Women's Sense Research Articles

Women Empowerment: Key to Socio-Economic Development

Background: Empowering a women is the key issue in developing nations. Despite of the fact that women are an integral part of any society, yet their involvement in decision making via their active contribution in economic activities is very low. Women empowerment and economic development are interlinked, where on one hand, development alone can play a major role in driving down inequality between women and men while on the other hand, empowering women can benefit development.
 Methodology: A short communication of 5 years i.e. 2014-2018. Databases used were Google Scholar, PubMed, Research gate, Scopus and web of science.
 Results: Providing consideration of working at individual consciousness level in order to develop women's sense of their own potentials and critical recognitions of the obstacles within social dimensions, so that women identifies their potentials and put efforts together with other women like a distinctive power to confront inequalities and injustice, will turn out to be ‘power for’ positive societal modifications. Also setting resources in hands of underprivileged women while discouraging gender inequality not only at home but also in society results in enormous development settlements. Those Expanding opportunities for women’s in communal works, investment, agricultural and further areas hasten economic progression, helping to lessen the effects of current and future financial crises.
 Conclusion: For improving quality of life there is high necessity of fundamental alterations. Policies should be created to improve the women status as useful society members. There is a high necessity of women’s active participation not only in decision making processes but also in planning and implementation of development programs.

Perempuan dan Pelacuran dalam Kumpulan Cerpen Genduk Dukuh Seti Karangan Rohana Handaningrum Sebuah Kajian Feminis Radikal

Prostitution or prostitution is a phenomenon in people's lives and is considered a "social problem". The general view states that the emergence of prostitution is based on a sense of women's helplessness in aspects of life when compared to men. This perception is not only found in social reality. The condition of women as objects also appears in literary works, as a reflection of people's perceptions. Therefore, it takes a study in the perspective of feminism, especially radical feminists to explore the issue of prostitution that occurs in women. The feminist literary criticism approach was carried out in this study with the type of qualitative research. Data was taken from the collection of Genduk Dukuh Seti short stories written by Rohana Handaningrum. The study was conducted aimed at describing the elements of radical feminism found in texts. The results of this study indicate that there are elements of radical feminism in the cepen group. The power relations of men and women are shown in the doctrine of marriage and the traditional ties that bound women. Whereas the removal of virginity and prostitution is a form of women's power over their bodies.

Women's sense of coherence and its association with early weaning

ObjectiveTo investigate whether there is an association between sense of coherence levels and early weaning. MethodThis study had a quantitative nature and a cross‐sectional design. Factors associated with early weaning (interruption of maternal breastfeeding) were investigated in a sample of 425 women older than 18 years, mothers of children up to 36 months of age who were not twins, with no sensory or motor deficiencies, without distinction of ethnicity or social class. The chi‐squared test, with a significance level of 5%, was used to evaluate the association between the dependent variable (early weaning) and the independent variables (socioeconomic, demographic factors and sense of coherence level). Variables with p ≤ 0.20 were tested by the multiple logistic regression model. Odds ratio and the respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated. All statistical tests were performed using the SAS 9.2 software. ResultsThe results showed that mothers with greater sense of coherence were 1.82 times more likely to maintain breastfeeding for longer periods (p=0.02). ConclusionsThe identification of mothers with low sense of coherence allows the early intervention of health professionals, contributing to decrease the rates of early weaning in the population.

Women in community radio: a framework of gendered participation

ABSTRACTWomen’s participation in community radio is examined through a case study of Ireland, with data gathered by survey, interviews and a focus group. Key findings note that women are under-represented as participants in community radio, but there is little activity within the sector to address this imbalance. Similarly, women’s voices are absent from community airwaves but this is framed through a limited understanding women lacking on-air confidence. Solutions to the problem were limited to individual stations rather than approached in a collective manner. There was no sense of women’s voices on air being a priority issue for stations, for the sector, nor for the national regulatory body. With regard to content, stations largely tended to produce “islands” of specialist women’s programmes but there was a sense that women produced content in ways that were not normative and were explicitly linked to gender. Gendered social structures, as well as organisational structures within community radio, constituted further barriers to women’s equal participation in community radio in Ireland. Finally, the presence of women as role models, sponsors, and managers, who were relational in their approach, was key gendered benefits that women derived from their participation in community radio.

Core outcome sets for prevention and treatment of postpartum haemorrhage: an international Delphi consensus study.

To develop core outcome sets (COS) for studies evaluating interventions for (1) prevention and (2) treatment of postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), and recommendations on how to report the COS. A two-round Delphi survey and face-to-face meeting. Healthcare professionals and women's representatives. Outcomes were identified from systematic reviews of PPH studies and stakeholder consultation. Participants scored each outcome in the Delphi on a Likert scale between 1 (not important) and 9 (critically important). Results were discussed at the face-to-face meeting to agree the final COS. Consensus at the meeting was defined as ≥ 70% of participants scoring the outcome as critically important (7-9). Lectures, discussion and voting were used to agree how to report COS outcomes. Outcomes from systematic reviews and consultations. Both Delphi rounds were completed by 152/205 (74%) participants for prevention and 143/197 (73%) for treatment. For prevention of PPH, nine core outcomes were selected: blood loss, shock, maternal death, use of additional uterotonics, blood transfusion, transfer for higher level of care, women's sense of wellbeing, acceptability and satisfaction with the intervention, breastfeeding, and adverse effects. For treatment of PPH, 12 core outcomes were selected: blood loss, shock, coagulopathy, hysterectomy, organ dysfunction, maternal death, blood transfusion, use of additional haemostatic intervention, transfer for higher level of care, women's sense of wellbeing, acceptability and satisfaction with the intervention, breastfeeding, and adverse effects. Recommendations were developed on how to report these outcomes where possible. These COS will help standardise outcome reporting in PPH trials. Core outcome sets for PPH: nine core outcomes for PPH prevention and 12 core outcomes for PPH treatment.

Health-related subjective well-being with emetophobia

This study explored subjective well-being among white females with emetophobia disorder (n = 20, married = 50%, age range 20–25). The participants completed self-report measures of gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as the Gastrointestinal Symptom Severity Index and Gastrointestinal Symptoms-Related Subjective Well-Being Scale. They also responded to an open-ended question on their coping with emetophobia disorder-related gastrointestinal symptoms. Results following exploratory descriptive analysis suggest that females mostly experience gastrointestinal symptoms of stomach discomfort with belching, followed by respiratory circulatory symptoms. They reported coping with their emetophobia disorder by utilising medical and behavioural control measures. Emetophobia disorder lowered the women's sense of subjective well-being from its exacting demands of managing related gastrointestinal symptoms.

The Iron Ladies revisited

ABSTRACTBeatrix Campbell was one of the first feminists to try to make sense of women’s support for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and their mobilisation for the Conservative Party since the beginning of the twentieth century. Her book The Iron Ladies: Why Do Women Vote Tory? (1987) was groundbreaking when it was published, and it is still highly informative and instructive in making sense of women’s leadership and support for the Tory Party today. In correspondence and in conversation with historian Julie V. Gottlieb, Campbell revisited The Iron Ladies at just the time when a second Conservative woman, Theresa May, became Prime Minister.

"I Have Been Formed in This Revolution": Revolution as Infrastructure, and The People It Creates in Cuba.

How do revolutions form persons? Based on nine months of ethnographic fieldwork in Havana (2015–17), this article takes as its point of departure the trajectory of a middle‐aged woman's involvement with state structures and institutions during the course of constructing the house in which she lives. Describing ethnographically the ways in which these state involvements intertwine with other areas of her life, I suggest that this woman's sense of having been “formed in the revolution” is owed partly to the way in which the revolutionary process penetrates (or “flows”) deep into the minutiae of her life. Contrasting this manner of subjectivation with Che Guevara's conception of conciencia and the formation of a “New Man,” I suggest that the immanence of this process of infrastructural penetration may enable us to articulate an alternative way of understanding how revolutionary subjects are formed. [Cuba, housing, infrastructure, revolution, state, subjectivity]

Непридуманная жизнь: самоощущение женщин в местах лишения свободы

The paper discusses the peculiarities of serving sentences in places of detention for women who have committed crimes. Based on a semi-structured in-depth interview, the authors have described the women’s sense of self in prisons. Today it is improper to discuss issues related to female crime or even to the closed community of convicted women. The authors made an attempt to reproduce the women's sense of self in the social environment of a closed social system, and to analyze the patterns of behavior and social conditions that determine them. Summarizing the characteristic traits of this uncommon social group, the authors described everyday life of women serving sentences, their social motivation and attitudes. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the social portrait of a woman serving a prison sentence depends on the informal status of a correctional facility, on the social status and system of values acquired before conviction, and on the self-motivation.

How Tattoos Can Complement Breast Reconstruction.

Tattooing offers expanded possibilities for creative expression for women who have undergone mastectomies and breast reconstruction surgeries. Tattoo techniques for areola restoration, such as repigmentation, do not address breast asymmetry or heavy scarring, but breast tattoos can embolden a woman's sexuality, self-confidence, and sense of body reclamation, as well as strengthen her postsurgical capacity for relating to her breasts and expressing her identity. There are many factors involved when a tattoo artist is asked to design an image for a patient. This article describes how I apply my artistic and trade talent to help mastectomy patients creatively reach beyond the limitations of surgical reconstruction possibilities.

Massage, reflexology and other manual methods for pain management in labour.

Massage, reflexology and other manual methods for pain management in labour.

Personal agency in women's recovery from depression: The impact of antidepressants and women's personal efforts

BackgroundWomen are twice as likely to experience depression and use antidepressants as men. Personal agency protects against depression; however, social factors contribute to lower levels of agency in women.AimsThis study examines women's experiences of using antidepressant treatment along with the other activities and practices they engage in to support their recovery from depression. It aims to understand how these experiences promote or diminish women's sense of agency in regard to their recovery.MethodFifty women took part in telephone interviews focusing on experiences of antidepressants as well as personal efforts to recover. A thematic analysis examined the agency‐promoting and agency‐diminishing experiences of using antidepressant treatment and engaging in other activities.ResultsAntidepressants promoted agency when they gave women relief from depressive symptoms, allowing women to become more proactive in recovery. Women engaged in a range of activities they believed assisted recovery and hence enhanced agency. These included exercise, gaining social support, and engaging in therapy. Some, however, had shifted to long‐term antidepressant use. Failed attempts to discontinue due to severe withdrawal symptoms, fear of a relapse, and the biochemical model of depression created a sense of dependence on antidepressants and thereby diminished personal agency in relation to recovery.ConclusionsAntidepressants can support women to become agential in their recovery. However, long‐term use signifies greater dependency on antidepressants, and personal agency is seen as insufficient. The fear of withdrawal symptoms and the biochemical model undermine women's sense of personal agency in relation to recovery.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulvar Dermatoses.

Vulvar symptoms of pain, dyspareunia, and pruritus are common and may significantly affect a woman's sense of well-being and sexual function. Despite this, vulvar symptoms are often underreported by women. When identified, however, vulvovaginal symptoms should be addressed by health care providers to optimize care. The evaluation of patients with vulvovaginal complaints begins with a thorough history and physical examination. Biopsy is indicated when concern exists for malignancy or the diagnosis is uncertain. Treatment, if possible, should be evidence-based, although for many vulvar disorders including vulvar dermatoses, treatment is based on limited evidence and anecdotal experience. Although many vulvar dermatoses represent chronic conditions and thus cannot be simply cured, control is possible for the majority of women. Patient education regarding vulvar hygiene and skin care is the foundation for optimal management of inflammatory vulvar dermatoses. These conditions may be triggered or worsened by aggressive hygiene. Additionally, patients should be counseled regarding the need for individually tailored long-term maintenance to achieve optimal outcomes.

Victimity of women: problem aspects

The theoretical analysis of the scientific problem of the victimization of the woman's personality is carried out, the features of the formation of a woman's sense of fear are highlighted. The ways of its solution are suggested.It was stated that the current socio-economic situation makes it possible to increase unemployment, the growth of such negative phenomena as drunkenness and alcoholism, which, in turn, lead to an aggravation of interpersonal relations. For this reason, in our opinion, women are often the subject of violence.It has been established that the causes and conditions that have influence to commit crimes with regard to women can be represented as a certain group consisting of three groups of interconnected and complementary components: І) objectively existing external circumstances in their unity; ІІ) the complex of personal characteristics of a particular individual who committed a crime; ІІІ) victimological features of female-victims of the crime (anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the organism, the specificity of mental processes, age characteristics and state of health, the implementation of maternal and social functions, inappropriate conditions of socialization and social adaptation, as a consequence, anti-social orientation of behavior).It is emphasized that the actions of the criminal often depend not only on his individual characteristics and aspirations, but also on the behavior of the victim, who can create criminal conditions by his careless, immoral and illegal actions, and facilitate the onset of criminal result.Separately, attention is drawn to the fact that the modern law enforcement system, due to objective and subjective reasons, is not able to fully confront the criminality that has overwhelmed the society, and this affects the mass consciousness, forming the victimality of a particular individual, including women.

Using a service design model to develop the "Passport to Safer Birth" in Nigeria and Uganda.

To demonstrate how a human-centered service design approach can generate practical tools for good-quality childbirth care in low-resource settings. As part of the WHO "Better Outcomes in Labour Difficulty" (BOLD) project, a service design approach was used in eight Ugandan and Nigerian health facilities and communities to develop the "Passport to Safer Birth." There are three phases: Research for Design, Concept Design, and Detail Design. These generated design principles, design archetype personas, and Passport prototypes. Data collection methods included desk research, interviews, group discussions, and journey mapping to identify touchpoints where the woman interacts with the health system. A total of 90 interviews, 12 observation hours, and 15 group discussions were undertaken. The resulting design principles were: a shared and deeper understanding of pregnancy and childbirth among family and community; family readiness for decision-making and action; and the woman's sense of being in control and being cared for. Four archetype personas of women emerged: Vulnerable; Passive; Empowered; Accepter. Subsequent development of the Passport to Safer Birth tools addressed three domains: Care Mediator; Expectation Manager; and Pregnancy Assistant. The service design approach can create innovative, human-centered service solutions to improve maternity care experiences and outcomes in low-resource settings.

A critical review of postfeminist sensibility

AbstractThis paper critically reviews how feminist academic psychologists, social scientists, and media scholars have developed Rosalind Gill's generative construct “postfeminist sensibility.” We describe the key themes of postfeminist sensibility, a noncoherent set of ideas about femininity, embodiment, and empowerment circulating across a range of media. Ideas that inform women's sense of self, making postfeminist sensibility an important object for psychological study. We then consider research that drew on postfeminist sensibility, focusing on new sexual subjectivities, which developed analysis of agency, empowerment, and the possibilities and limitations in taking up new subjectivities associated with postfeminism, as well as who could take up these subjectivities. We show how such work identified complexities and contradictions in postfeminist sensibility and offer suggestions for how this work might be further developed, particularly by intersectionality‐informed research. In the final section, we address contemporary debates surrounding postfeminism. We consider challenges and counterarguments to postfeminist sensibility as a useful term for describing contemporary patterns of sense‐making on gender, making the case for continuing research on postfeminist sensibility in the areas of digital cultures, a transformative imperative that includes the mind as well as the body, transnational postfeminism, and new forms of feminist activism. We conclude that such work would benefit from considering the ways that different technologies mediate the ideas and practices associated with postfeminist sensibility.

Birthplace in Australia: Processes and interactions during the intrapartum transfer of women from planned homebirth to hospital

Objectivethe aim of the study was to explore the views and experiences of women, midwives and obstetricians on the intrapartum transfer of women from planned homebirth to hospital in Australia. Designa Constructivist Grounded Theory approach was taken, to conceptualise the social interactions and processes grounded in the data. Settingurban and regional areas in four states of south-eastern Australia. Participantssemi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 36 women, midwives and obstetricians who had experienced an intrapartum homebirth transfer within three years prior to the interview. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Findingswomen who were transferred to hospital from a planned homebirth made physical and psychological journeys out of their comfort zone, as they faced the uncertainty of changing expectations for their birth. The trusting relationship between a woman and her homebirth midwife was crucial to women's sense of safety and well-being in hospital.Midwives and obstetricians, when congregating in the hospital birthing rooms of transferred women, also felt out of their comfort zones. This was due to the challenges of converging with others who possessed conflicting paradigms of safety and risk in birth that were at odds with their own, and adapting to different routines, roles and responsibilities. These differences were derived from diverse professional, social and personal influences and often manifested in stereotyping behaviours and ‘us and them’ dynamics. When midwife-woman partnerships were respected as an inclusive part of women's care, collaboration ensued, conflict was ameliorated, and smooth transfers could be celebrated as successes of the maternity care system. Key conclusionssupporting woman centred care in homebirth transfers means acknowledging the social challenges of collaborating in the unique context of a transferred woman's hospital birthing room. Understanding the power of the midwife-woman partnership, and its value to the health and well-being of each woman and her baby, is key to facilitating a successful transfer. Implications for practicethe midwife-woman partnership played a central role in providing the necessary support and advocacy for women transferred out of their comfort zone. When midwives worked together in an integrated system to provide the necessary care and support for women who were transferred, greater levels of collaboration emerged and women's perceptions of their quality of care was high. In practice, this meant health professionals respecting each other's roles, responsibilities and expertise, and ameliorating ‘us and them’ dynamics.

Women's sense of coherence and its association with early weaning

ObjectiveTo investigate whether there is an association between sense of coherence levels and early weaning. MethodThis study had a quantitative nature and a cross-sectional design. Factors associated with early weaning (interruption of maternal breastfeeding) were investigated in a sample of 425 women older than 18 years, mothers of children up to 36 months of age who were not twins, with no sensory or motor deficiencies, without distinction of ethnicity or social class. The chi-squared test, with a significance level of 5%, was used to evaluate the association between the dependent variable (early weaning) and the independent variables (socioeconomic, demographic factors and sense of coherence level). Variables with p≤0.20 were tested by the multiple logistic regression model. Odds ratio and the respective 95% confidence intervals were estimated. All statistical tests were performed using the SAS 9.2 software. ResultsThe results showed that mothers with greater sense of coherence were 1.82 times more likely to maintain breastfeeding for longer periods (p=0.02). ConclusionsThe identification of mothers with low sense of coherence allows the early intervention of health professionals, contributing to decrease the rates of early weaning in the population.

Mis(sed) Conceptions: Motherhood Through the Lens of Involuntary Childlessness

ABSTRACTThe present study was designed to examine sociocultural and relational predictors of fertility-specific distress in the experience of involuntary childlessness. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to examine whether gender self-confidence, relational quality, feminist perspectives, and traditional mothering values predict fertility-related distress. Analyses revealed that higher traditional mothering values and lower relational quality predicted higher levels of fertility-related distress. Younger age and lower income also predicted higher distress. Placing women's reproductive struggles in a sociocultural context may help to increase women's sense of agency and authenticity in negotiating their own perceptions of motherhood as they make reproductive decisions.

“He’s a total TubeCrush”: post-feminist sensibility as intimate publics

In this paper, we analyze the website TubeCrush, where people post and share unsolicited photographs of “guy candy” seen on the London Underground. We use TubeCrush as a case study to develop Berlant’s intimate publics as a lens for examining post-feminist sensibility and masculinity in the liminal space between home/work. The paper responds to notions of reverse sexism and post-sexism used to make sense of women’s apparent objectification of men in the digital space, by asking instead where the value of such images lies. We suggest that in TubeCrush, value is directed onto the bodies of particular men, creating a visual economy of post-feminist masculinity of whiteness, physical strength, and economic wealth. This celebration of masculine capital is achieved through humor and the knowing wink, but the outcome is a reaffirmation of urban hegemonic masculinity.