Can twitter change the Iranian legal landscape for women?

ABSTRACT

This article explores the effectiveness of international social media (Twitter) campaigns, as a modern form of transnational advocacy networks, seeking domestic legal change in Iran for women’s rights. Using the spiral model of human rights change and second wave normative theories, the article critiques current thought on social media as an advocacy tool using evidence from two Iranian campaigns. Gathering empirical data from the #stopstoning and #letwomengotostadium campaigns, the research finds that Twitter campaigns may be linked to regression in some areas of women’s rights. Early evidence indicates that social media may lead to amplified government backlash, lack of campaign persistence and foreign overshadowing of domestic voices, which all contribute to the ongoing problematisation of the role of transnational advocacy networks in domestic human rights change.     

浅议魏晋南北朝时期女性出家之现象

佛教自西汉末传入中国,在魏晋南北朝时期已出现兴盛的局面。女性出家在此时期遂成为普遍的社会现象,这是苦难的社会现实使然,又决定于妇女这一社会群体的生活特点,同时又有相应的社会风尚的因素在内。反过来,妇女出家的普遍对社会经济、社会生活又有着一定的影响,是认识这一时期历史变迁的重要方面。     

非婚同居中女性合法权益的保护

长期以来 ,人们不加区别的视各种非婚同居为非法 ,道德上加以歧视 ,法律上不予保护 ,非婚同居的成本大多由女性独自承担 ,其结果不但不能有效的减少非婚同居 ,反而使女性的权益遭受日益严重的侵犯。本文所做的就是力图在区分侵犯第三人利益的非婚同居和单纯的非婚同居的基础上 ,结合婚姻法、民法的有关规定 ,对非婚同居中的女性合法权益的保护问题予以探讨。     

劳务市场拐卖妇女犯罪预防机制研究

对四川省劳务市场拐卖妇女犯罪现象进行实证调查,“王某、周某劳务市场被拐案”表明,求职妇女、中介人、市场的管理者和用人单位四类人员在劳务市场拐卖犯罪及其预防中的地位和作用不同。非法职介的大量存在是诱发劳务市场拐卖妇女犯罪的主要根源。其产生有立法、执法等各方面原因。要有效地预防劳务市场拐卖犯罪,必须制定有针对性的宏观策略和配套措施。     

班昭《女诫》的教育思想探析

文章以汉代历史文化为背景,依据班昭的人生经历、家学承传和文本内容,论证《女诫》的女性教育思想,即是劣势中女性生存智慧的教育,及两性平等教育的理念。同时也论证了《女诫》在汉代群体自觉意识向个体自觉意识转变过程中的重大贡献。     

Severe personality disorder,treatment engagement and the Legal Aid,Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012: what you need to know

Empirical research has demonstrated a link between legal coercion and treatment engagement following conviction among those with severe personality disorder. Legal coercive pressures were often applied by the Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection (IPP), until it was replaced by the Extended Determinate Sentence by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. In this paper, it is proposed that use of the new determinate sentence will lessen motivation for treatment engagement. One effect of treatment refusal may be greater reliance by the Secretary of State for Justice on his jurisdiction to transfer prisoners due for release to secure hospital transfers under the Mental Health Act 1983. Not only will this risk posturing undermine the principal aim of the Offender Personality Disorder Implementation Pathway to improve treatment engagement among the target group, it will also have negative implications for medical practitioners working in secure forensic hospitals. To demonstrate what is at stake, the paper briefly recapitulates empirical findings familiar to readers of the journal, before drawing on original unpublished data.     

Women’s Participation in Communal Activities in Rural Bangladesh

This article seeks to examine the extent of women’s participation in communal activities in rural Bangladesh, based on an analysis of a development programme, namely REFLECT (Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community Techniques). This article evaluates the REFLECT programme with regard to its stated goal of enhancing female participation in local community affairs. Using Michael Mann’s classification of sources of power, the study emphasises the importance of participation as a contribution to political as well as ideological power in the community of Monsurabad Island in rural Bangladesh. To that end, this article aims at analysing women’s participation in community decision-making processes through voting behaviour, traditional village court (Salish) involvement and other civic activities. This study also reviews the views of village elders (matabars) on women’s participation at the communal level and the resulting empowerment. Based on the views of participant women themselves, the study concludes that the implementation of the REFLECT project in the local community under investigation has indeed resulted in empowering women, but this effect remains confined to their families and the handling of women’s issues. As the effect of the REFLECT project has not reached out to the realm of community politics, its impact on women’s participation in the community has been limited. This study argues that without any change in the existing social fabric of Monsurabad, women’s ideological power in that community could not be transformed into political power in accordance with Michael Mann’s theory.     

Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking?

Since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (2000), which is referenced in most of the mandates for peacekeeping authorizations and renewals as of its adoption, UN peacekeeping forces have begun a process of gender balancing. While we have seen an increase in the numbers of female peacekeepers during the decade 2000–2010 and variation in the distribution patterns of female military personnel, we do not know if female military peacekeepers are deploying to areas that are safest or to areas with the greatest need for gender-balanced international involvement. Because the decision-making authority in the allocation of peacekeeping forces rests with the troop-contributing countries, which might not have bought into the gender balancing and mainstreaming initiatives mandated by the UN Security Council, we propose and find evidence that female military personnel tend to deploy to areas where there is least risk. They tend not to deploy where they may be most needed—where sexual violence and gender equity has been a major problem—and we find only a modest effect of having specific language in the mandates related to gender issues.     

We were conscious of the sort of people we mixed with

In the Republic of Ireland, the family is both a private entity and a construct of the state, and the relationship between family and state is outlined in the Irish constitution. In the Northern Irish state a similar conviction that the family unit is essential to the welfare of society has been implicit in social policy and legislation, as has the classification of women's place. Access to financial resources has played a significant role in situating the family in society and income and social class were inextricably interwoven.

This paper explores how social attitudes have shaped family behaviour and identity in mid twentieth century Ireland, particularly in terms of the part played by women. Class consciousness and definitions of “respectability” are considered, using oral history testimony from a number of women remembering when they were young in the 1930s and 40s. The interviewees accepted the domestic role assigned to them by popular consensus and social policy. Their stories contain frequent references to their reluctance to associate with people whose occupations were judged to be inferior because of the lower status accorded to certain kinds of work. The paper will consider the extent to which legislators and policy makers shared such class awareness and how that might have influenced the shaping of the family unit in Ireland in the middle decades of the twentieth century.     

The Path of Helpseeking: Perceptions of Law Enforcement Among American Indian Victims of Sexual Assault

The longstanding history of violence and oppression toward American Indians (AI) by the United States has created numerous problems for native communities, including high crime rates. AI women are sexually victimized more than other U.S. racial groups, but often receive very limited services. Secondary analyses of National Violence Against Women Survey data indicate that AI women's reasons for not reporting rape suggest ongoing suspicion of law enforcement. AI women, compared to others, more often said law enforcement would not believe or would blame them, and more often reported that they or their family dealt with the perpetrator. Many other barriers to helpseeking persist, including prejudice, conflict between Western and native values, language barriers, and poverty. AI communities also possess numerous resources that are specific to their cultures and their sovereign relationships with the U.S. government. More needs to be done to minimize barriers and make full use of community assets.