My study seeks to explore the interest that Spanish women authors such as Josefina Aldecoa, Carme Riera, Nuria Amat, Esther Tusquets, Marina Mayoral, Carmen Martín Gaite, and Olga Guirao have taken in the revival of epistolary fiction in recent decades. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century epistolary fiction in Spain was conditioned by social practices and by literary conventions that typically confined its heroines to an amorous plot and women authors to anonymity. I contend that if modern tradition of epistolary practices and other male-discriminatory practices kept women writers silenced or invisible in the Spanish literary world, contemporary women writers sketch themselves back into their texts. Fictional letters function as written self-portraits for them to reflect and tell their own stories, thereby creating a playful mirror effect between the fictional epistolographer and the historical author. By pushing the conventional boundaries of letter writing as a sentimental genre, contemporary women authors take liberty to rewrite female representation and to give the fictional protagonists a new voice and visibility. They revisit the theme of love in epistolary literature to explore refashioned—and often transgressive—discourses on gender, sexuality, and subject identity.

This thesis investigates the background, activities, and motivations of German women who provided administrative support for Nazi institutions and agencies of the Third Reich. It compares women who specifically chose to serve the Nazi cause in voluntary roles with those who took on such work as a progression of established careers. Using a variety of sources, including post-war testimony in criminal cases, it shows how much they knew about the repressive and genocidal aspects of the regime and evaluates the role that ideology, as against other factors, played in their loyalty to their employers. Secretaries, SS-Helferinnen (SS female auxiliaries) and Nachrichtenhelferinnen des Heeres (female communication auxiliaries of the army) held similar jobs: taking dictation, answering telephones, and sending telegrams. Yet their backgrounds differed markedly. While secretaries were habitually recruited on the basis of their prior experience and competencies, the Helferinnen predominantly volunteered, sometimes motivated by ideology and the opportunity to serve their country, sometimes enticed by the prospect of foreign travel or the lure of the uniform. The thesis sheds light on these women's backgrounds: their social status, education, career patterns. It seeks to explain the situations and motives that propelled them into their positions and explores what they knew about the true nature of their work. These women often had access to information about the administration of genocide and are a relatively untapped resource. Their recollections shed light on the lives and work of their superiors, the mundane tasks that contributed to the displacement, deportation and death of millions of people across Europe, and the extent to which information about these atrocities was communicated and comprehended. Attention is paid to the specific role played by gender amongst perpetrators of the Holocaust. The question of how gender intersected with National Socialism, repression, atrocity and genocide forms the conceptual thread linking the separate chapters on these three groups of women who had varied backgrounds and degrees of initial commitment to Nazi ideology.

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-94). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Anthropology, June 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The issues of discrimination at the labour market are discussed frequently and according to the available sources of information these issues are not overlooked. When you imagine all manners of discrimination at the labour market, the most frequent manner is gender discrimination. It means that women are the most discriminated group. In this thesis I had focused on: the issue of women discrimination on the labour market and the topic of women versus men in the workplace. The society tells us the way how men and women have to look like and how they should behave according to their gender. Every person can observe these patterns since their childhood. The gender is formed by the external influences. The topic of gender discrimination belongs to sociology, however, there is a management sector which deals with the influence of gender inside the company ? it is called the management of gender relations. This is the theme which comes close to the women discrimination and to equal opportunities for men and women in the organization of the company. If the company is interested in establishing equal opportunities at the labour market, it is necessary to see women and men as two different parts of the company. It is impossible to replace the two parts with each other, because both of them have their tasks and the first part cannot work without the second part. The two parts are complementing each other in the family life and in the career life as well. The European Union has one of the most advanced antidiscrimination law in the world. The principle of equal opportunities of men and women is a part of the entrance conditions that have to be fulfilled by all member states and the candidate countries which want to enter the European Union. In the Czech legislative we can find the provision of equal treatment in The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Another important document is the Labour Code and last but not least is the Antidiscrimination Act. For employers it is necessary to claim equal opportunities for women and men if they want to be popular in the society of the 21st century. The whole society has to take a part in solving this global problem and then the situation at the labour market might become better. Equal opportunities are an important value and it is the sign of a fair company which is based on democracy. That is why the equalization of the relationships between men and women should be the significant aim of companies.

Increasing urbanisation has increased waste generation. This has led to an increase in waste being left uncollected in certain areas of low-income countries. With the inability of municipal authorities to provide the required collection services, there has been the emergence of private sector initiatives in waste management. Nonetheless, this does not offer a complete solution as waste still adorns many of these streets. This however, provides sources of livelihood for the urban poor, both men and women. They can be found in virtually all cities in low-income countries occupied in collecting, recovering, sorting, and recycling waste materials. Their activity not only creates a means of livelihood for them but also ensures sustainability in solid waste management. In most low-income countries, women still enjoy fewer rights and access to assets and resources than men. Accordingly in Nigeria, women are highly represented in low paid employment. The emphasis in development on issues of equity and inclusion, and women s autonomy and empowerment shows that women still count among the most vulnerable and excluded social groups. This doctoral study examines the issue of women in solid waste livelihoods in Lagos, Nigeria. The focus of the study is to identify gender and other socially-related constraints to participation by men and women in solid waste livelihoods in five Lagos dumpsites. It also analyses how these constraints affect their income levels. The research draws on a feminist approach using mixed methods of participant observation, questionnaire survey and interviews. The fieldwork commenced with identification of waste workers activities on the five dumpsites through participant observation. This was followed by the questionnaire survey which was piloted, refined and administered face to face to 305 dumpsite workers. Findings from the questionnaire survey revealed gender differences amongst waste scavengers, waste buyers and waste merchants according to the following criteria: age, marital status, other income-earning household members, hours worked daily, years spent working, education level, and number of dependent children. These factors also further reinforce gender differences in income generation. Further enquiry through qualitative interviews highlighted gender differences in tool usage and the types of waste resources handled. Inequality was also evident in terms of social equality, political power and decision making. The results also highlight childcare as one of the most important challenges that women alone face. Other findings include the impact of current modernisation policies on women s financial security, autonomy, and well-being. The waste livelihood activities observed offer positive economic benefits, and incomes higher than the minimum wage. However, it is important for those engaged in modernisation policy to understand the potential impact of these measures on the livelihood of waste workers, and to ensure their commitment to change will not reinforce inequality.

This paper deals with social status of women in the world. Using specific indicators it attempts to approach worse women's position in the society as a whole and it describes inequalities between women and men. The first part of this paper shows main problematic areas in which women struggle with discrimination. These problems are related with worse access to services (health care and education), violence, armed conflicts, women situation in economics and weak power to take decision. Second part of this paper is focusing on three areas -- poverty, education and labour market. Gender analysis of these three areas shows how big differences between both genders are. The main focus of the last part is on the changes of the social role of women in world regions in time. At the end of the paper all three areas are interconnected to summarize the differences.

The thesis deals with the role of women in the labor market in the Czech Republic. The goal is to determine the role of women in the labor market in the Czech Republic, to 74 compare the perceived status of women identified through research with the real situation on the labor market and consequently propose corrective measures. The theoretical part deals with gender and gender-integrated organizations, feminism and emancipation movement, discrimination against women in the labor market, anti-discrimination measures by the State and the European Union, the development of the labor market position of women in the labor market position of women in the family and the possibility of harmonizing work and family life. The practical part includes primary research, which aims to map the perception of the problem of women in the labor market, the possibility of harmonizing work and family, results analysis and research for action.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Social Work at the University of Zululand, 2001. / In the context of social development, the developmental perspective on Social Welfare, and gender equality (gender theory and gender analysis), an extensive literature and empirical study was undertaken, to explore the contribution of Social Work to the social and economic development of women as a special population of the poor in rural communities. Exploratory and descriptive research, using documents, interviews and direct observation, was used to study the rural neighbourhood, the demographic profiles of the general public and decision making participation of a sample of household heads and community leaders. From both the theoretical and empirical studies, it was evident that women's contribution to development was being systematically undervalued in the rural communities, and within households. Essential to this analysis was that there was an overall socio-cultural framework for stereotyping women's roles in rural communities. Not only were they overburdened by the multiple roles, their practical and strategic gender needs were marginalised, leading to their further subordination. In addition, as an institution of society, the way both the department of social welfare and population or department of social development and the social service system functioned, was influenced by institutionalized gender in equality actually many considerations of gender in relation to welfare and health tended to remain focussed on women as users or service providers (volunteers), rather than assessing how health and welfare or social services, reinforced gender in equalities and, in doing so undermined social justice while also at times undermining women's and family welfare. k At the local level, it was very apparent that all important decisions were made by men, especially those determining access and allocation of productive resources needed to survive. This study also revealed that local government and other service providers in rural areas often developed projects in a top-down fashion, where local people were informed or consulted, but were not expected to make decisions that would be acted upon. Local economic development (large scale government or heavily funded public works projects) were often treated as technical and administrative issues, with very marginal, if any, political and socio-economic considerations from the viewpoint of the disadvantaged majority, the women and the poor, in particular. In the latter even the tribal leaders were essentially marginalized. Based on the findings of the study, the thesis proposes a model, which provides a framework that is inclusive enough to serve both the clinical and community - work orientated social workers and generalist social workers. The polarization, where either the personal (individual) or the social (institutional) are emphasized at the expense of a holistic integrated consideration, is rejected. Instead, the feminist perspectives involving the reconceptualization of power, viewing the 'personal' as 'social' and the validation of people's experiences, interalia, are emphasized. Project planners should ensure the inclusion of multi-disciplinary teams with both males and females at all stages of the research process, that is, the problem identification, the design, the implementation and evaluation. Data must be disaggregated by socio-economic strata and gender, and there must be an examination of inter-household and intra-household processes, particularly in the spheres of decision making, responsibility and labour input. This is important because of the importance of empowerment of the individuals and groups to access resources they need, and to have a role in the production of personal and public services in order to improve the quality of their lives and that of their communities.