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This thesis investigates the nature of gender bias in Tibetan Buddhism and the specific role Western Tibetan Buddhist nuns have played in transforming such prejudice. The afore-mentioned gender bias pertains particularly to the unavailability of full ordination (bhikshuni ordination) for nuns in the Tibetan tradition. The research highlights the specific contribution made by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, a British woman and currently the most senior Tibetan Buddhist nun. Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo attained fame for spending twelve years meditating in a cave in the Himalayas, and for her statement that she intends to attain enlightenment in a female body. She is also the founder and abbess of a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery Dongyu Gatsal Ling in India. Tenzin Palmo is particularly outspoken in her efforts to transform gender bias within the ranks of Tibetan Buddhism, and serves as an inspiration to countless lay and monastic Buddhist women worldwide. The researcher postulates that gender equality has not yet been attained within Tibetan Buddhism. Androcentric record keeping, certain misogynistic meditation practices, and cumbersome decision making processes within the Tibetan ecclesiastic system have maintained gender bias within its institution, despite His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s efforts to assist in the transformation of monastic attitudes. The Dalai Lama, spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and one of its most learned scholars, has made his position clear as far back as 2007 when he expressed his full support for the establishment of the Bhikshuni Sangha in the Tibetan tradition. Two years earlier, in 2005, he had already urged Western bhikshunis to become more involved in the issue of full ordination in Tibetan Buddhism. Western nuns in particular have therefore played a leading role in their attempts to transform gender bias in a true Buddhist spirit of patience and compassion. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa has been equally outspoken on the issue. In 2010 in Bodhgaya, India, he made a commitment in front of an international audience to ordaining women as bhikshunis, and stated unequivocally that he was prepared to ordain these women himself. However, he did caution against expecting quick results, asking the audience to have patience. In conclusion the thesis suggests that despite a favourable doctrinal attitude to women, ambiguity still characterises the Tibetan Buddhist approach towards females. There is tension between an underground tradition of highly accomplished female practitioners and the institutional preference for male practitioners. Institutionalised gender bias in Tibetan Buddhism therefore has no sound doctrinal basis in view of the fact that the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon is rife with female Buddhas, goddesses, dakinis, and other highly spiritual and enlightened women. Present times are characterised, especially in the West, by accomplished female academics and Tibetan Buddhist teachers, as well as prominent nuns. The yogini-tantras furthermore attest to the reverence and honour the male should afford to the female. Gender hierarchy and male dominance cause untold suffering and pain, especially devastating for female monastics, and is therefore both contradictory to Buddhist principles and to the norms of a progressive society. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Biblical and Religious Studies / unrestricted

In light of all the criticisms of performance appraisal/management, this symposium presents 4 new studies that begin to reveal when performance ratings are most valuable and where research on the effectiveness of performance management needs to go in order to best inform practice.

This literature study was conducted with the aim to examine how the literature work in school appears from a gender perspective. It was based on two questions: “according to scientific research, how is the pupil’s reading affected by gender norms?” and “according to scientific research, how can different views of gender be made visible by working with fiction in the classroom?”. Initially, the importance of equality according to the different national policy documents was presented. Next, the progression of children’s literature from a gender perspective was introduced, from the 1940s to the 1970s. Research showed that fiction can influence children’s thoughts about gender, and how both schoolbooks and fiction occasionally strengthen traditional gender norms. The method for collecting data went in line with a model, where the search process was divided into two phases. The key words were chosen and the databases that were used were ERIC, APA Psychinfo and SwePub, along with some manual searches. The result indicates that gender norms play a significant role when choosing and interpreting books. Children’s intertextual knowledge is crucial for how they are interpreting texts. The result also shows that the teacher has an important role when making different views of gender visible, and three ways to do this is by making conscious book choices, by engaging the students in discussions about books, and by roleplaying with the students.    Based on the result of this study, further research will be made with the aim to examine if the teacher’s treatment of the students in booktalks have an impact on their perception of gender. / Denna litteraturstudie gjordes i syfte att undersöka hur litteraturarbetet i skolan ser ut ur ett genusperspektiv. Frågeställningarna studien utgår ifrån är “hur ser forskningen att elevers läsning av skönlitteratur påverkas av könsmönster?” samt “vad säger forskningen om hur skönlitteratur kan användas i klassrummet för att synliggöra olika uppfattningar om kön?”. Inledningsvis presenteras jämställdhetens roll utifrån olika styrdokument, och forskning tas upp som visar vikten av skönlitteratur, och att den kan influera barns föreställningar kring kön. Därefter presenteras barnlitteraturens framfart ur ett genusperspektiv, från 1940–1970 tal. Vidare introduceras forskning gjord under 2000-talet från olika länder som analyserar böcker, och stereotypa föreställningar kring könen existerar fortfarande i en del barnlitteratur. Metoden för datainsamlingen sker enligt en modell, där sökningen delas in i två faser. Nyckelorden presenteras och de databaser som används är ERIC, APA Psychinfo och SwePub, tillsammans med en del manuella sökningar. Resultatet visar att könsmönster har betydelse både vid valet och tolkningen av skönlitteraturen. Elevers intertextuella kunskap ses som avgörande för hur de tolkar texter. Resultatet indikerar även på att läraren har en viktig roll vid synliggörandet av olika uppfattningar om kön. Medvetna bokval, samtal kring böcker och rollspel är tre metoder som kan användas för att synliggöra detta.   Baserat på resultatet i denna studie kommer vidare forskning att behandla om lärarens bemötande gentemot eleverna i boksamtal har betydelse för deras uppfattning om kön.

James Leslie Mitchell's critique of modern society, a society which nurtured aggression, colonialism, religion, racism, and gender bias, was rooted in his background, experience and commitment. Being a revolutionary writer, he held progressive and visionary views, and claimed his works were propaganda, carrying messages to reshape society on ancient values and socialist principles. In his Scottish short stories (written under his pseudonym Lewis Grassie Gibbon) wives and daughters were neglected and ignored, yet forced to do menial tasks on the farm. Women in his English stories and novels were better situated and educated, taking an active role in their own development, showing determination to exercise free will and develop self-awareness, and encouraging others to emancipate themselves. A number of characters accepted atheism and Communism, and believed in Diffusionism wherein people were simple, cooperative, without malice. Undoubtedly, Mitchell/Gibbon's crowning achievement was A Scots Quair. Chris Guthrie embodied the qualities of his earlier heroines. She loved the soil but disliked the workings, preferred the accuracy of English words and deplored the crude talk of the farming communities; yet she was impelled to carry on as a farmer. Chris was married three times, widowed twice, separated once, had one son, and few friends; and lived in a croft, a manse and a boarding house. She abhorred war, favoured birth control, had a glimmering of the Golden Age, and exhibited the attitudes, beliefs and opinions of her creator. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

In the curriculum for the compulsory school it is stated that teachers should provide gender equal environments free from gender bias. Furthermore, some researchers suggests that the EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom in particular is an important place for the regulation and production of gender. As a result, I decided to explore some EFL teacher’s attitudes towards gender bias and how they work with gender equality in their classrooms. To do this, I conducted semi-structured interviews with two 4-6 EFL teachers. Prior research on the subject suggests that EFL teaching materials often contain gender biased depictions. Despite this, some researchers do not consider this a problem since teachers should be able to work around these types of issues. Instead, looking at research on how much attention boys and girls receive in the classroom, boys often come out on top. However, this is likely due to the teacher more frequently telling the boys to not disturb their classmates. When it comes to students own attitudes, some research claims that boys undermine girls in the classroom and consider femininity as something negative. Shifting focus to the consequences of gender bias, research proposes that it may result in passivity and lack of self-esteem for the victim. Lastly, according to research, some strategies for counteracting gender bias includes teachers having students reflect on the problems with gender bias, changing the gender of characters in texts and alternating between boys and girls when asking questions to ensure a gender equal distribution of talking time. Through the two interviews I conducted, I learned that both teachers have seen consequences of gender bias similar to those described in the research. They also agree that there are norms affecting student’s behaviors that may restrict their participation and learning. The male norm is brought up as something particularly bad. To discourage these norms, and gender bias in general, the two teachers suggests several strategies. This includes complementing traditional teaching materials with more nuanced sources, encouraging a critical stance in terms of discourse, making sure that every students is active and placing their desks strategically.

Gender differences play an important role in the diversity that exists in our world today. Evan as infants, our young minds are able to grasp that there are large differences in the roles and expectations for males and females and that these differences contribute to the variety of experiences that we encounter in our interactions with the two genders. As we grown from children into adults, it is clear that the biased opinions we form regarding the opposite sex in childhood are too simplistic in their ideologies, and during the time that we mature into young adults, our opinions mature as well. Although there has been much research into the development of attitudes from childhood into adulthood, the role that self-esteem may play in the process has been somewhat neglected. This thesis explored the nature of self-esteem and tested its salience with regard to intergroup gender bias in children and ambivalent sexism in adults. In the child sample (n=20), intergroup gender bias was found to be correlated positively with global self-worth. In the adult sample (n=218), elevated levels of global self-worth were correlated with hostile sexism in females and with benevolent sexism in males. Surprisingly few types of specific self-esteem (self-perceived peer social competence, behavioral conduct, physical appearance, and athletic competence) were found to correlate with intergroup gender bias in children and ambivalent sexism in adults.

This paper is an inquiry into the discourse styles of men and women who work together in a conservative Protestant Christian business. Many conservative Protestant Christian churches teach that the Bible forbids women from holding positions of authority over men. Yet in the communications department of this particular business, women fill the top three management positions, supervising a mixed-gender staff of 15. Research has shown that men and women subconsciously use language markers that indicate personal attitudes toward the same and the opposite genders. This research project draws on that information while it analyzes the oral and electronic discourse of the communications staff. The purpose of this study is to observe whether or not the traditional teachings of conservative Protestant Christian churches has influenced the attitudes of these men and women with regard to women in positions of authority over men in a Christian business. Two staff meetings and a lunchroom conversation were audio taped and transcribed to note oral discourse patterns. One hundred and eleven emails were examined to mark patterns of written discourse. This data was then evaluated against published research in the area of gendered discourse markers. The results indicate that two of the three women in leadership positions over men were comfortable with their positions of authority, but the third woman's discourse patterns showed signs of insecurity. Furthermore, the men in the department did not indicate signs that they seek to exercise power over women, nor did they show signs of difficulty in submitting to the authority of the women. The women staff members, however, showed definite indications of being insecure in a mixed group, and of being meekly subordinate to anyone in authority over them. These results, while helpful, are not definitive in that they do not account for the possibility of other influencing factors, such as personality types, job roles and expectations, age differences, or church teachings on meekness and submission to authority. However, the results of this research indicate that some conservative Christian men are ready for and able to embrace the concept of having women in positions of authority over them, even in a Christian environment, and a few conservative, Christian women are ready to step into those positions. Also from this research it could be concluded that, on the average, conservative women struggle more with the shift of authority than men do. More research would need to be done to address that question fully.

Demographic factors can influence criminal justice system outcomes. We examine legal system processing in 12 U.S. states from 1976-1991. Variables included: 1) race, age, and gender; 2) violent, sexual, and drug- and alcohol-related charges; 3) level of charge; 4) charges at arrest, trial, and final disposition; 5) time-lengths between each stage; 6) dismissal, plea bargaining, and conviction; and 7) final sentencing length. Significant differences in arrest, prosecution, plea bargaining, charge severity, and final sanctioning were observed dependent on race, gender, age, and the intersectionality of these characteristics. Implications for research policy to reduce the impact of disparities are discussed.

Syftet med denna studie är att analysera de fyra senaste nordiska vinnarbidragen i Eurovision Song Contest, för att se om det föreligger återkommande mönster, normativa könsstereotyper och hur makt uttrycks i tävlingen. Genom multimodala analyser av dessa bidrag med fokus på kön och makt, kommer följande frågeställningar att besvaras: Hur ser den multimodala gestaltningen ut inom de fyra senaste nordiska vinnarbidragen i Eurovision Song Contest? Samt: Hur representeras kvinnor respektive män i de olika bidragen? Som material för analyserna har Youtube-klipp på samtliga bidrag använts, där det multimediala har analyserats genom multimodala analyser. Efter dessa analyser blir sammanfattningen att det finns återkommande mönster och könsstereotyper inom ESC, där männen ofta tilldelas makt medan kvinnor i stället är den mer försumbara. Dessa mönster och stereotyper ser vi inte givetvis vid första inblicken av ett bidrag, utan genom att göra djupare multimodala analyser. / The primary aim of this study is to examine and analyze how different media (multimedia or mixed media) in the Eurovision Song Contest work togheter when combined. The expectation is to see if there are reocurring themes and patterns in the representation of the Nordic countries in the ESC with a main focus on gender bias and authority. Four different winning entries from the Eurovision Song Contest performed by the Nordic countries have been chosen and analyzed. The thesis in this essay is that there are patterns in the representation of different countries in the ESC, and that there also may occur stereotypical gender bias. Therefore the key questions have been the following: What does the multimodal impersonation of the latest four Nordic winners in the ESC look like? And: What does the representation of men and women look like? Youtube-videos have been used as material to analyse these performances by doing multimodal analyses. This study indicates that there are occuring gender bias and stereotypes in the ESC, and also reoccuring patterns in the representation of the Nordic countries as a geographical area. We can not see this by the first glimpse, but through deeper multiodal analyses.