This study uses anti-carceral feminist logic to explore the cultural meanings, criminal implications, and neoliberal influence that shape the landscape of social work education about the sex trades in the United States and transnationally. "What are social work instructors teaching students about the sex trades in coursework?" is the question that directs the study, which uses a feminist qualitative methodology inclusive of intersectional feminist epistemology as well as direct content analysis. To answer this question, I analyzed 20 social work course syllabi from sex trade related courses across the contiguous United States and interviewed 20 social work instructors from 14 different states. Study findings show that course content represents people in the sex trades primarily as victimized cisgender women and girls with a significant focus on sex trafficking, especially within the Global South. While there is some course content that portrays sex trade workers as having complex and autonomous experiences, this material is limited to courses that have "sex" or "sexuality" in the title (i.e. "sex trafficking" or "sexuality and social work" courses). Furthermore, course content that represents the intersectional experiences and impact of systemic violence encountered by trans women of color and LGBTQ+ people is underrepresented in the sample--confined to two course syllabi and visibly absent from remaining syllabi. The sample indicates the prevalence of carceral approaches to the sex trades with an unexamined and racially-biased emphasis upon rescue and/or incarceration. This project provides significant implications for social work education about the necessity of an anti-carceral feminist, intersectional, and consequently, an anti-oppressive approach to teaching about the sex trades.

This thesis examines Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald’s writing published between 1920 and 1932. To date, biographers and scholars have largely failed to carefully examine and understand Zelda’s publications. During this period Zelda critiques the materialism and generational lack of respect she finds in the North in her articles, while using her imagination to discuss the possibilities of the South in her short stories. All of her works during these years culminate in her novel, Save Me the Waltz, in which much of her life and return to the South is mirrored by her heroine, Alabama Knight. This thesis examines Zelda’s publications in this 1920 to 1932 period in order to reveal her perception of the society she had become a part of when she married F. Scott Fitzgerald and to understand the transition in her desire to at first fit in to the Northern society that expected her to be the flapper and celebrity wife, and then later to find success and self-expression in a return to the South.

I am bored. All around me are systems that perpetuate repetitive, reductive, and mundane modes of living. In an attempt to counter a culture obsessed with singular ways of existence and bite-sized perfection, I utilize moving mediums of video and performance to dive head first into a vast array of sloppy sincerity. The crisp, white-washed, analytical, and restrictive is loudly replaced with the empirical, haphazard, and instinctual. My intention is to create and encourage raw, performative-based work that is as multifaceted as unbridled life itself. This alive and physical practice hosts a conglomeration of sweat, memories, heartbreaks, hymn singing, line dancing, cake eating, wig wearing, bedroom jamming, live streaming, code switching, hallway running, body dragging, easter egg hiding, angst, and hair salons. This is a refusal to slice up, organize, and distill myself and my work into one dish with convoluted, explanatory rhetoric stamped with institutionalized approval and topped with the cherry of MFA status for the sake of being justified and relevant. I have zero obligations to make polished art, resolve things, or pinpoint what makes me “me”, because humans are not boxes and art does not have to be finite.

Seventy-five percent of women offenders confined to prison, jails, or residential treatment programs are custodial parents of minor children at the time of their separation. Little is known, though, about how prosocial networks are used to address the effects of separation from children. Using Bui and Morash's conceptualization of the theory of gendered pathways, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand, from the perspective of incarcerated women, the experience of using prosocial networks to cope with the effects of separation. Data were collected through interviews with 10 mothers from 2 residential treatment programs in Michigan. Interview data were inductively coded, then subjected to a thematic analysis procedure. A key finding of this study was that women experience remorse, embarrassment, helplessness, and a sense of failure with respect to providing adequate care for their children and rely on their mothers or other female family members as the primary prosocial influence. Findings also suggest that Child Protective Services (CPS) is viewed by participants as intrusive and outside the prosocial network, yet significant to family reunification and permanency planning for children. Implications for positive social change include recommendations to criminal justice policymakers and Child Protective Services to consider provisions for supportive services for gender-specific programs that build on the influence of other, prosocial, female family members and promote a clear pathway to permanency planning for families, particularly where minor children are involved.

Human trafficking is a criminal act that occurs globally. It affects both women and men, but most studies have focused on female victims; few have explored trafficked men or their related health issues. Though there are many forms of trafficking, it is believed that most male victims are trafficked as forced labor. Using gender schema theory as a framework, this quantitative study examined archival data to identify the types of trafficking men are subjected to, their health ailments, and how these differ from the health ailments of trafficked women. Archival data from 124 individuals subjected to human trafficking in Florida were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis, one-way ANOVA, Mann Whitney U, and Fisher's exact tests. Findings indicated that males were more likely to have been labor trafficked compared to other forms of trafficking, and that labor trafficked persons were not more susceptible to health ailments than were sex trafficked persons. Also, there was a significant difference in health conditions between male and female victims, with females reporting more issues such as malnourishment, skin rash, and anxiety. These findings help to alter the misperception that men are traffickers only by recognizing them to be victims as well. Implications for social change include increased awareness of male trafficking in health care policies and human trafficking prevention efforts.

Juvenile delinquency continues to be a major social problem in the United States. One of the more salient problems with the juvenile justice system in the United States is its staggering incarceration rate, which poses a significant problem for youth exposed to the juvenile justice system, and the community as a whole. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perspective of the program facilitators about the effectiveness of the restorative justice program in reducing recidivism for African American males aged 12 to 17 in Baltimore City's urban community. This study relied upon restorative justice theory as conceptualized by Braithwaite as the theoretical framework. Using intrinsic case study design, data were collected from 7 restorative justice facilitators, who participated in face-to-face interviews using semistructured, open-ended questions. Miles and Huberman's qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data and to record emerging themes and patterns. The key finding of this study indicates that facilitators believe restorative justice results in a reduction of the recidivism rate specifically through the conferencing program when Braithwaite's reintegrative shaming is incorporated into the process. According to the program facilitators, the conferencing program is effective in reducing juvenile recidivism as it promotes transparency and openness to all stakeholders through being very clear and upfront on all levels with the juveniles, parents, and volunteers. As such, there are implications for positive social change by involving all the stakeholders---family, community, policy makers, and juvenile justice practitioners---that may result in reduced incidences of juvenile offending, thereby promoting safer communities.

In the United States, over 50% of women return to paid work after becoming mothers. Mothers who breastfeed are more likely to stop working than peers who chose to use infant formula. The purpose of this research was to explore work commitment among new mothers during the first year of their infant's life. Many of these mothers had skills that were imperative to organizational success, making their retention a priority. The relationship between leadership support for dual roles as mothers and employees had not received attention previously in the literature. This multiple case study analyzed the perceptions of new mothers regarding leader support and its role in their commitment to work. The first research question focused on the role of leader support in a new mother's commitment to working. The second explored a new mother's perception of organizational support of her decision regarding infant feeding. The conceptual framework was based on social learning theory, social role expectation theory, and feminist theory. Twenty-three working mothers were recruited through social media, using purposeful sampling, to participate. The data collection consisted of open-ended interviews, as well as document reviews. The data were retrieved, coded, and analyzed using within case and cross-case analysis for themes, and patterns. Findings yielded 3 primary categories: leadership, priorities, and policies. The results showed that participants needed leader support to successfully manage their dual roles, and maintain their commitment to work. In conclusion, positive social change in workplace communication, paid leave policies, and education have the ability to change long held perceptions about mother's work commitment. The results may help organizations implement new policies that benefit working mothers. These changes will strengthen corporate culture from within, empower employees, and encourage growth, loyalty, and innovation to maintain a competitive edge.

An achievement gap persists in many educational settings with females outperforming males in reading. In a Southern California school district, reading scores for boys average 10 percentile points below those of girls. A qualitative case study was conducted to explore which instructional approaches can help close this gender gap. The conceptual framework for this study was based on engagement theory, which proposes that students who are engaged in learning tasks achieve at higher levels. The guiding question asked how reading achievement for boys in Grades 3-6 could be improved in the district under study. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 4 teachers from different schools and grade levels who's boys, according to district officials, had demonstrated a strong increase in reading achievement. Content analysis of interview transcripts used a 2-cycle coding method to find emerging themes. Participants indicated 5 instructional approaches that contributed to an increase in reading achievement for boys: differentiated reading instruction, collaborative learning, motivation, goal setting and monitoring, and positive teacher-student relationships. Understanding how teachers can improve reading achievement for boys may contribute knowledge about how to improve achievement for all students in other grades in this district, help close achievement gaps, and improve the chance of getting into college for all students.

Women comprise over 57% of all U.S. mortuary school students, yet less than 20% of all funeral directors employed in this country are women. As such, women are underrepresented as funeral directors in the funeral industry. Research to date has not established clear differences between perceived gender roles and occupations in the funeral service industry. The research questions examined the perceived differences of gender role characteristics of masculine, feminine, and androgyny between the occupations of funeral service providers and nursing. Bem's gender role theory was the theoretical framework of this study. The research compared the mean scores of male and female funeral service professionals and nursing professionals as measured by the validated Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). A sample consisted of 214 randomly selected male (n = 88) and female (n = 25) funeral service professionals and male (n = 37) and female (n = 64) nurse professionals. Data scores were analyzed using the factorial multivariate analysis of variance method. Results indicated nonsignificant gender role differences between male and female funeral directors. Funeral directors appear more androgynous compared to nurses. The present study contributed to the development of this important and neglected area of research by quantitatively examining the gender role perceptions of men and women in the funeral service industry for the first time. This study results highlighted the complexity in self-perceived gender role characteristics as measured by BSRI. When the funeral profession begins to dispel gender stereotypes and discrimination issues, positive social change can occur.

In Kenya, a 2013 presidential directive reserved 30% of government procurement opportunities for enterprises owned by women, youth, and persons with disabilities to promote economic empowerment; however, as of 2016, female entrepreneurs continued to be outpaced by their male counterparts. The lack of policy evaluation from the female entrepreneur perspective limits the ability to assess progress and identify obstacles. Through purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews, this qualitative phenomenological study obtained the perceptions of the implementation and impact of Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) on economic empowerment from the perspective of 20 female entrepreneurs in Kenya previously awarded procurement contracts. Responses were coded and analyzed thematically using Moustakas's modified van Kaam method in the context of the policy feedback theory and empowerment. Five themes emerged from the female entrepreneurs' experiences: (a) enhanced economic empowerment; (b)improved potential to earn new government contracts motivated enrollment in the AGPO; (c) access to business development services enhanced competitiveness to obtain government tenders; (d) negative financial impact due to government-delayed payments for goods and services; and (e) success impeded by procurement officers' incompetence, corruption and harassment. Social change may be promoted through the economic empowerment of women being maximized with stronger implementation and regulation of this affirmative policy primarily through a streamlined application process, prompt payments for services rendered, flexible funding, and regulated competent and ethical procurement practices.