines the black women's organisations which have emerged since the early 1970s. Drawing on unpublished materials from over 30 organisations, participant observation at conferences and meetings and semi-structured interviews with 25 women activists. the thesis provides evidence that black women have been highly politically active despite immense barriers, both internal and external to their communities. This thesis explores the relevance of theoretical insights on identity formation, diversity and difference to black women's organising. I argue that black women's organisations have used a variety of strategies to manage the tension between the desire for a nuanced and differentiated notion of black womanhood and the need for political unity. In so arguing, I explore recent attacks on the term 'black', and identify a number of strengths in its continuing usage as a political and cultural definition. I also explore the extent to which increasing social stratification within black communities has the potential to undermine this unity and to create incompatible personal and organisational goals. Finally, I examine coalition building between black women and black men, white women and the labour movement. I identify a number of barriers to effective partnership but argue that there are a range of recent developments which may open up the possibility of building coalitions for social transformation. In conclusion, I argue that black women have formed independent organisations on the basis of a broad-based and visionary politics of transformation which has a number of unifying elements. These factors form the basis of a strategic unity which they have forged across differences of ethnicity, religion, nationality, class and sexuality.

This thesis examines the impact of children and young people’s participation on policy making in four settings, a youth forum and school council in Wales, UK and two examples of established participation structures in the international development context. The drive to include children as ‘policy actors’, as a legitimate group in the policy making process, has led in Wales, and in much of the UK, to the burgeoning of youth forums and school councils. But evidence of the impact of children’s public participation remains difficult to capture and little previous work has been done to evaluate the influence of children’s forums on the design, delivery and evaluation of public services. This thesis draws on theories of governance and power as well as the social construction of childhood to examine the policy influence that each of the forums had from the perspectives of the key stakeholders involved. The research makes a contribution to understanding the factors that enable or inhibit children’s ‘voice’ being turned into policy ‘influence’. Children’s forums are more likely to affect changes in public services where there is clarity about objectives; where efforts are focused on well-understood policy or practice opportunities; and where there is close integration between child participation structures and similar structures targeting other civil society groups at a local level. The importance of policy networks and the linking of the children’s resources with other influencing factors emphasises the important role of supporting adults in reflexively navigating the tensions in children’s public participation. The thesis calls into question whether anyone is really listening to children’s views and opinions in the new governance spaces of a devolved Wales and argues that more needs to be done to insist on change and support children’s claims to express their views and to have those views taken into account, in line with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The present research attempted to explore Pakistani young adults’ exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) during childhood, its impact on their attitudes towards IPV, and the role of risk and protective factors. Drawing on feminist intersectionality, gender specific social learning and resiliency approaches within an overall feminist framework, a mixed methods research design i.e., sequential explanatory design, was used. The study consisted of two parts – a survey (with quantitative and qualitative data) and in-depth interviews. The survey included a sample of 1,046 young adults (aged between 18-25 years; males=483; females=563) from higher education institutions in Pakistan. In-depth interviews were based on a sub-sample of the survey sample with exception of one and included 25 young adults (males=13; females=12) who have reported of living with IPV since their childhood. Controlling for social desirability bias, the results revealed alarming prevalence rates of exposure to IPV, and a significant relationship between IPV exposure and other forms of victimization. A significant positive, but weak, relationship emerged between IPV exposure and favourable attitudes to IPV, and the findings show that a complex interaction of factors influence this relationship including: exposure to violence in the community and media; mother’s education; involvement in IPV; risk factors; and other forms of victimization appeared in a mediating or moderating role. The findings from in-depth interviews validated the survey findings and highlighted three main categories of themes. Each category consisted of two themes and further sub-themes. Young adults perceived the impact of exposure to IPV on their emotional health, perception of self, father-child relationship, and social relations. They talked about their struggle to cope and identified: inbuilt resilience; religiosity; familial support, especially their relationship with their mothers; education and extra-curricular activities as sources of motivation and protective factors. They envisioned change by stressing the need to develop societal-level, parent-focused and child and young person focused strategies to eradicate the issue and help people affected by IPV.