Europe

Women's Everyday Lives in War and Peace in the South Caucasus

Citation:

Ziemer, Ulrike, ed. 2020. Women's Everyday Lives in War and Peace in the South Caucasus. Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Ulrike Ziemer

Annotation:

Summary:
This edited volume explores the everyday struggles and challenges of women living in the South Caucasus. The primary aim of the collection is to shift the pre-occupation with geopolitical analysis in the region and to share new empirical research on women and social change. The contributors discuss a broad range of topics, each relating to women’s everyday challenges during periods (past and present) of turbulent transformation and conflict, thus helping make sense of these transformations as well as adding new empirical insights to larger questions on life in the South Caucasus. Part I begins the discussion of women and social change in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan by examining the contradictions between traditional gender roles and emancipation and how they continue to dictate women’s lives. Part II focuses on women’s experiences of war and conflict in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Nagorny Karabakh, as well as displacement from Abkhazia and Azerbaijan. Part III examines the challenges faced by sexual minorities in Georgia and feminist activism in Azerbaijan.
 
Women's Everyday Lives in War and Peace in the South Caucasus will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, politics, gender studies and history. (Summary from Palgrave Macmillan)
 
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Women's Everyday Lives in the South Caucasus
Ulrike Ziemer
 
1. Women as Bearers of Modernity and Tradition
Melanie Krebs
 
2. 'Supra is Not for Women': Hospitality Practices as a Lens on Gender and Social Change in Georgia
Costanza Curro
 
3. Women against Authoritarianism: Agency and Political Protest in Armenia
Ulrike Ziemer
 
4. Between Love, Pain and Identity: Armenian Women after World War I
Anna Aleksanyan
 
5. 'We are Strangers among our Own People': Displaced Armenian Women
Shushanik Ghazaryan
 
6. Vulnerability and Resilience: Women's Narratives of Forced Displacement from Abkhazia
Nargiza Arjevanidze
 
7. The Politics of Widowhood in Nagorny Karabakh
Nona Shahnazarian et al
 
8. Invisible Battlefield: How the Politicization of LGBT Issues Affects the Visibility of LBT Women in Georgia
Natia Gvianishvili
 
9. Exploring Two Generations of Women Activists in Azerbaijan: Between Feminism and a Post-Soviet Locality
Yuliya Gureyeva Aliyeva
 
10. Feminism in Azerbaijan: Gender, Community and Nation-Building
Sinead Walsh

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, LGBTQ, Sexuality Regions: Asia, Central Asia, Europe, South Caucasus Countries: Georgia

Year: 2020

Gendering Military Sacrifice: A Feminist Comparative Analysis

Citation:

Åse, Cecilia, and Maria Wendt, eds. 2019. Gendering Military Sacrifice: A Feminist Comparative Analysis. London: Routledge.

Authors: Cecilia Åse, Maria Wendt

Annotation:

Summary:
This book offers a feminist analysis of military sacrifice and reveals the importance of a gender perspective in understanding the idea of honourable death.
 
In present-day security discourses, traditional masculinised obligations to die for the homeland and its women and children are challenged and renegotiated. Working from a critical feminist perspective, this book examines the political and societal justifications for sacrifice in wars motivated by human rights and an international responsibility to protect. With original empirical research from six European countries, the volume demonstrates how gendered and nationalistic representations saturate contemporary notions of sacrifice and legitimate military violence. A key argument is that a gender perspective is necessary in order to understand, and to oppose, the idea of the honourable military death. Bringing together a wide range of materials – including public debates, rituals, monuments and artwork – to analyse the justifications for soldiers’ deaths in the Afghanistan war (2002–14), the analysis challenges methodological nationalism. The authors develop a feminist comparative methodology and engage in cross-country and transdisciplinary analysis. This innovative approach generates new understandings of the ways in which both the idealisation and the political contestation of military violence depend on gendered national narratives.
 
This book will be of much interest to students of gender studies, critical military studies, security studies and International Relations. (Summary from Taylor & Francis)
 
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
Cecilia Åse
 
2. Comparison as Feminist Method
Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt
 
3. The Politics of War Rituals
Maria Wendt
 
4. The New National War Monuments
Vron Ware
 
5. Artistic Interventions
Redi Koobak
 
6. Debating Deaths
Hanne Martinek
 
7. Gendered Grief
Cecilia Åse, Monica Quirico, and Maria Wendt
 
8. Conclusion
Cecilia Åse and Maria Wendt

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Nationalism, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2019

Literary Testimonies of War and Conflict of Twentieth-Century British and Pakistani Women Writers

Citation:

Ashraf, Ana. 2020. "Literary Testimonies of War and Conflict of Twentieth-Century British and Pakistani Women Writers." PhD diss., KU Leuven.

Author: Ana Ashraf

Annotation:

Summary:
In this research project, I propose to focus on the literary representation of War in the fiction of modern and contemporary women writers referring mostly to three historic conflicts (WWI, WWII & War on Terror) with the help of textual analysis of their works under the theoretical frameworks of feminist criticism and testimony. This dissertation, through close textual study of selected primary texts, aims a thorough examination of literary responses of women writers writing about three different historic conflicts, namely; WWI, WWII, and War on Terror. At one level, the objective is to show how women writers as diverse as Virginia Woolf, Vera Brittain, Rebbeca West, Olivia Manning, Stevie Smith, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Lessing, Fatima Bhutto, and Sara Suleri have their own individual take on war. At another level, this dissertation aims to trace the common patterns underlying these diverse responses to war; to investigate whether a female tradition of war testimonies can be discovered. It intends to emphasize the significance of developing a feminist approach to war literature. It attempts to understand what Barbara Bellow Watson while analyzing the complex response of Elizabeth Bowen's War novel The Heat of the Day refers to as 'literature of Silence' and to locate in that silence a testimonial quality of an actively observant female artist rather than a helplessly passive woman who lacks authentic experience to talk about war. My claim is that no comprehensive attempt has been made previously to connect, combine and unify the female artistic testimony in fiction to war especially with reference to their current relevance under the discourse of feminism and testimony. (Summary from KU Leuven Lirias)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Terrorism Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Pakistan, United Kingdom

Year: 2019

Irish Women and Nationalism: Soldiers, New Women and Wicked Hags

Citation:

Ryan, Louise, and Margaret Ward. 2019. Irish Women and Nationalism: Soldiers, New Women and Wicked Hags. Newbridge: Irish Academic Press.

Authors: Louise Ryan, Margaret Ward

Annotation:

Summary:
Studies of Irish nationalism have been primarily historical in scope and overwhelmingly male in content. Too often, the ‘shadow of the gunman’ has dominated. Little recognition has been given to the part women have played, yet over the centuries they have undertaken a variety of roles – as combatants, prisoners, writers and politicians. In this important and influential collection the full range of women’s contribution to the Irish nationalist movement is explored by writers whose interests range from the historical and sociological to the literary and cultural. From the little known contribution of women to the earliest nationalist uprisings of the 1600s and 1700s, to their active participation in the republican campaigns of the twentieth century, different chapters consider the changing contexts of female militancy and the challenge this has posed to masculine images and structures.
 
Using a wide range of sources, including textual analysis, archives and documents, newspapers and autobiographies, interviews and action research, individual writers examine sensitive and highly complex debates around women’s role in situations of conflict.
 
Irish Women and Nationalism, first published in 2004 and now reissued with a new foreword by Marie Coleman, is a major contribution to wider feminist debates about the gendering of nationalism, raising questions about the extent to which women’s rights, demands and concerns can ever be fully accommodated within nationalist movements. (Summary from Irish Academic Press)
 
Table of Contents:
Preface
Marie Coleman
 
Foreward
Sinead McCoole
 
1. Introduction
Louise Ryan and Margaret Ward
 
2. Testimonies to History: Reassessing Women's Involvement in the 1641 Rising
Andrea Knox
 
3. Revolution in Ireland, Evolution in Women’s Rights: Irish Women in 1798 and 1848
Jan Cannavan
 
4. ‘in the Line of Fire’: Representations of Women and War (1919–1923) through the Writings of Republican Men
Louise Ryan
 
5. Constance Markievicz and the Politics of Memory
Karen Steele
 
6. Representations and Attitudes of Republican Women in the Novels of Annie M. P. Smithson (1873–1948) and Rosamond Jacob (1888–1960)
Danae O’Regan
 
7. ‘and behind Him a Wicked Hag Did Stalk’: From Maiden to Mother, Ireland as Woman through the Male Psyche
Jayne Steel
 
8. ‘We Had to Be Stronger’: The Political Imprisonment of Women in Northern Ireland, 1972–1999
Mary Corcoran
 
9. Female Combatants, Paramilitary Prisoners and the Development of Feminism in the Republican Movement
Rhiannon Talbot
 
10. Narratives of Political Activism from Women in West Belfast
Claire Hackett
 
11. the Emergence of a Gender Consciousness: Women and Community Work in West Belfast
Callie Persic
 
12. Times of Transition: Republican Women, Feminism 

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Nationalism, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2019

Gender and Drone Warfare: A Hauntological Perspective

Citation:

Clark, Lindsay C. 2019. Gender and Drone Warfare: A Hauntological Perspective. Abingdon: Routledge.

Author: Lindsay C. Clark

Annotation:

Summary:
This book investigates how drone warfare is deeply gendered and how this can be explored through the methodological framework of ‘Haunting’.
 
Utilising original interview data from British Reaper drone crews, the book analyses the way killing by drones complicates traditional understandings of masculinity and femininity in warfare. As their role does not include physical risk, drone crews have been critiqued for failing to meet the masculine requirements necessary to be considered ‘warriors’ and have been derided for feminising war. However, this book argues that drone warfare, and the experiences of the crews, exceeds the traditional masculine/feminine binary and suggests a new approach to explore this issue. The framework of Haunting presented here draws on the insights of Jacques Derrida, Avery Gordon, and others to highlight four key themes – complex personhood, in/(hyper)visibility, disturbed temporality and power – as frames through which the intersection of gender and drone warfare can be examined. This book argues that Haunting provides a framework for both revealing and destabilising gendered binaries of use for feminist security studies and International Relations scholars, as well as shedding light on British drone warfare.
 
This book will be of interest to students of gender studies, sociology, war studies, and critical security studies. (Summary from Routledge)
 
Table of Contents:
1. Theorising Military Technologies
 
2. Haunting
 
3. H(a)unting the Warrior
 
4. Grim Reapers - Narratives of Masculinity and Killing
 
5. The Spectral Screwdriver - On Watching and Being Watched
 
6. Eroded Souls - Operational Challenges to Masculinity
 
Conclusion

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Security, Weapons /Arms Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2019

Scottish Soldier-Heroes and Patriotic War Heroines: The Gendered Politics of World War I Commemoration

Citation:

Danilova, Nataliya, and Emma Dolan. 2020. "Scottish Soldier-Heroes and Patriotic War Heroines: The Gendered Politics of World War I Commemoration." Gender, Place & Culture 27 (2): 239-60.

Authors: Nataliya Danilova, Emma Dolan

Abstract:

This paper explores the (re)production of embodied gendered and racialised identities as part of commemorations devised by the Scottish government to mark the Centenary of WWI, 2014–18. In particular, we demonstrate how the Centenary has re-established Scotland’s key contribution to British military power instead of providing a platform for a broader discussion of British wars and Scotland’s role therein. Our analysis posits that this reframing was achieved through the (re)production of a gendered polarisation between white ‘dead’ soldier-heroes, ‘local lads’ and bearers of a ‘proud Scottish military tradition’; and women as embodiments of patriotic motherhood. We further explore the deployment of specific discursive and performative means to transform Dr Elsie Inglis, the only woman whose contribution was singled out by WW100 Scotland, into a patriotic war heroine. This was achieved by the militarisation of her work; the obscuring of identity, class- and race-based hierarchies within women’s war-work; and, finally, through the subversion of feminist ideas and practices in Inglis’ work for the Scottish Women’s Hospitals. Lastly, we reflect on the gendered legacy of the Centenary, emphasising the necessity for critical engagement with Britain’s wars and Scotland’s role therein.
 

Keywords: Britain, commemoration, Gender, militarisation, performance

Topics: Class, Feminisms, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarization, Race Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2020

Gender Matters: Women, Renewable Energy, and Citizen Participation in Germany

Citation:

Fraune, Cornelia. 2015. “Gender Matters: Women, Renewable Energy, and Citizen Participation in Germany.” Energy Research & Social Science 7: 55–65.

Author: Cornelia Fraune

Abstract:

This study investigates how the larger social, cultural, and political context fosters and constrains citizens’ agency to take part in citizen participation schemes in renewable electricity production (RES-E). Based on a comprehensive review of research on gender and energy, hypotheses about gender differences in involvement in citizen participation schemes in RES-E are derived. These are tested statistically on the basis of data gathered in the context of a pilot study. The results reveal differences between women and men in the average ownership rate of citizen participation schemes, the average investment sum and decision-making bodies. In contrast, findings on gender differences in the amount of capital assets invested per capita are inconclusive. This study gives an indication that beyond individual preferences and investment attitudes, cultural, social and political factors also influence an individual’s agency to participate in RES-E operated by citizens’ associations.

Keywords: energy transformation, citizen participation schemes, renewable energy, production, Gender, social context

Topics: Gender, Governance, Households, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Europe, Central Europe Countries: Germany

Year: 2015

Gender Equality and Taxation Policies in the EU

Citation:

Gunnarsson, Åsa, and Ulrike Spangenberg. 2019. “Gender Equality and Taxation Policies in the EU.” Intereconomics 54 (3): 141-6.

Authors: Åsa Gunnarsson, Ulrike Spangenberg

Abstract:

The persisting gender differences in employment rates and patterns and gender gaps in unpaid care work, employment rates, income, old age security, poverty and wealth are all closely linked to the allocative and distributional outcome of tax regulations. (Abstract from original source)

Topics: Age, Economies, Public Finance, Poverty, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods, Security Regions: Europe

Year: 2019

Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus

Citation:

Efthymiou, Stratis Andreas. 2019. Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Stratis Andreas Efthymiou

Annotation:

Summary:
This book uses empirical research to introduce the relationship between nationalism, militarism and masculinity. The co-constitution between these three factors is susceptible to change and hinders reconciliation, according to the author. Drawing on the case of Cyprus, a country in conflict with Turkey, Efthymiou reveals how nationalism, militarism and masculinity were constructed after the war, and re-adapted following the opening of internal borders and European Union accession.
 
Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity in Post-Conflict Cyprus draws on rich field-research, with soldiers and officers in army barracks, politicians such as former President of Republic of Cyprus Glafkos Clerides, leaders of radical far-right movements and the Greek Cypriot public. The book offers invaluable insight into the application of nationalism, militarism and masculinity in governmental policy including by the Cyprus Defence Ministry, and will be of interest to students and scholars in sociology, gender studies, peace studies, security studies, politics and international relations, as well as governments and NGOs. (Summary from Palgrave Macmillan)
 
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Becoming a Man in a Post-conflict Society
 
Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity After the Construction of the Border
 
Nationalism After the Opening of the Border
 
Militarism After the Opening of the Border
 
Masculinity After the Opening of the Border
 
Radical Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity After the Opening of the Border
 
Cypriot Energy: Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity on the Maritime Boundaries
 
Conclusion: A Journey Through the Juncture of Nationalism, Militarism and Masculinity

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militarism, Nationalism Regions: Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Cyprus

Year: 2019

Taxation, Work and Gender Equality in Ireland

Citation:

Doorley, Karina. 2018. “Taxation, Work and Gender Equality in Ireland.” Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry of Ireland 47: 71-87.

Author: Karina Doorley

Abstract:

In most developed countries, economies are facing population ageing, falling fertility rates and stagnating labour force participation. The ability of governments to fund future pension and health-care expenditure relies to a large extent on income tax and social security receipts from workers. Policymakers are generally in agreement that increasing the labour force participation of women, without reducing the fertility rate, is needed. In the year 2000, with the aim of increasing women's labour market participation, a partial individualisation of the Irish income tax system was initiated. Using the Living in Ireland survey and a difference-in-differences framework, I investigate whether this reform had any effect on female labour supply and caring duties. I find that the labour force participation rate of married women increased by 5-6 percentage points in the wake of the reform, hours of work increased by two per week and hours of unpaid childcare decreased by approximately the same margin.

Keywords: individual taxation, Ireland, labour supply

Topics: Economies, Public Finance, Gender, Women, Livelihoods Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2018

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