Gender Regimes Research Articles

Differences in the acceptance of wife abuse among ethnic minority Garo and Santal and mainstream Bengali communities in rural Bangladesh.

Studies on wife abuse in Bangladesh predominantly include the mainstream Bengali population, although there are at least 27 ethnic minority communities including a few 'female-centered' matrilineal groups living in the country. This study explored ethnic differences in the attitudinal acceptance of wife abuse among matrilineal ethnic minority Garo, patrilineal ethnic minority Santal, and mainstream patriarchal Bengali communities in rural Bangladesh. Adopting a cross-sectional design, the study included 1,929 women and men randomly selected from 24 Garo, Santal, and Bengali villages. Multivariate Poisson regression was performed to predict the number of contextual events, where the respondents attitudinally endorsed wife abuse. Of the sample, 33.2% were from Garo, 33.2% from Santal, and 33.6% from the Bengali communities. The acceptance of wife abuse was high in the sample; specifically, 34.1% of the respondents accepted physical wife abuse, 67.5% accepted emotional abuse, and 71.6% accepted any abuse (either physical or emotional) at least on one contextual reason provided in a 10-item scale. The mean for accepting any abuse was 3.0 (SD = 2.8), emotional abuse 2.3 (SD = 2.2), and physical abuse 0.8 (SD = 1.4). The study showed that the rates of accepting any abuse and physical abuse were respectively 16% and 56% lower among Garo as well as 14% and 33% lower among Santal than that of the Bengali community. Data also revealed that individual level factors like younger age, higher education, prestigious occupation as well as family level factors such as higher income, female mobility, and female family authority were inversely associated with the acceptance of wife abuse in the sample. It appears that the gender regime of a society has a great influence on the attitudes toward wife abuse. We argue that a comprehensive socio-cultural transformation of the patriarchal societies into a gender equal order is imperative for the prevention of widespread wife abuse in the country.

Involving Men: The Multiple Meanings of Female Genital Mutilation in a Minority Migrant Context

ABSTRACT The paper explores the roles of men in the continuation/abandonment of female genital mutilation (FGM) in a migrant minority community in Sweden. The aim is to contribute to the under-researched area of men’s attitudes towards and experiences of FGM, using frameworks on engaging men, feminist theories on men and masculinity, and intersectionality. It is based on an inductive qualitative design for data collection, including a focus group discussion with 13 male Somali migrants in Sweden. The analysis shows a window of opportunity for involving minority migrant men in prevention and to challenge a minority migrant gender regime. The ambivalent attitudes expressed are based on a will to reflect on roles, a desire to adjust to conflicting social norms and institutional rules, and an interest in the legal, health and medical consequences of FGM. The paper concludes that successful interventions and involvement need to consider local activism, gendered dynamics, masculinities and empowerment; attempts to eradicate FGM will be more successful if they empower women and men.

Betydelser av könsstympning hos migrerade minoriteter i Sverige

The article examines meanings and attitudes to female genital mutilation among migrated minorities in Sweden. It explores the importance of family, networks, work, the role of laws and regulations, and the meaning and importance of female genital mutilation. It draws conclusions on power structures around and determinants of female genital mutilation in relation to attitudes and attitudinal change. The material was collected via four focus groups with 47 migrated men and women, originally from Somalia. Theoretically, the article draws on feminist institutionalism and the framework on gender regimes, and scholarship on intersectional violence, and expands the concept of violence beyond the physical, individual and intentional.The article argues that the risk of female genital mutilation decreases considerably with migration. While some previous research has failed to consider migration as a process of attitudinal change, the article shows that attitudes do not simply migrate with migrants; they change through the processes of migration. It contributes to debates on violence from an integration-theoretical perspective, and shows how the concepts of isolation and mobility can contribute to better explanations of attitudes and practices of female genital mutilation.

Constructing rights in Taiwan: the feminist factor, democratization, and the quest for global citizenship

In an era of worldwide rights regression, beleaguered Taiwan remains Asia’s most democratic, gender equitable, and liberal internationalist nation. What accounts for this seemingly exceptional record—and how does the feminist factor contribute to the construction of rights? Bridging constructivist and feminist scholarship, this essay argues that gender equity is a force multiplier for democratization as it empowers civil society and fosters legitimacy at home and abroad. In a three-level game, states at the margin of the international system may benefit from rights reform that expands the national interest and delivers material and reputational rewards. The case of Taiwan illustrates the dynamics of the double transition to liberal democracy and a liberal gender regime and its projection to world politics. The rewards of rights for Taiwan suggest a wider range of options even in small states facing regional challenges—and greater attention to the feminist factor in world politics.

Unbridled Stallions and Mad Bulls: Masculinity, Race, and Sexuality in Hemispheric Perspective

ABSTRACT This article juxtaposes two very different authors from very different locations: George Winston, a largely forgotten Southern college president during the Jim Crow era in the United States, and Gilberto Freyre, arguably Brazil’s most famous social theorist. Both men offered emblematic accounts of uncontrollable masculine sexuality that helped to consolidate particular visions of their respective nations in an uncertain post-emancipation moment. Winston denounced post-Reconstruction black male sexuality as bestial and rapacious and a threat to white women in a characteristic statement of the myth of the black male rapist, while Freyre depicted the Portuguese settlers of Brazil as wildly lascivious and particularly drawn to black and indigenous women. Each depiction of unbridled masculine sexuality serves to justify distinct regimes of racial, gender, and class hierarchy. Ultimately, I show that juxtaposition of thinkers from different hemispheric locations, as recommended by Juliet Hooker, helps to rejuvenate and deparochialize intersectional feminist theory.

Transnational Grandparenting at the Test of Migration Policy: The Case of European and Non-European Grandparents Who Come to Switzerland to Care for Their Grandchildren

Abstract This article is based on a qualitative and comparative study of childcare arrangements that European and non-European grandparents engage in in Switzerland. It shows that the Swiss migration regime significantly shapes these arrangements, as a result of free circulation versus visa constraints that discriminate EU and non-EU nationals. It also points to other structuring factors, such as the Swiss care and gender regimes or the quality of intergenerational relations.

Perceptions of male professors and male students towards gender equity policies and practices in a Mexican higher education science and engineering graduate program

One of the critical indicators of a gender equal society is the proportional and balanced representation of male and female in all spheres of life. Within the higher education sector in Mexico, gender transformation and equality is measured through the proxy of increased access of female students in higher education. Such demographic changes are occurring as a response to feminist demands for gender equality. While we acknowledge the physical visibility of female academics and students in higher education, this has not been achieved without opposition from male defenders of the status quo. In this study we examine the perceptions of male students and male faculty with regards to the gender policies and their attitudes to the presence of more female students taking up Sciences and Engineering graduate programs. Focusing on the perspectives of men is crucial in gender issues since transformation which does not involving men will likely be opposed by men in defence of gender privileges. The findings reflect that male academics and students men were caught up in conflicting position of accepting the policies in principle but rejecting them in practice. This contradiction arose from deeply internalized and normalized gender stereotypes which deserve educational attention and pedagogical intervention. Officially, the gender policy has affirmed female access and participation in the Science and Engineering graduate program at NPI. However, cultural and institutional gender regimes have not yet aligned themselves to the new policy framework. The question remains as to whether men can change their perceptions about traditional gender roles and responsibilities in order to leverage gender equity and transformation for women justice. Despite literature that suggests that men should be partakers in the fight for gender equality, findings in this study have no affirmative answer to the question.

The struggle for gender diversity.

Contradictory social policies and attitudes about gender diversity raise questions about how we should understand the current status of the historical 'heterosexual' gender regime. Drawing on the work of the feminist philosopher and psychoanalyst Luce Irigaray, this essay argues that sexual difference is the irreducible starting point for all meaning, sense, morality and affect.

The reproduction of the gender regime: the military and education as state apparatuses constraining the military wife student

ABSTRACT This paper reports on the experiences and perspectives of military wives as students and potential students of Access to Higher Education Diplomas, a qualification for widening participation in HE for ‘non-traditional' students in the UK – an under-researched topic. Contributing to both Marxist and feminist theory, we argue that the combined practices of the state apparatuses, the military and education system, constrain these women's access to, and progress in, HE, and that the patriarchal gender regime is reproduced through institutional structures and practices. The study found that military wives' own education plays a secondary role to their serving partners’ military careers; that the military promotes their roles as wives and mothers above adult educational opportunities; and that despite the widening participation agenda, an inflexible HE system further blocks educational opportunities for this group.

Development, education and gender: challenging the empowerment rhetoric from an ethnographic study in rural Nepal

ABSTRACT Education and gender have become central issues within development discourses and practices in Nepal, under the powerful idea that school enables equality for women, collective wellbeing, and the nation’s development. While hegemonic approaches to development are being increasingly challenged, critical contributions focusing on the education-gender intersection are still scarce. Drawing on data from an ethnographic research in a Himalayan village and school, this paper analyses the forms of knowledge, styles and relationships within learning processes in/outside the school, and its implications for the gender regime (re)production. Findings challenge the idea of schooling as an empowering tool for women by showing not only the coexistence of contradictory or differentiated models of transmission and acquisition of culture but also of contents, meanings, and its value change, in a Nepal governed by and within the paradigm of development.

The Gender Regime as a Powerful Hidden Institution in the Peace and Security Architecture of the United Nations

In dem Beitrag wird die UN- Geschlechterpolitik in der Abteilung für Friedensoperationen vor dem Hintergrund des feministischen Institutionalismus untersucht. Es wird die These entwickelt, dass ein verborgenes und wirkmächtiges Genderregime, das einen ausgeprägten maskulinen Bias aufweist, die Entwicklung einer geschlechtergerechten UN-Friedens- und Sicherheitsarchitektur verhindert. Dieses Genderregime wird evidenzbasiert analysiert. Es werden insbesondere die informellen Geschlechterpraktiken des DPO und die Auswirkungen auf die formelle Geschlechterpolitik in den Fokus genommen. Die jüngsten Entwicklungen in der sicherheitspolitischen UN-Geschlechterpolitik legen nahe, dass progressive Werte das patriarchalische Geschlechterregime und dessen vergeschlechtlichte Logik der Angemessenheit in Frage stellen können.

GENDER REGIMES OF RUSSIAN WORKING-CLASS FAMILIES

Purpose of the study: The study is aimed to examine working-class everyday culture gender regimes in modern Russia. The research is focused on intergenerational transmission of gender-normative patterns, macro-policy of power and domination in working-class families, forms of their discursive production and legitimation.
 Methodology: The empirical base is represented by 30 biographical interviews with the informants aged from 21 to 33, living in Tyumen city and working in the field of industry, technical maintenance, and customer service. Reflexive analysis based on the categorical field of phenomenology and social constructionism, as well as data coding procedures, has been used as the main research tool.
 Main Findings: It was found that the normative pattern of a male breadwinner, having power in a family-based on control over economic resources, still dominates among young working-class men and actively supported by the majority of young women. The financial and status dominance of a man does not cause doubts in his leadership but when a woman plays a crucial role in providing for the family, informants tend to talk about “equality” in the family.
 Applications of this study: The results of the study can be used in the teaching of sociology, gender studies, and cultural studies; it can also be applied by local policymakers while developing social policy programs targeted on the regarded social group.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: In the current research we have examined a particular social group at the intersection of three stratification features: social class, gender, and age. The approach of “agency within the structure” provides an opportunity to carry out a deep sociological analysis of the relations between the macro-social and personal aspects of the gender regimes framing.

A Comparative Analysis of the Approaches of Politi-cal Parties and Women’s Organizations in Turkey on Gender Equality and Women's Issues

This paper deals with how gender inequality and the major issues facing women are represented in the policy texts of political parties and within the strategies of women’s organizations in Turkey. Thus, it attempts to reveal different and similar perspectives on the gender regime in the political and civic sphere. For this purpose, it utilizes the content analysis method to look for answers to the following questions: What are the main foci of political parties and women’s organizations on women's issues? What are the policies of political parties and women’s organizations about the issues that women face in modern society? This paper compares political parties and women's organizations in terms of their objectives on gender equality and women’s rights. Thus, it will be possible to understand the approaches of the political parties and women's organizations on women's issues and the main themes of their discourses on women’s rights and to provide a holistic view of the inadequacies of policies on women’s rights and gender equality. The study concluded that political parties deal with women's issues on the basis of ideological priorities while the women’s civil society organizations and women’s rights activists aim at advancing women's rights.

Gender, violence and Brexit

What would be the implications of Brexit for gender, for violence, and for gendered violence? While most attention on Brexit has concerned the economy, and the relationship of the UK to the Single European Market, this article focuses on violence, and the relationship of the UK to the European Area of Freedom, Justice and Security. Brexit potentially restructures the balance of multiple polities, including the UK and EU, and their capacities and powers to govern. This potentially has implications for gender relations, insofar as gender is governed by the EU rather than the UK, for violence, insofar as violence is governed by the EU rather than the UK, and for gendered violence, at the intersection of these processes. The article addresses the likely outcomes of different forms of Brexit (from hard to soft) by analysing the significance of the UK and the EU in governing gender and governing violence. This includes engagement with the theories of gender regimes and the theories of violence, and the significance of different forms of governance in shaping gender and violence. The article concludes that the detrimental implications of socio-legal changes that would be consequent on Brexit for the rate of gendered violence are underestimated.

‘Girls have powers’: using research-led arts to connect policymaking with girls’ lived experiences in Uganda

This article offers new methodological directions for generating difficult-to-capture evidence on the hidden dimensions of young people’s lives in challenging circumstances. We explore how research-led applied arts can advance participatory methodologies to bridge the gap that often exists between participatory research engaging girls meaningfully within the research process, and knowledge exchange processes that connect policy-making with their lived experiences. We demonstrate how this innovative approach, embedded within a girlhood studies framework, amplifies the voices of those marginalised by gender and age in urban settings. It co-creates the (safe) spaces, resources and tools to recognise, explore and intervene against systemic inequalities and injustices. Research-led applied arts provide mechanisms for messaging girls’ concerns and perspectives in a non-threatening manner directly to those with the power to address them. Such situated knowledge exchange is crucial if we are to sustainably challenge inequitable gender regimes in ways that respond directly to the everyday challenges faced by girls in developing contexts.

The Normalization of Conservative Gender Politics in Chile and the Role of Civil Society.

The article discusses two cases of gender policy making during the Chilean transition to democracy, the policy on domestic violence and the divorce law. By comparing the official discourses on these two policy projects we show that authoritarian gender regimes can resist transition to democracy despite a vivid civil society. The case of Chile was selected, on one hand, because it exhibits particularly resistant authoritarian institutional enclaves. On the other hand, Chilean women's movements are often cited as a paragon of women's movements in transitions. Despite the central role of Chilean women's movements as a strong civil society force conservative gender roles and institutions inherited from the autocratic regime (e.g., conservative divorce and reproductive rights) have remained dominant. I argue that during the time of transition conservative political actors, but also parts of civil society, negotiated on these gender roles and institutions and thereby reached a status quo. Recent cases of sexual violence in response to student's uprisings show that this status quo is quite stable and prevents a real coming to terms with state violence.

“He Should Learn That He Cannot Get a Woman for free”: Male Elopers and Constructions of Masculinity in the Afghan Justice System

This article explores constructions of gender, masculinity, and class in moral crimes prosecutions, and their legal aftermaths in Afghanistan. It argues that the lack of attention to men in advocacy and research about moral crimes, while reflecting a (geo-) politicized conflation of gender with women, constitute both an empirical and an analytical oversight. The first part of the article discusses the legal grounds for the prosecution of men for “moral crimes” in Afghanistan and presents statistical data that reveals large-scale incarceration of men for pursuing consensual, heterosexual relations, including the non-codified crime of elopement. In the second part, we use ethnographic data to probe into the ways in which the treatment of male elopers are based on specific notions of gender, sexuality, and masculinity. We suggest that the interrelated, yet differentiated, prosecution of male and female elopers in Afghanistan can be usefully understood in terms of a gender regime that places different expectations on men and women. Women’s gender performance is ranked according to (verifiable) chastity, men’s gender performance according to the (legitimate, i.e., honorable) command of resources.

Book review: The Struggle for Freedom from Fear: Contesting Violence Against Women at the Frontiers of Globalization

Book review of: Alison Brysk, The Struggle for Freedom from Fear: Contesting Violence Against Women at the Frontiers of Globalization. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2018, 386pp. ISBN 9780190901516386 (hardcover). In The Struggle for Freedom from Fear: Contesting Violence Against Women at the Frontiers of Globalization, Alison Brysk presents a vast and thorough examination of the prevalence, patterns, and drivers of violence against women throughout the world. She accomplishes this through an analysis of international and national treaties and legal reforms, public policy, social justice campaigns, and norm changes across a variety of rapidly globalizing countries. Framing violence against women as a 'gendered form of human rights abuse' (p. 27), Brysk's goal is to 'map pathways of response' to this violence for countries that fall into what Brysk labels 'semi-liberal gender regimes' (p. 6), in order to better understand how to reduce and prevent gendered violence and other human rights abuses. The book is largely successful in this ambitious endeavor. [...]

Understanding the gender regime in the European External Action Service

The EU has been a key actor in shaping European gender regimes in post-war Europe. There is a substantial amount of work on the role of the EU as a gender actor, particularly in employment and social policy. The adoption of and consistent referral to equality as a fundamental value of the EU raises important questions about the way the EU promotes ‘soft’ values in an international setting, through its security and defence policy, particularly as the EU is trying to promote itself as a normative actor. Hence, this article sets out to analyse where gender equality, as a policy frame, is located within the European External Action Service (EEAS). Through an investigation into whether the core normative principles of gender equality and mainstreaming have permeated this policy domain, we then focus on how the EEAS reflects the EU’s gender regime, which is informed by Walby’s framework, and how this shapes mainstream security and defence policies. We find that the neo-liberal foundations of the EU permeate the way the EEAS incorporates the principle of equality, leading to a shallow understanding that focuses on adding women into existing structures.

Migration and attitudes towards domestic violence against women: a case study of Libyan migrants in the UK

ABSTRACTThis article analyses attitudes to domestic violence against women (DVAW) among Libyan migrants in the north of England; this is the first such study of Libyan migrants. One hundred seventy-five (175) respondents were interviewed in a questionnaire survey and 20 in semi-structured interviews. Migrant status has been identified as an important marker or precarity; gendered and racialised experiences deepen structural forms of insecurity. The research explored the impact of migration on participants’ attitudes to DVAW. The concepts of gender regime and gender order, additionally, help to provide a framework for understanding of the multifaceted nature of unequal gender relations within Libyan Arab communities. The study found that gender and educational level were the most important variables associated with views about DVAW within the sample, whereas length of stay in the UK was not statistically associated with attitudes towards domestic violence. The article explores reasons for relative continuity in beliefs about DVAW in the context of the insecurities of migration. Despite continuities, shifts and changes are taking place within many women’s lives.