This research investigated cultural and social factors that influenced or allowed Saudi women to become leaders. It also examined those values that are synchronous with cultural and social factors that improved their access to leadership opportunities. An understanding of the factors and values that enabled these Saudi women to succeed leads to better knowledge of formation of leadership character. The context in which these Saudi women achieved their successful goal of becoming leaders, provides insight into their development as leaders and contribute to leadership studies in a traditional and religious context. The empirical data, gathered through in depth structured interviews using multiple rounds of interviews, was interpreted to produce a framework focused on the achievement of leadership and the cultural and social factors that enable or inhibit women leadership. The research revealed culturally based constructs related to gender. Whilst men are given responsibility and favoured for responsible positions, women are not inferior to men. Significantly, the women regarded themselves as no different from men in terms of bearing responsibility, being independent and achieving success. It confirmed the expectation depicted in the conceptual framework that women’s attributes or values are critical and significant in their successful journey to leadership. Sixteen such values and attributes emerged from the data. Significant among them were empathy with employees, ability to adapt, strength of character, expert knowledge and solidarity among women. By understanding the values that help women to achieve, sustain and evolve their leadership skills, which social and cultural dynamics enable or inhibit them in becoming leaders, and which organisational factors are critical for their success, this research has contributed better knowledge of Saudi women leadership achievement. Knowledge about women leadership in the Saudi context is thus advanced. This reveals that there is a role of the family and especially the father’s role, individual’s aspirations and action, the personal and professional struggle that Saudi women leaders experience, and the interpersonal relationships that they establish with their male counterparts to succeed. The research contributed understanding and knowledge of those values held by successful women leaders that are both unique and shared with successful leaders around the world. It revealed the social and cultural factors and dynamics, in the opinion of the participants that inhibit or enhance their ability to gain leadership roles and to work as effective leaders. The research revealed the organisational factors or dynamics affect women leaders.

Previous research suggests that through engagement with Higher Education (HE), mature women students experience identity change and transformation which could lead to conflict and strain on marital relationships. The aims of this thesis are to explore the effects of identity transformation on mature women and the family unit as a whole, through a consideration of the impact of HE on family life. Qualitative methods were adopted using a narrative inquiry methodology of focused interviews, mind mapping and a student led mosaic approach to gather the data. Women with families were selected from one Foundation Degree in Early Years in a College Higher Education (CHE) environment. The views of their husbands were also gathered through interviews. This thesis argues that HE study had transformative effects on the whole family, not just the identity of the women students. Previously to HE, the women’s identity was firmly placed in the home as mothers. HE could be seen to change and reconstruct their position as a mother. These transformations and positional changes concerned family routines, relationships and parenting approaches. The women participants believed that their husbands benefitted from the secondary effects of transformation as a result of their wives’ HE studies and identity change. My thesis contributes to knowledge on this topic through the development of a model of family capital which consists of emotional, economic, cultural and social capital. Time is recognised as an important aspect of capital production and identity transformation. Husbands were viewed as reliable providers of family capital; however children who are normally viewed as consumers of family capital also became providers of capital. Through accessing capital support and having their studies valued by their family, women were able to justify their time spent on HE and minimise their feelings of guilt. This thesis is of relevance for women students and HE tutors. Using the findings of this study, HE staff can highlight the transformative effect of HE study on women students. Through raising an awareness of the importance of family capital and support networks, then HE success is more likely to be achieved.

The thesis explores the experiences of 24 young women from a town in North West England ('Millthorne') as they make their way through their first year of university study. The project is based on a qualitative, longitudinal methodology comprising of three in-depth interviews conducted with each respondent before, during and after the first year of study. The aim of the research was to examine the 'process of relating' (Mason, 2004) for the 24 respondents, in order to think through the ways in which individual actions and identities emerge out of experiences of relationships with kin and non-kin. The project thus contributes to a growing body of literature which attends to the emotional and moral dimensions of social life, and which seeks to challenge ideas around individualism. The public story (Jamieson, 1998) around going to university is one which stresses notions of selfhood, adventure and individualism and so, in the early interviews, respondents expressed a sense of expectation that their identities and relationships would alter significantly once university began. They expected that, by going to university, they would be removed from the clutches of family and that longstanding friend relationships based at home would be replaced by better, more enduring relationships formed within the context of university. The interviews carried out later in the project, however, revealed a divergence between respondents' expectations of kin and non-kin relationships and their real-life, everyday experiences. Significantly, family and longstanding friendships continued to play a central role, leaking into the spaces of university through virtual and imagined as well as tangible means. This meant that respondents did not experience the move to university in the ways they had anticipated and it was not the wrench that many had hoped or feared. What this study demonstrates is the complexity of personal relationships and the ways in which feelings of attachment and relatedness play out in different ways and at different times. Personal relationships are active and dynamic and it is the longitudinal methodology employed in this research which reveals this. Clearly people speak about relationships in particular ways at different junctures in the life course, appealing to discourses of individualism at some points and the security of relationships at others. It is imperative therefore, to capture the richness and complexity of the emotional and the personal, if one is to fully understand the social.

This novel is a work of fiction that explores the relationships between three women in the remote mountain village of Gildone in Southern Italy. It begins in 1956 after the protagonist, Liliana Farinacci, discovers she is pregnant. Her husband, Domenico, leaves Italy for Venezuela to find work. Before marrying Domenico, Liliana's former boyfriend, Raphael, confesses his love for her and leaves to better himself in Venezuela. Abandoned and alone Liliana escapes her sorrows at the family bakery that she runs. The novel follows Liliana, the birth of her daughter, Francesca, and the birth of her granddaughter Anna. Liliana copes with all the gossip in the small town. She also learns that the one secret her mother kept from her might have made a difference in her life's choices and happiness. / by Gloria Panzera. / Preliminary p. vii numbered as "1". / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The increasing elderly population is creating a greater need for care providers. Research indicates that while caregiving can be rewarding, it can also generate stress which, in turn, impacts individual well-being. Social support, however, may foster the well-being of persons who are experiencing stressful events. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of perceived social support from close family (siblings, spouse, and children) and background characteristics to well-being for a sample of women caring for mothers who were not cognitively impaired. The sample for this study (N=65) was drawn from a larger five year western Oregon study of women caregivers (Walker, 1986), and included only those women who: participated during the third year of the larger study; were married; and had at least one child and one sibling. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews. Pearson correlations and multiple regressions were used to assess the contribution of family support and background characteristics to well-being. Well-being, as measured by the CES-D scale, was the dependent variable in all regressions. The independent variables included the caregiver's self-reported health, and her perceptions of support (measured by supportiveness, positivity of contact, and conflict) from siblings, spouse, and children. Overall, results from this study indicated that women caregivers' perceptions of relationships with close family did impact their well-being. While measures designed to tap supportiveness and positivity of contact were not significantly related to well-being, conflict was. Specifically, conflict with a spouse was associated with lower well-being. Second to conflict with a spouse, respondent's health was the strongest predictor of wellbeing: poor health was significantly associated with lower well-being. In general, recommendations and implications focused on the need for: (a) repeating this type of research among other caregiver populations; (b) developing multidimensional measures of family support; (c) services that provide individuals with positive ways to deal with lifetensions that foster interpersonal conflict; and (d) services that target caregivers who are in poor health. / Graduation date: 1992

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Freie Universität, Berlin, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-270).

This study examines the lives of fifteen women from five families of Muncie, Indiana, women.. Each participating family has represented (in maternal decension), a grandmother, a mother, and a daughter. With one exception, all were born, raised, and are still living in Muncie, the "Middletown" of 1929, Robert S. and Helen M. Lynd's seminal study.The data determined what the persistent challenges were in the lives of these three generations of women, and what approaches they used to respond to them. Family relationships, attitudes toward women in the workplace, relationships between men and women, and an understanding and comparison of the attitudes of each generation are included in the study. Data were largely obtained by means of the ethnographic interview technique.Data indicated similar approaches to meeting challenges were used within a family, and approaches varied from family to family.A variety of approaches were used situationallyby all the women of all generations.The study supported prior research showing that religiosity strongly transfers from generation to generation. / Department of Educational Leadership

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2007. / S. 220-237: Bibliografi.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-76). Also available via the Internet.