This dissertation examines the feminist intersections of composition studies, visual rhetoric, and comics studies in order to identify a rhetorically interdisciplinary approach to composition that moves beyond composition studies’ persistent separation of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, rhetoric and ideology, and analysis and composition. Chapter one transgresses the qualitative/quantitative divide using keyword analysis and visualization of 2,573 dissertation and thesis abstracts published between 1979 – 2012 to engage in what composition studies scholar Derek Mueller terms a “distant reading” of the extent and contexts of composition studies’ self-identified interdisciplinarity. Complementing my more traditional literature review, the results of this analysis validate the necessity of my analytical and pedagogical interventions by suggesting that composition studies has not yet addressed comics through the feminist intersections of visual rhetoric and critical pedagogy. Chapters two and three develop a rhetorical analytical approach to comics that moves beyond comics studies’ persistent separation of rhetoric and ideology by positing conflict as an identifiable form of rhetorical persuasion in the Martha Washington comics. These comics were collaboratively created by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons between 1989 – 2007. Following feminist rhetorician Susan Jarratt’s case for rhetorical conflict as a pedagogical tool and extending Chicana feminist Chela Sandoval’s conceptualization of meta-ideologizing in which oppressive ideologies are re-signified via recontextualizations that juxtapose ‘old’ and ‘new’ signs of ideological meaning, I explore the rhetorically persuasive conflict arising from visual, conceptual, and embodied juxtapositions of race, class, and gender made visible in these comics. Chapter four outlines a feminist, critical, visual rhetorical – what I call prismatic – approach to composition pedagogy that requires (1) contexts in which differences and conflicts can be identified and engaged, (2) explicable sites of intersection between ideological perspectives and rhetorical construction, and (3) models for the transition from ideological critique to (re)composition. This is not an add-pop-genre-and-stir approach to composition pedagogy; rather, it intentionally deploys comics’ inherent multimodality as a challenge to students’ often narrow definitions of rhetoric and composition.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis uses an analysis of Fay Weldon's Puffball and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to explore the construction of identity, particularly female identity. It takes into consideration the influence of both biology and culture on identity and explores how, within the context of the patriarchal societies depicted by the novels, female identity is closely linked to reproductive function. It examines how the construction of female identity based on reproductive function further objectifies the female body in society, and how it can aid patriarchal domination and oppression of women. The analysis of the novels draws on both essentialist and social constructionist feminist approaches to oppression and female identity. The essentialist approach views female biological difference (reproductive function) as responsible for the way in which women are oppressed. The social constructionist view argues that female oppression stems from the social construction of female identity around concepts of motherhood and femininity. The thesis takes both approaches into account as it seeks to explain how patriarchy oppresses women through the construction of female identity. The thesis also explores how control over the female body and identity can be exercised through reproductive technology. An examination of the role reproductive technology plays in contributing to patriarchal dominance, suggests that new technologies may compel women to conform to stereotypes of femininity based on pregnancy and motherhood. The thesis considers the impact infertility and the choice not to have children have on female identity and takes into account the options available to these women. The main focus, with regard to infertility and choice, is on the relationship between women who have children and those who do not. This thesis refutes the notion that there is solidarity between women based on shared childbearing experience, and focuses on the conflict that occurs between fertile and childless women. It finds that the conflict that occurs is a result of the socialisation of women into viewing motherhood as an essential aspect of 'normal' femininity. The thesis also considers what causes the desire to have children and finds that, as in the case of the conflict between women, it is as a result of socialisation and an innate/instinctual biological drive. The thesis investigates options available to women in order for them to avoid constructing their identities solely around their reproductive function. It considers the alternatives women are presented with when constructing their identity and how these may contribute to or liberate them from patriarchal oppression. If they choose to identify themselves using patriarchal norms, then they are contributing to their objectification; but if they choose to construct their identity on their own terms, and offer some resistance to patriarchal constructions, they will be more liberated than women who conform to stereotypes. Evidence of such resistance can be seen in both novels in the narrative structure the respective authors have chosen: just as the main characters subvert traditional stereotypes through the construction of their own identity, embracing female experience on their own terms, so do both authors subvert traditional narratives. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is gegrond op die analisering van die novelle Puffball deur Fay Weldon en The Handmaid's Tale deur Margaret Atwood ter ondersoek van die konstruksie van identiteit, naamlik die vroulike identiteit. Die analise neem beide die biologiese en kulturele invloed van identiteit in ag, veral binne die konteks van die patriargale samelewing wat in novelles voorkom.Die wisselwerking tussen vroulike identiteit en die funksie van reproduksie word aangeraak. Die tesis ondersoek die wyse waarop die konstruksie van die vroulike identiteit gebasseer op die reproduksie funksie, verder die vroulike liggaam binne samelewingskonteks tipeer en hoe dit indirek patriargale dominansie ondersteun sowel as die onderdrukking van die vrou. Die analise van die novelles steun sterk op beide die essensialistiese en sosiale konstruksialistiese feministiese benaderings ten opsigte van onderdrukking en vroulike identiteit. Die essensialistiese benadering blameer die vroulike biologiese verskil, met verwysing na die reproduksie funksie, vir die wyse waarop die vrou onderdruk word. In kontras hiermee, argumenteer die sosiale konstruksialistiese seining dat vroulike onderdrukking voortspruit uit die sosiale konstruksie van vroulike identiteit binne die konsep van moederskap en vroulikheid. Die tesis neem beide standpunte in ag daar dit hom ten doel stelom te verduidelik waarom patriargie die vrou onderdruk deur die konstruksie van die vroulike identiteit. Die tesis fokus ook op die wyse waarop kontrole oor die vroulike liggaam en identiteit uitgeoefen kan word deur die reproduktiewe tegnologie. 'n Ondersoek na die rol wat reproduktiewe tegnologie speel ter ondersteuning van patriargale dominansie, argumenteer dat nuwe tegnologieë "Toue kan verplig tot die konformering van stereotipes van vroulikheid gebasseer op swangerskap en moederskap. Die analise neem ook die impak wat onvrugbaarheid op die vroulike identiteit het, in ag , sowel as die besluit om nie kinders te hê nie. Verder neem dit ook die verskeie opsies wat beskikbaar is vir die vrou wat daarteen besluit om kinders te hê, in ag, sover dit die konstruksie van identiteit raak. Die hooffokus met betrekking tot onvrugbaarheid en keuse, is gebasseer op die verhouding tussen vroue wat wel kinders het en diegene wat kinderloos is. Die tesis weerlê die idee dat daar solidariteit is tussen vroue gebasseer op gedeelde ervarings en gemeenskaplike doelwitte en begeertes en fokus op die konflik wat ontstaan tussen kinderlose en vrugbare vroue. Die ondersoek ondervind dat die konflik wat onstaan, 'n produk is van die sosialisering van vroue met die idee van moederskap as 'n essensiële aspek van "normale" vroulikheid. Die tesis ondersoek ook die oorsake van die begeerte om kinders te hê en ondervind dat, soos ook die geval met konflik, dit die produk is van sosialisering en instinktiefbiologies gedrewe is. Die tesis ondersoek die opsies beskikbaar vir die vrou ten einde haar te verhoed om die konstruksie van haar identiteit te grond alleenlik op die reproduktiewe funksie. Die analise neem die alternatiewe waarmee die vrou gekonfronteer word tydens die konstruksieproses, in aanmerking, en bevraagteken die wyse waarop hierdie alternatiewe kan bydra tot , of die bevryding van, die patriargale onderdrukking. Indien die vrou verkies om haarself te identifiseer deur patriargale norme te gebruik sal sy bydra tot haar objektivering binne die tradisionele patriargale konteks; maar indien sy kies om haar eie identiteit te konstruktueer volgens haar eie norme en terselfdertyd patriargale konstruksie teenstaan, sal sy meer geëmansipeerd wees as haar eweknie wat tot die stereotipe gekonformeer het. Deel van die weerstand wat voorkom in beide novelles, kan opgemerk word in die naratiewe struktuur gekies deur die skrywer. Paralelle word aangetref tussen enersyds, die wyse waarop die hoofkarakters hulself aan die tradisionele stereotipes ondermyn deur die konstruksie van hul eie identiteit, terselfdertyd deur die koestering van vroulike ervarings, en andersyds die wyse waarop beide skrywers hulself aan tradisionele naratiewe onderwerp.

Gendered bodies and new technologies has one founding premise, namely that embodiment constitutes a non-negotiable prerequisite for human life. Although this may seem like an obvious statement, it is a statement that needs to be affirmed in the virtual age wherein we live. New technologies in most of its forms tend to discredit the embodied aspects of human life and instead concentrate on the disembodied aspects thereof. Among new technologies the following are specifically noted: microelectronics, telecommunication networks, nano-technology, virtual reality, computer-mediated communications and other forms of computer technologies. In short, “new technologies” refer to all things digital. I explore the issue of embodiment from a gendered perspective, seeing that the female body is the embodiment most likely to be discarded, not only in metaphysical systems, but also in developments within new technologies. The main focus of my gendered analysis is on the visual image and more specifically as it manifests in cinema, advertisements, the Internet, interactive artwork and television. The critical perspective that foregrounds my approach is that of the fairly new field of cyberfeminism. The main concern of cyberfeminism being a critical engagement of women’s position in terms of new technologies. In this regard, cyberfeminism does not perpetuate an anti-technology stance, but rather embraces technology by emphasising the embodied nature of our existence. I have identified four body types to explore the interactions between bodies and new technologies. They are: the techno-transcendent body; the techno-enhanced body; the marked body and the cyborg body. The four body types differ in the way in which gendered embodiment is negotiated in its interaction with new technologies and these are highlighted and discussed in the four chapters dealing with these four body types. / English / D.Litt.et Phil.

The aim of the study has been to examine women's participation in the reproduction of the system of heteronormative expectations of femininity and masculinity through narrative method, analyze books within the erotic women’s literature, as well as interviews with females. The study's focus was on the presentation and representations of the femininity(s) and masculinity(s). Through the questions , How represents heteronormative femininity(s) and masculinity(s) in the erotic women´s litterateur? How portray women, their views on femininity(s) and masculinity(s)? The study were linked with the radical feminist theory regarding the male patriarchate's role as a hegemony in society, as well as one of queer theory's definitions of the gender and heteronormativity. The study also included elements of feminist research on popular culture. On the basis of my purpose and the research question I have come to the conclusion that women are involved in the reproduction of the system of heteronormative expectations of femininity and masculinity. But the study also shows a shifting duality of " ideal woman" and "ideal man". / Studiens syfte har varit att undersöka kvinnors delaktighet i reproduktion av heteronormativa förväntningar på kvinnlighet och manlighet genom narrativmetod, analysera böcker inom erotisk kvinnolitteratur samt intervjuer med kvinnor. Studiens fokus handlade om samtidens framställande samt representationer av femininitet(er) och maskulinitet(er). Genom frågeställningarna, Hur framställs heteronormativ femininitet(er) och maskulinitet(er) i erotisk kvinnolitteratur? Hur framställer kvinnor sin syn på femininitet(er) och maskulinitet(er)? Studien kopplades samman med radikal feministisk teori rörande det manliga patriarkatets roll som hegemoni i samhället samt queerteorins definitioner av genus och heteronormativitet. Studien innefattade också inslag av feministisk forskning rörande populärkulturen. Utifrån mitt syfte samt frågeställning har jag kommit fram till att kvinnor är delaktiga i reproduktionen av heteronormativa förväntningar på kvinnlighet och manlighet. Men studien visar också på en skiftande dubbelhet rörande "idealkvinnan" och "idealmannen".

Si certaines formes de violence sont aujourd'hui l'objet de toutes les attentions, d'autres comme la violence conjugale, restent tues, considérées trop souvent comme un problème privé. La violence masculine constitue une véritable atteinte aux droits fondamentaux: droit à la liberté et à la sécurité notamment. La violence conjugale, quelle que soit sa forme, présente des constantes. Ainsi ce type de violence existe dans les sociétés orientales et occidentales mais le contexte diffère. Si les violences conjugales dans les sociétés orientales notamment celle libanaise reflètent le patriarcat, la reproduction sociale et l’héritage familial et que les lois et les codes civiles favorisent le statut de l’homme, celles qui existent dans les sociétés occidentales sont reliées aux affects psychologiques, aux dissociations familiales et aux problèmes familiaux. Dans tous les pays du Moyen-Orient, comme au Liban, les femmes ne bénéficient pas pleinement de leur citoyenneté civile. Elles sont notamment spoliées de droits, privilèges et garanties de sécurité auxquelles elles devraient avoir accès. Des lois inéquitables, des constitutions discriminatoires et des préjugés culturels, qui ne les reconnaissent pas comme des citoyennes égales, entravent leur participation à la vie politique et limitent leur sécurité en matière économique, de mobilité et de protection sociale. A la différence du contexte occidental, comme en France et au Canada, où l’individu est l’unité de base de l’Etat, c’est la famille qui forme la base des Etats arabes.On tente donc de confirmer que la violence conjugale comme toutes sortes de violence, elle s’échappe à toutes nominations sociales, elle existe dans toutes les sociétés et les régions même les plus favorisées d’entre elles et elle est présente chez toutes les catégories sociales.Une approche interculturelle de ce phénomène s’avère donc nécessaire, des facteurs comme religion et migration demeurent être parfois déclenchant ou légitimant d’un tel type de violence. L’analyse psycho-sociale de plusieurs études de cas de violences conjugales ne peut que dévoiler le latent, le caché des hommes violents et des femmes violentées. / If some forms of silence are today the center of attention, other forms such as conjugal violence remain unrevealed and are often considered as private problems. Men violence is affecting fundamental rights in particular the right of liberty and security. Conjugal violence, whatever its forms are, presents some constants. This type of violence is found in oriental and occidental societies but the context differs. If conjugal violence in oriental societies particularly in Lebanon reflects the patriarchy and the social reproduction and the family inheritance, it also shows that the law and the civil codes are in favor of men. The conjugal violence existing in the occidental societies are related to psychological affects and family separations and family problems. In all Middle – Eastern countries like Lebanon, women do not benefit completely from their civil citizenship. They are despoiled of rights, and privileges and security guarantee that they should have access to. Inequitable laws, discriminatory constitutions and cultural prejudice that doesn’t take the woman as an equal citizen, hinder their participation in politics and limit to the women’s economic security going from mobility to social welfare. Unlike the occidental context where the individual unites the base of the country like in France and Canada, family constitutes the base of Arab countries.They tend to confirm that conjugal violence like any form of violence escapes from any social nominations. This violence exists in all societies and even in the most favored regions. And it also exists in all social categories.A cross-cultural approach of this phenomenon is necessary. Factors such as religion or migration launch or justify such type of violence. Psychosocial analysis of several studies made about conjugal violence unveil the latent and the hidden secrets of violent men and abused women.

xiv, 246 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This project is a critical and comparative investigation of Western and non-Western practices of body modification. Situated in the realm of feminist political theory, the project engages the literature and debates concerning embodiment, or the symbolic and concrete meanings of women's bodies. I specifically explore two examples of the physical construction of women's bodies: breast implantation in the United States and female genital cutting (FGC) in Senegal. I demonstrate that each of the practices molds bodies into preexisting naturalized forms. For this project, I conducted eighty in-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured interviews with women and men in twelve different locations in Senegal. Then, I carried out sixty-five in-depth, open-ended, and semi-structured interviews with American men and women from twenty-one different cities. I argue that the information that emerges from looking at body normalization comparatively allows me to make two important claims. The first is that the material that originates from interviews in this comparative study disrupts existing hegemonic discourse on sex-based body modifications. In particular, the comparative findings challenge the viewpoint that espouses a "Western women are free, African women are oppressed" binary. Second, examining FGC in Senegal alongside breast implantation in the US can uncover normalization that is invisible within social fields, or in the lives of women and men. Normalization is hard to see when in it, but easier to see if an individual steps outside of herself, her context, and her patriarchy. Thus, though many women do not recognize the normalizing structures within their own lives, they often are able to see these hegemonic structures in the lives of others. Women stepping outside of their own contexts can provide fresh, critical eyes that recognize embedded normalizations and oppression in other contexts. Further, this realization also can push them to return that critical gaze onto their own environment, which is the beginning of locating mechanisms of control within their own field. The construction of sex and the imprinting of gender norms upon bodies are manifestations of regulation and normalization that occur within socio-cultural contexts, and which individuals can potentially locate through a comparative conversation of this type. / Committee in charge: Dennis Galvan, Chairperson, Political Science; Julie Novkov, Member, Political Science; Leonard Feldman, Member, Political Science; Stephen Wooten, Outside Member, Anthropology

Les principaux paradigmes qui se déploient dans l’histoire de la pensée féministe française portent une conceptualisation de l’éducation qui se fait aux dépens de l’un ou l’autre des deux termes que sont l’individuel et le social. Qu’il s’agisse du féminisme libéral « première vague » avec sa grille de lecture individualiste ou du féminisme matérialiste « deuxième vague » avec son constructivisme social radical, chaque modèle semble, à sa façon, succomber à une forme de substantialisme – de l’individuel ou du social, occultant la relation qui existe entre eux – ce qui fait obstacle à une pensée proprement politique de l’éducation. Les pédagogies féministes anglo-saxonnes contemporaines échappent à ces écueils symétriques car elles redéfinissent la forme même de l’éducation d’un point de vue relationnel. À partir d’une définition de la conscience comme relation, elles visent une dialectique entre conscience individuelle et conscience collective. Leur sujet n’est ni l’individu femme avec ses droits, ni le groupe social des femmes hérité de la domination, mais bien un certain rapport à la situation des femmes, rapport qui définit le sujet politique féministe. Or, ce que révèlent les tendances subjectivistes des pédagogies féministes, c’est que la constitution de ce rapport invite à une transformation de la forme éducative qui ne se limite pas à celle de la relation pédagogique, sous peine de se dévoyer dans des pratiques dépolitisantes. La transformation doit en effet viser l’éducation dans ses institutions elles-mêmes. En tant qu’elles participent du découpage de l’espace social qui distingue et hiérarchise travail productif et travail reproductif, ces dernières seraient à reconstruire. C’est ce que permet de penser un projet politique de care à l’échelle des institutions. / This thesis examines and seeks to resolve some paradoxes in feminist conceptions of education. Dominant paradigms in first- and second-wave French feminism conceptualize education in ways that discount one of its fundamental aspects: either its social or its individual nature. While first-wave liberal feminism tends to promote a form of educational individualism, second-wave materialist feminism only considers education through the lens of socialization. Both paradigms fall prey to substantialism because they reify either the individual or society, and thus forget that the two stand in relation to each other. Contemporary Anglo-Saxon feminist pedagogies avoid these symmetrical pitfalls thanks to a relational conceptualization of education. Starting from a definition of consciousness as relation, these theories conceptualize “consciousness raising” as a dialectics between individual consciousness and collective consciousness. In this perspective, the feminist subject is neither the individual woman as rights-bearer nor the social class of women as produced by domination. Instead, the feminist political subject is defined by a specific relation to the condition of women. Nevertheless, subjectivist tendencies within feminist pedagogies reveal that building this relation requires rethinking educational institutions; otherwise feminist pedagogy can become a depoliticized practice. Because educational institutions contribute to producing the hierarchical division between productive and reproductive labor, they must be radically transformed. Such work can be done through a political project of care at the institutional level.

It is argued that South African feminism in the 1990's risks sabotaging itself as a movement and as a form of social critique because it has (1) not completely eradicated key positivist elements from its ontology and epistemology; (2) inadequately examined a crucial issue in an emancipatory social science, namely power; (3) increasingly opted for relativist and pragmatist perspectives in theorising women's oppression and social transformation. It is further argued that the over-reliance on relativism, standpoint theory and pragmatism is problematic for contemporary feminism. As an alternative, Bhaskar's transformational analysis of power in combination with an anti-racist feminism and social psychology is used to provide a robust framework within which complex social issues may be addressed. In this study, 16 female participants were interviewed about their experiences of living in an impoverished township. Themes identified in the data suggested that the theoretical perspectives used in the study provided insights into the subtleties and complexities of the operation of power in society. These insights enabled productive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of development initiatives and political decision-making processes in the community, and the survival strategies of its women. It is hoped that research work of this sort could make a real contribution to the ongoing women's emancipation struggle in Port Alfred and similar communities.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:33:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabiana Larissa Kamada.pdf: 1033288 bytes, checksum: 3dde0a076ef11662c8e7b07f53d19c87 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-20 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The paid domestic work, undervalued activity in Brazil, still bears traces of our slave past. Being underpaid, with high rates of informality, developing into long working hours and being endowed with low social protection, domestic work contributes to the feminization of poverty, since the majority of domestic workers are women. This study shows the extent to which sexual division of labor hampers and even manages to derail the achievement of full citizenship of women, perpetuating gender inequality in labor relations, the intended men to productive sphere (public space) and to women reproductive (private area). Because domestic work assignment considered "natural" women, the labor employed therein is overexploited, endowed with little protection, and an urgent need to review the rules of this kind of work, as well as seeking alternatives to configure it as "decent work", a fundamental condition for overcoming poverty, the reduction of social inequalities, ensuring democratic governance and sustainable development. To do so, you must bring the discussion of feminist theory, especially Nancy Fraser, to guide the choices of changes to follow. / O trabalho doméstico remunerado, atividade pouco valorizada no Brasil, carrega ainda hoje traços de nosso passado escravista. Sendo mal remunerado, contando com altos índices de informalidade, desenvolvendo-se em longas jornadas de trabalho e sendo dotado de baixa proteção social, o trabalho doméstico contribui para a feminização da pobreza, já que a maioria dos trabalhadores domésticos é composta por mulheres. Este estudo mostra em que medida a divisão sexual do trabalho dificulta e chega mesmo a inviabilizar a conquista da plena cidadania feminina, perpetuando a desigualdade entre os sexos nas relações de trabalho, ao destinar aos homens a esfera produtiva (espaço público) e às mulheres a reprodutiva (espaço privado). Por ser o trabalho doméstico considerado atribuição "natural" das mulheres, a mão de obra nele empregada é superexplorada, dotada de pouca proteção, sendo necessário e urgente se rever a regulamentação deste tipo de trabalho, assim como buscar alternativas para que ele se configure como trabalho decente , condição fundamental para a superação da pobreza, a redução das desigualdades sociais, a garantia da governabilidade democrática e o desenvolvimento sustentável. Para tanto, será necessário trazer a discussão da teoria feminista, principalmente a de Nancy Fraser, para orientar nas escolhas de mudanças a serem seguidas.

Cette thèse applique le concept analytique d’ « inégalité intersectionnelle des genres » à l’analyse des implications du développement du secteur privé du care sur les inégalités structurelles fondées sur le genre, la classe et la race en France et en Allemagne. Je pose la question suivante : les politiques publiques régissant le secteur du care renforcent-elles les inégalités intersectionnelles par leur manque de compréhension des phénomènes de discrimination intersectionnelle ? Dans quelle mesure les politiques publiques dans les domaines de l’immigration, de l’emploi, de la famille et de l’égalité professionnelle entre hommes et femmes prennent-elles en compte l’intersection des désavantages structurels ? J’aborde la notion d’ « égalité des genres » d’un point de vue intersectionnel dans le sens où la catégorie « femme » est envisagée comme un groupe hétérogène et non universel. Les inégalités au sein de cette catégorie sont donc au centre de l’attention. Le transfert du travail reproductif des femmes employées sur le marché du travail formel à d’autres femmes en situation marginale pose des questions de hiérarchie basée sur la classe et sur la race à l’intérieur de la catégorie ‘femmes’. Ma problématique pourrait donc être reformulée comme suit : Comment les politiques promouvant le développement des services de care privés influencent-elles l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes, et l’égalité entre les femmes ? Une analyse approfondie des politiques discursives et des cadres politiques liés aux problèmes du care et de l’égalité des genres a permis de comprendre les diverses représentations et constructions de ces questions politiques. La recherche conclut que les divers cadres discursifs des problèmes politiques de l’égalité des genres, de l’immigration et de l’emploi dans le secteur du care ont un impact direct sur la formulation des politiques publiques se rapportant au travail du care, ce qui perpétue un processus de discrimination que je décrit en conceptualise comme inégalité intersectionnelle des genres. / This dissertation applies the analytical concept of “intersectional gender inequality” to the analysis of the implications of the development of private care for gender, class and racial structural inequalities in France and Germany. I ask: how do public policies pertaining to social care – in their current formulation – reinforce intersectional inequalities because of their disregard or lack of understanding of intersectional discrimination? To what extent do migration, labor market, family, and gender equality policies frame and address intersectional disadvantage? The transfer of reproductive work from women employed on the formal labor market to other marginalized women poses questions of hierarchy based on racism and classism within the group “women.” My research question could be reformulated as: How do policies promoting the development of personal care services influence equality between men and women, and equality between women? I undertook an in-depth analysis of the intricate relationships between white supremacy, class exploitation and patriarchy and examined how these systems of domination impact on gender inequality. The analysis of discursive politics and policy frames related to the issue of care and gender equality allowed an understanding of the various representations and constructions of the political issues and of the people affected by it.The discourses developed in relation to the above-mentioned policies reflect particular representations of the interrelated problems of gender inequality, labor shortages in the care sector, and immigration, as well as the solutions brought forward to solve them. Using critical frame analysis, this dissertation addresses the intersectional representation (or lack thereof) of racialized women in policies, laws and discourses pertaining to social care. Drawing from this, the specific structural discrimination of racialized women on the labor market will be analyzed.The research reveals that the discursive framing of the policy issues of gender inequality, immigration and employment in care impact on the formulation of policies pertaining to care work, which in turn sustain a discrimination pattern that I describe and conceptualize as intersectional gender inequality.