Search results for: feminism and patriarchy

Authors: Michael Barker

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Men’s rights activists are largely antifeminism. Evaluation of men’s rights discourses, however, shows that men’s rights’ goals would be better achieved by working with feminism. Discussion of men’s rights discourses, though, is prone to confusion because there is no commonly used men’s rights language. In the presentation ‘male sexism’, ‘matriarchy’ and ‘masculism’ will be unpacked as part of a suggested men’s rights language. Once equipped with a men’s rights vocabulary, sustained philosophical assessment of the extent to which several categories of male disadvantages are wrongful will be offered. Following this, conditions that cause each category of male sexism will be discussed. It shall be argued that male sexism is caused more so by matriarchy than by patriarchy or by feminism. In closing, the success at which various methods address the categories of male sexism will be contrasted. Ultimately, it will be shown that male disadvantages are addressed more successfully by methods that work with, than against, feminism.

Keywords: gender studies, feminism, patriarchy, men’s rights, male sexism, matriarchy, masculism

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Authors: Uzma Imtiaz

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Ecological feminism adheres to the basic philosophy that patriarchy is the wellspring of natural and gender domination. It explores the relationship between women and nature in a patriarchal society. Eco-feminism argues that women and nature have an intrinsic association and exploitation of women is the exploitation of nature itself. It further views the world as a holistic institution that offers equal opportunities for men and women. Eco-feminism rejects male domination in a patriarchal society where men and women do not get equal rights to survival. Furthermore, it investigates modern capitalist practices that exert unjust male dominance over nature and women. Cultural eco-feminist theorists argue that industrialization and modern science are male-centered and exhibit male chauvinistic views in attempts to control females’ ability to reproduce. This research intends to analyze an eco-feminist novel by Laila Halaby from the eco-feminism theoretical framework of Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva. The feminist dystopian novel throws light on the double-faced processes of capitalism and housewifization that destroy the autonomy of women over their bodies and life. Moreover, this study aims to highlight the unjust capitalistic processes and policies that turn other countries and women into colonies to exploit them by white men in the name of progress and civilization. The novel brings the patriarchal ways of dominance over women into question. This research paper concludes that women and men should get equal opportunities to survive in society, and women should have given rights over their bodies to decide their future. The research is qualitative in nature, so the method of close reading is selected to analyze the hypodermic effect of patriarchy in society. This study is valuable in highlighting the exploitative ways of men to subjugate women and nature and helps to give awareness to women against gender exploitation in society.

Keywords: housewifization, exploitation, capitalist patriarchy, female victimization

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Authors: Mokshida Bhat

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This paper examines the representation of patriarchy in the movies 'Qala' and 'Black Swan' and how it affects the mental health of women. Both movies portray female characters who are subject to patriarchal attitudes and structures that limit their choices and opportunities and contribute to negative mental health outcomes. In 'Qala' the central character Qala confronts the patriarchal attitudes of her family and community, which contribute to feelings of frustration and despair. In 'Black Swan' the main character Nina is subject to the demands and expectations of a patriarchal system that leads to anxiety, paranoia, and disconnection from her own body and emotions. Both movies highlight the harmful impact of patriarchal attitudes on women's mental health, including feelings of disempowerment, objectification, and self-doubt. The paper suggests that these negative outcomes can be addressed through a rejection of patriarchal norms and an assertion of one's own agency and identity. Overall, this paper demonstrates the importance of recognizing the role of patriarchy in contributing to mental health struggles for women and the need for more diverse and empowering representations of women in media.

Keywords: patriarchy, mental health, depression, PTSD, mental health in Indian cinema, patriarchy in Indian cinema, feminism and patriarchy, sexism

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Authors: Nagwa Soliman

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Women for centuries have undergone gender discrimination under the pretext of patriarchy which is engraved in the culture and tradition of some societies. It is important to highlight that this condition has been encoded by the male gender to dominate and manipulate women. It is therefore necessary to draw attention to this important obstacle that stands in the way of women’s achievement of their full potential and humanity in the face of these cultural traditions. The appropriate style that was chosen for this literary analysis is a qualitative research method that relies on the feminist technique using Freud’s psychological theories. This article explores patriarchy and gender discrimination as portrayed in Ahdaf Soueif’s In The Eye of the Sun (1992) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Girl from the Coast (2002). It could be argued that those two novels describe a society that is feminist, patriarchal, and gender discriminatory. Moreover, it is important to assert that patriarchy and gender discrimination are part of the system’s social order which compels the female characters to adjust to society’s norms and conventions. This social order is supported by traditional and cultural masculine attitudes and results in sustaining gender inequality, female stereo typing and patriarchy which suppress women’s beliefs and dreams.

Keywords: gender discrimination, patriarchy, feminism, stereotype

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Authors: Sydelle Barreto

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Sexual liberation has been thought of as a movement, an idea, and an antithesis of material oppression. Within feminism it has consistently resisted definition - different feminist schools of thought had entirely different constructions of what liberated feminine sexuality could look like and how we might get there. This paper will critique the current definition of sexual liberation as being limited and carceral in its perspectives of sexual assault and extremely reductive in its imaginings of sexual liberation. The ultimate goal of this assessment is to potentially outline what true sexual liberation might look like in a way that is inclusive but not ignorant of the realities of the patriarchy. The first critique of sexual liberation included in the paper centers around the limits of consent, carceral feminism and sexual subjectivity. The argument will build off the traditionally sex-negative critiques of consent as being limited in scope by explaining how a lack of nuance is even more dangerous to victims of sexual violations. The discussion will also expand an interrogant of consent to an interrogation of wantedness and desire. If we understand that critiquing the conditions of consent is important, we must also critique the way patriarchy and compulsory sexuality have affected desire. Using the aforementioned concept of compulsory sexuality, the paper will argue that while sexual liberation has begun to include queer and transgender individuals, it is still overwhelmingly allonormative. Sex positivity and its opponents both fail to include asexuality. This ultimately leads to a conflation of sexual liberation with genuine material liberation. Just as we cannot divorce our constructions of sexual liberation from the realities of the patriarchy and rape culture, we should consider compulsory sexuality as its own system of social regulation. The conclusion will begin to construct an alternative vision of sexual liberation, leveraging concepts of sexual subjectivity, including a rejection of carceral feminism as a response to sexual violence, and finally, leading to the beginnings of a deconstruction of compulsory sexuality. The paper concludes with a vision of sexual liberation that does not confuse itself with material liberation or mere sexual oppression, but rather a key way stops on the road to constructing our most authentic sexual selves.

Keywords: feminism, sexual assault, sexual liberation, consent

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Authors: Qazi Sarah Rasheed

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Feminism and religion have been regarded as opposing binaries. The reason being that religion is regarded as a tool to legitimize the patriarchal control over women, and therefore, it stands in contrast with the basic feminist principle of gender equity. Hence, the issue of incompatibility between religion and gender parity is often discussed by the feminist as well as secular/liberal discourses, but the feminist discourse has suffered a serious backlash in the recent times for it alienates those women who want to liberate but not at the expense of their religious identity. Though in the Western feminist thought, religion is regarded as a tool of patriarchy that promotes women’s suppression, but for many women, religion can be a source of liberation that advances their rights. The feminists in general, fail to realize that religion, as a social phenomenon may not necessarily promote a series of dogmatic doctrines which are inevitably retrogressive or instinctively status-quoist especially when it comes to the social reforms affecting gender orders. The traditional institution of religion could be instrumental to provide what the women in contemporary situation demand. This paper highlights how the Muslim women in India negotiate and mediate this opposition in an Islamic context. To advance the socio-legal recognition of women’s rights, they question the male privilege and patriarchy in a meaningful way without challenging their Islamic doctrines and try to build a feminist consciousness from within religion.

Keywords: feminism, Islam, Muslim women's rights, religious identity

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Authors: Nour Daoud

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Patriarchy continues to thrive in Jordan where male-controlled values are still entrenched in a society that is suffering from upsetting percentages of Gender-based Violence (GBV). This paper is a systematic review of the literature with an attempt to evaluate and interpret all available research evidence relevant to determining the extent to which patriarchy contributes to the occurrence, re-occurrence, and continuation of GBV in Jordan. Twenty-one (21) full-text articles were selected for the in-depth review due to meeting the established criteria for inclusion. 81 percent of articles included primary data while 19 percent included secondary data. Analysis of data was based on a specific extraction form that was developed using the ‘Excel’ to respond to the main goal of the paper. Interpretation of data was in light of the theorization of different feminism schools on the relationship between patriarchy and gender-based violence. Findings show that 33 percent of the selected articles affirm that the patriarchal standpoint best explains the role of patriarchy in the incidence of gender-based violence in Jordan under its three main themes (Honor-based Violence, Intimate Partner Violence and Street Harassment). Apart from the limited number of articles that were found debating this argument and the low percentage of articles that acknowledged the role of patriarchy in the incidence of gender-based violence in Jordan, this paper breaks the ice to implement future empirical studies on this subject. Also, it is an invitation for all Jordanian women to unite their efforts in order to eradicate all forms of victimization against them.

Keywords: honor-based violence, intimate partner violence, middle-east, street harassment

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Authors: Adekunle Saheed Ajisebiyawo, Christie Omoduwa Achime

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In Nigerian society, women have very little or no involvement in the decision-making process and this is large because women are objectified as effective means of reproduction and provision of emotional support to the society. Despite the movements and awareness by international, national and local bodies to promote and encourage women's empowerment, there are still many factors daunting to the efforts of women in society. This paper examined the critical role of feminism in the quest for women's emancipation in public life. Guided by African feminism theory, this paper utilizes both historical and descriptive methods to examine these factors. The paper argues that gender bias in Nigeria's public life is often traced to the onset of colonialism in Nigeria. Thus the Western cultural notion of colonialism woven around male superiority is reflected in their relations with Nigerians. The study outlines how women have strategized pathways through patriarchal structures by deploying their femininity. The paper concludes that women are strong, courageous, natural leaders and indeed have a major strategic role to play in public life; thus, women's movements and groups remain an important and necessary means of social cohesion and strength, especially in a country such as Nigeria.

Keywords: African feminism, democratic governance, feminism, patriarchy, women emancipation.

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Authors: Sonia Sharma

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In a multicultural country like Canada, Colonialism is still maintained in the form of Violence and Oppression. The Aboriginals are persistently facing Oppression and Marginalization in their own land owing to Colonial presence. Women in particular are getting most affected. They are facing double burden of patriarchy and their being Native. Tomson Highway, the Cree Canadian playwright has deftly exposed the theme of women violence and empowerment. In his plays (The Rez Sisters and Rose) taken from his Rez Septology, he has depicted Aboriginal women’s predicaments and sufferings. But simultaneously also talks about their empowerment and aggression refuting and fighting back to patriarchy and oppression. The Rez Sisters portrays women with shattering images and as a victim of both the male dominating society and the system. It represents the painful odyssey of the seven women facing several hardships. Rose represents women in entirely different light. They are shown more assertive and empowered raising their voice against the Violence and Discrimination meted out to them. The Aboriginal women in Canada are facing dual burden of Colonialism and Patriarchy which indeed is a Colonial construct. This paper is an attempt to explore the above facets Tomson Highway’s The Rez Sisters and Rose.

Keywords: violence, racism, discrimination, postcolonialism feminism

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Authors: Fouzia Mannan, Deepa Joshi

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Millions of Bangladeshis move from low-income agrarian villages to the country’s urban landscape with the hope to gain from the rapidly-growing middle-income urban, industrial future. However, the economic gains are mostly offset by new forms of extreme depravity, indignity, and inequality. Nonetheless, many scholars report unique gendered gains through migration - the rupture of traditional, entrenched inequalities by gender, providing women not only reliable incomes but also the opportunity to re-negotiate gendered roles, responsibilities and identities. In this study, we present the reflections of ten long-term urban migrant women in Dhaka city: of their gains, their losses as well as their aspirations for the future. Our findings show the incredibly high costs of a migration that is induced by desperate rural poverty. Further, we find that patriarchy persists - within the often 'kutcha' walls of urban low-income homes to the nature of so-called economic opportunities - in the constant intertwining of capitalism, globalization, and patriarchy. Caught in between, women have little choice but to cope with these new vulnerabilities by relying on the very norms and boundaries established by patriarchy and by recreating patriarchy to celebrate the (if) gains from displacement and migration.

Keywords: gender, internal migration, patriarchy, urbanization

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Authors: Olayinka Adeniyi, Melissa Omino

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The field of data privacy and data protection in Africa is still an evolving area, with many African countries yet to enact legislation on the subject. While African Governments are bringing their legislation to speed in this field, how patriarchy pervades every sector of African thought and manifests in society needs to be considered. Moreover, the laws enacted ought to be inclusive, especially towards women. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of data feminism. Data feminism is a new way of thinking about data science and data ethics that is informed by the ideas of intersectional feminism. Feminising data privacy and protection will involve thinking women, considering women in the issues of data privacy and protection, particularly in legislation, as is the case in this paper. The line of thought of women inclusion is not uncommon when even international and regional human rights specific for women only came long after the general human rights. The consideration is that these should have been inserted or rather included in the original general instruments in the first instance. Since legislation on data privacy is coming in this century, having seen the rights and shortcomings of earlier instruments, then the cue should be taken to ensure inclusive wholistic legislation for data privacy and protection in the first instance. Data feminism is arguably an area that has been scantily researched, albeit a needful one. With the spate of increase in the violence against women spiraling in the cyber world, compounding the issue of COVID-19 and the needful response of governments, and the effect of these on women and their rights, fast forward, the research on the feminism of data privacy and protection in Africa becomes inevitable. This paper seeks to answer the questions, what is data feminism in the African context, why is it important in the issue of data privacy and protection legislation; what are the laws, if any, existing on data privacy and protection in Africa, are they women inclusive, if not, why; what are the measures put in place for the privacy and protection of women in Africa, and how can this be made possible. The paper aims to investigate the issue of data privacy and protection in Africa, the legal framework, and the protection or provision that it has for women if any. It further aims to research the importance and necessity of feminizing data privacy and protection, the effect of lack of it, the challenges or bottlenecks in attaining this feat and the possibilities of accessing data privacy and protection for African women. The paper also researches the emerging practices of data privacy and protection of women in other jurisprudences. It approaches the research through the methodology of review of papers, analysis of laws, and reports. It seeks to contribute to the existing literature in the field and is explorative in its suggestion. It suggests a draft of some clauses to make any data privacy and protection legislation women inclusive. It would be useful for policymaking, academic, and public enlightenment.

Keywords: feminism, women, law, data, Africa

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Authors: Margaret Schmuhl, Michelle Cubellis

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Violence against women (VAW) is a widespread social problem affecting nearly two million women in the United States each year. Recently, feminist criminologists have sought to examine patriarchy as a guiding framework for understanding violence against women. Literature on VAW often examines measures of structural gender equality, often overlooking ideological patriarchy which is necessary for structural inequality to remain unchallenged. Additionally, empirical literature generally focuses on extreme forms of VAW, rape, and femicide, often neglecting more common types of violence. This literature, under the theoretical guidance of the Liberal, Radical, and Marxist feminist traditions, finds mixed support for the relationship of patriarchy and VAW. Explanations for these inconsistencies may include data availability, and the use of different operationalizations of structural patriarchy. Research is needed to examine fuller operationalizations of patriarchy in social institutions and to extend this theoretical framework to the criminal justice response to VAW (i.e., clearance rates). This study examines sexual violence clearance rates under the theoretical guidance of these feminist traditions using incident- and county-level data from National Incident Based Reporting System and other sources in multilevel modelling. The findings suggest mixed support for the feminist hypotheses and that patriarchy and gender equality differentially affect arrest clearance rates and clearance through exceptional means for sexual violence.

Keywords: clearance rates, gender equality, multilevel modelling, patriarchy, sexual victimization, violence against women

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Authors: Goodness Thandi Ntuli

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As one of the sub-Saharan African countries, South Africa has a majority of women living at the receiving end of all ferocious atrocities, afflictions and social ills such as utter poverty, unemployment, morbidity, sexual exploitation and abuse, gender-based and domestic violence. The response to these social ills that permeate the South African context like wildfire requires postcolonial feminism as a lens which needs to directly address this particular context. In the empirical study that was conducted among the Zulu people about Zulu young women in the South African context, it was found that a postcolonial young woman has a lot of social challenges that militate against her. In her struggle to liberate herself, there are layers of oppression that she has to deal with before attaining emancipation of any kind. These layers of oppression emanate from postcolonial effects on cultural norms that come with patriarchal issues, racial issues as the woman of colour and socio-economic issues as the poverty-stricken marginalised woman. Such layers also render marginalized women voiceless on many occasions, and hence the kind of feminism that needs to be applied in this context has to give them a voice, worth and human dignity that they deserve. From the postcolonial feminist perspective, this paper examines the condition of women from the margins and seeks the ways in which the layers of oppression could be disengaged. In the process of the severed layers of oppression, these women can be uplifted to becoming the women of worth, restored to life-giving dignity from the inferiority complex of racial discrimination and liberation from all forms of patriarchy and its upshots that keep them bound by gender inequality. This requires, in particular, postcolonial feminism that would find profound ways of reaching into the deep-seated socialization and internalization of every kind of prejudice against women. It is the kind of feminism that questions the status core even among those who consider themselves feminists. With the ruination of all postcolonial layers of oppression, women in the margins could find real emancipation that they have always longed for through feminism that will take into consideration their context. This calls for the rethinking of feminism in different contexts because the conditions of the oppressed woman of the South cannot be the same as the conditions of the woman who considers herself oppressed in the North.

Keywords: exploration, feminism, postcolonial, margins, South African, women

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Authors: Ogbu Harry Omilonye

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This paper examines feminism as a literary ideology which attempts to win for women a status of recognition and parity in a male-dominated society like Nigeria. This article deals essentially with the emergence of the ideology and literary personalities behind it. It focuses sharply on Zaynab Alkali’s brand of feminism as demonstrated in the delineation of her female characters vis-à-vis her male characters. The woman’s destiny, this paper believes, lies in her hand, and that true emancipation of women can only be realized through education and hard work.

Keywords: feminism, stillborn, literary ideology, literature

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Authors: Mohammad Mozammel Haque

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That feminism is nothing but the name of a belief that women should have the same rights as men needs no telling. The history of modern western feminism is divided into three waves and each is described as dealing with different aspects of the same feminist issues. The first wave refers to the movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries, which dealt mainly with suffrage, working conditions and educational rights for women. The second wave (1960s-1980s) dealt with the inequality of laws and the role of women in society. The third wave (late 1980s-early 2000s) is seen as both a continuation of the second wave and a response to the perceived failures. Mary Wollstonecraft struggled for the emancipation and freedom of the women of Europe, Begum Rokeya brought about revolution for the women of the East and West Bengal, Jeremy Bentham wrote for the independence of women in England. But if feminism refers to the movement of giving women what they deserve, then it won’t be an overstatement to state that Mohammad is the precursor of what we call feminism. This paper investigates the background of official starting of feminism, and also the backdrop of the women of Muhammad’s time. The article, besides showing that this great prophet and philosopher firstly brought about a movement for the education and rights of women and took them out of grave where they were buried alive, also delineates Mohammedan endeavours he attempted to give the women what they ought to have.

Keywords: education, equality, feminism, precursor

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Authors: Jummai Aliyu Mohammed

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The Sapir-Whorfian hypothesis postulates that the structure of a language determines the way in which species of that language view the world. It also states that the culture of a people finds reflection in their language. Consequently language becomes a vehicle of thought; a channel through which negative stereotypes of women is created and also one through which such images are dispelled. Women are generally portrayed as weaker vessels and inferior to men; a position which draws a counter reaction from women through their writings. In their writings, they attempt to reinvent womanhood and liberate the woman from the hitherto negative light they were portrayed. This position best describes the term feminism which argues that women be given equal rights in all spheres of life as men. This paper attempts to evaluate Ba’s ‘So Long a Letter’ and Alkali’s ‘The Stillborn’ with the view to identify the relationship between language and feminism. In evaluating this relationship, the paper concludes that there are several factors responsible for the variation in the speech pattern of male and female. All of these factors favour the male gender and further condemns the woman to oppression. Although the writers come from two different cultural backgrounds, the works amplify feminism and captured them as apostles of feminism.

Keywords: feminism, language, politics, Sapir-Whorfian hypothesis

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Authors: Catherine Oluyemo

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In Africa, patriarchy has manifested itself in the socio-cultural, political, economic and legal institutions. The decree of the father as the male head of the family has contributed to the powerlessness of women in African nations. To buttress this perception, in his work Meno, Plato made a declaration in the platonic dialogue that the desirable quality of a man should be the capacity to administer the state, and in the administration of it to benefit his friends and harm his enemies; and he must also be careful not to suffer harm himself. Furthermore, he said: a woman's good worth may also be easily described as ordering her house, keep what is indoors, and obey her husband. The works of Aristotle portrayed women as morally, intellectually, and physically inferior to men; they saw women as the property of men; claimed that women's role in society was to reproduce and serve men in the household; and saw male domination of women as natural and virtuous. This has been sustained for ages and is incessantly impinging on the involvement of women in African leadership positions. The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the concept of patriarchy in relations to women participation in Africa leadership, and its challenges in the participation of women in the leadership positions of Africa. It seeks to discover what women should do to make their voices heard, to participate in leadership arrangements so as to actualize their potentials in contributing to the development of Africa.

Keywords: women, leadership, patriarchy, development, actualize, potentials

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Authors: Nabilah Haniph

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This paper tries to examine the social and economic conditions of women entrepreneurs from the Muslim community in Kerala. It also tries to explain the problems faced by these entrepreneurs in the light of socialist feminist approach for overcoming these hurdles. The results are presented from a qualitative perspective of research and there is an attempt to merge the results from the study on a critical angle of materialist feminism and thereby prove the superiority of socialist feminism over all other forms of feminism. The analysis of the study is based on data collected from women entrepreneurs from Muslim community in Kerala who run small scale and medium scale business as well as service oriented business all over Kerala. Most of the women entrepreneurs consider themselves to be conventional and God-fearing and domestic women from middle-income or upper-income family and think that they can balance their family and other functions on their own. Most of them understand the problems faced by women in the field of business and they believe that they can solve all these barriers from the socialist feminist perspective. Finally, the paper substantiates why other theories of feminism do not hold good from an Islamic perspective.

Keywords: feminism, Islamic perspective, Kerala Muslim community, women entrepreneurs

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Authors: Kaia Brose

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The Parthenon occupies a dominating position on top of the ancient Acropolis of Athens, giving the Greek world a clear view of the ancient city’s patron goddess, Athena. The technically refined nature of the fifth century B.C. temple, combined with the colossal statue of Athena Parthenos, has been considered a monumental tribute to Athenian hubris. The Parthenon specifically calls on Athena’s main personage as a goddess who creates and advances culture, a notion the Athenians specifically portray in her epithet as a parthenos or a virgin. This paper builds off of the modern research of R. F. Hooker, C. J. Herington and Susan Deacy, who discuss the evolution of Athena and distinguishes the significance of the Parthenos epithet attached to Athena on the Acropolis. The use of Parthenos suggests the Athenians intentionally portrayed a virginal Athena to reaffirm the presence of the patriarchy within the Greek world of the fifth century, specifically seen in the scene of Athena’s birth on the Parthenon. The suggestive subjugation of Athena to the patriarchy serves to establish a patriarchal presence within the Acropolis while simultaneously exposing the rise of Athenian hubris following the Persian War. Various elements of the Parthenon, from its pediments to the monumental statue inside, show Athena as a goddess reduced to mere womanhood in the presence of the patriarchy, a function that emphasizes the Athenian hubris displayed throughout the Parthenon.

Keywords: ancient history, greek mythology, women studies, religion

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Authors: Sana Tahir, Haya Fatimah

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Sexuality is a social construct which is considered as the most confidential affair among individuals where women tend to refrain themselves more from sexually explicit behavior than men. Patriarchy has an elevated influence on the expression of female sexuality. While women’s sexual experiences are suppressed men are entitled to pleasure themselves according to their desire. The purpose of this study is to explore how the internalization of patriarchy affects women’s sexuality. Similarly, it was investigated how women sexuality is associated with psychological distress. The sample consisted of 100(age 20-40) married women. Participants were selected through a combination of convenient and snowball sampling. Women were asked to provide data regarding patriarchal beliefs, sexual awareness and DAS (depression, anxiety, and stress). Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analyze was conducted to examine the nature of the relationship between patriarchal beliefs, sexual awareness and psychological distress in married women. There is a significant negative relation between sexual awareness and patriarchal beliefs (r=-.391, p<.001). There also lies a significant negative relation between sexual awareness and depression, anxiety, stress (r=-.359, p<.001) (r=.301, p=.002) (r=-.221, p=.027). The results reveal that women with strong patriarchal beliefs have less sexual awareness in terms of sexual consciousness, sexual monitoring, sexual assertiveness and sexual appeal consciousness. Similarly, women with strong patriarchal beliefs and less sexual awareness have high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Keywords: female sexuality, patriarchy, psychological distress, sexual awareness

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Authors: Mengmeng Xiao

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The study examines the proactive promotion of feminist agendas by states experiencing prolonged one-party dominance, with a specific focus on Japan. Through a case study approach, it explores why leaders of the dominant party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), actively endorse women-friendly initiatives. The findings reveal three primary motivations: 1) the adoption of women-friendly policies for legitimation, 2) the establishment or funding of women’s organizations for co-optation, and 3) the enhancement of women’s economic and employment rights for state-building purposes. These findings bridge theories across the democracy/autocracy spectrum, emphasizing the need to restructure the research framework on state feminism beyond the binary categorization of regime types. Additionally, they underscore the significance of acknowledging the discretion exercised by state officials, providing insights into instances where state feminism may fail in certain democratic contexts.

Keywords: state feminism, feminist policies, national machinery, regime types, political parties, Japan

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Authors: Hanlei Yang

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As a kind of popular culture in modern China, advice book on intimate relationship is turning into an important and controversial site with conflicts among neoliberalism, authoritative socialism, market-oriented principles, the science of successful sex and relationship, cosmopolitan notions of nuclear families, and the revitalization of Confucian conservatism and patriarchy. Accelerated modernization and marketization has contributed to great changes in China’s culture and social relations, which accordingly reconceptualizes and reconstructs family structures and moral ethics, particularly urban middle-class nuclear families. To comprehend the meaning of advice book fad in moral and social order, this research proposes to (i) understand the implication of Ayawawa through discourse analysis and how she mobilizes rhetorical devices and cultural resources to present a persuasive and scientific method of managing intimate relationship, (ii) examine the critical role of neoliberalism, post-feminism, and Confucian patriarchy assumed by Ayawawa in her books, (iii) explore how Ayawawa and her fans engage in establishing a model of intimate relationship and sexual subjectivity ordered by neoliberalism, class identity and authoritative socialism. Finally, this research argues that such new fad of a cultural phenomenon is gradually completed in the process of cooperation and negotiation of the state, commercial institutions, and intellectual elite agents. It helps to further learn about (i) the routine life under the influence of neoliberalism and modern hegemony, (ii) the perplexing relationship between China's indigenous cultural forms, global socio-economic and cultural influences in the late modern era.

Keywords: cultural study, intimate relationship, culture sociology, gender study

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Authors: Umulisa Linda, Andy Cons Matata

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The origin of legal feminism can be attributed to an attempt to provide a safe space for women such as voting, parental, and inheritance rights, among others. It was also a rebellion against male supremacy. However, with the development of technology and especially in the era of the internet, it appears that both legal feminism and the modernism are losing their luster. While these movements had their origin either in the United States of America or western Europe, their impacts have been felt as far as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In Africa, different countries have different levels of penetration of these movements. This study, therefore, had its focus on how legal feminism and modernism have influenced legal developments in Kenya and Rwanda. The study adopted a qualitative approach with the respondents being asked about their feelings and perceptions on how the two movements had affected legal developments in their countries. In order to gauge the opinion of different categories of people such as the youth, middle-aged and the elderly people as well as being gender-sensitive, the study adopted a purpose method of sampling. The questionnaires and the focus group discussions were employed as the main tools for data gathering. From the questionnaires, the focus group discussions, and the data analysis that followed, the study concluded that both legal feminism and modernity had penetrated the legal systems of both Kenya and Rwanda so deeply. The study further found that the proponents of the two movements were mostly urban based and educated women. The men were generally opposed to the movements.

Keywords: legal development, legal feminsim, modernism, voting, parental and inheritance rights

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Authors: Leonardo Dias Cruz

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The advent of web 2.0 has enabled users to engage in translocal and transtemporal interactions in which meanings can be constantly (re)constructed. The fluidity of such interactions in the time-space spectrum makes it evident that D/discourses are always in movement and that here-and-now discursive practices are always linked to macro Discourses in social structures. Considering these assumptions, this study aims at exploring the social construction of masculinities in light of feminist D/discourses in online interactions. The data used are a series of comments from readers of articles posted in a website for (projected) male audiences. In order to approach the movable and fluid nature of such interactions, I examine the data through the lens of processes of entextualization, social positioning and indexical cues. The analysis explores the interactions as social arenas in which struggles for the control over entextualization processes are clearly noticeable. Moreover, two main stances are perceived: one that legitimates male’s participation in Feminism and one that rejects such participation.

Keywords: entextualization, feminism, masculinities, positionings

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Authors: Tina Beyene

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In this paper examines the state of grassroots feminist activism in the backdrop of state feminism in Ethiopia. Specifically, I examine the impact of the Charities and Societies Proclamation (aka CSO law), a 2009 law that banned so-called foreign NGOs—i.e., those receiving more than 10% of its operating budget from non-local sources— from working in the areas of human rights, democracy, governance, and gender equality. Viewed as government retribution for the NGO opposition to the government in the 2005 elections, the law aimed to halt the work groups such as the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA), who were defined as a “foreign” NGO. Based on interviews with prominent Ethiopian women’s rights leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I assess how grassroots feminist organizing adapts to state suppression on the one hand, and the aggressive entry of the state into women’s rights work on the other hand. While the 2009 law has slowed down the work of women’s rights activism, displaced feminists view feminist advocacy as cyclical and the state as neither fully adversarial nor an ally but rather as an instable entity that at times provides political openings to push ambitious feminist agendas. Grassroots activists are regrouping and developing new political responses strategies such as coding rights issues to fit state mandate; dissembling rights work in permissible social provision language; rechanneling political work into informal spaces and unregistered social clubs; innovating new funding partnerships, and reassembling as privately held research and advocacy companies. my study reveals how grassroots feminist politics operates in the shadow of a hostile state and within the confines of local politics.

Keywords: grassroots feminism, ethiopian feminism, civil society and gender, state feminism

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Authors: Zhen Li

Abstract:

In contemporary China, the rise of consumer culture and feminism has facilitated the ‘She-Economy’, where Chinese women’s consumption power has been boosted along with the thriving Chinese economy. Domestic reality TV shows such as Sisters Who Make Waves (hereafter SWMW) target female audiences by bringing women's issues such as age, appearance, and balance between family and career to the discussion. Against this backdrop, this study adopted multimodal content analysis to investigate how SWMW failed to live up to the feminist goals the show had claimed and how serious women’s issues were consumed and capitalized by the consumer media culture from consumer culture and feminist perspectives. The findings reveal that while the female-themed work claims to uncover the charm that age brings to women over their thirties, it merely mentions female anxiety and uses feminism in disguise to achieve commercial success without in-depth thinking and discussion of what real-life issues women in China are tackling. They further show that the mass media-promoted modern femininity combined with consumerism deepens anxiety over aging among female audiences. The study sheds light on understanding the new development of Chinese femininity and the impact of consumer culture on feminist consciousness in contemporary China.

Keywords: consumer culture, feminism, multimodal content analysis, she-economy

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Authors: Epata Puji Astuti

Abstract:

The Vagina Monologue is a play written by Eve Ensler, which is premiered at Off-Broadway, New York, in 1996. This play is quite different from the other play since it talks about the issue of t men's oppression toward women, and it is performed in monologue. The vagina becomes the main symbol of being discussed in the play. What did men do to women's vagina and how women view and treat her vagina reflects men's attitude toward women. Ensler had interviewed 200 women from various backgrounds to get their stories about the vagina. Ensler also has her own story about vagina. For the researcher, it is interesting to analyze how Ensler represented women in the symbol of vagina. What happened toward vagina reflected the reality about what happened toward women. How Ensler voices the issues of women, such as love, birth, rape, sex work, sexual harassment, etc. are interesting to be analyzed. This research tries to reveal how women are represented in the play. To understand about the representation of women, the researcher uses feminism theory. Textual analysis method is used to find out how women struggle for her own life and speak up for herself. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that Ensler depicted vagina is not as dirty thing, vagina is a noble thing and men should honor it as they honor women. It reflected that women show their power and resistance toward men's oppression.

Keywords: feminism, vagina, women, violence

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Authors: Nadiya Didyk

Abstract:

This thesis deals with the unique history of the emergence of the Ukrainian feminist movement. Ukrainian feminism is still in its making, so the field is under-investigated in general. Nevertheless, the perspective of political economy and the enabling and constraining effects of capitalist dynamics are almost absent from the research on the emergence and the development of the feminist movement in Ukraine. This research was inspired by Hetland and Goodwin’s approach and an attempt to test their approach on the case of the Ukrainian feminist movement. Hetland and Goodwin claim that many scholars tend to neglect political economy from analysis of feminism as a new social movements, namely because such movement are not about class or materialist concerns, and thus have no discernible connection to capitalism. Both scholars, however, point out that there at least four ways in which capitalism has been of high importance for any social movement. Accordingly, the following issues are analysed in this paper: capitalism as the facilitator of the emergence and development of Ukrainian feminism; the influence of class balance in society on the formation of the Ukrainian feminist movement, and the ways in which class divisions within the movement shape its goals and strategies. This paper also focuses on the role of capitalist institutions and free wage labour expansion in shaping collective feminist identities and solidarities. Specific attention is paid to the representativeness of women in the highest echelons in business and politics under the capitalist systems. This study shows that there is a significant hole in the literature regarding the feminist movement in Ukraine and aims to motivate further detailed research.

Keywords: feminism, hetland, goodwin, new soical movements, political economy

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Authors: Maath M. Musleh

Abstract:

This research aims to study recent trends in the Palestinian feminist movement through the case study of Tal3at. The study uses social network analysis as its primary method to analyze Twitter data. It attempts to interpret results through the lens of network theories and Parson’s AGIL paradigm. The study reveals major structural weaknesses in the Tal3at network. Our findings suggest that the movement will decline soon as sentiments of alienation amongst Palestinian women increases. These findings were validated by a couple of central actors in the network. This study contributes an SNA approach to the understanding of the understudied Palestinian feminism.

Keywords: feminism, Palestine, social network analysis, Tal3at

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Authors: Renu Singh

Abstract:

The caste system in Indian society plays an important role in subjugation of women. It creates divides and controls over women’s sexuality in various ways. This paper attempts to look into various modes in which the institution of caste makes some forms of sexuality as socially “acceptable” norms, while deems others as obscene, immoral and against social ethos. Based on a review of existing literature in this area this paper attempts to understand the notion of sexuality in Indian context. It tries to understand how the emergence of norms and values of sexual behaviour has been entwined with the evolution of caste system and the subjugation of many sections of Indian society. It also attempts to trace the internalisation of patriarchal values in Indian society, and the role played by the colonial rulers in creating and maintaining stringent division of space into public and private ones. It is argued here that brahmanical patriarchy, which is a unique phenomenon of the Indian Subcontinent, plays a crucial role in subjugating and controlling women in general and their sexuality in particular. It also creates a divide among women of different castes. Furthermore, the process of colonisation played an important role in shaping the discourse of sexuality in its present form. There were contradictions as well as consensus between the colonial rulers over the questions of regulation of the private domain, as in introducing reform legislation in the nineteenth century informed the debate on sexuality in postcolonial India. The process of emergence of the dichotomous notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sexuality, and the resistance to any ‘deviation’ from the ‘normal’ sexuality is located, not merely in the ‘passive’ evolution of society, but in the actual politics of it.

Keywords: caste, control, sexuality, regulation, brahmanical patriarchy, India

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