Participation In Public Sphere Research Articles

The liberation of women and girls as the liberation of Mother Earth: A theological discourse

This article, grounded in ecofeminism, considers the earth as symbolising women and girls and the liberation of women and girls as the liberation of the earth. When the environment is liberated from abuse, its capacity to sustain human life is enhanced. In the same way, when women and girls are freed from all forms of oppression and exploitation and are allowed to be self-actualising people, their capacity to contribute meaningfully to sustainable development and human welfare is enhanced. Given that women and girls play key culturally prescribed roles such as being carriers of life through childbirth, nurturing, caregiving and serving as pillars of the home, their oppression and exploitation stifle their contribution to societal development, thereby curtailing sustainable development. Similarly, abuse of the earth results in environmental crises such as floods, droughts, famine, heat waves and global warming, resulting in the earth’s diminished capacity to sustain life. This study was based on literature review and informal interviews involving participants from three churches (the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe, the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe and the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church). This article examined the extent to which religion can empower women to participate in public activities including environmental management, epitomised by the way women and girls in the selected churches are perceived and treated. It is concluded that religion can be both liberating and binding to women and girls and, by implication, Mother Earth.Contribution: This article highlights parallels between females and Mother Earth, using the treatment of women and girls in three churches as the springboard of the discussion. It considers how far such treatment can promote their participation in public spheres that include taking care of and managing the environment.

“Ideology and simultaneously more than mere ideology”: On Habermas’ reflections and hypotheses on a further structural transformation of the political public sphere

“Ideology and simultaneously more than mere ideology”: On Habermas’ reflections and hypotheses on a further structural transformation of the political public sphere

Revisiting Feminist Strategies in Poetry: Gender, Genre, and Power Relation

The patriarchal gender division of private-public dichotomy assigned to particular gender for different roles and sphere is generally viewed as an “ancient” practice in the West. However, this “ancient” gender conception that can be traced from its Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian roots can frequently be pertinently visible in modern Western world as exemplified in the notion of “Woman’s place” and; it becomes the dominant gender discourse. Consequently, this discourse continually creates hierarchical and unequal power relation that marginalizes women in accessing education and their full participation in public spheres. This limited accessibility to education (including language and literacy) also shapes the roles and status of women as writers in Western critical and literary tradition. Writing as a profession is traditionally men’s domain; therefore, the production and contribution of women writers have less privilege and space in the Western canon. Women writers from time to time have to struggle to reclaim their rights and place in it. This research attempts to re-examine how this (re)production of the binary opposition of private-public sphere operates in language and literature of the Western critical literary tradition by scrutinizing the selected poems by the selected women writers in this research. Furthermore, this research also studies and locates how women writers employ particular strategies in gendering and degendering their writings as both aesthetic and ideological expressions. In conclusion, this research argues that women writings are not “deficient” and “inferior” to their male counterpart; and instead their status and difference as writers are the result of patriarchal dominance and power relation that historically have subordinated and denied them equal public access to education, language, literacy, and literary production.

“Doing Gender”: Women Labor Migration and Households Transition in Nepal

The increasing trend of women migration in transnational space doesn’t open a new discourse in global labor market but also assists in social construction of gender. Though government of Nepal doesn’t have any objection over men migration but it dispirited female labor migration due to various reasons. The growing incidents of physical assault in foreign land and patriarchal ideology such as: prevalence of male breadwinners, female homemaker, managing work within the domestic space and cultural restrictions restricts on women to participate in public spaces. This paper examines the reconstruction of households structure and the changing roles, with a focus on gendered power relation in the slum community of Pokhara Metropolitan City, Nepal. Particular, attention is paid to the transformation of breadwinner power of men to women and increasing women participation in decision making process. The evidences presented here use data from both secondary literature and primary sources. The data have been purposively selected from the 199 households of the women migrants families who have been migrated at least three years before the study conducted in between March and July 2022. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were chosen for the data collection and analysis. The results explain changing scenario of gender role and households transition due to access of social, cultural and economic capital accumulated by migrants. Once women depart for labor migration, the family left behind especially mother and husband are more responsible to carry both inside as well as outside activities along with childcare. In joint family, mother/mother-in-laws were replacing the role of migrant and doing migrants tasks; whereas in nuclear family husbands is more responsible for all conducts performed by their wives and acts as like that. The study also provides a more nuanced understanding of the involvement of migrants women in decision-making power in household’s domain and the way of dealing with upcoming socio-cultural obstacles that hinder their participation in public sphere.

Negotiating Modernity with Caution: Women of Jama’at-e- Islami Pakistan

Role of Muslim women in public sphere has been a highly contested topic among international academia since many decades. Dominant Orientalist approach assumes universal and monolithic Islam that is uncompromisingly oppressive to women and confines them in homes. Many of recent studies contest this view and term it as reductionists. This article focusses on the transformation of policies of Jama’at-e-Islami Pakistan (JI), as a representative of contemporary Islamic movements, on the issue of Muslim women’s participation in public sphere and adoption of modernity at their own terms. It investigates the underpinning of these trajectories traversed by the party, synthesising the modernity with Islamic Principles. Research is qualitative in nature and based on textural analysis of the documents i.e. published material (books, articles, proceedings, resolutions, interviews etc.). Input managed through few face-to-face semi structured interviews is also included. Study shows gradual change in party policy; from hesitation in granting even rights of vote to the women, to putting women candidates for assemblies, involving them in street protests and using all modern techniques to further party’s agenda but at their own terms. Study finds that JI has taken every step for opening of public sphere for women, using all the available opportunities, resources and platforms. However there is conspicuous consistency in their narrative that, the first and most important responsibility of women is her home and family. When policies of JI on the issue are viewed in western feminism framework, these seem quite restrictive, oppressive and detrimental to women rights, however, there are others who admit that slowly and steadily, JI women, by using selective tools of modernity, have taken over the major portion of public space, once solely dominated by the secular women organizations in Pakistan.

Attitude of Men Folk towards Participation of Married Women in Public Sphere in Pakhtun Society

This paper aimed to investigate the attitude of men folk and participation of women in public sphere in Pukhtoon society. The study was quantitative in nature and a well thought interview schedule was used as a tool of data collection. The data was collected from the sample size of 384 respondents. The study found that the attitude of men folk significantly (Pd”0.05) associated with employed spouses share family expenses collectively, joblessness situation of husband influence his attitude towards his wife, husband shows authoritative behavior to control the status of wife, higher involvement of husbands in private sphere effects their relation, working wife is expected to be submissive, and clear roles have assigned to the husband and wife according to their culture. Furthermore, spurious relationship was found between women participation in public sphere and men folk on the basis of age, level of education and nature of job.

Civic engagement, youth socialisation and participation in public spheres in Indonesia

Abstract Commitment to youth's development for civic engagement activities across the globe varies considerably. The present study was conducted in a few universities of Indonesia to find out the role of civic socialisation and civic behaviour in order to enhance the civic engagement activities. The study opted the quantitative research design to collect the data from the fields. A research instrument was prepared online to gather the data and multiple responses from the diverse socio-economic population “the youth”. The study concludes, youth in Indonesia have learned civic education from schooling, such as from a national subject “Pancasila” which gives a sense of civic education for encouraging youth to participate in civic matters. There are multiple socialisation agents such as family, friends, teachers, and the local environment, which give rise and support to involvement of youth as a civically responsible citizen.

The Wise Women Tradition in 2 Samuel as Backdrop for Women Participation in Public Spheres in Zimbabwe

The Wise Women Tradition in 2 Samuel as Backdrop for Women Participation in Public Spheres in Zimbabwe

Indigenous media producers’ perspectives on objectivity, balancing community responsibilities and journalistic obligations

Professional communicators produce a diverse range of global Indigenous media while balancing professional journalistic conventions such as ‘objectivity’ against community and organizational responsibilities. Despite their work being tarred as biased, soft or preaching to the converted, Indigenous media producers argue that their work counterbalances biased mainstream media coverage that hampers Indigenous public sphere participation and denigrates Indigenous communities and individuals. Through interviews with 42 Indigenous media producers from Australia, Canada, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand, this study investigates their journalistic processes and attitudes to professional norms such as objectivity, source choices and news values. The article interrogates how Indigenous media producers navigate the tensions between their professional obligations and community responsibilities. It argues Indigenous media producers apply a modified version of objectivity to produce fact-driven content that promotes Indigenous perspectives, prioritizes Indigenous voices and serves the needs of their communities.

Public Sphere Participation Online: the Ambiguities of Affect

Résumé Cet article repose sur l’attention croissante prêtée à l’affectif comme élément important de la participation politique, particulièrement dans le cadre du rôle joué par les médias en ligne dans la démocratie et dans les sphères publiques. Cette approche convoque un large échantillon de recherches sur la participation, les sphères publiques et l’affectif, afin d’en souligner les importants progrès ainsi que les problèmes et ambiguïtés qu’ils posent. Nous montrons que dans ce faisceau de préoccupations nous ne trouvons pas un noyau unifié autour d’une même cause, mais plutôt des mèches/franges/pistes émanant de traditions différentes. La première partie porte sur la participation et propose de la concevoir comme intervention, aussi petite soit-elle, dans les relations de pouvoir. La seconde partie approfondit la notion d’affectif, la cadrant à partir de la rationalité et des émotions, qui soulèvent des questions dans la théorie de la démocratie. La troisième partie se concentre sur l’environnement en ligne, particulièrement sur les réseaux socionumériques, et souligne les ambivalences persistantes de la participation en ligne et de leur pertinence au regard de l’affectif. Enfin, l’article ouvre sur des réflexions portant sur la relation entre l’affectif et le populisme et sur des voies d’accès légitimes et publiques à la connaissance.

The Scale of Public Space: Taksim Square in Istanbul

This article aims at following the traces of the transformation of public sphere in Turkey through its manifestations on urban public spaces with the case study of Taksim Square. In this attempt, the article illustrates how Taksim square, as a public space, has been shaped by struggles between different ideologies, discourses, political decisions and daily activities taking place at personal, interpersonal, local, national, supranational and global scales. Through this way this article also aims at understanding how these contestations at different scales are affecting people, individually and collectively, from daily life practices to political integration. The article also discusses that our daily life practices and preferences are political decisions and our participation in public sphere occurs through those daily actions of the personal spheres. Therefore, the article suggests that a paradigm shift is needed in the design and production of the built environments that will facilitate the coexistence of multiple counter publics. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs.

Decomposing Gender Beliefs: Cross‐National Differences in Attitudes Toward Maternal Employment and Gender Equality at Home

Few cross‐national studies distinguish between different aspects of gender egalitarianism and compare them systematically. In this study, we examine cross‐national differences in attitudes toward mothers' participation in the labor market and toward gender equality within the household, using a multilevel analysis of individual data from 33 nations. The results indicate greater support for employed mothers, but a lower level of approval of gender equality at home, among residents of countries that offer women more educational and economic opportunities. We argue that macrolevel gender equality increases individuals', particularly women's, incentives to support female labor force participation. Because of a persistent belief in gender differentiation, however, macrolevel gender equality has the opposite relationship with attitudes toward altering gendered practices beyond enabling women's public sphere participation. The fewer explicit barriers to women's achievement in society, the more likely individuals will feel a need to defend gendered roles in the private sphere. That the potential harm of advocating gendered practices in the private sphere is smaller in societies with fewer impediments for women is also likely to account for the negative association between macrolevel gender equality and support for egalitarian gender roles at home.

Theorising Community Media: An Alternative Paradigm of Participation in Public Sphere

Theorising Community Media: An Alternative Paradigm of Participation in Public Sphere

“Caloipe,” “Mary Lovetruth,” and “A Female American”: Women Editorialists during the American Revolutionary Era

Articles signed with female pseudonyms and contributed to the newspaper The Massachusetts Spy (1770–1775) demonstrate that female editorialists warranted their public-sphere participation with a wide variety of rhetorical methods. Choice of topic, degree of assent or dissent from male writers, and manipulation of tone, especially humor, assisted in women's public-sphere participation during the Revolutionary period when conventions regarding writerly authority were in flux. In turn, male rhetors used religious and medical warrants to control female public sphere participation. Although women's disagreement about overtly political issues was not tolerated, subtle declarations of patriotic behavior more obviously connected with feminine topics and behavior allowed women authors to write publicly when they aligned their contributions with republican notions of sympathy and concern for the common good. In the end, republicanism rendered women's bodies contested ground, both warranting their public-sphere participation and increasing surveillance over them.

Three Late Eighteenth-Century Women's Journals: Their Role in Shaping Women's Lives

The eighteenth-century discussion concerning role of women grounded its assumptions in nature. Since Graeco-Roman period, women had been perceived as inferior to males in social hierarchy; en lightened supposition, however, that no man has right to dominate another propounded by poli tical theorists beginning with Hobbs (1588-1679),1 saw emergence of arguments extending implications of these new democratic ideas to women. The advocates of natural law argued that there is law which antedates all human and divine and is valid independently of such power (Cassirer 239). In practical terms it meant that women should have equal rights to education (and subsequent participation in public sphere),2 an idea suggested as early as 1505 by philosopher Agrippa von Nettesheim3 but not really becoming a serious issue until late seventeenth and particularly eight eenth century.4 To contest these claims a sustained and successful enterprise, whose primary objective was establishment of scientific evidence attesting to wo men1 s inferiority, took place. For example, in France and Germany, anatomists1 depiction of a smaller female skull was used to prove that women1s intellectual capabilities were inferior to men1s5 thus justifying their social inequality. Similarly, the larger female pelvis was used ... to prove that women were naturally destined for motherhood, confined sphere of hearth and home (Schiebinger 43). These efforts were success ful, for German women remained excluded from participa tion in public sphere, arena of discourse con cerned with politics, throughout eighteenth century and well into twentieth century.6