This dissertation is based on a socio-cultural and social-anthropological approach to religion which (among other things) says that religion is dependent on the society in which it occurs. The ambition of the dissertation is not to capture "official positions" of the Catholic Church about the role of women in modern society. The dissertation is focusing on the perspective of Catholic women themselves. My main aim is to observe the opinion Catholic women have about themselves, and whether they reflect social or modernization changes. I will also observe, how they negotiated their role within the Czech political Catholicism. Time specification includes the end of the nineteenth century when women got more opportunities in the public sphere. As well as the period of independent Czechoslovakia and its constitution which declared the equal status of men and women.

This dissertation creates a background for studying white women in the Transvaal between 1877 and 1899. Legal documents are used as primary sources, as they are invaluable for researching women’s history, in that they provide a new perspective. When writing women’s history, it must be grounded in theory, as, especially when it comes to history in court cases, concepts like ‘history as performance’ and ‘occasionalism’ are significant. Of course, an eye must also firmly be held on concepts such as ‘gender’ and ‘deconstruction’, since it dictates how one should approach one’s sources. A history of the Transvaal is necessary, for when studying the court cases one must be able to position the women within a framework of their lives, and what type of living they made. Therefore, part of the dissertation is a political, but also social and economic, history of the Transvaal, written with specifically white women in mind. Sources for the socio-economic historical framework include literary accounts and secondary works on the period. The framework for the court cases further includes creating a legal stage on which to position women, which is accomplished by using legal sources like law reports, but also laws and resolutions. It is only once a detailed framework has been created that one can scrutinise court cases for issues surrounding white Transvaal women’s legal position, and agency. AFRIKAANS : Hierdie verhandeling skep die agtergrond vir ‘n studie van wit vroue in Transvaal tussen 1877 en 1899. Regsdokumente word as primêre bronne gebruik, aangesien dit van onskatbare waarde is in die ondersoek van vrouegeskiedenis, deurdat dit ‘n nuwe perspektief bied. Die skryf van vrouegeskiedenis moet in teorie gegrond wees, aangesien konsepte soos ‘history as a performance’ en ‘occasionalism’ belangrik is, veral wanneer dit kom by geskiedenis in hofsake. ‘n Ferm blik moet natuurlik ook gehou word op konsepte soos ‘gender’ en ‘dekonstruksie’ aangesien dit bepaal hoe die bronne benader moet word. ‘n Geskiedenis van Transvaal is nodig, want dit moet moontlik wees om vroue te posisioneeer binne die raamwerk van hulle lewens en die tipe bestaan wat hulle gevoer het. ‘n Gedeelte van die verhandeling behels derhalwe ‘n politieke, maar ook ‘n sosiale en ekonomiese geskiedenis van Transvaal, geskryf spesifiek met wit vroue in gedagte. Bronne vir die sosio-ekonomiese historiese raamwerk sluit verder in die skep van ‘n regsverhoog waarop die vroue geposisioneer kan word. Dit word daargestel deur gebruik te maak van regsbronne soos wetsverslae, asook wette en besluite. Eers wanneer so ‘n uitvoerige raamwerk gekonstrueer is, kan die hofsake bestudeer word vir kwessies rondom wit Transvaalse vroue se regsposisie, en hulle betrokkenheid by hulle eie agenda. Copyright / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

Syftet med denna undersökning var att genom en innehållsanalys undersöka hur de kvinnliga karaktärerna Maggan, Nina och Christina representeras i förhållande till deras roll och maktposition i samhället i TV-serien Vår tid är nu. Vidare har vi undersökt hur dessa framställningar skiljer sig åt i första respektive sista säsongen i och med feminismens framväxt.Med ett målstyrt urval av scener som underlag och med ett genusteoretiskt perspektiv, applicerades vårt analysschema på det utvalda scenerna. Analysschemat har vi skapat med hjälp av Keith Selby och Ron Cowderys narrativa analysmodell. Vidare har vi använt oss av semiotiken som analysverktyg för att kunna ge svar på våra forskningsfrågor.Resultaten visade att de kvinnliga karaktärerna skildras som drivna i båda säsongerna. I första säsongen framställs karaktärerna dock som mer begränsade till samhällets ramar och de drömmer om att bli självständiga. I sista säsongen framställs de kvinnliga karaktärerna som starkare, de har större integritet och de vågar gå sin egen väg. Resultaten visade också att skildringarna av de kvinnliga karaktärernas roll och maktposition skiljer sig mellan första och sista säsongen. I första säsongen är deras roll mer präglad av samhällets normer och deras maktposition är underordnad de manliga karaktärernas. I sista säsongen är deras roll mer jämställd med de manliga karaktärernas och deras maktposition är högre, i vissa fall högre än männens. Dessa förändringar i hur kvinnornas roll och maktposition skildras går att sammankoppla med feminismen som växte fram i tidsperioden mellan de två säsongerna. / The purpose of this study was to examine, through a content analysis, how the female characters Maggan, Nina and Christina are represented in relation to their role and position of power in the society in the TV series Vår tid är nu. Furthermore, we wanted to investigate how these representations differ in the first and last season, respectively, with the emergence of feminism.With a targeted selection of scenes as a basis and with a gender-theoretical perspective, our analysis scheme was applied to the selected scenes. We have created the analysis chart with the help of Keith Selby and Ron Cowdery's narrative analysis model. Furthermore, we have used semiotics as analysis tool to provide answers to our research questions.The results showed that the female characters are portrayed as driven in both seasons. In the first season, however, the characters are portrayed as more limited to the society’s rules and they dream of becoming independent. In the last season, the female characters are portrayed as stronger, they have greater integrity and they dare to go their own way. The results also showed that the portrayals of the female characters' role and position of power differ between the first and last season. In the first season, their role is more marked by society's norms and their position of power is subordinate to the male characters. In the last season, their role is more equal to the male characters and their position of power is higher, in some cases higher than the men’s. These changes in how women's role and position of power are portrayed can be linked to the feminism that emerged in the time period between the two seasons.

Much research about advertisements for menstrual products reveals the ways in which such advertising perpetuates shame and reinforces unrealistic ideals of femininity and womanhood. This study aims to examine the content of Instagram posts by four different menstrual product brands in hopes of understanding how these functions may or may not be carried out by social media posts by these brands as well. Building on the body of research about menstrual shame and advertising, I specifically ask: How do the Instagram pages for four menstrual product brands dissuade individuality; how do they prescribe femininity; and how do these functions differ across brands? From a liberal feminist perspective, the examined media exhibits some signs of progress—such as better racial representation—but overall maintains the status quo as to who should be using which products, what womanhood means, and what menstruation entails. These findings indicate that within menstrual product advertising, harmful gender, ability, race, class, and wealth stereotypes continue. Further research of a broader scope is needed to investigate changes on a larger scale, such as within advertising on other platforms and by more brands.

This thesis tells the stories of five Oregon women who transcended the customary roles of their era. Active during the waning years of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, each woman made a difference in the world around them. Their stories have either not been told or just given a passing glance. These tales are important because they inform us about our society on the cusp of the twentieth century. Hattie Crawford Redmond was the daughter of a freed slave who devoted herself to the fight for women's suffrage. Minnie Mossman Hill was the first woman steamboat pilot west of the Mississippi. Mary Francis Isom was a local librarian who went to France to deliver books to American soldiers. Ann and May Shogren were sisters who brought high fashion to Portland and defied the gender and social rules in both their business and personal lives. These women were not the only ones who accomplished extraordinary things during their lives. They are a tiny sample of Oregon women who pushed beyond discrimination, hardship and gender limits to earn their place in Oregon's history.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In the fall of 1917, between 30,000 and 40,000 Indianapolis women registered to vote. The passage of the Maston-McKinley partial suffrage bill earlier that year gave women a significantly amplified voice in the public realm. This victory was achieved by a conservative group of Hoosier suffragists and reformers. However, the women lost their right to vote in the fall of 1917 due to two Indiana Supreme Court rulings.

The history of Japanese women who love women is often either ignored by or inaccessible to English speakers. To address this lacuna, I will lay out two case studies of women whose Queerness is potentially useful as models of Queer Japanese womanhood. I examine the narratives surrounding two women, Murasaki Shikibu (c. 973 or 978 – c. 1014 or 1031), the author the Tale of Genji, and Otake Kōkichi (1893-1966), an author, artist, and first wave feminist activist, in order to see how narratives surrounding their Queerness, known or posited, affect or are affected by cultural and religious narratives of identity and sexual values. The only major reading of Murasaki Shikibu as a woman who loved women is that of literary scholar and lesbian feminist Komashaku Kimi in Murasaki Shikibu’s Message (Murasaki Shikibu no Messeji), written in 1991. Her argument is that the interest in women’s bodies Murasaki shows in her diary and Poetic Memoirs was a kind of same-sex desire and that that desire was integral to her message in the Tale of Genji. This argument has never been given significant scholarly attention. As such, I examine this argument and present it in English. Otake Kōkichi, born Otake Kazue, is one of a handful of Queer women from the early 20th century who are regularly discussed in academic literature on Japanese feminist history, but most narratives surrounding her tend to center on a same-sex relationship she had in her youth and ignore the radical nature of her life after marriage. I will present aspects of her life that worked with and resisted various religions and systems of value creation that were competing for influence in twentieth-century Japan. The narratives surrounding Otake and Murasaki as Queer people center the radical nature of their work and lives. Both are discussed as having a kind of embodied politics that resists dominant images of womanhood and sexuality in favour of more liberatory constructions of value and identity. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This dissertation is based on a socio-cultural and social-anthropological approach to religion which (among other things) says that religion is dependent on the society in which it occurs. The ambition of the dissertation is not to capture "official positions" of the Catholic Church about the role of women in modern society. The dissertation is focusing on the perspective of Catholic women themselves. My main aim is to observe the opinion Catholic women have about themselves, and whether they reflect social or modernization changes. I will also observe, how they negotiated their role within the Czech political Catholicism. Time specification includes the end of the nineteenth century when women got more opportunities in the public sphere. As well as the period of independent Czechoslovakia and its constitution which declared the equal status of men and women.

Throughout history men and women have not always been given the same opportunities to work. As a result of prevailing politics and norms, women have been relegated to household chores. To portray women and the working-class in the same picture can therefore be contradictory - how do you portray the working-class through those who do not work? The aim of this study is to explore, with help from Panofsky’s iconology as a method for image analysis, how women from the working-class are being portrayed in art. The study is focused on artworks made by a group of Swedish artists active during the first half of the 20th century. The group’s main motifs were the working-class and social injustices, and they used their art as a form of activism against the ongoing world war, capitalism and patriarchy. Common for the portraits of women by all of the artists is that they portray women as housewives and mothers. Explanations for this are searched, and found, in Ulla-Britt Tillman’s theory about women as a motif in working-class art and Laura Mulvey’s Male gaze theory.

Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born American artist whose unique body of work incorporated performance, activism, Earth art, installation, and the Afro-Cuban practices of Santería. She began her career at the University of Iowa, were she initially received her degree in painting in 1969. It was not until 1972 that Mendieta shifted radically to performance art. Though she was raised Catholic, she developed an interest in the rituals involved with Santería, a culturally predominant Cuban religion, and it deeply influenced her work in her choice of materials and settings. Santería is one of the major faith-based lifestyles of Cuba and is characterized by a synthesis of Afro-Cuban and Catholic characteristics, along with its own unique teachings and rituals. Also a prominent theme in Mendieta’s work was her sense of displacement and her insatiable desire to reconcile her Cuban heritage, which she attempts to resolve, not only through her art, but also during several trips to Cuba. Greater still in its contribution of influence to Mendieta’s work was the ecofeminist movement which amalgamated elements of the feminist and environmental movements; Ecofeminism’s emergence in the United States coincided with the rise of Mendieta’s career during the 1970’s. The movement focused on the correlation between the oppression, degradation, and exploitation of women and the oppression, degradation, and exploitation of the Earth. This thesis examines the life of Ana Mendieta and analyzes how her works may be viewed in an ecofeminist context. It analyzes how Mendieta’s work acts as a reflection of her cultural, social, and political reality and discusses ways in which characteristics of Santería and ecofeminism as a discourse influenced the imagery and symbolism used in Mendieta’s artwork throughout her brief career. Formal analysis of Mendieta’s artwork and contextual and historical analysis of Mendieta’s life, the ecofeminist discourse, and Afro-Cuban spirituality are explored in this research.