Capacity Of Women Research Articles

“Disaster” Within Disaster Management: Women and Nonhuman Animals Issues

This analysis will refer to the structural inequalities under disaster management context, where women and more-than-human animals receive imbalanced preparedness for disaster management, risk reduction, and resilience. The concept of feminism and speciesism will visualize the similarity between women and more-than-human animals as an “object” exclusion instead of “subject” inclusion. The vitality of observation is considered from assessing women's capacity to cope, adapt, and survive during and post the socio-ecological emergency (social instability and natural and human-made disaster). The data shows that women were the most susceptible in rapid or slow-onset emergencies, whereas the nonhuman animals will be objectified as no more than property. These two normalized-lens navigate to the skills and knowledge acquired by women regarding socio-ecological resilience. On the other hand, the demand for equal treatment for women and more-than-human animals will be based on their intrinsic values. This article argues that the phenomenon is highly influenced by religious and cultural values in shaping socio-ecological treatment and power relations. In other words, the patriarchal system and human supremacism will become the most influential aspects. The epistemological revolutions through proper laws and policies are required to promote and achieve a more stable socio-ecological structure of women and more-than-human entanglement within disaster management in particular.

Kuasa Perempuan Bali: Peran dan Kapasitas Perempuan Bali dalam Menghadapi Erupsi Gunung Agung

Women are one part of a vulnerable group in the event of a disaster. Data from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) states that women have a 14 times higher risk of becoming victims of disasters than adult men. This is due to the instinct of women who want to protect their families and children, which often makes them neglect their own safety. Therefore, providing access to information and disaster education is important to reduce the number of victims when a disaster occurs. This research aims to how the preparedness of women in the village of Besakih in facing the risk of the eruption of Mount Agung in Karangasem Regency, Bali. Through ethnographic methods with live-in strategy for gathering data during July-October 2019, this research found some potential of Balinese women when facing disasters. The character of Balinese women who are independent, tough and adaptive is their key to survive in a disaster situation. In addition, the woman of Besakih Village claimed to be actively seeking information on Mount Agung disaster through Facebook as a form of self-mitigation before the disaster occurred. Research recommendations are directed at training to increase women's capacity such as recognizing the initial symptoms of disasters, how to find and select correct information on social media related to disasters, and to play an active role as an agent of disaster vulnerability in the family.

Understanding mechanisms behind unwanted health behaviours in Nordic and South Asian women and how they affect their gestational diabetes follow-ups: A qualitative study.

The type 2 diabetes risk following gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is high, particularly among South Asian women in Western countries. Our study aimed to advance the knowledge regarding the mechanisms behind suboptimal follow-up in the Nordic and South Asian women with previous GDM by comparing (1) their experiences, (2) health and disease perceptions and (3) barriers to and facilitators of health-promoting behaviours. This qualitative study was conducted in three hospital outpatient clinics in Norway, comprising six focus group interviews with 28 women 1-3years after a pregnancy with GDM. The participants were purposively sampled and grouped according to their ethnicity. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, and a theoretical approach was applied to support the analysis and discuss the study's findings. Five main themes were identified: lack of resilience, emotional distress, 'caught between a rock and a hard place', postpartum abandonment and insufficient guidance. The key determinants of the maintenance of unwanted health behaviours after GDM were consistent across the ethnic groups. Although the importance of a culturally sensitive approach was emphasised, it appeared secondary to the need for a more organised public healthcare during and after GDM. Women's real-life constraints, combined with the inadequate healthcare-service implementation, could explain the non-adherence to the lifestyle-changes guidelines essential for preventing diabetes post-GDM. We suggest promoting specific coping strategies and changing the healthcare service approach rather than relying on women's capacity to initiate the necessary changes.

Childhood maltreatment and resource acquisition in African American women: The role of self-esteem.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a public health crisis that results in negative physical, mental health, and psychosocial (e.g., resource attainment) outcomes. Resource attainment is a critical outcome for marginalized populations, such as low-income African American women. This study addresses the gap in the literature regarding the association between CM and effectiveness of resource attainment and the potential mediating role of self-esteem in this association for African American women. Data were gathered from a large public inner-city, university-affiliated health care system in the Southeastern United States. Participants selected were low-income African American women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and have attempted suicide in the prior year. The participants for this study completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Beck Self-Esteem Scale, and the Effectiveness in Obtaining Resources Scale. Mediation analyses using bootstrapping with 213 women revealed the powerful role self-esteem plays in explaining the link between CM and resource attainment in low-income African American women. Specifically, overall CM and four of its subtypes (emotional abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect) were all associated with decreased resource attainment via the effect of decreased self-esteem. Sexual abuse was the only subtype of CM not significantly associated with self-esteem nor effectiveness of resource attainment. This research highlights the importance of screening for CM, its subtypes, and resource attainment in this population and bolstering self-esteem through psychological interventions to increase women's capacity to effectively secure necessary community resources. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

An Item Response Theory examination of the original and short forms of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in pregnant women.

Emotion dysregulation during pregnancy may impede women's capacity to navigate increased stressors during this period and may elevate risk for psychosocial impairment, especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged or racially marginalized women. Valid and efficient assessment of emotion dysregulation is needed. We used Item Response Theory (IRT) to examine the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in 248 low income, primarily Latina/x pregnant women, to compare the short forms relative to the full DERS. IRT indicated that the short forms exhibited modest reliability, but also indicated a substantial decrease in information (i.e., reliability) for the short forms compared with the full DERS. IRT indicated that the DERS-16 appeared more reliable (conserve more information) relative to the other short forms, the DERS-SF and DERS-18. Findings suggest that clinicians and researchers use the full DERS when time permits and the DERS-16 when needing a briefer version.

“Where Shall We Place Our Hope?”: COVID-19 and the Imperiled National Body in South Africa's “Lockdown Collection”

“Where Shall We Place Our Hope?”: COVID-19 and the Imperiled National Body in South Africa's “Lockdown Collection”

The importance of nurturing trusting relationships to embed shared decision-making during pregnancy and childbirth

Objective: To generate greater awareness of the contextual and relational factors that influence women's capacity to participate in shared decision-making during childbirth.Methods: A three-phase participatory action research approach involving in-depth interviews and co-operative inquiry meetings.Setting: Dublin, Ireland in a large maternity hospital.Participants: Five postnatal women who gave birth to live healthy babies, and attended obstetric or midwifery-led care and 13 practising midwives.Findings: This paper presents the findings from the third phase of a three-phase action research study exploring the action's women consider necessary to embed informed choice, into practice. The findings reveal that multiple organisational and relational factors influence how women can participate in shared decision-making including the model of care they attended, continuity of carer, power dynamics, hospital policies and trust in self and others. Women's relationships with maternity care professionals reveals that exercising choice is not only defined by but contingent on the degree of trust in their relationships with maternity care professionals.

The heat never bothered me anyway: Gender‐specific response of agricultural labor to climatic shocks in Tanzania

AbstractAgricultural production in Africa is generally highly labor intensive with gender‐specific specialization across activities. Using panel data from Tanzania, we examine the effects of heat stress (temperature above 29°C) during the maize‐growing season on gender‐disaggregated agricultural labor use. Results show that heat stress reduces total male family labor but does not statistically affect female family labor. Households with only female adults seem to increase their labor supply under heat stress. Given these heterogeneous effects, gender‐sensitive development interventions and adaptation strategies are suggested to enhance women's adaptive capacity.

The Role of North Aceh Government for Building Women's Capacity Based on Islamic Values in Vocational Village

Women have potential contributions to engage in productive activities and can help the family economy. A vocational village is a village setting a model for developing its local resources to improve inhabitants' quality of life, especially women in the village in North Aceh District, without leaving their Islamic values. This article described the role of government in enhancing women's capacity and local potentials in the vocational village with Islamic values using the empirical methodology. Data is obtained based on field research through purposive sampling collected by interviews with informants using qualitative analysis data. This study found that several training initiatives had been carried out to increase women's capacity, for example training in embroidery, handicrafts, and others. However, these initiatives were not based on the potential components that live in the village. Furthermore, Islamic values in the community in encouraging women in North Aceh have experienced a shift in Pande Village. This study recommends the need for more efforts to increase women's potential by promoting and exhibiting local products for empowering women in villages based on existing prospects without leaving Islamic values.Perempuan memiliki potensi untuk terlibat dalam kegiatan produktif dan dapat membantu perekonomian keluarga. Desa kejuruan adalah desa yang menjadi model pengembangan sumber daya lokalnya untuk meningkatkan kualitas hidup penduduk, khususnya perempuan di desa di Kabupaten Aceh Utara tanpa meninggalkan nilai-nilai keislamannya. Artikel ini memaparkan peran pemerintah dalam meningkatkan kapasitas perempuan dan potensi lokal di desa vokasi yang bernuansa Islami dengan menggunakan metodologi empiris. Data diperoleh berdasarkan penelitian lapangan melalui purposive sampling yang dikumpulkan melalui wawancara dengan informan dengan menggunakan data analisis kualitatif. Studi ini menemukan bahwa beberapa inisiatif pelatihan telah dilakukan untuk meningkatkan kapasitas perempuan, misalnya pelatihan membordir, kerajinan tangan, dan lain-lain. Namun inisiatif tersebut tidak didasarkan pada potensi komponen yang ada di desa. Selanjutnya nilai-nilai Islam yang ada di masyarakat dalam mendorong proses pemberdayaan perempuan di Aceh Utara mengalami pergeseran di Desa Pande. Kajian ini merekomendasikan perlunya lebih banyak upaya untuk meningkatkan potensi perempuan dengan cara mempromosikan dan memamerkan produk-produk lokal untuk pemberdayaan perempuan di desa berdasarkan potensi yang ada tanpa meninggalkan nilai-nilai keislaman.

Singlehood in contemporary Japan: Rating, dating, and waiting for a good match.

Late age at marriage and rising rates of singlehood increasingly characterize East Asian societies. For Japan, these are major contributors to the very low birth rate. We analyze two unique data sets: dating records covering a two-year period from one of Japan's largest marriage agencies and in-depth interviews with 30 highly-educated Japanese singles. The longitudinal nature of the quantitative data allows us to test hypotheses about how single men's and women's preferences for partners' characteristics adjust over time. The qualitative data provides a more fine-grained look at Japanese singles' partner preferences. We employ fixed-effects regression models to analyze Japanese men's and women's preferences for the relative and absolute education, income, and age of potential marriage partners. Both the quantitative and qualitative data suggest that Japanese women continue to highly value men's income-earning capacity. Men, in contrast, value a partner with moderate income-earning potential. Women's and men's preferences for partner's education are somewhat weaker, and women broaden their educational preference over time. Japanese men's and women's preferences for a potential partner's characteristics are largely consistent with Becker's theory of gender-role specialization. But we also find evidence consistent with Oppenheimer's expectation that men are coming to value women's income-earning capacity more highly than in the past. We use a unique Japanese data set featuring dating records over a two-year period to examine the appropriateness of theories of marital sorting proposed by Becker and Oppenheimer. Our quantitative analysis is complemented by in-depth interviews with Japanese singles.

WOMEN’S ROLE IN MITIGATION AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT

The impact of climate change caused by global warming is currently one of the trending topics in various media and it is an extremely serious threat to human security. Forest fires, floods, landslides and changes in lifestyles to survive natural disasters are the very significant contributing factors to poverty rates in various parts of the world. The London School of Economics and Political Science conducted a study of 141 countries affected by disasters in the 1981-2002 period and found a close link between natural disasters and women's socioeconomic status. Data from the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) states that women have 14 times of risk for becoming victims of disasters compared to adult men. Women become the most victimized because women prioritize children and their families rather than saving themselves. Although women bear more risks to climate change, women can also have the principal opportunity and role in implementing climate change mitigation adaptation, namely by making women actors in disaster mitigation and drivers of change in parallel to their strong responsibilities to their families. By providing adequate knowledge for women about adaptation and mitigation of disasters, the women can turn themselves to be the strategic activists in coping with disasters for communities living in disaster-prone areas.This study is a comparative discussion of three research results to obtain an overview and find solutions to women's problems from the consequences of climate change, which is a study by changing women from being the most victims of natural disasters to becoming the driving actor for families and communities in overcoming disaster and her ability to survive the post-disaster situation. The conclusion is the three levels of gender roles related to climate change to increase women's adaptive capacity. An adaptation strategy needs the form of 1. Increasing the role of women in the political arena. It is a crucial issue because women's rights can be protected by their presence and role, as well as women in guarding policies. 2. Increasing the role of women in the realm of education. Education is no less important than politics because education will provide a foundation for understanding and self-confidence, bargaining and personal branding for women so that their presence in society will be recognized and will no longer be discriminated. 3. Cultural reconstruction based on gender equality is very important because so far, the notion of patriarchy is still inherent in our culture. Many perspectives are cooptated on the statement that superior (men) are stronger then give rise women mythos that is said to be weak (women). In reality, the presence of women is still fundamental to the aspect of maintaining the economy and education for the continuation and the quality of the life in the society.

It's Complicated: Incident- and Observer-Level Predictors of Blame and Justification for Reciprocated Psychological and Minor Physical Violence

We examined whether incident- and observer-level factors found previously to influence blame assignment and foster justification for severe unidirectional partner aggression would replicate in the context of reciprocated psychological and minor physical dating violence. We employed a factorial vignette methodology, simultaneously varying the form of the violence (i.e., psychological or minor physical), gender of the initiator and retaliator, alcohol use, history of aggression, and commitment status. Observer-level variables included participant gender, history of dating violence perpetration and victimization, and social desirability. Using a sample of 321 undergraduates, we found that initiating violence with physical versus psychological tactics was judged comparably in terms of blame, but responding with symmetrical physical violence was viewed more negatively than the reciprocation of psychological aggression. Men's aggression was more negatively evaluated only in situations involving physical force, except in cases where the woman's capacity to inflict physical harm was comparable. Other characteristics of the incident (e.g., alcohol use) and observer (e.g., gender) were also relevant, but their effects were tethered to the particulars of the violent exchange or the type of attribution being solicited. Asymmetrical violence (e.g., physical response to psychological initiation) appeared to elicit the most attributional activity with respect to the predictors. Exploratory analyses also revealed that participants with intimate partner violence (IPV) histories responded differently to vignettes wherein the violence initiator had aggressed previously. The overall pattern of results highlights that attributions about dating violence are complexly determined and contextualized, and that the form and relative symmetry of the violence may shape how incident- and observer-level variables impact evaluations of blame and justification.

The Socio-Economic Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Gender Inequality Index and Policy Recommendation

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is experiencing a dilemma since 2005. The dilemma is between the modernization of its social system underscoring the importance of gender equity in the community, particularly for women and girls, while facing the traditional, conservative norms and values that undermine the women's capacity to engage in society with men. Since 2005, Saudi Arabia has embarked on the modernization routes for its rules and policies to create more economic, social, and civil opportunities for women to be actively engaged in the community. In the paper, we will explore the relationship between the legal reforms that occurred in Saudi Arabia regarding women's rights and their impact on Saudi Arabia's Gender Inequality Index (GII). Understanding the relationship will build a comprehensive understanding of Saudi Arabia's capacity to achieve comprehensive sustainability for the society known by Saudi Arabia Vision 2030. The project relies on quantitative and qualitative meta-analyze research methods to assess data and build conclusions.

Towards an Affirmative Ethics of Women's Smartphone Uses in Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that while smartphones can increase women's capacities to act for themselves and others, smartphones can also act agentially in the interests of corporations and limit women's capacity to act. To make this argument, I consider the value of Rosi Braidotti's [2019. Posthuman Knowledge. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press] posthuman knowledge theory of ‘affirmative ethics’ for understanding women's relationships with their smartphones. Applying a posthuman lens shows how the smartphone can increase women's capacities to affect and be affected [Gatens and Lloyd. 1999. Collective Imaginings: Spinoza, Past and Present. New York: Routledge]. However, this potential for positive feelings or relations must be considered in light of how the agency of the smartphone itself may interrupt these capacities through data sharing, targeted advertising and other capitalist practices. I argue that we must situate smartphone as part of the messy, incomplete and ongoing process of trying to live well and ethically in the present moment.

Training Anger with Accuracy: Audre Lorde's Invitation to Black Women

The article engages the work of Audre Lorde on rage between Black women. Focusing on her 1984 essay "Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger," the article explores destructive rage and Lorde's concern about the effect of this rage on Black women's capacity to build community together and feminist politics more broadly. Adopting an affective reading of Lorde's analysis, the article dissects her attention to the affect of rage as interwoven with other affective registers that include hate and pain. Lorde's insight and politics highlights a dimension of rage that is important to consider in contemporary Black women's feminist politics and organizing—the capacity for rage to destroy sisterhood and authentic healing. Her project of attending to such rage as a means to render it less powerful in effect remains an urgent one for us today.

Black Women beyond Scandal

Published in 1814 in Haiti, Baron de Vastey's essay Le Système colonial dévoilé (The Colonial System Unveiled) provides a detailed account of colonialism's violence and anti-Blackness. As he "unveils" the atrocities of slavery, Vastey demonstrates how subjugation and racialization are the result of not only spectacular violence and killings but also laws and policies that work to produce race itself through more quotidian forms of violence. The author consistently returns to the experience of enslaved Black women and to the role and subject position white women occupied in enslaving societies. In this article, I examine the contested homosocial space that Black and white women shared in Saint-Domingue, a space fraught with multifarious articulations of scandal. As I track the colonists' uses of scandal, I explore how the construction of gender through whiteness renders Black women's autonomous sexuality and reproductive capacities as always already scandalous and therefore disruptive, threatening, and destabilizing to the colonial order.

“If you don't find anything, you can't eat” – Mining livelihoods and income, gender roles, and food choices in northern Guinea

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) continues to grow as a viable economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa. The health and environmental impacts of the industry, notably linked to the use of potentially toxic chemicals, has been well documented. What has not been explored to the same extent is how pressures associated with ASM affect food choices of individuals and families living in mining camps. This paper presents research conducted in 18 mining sites in northern Guinea exploring food choices and the various factors affecting food decision-making practices. Two of the most influential factors to emerge from this study are income variability and gender roles. Results from this study suggest that through artisanal mining, women have the opportunity to earn a larger income that would otherwise be unavailable through agriculture. However, this benefit of potentially earning a larger income is often reduced or constrained by existing gender roles both at the mines and in the home, such as disparity in pay between men and women and increased pressures on women's time. This limits the potential benefit to household food decision-making that could have been gained from higher income. These results do not seek to establish one livelihood as superior; rather, they demonstrate that even when presented with opportunities to earn higher incomes, women still face many of the same barriers and challenges that they would in other economic activities. Additionally, while work and time demands on women change upon arrival in the mining camps, existing gender roles and expectations do not, further restricting women's decision-making capacity.

Governing homeless mothers: the unmaking of home and family

The home is a central place where women's identity as 'mother' is socially constructed and negotiated. Social policy is inexorably implicated in (re)producing these dominant visions of mothers, mothering, home-making and home. Yet, we know very little about how these same social policies are also implicated in women's loss of home. The article begins to address this evidence-gap. It draws on biographical research with homeless women to explore the ways in which key governing frameworks (associated with child protection processes, housing allocation policy and temporary accommodation provision in England) interact with women's status as mother, to shape the spaces they inhabit as home or not-home, materially and emotionally. We present data that illustrates how women's capacity to retain, make or rebuild a family home in times of crisis is significantly hampered by the policies and procedures they encounter in housing and social welfare systems.

Good Heart: Telling Stories of Cardiovascular Protective and Risk Factors for Aboriginal Women

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' perspectives of health and cultural wellbeing encapsulate the spiritual, social and environmental health of individuals, their communities and country. Strategies designed to reduce the cardiovascular burden of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often fail to consider their unique knowledge and worldview. This adapted, grounded theory study sought to explore Aboriginal women's views of cardiovascular protective and risk factors. Twenty-eight (28) women from five women's groups across Central and South Australia participated. Women distinguished the heart as core to their spiritual and physical wellbeing. Women identified six attributes that keep a woman's heart strong, four that can make the heart sick, and eight socio-ecological factors which affect a woman's capacity to care for their heart. Women described having a healthy heart when able to identify as Aboriginal women, being connected to family and community, having a healthy life and body, and being engaged in their health and health care. There are gaps in the provision of cardiovascular risk assessment and management, gaps in the cultural safety of primary health care services, and gaps in the communication of the sex-specific warning signs of a heart attack, all of which must be addressed.

Peningkatan Kesiapsiagaan Anggota Nasyiatul Aisyiyah (NA) Cabang Ngawen Klaten Terhadap Bencana

Increasing the skills and abilities of individuals, families and communities in the face of disasters need to be carried out continuously, because of the high potential for threats and the increasing number of people exposed to disaster risk. Women have a strategic role in disaster management and are very effective in transferring their knowledge to the next generation. In this community service activity, the Nasyiatul Aisyiyah branch of Ngawen, Klaten, Central Java, chosen as a partner. The purpose of this activity is to improve women's preparedness capacity and to reduce people's exposure to disasters. The activities are not only in terms of physical preparedness but also spiritual preparedness. This community service activity consist of three stage, which are,the first stage is preliminary survey to assess the knowledge of participants on disaster preparedness, the second stage is giving disaster preparedness education with facilitators guidance, providing disaster preparedness pocket books, and discussions, and the final stage was an assessment of disaster preparedness after participants are given education/training. The assessment was done using a questionnaire. The result of the prelimanary survey show that the participant are at the level of moderate preparedness. The disaster preparedness education increasing all the disaster preparedness parameters index. The knowledge parameter index increased by 5%, the family preparedness plan parameter index increased by 15%, the parameter index of disaster warning knowledge increased by 6%, the resource mobilization parameter index increased by 10%. The socialization or simulation is needed about the importance of evacuation, relief and rescue, and campaign about the disaster is also needed through various media that are in accordance with the conditions of the community.