<p> Women continue to be underrepresented in top level management roles in spite of their progress in the labor market and educational attainment (Eagly &amp; Carli, 2007). The gender gap in leadership is true in most of the developed and developing world. When assessed under early leadership models, leadership self-efficacy is usually lower among women than men (Schein, 1973; Schein, 1975). This has been used to support the notion that leadership is predominantly a practice for men (Chemers, 2000). However, recently developed leadership models under transformational leadership theory represent opportunities to study leadership and gender without much of the cultural bias that has been part of the earlier models (Eagly &amp; Carli, 2007). To solidify the study of the relationship between gender and transformational leadership self-efficacy, this study was developed using data gathered through the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) from a purposive sample of 153 MBA students (73 male and 80 female). Independent-samples t-tests were used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences in mean scores between male and female participants on leadership behaviors measured by the LPI. The results indicated that there are no statistically significant differences between the two groups in the sample, which further suggest that the reasons behind the underrepresentation of female leaders cannot be attributed to leadership self-efficacy. The study took place in Mexico, where female underrepresentation in top management roles is a well-documented problem, and where research on transformational leadership is scarce. The study may be used to support initiatives on the part of aspiring female leaders, educational leaders, and organizational decision-makers to help close the gender gap in leadership roles in the country. They may do this by reviewing the findings of this study and others conducted under transformational leadership theory that suggest that the practice of leadership is not inherently male, so there is ample opportunity for women to succeed in top management roles without conforming to traditional male patterns of behavior. Future researchers may build on this study by evaluating transformational leadership behaviors in different segments of the population of males and females and by using observer data rather than self-reports.</p>

<p> Every patient has a right to be treated with dignity, respect and high quality pain management (Olivier, et al., 2012). Pain continues to be inadequately treated by healthcare providers (Zuccaro, et al., 2012). The purpose of this DNP project was to determine if perinatal nurses&rsquo; intent to medicate pregnant women with chronic pain was affected by knowledge of pain, attitude, or demographics. This will explore the theoretical application of Ajzen&rsquo;s theory of planned behavior which suggests that attitude correlates with intention to act.</p><p> A quantitative, cross-sectional correlation study used a pencil and paper survey to measure knowledge about pain, attitudes, and intent to medicate pregnant women with chronic pain. One hundred perinatal nurses who worked in labor and delivery, mother baby, or the neonatal intensive care unit from four hospitals in northern New Jersey participated in the study. Each hospital provided a different level of perinatal care from community basic, to intermediate, intensive, and regional perinatal center.</p><p> Increased levels of education positively impact perinatal nurses&rsquo; knowledge of pain, attitude, and intent to medicate pregnant women with chronic pain. The perinatal nurse&rsquo;s intent to medicate was not statistically correlated to age, years of nursing experience, or level of perinatal care. The perinatal nurse&rsquo;s intent to medicate a pregnant woman with chronic pain is positively correlated to increased knowledge of pain (<i>r</i> (100) = 0.463, <i>p</i> &le; 0.001). Attitude scores were positively correlated with an increased intent to medicate a pregnant woman with chronic pain (<i>r</i> (100) = 0.583, <i>p</i> &le; 0.001).</p><p>

<p> In 1888, Mobile city officials created a district where prostitution was legally tolerated. This thesis explores the influence of Mobile&rsquo;s development on the rise of prostitution leading to the creation of the restricted district, including the French policy of importing women and prostitutes to build the colony, the city&rsquo;s role as a military post during French, British and Spanish colonization, its prosperity during the antebellum period as a major cotton exporter, and its role as a military headquarters during the Civil War. In response to Mobile&rsquo;s growing number of prostitutes and the national trend of segregating the &ldquo;necessary evil&rdquo; from daily life, Mobile created its restricted district. Over the next thirty years, the district served as a temporary home for hundreds of young, single, and childless southern women. Many of these women left prostitution after they married, moved with family, or found other means of support. In general, Mobilians supported the segregation of prostitution. The district was only closed after it interfered with the potential business from military contracts during World War One. An online exhibit was created as the public history component of this thesis to teach the public about the development of prostitution in Mobile, the geographic and demographic characteristics of the restricted district, and about the women who worked within it.</p>

<p> Until recently, female composers have been undervalued for their contributions to the world of music. While much has been done to remedy this omission, there are still some composers whose works have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Florence Price&rsquo;s orchestral works, particularly her <i> Symphony No. 1 in E Minor,</i> are an example of these often-overlooked compositions, and they are deserving of more recognition. It is possible that her works were initially ignored not just because she was a female composer, but also an African-American living in a time when both groups were considered inferior to their white male counterparts in the United States. Now that our society has become more fair-minded about recognizing all races, cultures, and groups, it is time to re-visit the orchestral works of Florence Price and attempt to have them included in standard orchestral repertoire. These compositions represent a little-heard group of composers in American history, and they add a more varied style and voice to classical music literature. </p><p> The first part of this thesis presents an historical background of Florence Price and highlights social and cultural influences that had an impact on her musical compositions. Price&rsquo;s compositions reflect her upbringing as an African-American woman and often include musical characteristics that borrow from Negro spirituals, lending unique qualities to her music. The second part of the thesis focuses specifically on her <i>Symphony No. 1 in E Minor,</i> including a basic analysis of harmony and form, discussion of thematic elements, and an argument for more frequent performances of the symphony. I will also describe my rehearsal and performance experiences of the piece with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music. </p>

<p> The adoption of online banking in Saudi Arabia is still emerging. The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influenced Saudi females to adopt online banking with Saudi banks. This study answered the following research question: What are the factors that influence Saudi female users in Saudi Arabia to adopt online banking through Saudi Arabian banks? This study contributes to a gap in the literature regarding the limited studies of online banking from a Saudi female perspective. A qualitative method was used to conduct the study. A semi-structured interview was conducted to collect data from the participants. The sample consisted of 13 Saudi females who live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The themes of this study developed by coding the transcripts via NVivo, then categorizing the responses into themes. These themes were identified according to the multiple responses from the participants repeatedly on each theme. The results provided seven main themes which influenced females to adopt online banking. Easiness and convenience were the preeminent influential themes according to the females followed by security, trust, user-friendly comfortable, and availability. The sub-themes were: (1) save time, (2) effortless, (3) easy to navigate, (4) easy to use, (5) clear options, and (6) clear to navigate. In addition, this study found that education, professional background, computer competency, and age had a significant impact on online banking adoption from Saudi females.</p>

<p> This dissertation attempts to preserve the central tenets of a global moral theory called &ldquo;the capabilities approach&rdquo; as defended by Martha Nussbaum, but to do so in a way that better realizes its own goals of identifying gender injustices and gaining cross-cultural support by providing an alternative defense of it. Capabilities assess an individual&rsquo;s well-being based on what she is able to do (actions) and who she is able to be (states of existence). Nussbaum grounds her theory in the intuitive idea that each and every person is worthy of equal respect and dignity. The problem with grounding a theory in a version of intuitionism is that it runs the risk of authoritarian moral reasoning. I argue Nussbaum, in fact, is the final arbiter who decides which intuitions are mistaken, which are not, and how to interpret what people say to fit into her own framework. This method of justifying capabilities is most problematic in cases of social inequality whereby dominant group members do not feel they need to check their intuitions against non-dominant group members, and even if they did, they are not forced to take the non-dominant group&rsquo;s intuitions seriously. </p><p> I find capabilities as a global moral theory to be very promising, and I agree with Nussbaum that a list of capabilities is beneficial for identifying people who are not able to live a truly dignified human life. However, I am also sympathetic to the criticism of defending capabilities using a version of intuitionism. So, I offer an alternative method of justifying the capabilities rooted in the discourse ethics tradition. This method seeks all persons that are affected by the outcome to freely and equally share their opinion. This avoids the charge of authoritarian moral reasoning, because (1) it seeks perspectives other than simply one&rsquo;s own, but unlike traditional ethics, it (2) pays special attention to the ways in which power relations shape dialogue. Ultimately, I hope to have preserved the central tenets of the capabilities approach while better realizing Nussbaum&rsquo;s commitment to defending a theory that is gender sensitive and has gained cross-cultural support.</p>

<p> Literature has widely documented the link between stress and serious physical and mental health consequences (e.g., depression, heart disease, Alzheimer&rsquo;s Disease, cancer). Women in middle-adulthood face a number of commingling stressors that may exacerbate their existing stress levels and place them as a higher risk of developing stress-related health issues. For example, in middle-adulthood women experience biological/hormonal changes (i.e., menopause, increased cortisol response to stressors), neural changes (i.e., cognitive declines), changes in skin function and appearance (i.e., wrinkles, sagging), as well as assuming multiple challenging roles (i.e., caregiver, employee, spouse). Due to the gravity of the effects of stress, there has been an increased need for a deeper understanding of stressors that women in middle&ndash;adulthood face and an increased need to target those specific stressors in an attempt to ameliorate their negative effects. In this context, the research reported here focused on developing a curriculum to conduct a one-day workshop for women in middle-adulthood in order to provide a deeper understanding of the various types of stress (e.g., hormonal/biological, age-related appearance changes, discrimination, gender role strain, multiple roles, cultural expectations, finances, etc.) experienced by women in middle-adulthood and providing culturally congruent stress reduction interventions. The development of the curriculum used to conduct a workshop is targeting women between the ages of 45 and 65 who are experiencing significant levels of stress and who wish to expand their knowledge of stressors and repertoire of stress reduction/management strategies. The curriculum was reviewed by two doctoral level mental health professionals who rated the content, strengths, and weaknesses of the curriculum. Their feedback was incorporated into a compilation of suggestions and future directions for the curriculum.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the stories of seven women spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artists, including myself. It answers the question, <i>What transformative and spiritual connections does one have with her ecofeminist activism and art? </i></p><p> This study connects different ways of knowing from the mind, body, heart and spirit; and it has three significant dimensions. The first dimension&mdash;transdisciplinary spiritual feminist inquiry&mdash;allows the researcher to interconnect several disciplinary ways of knowing, and it presents feminist ways to inquire about experiences with activism and creative artistic expression. The second dimension&mdash;exploration of transformational and spiritual connections&mdash;explores how study participants experience spiritual connections within their spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artwork. The third dimension&mdash;inspirational narratives&mdash;holds the hope for the reader to connect to these stories, ecofeminist activism, and artwork, and become inspired to become agents of creative social change. After the conclusion of each of the interviews, I created a reflective art-piece, inspired by each artist-activist.</p><p> The research methodology combines transdisciplinary inquiry with feminist and women&rsquo;s spirituality methods. Epistemological approaches are rooted in women&rsquo;s spirituality and feminism.</p><p> The responses of the seven women spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artists revealed, upon analysis, nine shared themes: Inspiring Others; Finding One's Voice, Connecting to Ancestors, Healing; Honoring/Connecting to Nature, Finding Community, Traveling, Greening Daily Life, and Discovering/Honoring the Goddess. These themes, along with the three main themes&mdash;Early Inspiration and Goals, Art and Activism Interconnections, and Spiritual Dimensions&mdash;affirm that numerous spiritual and transformative connections exist between their activism and creative artwork, and that these connections are dependent upon the person&rsquo;s background, history, chosen spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artwork, and creative media. Their responses indicate that there is a spiritual component to their spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artwork and that their activism and artwork are interconnected. Their responses show that each of the seven women spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artists defines ecofeminism in her own unique way, while making connections to nature, women, the sacred feminine or Goddess, and healing. And they utilized art and spiritual sources to heal and regain balance in their lives. The voices in this study, through storytelling, create a space of &ldquo;multiple consciousness,&rdquo; where the multi-dimensional voices of the seven women spiritual-ecofeminist-activist-artists are heard and valued.</p>

<p> Previous research indicated that women&rsquo;s advancement into the leadership and administrative ranks in higher education has stalled over the past twenty years. Studies highlighted the socio-cultural and structural barriers that create challenges for women&rsquo;s advancement in the academy. This study focused on the use of women-only leadership development programs (WLDPs) as a potential resource for women in the pursuit of advancing their careers. Few research studies to date assess the outcome for women who have attended WLDPs.</p><p> This study was an in-depth case study of the Women in Higher Education Leadership Summit (WHELS) held at the University of San Diego, School of Leadership and Education Studies. Using a sequential transformative mixed methods design, 95 WHELS alumnae were contacted to answer the research question &ldquo;How do women from various social locations understand the influence of WHELS on their career plan/trajectory?&rdquo; Using a quantitative survey (37% response rate), followed by qualitative interviews, five main hypotheses were tested to determine if WHELS alumnae reported improved leadership identity, improved leadership ability, improved understanding of effective leadership styles, whether they had advanced in their career, and if alumnae attributed WHELS to their advancement.</p><p> Based upon the findings all five hypotheses were supported by the quantitative data. Qualitative data also supported the quantitative findings, but it provided clarification into how women experienced WHELS. The qualitative findings revealed that women reported benefitting from attending WHELS, it confirmed the leadership ability and style the women already possessed. WHELS built women&rsquo;s self-awareness and self-confidence, allowing women to adopt a leadership identity. Women benefited from this leadership identity as it built their self-efficacy and agency.</p><p> This study confirmed that women do face socio-cultural and structural barriers in institutions of higher education, which create barriers to their advancement into leadership roles. However, through the completion of WHELS, the participants of this study built self-confidence in their leadership abilities, adopting a leadership identity. Through this process the women in this study returned to their institutions with self-efficacy and agency. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations, recommended future research, and implications for action.</p>

<p> Sexual Violence is a major problem in America, particularly on college campuses, and following an event of this kind, survivors are likely to turn to peers for support. This study examined the possibility that media-induced self-objectification may affect the ways that women perceive, and therefore react to, victims of rape.</p><p> We pilot tested media images that were grouped into those representing high-objectification, low-objectification, and control images without people in them. These differed in level of objectification, but were similar in other areas, such as visual appeal. Our main study sought to elicit differential self-objectification processes in women through the use of these images. We expected that heightened self-objectification would lead to less sympathy and support and more blame for a victim of rape. We also expected that these relationships would be moderated by rape myth acceptance and body dissatisfaction. </p><p> Our manipulation of sexually objectifying media did not elicit differential self-objectification processes in our sample. However, self-objectification, regardless of media exposure, was related to higher levels of sympathy and support for a rape victim. We also found evidence that self-objectification was related to victim-blaming attitudes, when controlling for rape myth acceptance. </p>