This research focuses on the use of feminized virtual avatars (FVAs) in the fashion industry and explores the risk of using FVAs for the appropriation and exploitation of marginalized communities and identities. Through a critical visual analysis of the virtual avatars Shudu Gram and Miquela Sousa, this study analyzes how they are made to represent gendered and racialized women’s bodies. The research aims to understand how the representations of FVAs reflect and influence power dynamics and social inequalities. This thesis found that the representations of Shudu and Miquela reflect and reinforce racial stereotypes, perpetuate gender inequalities, and uphold unrealistic beauty standards. Moreover, their representations of a Black woman and a Latina reinforce the exotification and Othering of Black women and Latinas, reducing their identities to a commodified aesthetic. Furthermore, the sexualized representations of Shudu and Miquela reinforce gender stereotypes and power imbalances. Finally, the lack of agency and autonomy in FVAs further complicates objectifying and exotifying portrayals. This research's theoretical and practical implications emphasize the need for critical analysis, ethical considerations, and inclusive practices in using FVAs. The study highlights the importance of critically analyzing FVAs and their implications within the context of gendered colonial legacies and structural inequalities.

The antigender discourse emerged in Argentina after the rejection of the bill to decriminalize and legalize abortion in 2018. Due to the lack of material available to conduct a thorough research, they emerged as a group academically unexplored. This thesis aims to fill this gap while studying the discursive strategies and organizational structure of the groups against “gender ideology”. Drawing from contributions of decolonial feminisms and intersectional analyses, this study depicts the intricate context where such groups are situated, recognizing the effects of coloniality permeating their discourse. While contrasting the information collected, through online research and semi-structured interviews, this study aims to dismantle the politics of identity beyond the façade of the antigender cause.

Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) develops plants with either male or female flowers, and growers of hemp greatly prefer female flowers which bear the glandular trichomes that contain cannabinoids. Feminized (all female) seeds are highly desired, which are produced by crossing a female plant with a masculinized female plant. Masculinization is achieved through the inhibition of ethylene and/or addition of gibberellins before flower initiation in female plants. The hemp industry uses silver thiosulfate (STS) to masculinize hemp, but spraying silver poses environmental concerns. This study compared STS to three other ethylene-inhibiting agents: aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), cobalt nitrate (CBN), and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP). Treatments of STS and CBN also included gibberellic acid as a synergist. Plants treated with STS exhibited superior masculinization and pollen dispersal compared to plants treated with AVG, CBN or 1-MCP. Only plants treated with STS or AVG produced pollen in sufficient quantities for collection. This pollen was assayed for germination potential initially and after storage for up to five weeks at 22.2, 7.2, or 1.1°C. Pollen from plants treated with AVG remained viable for four weeks at 1.1°C, whereas STS-treated plants produced pollen that was viable for three weeks at 1.1°C. Due to phytotoxicity problems with AVG, STS remains the best treatment to masculinize female hemp plants when breeding for feminized seeds. In a separate study, flower tissues of hemp had considerably higher total cannabinoid concentrations compared to leaf tissues but significantly lower ratios of cannabidivarin (CBDV) to cannabidiol (CBD). To reduce variability, at least 1 g samples of fresh leaf or flower tissue should be extracted with 10 mL of methanol. Rapid throughput testing of cannabinoids as part of a breeding program should use flower tissue, preferably at the time typical of harvest.

The objective of this thesis on the paid feminized domestic work is to describe the two current forms of employment of the live-inside maids and the live-outside domestic workers of paid domestic work in Lima Peru. The live-inside employment, cama adentro is the traditional form of maids living inside the household, and secondly, the live-outside employment, cama afuera, describes the working woman as an independent worker who lives outside the household. By focusing on the two forms of employment in the 1970s, the 2010s and the 2020s, this study aims to describe the changes on the urban labor market wherein 95% are women and almost 87% have informal employment. The feminized domestic work and the women domestic workers are objects of devaluation and subjects of discrimination. The critical case in this study is to understand the impact of informality and the informal working conditions. Vulnerability and precariousness are concepts frequently used in the current debate and research which describes the feminized remunerated domestic work as a forced labor. Who are the domestic working women, and how do they describe their work and life situation? What are the preferences or the facts of the persisting informality in the domestic labor sector that still have a great impact on the work situation as well as the women’s life situation? By considering women’s right to decent occupation this study also focuses on female empowerment, autonomy, economic independence in the urban domestic sector with influence from the market-oriented labor market in Lima. This case study is grounded in feminist care economy theory and Pierre Bourdieu’s human capital theory.

This diploma thesis deals with the position of women in the labour market, focusing on gender wage differences. It describes the problem of discrimination against women and the different valuation of women's and men's work. In the theoretical part, the thesis focuses on the basic terminology and overview of Czech and European legal regulations, which should ensure an equal access for women and men. Essential part of this work is to analyze the wage gap by using Gender Pay Gap index and the factors, that affects this gap. Wage differences are analyzed at the level of national economy and also at the level of individual proffesional groups. A separate chapter is devoted to analyzing the macroeconomic factors that are considered the most important causes of differences in women's and men's income. The thesis presents statistical data, which explains the different position of women in the labour market and also provides evidence of wage discrimination against women. Results of the analysis are set into the Czech and European context.