<p>Food—where we obtain it, how we obtain it, and so forth—is just one of myriad considerations in everyday life. Considerations about food can be particularly salient for lone mothers, who face a set of challenges in supporting their families, including being the sole caregivers of their children. In examining a case study of Hamilton, Ontario, this research utilizes qualitative methods (interviews and mental maps) and a feminist geography lens to understand the complexity of food insecurity for lone mothers living in two neighbourhoods characterized by a low socio-economic status. Feminist geography offers a unique perspective for understanding food insecurity with its philosophy of improving women’s lives and its story-telling and meaning-making methods. This thesis will explore qualitative themes from face-to-face interviews (<em>n</em>=7) and a focus group (<em>n</em>=1, 5 participants) that include: the distance and time taken to acquire food; loving and caring for one’s child(ren); contextual considerations mothers have to weigh in order to choose food resources, the need for structural change; strategies mothers used to provide for their families; and feelings around being a lone mother. Together, these themes paint a rich and nuanced picture of food insecurity for lone mothers in Hamilton and they illuminate how and where food intersects with household functions and structural forces, such as social assistance. The findings also point to places where social change can take place to improve quality of life.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Refugee women experience important physical and mental health disparities which are often unmet during resettlement to host countries. These health disparities have been attributed to the gendering of the refugee process, such that women are more vulnerable to gender-specific violence and abuse during flight from war and conflict. Despite having unmet health needs, they face multiple barriers to leading healthy lives and healing during resettlement to a new host country. This paper seeks to respond to the need for research in understanding the health of refugee women in western nations within feminist geographical scholarship by exploring the ‘lived experiences’ of refugee and refugee claimant women during resettlement to Hamilton, Ontario. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus groups with key informants (n=9) and refugee women and refugee claimant women (n=37) from various source countries. Results from this study provide in-depth understandings on the experiences of resettlement including the particular challenges refugee and refugee claimant women face in attempting to rebuild their lives in Canada. Perceptions of good health are closely related to various dimensions of gender (roles and identities) and citizenship (status). This paper explores important health determinants as expressed by the participants: pre-migration experiences, citizenship (status), employment and housing experiences and health care during resettlement. Accounts from this study reflect the need to address ongoing immigration reform and refugee policy in a manner that will honour Canada’s commitment to international humanitarian agreements such as the 1951 Geneva Convention.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Sense of place (SoP) at the neighbourhood scale is one phenomenon that can bring to light the forces that shape residents’ experiences of living in urban neighbourhoods, and play a role in shaping their identity. At an even smaller scale are the gathering places of everyday life, where people can come together and spend time on a regular basis. This research is about single women’s experiences of local gathering places and their neighbourhood SoP in Hamilton, Ontario, from a feminist perspective. Feminist research values the knowledge and experiences of research participants and has the goal of understanding the world in order to build a more just society. A qualitative case study was employed, with face-to-face interviews (n=15) being the primary method of data collection. Participants were single mothers and single older women living in a neighbourhood in central-east, lower city Hamilton. This thesis explores the themes resulting from the interviews, including: factors influencing neighbourhood SoP; types of gathering places; social and emotional qualities of gathering places; physical/spatial qualities of gathering places, and; the relationship between gathering places and neighbourhood sense of place. These themes highlight the importance of gathering places to neighbourhood SoP, and the potential for the perspectives and recommendations of the participants to be included in current efforts around neighbourhood development in Hamilton. The results also point to areas for further research around SoP, and next steps for Hamilton in terms of creating a safe and age-friendly city, and engaging in critical community development.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Roughly 35% of employed Canadians are currently informal caregivers — defined as “an individual who provides care and/or support to a family member, friend or neighbour who has a physical or mental disability, is chronically ill or is frail” (Williams, Eby, Crooks, Stajduhar, Giesbrecht, Vuksan, Cohen, Brazil, & Allan, 2011, p. 3). These worker-carers are mostly women and often experience negative impacts on their physical, mental, emotional, social, and economic well-being. The impact on employers is also staggering (Fast, Lero, DeMarco, Ferreira, & Eales, 2014). With the number of seniors requiring such care expected to double by 2031, this is a growing issue for Canadians (Williams, et al, 2011). With the assistance of a Technical Committee of experts, chaired by Dr. Williams from McMaster University, the Canadian Standards Association and McMaster University have developed a Standard for Caregiver Inclusive and Accommodating Workplaces. This has been realized through funding provided by the CIHR/SSHRC Partnership Development Grant addressing Healthy, Productive Workplaces. This research seeks to conduct an Enhanced Public Review of the Caregiver Inclusive and Accommodating Standard through the completion of interviews (n=17) with key stakeholders across Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted from May to July 2017. After reading a draft of the Standard, interviewees were asked about: the viability of implementation of the Standard; what they liked about it, and what they would change, as well as; how it met with the mandate of their own organization. Interviewees represented the senior leadership of a wide variety of organizations including: human resources; caregiver support; unions; white-collar industry; healthcare, and; municipal governments. Following transcription and coding of the interviews using thematic analysis, five major themes emerged. First, the Standard is a necessary tool in today’s world. Second, though it is an important tool, it is more likely to be used as an educational tool than to be actually implemented by most organizations. Third, organizations are not likely to implement the Standard for a variety of reasons. For example, small to medium sized organizations do not have the resources or capacity to implement and, given that large organizations already have policies in place, they will view the voluntary Standard as superfluous. Fourth, there is a significant divide in perceptions of sex and gender as relevant to the issue of caregiving and the necessity of supports such as the Standard. Finally, organizations may be motivated to implement the Standard and/or use it as an educational tool in exchange for tax breaks or insurance incentives, awards and recognition, or for grants to assist in developing and implementing policies related to the Standard. We conclude that although there are many barriers to implementation of the Standard, it is a useful and timely tool for organizations to use in order to better support their employees who are engaged in carer roles. Incentivizing implementation may encourage more participation in this program and thus greater support for worker-carers. This is especially important as more than half of carers are women, and women in caregiving roles are more likely to spend much more of their time in that role, meaning that this will keep more women engaged in the labour force, prevent burnout, and support better health outcomes (Sinha, 2012). / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / People who are caring for an elderly or sick relative or friend (worker-carers) make up a significant portion of the Canadian workforce. The Canadian Standards Association has developed a voluntary standard for employers to provide accommodations that make working more accessible to employees who are balancing their job with their caring responsibilities. This research assesses the necessity of this Standard and the likelihood that it will be implemented by employer across the country.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Geography / Kevin Blake / Mexican artist and global phenomenon Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) fascinates and inspires people from all walks of life. Rather than simply approaching the life and work of Kahlo from a traditional art historical perspective, this dissertation draws from the interdisciplinary nature of critical human geography to investigate Kahlo. Specifically, this work is informed by two sub-fields of critical human geography—feminist geography and cultural geography. Kahlo’s iconic status as a feminist symbol makes feminist geography an obvious choice while cultural geography provides the dominant methodology of textual analysis. Both sub-fields are drawn together by the use of a poststructuralist theoretical foundation that views no one meaning or interpretation as fixed, but rather posits that meanings and interpretations are fluid and open to a variety of conclusions. The primary research question in this dissertation is, “How are the critical geographies of hybridity, embodiment, and glocalization developed and explored in Frida Kahlo’s art and life?” The question is answered through the geographical exploration of Kahlo’s work, life, and iconic status as a major public figure. I delve into each of the three components of the question (hybridity, embodiment, and glocalization) by connecting geographical concepts and understandings to Kahlo and her work. I extend this exploration by arguing that Kahlo demonstrates how the self both mirrors and constructs critical geographies. This research seeks to expand and deepen the understanding of Kahlo as a significant geographical figure—an artist who was intensely aware of people and place. Additionally, this research draws together diverse threads of geographic inquiry by highlighting the interdisciplinary and humanistic qualities of the discipline. Perhaps most importantly, this dissertation positions Kahlo as a critical geographer—defying the sometimes arbitrary and limited notions imposed on the discipline and its practitioners. I assert that Kahlo’s work and life are inherently a lived expression of geographical ideas that manifest themselves in a physical, mental, and emotional sense. Ultimately, Kahlo constructs an embodied geographic text—creating knowledge and helping people understand identity and place in a different way.

The influence of religion on the status of women in selected countries The diploma thesis comes from theoretical concepts of feminist geography, geography of religion and from the research of gender inequalities. It tries to analyze the influence of selected religions on the status of women in the society and to compare Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and those without religion in this field. It comes from a thought, that gender equality is an important element for social and economical development of the state and for democracy. The key research topic for this thesis is how extensive influence the religion has on the status of woman in the society. Based on quantitative analysis of data from 41 chosen states of the world, the thesis endeavours to judge the impact of religion on the status of women in terms of social, political and economical level. One of the premises of the thesis is a presumption, that the status of women is the best in society where the majority of population is without religion, then in Christian society, Buddhist and Hinduism society and the worst in Muslim society. Based on results of statistical analysis it may be stated, that involvement of women in the public sphere has a positive impact on the socio-economical development of the state. Religion amplifies gender...

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Waikato, 2009. / Title from PDF cover (viewed October 2, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-146)

Cette thèse, ancrée dans les travaux des géographes féministes, postcoloniaux et sur les classes populaires, porte sur les trajectoires et appartenances de femmes sans-papiers parties seules, originaires d’Afrique subsaharienne et du Maghreb en région parisienne. Elle s’appuie sur une enquête ethnographique menée de fin 2009 à 2016 auprès de 52 femmes. Le premier mouvement de cette thèse s’intéresse, à partir d’une réflexivité attentive à la position de sexe, « race » et classe de l’apprentie ethnographe, aux formes et modalités de la conscience des dominant•e•s, ici celle d’une jeune femme blanche hétérosexuelle de la petite bourgeoisie provinciale et à son implication dans l’enquête. Le deuxième mouvement de cette thèse analyse les discours et pratiques de deux types d’accompagnatrices qui encadrent au quotidien les interlocutrices : les psychologues et assistantes de l’action et de l’urgence sociale. L’arrivée en France soumet les interlocutrices à une nouvelle géographie de l’intime : celle d’une retraduction de soi dans les catégories d’entendement dominant de la société d’accueil, autour de la psychologisation des difficultés sociales et des représentations postcoloniales de la condition des femmes « africaines » et « arabes ». Au regard de ces figures et d’une existence sans droits, comprendre comment ces femmes font face à ces contraintes constitue le troisième mouvement de cette thèse. La méthode ethnographique – permettant de restituer les conditions de possibilité des discours et pratiques des interlocutrices – et l’approche par trajectoire, appartenances et pratiques matérielles se sont révélées fécondes pour montrer les différenciations sociales entre ces femmes et leur positionnement pluriel sur différentes scènes (militante, résidentielle, du travail et du projet migratoire). De la matérialité des lieux aux pratiques spatiales en passant par l’appropriation de l’espace, de l’espace privé à l’espace public, de l’ancrage local à la mise en mobilité forcée dans les dispositifs du « 115 », du corps à la construction du chez-soi, au quartier, à la ville et aux frontières de la nation, l’approche géographique a permis d’affiner l’analyse / My dissertation draws on feminist and postcolonial geographies and the literature on working classes, and analyses the trajectories and senses of belonging of women with no legal status who have migrated alone from Subsaharan Africa or Maghreb to the region of Paris. The empirical ethnographic investigation was carried out between late 2009 and 2016 and involved 52 women. The first section of the dissertation reflexively examines the position in terms of gender, race and class from which the ethnography is conducted, and the awareness of the dominant position I had in this research as a young white heterosexual woman from the lower middle class of the French provinces. The second chapter deals with the discourses and practices of two types of women who accompany migrant women on a daily basis: psychologists and social workers. The women have a new geography of intimacy assigned to themselves as they arrive in France : their experiences are constructed according to the dominant categories of understanding of the society of arrival, their social difficulties are depicted as psychological and they are described in terms of postcolonial representations of the condition of « African » and « Arabic » women. The third section of the work looks at the ways in which, faced with these stereotypes and with the denial of rights, the migrant women resist these constraints. Ethnographic methods unearth the determinants of these women’s discourses and practices, along with an emphasis on trajectories and experiences of belonging, and material practices. They cast light on the social differenciations between these women and their multi-location on different scenes (that of activism, that of residence, that of work and their migration project). A geographical approach allows for a contextual, in-depth analysis of the materiality of places, spatial practices and appropriation, between public and private space, from rootedness in the local to the enforced mobility of seeking housing with the emergency services (115), from body to home, from neighbourhood to city and to the borders of the nation

This thesis is an exploration of gendered daily mobilities amongst local women in Rosengård since the inauguration of the new train station and railway service into the district. Implementing a feminist, qualitative and explorative approach to mobilities, the research poses three principal questions: how women are using public transport in their daily mobilities; what restrictions they are facing in these mobilities; and finally, the extent to which the new Rosengård train station is working towards social cohesion in Malmö. Integrating a theoretical framework of mobility justice with the methodological praxis of time-space geography, the research conducts in-depth travel itinerary diaries with five participating women which are subsequently visualised through a feminist application of qualitative GIS. What results is an examination and visualisation of the participants’ relationships with diverse mobilities throughout Malmö, and ultimately the heavy dependencies these women have on the public transport system to pursue activities and opportunities as part of a happy, fulfilling life. A critical application of space-time geography theory is illustrated within three critical considerations of gendered daily mobilities: temporal, spatial, and those relating to wider concerns of social exclusion. To quote Törsten Hägerstrand (1970), these considerations together formulate an intricate “net of constraints” that capture the life paths of women in their daily mobilities. Ultimately, the research suggests that Station Rosengård has yet to radically expand the mobility opportunities of women in the district, and thus its objective of regional social cohesion – and a step towards reducing wider inequity in public health - in the form of heightened connectivity has been challenged and problematised.

The United Nations (UN) has implemented a policy of gender mainstreaming in their agendas forboth sustainable development and urban development with the aim of improving gender equity in member statesthrough all of the organization’s work. However, many scholars have criticized the UN’s incorporation ofgender in these agendas for lacking systemic and coordinated policy schemes that are capable of ensuringgender equity. The majority of these analyses were performed shortly after the agendas’ introductions. In thisthesis, I return to these agendas a few years after their implementation to examine the discourses of gender inurban sustainability that they contain and consider whether these discourses are or are not reflected in thenational and local sustainable urban development agendas of one member state, Sweden, and its largest city,Stockholm. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is used to identify such gendered discourses and determinewhether the ideologies they reflect are or are not contributing to the agendas’ stated aim to achieve genderequity. Findings show that there are both significant similarities and differences between discourses at all levels,with different degrees of both reinforcement of and opposition to status quo gender hierarchy at each level.Agendas at the national and local levels showed more evidence of anti-hierarchical ideology than theinternational level, suggesting that the gender equity work of member states need not be constrained by theshortcomings of the UN approach.