Patriarchal Gender Research Articles

‘We don’t get money in our own hands’: evidence from focus group discussions on economic abuse against women in two states of India

IntroductionViolence against women is a serious human rights violation. While much attention has been given to the prevalence and prevention of physical, sexual and emotional violence, one crucial dimension is...

Devaluation of Women’s Sexual Pleasure: Role of Relationship Context and Endorsement of the Madonna-Whore Dichotomy

In two pre-registered experiments with German samples, we tested the role of endorsement of the Madonna-whore-dichotomy and the relationship context (sex in a committed relationship vs. casual sex) in the devaluation of women’s sexual pleasure. Using the context of dating apps in Study 1, men who reported higher endorsement of the Madonna-whore-dichotomy believed that other men would be less interested in fulfilling a woman’s sexual desires, show her less respect, and be less likely to wear a condom independent of relationship context (i.e., casual hookup dating app vs. a dating app for a serious relationship). In Study 2, men who reported higher endorsement of the Madonna-whore-dichotomy rated their partner as less entitled to sexual pleasure than men lower on Madonna-whore dichotomy endorsement. In addition, women who reported higher endorsement of the Madonna-whore dichotomy devalued their own pleasure by rating their partner as more entitled to sexual pleasure than themselves, compared to those lower on the Madonna-whore dichotomy. Although relationship context and Madonna-whore dichotomy endorsement did not interact, they were both found to negatively predict women’s sexual pleasure. These results provide further support for the potential costs of enacting traditional, patriarchal gender roles for women’s experiences of sexual pleasure and safety.

"When a Father Speaks, the Child Cannot Answer Back": Patriarchal Anxiety, Gender Equality, and Malian State Authority

Abstract: In long intertwined constructions of political and household authority, the figure of the domestic patriarch has served as an analogy for the centralized postcolonial state of Mali, even as it clashes with discourses of natural rights stemming from the European Enlightenment. In early twentyfirst-century Mali, anxieties ran rampant among senior men who feared losing their status and privileges. These anxieties came to a head during efforts by the Malian government and civil-society groups to eliminate gender discrimination from Malian family law in the early 2000s. A broad coalition of patriarchal interests emerged to defend senior males' prerogatives against the perceived threats posed by gender equality. This backlash challenged the legitimacy of Mali's governing elite and exposed its weaknesses in the run-up to Mali's 2012 political collapse.

"When a Father Speaks, the Child Cannot Answer Back": Patriarchal Anxiety, Gender Equality, and Malian State Authority

Abstract: In long intertwined constructions of political and household authority, the figure of the domestic patriarch has served as an analogy for the centralized postcolonial state of Mali, even as it clashes with discourses of natural rights stemming from the European Enlightenment. In early twentyfirst-century Mali, anxieties ran rampant among senior men who feared losing their status and privileges. These anxieties came to a head during efforts by the Malian government and civil-society groups to eliminate gender discrimination from Malian family law in the early 2000s. A broad coalition of patriarchal interests emerged to defend senior males' prerogatives against the perceived threats posed by gender equality. This backlash challenged the legitimacy of Mali's governing elite and exposed its weaknesses in the run-up to Mali's 2012 political collapse.

Re-Reading the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38): Towards Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Abstract: Christianity should be a liberating and transformative resource in the defense of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Yet, Christianity's patriarchal grounding often invalidates the equal dignity and worth of women and girls. This paper seeks to re-read the annunciation story through the lens of African Women's theologies to unearth how scriptural texts and cultural values intersect to inhibit or affirm women's rights regarding sexual and reproductive health. The Church's focus on Mary's virginity as the rationale for perfect womanhood has resulted in control and shaming of women's sexuality. I ask, what needs to be done to ensure women's agency so that they feel empowered to reconfigure cultural and Christian values so that their sexual and reproductive health needs are attended to? What can be done to ensure that all genders have equal opportunities with regard to reproduction? The defense of women's sexual and reproductive health and rights is inherently an important ethical value within religion. It is thus hoped that the analysis will not only promote tolerance in accommodating various forms of sexualities and deconstructing patriarchal gender barriers to reproductive liberation and gender justice but also stir religious and cultural gatekeepers to partner with the other stakeholders in advocating for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE).

Hegemonic Femininity: Negotiating the Stereotypes of Gender in the Indian Movies Fire (1996) and Shakuntala Devi (2020)

Bollywood, or the mainstream Indian Cinema, has been presenting the idealised image of male characters as machismo or super-hero, revered and emulated by all, while simultaneously demoting women to trivial or insignificant roles. However, during the last two decades, celluloid developed new experiments projecting its female characters as redefining and reconstructing the stereotypes redundantly dominating the silver screen. In this article, I propose to explore femininity through the lens of hegemony in opposition to the emphasised femininity of Connell and alignment with Mimi Schippers and Carrie Paechter’s understanding of hegemonic femininity by looking at its depiction on the panoptic silver screen of Indian cinema. The article will reconnoitre, discuss and compare the femininity of the female protagonists in the select Indian movies Fire (1996) and Shakuntala Devi (2020) and will analyse how there is a scope and space for the discourse on hegemonic femininity portrayed as having significant overlap with hegemonic masculinity instead of standing in diametrical opposition. The article will also analyse the construction of hegemonic femininity to hegemonic masculinity and other forms of femininity, fidgeting with the reality of weaving the prospects and probability of surviving the lead roles while continuing to nurture and maintain the traditional hierarchy of gender binary. The meticulous perusal would keenly try precipitating the truth or the repercussions of the role portrayal of women leads in the Indian Cinema—whether these female leads are concomitantly deconstructing the gendered stereotypes associated with male/female binary or operating in tandem with hegemonic masculinity to safeguard a still patriarchal and binary gender order.

“Something has to change”

“Something has to change”

Pathways of Global Cultural Diffusion: Mass Media and People’s Moral Declarations about Men’s Violence against Women

Current theories of global cultural diffusion outline abstract mechanisms through which cultural scripts spread across the world. To reveal how scripts reach individuals, one must identify the specific pathways of diffusion. I examine the case of how scripts about gender relations and violence are diffused through mass media to people in Malawi. Using a mixed-methods approach, I find that international development organizations work with Malawian journalists to produce an array of content denouncing the practice of men abusing women. Entertainment media companies, however, disseminate content portraying patriarchal gender stereotypes. I show that mass media content critical of men’s violence of women is positively associated with people’s stated rejection of this practice, whereas individuals’ exposure to content mixed with patriarchal scripts is not. Notably, a one-standard-deviation increase in the number of newspaper articles critically covering men’s abuse toward women in the 30 days leading up to a person’s unique survey interview date is associated with a 3.2 (women) or 2.1 (men) percentage-point increase in the probability of respondents stating that they condemn such violence. Broadly, the results outline a multifaceted portrait of global cultural diffusion, with liberal and patriarchal scripts simultaneously reaching individual people.

REVISING FAIRY TALES FOR CHILDREN: PATRICK NESS’S A MONSTER CALLS AND TERRY PRATCHETT’S THE WEE FREE MEN

Manlove, and Andrew O’Malley, the first part of the paper historicizes the relatively recent cultural connection of children and fairy tales, specifically, the mobilization of fairy tales as vehicles for the lessons directed at the young. Against this background, in the second part of the paper, two contemporary children’s fantasy novels, Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men (2003) and Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls (2011), are examined. The discussion of the two novels focuses on their critical attitudes towards classic fairy tales and the lessons aimed at children, which range from the promotion of unquestioning obedience and patriarchal gender stereotypes, to the normalization of social stratification and the assumption of a happy end. Pratchett and Ness, however, do not merely expose the problematic instructions of classic fairy tales; as twenty-first century fantasy and children’s books authors, they also write new ones. A Monster Calls and The Wee Free Men thus both subvert and appropriate the didactic aspects of the genre, in order to educate their (young) readers on the crucial matters of life, death, grief, justice, and duty.

Deconstruction of Gendered Dialogues in English Language Students Textbook for Grade 12 Senior High School

Education plays a significant role in maintaining or deconstructing patriarchal gender constructions in society. Within this ambivalent arena, this study aimed to analyze the representation of gender constructions in a textbook for grade 12 Indonesian EFL students published by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Indonesia in 2018. The textual analysis proposed by McKee is used to analyze the data. Language functions attributed to the two genders are used as the parameters to find their feminine or masculine depiction based on Lakoff (1973) and Coates (2013) combined with Millet’s Sexual Politics. The study revealed that the textbook shows gender deconstructions towards language functions used in female-only, male-only and mixed sex dialogues. The deconstruction of the stereotypes can be seen from the presence of feminine traits in male characters, such as asking for information and producing more phatic and expressive utterances than females. In contrast, female characters are depicted to be dominantly produced masculine traits, such as being knowledgeable by giving more information than men and dominating in conversations. Although, at some points, the characters are still associated with stereotyped gender traits, the efforts to deconstruct traditional images of both genders need to be appreciated even though they still seem ambivalent.

An Exploratory Study on the Maternity Leave Policy and Normative Discrimination in the Greater Male’ Region

Literature has contemplated the discourse regarding discrimination against working mothers in the workplace from various angles. While contemporary studies consider the implications of maternity-related policies, this has not been studied locally. This study aims to identify if and how working mothers in the Maldives face normative discrimination due to the maternity leave policy, the motherhood penalties which ensue, and its contribution to the maternal wall, through the lens of patriarchal ideologies and gender roles. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 working mothers between the ages of 25 to 40 who have had at least one child after the maternity leave policy for civil servants was revised in 2019. A thematic analysis was conducted to evaluate the impact of the maternity leave policy for civil servants. The findings of this study demonstrate that preconceived gender stereotypes and patriarchal ideologies motivates a cycle of discrimination.

Patriarchal logics and gender inequalities through the financialization of housing

Abstract This study aims to examine the current knowledge about the relationships between financialization, housing issues, patriarchal logic, and gender inequalities to identify gaps in knowledge, which, in turn, can be considered as topics of scientific interest for future research. To this end, the study provides an exhaustive review of current academic debate regarding the abovementioned topics from the perspectives of critical urban geography, urban political economy, sociology, and gender and feminist studies. This study points out that the patriarchal roots of the financialization of housing originate from the exclusion of housing from the social provision and from its conversion to a financial asset, subordinating its use value to its exchange value. This logic strengthens gender inequalities in the form of women facing a higher debt burden to pay for housing, an increase in their unpaid reproductive labor and salaried labor, and the reinforcement of the gendered division of labor.

Debating Abortion and Contraception in Socialist Yugoslavia

This article discusses the debates on abortion rights and practices that took place in socialist Yugoslavia. It focuses on the microhistorical case studies of Varaždin and Karlovac, with specific attention given to the period between the first liberalisation of abortion for social reasons in 1960 and the full liberalisation of abortion until 10 weeks in 1969. The primary sources for this article stem from the collections of the Conference for the Social Activity of Women in the Croatian State Archives, as well as periodicals such as Arhiv za zaštitu majke i djeteta issued by the Institute for the Protection of Mother and Child in Zagreb. Digitalised local press sources – Varaždinski vjesnik and Karlovački tjednik – are also explored. As shown in the paper, the liberalisation of abortion in 1960s Yugoslavia generated a wide array of dilemmas for women and practitioners alike. While legal abortions were seen as necessary to curb illegal ones, they were nonetheless perceived by local practitioners as something that should best be prevented and which could prejudice a woman’s reproductive abilities, particularly in the case of first pregnancies. Many women recurred to legal and illegal abortion as a result of the lack in health infrastructure, unavailable contraceptives, difficult social conditions and persisting patriarchal gender norms.

Re-Thinking Society and Culture in the Era of Globalization - A Study of Selected Writings of Mahasweta Devi and Arundhati Roy

This paper presents the writers consciousness of the society in the Era of Globalization specially how the writers try to show India in their works such as Mother of 1084, Bayen, Aajir, Statue were written by Mahasweta Devi and The God of Small Thingswas written by Arundhati Roy these two writers generally trigger the society’s pathethatic situation of the human condition such as in the form of Naxalism, women subjugation, oppression, outcast and patriarchal society, caste, class and gender in which especially how the women characters are shown not only women but also other souls in the novels through them we can easily understand the writers unconsciousness towards the culture of India. Here we can see how the women characters are killed or weaken in their works particularly apolitical mothers of children are made voiceless at the end of the novels (mother of 1084,Bayen,Statue and The God of small things) though they are Women writers and also radical in thinking they cannot escape from the Culture psychologically.

New femininities and self-making in contemporary Chinese beauty influencing

With the rapid development of industrialized social media influencing, China’s beauty economy has spawned legions of beauty influencers. These influencers and their social media production have formed a complex and seemingly contradictory assemblage of beauty ideals in the contemporary Chinese social media landscape. Amidst this assemblage are circulating an array of emergent femininities, a wave of nationalism and a suspiciously neo-liberal-looking subjectivity. Through a qualitative analysis of 383 Weibo posts of the top Chinese beauty influencers, this article reveals that these influencers and their social media productions play a crucial role in producing new conceptualizations of beauty in China (and beyond). Their cultural creations seem to empower women through active beauty interventions and body makeovers, but essentially fall into the trap of neo-liberal capitalism and perpetuate problematic beauty notions in tandem with local patriarchal gender scripts.

Ambivalent Sexism in the State of Qatar

Abstract This article examines public attitudes toward ambivalent sexism in the State of Qatar, which has taken considerable initiatives to prioritize women’s empowerment strategies and promote equality between men and women. It investigates whether these equality initiatives are reflected in nationals’ attitudes toward women by measuring scores on the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). While prior research has focused almost exclusively on the role of social implications, much less has been explored regarding the public sentiments underlying traditional gender roles and patriarchal attitudes in Qatari society. This study uses original survey data from a national sample of a 2019 survey. The results of the novel analytical descriptive approach used here suggest that individuals in Qatar are highly sexist on average, indicating that as a nation, Qatar scores low on gender equality measures. The analysis also reveals that benevolent sexism is evaluated more positively than hostile sexism, although its underlying dimensions correlate with patriarchal views and gender stereotyping in the context of high gender inequality. These findings are especially important considering the ever-emerging dynamics of gender roles and the increased efforts being gradually expended for improved gender parity.

Students’ Creative Writings Mirroring the Social Reality

This article analyses a total of forty-six students’ writings from Grade 11 to master’s level published in one of the college’s annual magazines. Among them 24 are females and 22 are males. This research uses a qualitative content analysis method to analyze the students’ writings under various topics and genres to unearth their concerns. Although there are multiple studies on students’ creative writings focusing on the technical and gender aspects, only a few studies focus on the issues reflected in their contents. This research believes that students’ creative writings are significant as they give information about the issues, interests, and concerns from students’ perspectives. The students’ writings also reflect their concerns and awareness of students regarding various social issues in their writings. The findings from this study revealed that students are concerned about multiple social and political issues in Nepal such as poverty, political corruption, cultural issues, gender discrimination, caste discrimination, and women issues. Moreover, life is a dominant theme in both male and female writings and they are concerned about their life, future goals, and responsibility toward their parents. Some shared themes are the challenges of staying away from parents for study purposes, caste discrimination, gender discrimination, poverty, child labor, and women-related issues. Females have written personalized writings with varieties of issues and dark themes than males and the themes in their writings suggest their struggle in a patriarchal society, social restrictions, gender discrimination, and women violence against males’ writings on general themes such as loss of human values, loss of culture, and struggle of orphaned children.

In the ruins of empire: historicizing sexual violence in Congo

ABSTRACT Sexual violence in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is predominantly understood and represented as a “native” phenomenon – a direct consequence of the economic civil war – unrelated to colonial violence. This article offers a historicized perspective on Congo’s enduring conflict in which sexual violence continues to ruin lives. I argue that sexual violence does not follow but structures colonialism as part of a continuum of violence. Drawing on extensive archival research, I analyze patterns of everyday gender-based violence in the Congo Free State (1885–1908) and identify the fusion of terror and pleasure as key aspects of a capitalist and patriarchal gender order. Staging an encounter between historical and contemporary dynamics of sexual violence in Congo, this article addresses and reconceptualizes contemporary sexual violence in relation to past colonial violence.

Global Indigenous gender concepts, gender-based violence and resilience: A scoping review

Background & objectiveThe legacy of colonialism includes ongoing trauma and disruption of traditional teachings on relationality, which has contributed to Indigenous populations being disproportionately exposed to gender-based violence (GBV). GBV in Indigenous populations is explored to consider gender-specific findings and points of resilience in relational networks. Participants & settingIncluded articles sampled Indigenous groups in Canada, US, Mexico, Guatemala, and Israel. All participants self-identified as Indigenous, and were either GBV survivors or service providers working in GBV contexts. MethodsA scoping review was conducted in OVID Medline, Embase, APA Psycinfo, and Informit Indigenous Collection, using keywords for Indigenous peoples, gender concepts, and GBV. Articles were screened and extracted by two reviewers; a third reviewer resolved conflicts. ResultsOur search yielded one mixed-method study and seven qualitative studies, all published since 2016. North American studies identified colonial, patriarchal disruptions (e.g. residential schools) to positive pre-contact gender norms (e.g. non-hierarchical roles) that contribute to emerging GBV. Studies conducted in Guatemala and Israel also described local patriarchal cultures contributing to GBV. Lack of understanding of the Two-Spirit identity (i.e. supra-binary gender identity used by Indigenous persons) led to harmful attitudes and stigma. Interpersonal support and return to traditional matriarchal practices were identified as key resilience processes. ConclusionsThere is limited literature on Indigenous gender concepts and GBV, particularly regarding GBV against males and Two-Spirit persons. Colonization-related violence and/or patriarchal gender norms were identified as precursors for GBV. Decolonization processes should be further explored to address GBV in Indigenous populations.

Improving Bystander Self-efficacy to Prevent Violence Against Women Through Interpersonal Communication Using Mobile Phone Entertainment Education: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Violence against women is a major challenge worldwide and in India. Patriarchal social and gender norms suppress disclosure of violence experienced by women. Stimulating interpersonal communication about a normatively stigmatized but prevalent topic could offer an avenue toward boosting bystander self-efficacy to intervene and prevent violence against women. In this study, to reduce violence against women as the distal goal, we adopted a two-pronged strategy grounded in Carey's model of communication, approaching the issue in an incremental way. First, we aimed to explore whether the intervention promoted interpersonal communication about violence against women as an initial step. Second, we examined whether the intervention improved women's self-efficacy to intervene when they witness violence in their community through interpersonal communication. Our model is based on the social cognitive theory that posits observational learning (ie, hearing about other women interfering to stop violence) fosters self-efficacy, a proxy for behavior change. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of women of reproductive age using a 2-arm study design embedded within a parent trial implemented in Odisha, India. In total, 411 participants were randomly assigned to the violence against women intervention arm or a control arm if they were active mobile phone owners and assigned to the treatment arm of the parent trial. Participants received 13 entertainment education episodes daily as phone calls. The intervention included program-driven, audience-driven, and responsive interaction strategies to facilitate the active engagement of participants. Audience-driven interactions were incorporated throughout the episodes using an interactive voice response system, which allowed participants to like or replay individual episodes through voice-recognition or touch-tone keypad. Our primary analysis involved a structural equation model with interpersonal communication as a potential mediator on the pathway between intervention exposure and bystander self-efficacy to prevent violence against women. The findings from structural equation modeling demonstrated the significant mediating effect of interpersonal communication on the relationship between program exposure and bystander self-efficacy. Exposure was positively related to interpersonal communication (β=.21, SE=.05; z=4.31; P<.001) and bystander self-efficacy (β=.19, SE=.05; z=3.82; P<.001). Our results demonstrate participant engagement in interpersonal communication following exposure to a "light" entertainment education program with audio-only format via feature phones in rural settings can result in improved self-efficacy to prevent violence against women. This elevates the role of interpersonal communication as a mechanism of behavior change in mobile phone-based interventions, given that most entertainment education interventions tend to be mass media based. Our findings also show the potential of changing the environment where witnesses of violence deem it worthy of intervention and perceive higher efficacy to stop violence in the community, rather than putting the onus on the perpetrator, to prevent any counterproductive effects. Clinical Trials Registry-India CTRI/2018/10/016186; https://tinyurl.com/bddp4txc.