Patriarchy

Dispersed Nationalism: War, Diaspora And Kurdish Women’s Organizing

Citation:

Mojab, Shahrzad, and Rachel Gorman. 2007. “Dispersed Nationalism: War, Diaspora And Kurdish Women’s Organizing.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 3 (1, Special Issue: Transnational Theory, National Politics, and Gender in the Contemporary Middle East / North Africa): 58–85.

Authors: Shahrzad Mojab, Rachel Gorman

Abstract:

In this paper we provide an analysis of Kurdish women’s organizing in the diaspora, highlighting the tension between “homeland” and  “host-land” nationalisms, patriarchy, and feminism. This is the first feminist-transnational study of the experience of Kurdish women participating in a modern nation-building process in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq in the period of 1991–2003. The study is based on fieldwork among Kurdish women in Canada, Britain, Sweden, and Iraqi Kurdistan. We have analyzed the activities of four women’s organizations in the diaspora and have traced the impact of these organizations on the events and politics unfolding in the region. We have also observed and documented the impact of homeland politics on these diaspora organizations, paying special attention to the gendered influence exerted by Kurdish political parties. The theoretical contributions of this paper are twofold: One, we argue that diaspora should be understood as a historical rather than only a cultural phenomenon. Second, diaspora and transnationalism are both historical and political categories of social organization which involve a complex of national, international, and transnational political-economic relations.

Keywords: nationalism, diaspora

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Society, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Nationalism, NGOs, Political Participation Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq

Year: 2007

Analysis of Empowerment of Refugee Women in Camps and Settlements

Citation:

Krause, Ulrike. 2014. “Analysis of Empowerment of Refugee Women in Camps and Settlements." Journal of Internal Displacement 4 (1): 29–52.

Author: Ulrike Krause

Abstract:

This article analyzes the empowering impact that refugeeism can have on women, a largely neglected area of research. In the past, the academic discourse of refugees’ identity reveals a clear trend towards homogenization, objectification, and victimization. Refugee women are still seen as disempowered passive victims. Considering that most refugees are caused in patriarchal societies in the global south, this article presents the idea that forced displacement can break patriarchal patterns because refugees renegotiate and redefine gender relations while in camps and settlements which could lead to women’s empowerment. This argument is made after an extensive review of literature on refugee identity, differing camp and settlement structures, and the discourse about actions that can disempower or empower refugee women. In order to move beyond assumptions, this paper relies on concrete empirical research of national policy analyses and a field research case study of Rhino Camp settlement in Uganda. A review of this research will show how displacement can both challenge and reinforce traditional gender roles and will focus on the potential for empowering women in this context.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2014

Zulu Masculinities, Warrior Culture and Stick Fighting: Reassessing Male Violence and Virtue in South Africa

Citation:

Carton, Benedict, and Robert Morrell. 2012. “Zulu Masculinities, Warrior Culture and Stick Fighting: Reassessing Male Violence and Virtue in South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies 38 (1): 31-53.

Authors: Benedict Carton, Robert Morrell

Abstract:

Zulu soldiers are renowned for decimating a British army at the Battle of Isandlwana in 1879. This military victory not only entrenched a legacy of merciless conquest long attributed to King Shaka, but also sensationalised the idea that Zulu men are natural-born killers. We reassess this stereotype by scrutinising the 'Shakan' version of martial culture and its reputed links to the formative encounters of Zulu men. One such experience involved boyhood exploits in stick fighting, a mostly rural sport associated with fearsome warriors and masculine aggression in South Africa. Using a gendered framework, we identify the customary obligations and homosocial allegiances shaping hierarchies of patriarchy which regulated stick fighting in a regional hotbed of competition, the Thukela Valley of KwaZulu-Natal. Focusing on a century of dramatic transformations (early 1800s to early 1900s), we examine overlooked vernacular expressions of stick fighting that reinforced the importance of self-mastery and 'honour', metaphors of manhood that bolstered kinship obligations during social turmoil. We also highlight the sport's sometimes unforgiving outcomes, including ruthless retribution and painful ostracism, which combined with encroaching forces of white domination to change rules of engagement and propel young men from their traditional upbringing into labour migrancy. However, the ethos of stick fighting — namely learning restraint — remained vital to the socialisation of boys.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Male Combatants, Gender, Men, Boys, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2012

Discourses on Gender, Patriarchy and Resolution 1325: A Textual Analysis of UN Documents

Citation:

Puechguirbal, Nadine. 2010. “Discourses on Gender, Patriarchy and Resolution 1325: A Textual Analysis of UN Documents.” International Peacekeeping 17 (2): 172-87.

Author: Nadine Puechguirbal

Abstract:

This article deconstructs the language of UN documents that relate to peace operations and highlights recurrent definitions of women as vulnerable individuals, often associated with children. The author demonstrates that the perpetuation of stereotyping language in these documents removes women’s agency and maintains them in the subordinated position of victims. As a result, women are not seen as actors within their own community and agents of change in post-conflict environments. Despite the adoption of resolution 1325, the institution of the UN leaves the male monopoly of power unchallenged and presents gender mainstreaming as a non-political activity.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325

Year: 2010

Power, Gender and Human Trafficking

Citation:

Hart, Amanda. 2007. “Power, Gender and Human Trafficking.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 11.

Author: Amanda Hart

Abstract:

The purpose of this meta-analytic research was to determine the gender and power influences at play within the phenomenon of international human trafficking. Utilizing a lens of Gender Relations Theory and an array of previously conducted research, the push, pull, and facilitating factors influencing these migrant's immigration are examined. The emotional and physical stresses of the trafficked persons (primarily women and children) as well as trafficking techniques are presented through a variety of cases. The concepts of gender and power relations tie together to form a startling conclusion: many times underprivileged and susceptible men, women, and children are trafficked simply because they can be. Unfortunately, the government's response to human trafficking has not been extremely successful, with only 46 trafficked migrants having been served and rehabilitated as of September 2005 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This research concludes that merely rehabilitating trafficked persons will not solve the root of the problem: the deep-seeded gender and power inequality still existing between men and women.

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, International Law, International Human Rights, International Organizations, NGOs, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking

Year: 2007

Migration As Protest? Negotiating Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Urban Bolivia

Citation:

Bastia, Tanja. 2011. “Migration As Protest? Negotiating Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Urban Bolivia.” Environment and Planning A 43 (7): 1514-1529.

Author: Tanja Bastia

Abstract:

Feminist geographies of migration are often based on the assumption that migration brings about social change, potentially disrupting patriarchal structures and bringing about new spaces where gender relations can be renegotiated and reconfigured. On the basis of multisited research conducted with migrants from the same community of origin in Bolivia, I analyse how gender, class, and ethnicity are renegotiated through internal and cross-border migration. A transnational, multiscalar, multisited, and intersectional approach is applied to the study of social change through migration, with the aim of investigating whether labour migration provides avenues for greater gender equality. At the individual level there are certainly indications that women achieve greater independence through migration. However, the multiscalar and intersectional analysis suggests that women trade ‘gender gains’ for upward social mobility in the class hierarchy. By doing so, they also contribute to the reproduction of patriarchal social relations.

Keywords: feminist, internal migration, labor migration, social mobility

Topics: Class, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Bolivia

Year: 2011

Now I Am a Man and a Woman!’: Gendered Moves and Migrations in a Transnational Mexican Community

Citation:

Boehm, Deborah A. 2008. “‘Now I Am a Man and a Woman!’: Gendered Moves and Migrations in a Transnational Mexican Community.” Latin American Perspectives 35 (1): 16–30.

Author: Deborah A. Boehm

Abstract:

Scholars have suggested that migration from Mexico to the United States benefits women by challenging often rigid gender norms. The results of ethnographic field research in San Luis Potosí and New Mexico complicate this view. Here migration results in a complex interplay between males and females—a series of negotiations through which women exercise increased autonomy in some circumstances but also face the reassertion of male dominance and in which males reproduce patriarchal power even as they create new ways to express masculinity. This research problematizes previous understandings of the impact of migration on gender roles and underscores the need to make a gendered analysis central to theories of transnationalism and the study of (im)migration.

Keywords: Gender, migration, transnationalism, immigration policy, mexico

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Households Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico, United States of America

Year: 2008

Implications of Enforced Disappearances on Women-Headed Families in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Citation:

Subramaniam, Jeevasuthan, Nur Mohammad Majumder, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, and Abul Fozol Muhammod Zakaria. 2014. “Implications of Enforced Disappearances on Women-Headed Families in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka.” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4 (4): 236-243.

Authors: Jeevasuthan Subramaniam, Nur Mohammad Majumder, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, Abul Fozol Muhammod Zakaria

Abstract:

Enforced disappearances persist in many countries all over the world. It creates severe social and psychological repercussions on families left behind. The Sri Lankan internal ethnic conflict lasted for three decades ended up with the deaths of more than 150,000 people and massive internal and external displacements. Additionally, a new social phenomenon has been evolved as “Women-headed Households of persons with forcibly disappeared” from all ethnic groups. The government of Sri Lanka and rebels have used forced disappearances as a weapon to suppress dissents and combat the armed conflict. This study attempted to examine the impact of enforced disappearances on Women-headed Households of North Province in a post-conflict context. Predominantly, it intended to focus on identity crisis, patriarchal domination, psychological implications, handling with painful experiences and potential challenges in implementing psycho-social programs for their well-being. The potential role of social work professionals also has been discussed. Mentioned the methodology use and highlighted the major findings.

Keywords: Sri Lanka, enforced disappearances, psychosocial challenges, women-headed households

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, IDPs, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Health, Mental Health, Households, Post-Conflict, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2014

Rural Women and Irrigation: Patriarchy, Class, and the Modernizing State in South India

Citation:

Ramamurthy, Priti. 1991. “Rural Women and Irrigation: Patriarchy, Class, and the Modernizing State in South India.” Society and Natural Resources 4 (1): 5-22.

Author: Priti Ramamurthy

Abstract:

Irrigation is the major strategy used by “modernizing” states in India and throughout the Third World to raise agricultural productivity and surpluses. This paper shows that irrigation is not gender-neutral, focusing on how canal irrigation affects women’s work and lives in Andhra Pradesh, India. First, it delineates the particular consequences for women of state-sponsored irrigation. It then focuses on women of different classes and castes and shows how the economic and physical burdens of agricultural intensification have fallen most heavily on women of agricultural labor and marginal cultivator households. It concludes by suggesting policy measures that can meet poor women’s basic livelihood needs and points out that only working class women’s organizations will be able to change to preoccupation of the state with modernization, the inequitable distribution of resources, and the stranglehold of patriarchy.

Keywords: agricultural labor, class, patriarchy, rural women

Topics: Caste, Class, Agriculture, Economies, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 1991

Colonial Oppression, Gender, and Women in the Irish Diaspora

Citation:

Radosh, Polly. 2009. “Colonial Oppression, Gender, and Women in the Irish Diaspora.” Journal of Historical Sociology 22 (2): 269–89.

Author: Polly Radosh

Abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between colonial oppression in pre-famine Ireland and the development of gender patterns that fostered uncommon social and familial roles for women. In post-famine Ireland women's traditional family roles illustrate cultural empowerment that combined with the pull factors of employment opportunities to spawn higher female than male emigration at the same time that patriarchal oppression restricted women's full social participation in Ireland and limited their authority to specific domains of family life. Cultural changes in post-famine Ireland, including increased power for the Catholic Church, mothers' socialization of children to the moral teachings of the Church, delayed marriage, and permanent celibacy among large segments of the population, intersected to produce unique patterns of migration. For women who immigrated to the United States, the cultural background of colonial oppression instilled values that respected independence and employment. In the case of the Irish, colonial oppression initiated gender patterns that pushed women to greater familial power and occupational independence than was typical of other ethnic groups.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Households, Livelihoods, Nationalism, Religion Regions: Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland

Year: 2009

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