Gender Order Research Articles

Women’s sport and media: a call to critical arms

ABSTRACT After many years of struggle, women’s sport is experiencing an upsurge around the world. This advance means, given the co-dependent relationship between sport and media, greater coverage of women’s sport. These are positive developments regarding gender equality, especially given the socio-cultural power of the “media sports cultural complex.” It is important, though, not to exaggerate the institutional success of women’s sport and media that has begun from a low base and encounters continued resistance. Improvements are also globally uneven, being more evident among relatively affluent, culturally advantaged communities, especially in the West, with compounding intersectional disadvantage for women in poorer, racialized and religiously oppressive contexts. Where successes have been achieved, they should be subject to the same kind of critical scepticism applying to wider sport and media-related issues such as the environment, “sportswashing,” sport diplomacy, capitalist exploitation, and challenges to sport’s traditional binary gender order. This article, while noting an increase in feminist media research and scholarship applied to sport, argues that it is still under-represented in communication and media studies. It constitutes a call to this field for greater analytically reflexive attention to an area of popular culture that consumes enormous media space in a critical cultural-political moment.

Doing leadership in style: Pragmatic markers in New Zealand workplace interaction

AbstractThe Wellington Language in the Workplace Project (LWP) team has devoted considerable attention over the last few decades to researching workplace communication. We have focused especially on the insights that discourse analysis can provide regarding similarities and differences between the two major ethnic groups in New Zealand in “ways of doing things at work”. In this paper, we draw on both quantitative and qualitative analyses of interaction in Māori and Pākehā workplaces to demonstrate how these complementary approaches contribute to understanding different styles of leadership. Using Holmes’ concept of theculture orderand Connell’s concept of thegender order,we analyze the distribution and use of two specific pragmatic markers,ehandyou know.Ehis a distinctively New Zealand pragmatic marker whileyou knowhas been well-researched in English-speaking communities, providing rich contextual information on its functions. We examine the frequency of occurrence of each marker in both large formal meetings and smaller one-to-one interactions. We then analyze in more detail how these pragmatic markers contribute to one Māori male leader’s effective construction of a progressive, hybridized leadership identity, whilst also demonstrating the familiar double bind facing successful women leaders.

Sexual violence against women: Global interventions and an evidence from Pakistan

A great deal of focus and attention has been devoted towards the societal health and well-being of the global society, but an exponential increase has been witnessed in sexual violence against women across the globe. This paper examines the research conducted about sexual violence against women (SVAW) across the world, besides incorporating empirical study from Pakistan. The paper encompasses studies on SVAW through purposive sampling to study the global interventions in the 21st century, especially from 2010 to 2022. The study establishes that the continuation of violence against women results from a perpetuated sociocultural belief of the people towards gender and gender order. Some positive change has been witnessed in the UK and USA where the focus has been shifted from victim blaming to addressing the causes of sexual abuse. Conversely, the issue is found persistent in its full shape and volume in developing countries, including Pakistan, where SVAW is still one of the most neglected areas of research. Finally, this study suggests news reporting and media discourses to be enterprising and useful avenues of research in this context.

The Awakening of Female Consciousness under the Fusion of Chinese and Western Cultural Conflicts from the Perspective of Eat Drink Man Woman

Ang Lee's works fully reflect the conflict and fusion between Chinese and western cultures due to his own identity as a cross-cultural film communicator, which has also been the focus of academic attention. This theme is reflected in the film Eat Drink Man Woman, which focuses on an ordinary family in Taiwan. The father is more exposed to traditional Chinese cultural elements while the daughters are more influenced by western culture. The feminism embodied in the film forms a special characterization of the film, which is dominated by female characters, therefore making the element worth studying. This article uses textual analysis as the main research method, using the three sisters of the Zhu family and Jinrong as examples, and focuses on the analysis of character images and film content to study the various changes in the image of oriental women arising from the fusion of Chinese and western cultural conflicts, and to explore the embodiment of the awakening of female consciousness in the film from multiple perspectives in the direction of patriarchy, the concept of marriage, love, self-desire, and gender order. Ang Lee has always tried to find a balance between Chinese and western cultures that is acceptable to the world; because of his status as a male writer, the female characters can reflect a unique understanding of the female image and the awakening of female consciousness from a male's perspective, which is quite charming despite its limitations.

Mikhail Kuzmin’s Short Stories with the Female Voice: The Problem of Constructing Femininity

Purpose. The article aims to study the short stories and novellas by Mikhail Kuzmin written in a woman’s voice in order to show how the writer constructs femininity.Results. It is established that in the few works of Kuzmin which are written in the female voice the diary form prevails, contributing to self-revelation, and in most cases, self-exposure of the heroines. According to Kuzmin, the characteristic features of the females are the tendency to consider themselves “the navel of the earth”, the inability to love unconditionally which is the only way to love truly, as well as the ineptitude of seeing true men’s nature instead of their own reflections, and the need for “romance”, agitation, extreme emotions, intensity of the atmosphere stemming from the same inability to love. The rare female characters that the narrative sympathizes with are women who have managed to overcome these failures.Conclusion. It turns out that the hypothesis of Kuzmin’s misogyny is quite fair: indeed, in the overwhelming majority of cases, women are portrayed without any sympathy and are endowed with many unpleasant qualities. At the same time, Kuzmin does not only reproduce the traditional topoi of the masculine gender order, which considers women as inferior creatures by nature, he also finds original interpretations for them: such is, for example, one of Kuzmin’s main charges against women, i. e. their flair for drama. Although the origins of this charge lay in the stereotype of the supposedly “hysterical” women, Kuzmin presents it in an elegantly modified form.

Peculiarities of gender disambiguation and ordering of non-English authors’ names for Economic papers beyond core databases①

Abstract Purpose To supplement the quantitative portrait of Ukrainian Economics discipline with the results of gender and author ordering analysis at the level of individual authors, special methods of working with bibliographic data with a predominant share of non-English authors are used. The properties of gender mixing, the likelihood of male and female authors occupying the first position in the authorship list, as well as the arrangements of names are studied. Design/methodology/approach A data set containing bibliographic records related to Ukrainian journal publications in the field of Economics is constructed using Crossref metadata. Partial semi-automatic disambiguation of authors’ names is performed. First names, along with gender-specific ethnic surnames, are used for gender disambiguation required for further comparative gender analysis. Random reshuffling of data is used to determine the impact of gender correlations. To assess the level of alphabetization for our data set, both Latin and Cyrillic versions of names are taken into account. Findings The lack of well-structured metadata and the poor use of digital identifiers lead to numerous problems with automatization of bibliographic data pre-processing, especially in the case of publications by non-Western authors. The described stages for working with such specific data help to work at the level of authors and analyse, in particular, gender issues. Despite the larger number of female authors, gender equality is more likely to be reported at the individual level for the discipline of Ukrainian Economics. The tendencies towards collaborative or solo-publications and gender mixing patterns are found to be dependent on the journal: the differences for publications indexed in Scopus and/or Web of Science databases are found. It has also been found that Ukrainian Economics research is characterized by rather a non-alphabetical order of authors. Research limitations Only partial authors’ name disambiguation is performed in a semi-automatic way. Gender labels can be derived only for authors declared by full First names or gender-specific Last names. Practical implications The typical features of Ukrainian Economic discipline can be used to perform a comparison with other countries and disciplines, to develop an informed-based assessment procedure at the national level. The proposed way of processing publication data can be borrowed to enrich metadata about other research disciplines, especially for non-English speaking countries. Originality/value To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale quantitative study of Ukrainian Economic discipline. The results obtained are valuable not only at the national level, but also contribute to general knowledge about Economic research, gender issues, and authors’ names ordering. An example of the use of Crossref data is provided, while this data source is still less used due to a number of drawbacks. Here, for the first time, attention is drawn to the explicit use of the features of the Slavic authors’ names.

"It will not be easy to accept": Parents conflicting attitudes towards pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention amongst adolescent girls and young women in Zimbabwe.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a pill that has been hailed as a 'game changer' for HIV prevention, based on the belief it provides adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) with a level of user-control. However, engagement with PrEP is often dependent on societal factors, such as social attitudes towards gender, sexuality, and PrEP. As parents' communication on sexual and reproductive health issues with AGYW are central to HIV prevention, it is critical to explore how parents talk and think about PrEP. To examine parental attitudes towards PrEP for HIV prevention amongst adolescent girls and young women in eastern Zimbabwe. A qualitative interview study with 14 parents from two districts in Manicaland, eastern Zimbabwe. Interviews were transcribed, translated, and subjected to thematic network analysis. The concept of 'attitudes' steered the analytical work. Parents' attitudes towards PrEP are conflictual, multi-layered, and contingent on the context in which they reflect and talk about PrEP. While parents aspired to be supportive of innovative HIV prevention methods and wanted to see girl-children protected from HIV, they struggled to reconcile this positive and accepting attitude towards PrEP with traditional 'good girl' notions, which stigmatize pre-marital sex. Although a few parents articulated an acceptance of PrEP use amongst their daughters, for many this was simply not possible. Many parents thus co-produce public gender orders that prevent adolescent girls and young women from engaging with PrEP. While parents' conflicting attitudes towards PrEP may provide spaces and opportunities for change, harmful gender norms and negative attitudes towards PrEP must be addressed at a community and cultural level. Only then can parents and their children have productive conversations about sexual health.

Review: Diners, Dudes, and Diets. How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture, by Emily J. H. Contois

Review: <i>Diners, Dudes, and Diets. How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture</i>, by Emily J. H. Contois

„Ich würde jetzt trotzdem nicht sagen: Ich mache jetzt Berufsschullehramt“ – ein kulturanalytischer Zugang zur Wirkmächtigkeit historischer Differenzordnungen in Berufs- und Studienwahlprozessen

The paper outlines a cultural-analytical approach to the phenomenon of the shortage of teachers in industrial and technical vocational schools. It outlines firstly the theoretical perspective on occupational choices as a process of subjectification in the context of professional cultures that are seen as constitutively interwoven with social differences. The paper then uses empirical data from online group discussions (where students talk about the possibility of studying vocational teacher education) to demonstrate exemplarily how the outlined analytical focus leads to insides into discursive practices of differentiations that (re)produce non-/ fitting relations between the self and the anticipated profession. It further investigates how these discursive practices of differentiations are embedded in historical cultures of the professions interconnected with gender orders and other orders of social difference, that (re)emerge, repeat and shift, but still act as cultural barriers in the access to the profession.

The impact of stereotypical constructions of masculinity among the Rohingya population living in the Kutupalang Rohingya camp in Bangladesh

This research examined how stereotypical constructions of masculinity impact the Rohingya community living in the Kutupalang Rohingya camp in Bangladesh. The study was conducted immediately after the 2017 influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh. A total of 28 in-depth interviews were conducted, comprising 16 Rohingya men and seven Rohingya women, and five humanitarian officials. The study also included two focus groups, one with Rohingya men and the other with Rohingya women. Rohingya populations’ lived experience of manhood sharply contrasts with their idealized construction of masculinities characterized by identity, wealth, power, education status, and the ability to be the family’s income earner. This idealized version of masculinity is shaped by personal experiences of exclusion combined with stereotypical notions of masculinity. These stereotypical notions of masculinity reinforce Rohingya men’s vulnerabilities in multiple ways. Firstly, the nonalignment between Rohingya men’s lived experience of manhood and stereotypical constructions of masculinity contributes to a crisis in their masculinity. Secondly, stereotypical masculine constructions allow state bodies to consider Rohingya men as antagonists of the state, normalizing the culture of violence against them. Thirdly, Rohingya men’s deviation from culturally expected masculine roles intensifies dissatisfaction among both Rohingya men and women, resulting in violence against women at the intrahousehold level. Overall, the study found that stereotypical masculinities play a pivotal role in reinforcing gender-based violence by maintaining and reproducing unequal power relations and gender order. Consequently, such constructions can turn a marginalized man into either a victim or a perpetrator, depending on his gendered power position under a particular circumstance.

The ornamentalization of masculinity in selected Nollywood films

The study evaluates the spatial politics of ornamental masculinity in Nigerian movies and how representation contributes to a culture that harms gender. Highlighting how creative content and language demonstrate power, the study explores the complex realities shaping narrative experiences and how patriarchal prescripts of normative behaviour evolve in a conservative space. Based on findings culled from visual research and dramaturgical analysis, the paper explores how three Nigerian movies, Sobe Umeh’s Backup Wife, Biodun Stephen’s Let Karma, and Paschal Amanfo’s Celebrity Marriage, pioneer social change through stories of privileged male protagonists. The research establishes the link between creative performance, masculinity, and the consequences of a social process that perpetually frames minorities as auxiliaries of a dominant gender. The paper applies Connell’s gender order theory which advocates that masculinities vary across periods and cultures with characteristics presumed to be absolute and fixed in nature. Arguing that such masculinities, like gender and sexuality, are products of human classification and interpretation shaped by cultural contexts, the study finds that sexist behaviour is concealed in movies through a language of discourse that marks the female gender negatively while projecting masculinity as a shield.

Pěstounství na hranici péče a práce

Foster care in many ways challenges the dichotomy between home and workplace, intimate care, and paid employment. Foster parents are supposed to provide love and safety to children who cannot be with their biological parents for various reasons while receiving financial rewards. Foster care in many ways challenges the idea of parental care as care embedded in a loving relationship that should by its very nature be free of financial rewards. Using semi-structured interviews with eight foster parents, the paper analyses how the foster parents (de)construct the boundaries between the private sphere of care and what meanings they attribute to the financial reward they receive. The paper points out that foster parenting reflects an established gender order, within which care appears as an activity intrinsically linked with the gender identity of women. However, the identity of foster parents has simultaneously been constructed also in terms of a professional identity that permeates the sphere of paid work. Foster parents construct their care both as a labour of love and full-time employment. They actively deconstruct the opposition between love/care and paid work and articulate care as a value that should be financially evaluated.

Modest Riding Missies or Victorious Amazons? A Gender Historical Approach to the History of Women’s Equestrianism in Switzerland (1900–1940)

Until the beginning of the 20th century, female riders were subject to rigid gender-specific conventions in Swiss equestrian sport. They were expected to ride in the demure yet dangerous side-saddle, to practise the sport in a moderate manner and to dress according to fashion dictates of the time. In addition, women were not allowed to participate in equestrian competitions. However, in the 1920s and 1930s, female riders started to challenge these customs by riding astride in breeches or participating in women-only competitions. From the mid-1920s onwards, they were also admitted in mixed-gender competitions, where their performance was directly comparable to that of male riders. Through their sporting successes, women riders refuted the female gender role and the prevailing gender order in a concrete, visible and measurable way. Despite these interesting insights in relation to the category of gender, women’s equestrianism in Switzerland has received little scholarly attention. This article thus provides the first account of the sport’s development in Switzerland from a cultural, gender and sport historical perspective. Furthermore, by examining how general trends for female liberation are reflected in equestrian sport, the contribution explores the interference between societal gender norms and historical sporting practice.

ПРАКТИКИ КОНСТРУИРОВАНИЯ ФЕМИННОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ В 1950-1980-Е ГГ. (НА МАТЕРИАЛАХ АЛТАЙСКОГО КРАЯ)

The article discusses ways to implement the ofcial gender contract of a “working mother” at the regional level. Such channels are regional public organizations and the regional press, which form in the public space the life orientation of women to combine professional activities (including social activism) with parenthood and household services for the family. The author concludes that the conventionality of the Soviet gender order led to the generation of a female role confict,ьwhich was refected in the activities of public organizations and on the pages of the periodical press of the region.

A survey of sports intervention in adolescent masculinity crisis -From the perspective of gender ord

With the deepening of the discussion on the topic of adolescent masculinity crisis, the narrative of physical intervention in adolescent masculinity crisis has dominated. By using the methods of literature and logical speculation, this paper analyzes the essence of adolescent masculinity crisis by introducing the perspective of male internal gender order and power operation. On this basis, it re-examines the logical deviation of discipline discourse and the related problems that may be caused by sports intervention on this premise, puts forward the speculative spirit that sports education should have, and clarifies the core position and value core of quality and virtue in sports intervention in adolescent masculinity crisis. This paper explores the modern educational value and utility promotion path of physical intervention in adolescent masculinity, which can be regarded as the boundary and the traditional holistic view of body and mind, and provides a subjective reflection as sports for the construction of male internal gender order in China in the new era, which is characterized by "combining morality with art", "combining form with spirit", "pluralistic tolerance" and "harmonious and orderly".

International Constitution-making as a Technique of Gender Ordering: Considering the Role of the Family in Global Economic Relations

In “Constitution-Making as a Technique of International Law: Reconsidering the Post-war Inheritance,” Anna Saunders highlights that the study and practice of constitutionalism exhibit a reluctance to consider the relationship between national constitutions and international economic relations. She argues that the prevailing epistemic boundaries of constitutionalism—understood as a self-contained project, separate from projects of global economic ordering—have largely insulated it from critiques raised by scholars concerned with the material and distributive implications of reshaping the global legal order through the making and revising of constitutions. This essay takes up Saunders's call to de-insulate constitution-making as a technique of international law from such critique by pointing to the family as an institution that is central both to constitutional ordering and to economic ordering, and thus can help overcome the epistemic boundary between the two. To this end, the essay brings together various strands of critical thought that identify one particular family structure—the nuclear family—as an exploitative institution that has (re)produced structural inequality both within and between states. Described as the “original sin” of modern constitutionalism and as an essential “instrument of colonization,” the nuclear family model represents an apt entry point to reconceiving constitution-making as Saunders suggests—in a way “that both acknowledges the discipline's past collaboration with forms of dispossession and exploitation, and that actively reconsiders its future boundaries.”

Women's Entrepreneurship in the Republic of Tuva: Motives, Barriers and Opportunities

The article analyzes the gender characteristics of economic and entrepreneurial activity among the population of Tuva.&#x0D; The transformation of the structure of the regional economy and the labor market in the post-Soviet period consisted in a significant reduction in the primary and secondary sectors due to the destruction of the agricultural and industrial complexes of Tuva, in which mainly men had been employed. During the socio-economic crisis of the 1990s, excessively feminized branches of the tertiary sector, such as education, healthcare, and social assistance, saved jobs. In addition, the higher level of education of women in the republic compared to men increased their adaptive capabilities in a crisis. For these reasons, a steady and long-lasting trend has begun in Tuva since the 1990s, in which women demonstrate greater economic activity compared to men, which does not coincide with global and Russian trends. The gender gap in favor of women in employment emerged also due to the general modernization processes in Tuvan society in the XX century, which resulted in the shaping of a new gender order and a new type of family with double income and two breadwinners.&#x0D; The analysis of women's economic activity in general and entrepreneurship at the present stage has shown that women play a key role in the formation of a social group of entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium-sized businesses. A regional feature is that the share of entrepreneurship as a social community still remains insignificant in the social structure of Tuvan society. The fact that in the gender composition of individual entrepreneurs of Tuva, women slightly, but still quantitatively exceed the number of men, demonstrates the leveling of socio-cultural stereotypes associated with the historically established distribution of gender roles. The peculiarities of gender differentiation in economic activities are that women are represented in many areas that have traditionally been considered &amp;amp;quot;male&amp;amp;quot;, that the gender-marked areas are practically absent. According to the opinion of women-entrepreneurs, there are no institutional, formal barriers to women's entrepreneurship in Tuva. At the same time, the general problems of poverty of the population remain relevant, causing difficulties in starting financial opportunities for the majority of the population, barriers of a socio-psychological nature.

Prevalence of Waterpipe Smoking in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background: Considering the prevalence of waterpipe smoking (WPS) among the majority of people, it is necessary to identify the cause of this behavior. Therefore, this meta-analysis study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of waterpipe consumption in Iran based on province, education level, and gender subgroups. Materials and Methods: The search was conducted based on the PRISMA guideline. Scopus PubMed, SID, and Irandoc databases were used to retrieve papers related to the prevalence of WPS in Iran from January 1, 2005 to May 10, 2022. The keywords were "air pollution" OR "particulate matter" OR "water-pipe" OR smoking OR "Indoor air" and "Prevalence" OR "Incidence" AND "Iran". The prevalence of WPS was meta-analyzed based on province, gender, and education level subgroups in the random effects model. Results: According to the final included papers (17 articles and 48 data reports), the rank order of provinces based on the prevalence of WPS was Kerman (58.30%)&gt;Tehran (52.38%)&gt;Sistan and Baluchistan (42.29%)&gt;Hormozgan (30.69%)&gt;Yazd (24.13%)&gt;Bushehr (19.47%)&gt;Ardabil (19.00%)&gt;Fars (16.37%)&gt;Khuzestan (11.38%). The rank order of education level of participants based on the prevalence of WPS was college education (55.64%)&gt;Student (43.47%)&gt;University Student (17.69%). Finally, the rank order of gender of participants based on the prevalence of WPS was male (31.75%) ~ female (30.99%). Conclusion: The results demonstrated a high prevalence of WPS. It is a multi-predictor and multilevel phenomenon in several aspects. The impact of geographical location and education levels was clearly visible. There was no difference in the gender-specific gap for WPS. Regarding the substantial effects of WPS prevalence on health, regular surveillance, prevention, intervention, and control are necessary.

“You belong in the kitchen”: social media, virtual manhood acts, and women strength sport athletes’ experiences of gender-based violence online

ABSTRACT The virtual world has transformed sport and leisure spaces, including how we communicate and interact with others globally. Despite the positives of social media, it is also a space which may facilitate hate, abuse, discrimination, and gender-based violence. In this study, women strength sport athletes’ experiences and perceptions of gender-based violence through the enactment of Virtual Manhood Acts (VMAs) are explored, using interviews with thirteen competitive women athletes. Findings reveal that VMAs are used to regulate gender norms and ideologies, promote misogyny, and endorse a hierarchical gender order. In addition, women experience appearance-related commentary and gender questioning, which arguably reduces their worth to their appearance, with expectations of conformity to the “male gaze.” Finally, VMAs are targeted towards women through accusations of steroid use and through criticism of form and technique, reinforcing strength sports as a male-domain and marginalising women’s achievements. While previous research has analysed the existence of VMAs online, in this study the importance of considering women’s perceptions of VMAs, and the wider impact they can have, is further considered.

Understanding Indo-Fijian girls’ experiences in sport, physical activity and physical education: an intersectional study

ABSTRACT Whilst other sporting narratives of girls and women from the Global North have been well explored, there is limited research about girls from a Fijian background. Furthermore, within this ethnic/cultural group, their diverse voices are not well understood. Indo-Fijian girls who are of a South Asian background, and were born and reside in Fiji, are marginalised to a triple degree in the country’s sporting platforms: they face gender inequalities emanating from a patriarchal society; secondly, they are marginalised in terms of race and ethnicity, thus not having access to the same sporting opportunities that their iTaukei (Fijian natives) counterparts do, especially in mixed-race team sports. Finally, Indo-Fijian girls are economically disenfranchised, living in the peripheries of the Global South, where they struggle with a lack of funding, inequitable policies and an unstable political climate. This triple layer of marginalisation deprives Indo-Fijian girls/young women of real opportunities and rights in the sporting fields to play sports for better health and fitness as equal Fijian citizens. This study reports on a one-year ethnographic research and presents sporting narratives of young Indo-Fijian women aged between 16 and 25 years from the capital city of Fiji. The data was collected employing photo-elicitation interviews aiming to illuminate the experiences and trajectories within formal and recreational sport and physical activity of Indo-Fijian girls. The paper draws upon critical, intersectional and poststructuralist theories to thematically analyse the data. The young women’s narratives reveal that many times their athletic pursuits and passion disrupt the Fijian gender, racial and class orders as they consistently exercise their daily and sporting agency; sometimes these girls also find themselves complying with the hegemonic gender/racial order. This study amplifies local and marginalised voices of Indo-Fijian girls and emphasises the urgent need for inclusive and innovative educational pathways for Indo-Fijian girls in Fiji’s schools, thus fulfilling the country’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).