Definition Of Gender Roles Research Articles

The Contemporary Transformation of Mythical Women: Helen and Penelope in Margaret Atwoods Reconstruction

The feminist movement has driven the reinterpretation of classical texts such as Homers epics, with Margaret Atwoods works exemplifying this trend. Atwood has created poetry and novels rooted in the tradition of feminist rewriting, utilizing mythological female figures like Helen and Penelope to explore their inner worlds and unveil the long-concealed mechanisms of patriarchal power. Employing techniques such as multiple perspectives and nonlinear narratives, she disrupts the constraints of a singular authoritative discourse. By merging the ancient with the modern, Atwood highlights the shared experiences of women while portraying the awakening of female consciousness. She transforms the stereotypical images of the whore and the virtuous wife into complex, autonomous individuals, challenging traditional gender role definitions. Atwoods rewritings are not merely retellings of the original stories but also explorations of the deeper structures of gender power. She weaves a rich cultural network of women, opening new frontiers for literature of their own.

Феномен гендерного беспокойства и его роль в процессе становления гендерной идентичности

Nowadays, society is undergoing a shift in its perception of individuals within a changing world. Accelerating globalization, the transformation of social institutions and the increasing importance of non-traditional values in Western society are becoming not only a matter of personal perception, but also a topic of public discourse. In these conditions, the formation of gender identity is not merely a biological process but also significantly influenced by societal understanding, as the definition of gender roles in society undergoes shifts. The phenomenon of gender dysphoria emerges, characterized by a contradiction between personal perception of gender identity and societal perceptions. The study is devoted to identifying the role of this phenomenon in modern discourse, considering an analysis of its interpretation. The author concludes that the phenomenon of gender dysphoria in the formation of gender identity is associated with understanding gender as a sociocultural category. By recognizing gender as a complex interplay of biology, culture, and personal identity, society can move towards more inclusive and understanding frameworks for gender expression.

Is It Gender or Is It Race? To Kill a Mockingbird and Its Film Adaptation

This article begins by exploring the national climate in which Lee’s novel appeared, at the height of the civil rights movement in the South, which had a crucial impact on its composition and reception. The major film studios were not initially interested in the novel, but independent filmmakers Alan Pakula (producer) and Robert Mulligan (director), influenced by existentialism, felt attracted to stories with strong dramatization over the spectacular. The film is famously characterized by the voice-over narration of the adult Scout, which embodies a paradoxical duality of perspective: the events are seen from the perspective of the young Scout but described in the language of a mature and articulate adult Scout. In the novel, the destabilization of gender norms is the central theme, and the protagonist is clearly Scout going through the pains of growing up female in a South with very strict definitions of gender roles. This dimension is not prominent in the film version, which gave in to the demands of the Hollywood star system and made the girl’s father, played by Gregory Peck, the main character, and made racism the main issue. The article concludes with a necessary reconsideration of Atticus Finch, subjected in recent years to the complaint that both the novel and the film convey the historically inaccurate message that heroic whites, instead of blacks, were the leaders of the anti-racist movements of the twentieth century. Atticus Finch no doubt remains tied to the accommodating values of his class and he never openly questions the structural racism of which he himself is part, but moral horizons of previous eras are often narrow in comparison with our own, and we should avoid the excesses of presentism and maintain the historical perspective that allows us to celebrate the courage and success of fictional white liberals like Atticus and real ones like Harper Lee herself, who could only speak as whites, not as black victims. Despite all its limitations, Mockingbird did contribute to making hearts and minds reconsider race in America, and it remains a socially and historically important film. Thus, we should at least acknowledge its merit in taking a stand during a period when many films avoided controversial racial matters.

The effect of parental roles on mental health outcomes of unemployment: a gender perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the extent to which family roles and settings can mediate the impact of unemployment on psychological well-being among Italian households.Design/methodology/approachUsing the European Health Interview Survey data for 2015, the authors adopt linear regression models to evaluate the effect of family settings on the mental health outcomes of unemployment, in particular on the likelihood of developing depression. The latter is measured using the internationally validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8). Since the gender gap in occupation has not ceased to exist in Italy, special attention is paid to the differences between males and females in the workforce.FindingsThe results suggest that involvement in parental roles has a moderating influence on unemployment mental health outcomes among both men and women, although it has a higher effect on the female workforce. Moreover, the study shows that “not living far from the family of origin” could be considered a crucial moderating factor for both gender categories.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper lies in its consideration of the implications the social definition of gender roles may have on gender-related expectancies and attributions in life domains, such as work and family.

Historical Rupture or Continuity?

Abstract From the point of view of the institutional legal history of shariʿa courts in Israel, the article focuses on the elements of rupture and/or continuity introduced by the appointment of Hanāʾ Manṣūr-Khaṭīb as the first female judge in Israeli religious courts against the background of three main elements, the subordination of shariʿa courts to the Israeli legal system, the reaction of shariʿa courts to the challenges posed by secular and conservative Muslim actors inside the Palestinian minority, and the definition of gender roles in the Muslim judiciary in Israel. Despite some elements of rupture with the past, the article argues that the appointment is part and continuation of an active strategy of the pragmatic use of “the past” of Islamic legal tradition already pursued by shariʿa courts since 1995, and that the appointment of Manṣūr-Khaṭīb can be inscribed in a framework of “patriarchal liberalism,” following the definition of Moussa Abou Ramadan, proving that, still, gender is anything but irrelevant.

The GENAHTO Project (Gender and Alcohol's Harm to Others): Design and methods for a multinational study of alcohol's harm to persons other than the drinker.

Most alcohol research has focused on how drinking harms the drinker. Research on alcohol's harms to others (AHTO) has studied primarily single or small groups of countries. This article describes the methodology of a new multinational study - GENAHTO - of how social and cultural contexts are related to AHTO, from the perspectives of both perpetrators and victims. The GENAHTO Project uses surveys in 21 countries that provide data from drinkers who report causing harms to others, and surveys in 16 countries that provide data from victims of AHTO. The countries surveyed vary widely in alcohol policies, drinking cultures, gender-role definitions, and socioeconomic conditions. More than 140,000 men and women, aged 15-84, participated in the surveys. Individual-level measures include demographics, alcohol use patterns, and alcohol-related harms. Regional- and societal-level measures include socioeconomic conditions, drinking patterns, alcohol policies, gender inequality, and income inequality. The project seeks to identify characteristics of AHTO victims and perpetrators; within-country regional differences in AHTO; and associations between national alcohol polices and individual and regional levels of AHTO. GENAHTO is the first project to assess AHTO in diverse societies. Its findings can inform policies to abate AHTO in varying cultural contexts.

Is Attitudinal Acceptance of Violence a Risk Factor? An Analysis of Domestic Violence Against Women in Pakistan.

Violence against women (VAW) is a grave problem in Pakistan, and women from all socioeconomic groups are vulnerable to domestic violence in varying degrees. It is argued that patriarchal definition of gender roles may reinforce the internalized inferiority of women. So, it may not be a mere coincidence that a large number of women in Pakistan justify VAW for various reasons. The objectives of this article are threefold: (a) to identify the drivers of VAW, (b) to see if women's attitudinal acceptance of violence is causally linked with observed violence against women, and (c) to see if attitudinal acceptance of violence mediates between the socioeconomic status of women and observed violence. We used data from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13. The sample consisted of 3,265 ever married women aged between 15 and 49 years who were interviewed for domestic violence. We used multivariate logit regression analysis to identify the drivers of VAW and used the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method for mediation analysis. We found that women's attitudinal acceptance of violence, their childhood experience of violence in their parental household, the education of both husband and wife, and some occupation types significantly predicted their experience of spousal violence. In addition, we found that women's attitudinal acceptance of violence mediated the relationships between socioeconomic factors (education and wealth status) and VAW. The significance of the study lies in the fact that it highlights the need to modify the perceptions of violence through change in educational policy. Among multiple other factors, an increase in the economic status of women is an effective hedge against the risk of spousal violence.

Fluctuating asymmetry in dental and mandibular nonmetric traits as evidence for childcare sex bias in 19th/20th century Portugal

Fluctuating asymmetry, often considered a measure of developmental instability, was studied in the dental morphological traits of 600 individuals from among the poorest sectors of society in 19th–20th century Portugal. The aims are to identify and interpret any differences between: (1) males and females, and (2) patterns of distribution among teeth with different odontogenic timings, to assess if any sex bias existed in childcare.Dental and mandibular morphological traits were recorded using the Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System. z-Ratios were used to compare summed absolute fluctuating asymmetry frequencies between sexes and age groups. Results from rank correlation coefficients ruled out directional asymmetry and antisymmetry, based on positive (>0.2) bilateral association of traits in larger samples. Sex differences were significant (z-ratio=3.128; p=0.0018), while age differences were not (z-ratio=−0.644; p=0.5196). Teeth forming after infancy tended to be more asymmetric in females.Potential reasons for the sex difference include: (1) greater female susceptibility to developmental instability, (2) greater male childhood mortality that yields lower fluctuating asymmetry in surviving males, and/or (3) cultural bias favoring male access to resources. Results suggest the latter hypothesis is most likely, as fluctuating asymmetry is enhanced during childhood, perhaps coinciding with gender role definitions. There seems to be no association between asymmetry and early mortality in males. A lack of parallels in prior research renders differential sex reaction to environmental stress dubious. This population may have favored male children in their access to appropriate conditions for development.

Cultural transmission and the evolution of gender roles

Investigating how gender roles evolve over time is crucial to understand gender inequalities and their dynamics. We propose a cultural transmission model in which parents may socialize their sons and daughters differently and we derive gender specific cultural dynamics. We show how interactions between socialization behaviors and household’s economic decisions shape these dynamics and the long-run definition of gender roles. We apply our theory to cultural traits related to the prescribed role of men and women within the society. Multiple equilibria may arise and an economy may be trapped in a situation in which males and females share inegalitarian views about gender roles. Institutional changes as a greater availability of child care facilities may help to reach another equilibrium in which a large proportion of individuals hold more egalitarian views about these roles.

Hindu Nationalism and Gender in the Indian Civil Society

The Indian women's movement has for the last two decades been engaged in a struggle against an aggressive Hindu nationalism. Based on the idea of Hindu supremacy and a revival of traditional Hindu culture, the Hindu nationalist movement has grown as a political force in an era of rapid modernization and globalization. Met with strong resistance from secular forces, this Hindu nationalist challenge has tried to turn civil society into a battlefield challenging feminist liberal and socialist ideas on gender relations, advocating a definition of gender roles based on a traditional Hindu culture. The theoretical starting point of the article is a form of modified civil society theory in which civil society is analysed as an arena where various social and political forces battle against the State, but also against each other. It is argued in the article that despite their significant political success the Hindu nationalist forces have largely failed to gain any ground within the Indian women's movement and remain relatively isolated.

Translating Memories; How Do You Read Me Now? The Art and Teaching of Angela Piehl

ABSTRACT Angela Piehl is a contemporary artist and lesbian who has exhibited in the United States and the United Kingdom. She is Assistant Professor of drawing, painting, and digital art at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Piehl's artwork consists of loosely autobiographical narratives that address society's narrow definitions of gender roles. Her current body of work is an abstraction of the gender messages inherent in images from advertising. Piehl continues to be involved in supporting the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and two-spirited artists and their artwork through curated exhibitions and research projects.

Gendering Modern Japanese History (review)

Reviewed by: Gendering Modern Japanese History Anne E. Imamura Gendering Modern Japanese History. Edited by Barbara Moloney and Kathleen Uno. Harvard University Asia Center, 2006. xi + 607 pages. Hardcover $60.00/£38.95/€55.30. My first reaction when I looked at the table of contents of Gendering Modern Japanese History was "Everyone is here!" It was a pleasure to see the range of scholars included in the volume. Although of course not "everyone" could be included in a single work, by the time I completed the book, my initial impression was confirmed. This is a volume with breadth and depth that contributes to scholarship on a wide array of subjects. On the microlevel it offers something for readers from many disciplines, and on the macrolevel it offers many things for many readers. In its entirety or chapter by chapter Gendering will be used in research and in the classroom by historians and social scientists. It sheds light on many aspects of the long twentieth century in Japan and provides a foundation for the study of the twenty-first. I fully expect that it will become a basic source cited in every related publication. In their introduction, Barbara Moloney and Kathleen Uno indicate that "this book aims to contribute to both social science and cultural studies of Japan by further historicizing gender construction, gender contestations, and gender ambiguity" (p. 22). They point out that "In Japan's long twentieth century, individuals have constructed and experienced complex, fluid identities, while social institutions and the state have attempted to craft and enforce unitary constructions of gender" (p. 8). The essays contained in Gendering clearly illustrate the complexities and range of gender construction at the microlevel, whether the "ideal woman" in 1920s mass women's magazines of Barbara Sato's chapter, or the range of individual or local responses to the ryōsai kenbo (good wife and wise mother) definition of womanhood cited by Kathleen Uno. The essays both collectively and individually also delineate the development of the state's definition of gender roles and the political context in which these definitions evolved. Gendering provides both macro- and microlevel insight into the state's interest in identifying gendered behavior at particular historical periods as "modern" or as "traditional" while at all times defining the current gender expectations as "Japanese." As a whole, the volume takes its place beside such edited collections as Gail Bernstein's Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945 (University of California Press, 1991), Kumiko Fujimura-Fanselow and Atsuko Kameda's Japanese Women: New Feminist Perspectives on the Past, Present and Future (New York: The Feminist Press, 1995), and James E. Roberson and Nobue Suzuki's Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan: Dislocating the Salaryman Doxa (London and New York: [End Page 119] RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). Individual chapters and sections offer an even wider range of scholarship than can be found in these earlier works. The book is divided into five sections: "Gender, Selfhood, Culture"; "Genders, Bodies, Sexualities"; "Gender, Empire, War"; "Gender, Work, Economy"; and "Theorizing Gender." Each section is filled with new insights on gender and the state. Of particular note, the individual chapters focus on complexities rather than binary analysis, and the authors provide ample cross-references to other chapters, thus tying the book together in a way that is rare in an edited collection. Below, I will illustrate the volume's richness by referring to a few examples from its sixteen chapters. On the one hand, this book provides a narrative of the construction of gender and gendered citizens in the context of Japan's development from late Tokugawa to the end of the twentieth century. Underlying that more-or-less unitary political macrolevel narrative are the particular and complex cases that comprise each chapter. In the early part of the narrative, the Meiji government was concerned with obtaining international respect. It modernized and produced categories of people (educated women, internationally minded gentlemen) in order to show how civilized and enlightened Japan had become. Yet, at the very core of this institution building, as Martha Tocco's chapter on Meiji women's education shows, boundaries between "traditional" and modern were permeable. Meiji education for women was not so much a...

Gender Roles in Traditional Musical Practice: A Survey of the Esan in Edo State, Nigeria

Viewed from the point of uses and functions of African Music, it is readily seen that music in Africa plays an encompassing role. In every event of life - birth to death, music is profusely made in all the ethnic nationalities in Africa. In the various ensembles that make the music used for such events, men form, over half of the instrumentalists, singers and instructors. A striking feature similar to the remark above is that women in Esan play a little above nominal roles in their ensembles. Owing to the situation above, this paper surveys the reasons for the neglect of women. This paper opines that the reasons are largely because of beliefs which are not too empirical and goes ahead to posit that for the continuity in practice of traditional music in Esan, women must be given a due consideration since by gender role definition in the area, they are closer to their children at the formative stages.

'Lucky to be so bilingual': Québécois and Chicano/a literatures in a comparative context

Chicano/a and Québécois literatures, both 'borderland' phenomena, share many signal features. This article advocates for increased comparative study of these two cultures, and outlines fundamental points for consideration. Perhaps most important is the common history shared by both Chicano/as and Québécois, who lost majority status during the colonial era and became minority cultures, politically and culturally dominated by Anglophone populations. In both cases, resistance to this domination emphasized both religious and linguistic difference, valorizing the Catholic faith and 'non-standard' forms of French and Spanish, in the face of considerable prejudice and discrimination. These forms of resistance have had their own outcomes: Catholicism's often rigid definition of gender roles has inspired a contestatory literary tradition with significant participation from gay and lesbian writers. These writers, including Gloria Anzaldúa and Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, are among those whose hybrid work features the code-switching and questioning of categories and loyalties characteristic of borderland literature.

Defining a Democracy: Reforming the Laws on Women's Rights in Chile, 1990–2002

AbstractThis article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the successful ones often originated with the Executive National Women's Ministry (SERNAM), did not threaten existing definitions of gender roles, and did not require economic redistribution. These factors (plus the considerable influence of the Catholic Church) correlate in important ways, and tend to constrain political actors in ways not apparent from an examination of institutional roles or ideological identity alone. In particular, the Chilean left's strategic response to this complex web of interactions has enabled it to gain greater legislative influence on these issues over time.

Defining a Democracy: Reforming the Laws on Women's Rights in Chile, 1990-2002

This article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the successful ones often originated with the Executive National Women's Ministry (SERNAM), did not threaten existing definitions of gender roles, and did not require economic redistribution. These factors (plus the considerable influence of the Catholic Church) correlate in important ways, and tend to constrain political actors in ways not apparent from an examination of institutional roles or ideological identity alone. In particular, the Chilean left's strategic response to this complex web of interactions has enabled it to gain greater legislative influence on these issues over time.

Sex, Gender and Culture: Issues in the Definition, Assessment and Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder

As a diagnostic category, gender identity disorder remains problematic with ongoing debates concerning aetiology, definition and ethics of treatment. Inherent in the current DSM definition is a Western model of the relationship between sex and gender which epitomizes the tension existing between essentialist and constructivist accounts of gender development. This model determines that gender-aberrant behaviour and gender variation are, by definition, pathological, and reinforces a binary gender model. Studies of non-Western cultures reveal variations in models of gender and in the understanding of gender deviance. Cultures vary in their definition of gender roles and show varying degrees of tolerance for atypical gender behaviours and gender change. An understanding of cultural context is important in the clinical assessment of a typical gender development and challenges current models of sex and gender.

Evolution of Ideals for Women in Mormon Periodicals, 1897-1999

An important locus for mediation of a religious movement's self-defnition and relationship with secular society is found in its definition of gender roles, especially in definition of ideal roles for women. Content analysis of Mom=on periodicals reveals tension between accommodation and resistance to secular gender norms with a shift from advocation of women's participation in extra-domestic activities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to insistence upon women's primary, even exclusive, obligations as wives, mothers and homemakers in the 1970s and advocation of inconsistent ideals in the 1 980s and 1 990s. Findings are discussed with reference to Mormonism's changing response to its sociocultural environment. In the last three decades the Mormon Church has taken a public stand as a defender of family values. In its opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s, the excommunication of Sonia Johnson - president of Mormons for the ERA - and more recently, the excommunication of feminist scholars and intellectuals in the mid-1990s, publication of the Proclamation on the Family, and public support for proposition twenty-two in California, the Mormon Church has taken a position as protector of the traditional heterosexual nuclear family. Central to the Mormon articulation of the ideal family is definition of ideal gender roles. Recent scholarship on Mormon women indicates, however, that ideals for women have been far from monolithic over the course of the movement's history. Historical research demonstrates that in Mormonism's early decades women participated in expression of gifts of the spirit, most importantly healing and conferral of blessings by the laying on of hands - practices now reserved exclusively for male priesthood holders (Newell 1992a; Barber 1992) and participated in an autonomous Relief Society (the Church's women's organization) in which women elected leaders and controlled an independent budget (Newell 1992a, 1992b). Scholars and Church leaders disagree about whether Mormon women were ever allowed to hold (have conferred upon

Passing on the Faith: The Father's Role in Religious Transmission

Many religious scholars have asserted that the mother's role is the most important in the transmission of religiosity to the child. However, the role of the father in passing on religious beliefs and practices is not as well understood and literature directly concerning this phenomenon is scarce. Previous literature asserts that the father's influence in the socialization process, and in religious transmission specifically, is minimal. However, could this be changing as a result of new gender role definitions? As more women move into the workforce, and as more men are encouraged to take on a larger portion of the home responsibilities than previously assumed, it would stand to reason that the changes may affect the father's impact. This analysis utilizes a national poll (n = 1,058) of American Catholics titled the Catholic Pluralism Project. The single most important finding in this study is the importance of the father's religiosity in religious transmission. There is a consistent pattern of significance across all models, including the full model, which indicates that the father's influence is as strong as the mother's, if not stronger. These results refute the existing literature that devalues the effect of the father's influence on religious transmission.

Sexual dimorphism: divergent or convergent?

Our species is characterized by sexual dimorphism: the biological differences between males and females. This dimorphism is important because we are a sexually reproducing species, but the dimensions of male/female differences and their impact on identity have been debated for centuries. New reproductive techniques, both already in use and currently under development, promise to affect very radically the characteristics of human sexual dimorphism. The way these technologies will be applied and expanded upon could lead either to an intensification or to a dilution of male/female differences. Which of these two trends may actually become prevalent in the next quarter century is likely to depend on what definition of gender roles is the most adaptive for our species. Insights into this issue may be gleaned from the evidence being increasingly gathered by anthropologists about the way human gender roles were defined in very ancient times. The evidence does not support the standard view of human sexual dimorphism, and it may intimate surprising cultural developments.