Woman Question Research Articles

‘Odd and incorrect’: Convention and Jane Eyre’s Feminist Legacy

This article investigates the Victorian reception of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847) and the collision of literary criticism with political commentary. Brontë’s novel has always had a reputation for being politically troublesome, but no one seems to know why. My essay develops two claims. First, I argue that the novel’s political slipperiness stems from its critics’ inability to agree on what the work actually is. Jane Eyre provoked contradictory judgements from readers who could not reconcile it with existing frameworks of literary convention. The stakes were high, as attempts to define the novel’s genre fused with attempts to produce a coherent sense of literary and social history. Second, I argue that the liberal feminist subject that modern criticism projects backwards onto Jane Eyre did not exist for Victorian readers, and that Brontë’s governess heroine instead activates a historically fraught relationship between character, type, and women’s economic and legal roles. Rather than addressing Jane Eyre directly, I treat it as the absent centre of a debate over convention, waged in reviews, pamphlets and essays, that merged literary criticism with political commentary and set crucial precedents for mid-Victorian legal debates on the woman question.

(052) Sexual Health and Clinical Sexology Specific Training Needs of Residents in Gynecology and Obstetrics

Abstract Introduction Assuming that the Obstetrician and Gynecologist (ObGyn) is the natural and first interlocutor for sexual questions in women, particular attention should be paid to their specific training in sexual health and clinical sexology. However, it turns out that the latter is neglected with little attention given to the development or implementation of specific curricular programs within the gynecologists’ residency programs. Objective This study aims to: - Identify and analyze the specific needs of the ObGyn residents in terms of education and training in Sexual Health and Clinical Sexology. - Discuss the methods of integrating a specific sexology training into their residency program to be adapted to the needs thus identified. Methods It is a knowledge, attitudes, and practices cross-sectional online study that took place over 5 weeks starting May 1st, 2021. All the ObGyn residents registered at the National College of Gynecology and Obstetrics were contacted through the College’s social media groups. The online questionnaire was a 9-item Google form elaborated in concertation with the Frequency, Gravity Problem (FGP) grid leading to 33 questions. Results With a response rate of 34 %, 94 residents participated in the survey. The participants were representative of the local population of ObGyn residents with an equal proportion of participants from the 5 years of the program. According to 69% of the participants, complaints or sexual disorders are rarely encountered during the ObGyn residency program courses. This finding was not correlated with the participants' residency level (R= 0.258, p> 0.05). The most frequently encountered sexual disorders during the clinical consultations were sexual disorders with pain (44.68%) and in particular vaginismus (75%). Regardless of the frequency of the disorders, the difficulties reported were primarily in the domain of knowledge (67.5%); then in the domain of know-how or practices (68%), and often in the domain of interpersonal skills (42.2%). Following the application of the rating system of the FGP grid, the main problems identified concerned sexual disorders with pain, in particular, vaginismus and then a decrease in female desire. Conclusions Following the analysis of these results and a review of the literature, we were able to propose the outline of a project to implement basic academic education and training in clinical sexology for the ObGyn residents. Disclosure No.

Narrative strategy of life story in the literature of Margaret Atwood

The subject of the research in this article is the narrative strategy of life description in the work of Margaret Atwood. Margaret Atwood (b. 1939) is a well–known modern Canadian writer, poet, and literary critic. The work of M. Atwood is considered in three main directions: the search for Canadian identity in the works of M. Atwood; the women's question and theories of feminism in the works of M. Atwood and speculative (conceptual) fiction in the works of M. Atwood. It is these three areas that the largest number of scientific papers about the Canadian writer are devoted to. Based on the life and creative path of M. Atwood, these three highways are justified. But behind them, the basis of the writer's work is lost – the narrative structure, to the study of which M. Atwood devoted many of her literary works. Based on the best practices of foreign and domestic narrative researchers, as well as on the research of M. Atwood herself, in this article we describe how a multi-level narrative of biography unfolds in the writer's fiction, implying a division into narrative layers. Each narrative layer is responsible for a certain time: the past, the present and the timelessness. The relevance and novelty of this article lies in an attempt to describe the narratives of M. Atwood, in isolation from the three main paths, and highlight the features of the narrative of the biography, which is key to the author's works. Thanks to the strategy of biography, the Canadian writer explores the nature of human memory, thinking, and fantasy. By placing the main character, the narrator, at the center of the narrative, M. Atwood allows her characters to independently analyze their own actions, their past, which brings her characters closer to real people. The characters of the writer, like real people, have general ideas about how a story should be built, a story and use literary techniques in talking about themselves. But, gradually opening up, the characters are the narrators of M. Atwood turns to a frank conversation, discarding literary decorations. The approach to the work of M. Atwood from the point of view of narrative, narratology helps to open new facets in the work of the famous author, to emphasize and actualize many artistic features of M. Atwood's books. Atwood, who remain in the shadows with a cultural and ideological approach.

FESPACO 2023, Pt. 3: The Political Is Never Far Removed

Abstract: After focusing on the questions of terrorism and women in the last installment of the Olivier Barlet Dossier ( Black Camera Fall 2023), this third article on the films from FESPACO 2023 looks at what might be considered political films. Yet for what emancipation? It may be a commonplace, but all images are political. Choosing the political as the theme of this third article on the films from FESPACO 2023 is very broad, then. Several films nonetheless stand out for their explicitly political nature, either focusing directly on political combats and taking activists as their subject, or clearly inscribing themselves in political history. But does this necessarily make them political? The question ought to be perhaps whether they are politically effective, or in other words, emancipatory? Do they help construct the freedom of the spectator, or ram home an uncontested message?

Community Practices, Published Guidelines, and Evidence Base Surrounding Breast Milk Handling and Storage: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Expressed breast milk (EBM) is the best alternative to direct breastfeeding. However, expressing breast milk requires good milk handling and storage practices to preserve EBM safety and integrity. Mothers require handling and storage guidance, and many seek this from the internet and online support groups. Aim: This study aimed at exploring EBM handling and storage practices within an online exclusively expressing community and comparing these with both internet resources and evidence-based research. Methods: A naturalistic observational design was used. Content analysis was undertaken on 10,000 posts from an Australian Facebook peer-support community for women who exclusively express breast milk. Women's questions, reported practices, and advice for EBM handling and storage were analyzed thematically and compared with both guidelines and evidence-based research. Findings: There were 460 posts on EBM handling and storage. Three key themes emerged: "How should I store my EBM?," "How long can I store my EBM?," and "How do I use my EBM?" The greatest consistency and agreement between recommendations and community practices were found for storage methods, whereas the least was found for storage times. EBM handling and storage practices were influenced by factors such as EBM value, convenience, and cost, leading to occasional deviations from consistent practice recommendations. Conclusion: To facilitate safe EBM handling and continuation of expression, guidelines should be updated so they are consistent, align with current evidence, and cater to mothers' cost, convenience, and milk wastage concerns. Health care providers can partner with women to evaluate online information to empower mothers in their decision making.

MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT’S PROJECT FOR A REFORM OF THE MINDS

In my investigation, I analyse aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft’s thought regarding the traditional education of women, her programme of education, the question of women’s rights, and the condition of women. I moreover investigate Mary Wollstonecraft’s proposal of new theological foundations for religious belief. Mary Wollstonecraft aims to propose a revolution in female manners. Her revolution is a revolution of minds: she aims to reach a complete reform in the education and the formation of individuals, in general, and of women, in particular. Mary Wollstonecraft’s revolution is a revolution for the spiritual independence of individuals. To reach the condition of independence, traditional education ought to be criticised and refused since traditional education is the system through which women are transformed into dependent entities. Power over oneself, liberation from passions, and autonomy of judgment are the main targets of Mary Wollstonecraft’s programme of education. The correct foundation of the individual ought to be reason. Mary Wollstonecraft proves to be a deeply religious thinker: she steadily connects the promotion of the dignity of mankind to a new way of worship of Deity. The centrality of reason profoundly influences her theological assumptions: Mary Wollstonecraft refuses all forms of reverence based on blind submission to God. The main texts of my inquiry are A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men.

Of Dreams and Denials: The Imagined History in Mahasweta Devi’s Draupadi and Mother of 1084

This article aims to discuss the role played by women participants in the Naxalbari movement through a study of Mahasweta Devi’s works. The position of women within a male dominated movement and their fate once they are in police captivity following their arrest has been examined. The article tries to map the differences of experiences of women Naxalites of the rural and urban areas. There has been scholarly intervention which has established the major role played by women in the movement; however, the question of women’s representation and interpretation of the movement remains largely unexplored. Considering the third world women’s engagement with feminism the article attempts to study the subordination and expression of dissent within the framework of the movement and beyond it. It also tries to understand the alternative nonviolent modes of protest that women chose to register their dissent.

Breastfeeding in the United States Among Women With HIV: Con Viewpoint.

To breast feed or not has long been a difficult question for women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in high-income countries, as undetectable HIV in maternal plasma does not translate to zero risk of transmission while breastfeeding, and clean water and formula are readily available. Recent, and more permissive, changes in US and other high-income-country guidelines regarding breastfeeding underscore this issue and acknowledge the information gaps that are essential for informed maternal choice and provider management. These include lack of guidance as to routine monitoring of mothers during lactation, type and length of prophylaxis for infants, and lack of data on factors associated with increased breast-milk viral load and risk of transmission. Ancillary to data are the education and staffing needs for providers participating in the management of breastfeeding individuals. Future studies of breast-milk transmission will need to evaluate these gaps so that we can move transmission to zero.

United States Synod Participation and Questions of Women in the Church

The responses of 178 Latin dioceses in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to the Preparatory Document for the Synod on Synodality were synthesized in fourteen regional reports. From these reports, and a report of lay groups, the USCCB produced the US report, which was synthesized with 111 other national reports into the Working Document for the Continental Stage (DCS). The latter was provided to seven continental assemblies. North American participants discussed the DCS in virtual meetings, and a writing team produced the North American report. The synthesized result of the continental assemblies’ reports was the synod’s 2023 Instrumentum laboris. This article discusses US diocesan participation and the North American response to the DCS as they contributed to the Instrumentum laboris’ statement relative to “the question of women’s inclusion in the diaconate.” It includes a table documenting US diocesan responses to questions of women’s participation in the Church.

Chiny zapożyczone i zapośredniczone. Głos publicystyczny Elizy Orzeszkowej w sprawie równouprawnienia

The article aims to present Eliza Orzeszkowa’s unusual publicist voice on the question of women’s equal rights. The unusualness is related to her use of Confucius as a figure of transfer, as well as her referring to the scientific and doctrinal fragments of his Chinese philosophical and social teachings. Eliza Orzeszkowa’s passion for journalism resulted in a series of statements on the so-called woman question. In 2020, non-redacted parts of the manuscript of a study on women’s equal rights, found in Vilnius by Iwona Wiśniewska, were published in print. The writer devoted first parts of her text to the position of woman in ancient cultures. She referred, interalia, to Confucius’ philosophical thought, which she adopted as one of the points of departure for defining her own vision of equal rights. However, she drew on the Confucian themes from secondary sources, citing the study of Edward Prądzyński. An important channel for transmitting the Confucian thought to Europe was the thought of the Enlightenment, which, as Grażyna Borkowska argues, is crucial for the discussion of the writer’s position on the woman question.

Women's collectives and social support: exploring pathways and impacts among forcibly displaced women.

During humanitarian crises, women face both heightened vulnerabilities and a disruption to their social networks. Previous research points to the positive impact of women's collectives in low-income settings, but less is known about the distinct forms, mechanisms, and consequences of the social support that emerges from these collectives, particularly for women affected by conflict. Recognizing the importance of social support in such contexts, this study utilizes the photovoice methodology to examine the dynamics of social support across women's collectives in three distinct settings. This study recruited forcibly displaced women participating in women's collectives in Indonesia (n = 5), Jordan (n = 12), and Uganda (n = 11). Photovoice, a participatory research method that centers the voices of study participants, was implemented across 7-8 sessions in each setting. Participants took photographs in response to four prompts and then discussed their pictures and lived experiences related to social support in facilitated discussion groups. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and a mixed inductive and deductive approach. Across all study sites, participants highlighted the importance of five types of informal social support: emotional, instrumental, informational, companionship, and esteem support. Emotional support, one of the most prominently mentioned forms, served to buffer against stressors and enhance mental well-being. Instrumental and informational support facilitated meeting basic needs, accessing resources, and, in Uganda, improving members' physical safety. Companionship support fostered a sense of belonging and shared identity, while esteem support validated members' perspectives and aspirations and bolstered self-worth. In the Jordan collective, esteem support proved especially beneficial in countering the marginalization members experienced in their community. Findings underscore the critical role of women's collectives in providing diverse forms of social support to foster empowerment, agency, and resilience among forcibly displaced women. By centering the voices of participants and employing survivor-centered approaches like photovoice, this study amplifies the perspectives of women within these collectives, contributing to more inclusive and responsive humanitarian interventions. Future research should continue prioritizing women's experiences and research questions, ensuring that interventions address their needs effectively.

The Tension between Individual Desires and Societal Expectation: George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss

George Eliot (Mary Anna Evans) is considered to be one of the greatest female writers of all time. She was an extremely brilliant woman, and her writing style reflects this. She was an avid reader who deconstructed the characters as she read. She also employed this strategy in her writing style. She describes everything that is going on in the character’s thoughts, and his or her psychology is presented to the readers without any effort. Her presentation of psychological qualities in characters, according to some critics, brings life to her lifeless characters and produces distinctiveness and beauty in her works. If we remove the psychological components from her characters and works, they will perish and her work would be rendered useless. This paper examines the constraints and inequities that paralyze and confine Victorian women in George Eliot’s renowned novel The Mill on the Floss, with an emphasis on the heroine Maggie Tulliver. Initially, background information on the author is presented, and then the novel is handled from the perspective of a woman question in the Victorian Era, juxtaposing the circumstances provided to male and female children in the Victorian era, in which cleverness is regarded as a hindrance rather than a virtue. Maggie, the protagonist, scrutinizes the attributes of New Woman. The paper reveals that Victorian women were regarded as the angels in the house who needed to be protected by men, highlighting the protagonist’s dilemma between her duties and desires in a patriarchal society that limits women from educational, intellectual, and social aspects, allowing them no pleasure of life. To summarize, this paper treats The Mill on the Floss as a critique of Victorian society, which suffocates women, leaving them with little space for pleasure, intellectuality, or uniqueness, and underlines that such a culture is bad for both males and females.

ОБРАЗ ЖІНКИ-ТРУДІВНИЦІ НА СТОРІНКАХ РАДЯНСЬКОЇ ЖІНОЧОЇ ПЕРІОДИКИ (1950-ТІ – 1980-ТІ РОКИ)

The article critically analyzes the idealized portrayal of the woman worker in the Soviet public sphere from the 1950s to the 1980s. One of the primary instruments shaping women's images within the official discourse of the Soviet state was womenʼs periodicals. These publications mirrored stereotypical perceptions of women and diverse expectations concerning their social roles, encompassing their professional engagements. Drawing upon materials sourced from prominent women’s magazines such as “Rabotnitsa,” “Sovetskaya Zhenshchina,” and “Radianska Zhinka,” the article endeavors to reconstruct the representation of a woman worker in the USSR. This representation amalgamated womenʼs activity, industriousness, selflessness, and a heightened level of motivation. Official propaganda consistently emphasized women’s emancipation in the USSR and advocated for gender equality, facilitated by the opportunity for women to work in traditionally "male-dominated" fields, including various sectors of heavy industry. The persistent promotion of this idealized image aimed to stimulate greater female involvement in production. Additionally, the positive portrayal of the woman worker was actively leveraged in propaganda rhetoric to showcase the purported "achievements" of the Soviet government in addressing the "woman question," attaining gender equality, and highlighting the "advantages" of living in a socialist state. However, the propagated image, upon closer examination, diverged significantly from reality. In their professional pursuits, women consistently encountered discrimination, exclusion from highly skilled professions, limitations in opportunities to assume leadership roles, and numerous stereotypes regarding women's competence in professional spheres.

Pavlina Bogdan Bijelić - Traditional Female Identity on the Threshold of Modernity

The writings of teacher and ethnographer Pavlina Bogdan Bijelić provides a rare opportunity to gain insight into women’s professional advancements in Dubrovnik at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century from the perspective of ego-documents, using the case study method. Bogdan Bijelić’s personal attitudes and professional choices were analyzed in the context of accelerated social, economic and political circumstances. The focus is on three aspects of Bogdan Bijelić’s public activity: professional positioning in the cultural milieu of Dalmatia and Croatia, the interaction between politics and women (including her), and Bogdan Bijelić’s participation in the discourse on the “woman question.”

Women and Higher Education In India

Education is the crucial mark by which the growth and development of a country can be measured and as such it has achieved an enviable position in the society. For an individual, education helps to train the mind, edge the intellect and upgrade the spirit. Advanced education has a special significance in the environment of a quasi-traditional or transitional society like India. There are two different views on the question of women’s participation in advanced education-traditional and ultramodern. The traditional view supports women’s education to equip them to become entrepreneurs. The ultramodern station visualizes education as an instrument for women’s equivalency and development. Theoretically the need for advanced education for both males and ladies is the same. But virtually it could be said that female education is more important than that of a man. In this connection is applicable a statement of a champion- Vice President and noted educationist Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. He says, “There cannot be educated people without educated women. However, the occasion should be given to women, If general education has to be limited to men or women. From them it would most surely be passed on to the coming generation. This paper shall attempt to dissect the present position of advanced education in India and women’s participation in the process as also have a look at the necessity and factors responsible for women’s participation in advanced education and make suggestions towards accelerating women’s participation in advanced education in India.

Finitude and woman


 This article explores the connection among woman, sex, and finitude. In stuying finitude, the argument follows the articulation of finitude with woman. In a first part, it discusses three “women” writers—Virginia Woolf, Simone De Beauvoir, and Hélène Cixous—to establish their thoughts on woman in terms of finitude. The three of them are identified as women and yet they problematized what to be a woman is. In tracing their thoughts on finitude and woman, sexual difference –the body as enjoying emerges as an issue. Thus, in a second part, it discusses two seemingly opposed positions—Lacanian psychoanalysis, with Joan Copjec, and deconstruction, with Derrida—to think further about the question of woman, sexual difference, the “two,” and finitude. This study compares the Lacanian feminine side with the movement of deconstruction and establishes the necessity of thinking a “two” beyond the binary of phallogocentrism. My thesis is that thinking finitude with woman leads us to a non-oppositional two that correlates with sexual difference. The Lacanian feminine side, and Derrida’s deconstruction aim to think these two logics, delineating two sides: a male one (comparable with phallogocentrism) and a feminine side (comparable with the movement of deconstruction). If the male side considers finitude (death) as the limit of life, the feminine side opens to death and life, and the in-finitude of the undetermined and undecidable. In thinking finitude with woman, the knowledge of what to be a woman is, becomes undetermined and undecidable. 

No name in the street: Unknowability, Black women, and missing geographies

Renisha McBride, who was killed by a white homeowner while seeking help after a car crash, made national headlines due to her murderer’s stand your ground defense failing to absolve him of manslaughter charges. This article argues that a key factor in McBride’s justice claims were the unknown characteristics of her encounter with the murderer that allowed family members to advocate on her behalf. Using the Black Feminist concept of unknowability, I look at how news media discourses about McBride’s unknown space and time prior to her encounter made her invisible while facilitating the continuous questioning of the events that night. Through an analysis of McBride’s negative portrayals in news media and court proceedings along with family members’ testimonies, I consider the ways unknowability affords Black women the ability to move from geographies of invisibility to visibility through a constant questioning of Black women’s relationship to space. I argue that unknowability allowed McBride to obtain some form of juridical justice.

Notable enough? The questioning of women’s biographies on Wikipedia

ABSTRACT This study focuses on biographies nominated for deletion in the German-language Wikipedia and the encyclopedia’s core principle of notability. Results are presented from quantitative content analyses of deletion nominations, discussions, and decisions from the year 2020. It shows that women’s biographies are more often called into question but not deleted more often than men’s biographies. Additionally, women’s biographies are discussed more controversially. Neither a lack of notability criteria, a lack of external sources, nor individual misogynistic users seem to cause this increased questioning. Instead, the results suggest that the notability of women is collectively surveilled and contested with higher intensity due to biased perceptions. This can be explained by the fact that the concept of notability is not value-free or gender-neutral in the first place—even though it is based on rational discourse. The gender gap in biographies is contentiously discussed by users themselves, too, while overt sexism and gender-based devaluations are effectively countered by engaged users.

Women footballers in Indochina: a place in the stadium?

ABSTRACT Indochinese women footballers proclaim a degree of liberty and very considerable autonomy; they thus play an essential role in extending women’s emancipation in Indochina. They aim to gain a level of social and human dignity enabling women to assert themselves through an identity of gender more than of social status. This article examines the social, economic and political background of the emergence of the active female figure in the sporting world of Indochina vis-a-vis its European counterpart. It also addresses the debates on the question of women’s liberation or emancipation through sport alias football in Vietnamese society.

The unrealised potential of women’s political leadership in the Caribbean: a co-constitutive approach

ABSTRACT Gendered relations of power coupled with socio-cultural structures such as class, continue to limit opportunities for women who aspire to political leadership in the Caribbean. This article argues that the enduring influences of patriarchy and classism substantively impinge upon the freedom of women to fully participate in political leadership, thereby creating a capability failure. The author suggests that the Capabilities Approach (CA) is a critical missing link in efforts designed to address the question of women’s limited political engagement in the Caribbean. Specifically, integrating CA into current strategies can help us to understand the possibilities for and limits on individual women’s agency in the political sphere. As such, the author suggests a co-constitutive framework that uses CA in conjunction with established strategies such as quotas, for addressing the issue. This proposed method aims to redirect policy foci to the quality of women’s political participation and not just the quantity.