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While a literature on the mental health of lesbian mothers is beginning to emerge, no study to date has prospectively examined lesbian women's mental health in the context of transitioning to parenthood for the first time. This dissertation explores the transition to parenthood in a sample of lesbian couples who are becoming mothers for the first time, with a special focus on how the division of labor and women's roles change over time. Thirty-four couples (29 inseminating, 5 adopting) were interviewed, at two time points (before the birth of their child, and three months postnatally). I conducted in-depth interviews with both partners, and all participants filled out a series of questionnaires at both time points. The division of paid and unpaid labor, women's feelings about their own and their partner's work-family roles, and women's ideas and feelings about motherhood, were assessed. Biological motherhood was explored as a potential shaping variable with regard to parental roles. Results revealed that the division of housework changed little across the transition to parenthood, although some couples reported that the nonbiological mother tended to perform a larger share of household tasks postnatally. Biological mothers performed a greater proportion of child care tasks postnatally. Both biological mothers and nonbiological mothers tended to reduce their hours in paid employment as a means of handling the demands of child care and avoiding total specialization of roles (e.g., one woman staying home, one woman working full-time). Postnatally, the majority of women felt that being a parent was their most important role in the family, and for most women, being a mother became a salient aspect of their identity—at least as salient as their identity as a lesbian. The majority of women felt that biological motherhood had not defined their parental roles, and these women reported a number of strategies they had employed (e.g., spending equal amounts of time in child care, establishing special routines with their child) in an effort to resist the primacy of biological motherhood. More research on the transition to parenthood among lesbian couples is needed, with particular focus on the needs and issues that arise for the nonbiological mother.

Motivated by the struggles of couples seeking to create intimate and enduring partnerships, this study develops a structured self-help format for enhancement of couple relationships that can also be used as an adjunct to formal therapy. Couples and their counselors are guided in an exploration of two interwoven areas of concern: the Inner Child--and--the effects of gender conditioning. To provide a theoretical basis for the creation of the practical instrument, a review was conducted of selected works from three major subject areas: the Inner Child, Gender Difference, and Couple Relationships. This research into psychological and self-help literature resulted in the synthesis and elaboration of a concept of the gendered Inner Child. The identification of specific gender with what has usually been a gender-less concept contributes a systemic dimension to the multi-leveled child within. "Systemic" here refers to the inclusion of both intra- and inter-personal psychological dynamics and consideration of the impact of social context and conditioning on problems and their possible solutions. The concept of the Inner Child has already been a highly effective vehicle for individual healing through many different approaches because of its ability to be utilized in the service of all four forces in psychology--psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, existential-humanistic, and transpersonal. With the addition of the systemic dimension, more of individual reality can be meaningfully addressed, and its potential for use with couples can be more fully explored. The Couples Workbook is a practical application of the theoretical construct, to help couples differentiate the gendered Inner Child within themselves as a means of countering the effects of both childhood wounds and sexist conditioning on their intimate relationships. Consisting of sections of text interspersed with questions, exercises, and guided meditations, The Couples Workbook integrates Stone Center Self-in-Relation theory, the work of Riane Eisler and an emphasis on mindfulness to help couples move from "Dominator" to "Partnership" modes of relationship. A questionnaire administered to experienced couples therapists elicited evaluations of the potential usefulness of the Workbook in professional practice. Responses indicated possible wide applicability.

Does the underrepresentation of women in school administration reflect differences in preferences or discriminatory selection criteria? To examine this question, this dissertation examines the criteria used to promote teachers into school administration and the consequence of these criteria for equity in promotions and school quality. In this dissertation, promotions are modelled as the joint occurrence of two sequential events: (1) teacher supply to the promotional queue and (2) school board demand for administrators. The empirical challenge is to statistically identify the supply and demand-side of promotion when only the joint occurrence of these two events are observed in the data. Drawing from a large nationally representative data set matching teachers, schools, administrators, and school districts, I test the hypotheses that access to school administration is not solely determined by qualifications, i.e. that discrimination plays a role. Key results show that when teacher desire for promotions and credentials are controlled for, men are more likely than women to be selected for promotions. Additional evidence suggests that women's promotion disadvantage may not stem from limited search strategies or an inability to manage schools. I conclude with an analysis of the pay gap between male and female principals. Results show that after controlling for a variety of human capital, school environment, school level and locale variables, male principals earn 5.4% more than female principals. This translates into a yearly $2,205.4 income gain.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning college women make from their television viewing experiences. The goals were to: (1) present a meaningful work; (2) contribute to the existing research on women and their subjective experiences with television viewing; (3) help bring women's voices into the center of educational and social science theory and research; (4) inspire other female researchers to examine women's experiences; and (5) encourage self-discovery and empowerment on the part of the participants and readers. Phenomenological in-depth interviewing and a demographic questionnaire were used to collect the data. Twelve female college students attending a state university participated in the study. Six participants were 18-23 years old and six participants were 30-45 years old. This study was motivated by the often negative portrayals of women on television, the lack of women's voices in research, and the need for new research methods in relationship to women's experiences. The data show that the participants were angry that women are negatively portrayed on television. Television viewing was linked to the formation and maintenance of negative attitudes and beliefs, especially those related to gender issues and self esteem. Television viewing was positively linked to social learning in relation to television women who served as role models. Television viewing was positively associated with influencing and shaping expectations and beliefs about the world. Television viewing was linked to adopting a view that reflects the violence found on television and to overeating. The participants were critical of the television media and believed that television media focused on the sensational and negative, did not respect people's privacy, negatively affected legal cases and was too powerful in shaping public opinion. The older participants felt that they could control their viewing by shutting off the television, changing the channel, canceling cable subscriptions and encouraging other viewers to take an active stand against negative images. Television viewing increased learning when the participants identified with the television content. Television viewing displaced reading and study time and was linked to loss of creativity and imagination.

With the impact of feminism and other liberationist movements of the 1960s and beyond, academic disciplines have faced intensive scrutiny, and re-examination of many of their basic premises and methodologies. Art history is one such discipline. By the 1970s, feminist critique of art history and practices in the art world had brought about the feminist art movement. This movement continues today and has developed and grown in many directions. Artwriting by feminists has proliferated and the literature includes research on female artists, studies on representation of women in art, critiques of texts and other previous artwriting, and discussion on biases, omissions, inadequacies, and the nature of the discipline itself. Attempts at an overview of the movement have focused on discrete issues, events, or histories of developments. Review articles and anthologies have not adequately studied the underlying philosophical and ethical motivations of the movement as a whole. This study considers the over-arching philosophical elements implicit in feminist artwriting. Through a review of the literature, and aspects of general feminist studies and feminist philosophy, particularly ethics, I examine how they contribute to the feminist art movement, and how the movement has changed thinking, teaching and learning about the history of art.

In this rhetorical biography of Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), I explore the early construction of her philosophical and moral frameworks and the demographic factors which constrained and enabled the construction of her political identity. I proceed to address the question of identity construction as it relates to gender and political stereotypes and as it is enacted in various rhetorical situations. I examine Mikulski's conformance to female and male gender and political stereotypes, her use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric, her identity construction during campaign and debate, and the co-construction of her political identity by the media, opponents, and supporters. And finally, in each of these analyses, I assess the salience of gender. My findings indicate that Mikulski conforms to female stereotypes relating to substance and to male stereotypes relating to style. This pattern of conformance mitigates the double bind experienced by women in the political arena. Mikulski's use of the feminine style in deliberative rhetoric reveals a consistent pattern of usage during her twenty-four years in Congress. Several characteristics of the feminine style are more prominently featured on women's and constituent issues, and her usage appears to be responsive to two additional factors, length of speaking time and placement within the legislative process. In situations of campaign and debate, Mikulski approaches identity construction by recasting negative definitions and by relying heavily on reconstructing her relationship with constituents, even during anti-incumbent years. The media and supporter constructions of Mikulski's political identity are consonant with her constructions of self and, again, center on recalling and reestablishing relationships with various constituencies. Gender is found to be a significant variable in all aspects of the construction of Mikulski's political identity, but the constraints imposed by gender are met successfully by Mikulski with rhetorical strategies which either diminish the significance of gender or recast her gender as an asset.

Many studies of academic women have concentrated on women who have been deflected from their academic careers either by personal considerations or institutional procedures, such as becoming a mother or being denied promotion and tenure. Little research has been done with present-day professional women who have chosen a nontraditional sector of higher education. A fundamental problem, supported by the literature, are the perceptions and attitudes toward women's roles in the workplace. The literature describes today's society as one that has a set of assumptions that still supports traditional roles for men and women. The traditional value system in the United States views women who achieve in nontraditional ways as extraordinary performers; as exceptions to the rule. The current system supports structures and systems that prevent society from discovering and implementing changes that could solidify new roles for women and men. The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in attitudes of administrators and faculty toward faculty women teaching in the field of Industrial Technology (IT). More specifically, this study investigated attitudes toward the employment and advancement of Industrial Technology faculty women in higher education. The substantive findings after administering an opinionnaire were: (a) women in administrative and faculty positions in Industrial Technology programs recognized that employment opportunities were not the same for men and women in the institutions, and the opportunities favored men; (b) male administrators and male faculty felt that IT faculty women contributed as equals in the department and were not viewed as being subordinate, on the other hand, the female administrators and female faculty recognized the importance that the personality of the women affects the work environment; and (c) female administrators and female faculty and male administrators and male faculty varied when looking at the teaching effectiveness and related classroom climate. The women were more in consensus with the literature that described how women and men are perceived in the classroom by students and the differences between the genders when interacting with students. Lastly, recommendations were made to modify the study and suggestions were made for further research.