Whose life is it anyway?

In this article, I discuss the way in which I am using reflection as an integral part of my research into the experiences of Jewish women teachers of European descent in non-denominational secondary schools in England. I acknowledge that through reflection on my role as a researcher I am learning and developing as the research proceeds and I use adaptations of the Johari Window (The Open University, 1995) to analyse the nature of the interviews for myself and the participants both in terms of our personal engagement in the process and the process itself. The second half of the article considers ways in which the interview process could be seen to be affecting both my own life and that of the participants. I deal with several issues which are concerning me as indicated by the title. I explore whose life is being researched—mine or my informants—and the issues concerning the implications for me as a feminist insider-researcher making use of (some would say exploiting) other people's lives, words and experiences.     

Climate-smart agriculture: what is it good for?

Leading international organisations presently argue that a transition to ‘climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA) is an obligatory task to ensure food supply for an anticipated nine billion people by 2050. Despite the rubric’s newfound importance, the conceptual underpinnings of CSA are often left unclear. Focusing on the World Bank’s framework, this paper critically interrogates the principles and concepts that underpin CSA. It argues that while CSA provides greater policy space for more holistic approaches to agriculture, it nonetheless operates within an apolitical framework that is narrowly focused on technical fixes at the level of production. This depoliticised approach to the global food system tends to validate existing policy agendas and minimise questions concerning power, inequality and access. By highlighting four strong tensions that permeate the CSA framework, the paper extols the need to greatly widen the scope of debate. To this end, it proposes an alternative ‘climate-wise’ framework to foreground the inherently political dimensions of food and agriculture in an era of climatic change.     

Which is it you want – equality or maternity leave?

In Alabaster v. Barclays Bank plc and Secretary of State for Social Security (No. 2: [2005] E.W.C.A Civ. 508, [2005] I.R.L.R. 576.) Michelle Alabaster won a grand total of ￡204.53 (plus ￡65.86 interest) after eight years of litigation, which included two visits to the Court of Appeal and one to the European Court of Justice. This marathon resulted from the sex discrimination which Alabaster had alleged in relation to the calculation of her Statutory Maternity Pay (S.M.P.) whilst she was pregnant 10 years earlier. The technicalities of the statutory schemes involved should not be allowed to disguise the important principle which finally emerges in the Court of Appeal and which underlines one of the longstanding criticisms of the equality legislation, namely the requirement that a woman must compare herself with a man in order to establish unlawful sex discrimination.     

Diffusion within Marcia's identity-status paradigm: Does it foreshadow academic problems?

The present investigation attempted to ascertain longitudinally whether diffuseness about academic goals and plans would predict subsequent underachievement. Identity-status interviews were administered to 98 firstsemester college students. Their grade point averages (GPA) were obtained for their first six semesters in college. SAT and conceptual-level scores were used to generate predicted GPAs. Underachievement was operationally defined as a positive discrepancy between predicted-minus-observed GPA: underachievement=predicted observed GPA. Evidence for the hypothesized relationship between diffusion and academic underachievement was not found. To the contrary, Diffusions during their freshman year showed a tendency for relativeoverachievement (predicted observed GPA). The possibility of heterogeneity within Marcia's diffusion status was considered. Some diffuselike individuals may see their current lack of commitment and concern as a hiatus, whereas others may be truly unconcerned and myopic about their lives. A significant association between foreclosure and underachievement was found when the subjects were freshmen. This relationship was not replicated with an independent sample of 90 high school students. A post hoc interpretation focused on differences between transient and long-term Foreclosures and the role that the college environment may potentially play in instigating personal identity crises. The need for longitudinal tests on this account is underscored.     

Putting Gender into the Definition of Rape or Taking it Out?

The main issue in the Masiya judgment was whether the current South African definition of rape—namely non-consensual penetration of a vagina by a penis—should be extended to include anal penetration of both female and male victims. The majority of the Constitutional Court held that anal penetration of female victims should constitute rape, but declined to offer similar protection to male victims. This note argues that this judgment reverts to and reinforces patriarchal stereotypes and dichotomies and that it misunderstands, in a profound way, central concepts such as sex and gender and the gendered nature of rape. It further suggests that, instead of being an aberration, the judgment actually fits into a pattern of conservative judgments about gender and sexuality by the South African Constitutional Court.     

‘Been There,Seen it,Done it,I've Got the T-shirt’: British Sex Worker's Reflect on Jobs,Hopes, the Future and Retirement

In the light of postmodern debates in anthropology, ethnography offers anthropologists new ways of representing their objects of study. The politics involved in the production and consumption by feminist scholars and activists of women's representations in the Arab world, and Egypt specifically, provides the starting point of this article. Using an ethnographic text examining manifestations of ‘Islamic Feminism’ in Egypt, I explore problems in addressing the subject of veiling – a continuous favourite among researchers. Grappling with stereotypes, assumptions and pre-interpretations based on what we read before going to the field and the questions we formulate in our minds, I look towards strategies of engagement with research subjects where anthropologists can express their commitments to them. Research ethics and reflexivity offer no formulaic guarantees of better representations, but pave the way towards understanding one's motivations and urges ethnographers to examine the impact of their work, both on the immediate community, and with regard to larger power politics. Given the fluid nature of identities and the relative fixedness of representations, solutions do not appear in abundance. Working outside of unnecessary dichotomies and searching for incongruities presents interesting possibilities for future ethnographic research.     

Further gender equality – is it good or bad for sexual health?

The question raised in this paper is how gender equality may affect sexual health. We suggest that this is dependent on the extent of gender equality. Our conclusion is a call for knowledge which consider a range of factors in future empirical studies.     

Queening it: Women's taste for jewelry excesses in post‐war Britain

In “Dahil Sa Iyo: The Performative Power of Imelda's Song,” Christine Bacareza Balance articulates the role of musical performance in the shaping of the “spectacular politics” of the former Philippine first lady. The article argues against depoliticized aesthetic and critical practices that attempt to separate art from politics. Instead, the article suggests that it was the deployment of musical art forms in Marcos’ performance of self that could bolster the execution of the Marcos’ political agenda, characterized by corruption, extra-juridical violence, and human rights abuse. Thus, the article concludes with a turn to artistic renderings of Marcos, arguing that such performances map the relationship between US imperialism, Filipino history, and the intimate sphere of Filipino America.     

A Pretty Fine Line: Life, Death, Autonomy and Letting it B

The cases of Diane Pretty and Ms B. raise crucial issues about decision-making and autonomy at the end of life. Ms B. was permitted her wish to die rather than live permanently dependent upon a ventilator because her case was constructed as one about withholding consent to medical treatment, which every adult with capacity has a right to do. Mrs Pretty, however, sought active intervention to end her life. Requiring assistance to die, and claiming that this was her human right, she sought an assurance that her husband would not be prosecuted if he helped her. Her claim was rejected and the assurance refused. The cases prompt questions about the nature of autonomy, the influence of others and the different way sin which medical and legal decisions are made. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An AIDS-Era reassessment of Christabel Pankhurst's The great scourge and how to end it

Christabel Pankhurst's The Great Scourge and How to End It analysed how continuing male insistence on the physical imperative of their sexual urges threatened women by creating an excluded subclass of prostitutes, and by establishing within the institution of marriage a social mechanism which favoured the infection of unsuspecting women with sexually transmitted disease. Historians, however, have been harsh in their readings of her text, finding in it a manifesto against sexual freedom, and have used it to ‘illustrate’ what they have considered to be the suffragette movement's fundamentally puritan, retrograde nature, thus discounting the legitimate health risks to Edwardian women