<p> This qualitative study focused on exploring the experiences and decision making process of thirteen Latina and/or African American graduate women in master's programs at a large, public university in California. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of the considerations that graduate women of color have in terms of continuing on to doctoral programs. The effects of mentorship were also explored within the lived experience of the participants. Findings that emerged as important through the stories shared included the importance of family, the significance of going beyond a bachelor's degree, challenges faced in terms of gender and race, as well as the ways which graduate women of color have thrived within higher education institutions. Collecting these stories provided insight into some of the challenges, as well as the strengths that this population possesses. Continuing to gain understanding of graduate women of color allows faculty, staff, and student affairs professionals' better support graduate women of color at their institutions.</p>

This dissertation focuses on a textual analysis of the representation of femininity and female sexuality in popular Hindi cinema. Popular Hindi cinema has been a major point of reference for Indian culture in the last century, and will undoubtedly persist in the 21 st century. To an extent, Hindi cinema has shaped and reflected the burgeoning transformation of a 'traditional India' to a 'modern India'. (I use the term modern to reflect the impact the west has had on Indian society, and how this impact in turn is reflected on screen). Issues surrounding gender and sexuality tend to be avoided, if not subverted in Hindi cinema. More specifically, issues surrounding femininity and female sexuality in Hindi cinema is either not recognised or 'mis-recognised' on screen. Feminist studies, in relation to film, have taken up these issues, to a large extent in the west (cf. Hollows, 2000; Kaplan, 2000; Macdonald, 1995). Chatterji (1998) maintains that the interest of feminists in film began as a general concern for the underrepresentation and mis-representation of women in cinema. This study explores issues surrounding the 'presences' and 'absences' (as identified by Chatterji) in the representations of female sexuality and femininity in popular Hindi cinema. The project offers a comparative study of the films produced by two popular Hindi cinema filmmakers. Pooja Bhatt's Jism (The Body) (January, 2003) is analysed in comparison to Karan Johar's Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (Sometimes happiness, sometimes sadness) (November, 2000). The study compares, contrasts and analyses the ways in which each of these films (and thus, how each filmmaker) positions female sexuality and femininity in popular Hindi cinema. Keywords: popular Hindi cinema, femininity, female sexuality, gender, representation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of individuals who self-identified as trans gender or gender variant on gender identity and mental health care. The study sought to uncover the effectiveness and preparedness of mental health professionals in addressing issues of gender identity, through participants' experiences.</p><p> Fifteen individuals who identified variously on the transgender spectrum participated in the study. Results suggest that mental health professionals are generally unprepared and inexperienced in addressing transgender issues. Participants pointed to trans gender support groups and LGBT organizations as the most helpful services. Implications show the need for mental health professionals to seek out education on the trans gender community, and to assist clients in exploring alternative identities that transcend the gender binary. Additional research that focuses on mental health disparities among the trans gender population is also an implication emerging from this study. </p>

<p> The computing profession in the United States would benefit from an increasingly diverse workforce, specifically a larger female presence, because a more gender-balanced workforce would likely result in better technological solutions to difficulties in many areas of American life. However, to achieve this balance, more women with a solid educational foundation in computing need to enter the computing workplace. Yet a common problem is most colleges and universities offering computer-related degrees have found it challenging to attract females to their programs. Also, the women who begin a computing major have shown a higher tendency than men to leave the major. The combination of these factors has resulted in a low percentage of females graduating with a computing degree, providing one plausible explanation for the current gender imbalance in the computing profession. </p><p> It is readily apparent that female enrollment and retention must be improved to increase female graduation percentages. Although recruiting women into computing and keeping them in it has been problematic, there are some who decide to pursue a computer-related degree and successfully finish. The study focused on this special group of women who provided their insight into the pursuit and completion of an undergraduate computing degree. It is hoped that the knowledge acquired from this research will inspire and encourage more women to consider the field of computing and to seek an education in it. Also, the information gathered in this study may prove valuable to recruiters, professors, and administrators in computing academia. Recruiters will have a better awareness of the factors that direct women toward computing, which may lead to better recruitment strategies. Having a better awareness of the factors that contribute to persistence will provide professors and administrators with information that can help create better methods of encouraging females to continue rather than leave. The investigation used a sequential explanatory methodology to explore how a woman determined to pursue an undergraduate computing major and to persevere within it until attaining a degree.</p>

<p> <i>RuPaul's Drag Race</i> is one of the few reality television shows focusing on QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) identified individuals that has made it into mainstream consciousness. <i>RuPaul's Drag Race</i> debuted in 2009 and appears on the channels, Logo and VH1. This thesis analyzes the four seasons from 2009 through 2012. <i>RuPaul's Drag Race</i> provides a unique perspective on the ways that gender identity, sexuality, size, class, race, and ethnicity intersect and interact in people's lives. The television show augments many of these intersections and the challenges related to these identities while still reflecting the daily struggles that people experience. In many respects, the show works to promote messages of self-love and acceptance and makes an effort to praise each contestant. However, it also promotes many problematic and damaging stereotypes. This thesis conducts a feminist analysis in order to answer the question: How does <i>RuPaul's Drag Race</i> relate to hegemonic and oppressive stereotypes and roles associated with gender identity, sexual orientation, size, class, race and ethnicity? Does it challenge or reinforce such hegemonies? This thesis utilizes a number of secondary questions in its analysis. How does <i>RuPaul's Drag Race</i> portray fat and thin contestants? How do contestants' socioeconomic backgrounds fit into their portrayals on the show? How does <i> RuPaul's Drag Race</i> portray queer cultures, and are these portrayals stereotypical? How is race represented on the show; do racial stereotypes come into play? In order to answer these questions, this thesis examines visual imagery, narrative, and dialogue in the show as well as some supporting materials. It utilizes theories from cultural studies, women's studies, English, and communications within its analysis. This thesis concludes that although <i> RuPaul's Drag Race</i> does engage in some subversive behavior, it ultimately reinforces harmful hegemonic stereotypes.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to expand on the current research pertaining to women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, better understand the experiences of undergraduate women in the sciences, identify barriers to female persistence in their intended STEM majors, and understand the impact of the STEM co-educational Living Learning Community (LLC) model on female persistence. This study employed a mixed-methods approach that was grounded in standpoint methodology. The qualitative data were collected through focus groups and one-on-one interviews with the female participants and was analyzed through a critical feminist lens utilizing standpoint methodology and coded utilizing inductive analysis. The quantitative data were collected and analyzed utilizing a simple statistical analysis of key academic variables indicative of student success: cumulative high school GPAs, SAT scores, first year cumulative GPAs, freshman persistence patterns in the intended major, and freshman retention patterns at the university. The findings of this study illustrated that the co-educational LLC model created an inclusive academic and social environment that positively impacted the female participants' experiences and persistence in STEM. The findings also found the inclusion of men in the community aided in the demystification of male superiority in the sciences for the female participants. This study also highlighted the significance of social identity in the decision making process to join a science LLC. </p>

<p> This dissertation explored Korean mass politics through neighborhood associations from the late 1930s to 1960s, defining them as a nationwide organization for state-led mass campaigns. They carried the state-led mass programs with three different names under three different state powers -Patriotic NAs by the colonial government and U.S. occupational government, Citizens NAs under the Rhee regime and Reconstruction NAs under Park Chung Hee. Putting the wartime colonial period, the post liberation period and the growing cold war period up to the early 1960s together into the category of "times of state-led movements," this dissertation argued that the three types of NAs were a nodal point to shape and cement two different images of the Korean state: a political authoritarian regime, although efficient in decision-making processes as well as effective in policy-implementation processes. It also claimed that state-led movements descended into the "New Community Movement" in the 1970s, the most successful economic modernization movements led by the South Korean government. </p><p> The beginning of a new type of movement, the state-led movement, arose in the early 1930s when Japan pushed its territorial extension. The colonial government, desperate to reshape Korean society in a way that was proper to the Great East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere and wartime mobilization, revised its mechanism of rule dependent on an alliance with a minority of the dominant class and tried to establish a contact with the Korean masses. Its historical expression was the "social indoctrination movement" and the National Spiritual General Mobilization Movement. Patriotic NAs, a modification of Korean pre-modern practice, were the institutional realization of the new mechanism. To put down diverse tensions within a NA, patriarchal gatherings made up of a male headman and male heads of household were set up. </p><p> Central to their campaigns&mdash;rice collection, saving, daily use of Japanese at home, the ration programs and demographic survey for military drafts&mdash;was the diverse interpretation of family: the actual place for residence and everyday lives, a symbolic place for consumption and private lives, and a gendered place as a domestic female sphere. The weakest links of the imperial patriarchal family ideology were the demands of equal political rights and the growing participation of women. They truly puzzled the colonial government which wanted to keep its autonomy from the Japanese government and to involve Korean women in Patriotic NAs under the patriarchal authority of male headmen. </p><p> The drastic demographic move after liberation, when at least two million Korean repatriates who had been displaced by the wartime mobilization and returned from Japan and Manchuria, made both the shortage of rice and inflation worse. It led the U.S. military occupational government not only to give up their free market economy, but also to use Patriotic NAs for economic control&mdash;rice rationing and the elimination of "ghost" populations. Although the re-use of NAs reminiscent of previous colonial mobilization efforts brought backlash based on anti-Japanese sentiment, the desperation over rice control brought passive but widespread acceptance amongst Koreans. </p><p> Whilst renaming Patriotic NAs as Citizens NA for the post-Korean War recovery projects in the name of "apolitical" national movements and for the assistance of local administration, the South Korean government strove to give it historical legitimacy and to define it as a liberal democratic institution. They identified its historical origins in Korean pre-modern practices to erase colonial traces, and at the same time they claimed that Citizens NAs would enhance communication between local Koreans and the government. After the pitched political battle in the National Congress in 1957, Citizens NAs got legal status in the Local Autonomy Law. The largest vulnerability to Citizens NAs lied in their relation to politics. While leading "apolitical" national movements as well as assisting with local administration tasks, they were misused in elections. Consequently, they were widely viewed as an anti-democratic institution because they violated the freedom of association guaranteed by the Constitution and undermined local autonomous bodies. In the end, they lost their legal status in Local Autonomy Law, with Rhee regime collapsed. </p><p> When Park Chung Hee succeeded in his military coup in 1961, he resuscitated NAs in the name of Reconstruction NAs for the "Reconstruction" movement with the priority being placed on economic development. However, civilians were against the re-use of NAs, with the notion that the governments politically abused them. Finally, the arbitrary link between state power and the NAs waned throughout the 1960s, passing its baton to the "New Community Movement" which began in 1971and swept through Korean society until the 1980s. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)</p>

Discovered tensions between the fields of home and profession reveal limits and opportunities of women and men in different social spheres. An image of a man as an active creator of his space, social relations, success and fate is constructed, while a woman is more passive and less independent – in defining the identity, man’s “self” creates relations, woman’s “self” is created by relations. The core point of the structural relations of domination is disclosed, when woman who is taking a relatively higher social position “pays” for her professional success in lesser “success” in the field of home and family; and on the contrary, success of family obligations is reached by renouncing professional success. In the framework of gender relations, the quantitative analysis reveals an aspect of cooperation, partnership, although qualitative conclusions maintain a dominant declarative aspect that confirms dominating practices and conceptions.

<p> This project focused on the motorcycle culture as evidenced in the definition of motorcycling brotherhood, the role of women in motorcycle culture, branding, and construction of self-identity. This study is intended to provide an in-depth analysis of these four areas for every-day bikers rather than outlaw motorcycle gangs. Previous research to date has focused on the culture and context of brotherhood among outlaw motorcycle gangs.</p><p> I use these four sections to determine what the everyday bikers understanding of brotherhood is, what women's current place is in motorcycle culture compared to men, the effects of branding and logos on motorcyclists, and how motorcyclists create their selfhood based upon these brands and logos. I attempt to determine if alienation is a prevalent theme or theory for the everyday biker. I found that out of 21 respondents interviewed, 10 Harley Riders and 11 non-Harley Riders, social psychology is a more prevalent explanation for why motorcyclists choose to ride.</p><p> Most of the bikers I interviewed stated that they ride because it provided a sense of adventure, it could free their mind temporarily, it felt like freedom, they felt like one with nature or the world, it was a great hobby, and most of all it allowed them to practice and share in social relationships. I also found that while women riders have grown in numbers over the years, patriarchy still exists and masculinity still dominates the motorcycling scene. Brotherhood is also found to be related to the biker code. Overall, motorcyclists still believed it is important to help out their fellow brother on two wheels rather than to worry about the brand of bike or type of bike they ride.</p>

<p>Since the passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, which amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964, female law enforcement officers have battled obstacles and barriers, both external and internal in their effort to gain equality and assimilate into the role of police officer. The problem examined in this qualitative study was the low percentage of women in sworn law enforcement positions of all ranks. Thirty-six sworn female officers currently serving in the state of Arizona were selected to participate in focus group discussions to assist in the phenomenological examination of low representation of women in law enforcement. The female officers were asked a series of questions to facilitate discussion in an effort to explore their experiences and possibly reveal underlying police cultural factors that may lead to limited opportunities for women who choose law enforcement as a career. The qualitative design fostered a sharing of the stories of these female officers and provided an in-depth understanding of their experiences both on and off the job related to their choice of career. Information-rich data provided by the participants served to inform the Arizona law enforcement community concerning the experiences and career choices of women in law enforcement. Discovered through focus group discussions were the reasons women choose law enforcement as a career as well as why they remain in the profession. The excitement of the job coupled with job security, and salary factored into the decision making processes. Data addressing promotion, leadership, and role models were also revealed with female officers advising an inequitable promotional process, yet one in which they believed women needed to participate to improve the profession for others. Recommendations of formal mentoring and succession planning were made along with changes in the recruitment process. Future study should include male participants as well as female participants. Funding sources or sponsoring organizations should be explored in an effort to expand the scope of future study. Conducting focus groups discussions in different parts of the state and for longer periods of time would permit individuals from different areas of the state an opportunity to participate. </p>