Thesis (M.A.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Women and Gender Studies." Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-96).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, August 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

This sociological study investigates how the process of vertical occupational segregation by sex is maintained at the end of the 20th century. It explores the secretarial role and opportunities for career advancement beyond this "pink-collar" occupation within four organizations in England that were self-identified as promoting equal opportunities. The evidence stems from case studies conducted at the BBC in 1992 and at the BBC, Channel Four, Rank Xerox, and Unilever in 1994. Data were collected in three forms: (i) semi-structured interviews; 18 with mid- to senior-level secretaries, 10 with managers, and 13 with personnel representatives; (ii) office observations; and (iii) materials related to the individual companies, Opportunity 2000, and the European Community. Secretaries' opportunities for advancement were found to be rare. A pink-collar wall, rather than a glass ceiling, was discovered, due to a combination of structural constraints and the actions, or agency, of secretaries. This research extends the dual-systems model of occupational segregation by using the case study methodology and by including women's experiences and behaviour within the theoretical framework. This study expands current knowledge about the lives of ordinary working women and the persistent phenomenon of occupational segregation.

No / FP7

Many people in the past praised Chinese literature partly because of the glamour revealed in splendid poetry, and in creating these poetry male poets have proved their excellence. Conversely the contributions of women poets have seemed much less significant in the history of traditional Chinese literature. Among the relatively small number of famous women poets in China, Zhu Shuzhen (11357-1180?) is certainly worthy of discussion, but she has not received much critical attention, in part because of the lack of reliable biographical information. Although some of Zhu Shuzhen's poems have been seen by some scholars as disgraceful, it is nevertheless valuable to explore the inner world and poetic indications of the voice projected from the poems in an objective way. However, as the number of poems attributed to Zhu Shuzhen is large, despite living under an atmosphere that discouraged the writing of poetry by women, her name is undoubtedly significant in the development of female poetry. Western theories of gender representation and the development of self in literature have been used as the main sources and frameworks for research in this thesis. The aesthetic values in Zhu Shuzhen's original verse have been retained through my translations by selecting the best appropriate original versions in different editions. Comparisons between Zhu Shuzhen and Yu Xuanji fa, (8447-868?), a woman poet in the Tang Dynasty, reveal similarities and differences which distinguish the two in terms of their resistance to the code that cast women as inferior. This thesis will analyse Zhu Shuzhen's ambivalent mind as revealed in her poetry through her contradictory statements, ideas and images regarding the notion of being a good wife on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of a woman suspected of conducting an extramarital affair.

This dissertation explores the way Kotiria/Wanano (E. Tukanoan, Kotiria hereafter) women of the Brazilian Alto Rio Negro (ARN) contrive (McDowell 1990) kaya basa ‘sad songs’ using linguistic and musical resources to construct songs that express loneliness and other private emotions, while also creating alliances and separations from other women in their lives. A central concept is the practice of linguistic exogamy, in which Kotiria marry speakers of other languages, creating a multilingual and multivocal, cacophonic sound during po’oa exchange ceremonies. I compare these songs to mythological narratives depicting the beginnings of Kotiria society and the roles of men and women within it, as well as men’s ceremonial forms of speech and unmarried women’s joking songs as a way to think about the resonances of sound and meaning married women create in their songs. Drawing on resources from linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, semiotics, and intersectional feminism, I demonstrate that the singing of – and listening to – kaya basa is a fundamental social structuring event. Despite previous works (e.g., Brüzzi 1962) that saw men’s expressive practices like shamanic chanting or ritual instrument playing as those upholding the social order, I argue that the social order owes its stability equally to women’s public participation in musical practice. Following Hill’s formulation of musicalizing the other (1993, 2009, 2011, 2013), I demonstrate that kaya basa reflect on inter- and intra-community relations on the macro level, while also giving women the chance to comment on important life transitions on the micro level. Moreover, my combined linguistic and spectrographic analyses of the sounds of these songs illustrate the intricate relations between the sounds of language and the sounds of music, the methods by which one understands something is true or false, and how individual singers can contrive differently within the same genre to create a well-formed song. I propose further work on this genre, and on genres that seem to be related which are produced by other groups in the area. I extend Beier, Michael, and Sherzer’s (2002) conception of the greater Amazonian discourse area to one of a greater Amazonian soundscape in which sonic ways of producing and gathering meaning (acoustemologies, Feld 1996) have been and are a major driving force in the arraying of social life across language families in the ARN.

This thesis The Portrayal of women in Slovak print media advertising 1992-2012 addresses the way women are depicted in advertising in three selected Slovak magazines, at three points in time; 1992, 2002 and 2012. The work aims to discover in what direction the portrayal of women in magazine advertisements has evolved during this period when advertising occupies more and more space in the media. This work deals with gender issues and focuses mainly on the roles in which women are represented in advertising. Their passivity or activity and sexual objectification are examined through content and semiotic analysis. The dual mode of analysis will allow us to better understand the mechanisms of the depiction of women in advertising and compare the different ways women are portrayed in the media depending on the target audience.

No description available.

abstract: In this convergent mixed methods research project, I address the question of why large numbers of college students take women’s studies courses yet are reluctant to major in the field.  Using availability bias and intersectionality as my theoretical framework I hypothesized that the reluctance to declare women and gender studies as a major stems from 1) the failure to see the applicability of the major to career goals and aspirations, 2) social stigma associated with feminism, 3) social location. As a part of my intervention I designed and tested two 10-minute video modules; one on job applicability featuring women studies alumni discussing their career paths and their decision to major in the field, and a second on deconstructing stereotypes about feminism.  The control group was shown a generic video on cinematic representations.  Students were randomly assigned to one of the three groups and administered a pretest and posttest survey designed to measure job applicability, social attitudes about feminism and social location. Interviews were conducted with 6 students. My goal was to better understand perceived practicality of the women’s studies degree, social attitudes about feminism and the impact of these perceptions as they relate to a student's selection of the major. My research questions include:   RQ 1) Among students taking a course in women’s studies, how and to what extent does participation in a module on job applicability influence a student's perceptions of the potential career applicability of the women’s studies degree?  RQ 2) Among students taking a course in women’s studies, how and to what extent does participation in the module regarding feminism impact a student's perceptions of the value of the women’s studies degree?   RQ 3) How does one’s social location interact with the findings of RQ’s 1 & 2?  My sample (n=115) was drawn from students enrolled in online and hybrid courses I taught in the WST program at Arizona State University, the largest such program in the country, drawing over 6,000 students annually. However, the number of majors at 84 students is not commensurate with the growth we are experiencing in terms of enrollment or the popularity of the courses. These research addresses these My findings showed that the job applicability module increased student knowledge about the applicability of the women and gender studies major and that students had a better overall understanding of the degree in relation to career applicability, while the module about feminism did not have an effect on the choice of major.  My findings suggest that students lack of previous career knowledge in terms of job paths available to WST graduates proved to be an obstacle for our program and intervening may allow for the increase of majors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018

Through the 1930s, an American woman suffering a broken engagement had the opportunity to sue her erstwhile suitor for breach of promise to marry. Relying on cultural and legal materials, my dissertation uses this now-obsolete cause of action as a lens through which to examine both shifting norms of gender and class during the period from 1890 to 1940 and the means by which Americans expected legal mechanisms to simultaneously shape and respond to socio-cultural changes.