Doing couples: Negotiating faith and gender. Ideals and strategies

How do young women and men do their couples when they have a different faith and gender from that of their partner? What kind of stories do they tell and how do they tell them, in order to present their relationships as modern and successful? Which ideals do their stories reflect? And what kinds of strategies do young women and men develop when they do couples?     

The Bologna Process: Impact on Interdisciplinarity and Possibilities for Women's Studies

This article discusses the impact of the so‐called Bologna process on possibilities for interdisciplinary higher education and research, in particular in relation to Women's Studies. Based on findings from two European research projects, it argues that the spaces open to interdisciplinarity and Women's Studies in higher education under the Bologna process are strongly marked by national systems and their interpretations of the Bologna requirements. The opportunities in the educational field (whether at undergraduate or post‐graduate level) to innovate and flexibilize, key requisites for Women's Studies as a discipline, are impaired by institutional structures of administration, research, evaluation, accreditation and career development that rely on disciplinarity as their core categories. The Nordic countries seem to have moved more clearly than others, such as Hungary or Spain, towards an implementation of the Bologna agreement in a manner that facilitates both interdisciplinarity and Women's Studies.     

The hoe and the vote: Rural labourers and the national election in Brazil in 1974∗

In this article notions about the political attitudes of rural labourers in present‐day Brazil—such as ‘labourers have no opinion. They vote for whom they are told‘—are questioned. It is shown that among a group of labourers in the interior of the state of São Paulo there is a well‐developed sense of class identity and of the need for solidarity (although actual solidarity is very limited'). Their lack of involvement in national politics in contrast with their activity in local‐level politics (an activity which is, however, non‐party and personalised) and their apparently contradictory views of the nature of the Brazilian state are seen to be perfectly rational responses to the objective circumstances in which they live and work. Moreover, they have well‐developed political attitudes. The article demonstrates in what way the life‐experience of the group and the resulting world view are the basic elements which help to explain the labourers’ ideas of the political struggle and their approach to the electoral process; and it shows that the structurally different roles of men and women are reflected in their respective political attitudes.     

Mary Neal and Emmeline Pethick: from mission to activism

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed the rise of communal religious activities among British women of various Protestant denominations as well as a broader definition of the spiritual for many people. Communal religious service structures created a space in which young, mostly middle-class women could acquire both a degree of autonomy and a sense of effecting change in a wider sphere than would typically be open to them and, just as importantly, allowed them to meet and develop ties with others beyond their immediate family circles. This article looks at how two young women, Mary Neal and Emmeline Pethick, used one such organisation, the West London Mission, as a springboard for wider activism: Emmeline Pethick, as Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence, came to prominence as one of the leaders of the Women's Social and Political Union, and Mary Neal's work on recovering the disappearing morris dance for the benefit of working-class girls brought her national recognition. Both women benefited from friendship networks which allowed them to draw other women into their work and both faced opposition from male-dominated power structures, but the spiritual element with which they imbued their activism remained integral to their projects and to their lives. Ultimately, though, the evolution of their spiritual beliefs brought them to assess their life achievements in very different ways.     

Creating Perfect Immigrants: Guestworkers of the World in Historical Perspective 1

This article analyses the decision-making process leading to adoption of the Directive on Services in the Internal Market (2006/123/EC), focusing on the role of the European Parliament (EP) and the influence the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) obtained on the compromise outcome. It is widely assumed that organized labor is structurally disadvantaged in promoting worker interests in the EU decision-making machinery. The outcome of the Services Directive strife shows, however, that under the co-decision procedure, where Council decisions are reliant on negotiations and agreement with the EP, European trade unions can – under certain conditions – gain substantial political impact if they have a clear, joint strategy and manage to combine effective coalition-building inside the EU institutions and key Member States, with mobilisation of popular and parliamentarian forces at the national level.     

European law as a lever for female workers at the national level: Belgium and the Equal Pay Directive of 1975

‘Equal pay for equal work’ is a longstanding feminist claim. In this regard, the 1975 Equal Pay Directive of the European Economic Community has generated momentum for women at the national level. Based on the Belgian case, we explain how national actors – and more specifically trade unions and their women’s committees – have used European law to foster wage equality. Despite the existence of binding norms since the 1950s, this principle of equal pay has been poorly applied. The implementation of the directive in the Belgian neo-corporatist institutional framework has given trade unions the possibility to secure an extensive interpretation of the directive’s general provisions. The assumption driving this paper is that this directive has generated momentum for change – though this is not a synonym of ‘a miracle solution’ – in Belgium regarding wage equality. More fundamentally, this study is about the intertwining of European and national laws and the way in which European norms can offer instrumental opportunities to national actors to impact their domestic polity and policies, here on social and gender matters.     

Gender differences in European volunteer rates

The main goal of this research is to identify the reasons for gender differences in European volunteer rates in different types of voluntary organisations. To that end, we focus in volunteer rates at individual and national levels. We have drawn our data from the European Values Survey (EVS, 1999 and 2008). We have employed Logit models carrying out independent estimations for the individual likelihood of working as a volunteer for four categories: social awareness, professional, education and social justice. We have carried out independent estimations and we have also repeated estimations by gender subsamples. Our main result is that social factors might be even more relevant for decisions to volunteer than individual socio-economic factors. Specifying the peer group as much as possible allows better control of social variables. For example, studying the female volunteer rate is more relevant to control for the female national NGO membership rate than the total national rate. We also highlight important gender differences. For example, education is positively correlated with decisions to volunteer for both genders in all categories, but the educational effect is stronger for men in relation to professional activities and stronger for women in relation to social awareness and social justice activities.     

Blue blood and ink: Romanian aristocratic women before and after world war I

Abstract

In Romania the aristocracy molded itself upon the European model in the nineteenth century. Like their European counterparts, Romanian aristocratic women were denied open political participation. However, they made rich contributions to public life, especially in the fields of social projects and cultural patronage. Some of them also influenced the political process through the hidden channels open to women – literary-political salons, cultural activities, journalism, informal networking. The most famous of them left their mark on important events: Princess Elena Vacarescu and Queen Marie during World War I and the Versailles Treaty, and Queen-mother Helen during the dark period of Jewish persecution in the 1940s. Research on this class of women (prohibited during the Communist regime) can bring about a better understanding of the modern period in Romania's history.     

“北漂”群体生存状况探析

"北漂",即在北京工作、生活,没有北京户籍,有一定学历或文化素养和知识技能,以青年为主体的人群。他们为北京经济社会发展做出巨大贡献的同时,其生存状况存在诸多难题。他们工作生活的未来走向或将受到北京城市战略调整的影响。建议政府和工会制定相关政策,改善"北漂"群体的生存状况,共建开放融合宜居的首都北京。     

To Care and Protect: Care Workers Confronting Sweden Democrats in their Workplace

Austerity policies across European countries have encountered diverse forms of public protest and resistance. In Sweden, we have seen the emergence of a number of networks and organizations which take care workers’ professional identity as their point of departure. These networks and organizations stress the impossibility of being professional care workers in slimmed-down, neoliberal organizations. Parallel to this, and sometimes embedded into one another, female-dominated professions (e.g. social workers, nurses, doctors, and teachers) have been engaged in opposing restrictive refugee policies. This article analyses how care workers in an emergency room in Malmö mobilized against a visit by Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the right-wing, xenophobic Sweden Democrats. The article explores how workers used a gendered discourse of care and professionalism to argue that their actions were consistent with both organizational culture and their professional ethics. The article shows how, by defending their professional role of providing quality care to all in need, workers challenge both austerity and racist policies, which both impose restrictions on who has the right to care. Theoretically, the article explores how the politicization of care creates spaces of resistance, to critique both austerity policies and exclusionary understandings of national belonging. The study stresses the importance of identifying emerging forms of collective resistance among care workers at the intersection of the struggles against austerity and right-wing xenophobic parties.     

DAMNED IF YOU DO AND DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

In contemporary Western societies women are often thought to have overcome inequality, become autonomous and resistant to social pressures, and in so doing gained the freedoms to make their own choices. However, this ‘post-feminist sensibility’ can arguably be seen as a double-bind as some types of ‘choices’ cannot always be recognised as freely chosen if they are taken as an indication of failing to resist social (appearance) pressures. We argue that one such example is the ‘choice’ to have cosmetic breast surgery, a practice that has received both criticism and celebration from different feminist angles. In this paper we analyse how women who have had breast augmentation are constructed by readers of an internet blog in which they are largely vilified and pathologised for not valuing their ‘natural’ (yet ‘deficient’) breasts. We demonstrate how the same discursive constructions that appear to value women's ‘natural’ bodies simultaneously (re)produce the conditions in which women may feel the need to have breast augmentation.     

The boundaries of belonging: gender,human trafficking and embodied citizenship

A ‘victim of trafficking’ is an identity that an individual can adopt to access legal resources that would otherwise not be open to them. However, this identity contains certain implicit assumptions about that individual and their experiences. This article analyses 12 applications for a one-year visa, written by women from the former Soviet Union who were trafficked to Israel and forced to sell sex. To apply for a visa as a ‘victim of trafficking’ applicants assert certain narrative tropes to emphasise their desire to belong in Israel. These tropes obscure the complexities of their experiences by emphasising themes of naivety and innocence, a commitment to familial obligations and a lack of agency. They reject the alternative identity of a migrant sex worker and distance themselves from any implication of a desire to illegally cross national borders. When they describe their hopes for the future, they assert normative gendered desires to marry and have children. This article argues that by closely aligning themselves with gender norms, these women seek to respond to conceptualisations of individuals who transgress gender and moral norms and who pose a threat to national borders and integrity.     

Does Everyone’s Motivational Beliefs about Physical Science Decline in Secondary School?: Heterogeneity of Adolescents’ Achievement Motivation Trajectories in Physics and Chemistry

Students’ motivational beliefs about learning physical science are critical for achieving positive educational outcomes. In this study, we incorporated expectancy-value theory to capture the heterogeneity of adolescents’ motivational trajectories in physics and chemistry from seventh to twelfth grade and linked these trajectories to science-related outcomes. We used a cross-sequential design based on three different cohorts of adolescents (N?=?699; 51.5?% female; 95?% European American; M _ages for youngest, middle, and oldest cohorts at the first wave?=?13.2, 14.1, and 15.3 years) coming from ten public secondary schools. Although many studies claim that physical science motivation declines on average over time, we identified seven differential motivational trajectories of ability self-concept and task values, and found associations of these trajectories with science achievement, advanced science course taking, and science career aspirations. Adolescents’ ability self-concept and task values in physics and chemistry were also positively related and interlinked over time. Examining how students’ motivational beliefs about physical science develop in secondary school offers insight into the capacity of different groups of students to successfully adapt to their changing educational environments.     

“I am myself it”: comparative national identity formation in the lives of Vera Brittain and Edith Stein

Abstract

This is a study of the tranformational impact of their World War One experiences on the national identities of two eminent feminist intellectuals, Vera Brittain and Edith Stein, each a volunteer Red Cross nurse on opposing warfronts. The essay examines how their gender, ethnicity, social class, and feminism intersect within this identity. To assess the War's impact, the author first probes – through extensive research in unpublished and recently published documents – the nature and evolution of Brittain and Stein's pre-war national identities, identities featuring a complex and ambiguous interplay of European and national consciousness. Through analysis of the tension between national and European identity in Brittain's and Stein's lives, the essay highlights key questions with regard to national similarities and differences in women's wartime experiences, as well as revealing critical factors vital to wider analysis of the War's impact on female national identity, particularly among educated middle-class German and British women.     

Cognitive development in context: An investigation of practical problem solving and developmental tasks

Theorists interested in intellectual development have increasingly focused their attention on the problem-solving strategies individuals develop to meet the demands they face in the changing social contexts of the life course. Direct assessments of the relationship between contextual demands and problem solving strategies, however, have been lacking. The orientation espoused here is that progress through the life course is, in part, determined by individuals' ability to solve problems posed by the development tasks confronting them. In a preliminary ethnographic investigation, the developmental tasks of first- and fourth-year medical students were assessed. A follow-up study revealed (a) the everyday problem solving of students in both years was oriented toward completing the tasks associated with their year in school, (b) the styles students developed to interpret contextually relevant problems were associated with their social environments and developmental tasks, and (c) developmental tasks accounted for more variance of everyday problem solving than in interpretive styles. The findings provide more direct support than was previously available for a relationship between practical intellectual development and life course contexts.Received Ph.D. from West Virginia University. Research interests include contextual influences on cognitive development, social cognition, goal-directed reasoning, and practical intelligence.     

The African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the woman question

This paper proposes that in developing jurisprudence on women’s rights, the African Commission will need to ask the woman question, particularly the African woman question. The woman question requires a judicial or quasi-judicial body to always put woman at the centre of any decision with a view to addressing the historically disadvantaged position of women in society. Asking the African woman question means examining how the peculiar experiences of African women have been ignored by laws rooted in patriarchy across the region. Although the Commission has handled few cases directly dealing with women’s rights, the paper suggests that the Commission can draw inspiration from decisions of other regional and international human rights bodies such as the European Court on Human Rights and the Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) on how to ask the woman question. The paper recommends that in line with feminist reasoning, there is a need for the African Commission to develop a consistent gender-sensitive approach in dealing with cases that may have implications for women. In essence, the African Commission must ask the African woman question when dealing with cases on the enjoyment of women’s fundamental rights.     

Gardening and the cultivation of Australian national space: the writings of Ethel Turner

In the romantic stereotypes of the ‘Bush Myth’, Australian national identity is formed through the confrontation between the bushman and the natural environment, particularly as depicted in ‘realist’ literature. This myth has been displaced from its centrality in numerous ways. Less attention has been paid to the many other competing literary figurings of national identity at the turn of the nineteenth century, and in the early twentieth century. One of these tropes, often used by women writers, looked at the national space not as a hostile and alien environment but as a garden. By contrast, iconic fictions such as Lawson's ‘Water them Geraniums’ show gardening as a feminine pursuit antithetical to (masculine) Australian life. Australia as garden produced a different set of possibilities for the settler colonial plot. Instead of beleaguered fighters against an unyielding wilderness, fictions figuring the nation as a garden produced a potentially more fruitful and less doomed role for the protagonist, particularly the female protagonist. This plot also allowed some casting of urban space, particularly suburban space, as authentic Australian space, rather than second-hand European waste.     

Parent and Peer Pathways to Adolescent Delinquency: Variations by Ethnicity and Neighborhood Context

Effects of ethnicity and neighborhood quality often are confounded in research on adolescent delinquent behavior. This study examined the pathways to delinquency among 2,277 African American and 5,973 European American youth residing in high-risk and low-risk neighborhoods. Using data from a national study of youth, a meditational model was tested in which parenting practices (parental control and maternal support) were hypothesized to influence adolescents' participation in delinquent behavior through their affiliation with deviant peers. The relationships of family and neighborhood risk to parenting practices and deviant peer affiliation were also examined. Results of multi-group structural equation models provided support for the core meditational model in both ethnic groups, as well as evidence of a direct effect of maternal support on delinquency. When a similar model was tested within each ethnic group to compare youths residing in high-risk and low-risk neighborhoods, few neighborhood differences were found. The results indicate that, for both African American and European American youth, low parental control influences delinquency indirectly through its effect on deviant peer affiliation, whereas maternal support has both direct and indirect effects. However, the contextual factors influencing parenting practices and deviant peer affiliation appear to vary somewhat across ethnic groups. Overall the present study highlights the need to look at the joint influence of neighborhood context and ethnicity on adolescent problem behavior.