Women In Lithuania Research Articles

Between Hegemonic and Subordinated Masculinities: Men, Their Sexuality and Politics of Masculinity in Contemporary Lithuania

The article examines hegemonic and subordinated forms of masculinity in contemporary Lithuania. Using the opinion survey „The Crisis of Male Roles in Lithuania” (2002) and a wide array of literature theorizing men and masculinities, it attempts to answer the following questions: how can we assess the influence of different masculinities to men themselves and gender policies in Lithuania? What kind of masculinity policy can support a feminist project of social transformation?
 The survey „The Crisis of Male Roles in Lithuania” allows us to conclude that both Lithuanian men and women largely support traditional norms of hegemonic masculinity. This masculinity is based on heterosexuality, economic autonomy, being able to provide for one’s family, being rational, being successful, keeping one’s emotions in check and not doing anything considered feminine.
 The dominant form of masculinity in Lithuania is constructed not only in relation to femininities but also in relation to subordinated and marginalized masculinities, particularly homosexual masculinities. Homosexuality is the repository of everything that is symbolically expelled from hegemonic masculinity. As the survey demonstrates, homophobia is much stronger among men than women in Lithuania. This can be explained by the fact that in order to be „real men” males have to separate themselves from both women and homosexual men. Furthermore, Lithuanian men’s negative attitude towards homosexuality can also be related to their traditional attitudes toward gender roles and family. The view that gays transgress the gender system is rather widespread among them.
 The author argues that the dominance of a single model of masculinity at the expense of multiple masculinities makes men more vulnerable to acts of violence against themselves and their families. The article advocates self-awareness and critical reflection about gender identities among men and male groups that could help dismantle hegemonic masculinity and dispel the notion that there is only one way to be a ‘real man’. Promoting models of masculinity along less sexist, homophobic and misogynist lines could benefit both women and men.

Konfliktinė hegemonija: žiniasklaida ir moterys Lietuvoje bei Europos Sąjungoje

Recent research has demonstrated that there has been little improvement in quality of media coverage of women in Lithuania. Women’s images are usually sexualized, stereotyped or simply negative. In the media portrayals, women are often confined to the private sphere of home.
 The article focuses on media representations of women in the context of women-and-media policies in EU and Lithuania. Analyzing the EU, UN and Lithuanian communication policy documents and describing briefly the key media and gender issues in EU and Lithuania, it demonstrates the lack of gender-equal media policy and the sluggishness with which the existing media policy with regard to gender issues is enforced in Lithuania.
 Addressing the pluralism of women’s roles and images in the media, and fair and sufficient media coverage of women, the article also discusses feminist and post-feminist media studies that could offer more complex and sophisticated media research strategies.
 The article also proposes some recommendations that could change, to some degree, the existing media and gender situation for the better. The author suggests that policy recommendations need a strong network of public, official and private institutions in order to be implemented successfully.
 Placing considerable importance on eliminating stereotypes of women and on promoting diverse and nonstereotyped images of women in the media, the article uses the term “conflicted hegemony”. “Conflicted hegemony” implies that the media provide a site for conflicts and debates over different interpretations of the dominant culture, and that ideological counter-tendencies always appear in the dominant ideological forms. Policy recommendations, media research techniques and alternative media interpretations by their consumers can serve as resistance strategies to this hegemony.

Dilemmas in private/public discourse: Contexts for gender-based violence against women in Lithuania

Relations between women and men have long been ordered around the public/private dichotomy as the basic arrangement of social existence. Public and private are ideologically determined as well as socially constructed categories reflected in the activities ascribed to women and men, images of femininity and masculinity, gender relationships and the existing normative order. Post-Soviet transformations in Lithuania brought with them shifts in the private/public dichotomy, as well as in gender identities and representations through which the Soviet gender regime was constituted. The way gender was organized under socialism figures importantly in all aspects of family interaction and organization during the last decade of democratization. The way gender equality was legislated served to reinforce the significance of gender difference even while ostensibly undermining it. The discussion of the retraditionalization process, including gender naturalization and family “privatization”, discloses its implications for gender relations, family life, and gender-based violence within it.

Lung cancer among men and women in Lithuania

Lung cancer among men and women in Lithuania

Concepts and Practices in Italian Social Work

In 2004, Siauliai University Social Research Centre carried out research commissioned by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and aimed at developing a service model for rehabilitation and re-integration of the victims of trafficking in women and prostitution with regard to the peculiarities of the existing rehabilitation and re-integration service system. The new model should foresee the content and the direction of services offered to the victims as well as preconditions for creating the network of systemic services. The following problem questions have been posed: what are the achievements/strengths or weaknesses/ shortcomings of projects dealing with rehabilitation and re-integration of the victims of trafficking in women and prostitution, already implemented and supported by the Ministry of Social Security and Labor? What factors determine or limit the successful integration of the victims into the system of rehabilitation services? How should such services be developed in the future to achieve their higher efficiency? In what way should the system of services to the victims of trafficking in women and prostitution be expanded to ensure a better functioning of all the links of the system? A qualitative research methodology has been applied for analysis: representatives of 12 organizations providing rehabilitation services for trafficking victims were interviewed; in addition, interviews were carried out with members of police, public administration and other specialists. An extra analysis of the documents of several implemented rehabilitation projects and semi-standardized written survey of project administrators was carried out. Social construction and personal empowerment theories constitute the theoretical background of the research. Some weaknesses of the rehabilitation system for the victims of trafficking in women in Lithuania have been revealed: unfavorable attitudes of the potential members of the rehabilitation system towards the victims, the importance and prospects of their reintegration; collaboration among the project partners, mostly NGOs, is not based on the concept of networking; collaboration among various agencies, especially NGOs, police and municipality, is more of an accidental character; getting victims into re-integration system is problematic due to the insufficient collaboration between service providers, police and international organizations as well as to the insufficient community awareness about the services; etc. Strengths: most often the projects are carried out by NGOs, the specific features of which (no negative stereotypes, the understanding of the person and situation of the victim, constant co-existence, confidentiality, etc.) allow them to provide re-integration services successfully. Threats: the departmental separation of agencies dealing with problems of trafficking in human beings and re-integration of its victims on both the highest (ministries) and lower level (concrete institutions) may cause the fact that the essence and the complexity of the problem is overlooked. Opportunities: with the integration of the European humanistic child rearing and education model within the systems of education and social security of Lithuania, the move from segregated institutional towards community model is likely to appear, which in its turn would decrease the number of potential victimizing environments and victims. The researchers’ recommendations have been channeled in two directions. An empowering rehabilitation and reintegration service model for victims of trafficking in women and prostitution has been designed. The model envisages three levels of integration and rehabilitation services: necessary help, social-psychological and educational-professional services. Accordingly, three definitions of trafficking in women and prostitution victim are provided. Besides, the article construes innovative networking model of rehabilitation services for the victims of trafficking in women and prostitution. The model foresees that service providing organizations apply to the Ministry of Social Security and Labour to participate in the network of rehabilitation and re-integration to provide concrete services or to coordinate the network.