Women Scholars Research Articles

Women academics' ambivalent experiences of singlehood and international mobility

This article explores the lived experiences of nine women scholars who are single, childfree and internationally mobile. Mobilising Laurent Berlant's work on ambivalence and ‘cruel optimism,’ we show how experiences of singlehood and academic international mobility are never only good or bad, but always both at the same time. Ambivalence emerges in the women's experiences because singlehood can facilitate academic careers by enabling high productivity and mobility, whereas mobility can inhibit finding committed relationships through an absence of stability and prevalent gendered expectations of women in heterosexual relationships. Most of the interviewed women hope for a life which has both careers, mobility and romantic relationships, however, the simultaneity of benefits and struggles associated with singlehood and a mobile academic life places them in an ambivalent situation that precludes the option of letting go of either of their affective attachments, namely, to gendered couple norms and the academic institution.

From the desk of the Editor-in-Chief: Introduction to the Black Theatre Review, <em>Nurturing</em>

In this issue, Vol. 3.1., we invite readers to explore the collective body of Black and African Diasporic theatre history, dramatic literature, performance and production, multimedia media, artistic leadership, pedagogy, and praxis for elements of nurturing that center Black female and femme experiences. For this issue, nurturing is defined as the acts, rituals, and strategies of care that enhance one’s inner power and enable them to flow toward joy and vitality. Black women scholars, artists, and administrators often teach, conduct research and creative scholarship, govern, build, and nurture within institutional systems in the face of lack and their peril. Collectively, the entries featured in this issue attempt to move Black women—protagonists, playwrights, contemporary icons—from the margins to the center. Black Feminist and Afro-indigenous acts, rituals, and strategies of care are explicit and remind readers that love can be found everywhere. In all circumstances, a real revolution occurs within.

Unveiling The Legacy of Siti Walidah (1872-1946): Exploring the Education, Life, And Works of Indonesian Female Ulama

This study delves into the da'wah contributions of the Indonesian female ulama, Siti Walidah (1872-1946). Employing qualitative methods, the research entails creating and observing various works, books, academic research, videos, internet sources, and historical documents. The gathered data undergoes analysis using the explanatory analysis method, where the logic of social phenomena aligns with common sense through historical, anthropological, and sociological approaches. The research aims to exemplify the role model provided by female ulama such as Siti Walidah, allowing contemporary women to learn from and emulate the activities and struggles of these female scholars, thereby yielding numerous benefits for the advancement of the ummah, particularly women. The study presents the concepts of women scholars, their contributions, and the strategies they employed. Additionally, it delves into the supporting and inhibiting factors faced by female ulama in their preaching endeavors, aiming for a comprehensive understanding of their experiences.

Migrant sexual precarity through the lens of workplace litigation

AbstractTheories of precarity have emphasized workplace isolation, worker vulnerability and a lack of control over key features of work. Migration status has been viewed as an attribute that can exacerbate worker precarity, and sexual violence and bodily injury are viewed by feminist scholars including Violence Against Women scholars as sources of such precarity as well. Nevertheless, how the interaction of workplace conditions, migration status, gender and sexual violence impact migrants needs more attention. A new evidence base, the Migrant Worker Rights Database, explores workplace violations against migrants in 907 tribunal and court cases brought by migrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States over a 20‐year period. The data collected for this project demonstrates that female migrants experience higher rates of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual servitude, and sex trafficking when compared with men. Further, while such collectively termed “sexual violence” offenses comprise a small percentage of cases in the Database (1.3%), they are characterized qualitatively by key features that present a heightened form of sexual precarity when compared with citizens: misuse by employers of visa conditions, debt bondage, live‐in arrangements, entrapment and slavery, and the combination of sexual violence with economic infringements such as wage theft and physical assault. Sexual precarity, this paper argues, should be viewed as an overlapping and reinforcing form of workplace precarity that has distinctly sexual and bodily dimensions.

Voicing the Veiled: The Sovereignty and Influence of the Mughal Matriarchs

Voicing the Veiled: The Sovereignty and Influence of the Mughal Matriarchs

Driving in Cars with Noise

Driving in Cars with Noise

Peripheral voices: women in international trade scholarship

Abstract We ask how women are faring in the field of international trade both as knowledge producers and as policy-makers, with a focus on the former. This is an important question in light of the increased, if belated, attention paid to the gendered impact of international trade rules and of the gendered nature of academia. Using article publishing as a proxy for international trade scholarship, we create a unique dataset consisting of trade-related articles published in the 27 most influential journals in the field during the past 20 years. Examining the gender balance of authors in our database reveals that, despite recent progress, women's voices are still peripheral in the field, comprising just 31.5 percent of authors in the past five years. We find no reasons to believe this is a peculiarity of knowledge creation in the field of international trade. Rather, the analysis suggests that it is the highly gendered nature of the broad fields of International Relations and International Political Economy that explains the gender imbalance we find. Looking ahead, if we are serious about addressing gender imbalances in international trade policy-making and knowledge production, new knowledge and strategies are needed that address the structural reasons that contribute to the arbitrary but very real gender inequalities both in academia and policy-making. Ensuring women scholars and policy-makers are fully represented in formulating and implementing these strategies is a basic, even if insufficient, precondition for their success. Only after the weaknesses and hurdles are addressed will the deterrence and defence of the region attain a fully credible level.

Women-led research in urban China studies: Introduction to a special issue

While women scholars have made important contribution to the emerging scholarship of urban China research, this field also has seen increasing female representation among the new generations of urban scholars. This special issue aims to promote women’s scholarship on urban China studies. In this introduction, we provide an overview of the nine articles led by women researchers that are included in the special issue, discussing how these studies are linked and contribute to the wider debates in the urban literature on China and globally. We argue that, while women scholars not surprisingly bring a sensitivity to gender perspective into the study of Chinese cities, their research is by no means limited to gender and women’s experiences. As showcased in this collection, their scholarship covers a wide variety of urban issues in China, ranging across migration, informality, accessibility, social cohesion, sustainability and urban governance, while engaging in the academic and policy debates in the global urban literature.

Sorry cites: The (necro) politics of citation in the anthropology of religion

In this article, I analyze the under-citation of Black and/or Latine scholars—especially those located disciplinarily within religious studies—in the anthropology of religion. I draw from my own experience as an editorial assistant at History of Religions, manuscript reviewer, and Latine ethnographer of religion to speculate on the reasons why researchers might refuse to cite them, preferring either to neglect their contributions or to “plagnore” them, to borrow a term coined by legal scholar, law professor, and activist Lolita Buckner Inniss. I then expand on Chicana and Boricua feminist and race scholar Nichole Margarita Garcia’s theorization of under-citation as “spirit-murdering.” I invoke philosopher and political scientist Achille Mbembe’s formulation of necropolitics to make the case that citation is a matter of life and death for Black and Latine women scholars in particular. In the absence of institutional accountability for editors and authors, I conclude with recommendations for the diversification of our scholarship and syllabi.

When We See Us: An Endarkened Autoethnographic Approach to Excavating the Extraordinary Literacies of Black Women

A frequent question amongst Black scholars and practitioners is how to succeed in institutions that thrive on our cultural erasure. How to unmask and survive. For Black women these questions are doubly significant. The questions we answer in our collaborative Blackgirl autoethnography have implications for how Black women scholars, and others navigating multiple social oppressions, must ritually turn inward to understand the rhetorical, spiritual, ancestral, and cognitive tools that we use to hold onto important parts of ourselves. Additionally, the field of qualitative research in education, steeped in its own complex settler colonial, and racially exclusive ideologies, has had little opportunity to be shaped by the extraordinary inner worlds of Black women. At the nexus of our orientations as Black and women, we utilize a collaborative approach to Blackgirl autoethnography, an endarkened feminist epistemological methodology, which insists on the epistemic shifts available to us when methodology is grounded in Blackgirl ways of knowing. Our autoethnographic excavation revealed the ways that our inner worlds offer blueprints for the kinds of social and pedagogical change necessary to agitate the colonial and carceral logics that mark the lives of Black women and girls in education.

Issues and Challenges before Higher Education in Bihar: An Empirical Study

Indian Knowledge Tradition believes that education is not just the beginning of the spiritual life of mankind, but it is also the training of human soul. It aims at all round development of an individual. Education plays an important role in shaping a country’s socio-economic growth. India is one of the fastest growing economies with a huge human resource. With such vast human capital, the scope of higher education is very much wider in comparison to the other countries. We, in India have the tradition of believing and recognizing “Maa Saraswati” as the goddess of knowledge. We have Vedas, Upanishads, puranas in our core value system. The Bhagwad Gita enlightens and guides mankind in the gravest of life’s problems and awakens not just human mind but also enlightens human soul. The role of women scholars in the Vedic era in developing and enriching Indian tradition cannot be undermined. Takshashila is regarded as the oldest university in the world. While Nalanda, Vikramshila in Bihar are the examples of many distinguished centers of higher education centers in India, which were way ahead of times. The main aim of such higher education institution was to impart Vedic knowledge which leads to spiritual growth. The glory can be traced from the writings of many of the foreign travelers who came to visit Bharat during those times in order to not just see the prevailing higher education system but also to attain knowledge. Our modern education system is largely based on colonial legacy and English education pattern. The foreign invasion and the British rule destroyed traditional Indian educational system in a planned way. According to UNESCO, there are around 235 million students enrolled in different universities around the world. If India is willing to become a super power someday it will only be through knowledge-based society. In this paper we will be discussing the issues and challenges before the higher education system in Bihar. There are 17 state Universities in Bihar, each university has broadly two types of colleges- namely Constituent college and Affiliated college. Constituent Colleges are more or less like Government College and Affiliated colleges are like Private college. This research is primarily focused on the constituent colleges. Present paper seeks to highlight different issues and hindrances before the higher education system in Bihar e.g. Low Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), inadequate Pupil-Teacher ratio, delayed session, poor attendance of students in college, absence of proper laboratory facility, NAAC accreditation, implementation of National Education policy 2020 etc. This is an empirical research based on observational methodology. Higher education has experienced expansion both in terms of institutions and enrolment over the period of time, but it has not been sufficient. Present higher education system has total disconnect from our great ancient tradition. Innovative and transformative strategies need to be implemented on priority basis at the higher education level.

The cost of ‘care’ in neoliberal academia during the COVID-19 pandemic: Women academics, teaching and emotional labour

The literature shows that throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, in the different regions of the world (Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and Latin America), women academics submitted fewer articles and grant proposals than their peers who are men because, in addition to the increased burden of domestic work, they devoted more time to teaching activities and to the demands of students, than to their research activities. However, little is known about what drives the high level of commitment by women academics to their tutoring and pastoral care duties. This article looks at how women embodied their teaching tasks throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘emotional labour’ that this required of them. Findings from the analysis of 17 in-depth interviews conducted with women scholars in Portugal point to the complexity and contradictions in the ‘emotional labour’ carried out by women teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and provide evidence of overlaps with the practice of ‘care’.

Inspiring Empowerment, Leadership, and Advocacy of Indigenous Women Through a Native American Sorority

As the first inquiry of a Historically Native American Fraternity and Sorority (HNAFS), the purpose of this research study was to provide greater understanding of the impact of a Native American sisterhood. The genealogical connections (literature review) examined the recent work written about HNAFS and narrowed down the influence of HNAFS on Indigenous women scholars. Indigenous feminism guided the study as it describes how Native/Indigenous women define feminism for them and their communities, which added deeper understanding and meaning to the major findings. This study utilized talking circles as an Indigenous research tool to center sisters’ stories collectively. Major findings for this article highlight how the Native American sisterhood empowered Native women, developed them as leaders, and provided opportunities for advocacy work. Recommendations and future directions for HNAFS and higher education professionals are provided.

Educational Endeavours and Unheeded Tales: Mapping Trajectories of Dalit Women in a University

This article analyses the nature of the relationship between scientific research, gender, and caste questions. It aims to present the lived experiences of Dalit women scholars in science from a sociological perspective. Masculinist, self-fashioned gendered ideologies have dominated the scientific practice of natural sciences in general. The participation of Indian women in scientific research is a very recent phenomenon. Women students from marginalised communities are almost invisible in so-called egalitarian educational institutions. They are deprived of academic resources and opportunities and are subjected to constructive discrimination based on their intersectional identity. This study attempts to unfold the lived experiences of Dalit women scholars, particularly in the scientific laboratories, through a feminist perspective. The study is based on Dalit women scholars from a central university in South India. In-depth interviews have been employed as tool of data collection and observed through the lens of feminist perspective. The study found that women scholars from marginalised sections were meagrely represented in science research. The unique experiences of Dalit women scholars have been made visible, which entail discriminatory attitudes and exclusionary practices leading to a struggling academic journey. Interestingly, women scholars have their agency in dealing with the challenges encountered.

Poetic transcription and its possibilities for (re)presentation

Two women scholars (Khmer and Black) explore how our subjectivities as researchers influence how we understand, give honor to, and (re)present our participants’ experiences in ways that value their humanity. Through phenomenological methods and poetic transcription, we seek more nuanced, creative, and powerful ways of positioning participants’ critical agency and highlighting the essence of their racialized experiences. In conceptualizing how qualitative researchers can integrate their positions and subjectivities into the research process as an asset, we identify the significant contributions our perspectives make when more thoughtfully incorporated with the lives and stories of our participants.

The University and Its Worlds

Panel Honouring the late Dr. Gülden Özcan, University of Lethbridge, Women Scholars’ Speaker Series

Honoring Gülden Özcan

Panel Honouring the late Dr. Gülden Özcan, University of Lethbridge, Women Scholars’ Speaker Series

A Conversation with Gülden

Panel Honouring the late Dr. Gülden Özcan, University of Lethbridge, Women Scholars’ Speaker Series

Kant’s approach to alterity and women

Accusing Kant of ‘sexism’ conceals what the real issues are: Kant was primarily making comments about women in his attempt to do popular philosophy and empirical science. Being an amateur at the empirical sciences, he actually was engaged in promoting gender norms for women especially. He was also concerned about international males conforming to the gender norms of working and self-governance. In addition, Kant engaged in the activity of gender policing and stereotyping women. His comments on women scholars and his treatment of Maria von Herbert illustrate these behaviors. When one assesses Kant’s distinctions between males and females it illustrates that he wants women to conform to gender roles, but this does not mean women cannot as rational human beings conform their actions to the moral law. What it does mean is that they probably will not conform their actions to the moral law, since conforming to the gender role of a woman in 18th century Germany was not conducive to self-governance. We can conclude anecdotally from Kant’s experience with Maria von Herbert that one’s dignity does not reside in gender norm conformity, nor in being under moral laws, but rather in working outside the home and acquiring a meaningful identity.

Discussions on academic women and women scholars in two magazines of the Finnish women’s movement, 1890–1939

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the history of Finnish academic women and examines the discussions about women’s academic education and women scholars that took place in two Finnish magazines of the women’s movement between 1890 and 1939. The article examines how the two magazines addressed the topics and represented academic women and women scholars. The results indicate that at first, access to higher education and the complex status of female students at the university were the centre of attention in the discussions. The discussions were supplemented by new tones, strengthening the support for educational equality in relation to human rights with utilitarian perspectives. The emphasis of the topics shifted during the first decade of the twentieth century, when the magazines raised public awareness of the career paths for women scholars. The representations of academic women and women scholars also highlighted the efforts of the women’s movement to promote the scholarly work of women pioneering in academic circles.