Women's Communication Research Articles

Women’s groups and information provision in rural Kenya

This article identifies factors that affect the provision of information in rural Kenya as: government’s limited support of the information sector, male dominance, conflict of interests of information providers, media interests, and nepotism. It shows ways to remedy the situation by recommending the need to recognize women’s groups’ role in providing information structures and systems relevant to information use among rural communities. It concludes by urging researchers in information and communication fields to consider the pursuit to investigate new roles of women in communication.

Drug-Using Women's Communication with Social Supporters about HIV/AIDS Issues

Communication about health issues such as HIV/AIDS is essential for people, especially women, to obtain the social support they need either to prevent illness or manage it. This article compares the kinds of HIV-related issues that HIV positive and HIV negative substance-abusing women (N=211) in New York City talk about with various types of supporters. Despite the stigma associated with AIDS and their unconventional lifestyles, both groups of women talked to a broad spectrum of supporters about a variety of HIV-related issues, though this was more the case for HIV positive women. Although the main topic that both groups discussed with their supporters was their HIV status, the women also talked about risk reduction, their supporters' HIV status, HIV testing, how to live with AIDS, information about HIV/AIDS, and the emotional impact of AIDS (e.g., fear of infection, reactions to learning test results, and the impact of knowing others who have died from the disease).

Gay and Lesbian Language

▪ Abstract The past two decades have witnessed a minor explosion in publications dealing with the ways in which gay men and lesbians use language. In fact, though, work on the topic has been appearing in several disciplines (philology, linguistics, women's studies, anthropology, and speech communication) since the 1940s. This review charts the history of research on “gay and lesbian language,” detailing earlier concerns and showing how work of the 1980s and 1990s both grows out of and differs from previous scholarship. Through a critical analysis of key assumptions that guide research, this review argues that gay and lesbian language does not and cannot exist in the way it is widely imagined to do. The review concludes with the suggestion that scholars abandon the search for gay and lesbian language and move on to develop and refine concepts that permit the study of language and sexuality, and language and desire.

Organizing for Social Change Through Cooperative Action: The [Dis]Empowering Dimensions of Women's Communication

The present article investigates a communication, education, and training intervention program intended to initiate a sense of empowerment among women dairy farmers in India. A conceptualization of communication and empowerment is offered. The empowering and disempowering dimensions of women's communication are highlighted through the participants' own words and experiences. Our analysis of the communicative dimensions of women's empowerment yields 3 important insights. First, women's empowerment is displayed through different forms of communication and feminist action, particularly when women organize to accomplish social change within their families and communities. Second, empowerment is embedded in democratic practices, especially when women discuss issues and make decisions that improve their quality of life. Third, paradox and contradiction are an important part of the empowerment process.

Heterosexual Risk for HIV Among Puerto Rican Women: Does Power Influence Self-Protective Behavior?

Lack of power in relationships has been offered as an explanation for why women do not always engage in safer sex behavior with male partners. However, few studies have empirically tested the association between power and self-protective behavior. Causal modeling procedures were used to examine the interrelations of seven measures of power and to examine the effects of power on women's HIV-related communication and condom use with male partners. Power was measured by education, employment, decision making, perceived alternatives to the relationship, commitment to the relationship, investment in the relationship, and absence of abuse in the relationship. The sample comprised 187 Puerto Rican women, aged 18-35 years, attending a comprehensive health clinic in the Bronx, New York, who were at risk for heterosexual transmission of HIV. Women who were currently employed and those who were more committed to their relationships reported less HIV-related communication. Condom use was predicted by shorter length of the relationship, more education, current employment, less investment in the relationship, and more HIV-related communication.

“If the Guards Only Knew”: Communication Education for Women in Prison

The next time you listen to legislators, reporters, and prison officials speak on the topic of criminals and prisons, note how rarely the reference is to a female. The generic “criminal” or “prisoner” is unquestionably assumed to be male. This condition may occur because, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (1991), women make up less than six percent of the state and federal prison population in the United States. Yet the alarming fact is, as Bloom (1997) points out, that during the twelve months ending June 3D, 1996, the number of women under the juri sdiction of state and federal prison authorities showed an increase of 6.4 percent while the number of men rose 5.2 percent (p. 7). My interests in writing this commentary are to point out that there are women in prison in increasing numbers; that we can do something to make the time they serve more productive, especially with educational programs designed to increase their mental well-being; and that we might thereby aid in decreasing recidivism. With these points in mind, I propose two objectives in this essay: (1) to encourage women in communication to investigate in their own communit ies the degree to which educational opportunities for incarcerated women are lacking; and (2) to develop communication programs to benefit the women who are incarcerated. In these pages, I describe the course I have developed which is centered on the creation and the communicative performance of poetry, prose, and other aesthetic literature by women incarcerated in an Arizona medium security prison facility.

Erratum

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02634509710193163. When citing the article, please cite: Sue Freeman, Richard Varey, (1997), “Women communicators in the workplace: natural born marketers?”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 15 Iss: 7, pp. 318 - 324.

An intervention for changing high‐risk HIV behaviors of African American drug‐dependent women

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of an AIDS education intervention for methadone-dependent, African American women. The women were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 107) or control (n = 97) group. The experimental group participated in a peer counseling and leadership training program conducted by two experienced nurse counselors over an 8-week period, followed by 8 weeks of reinforcement. The program was designed to reduce AIDS high-risk sexual behavior, increase self-esteem, decrease depressive affect, and increase the women's community-based AIDS prevention communication activities. A total of 130 women completed all phases of the study, including longitudinal Posttests at 2, 4, and 7 months after enrollment. Compared to the control group, there were statistically significant differences in three of the outcomes for the experimental group: The experimental group reported an increased number of safer sexual behaviors (p = 0.029), showed decreases in depression (p = 0.001), and reported engaging in more AIDS-related, community-based communication activities regarding prevention (p = 0.005). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs Health 21:239–250, 1998

Book Reviews : What Women Want—Values and Visions: A Social Survey (The Report from the What Women Want Social Survey; Women's Communication Centre, 1966

Book Reviews : What Women Want—Values and Visions: A Social Survey (The Report from the What Women Want Social Survey; Women's Communication Centre, 1966

Women communicators in the workplace: natural born marketers?

With the rise in calls for the democratizing of the workplace and for greater entrepreneurship and innovation in work roles, the concept of internal marketing has achieved some prominence as a mechanism, especially for service firms. Considers the possibility that women may be “natural” internal marketers and that, when they establish and dominate the culture of a business enterprise, this may make for more cohesive organizational arrangements and hence more successful business. Introduces a framework for operating a parallel or collateral organization which focuses on development and improvement and considers its implications for management style. Examines characteristics of the male and female character structure to see how they might impact on communication and management style. Concludes that female managers will be characteristically more at home with the requirements of a marketized enterprise and that this can be of positive benefit to the “health” of members’ working relationships and of overall corporate performance.

Women's emotional well-being: The importance of communicating sexual needs

Women's emotional and sexual well-being have been shown in recent work to depend on gynaecological health. Women experiencing gynaecological problems are generally worse off on measures of depression, self-esteem and satisfaction with their sexual life than those who either have no gynaecological problems or have undergone hysterectomy. The present work, based on a study of 656 Western Australian women, shows that psychosexual health is also strongly related to the quality of a woman's communication with her partner about sexual needs. The disparities in emotional well-being between those who communicate well and those who communicate poorly in this area are of greater magnitude than the disparities associated with health status. Further, the disparities attributable to quality of communication are unrelated to those associated with health status, so that the dependence of well-being on communication is essentially new information, and information of a kind that could support the development of useful non-medical interventions for problems which might otherwise be seen as primarily medical.

Women in communication: a biographical sourcebook

Foreword by Alan Rubin Introduction by Nancy Signorielli Mary Clemmer Ames (1831-1884) by Patricia Dooley Sandra Ball-Rokeach (1941- ) by Amy Nathanson Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) by Ginger Carter Helen Gurly Brown (1922- ) by Candace Lewis Judee Burgoon (1948- ) by Beth LePoire Joanne Cantor (1945- ) by Amy Nathanson Peggy Charen (1928- ) by Ellen Wartella Connie Chung (1946- ) by Susan Kahlenberg Ruth Crane (1902-1989) by Norma Pecora Dorothy Day (1897-1980) by Pam Shoemaker Brenda Dervin (1938- ) by Carol Barbato Nancy Hanschman Dickerson (1927- ) by Christine L. Ogan Dorothy Dix (1861-1951) by Roger A. Haney Elaine Goodale Eastman (1863-1953) by Julie Dobrow Mary Anne Fitzpatrick (1949- ) by Beth Haslett Pauline Frederick (1908-1990) by Louise Benjamin Ellen Goodman (1941- ) by Julie Dobrow Doris Graber (1923- ) by Douglas McLeod Katharine Graham (1917- ) by Candace Lewis Sarah J. Hale (1788-1879) by Diane Umble Herta Herzog (1910- ) by Elizabeth M. Perse Marguerite Higgins (1920-1966) by Jessica Staples Hilde Himmelweit (1918-1989) by Scott Caplan Althea Huston (1939- ) by John Murray Kathleen Jamieson by David Birdsell Jeanne Kilbourne (1943- ) by Juliet Dee Dorothy May Kilgallen (1913-1965) by Sheila Crifasi Gladys Lang (1919- ) by William P. Eveland, Jr. Mary Margaret McBride (1889-1976) by Sheila Crifasi Anne O'Hare McCormick (1880-1954) by Margot Hardenbergh Sarah McCune (1941- ) by Candace Lewis Margaret McLaughlin (1943- ) by Wendy Samter Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916- ) by K. Viswanath Helen Rogers Reid (1882-1970) by Elizabeth Burt Cokie Roberts (1943- ) by Juliet Dee L. Edna Rogers (1933- ) by Carol Wilder Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) by Maureen Beasley Anne Newport Royall (1769-1854) by Carol Sue Humphrey Rebecca Rubin (1948- ) by Beth Graham Jessica Savitch (1947-1983) by Sue Lawrence Dorothy Singer (1927- ) by Robert Miller Gloria Steinem (1934- ) by Johnna Moyers Ida Minerva Tarbell (1893-1944) by Amy Sarch Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961) by James Tankard Judith Waller (1889-1973) by Louise Benjamin Barbara Walters (1929- ) by Suzanne Marcus Ellen Wartella (1949- ) by Alison Alexander Ida Baker Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) by Dorothy Zeccola Appendix: Short Biographies of Notable Women in Communication

Sex differences and group argument: A theoretical framework and empirical investigation

In this article, we examine sex differences and similarities in group argument. We begin by positing a theoretical framework for analyzing women's and men's argument in group settings and present this framework as the basis for six hypotheses about women's and men's argument communication. Results of a content analysis of 45 group discussions revealed that women agreed more often, asked more questions, challenged others less often, and qualified others' arguments less often than did men in group argument. Men and women were more similar in their overall production of arguables, objections, and personal narratives. The implications of these findings for future research in this domain are discussed.

Doing gender and building culture: Toward a model of women's intercultural communication

The author proposes a model of women's intercultural communication and illustrates how it can be used as a heuristic tool through a case study. The “third‐culture building”; model is promising in that it extends the view of culture being constructed through communication to intercultural situations. The notion of gender as cultural practice is also promoted. These 2 perspectives are integrated into a model proposing that women participating in intercultural communication can be seen as engaging in a culture building process. This is inseparable from the gendered practices in which the women participate and the creation of gendered meanings that are shared among them. This culture building model can guide the analysis of intercultural communication events, as is shown through a study of introductions in international wives’ support groups, where participants attempt to create a shared personhood using gendered practices as resources of culture building.

Reflexive communication in the culturally diverse workplace

Introduction Demography: New Realities, New Imperatives Culture, Communication and Management Reflexive Communication Microskills for Reflexive Communication The White Male Communication Paradigm Women's Communication Paradigm The African American Communication Paradigm The Hispanic Communication Paradigm The Asian American Communication Paradigm The Communication Paradigm of the United States in the Twenty-first Century Index

Centers of change: An introduction to women's own communication programs

(1996). Centers of change: An introduction to women's own communication programs. Communication Education: Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 315-321.

Introducing Emergency Contraceptive Services: Communications Strategies and the Role of Women's Health Advocates

E mergency contraception refers to the prevention of pregnancy through use of contraceptive methods after unprotected intercourse. Contraceptives that can be used for emergencies include the IUD and a variety of hormonal methods. Although emergency contraception was first used in the 1960s, it is a largely unknown method: A review of the scientific literature shows a widespread lack of knowledge among both providers and women about emergency contraceptive methods, how to use them, and where to obtain services.' The fact that emergency contraception remains so little used or understood can be traced to a myriad of factors: legal and regulatory obstacles, cultural influences that discourage its provision and use, service delivery obstacles and, above all, lack of knowledge. Research suggests that if emergency contraception were well known and generally available, many women who experience unprotected intercourse would use it rather than resort to abortion.2 In developing countries, where many thousands of women experience unwanted pregnancies and an estimated 70,000 to 200,000 women die each year from complications related to clandestine abortions performed in unsafe conditions,3 emergency contraception could save many lives by preventing unplanned pregnancies. The purpose of this article is to suggest ways in which emergency contraception can be responsibly and safely introduced into established health services and to discuss the role of women's health advocacy groups and communications efforts in this process. No single path to the introduction of emergency contraception will prove acceptable or relevant in all settings. Nevertheless, numerous issues and questions should be addressed by all countries and programs seeking to improve women's access to emergency contraception. Given the widespread lack of knowledge and availability of emergency contraception, how does one go about crafting strategies to introduce it into public or private health service delivery programs? What assessments, introductory research, consensus-building steps, and communication and training programs must be undertaken? Who are likely to be the actors in this introduction effort, and what roles should they play? Which audiences are the most important, and what messages should they be given?

Men's and Women's Evaluations of Communication Skills in Personal Relationships: When Sex Differences Make a Difference and when they don't

Much recent research on gender and communication has emphasized differences in men's and women's communicative conduct, with some theorists going so far as to claim that men and women constitute different cultures. However, comparatively little research has assessed both similarities and differences in men and women's communication to determine whether the sexes are more alike or different. The present paper provides such assessments with respect to men's and women's evaluations of the importance of diverse communication skills in two relationships, friendship and romance. Two studies are reported. In Study 1, participants (N = 382) evaluated the importance of eight communication skills in same-sex friendships. Results indicated that although females rated affectively oriented communication skills as somewhat more important than males and males rated instrumentally oriented skills as somewhat more important than females, both males and females overwhelmingly viewed affectively oriented skills as more important than instrumental skills. Study 2 sought to replicate and extend the findings of Study 1 by having participants ( N = 685) evaluate the importance of eight communication skills for either same-sex friendship or opposite-sex romances. Results virtually identical to those of Study 1 were obtained in Study 2 for both friendship and romance. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of communication in personal relation ships and the different cultures perspective.

The Normality of Man and Female Otherness: (Re) Producing Patriarchal Lines of Argument in the Law and the News

A distinguishing feature of feminist inquiry in every discipline is its political commitment to resisting patriarchal modes of thought and action. So while an assortment of feminist scholarship embraces a variety of assumptions, feminisms take as one of their central tasks the subversion of hierarchical structures that subordinate women to men (Jaggar; Smith). To accomplish this goal, feminist critics employ gender as a central category of analysis in a variety of methodological approaches (Foss; Harding; Malson et al.). Feminist rhetorical scholarship is also heterogeneous but similarly employs gender as an analytic category to investigate how symbols create and sustain gendered understandings of women and men and culturally sedimented views of women (Foss and Griffin). Feminist rhetoricians also challenge existing theories developed without a consideration of gender and construct alternative theories that account for women's communication (Foss; Foss and Griffin). A basic premise of this essay is that feminist argumentation scholars share these concerns. Feminist argumentation is characterized both by its commitment to critically analyzing patriarchal reasoning and (re)visioning argument theory in order to include considerations of gender. Patriarchal arguments are those arguments marshalled to justify attitudes, beliefs, values and policies that subordinate women to men. Drawing upon a large body of feminist research concerned with gender difference, Tavris has suggested that a common premise of patriarchal thinking is that man is the measure of all things; men are normal and women compared to men are abnormal (17). Her book, The Mismeasure of Woman, extensively documents how versions of the universal male norm and the assumption of female otherness appear in virtually every field including science, law, medicine, history, economics, social science, literature, philosophy and art. In this essay, I suggest the importance of treating this assumption as a line of argument used to justify patriarchal claims. I am interested in how the premise of the male norm can operate to circumscribe argumentative outcomes by limiting the scope of available arguments in legal discourse and in news reports of legal controversies. To investigate an example of this line of argument, I examine the legal opinions in the Johnson Controls case as well as the reports of the controversy in the national print media. While communication scholars (e.g. Bybee; Epstein; Fiske; Hartley; Rakow and Kranich; Tuchman) have explored how the media promote gender stereotypes, these studies tend to treat media practices in isolation. This study reveals how legal and mass mediated arguments sometimes function intertextually to order gender difference, and consequently our social and political relations, according to a male norm of comparison. First, I argue that Johnson constitutes an important case study for examining the male norm as a line of argument. Second, I argue that feminist jurisprudence and critical studies of print news media help to explain some of the institutional practices of the law and news which can produce and (re)produce a patriarchal line of argument. Third, I offer an analysis of the Johnson case that illustrates how this line of argument produced by our legal system and (re)produced in the news media limits the potential for egalitarian argumentative outcomes. JOHNSON CONTROLS In 1982, Johnson Controls, the battery division of Globe Union Corporation, adopted a fetal protection policy barring all women capable of bearing children from jobs involving lead exposure or which could expose them to lead through the exercise of job bidding, bumping, transfer or promotion rights (Zilis 1-2). Eight employees backed by the United Auto Workers Union challenged the company's policy in court. In the nine years after its adoption, three courts issued opinions on Johnson's policy and major national newspapers and magazines reported their arguments to the public. …

Factors associated with Hispanic women's HIV-related communication and condom use with male partners.

To determine factors influencing Hispanic women's HIV-related communication and condom use with their primary male partner, 189 Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Mexican women were interviewed regarding sexual behaviour and condom use, relationship characteristics, perceived risk for HIV, and HIV-related communication with the primary male partner. Level of HIV-related communication with the primary male partner was associated with the woman's perceived risk for HIV and her rating of the openness with which she could communicate with her primary partner. Mexican women were less likely than Puerto Rican or Dominican women and women with multiple partners were less likely than those with one partner to communicate about HIV-related issues with their primary partner. Women reporting more condom use with their primary partner were younger, had discussed HIV-related issues more with the primary partner, and were less likely to expect negative reactions to requests for condom use than those reporting less condom use. These results suggest that prevention programmes that increase both general and HIV-specific communication between members of a couple may facilitate safer sex practices by the couple. Prevention programmes that encourage women to insist on condom use should consider the woman's expectations about her partner's reaction as a potential barrier to the initiation of safer sex practices.