Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 415-432).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-321).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in History." Includes bibliographical references (p. 252-262).

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis analysed the representation of women as voters, politicians and relatives of politicians in the newspaper coverage of every elections from 1918 until 2010; in order to offer historical context to the existing literature about women, media and politics. Content analysis and feminist critical discourse analysis were employed to track the changes and continuities in their mediated representations across the twenty five elections studied. The study shows that across time, the representation of voters changed the least. Voters tended to be constructed as mothers and thrifty housewives whose political views stemmed from their familial roles and domestic responsibilities. The extent to which they were depicted as politically engaged and were quoted did increase over time however they continued to be predominantly written about rather than allowed to speak for themselves. Contrary to the results of previous studies, politicians were not associated with stereotypically feminine policy areas, but were instead gendered through their construction as important representatives for women voters and their campaign styles. Over time the proportion of items offering negative evaluations increased. The proportion which made personalised references to their appearance or age, and included their voices peaked during the 1960s and 1970s and then declined so that contemporary politicians are as likely to experience both as their interwar forebears. The results from 2010 however suggested that personalisation may once again be increasing. The role of relatives in electoral coverage changed the most of the three groups. During the interwar years they were depicted as active political campaigners whose contribution was largely welcomed, after war their role became more focused on their personal lives. The coverage also became increasingly focused on the wives of party leaders. By the late 1980s, leaders wives were once again constructed taking an active role in the campaign but these interventions were portrayed as illegitimate and threatening to democracy. The coverage of relatives became increasingly personalised over time focusing on their appearance and its appeal to the electorate. The newspaper coverage of women in electoral campaigns has always been, and continues to be gendered in specific ways. Women have consistently had their level of political activity trivialised and their voices marginalised. They were domesticated through the construction of their political priorities and campaign styles and they received personalised coverage which was undeniably gendered. In effect women were routinely linked to the private sphere, rendering their political participation in the public domain problematic.

French religious life in the mid-seventeenth century was conspicuous for its revolutionary reversal of Tridentine prescriptions enforcing strict claustration upon women religious. In the process modes of female piety changed from contemplative to active within the development of a number of active female religious congregations dedicated to working beyond the cloister to provide key social and welfare services to communities. This study explains the genesis of this active female apostolate in the seventeenth century. It is a comparative examination of the first three of these orders, which spearheaded this development; the Order of the Visitation, the Daughters of the Cross and the Daughters of Charity. The work initially examines the Visitandines, the first female religious order seriously to challenge Tridentine prescriptions on claustration. Although in the long run they failed in their attempt, this order served as an influential example and created powerful networks of people of influence and means who would go on to support future orders. The second order, the Daughters of the Cross, was the first to benefit from their 'mistakes' and networks. Although they developed on a small scale, the highly significant Paris-based community, unrestricted by claustration, dedicated itself to professional teaching services. The third and the biggest success story, the Daughters of Charity, drew on the experience of these two groups, and exploited networks of influence and finance. They circulated freely in the community and worked to provide community servies on a national and subsequently international scale. My thesis is concerned with the interaction between founders, supporters, particular bishops and the women themselves and the acts of collusion which finally achieved this radical change. It aims to identify an initially tentative process which gained in the course of 50 years considerable momentum and radically transformed religious life for both women and for social Catholicism.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2009. / Open access. Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-161).