This dissertation investigates the problematic locality ¡§home¡¨ and its relationship with the female protagonists in Doris Lessing¡¦s novels by studying the interrelationship between gender and space. By applying the concepts of feminist geographers Linda McDowell and Doreen Masssey, this dissertation interprets how Lessing develops her childhood home, the source of nostalgia, to a fluid and dynamic domain in her imaginary world. I will argue that Lessing¡¦s women break through the arbitrary distinctions between the domestic and public, feminine and masculine, within and without the boundaries by infusing into contemporary elements such as mobility and globalization of women. The first chapter introduces the motivation of my dissertation, the intertextuality between these texts, then literature reviews on Lessing scholars, and on the speculative aspect of feminist geography, and finally the methodology and organization of the whole dissertation. In Chapter Two, the impact of domestic space on female subjectivity is the focus in The Grass Is Singing. Gender, race, and class barriers are violated by the female protagonist Mary Turner when she transgress the boundaries between domestic and public, white and black, master and servant. Chapter Three deals with the self-development of the female protagonist in Summer before the Dark. The female subjectivity must be reconstructed through the process of negotiation between the private and the public spaces. The heroine Kate Brown undertakes an ordeal physically and spiritually to achieve her self-awakening in sexuality and autonomy. Chapter Four focuses on women¡¦s anxiety about their identities in urban city in The Golden Notebook. The sense of insecurity in both private and public spaces is manifested in Anna Wulf, her writing, and her reflection of sexual relationship. In the fifth chapter, three essential factors that affect the concepts of home in this novel: time-space compression, globalization, and the changing relationship between biological mothers and their daughters are discussed in Lessing¡¦s latest full-length novel The Sweetest Dream. The final chapter is a conclusion of the whole dissertation.

This study explores how fathers exist within socially constructed micro and macro systems and are positioned within a discourse on gendered masculinity. Seven fathers from the Nanaimo, B.C. region volunteered to participate in two focus groups, to discuss “what makes a father”. An exploration of the men’s lived experiences reflected on memories from childhood that influenced choices they make in fatherhood. Through generative exchanges and personal narratives subjective and evolved perspectives on gender binaries, masculine stereotypes and traditional belief systems were articulated. The compilation and analysis of data attempts to disrupt preconceived notions of masculinity in the 21st century. Based on the focus group data the study reveals roles that challenge traditional paternal archetypes relevant to parental relationships and demonstrates that contemporary fathers continue to evolve and navigate what is being referred to as “new” fatherhood. The study contributes to the research on fathers as an exclusive research subject and their understanding of fatherhood in their own terms. The fathers in this study are challenging antiquated belief systems of how men are supposed to be within the structures of gendered masculinity. The study indicates there is no one-way or right way to be a dad and the curiosity and a conscious effort to trouble heteronormative archetypes by the participants indicates that men create space to chose to father according to their subjective experiences. / Graduate

Succession planning and successor selection is a key theme in the FOB (Family Owned Business) literature. To enable the business to continue, FOB owner needs to decide who will be the next leader before resigning. Although the succession process is one of the most researched areas within the family business field, studies have mostly focused only on incumbent or successor viewpoints. However, the purpose of this study is to fill the gap and offers a different perspective on daughters’ succession by analysing owner, successor, and employee points of view. This dissertation aims to identify cultural patterns, and how factors based on different cultural patterns influence the daughter succession process in Turkish family businesses. Additionally, aim to reach novel insights regarding women entrepreneurs in Turkish FOBs, particularly how they gain business leadership positions, and the explicit and implicit factors determining the succession process. The research is grounded in the multidimensional model of succession process in family business theory, which has been expanded to include interactive and collaborative action, by addressing the family business cultural effects associated with stewardship theory. The adoption for this study of an epistemological interpretivist philosophy within a social constructivist perspective is justified. Data was collected from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 FOB owners and daughters, and surveys of 252 FOB employees to obtain information on their perspectives about selecting daughters as FOB successors.

A l’intersection d’une sociologie de la socialisation professionnelle et de la sociologie du genre, la thèse se propose d’étudier la population des femmes exerçant en chirurgie digestive. L’enquête s’appuie sur des entretiens menés avec des chirurgiens (une quarantaine de femmes et une quinzaine d’hommes) ainsi que sur du matériau ethnographique issu de stages d’observation. Le fait de restreindre l’analyse aux seules exceptions statistiques que représentent les femmes en chirurgie partait de l’hypothèse que les processus de socialisation professionnelle et les produits de cette socialisation seraient plus visibles – parce que plus problématiques, moins « naturels » – qu’en étudiant leurs homologues masculins. Mais parce que les dispositions professionnelles en chirurgie sont inextricablement construites et perçues comme « masculines », l’analyse s’est aussi attachée à la construction sociale du « féminin » ou du « masculin » chez les enquêtées exerçant ce métier. Nous étudions dans une première partie analytique comment les enquêtées qui choisissent la chirurgie s’accommodent de ce qui est rédhibitoire pour d’autres étudiantes ayant écarté la spécialité de leur choix à l’internat, à savoir la grande disponibilité temporelle exigée par le métier, l’humour grivois des opérateurs et le faible relationnel avec le patient. Dans la seconde partie des résultats, nous montrons que les femmes qui choisissent la chirurgie ont pour la plupart un patrimoine dispositionnel perçu comme « masculin » et que cette intériorisation de dispositions socialement construites comme masculines s’est faite dans le cadre de la profession, mais déjà en amont dans le cadre des socialisations antérieures (familiales, amicales…). Quelques cas d’enquêtées « féminines » sont étudiés en contrepoint. Enfin, un dernier chapitre souligne la pluralité dispositionnelle diachronique (avec une tendance à la masculinisation en début de carrière professionnelle) ainsi que la pluralité dispositionnelle synchronique (« masculines » avec les chirurgiens, elles se comporteraient de manière plus « féminine » avec les infirmières). / At the crossing of sociology of professional socialization and sociology of gender, this PdD research studies the population of women general surgeons. It is based on interviews with surgeons (about forty interviews with female surgeons and fifteen with male surgeons) and ethnographic data collected through observation. The study of the statistical exception that are female surgeons is based on the hypothesis that the process of professional socialization and its outcomes would be more visible – because more problematic, less “natural” – than through the study of male surgeons. But, because professional dispositions in surgery are inextricably built and perceived as “masculine”, the research also analyses the social construction of “feminity” and “masculinity” of women surgeons.The first part is devoted to the study of how women who choose surgery put up with some aspects of the profession that make other student avoid it. These aspects are: the business of timetable required by surgery, the lack of inter-personal relations with the patient and the coarse humour of male surgeons. The second part demonstrates that the women who choose surgery have, most of the time, a dispositional heritage perceived as “masculine” and that this incorporation of dispositions socially constructed as masculine occurred in the professional context but also, earlier on, in the context of prior socializations (familial socialization, friend socialisation…). Some “feminine” women surgeons are studied as counterpoint. Finally, the last chapter underlies diachronic dispositional plurality (with a tendency to masculinization at the beginning of the career) and synchronic dispositional plurality (“masculine” with male surgeons, they behave in a more “feminine” way with nurses).

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The aim of this following study is to clarify the Swedish Government´s as well as the European Union's ideological starting point in gender equality work. The study is limited to the gender equality objective of men's violence against women. It addresses the respective strategies of the institutions to combat gender based violence. The approaches of the institutions are compared to show similarities and differences in its approach to the gender equality problem.   This study is a text analysis which aims to examine feminist expressions in the strategic frameworks of the institutions with the use of ideal types. Radical feminism and liberal feminism represent the two ideal types. The purpose of these two ideal types is to enable an estimate of how far or close the institutions are in relation to the ideal types.   The governmental strategies of Sweden are ideologically closer to radical feminism than liberal feminism meanwhile the strategies of the European union are closer to liberal feminism. The discernable similarity between the institutions is that they both wish to make public reforms. However, it is reasonable that Sweden complements those with social changes with focus on structures and gender norms. The government of Sweden therefore includes a wider variety of actors in their gender equality work. The study concludes with a discussion about the result in relation to the feminist theory approach and gendered institutions.

This study explores attitudes and constructions regarding the low number of female entre- preneurs within the Swedish grocery retailer company ICA. Through interviews and a focus group with women within ICA as well as a thematic analysis, this study confirms previous re- search; of women meeting hinders on the labor market, not due to inadequate leadership-skills but on gender-barriers impeding women to become leader, chiefs, and entrepreneurs. The study concludes that although ICA works to attain more female entrepreneurs the gendered structures within the organization have established a norm of male leadership and a reliance on the independent retailer to see your competence behind the gender.

Yes / This paper introduces the concept of ‘organizational readiness’: socio-cultural expectations about working selves that prepare young people (albeit indirectly and in complex and multi-faceted ways) for their future life in organizations. This concept emerges from an analysis of Disney animations and how they constitute expectations about working life that may influence children through their representations of work and gendered workplace roles. The paper’s exploration of Disney’s earlier animations suggests they circulated norms of gender that girls should be weak and avoid work. In contrast, its contemporary productions circulate gender norms that suggest girls should be strong and engage in paid work. In this reading, the continued circulation of earlier alongside contemporary animations may convey to young viewers a paradox: girls must and must not work; they must be both weak and strong. We thus offer new insights into the puzzle of the continued relegation of women to the side-lines in organizations; although, more optimistically, we also point to ways in which future generations of employees may forge ways of constituting forms of gendered selves as yet hardly imaginable.

Children with absent and unknown fathers (also referred to as undisclosed paternal identity) have distinctly been identified as an interest group due to their increased risk to adverse psychological effects specifically associated with not knowing one’s biological father. It is taken for granted that these children have the freedom of asking their mothers and female caregivers who their fathers are, not taking into account that often there is a tacit rule within these homes whereby the biological father is never discussed. The aim of this exploratory study was to use narratives of mothers and guardians who have children under their care who do not know their true fathers’ identities, in order to explore the range of probable reasons that contribute to maternal caregivers not disclosing the identity of biological fathers. Eight face-to-face, individual interviews were conducted with female participants from varying cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds within the Johannesburg area. The women aged between 33 and 60 years were recruited with the assistance of a non-governmental organisation and from online forums. Interviews were conducted in English or a language that the participants understood and lasted on average an hour. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcribed text. The study was undertaken using an interpretive approach that explored the phenomenon of the participants' lived experience of not disclosing. A gendered analysis provided a distanciated framework to review the findings against current societal arrangements. Findings indicated that mothers not disclosing could be linked to the fathers’ behaviour such as inconsistent commitment to the paternal role, denial of paternity and at times, whereabouts were not known limiting what could be conveyed to the children. For this particular study, the nature of the relationship, which is often characterised by the instability of the parents’ relationship at the time of the birth, and subsequent separation, seemed to be a risk factor that a child may not be told who their true father is. Gender-based violence was also found to be contributing to the separation between parents and this in turn created an opportunity for the uninvolved fathers to be absent and unknown to the children. The cultural script that silences women’s experiences of gender-based violence means that father absence that resulted from the violence was difficult to talk about in the homes. The data also gave insight into the differential experiences among the women when dealing with absent, unknown whereabouts and absconded fathers. Although this study was conducted on an exploratory basis, it is suggested that continuous engagement with this topic through research and public discourse would best define how to address the issue. The findings suggest a need to provide mothers who may be considering disclosure with strategies on how to disclose. There is also a broader need to address structural issues that may be contributing towards the phenomenon such as men's violence towards their families.

Magister Artium - MA / This study explores the nuances around gendered dynamics, attitudes, ideologies, values and knowledge that exist within astronomy and astrophysics institutions paying specific attention to the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) as study site. This study investigated implicit and explicit ways in which SAAO spaces and practices are gendered and hierarchized, and the extent to which 'astronomy as a specific discipline within science' remains highly masculinized. By focusing on studies on power, feminist critiques of science and institutional culture in other South African sectors, especially higher education, the study deconstructs a field that has been relatively neglected in South African feminist studies of gendered institutional culture. This thesis makes use of feminist qualitative methodological approaches and fuses mixed methods to collect data. The use of participant observation enabled a broader understanding of the context and to gain an understanding of how gendered, classed and raced subjects construct and navigate social meanings in the hierarchized and symbolically marked space of the SAAO. / National Research Foundation (NRF)