Feminist and empowerment theory and social work practice

Feminist and empowerment theories are especially important to the understanding of individual and sociopolitical levels of social work assessment and intervention. Incorporating feminist and empowerment approaches in practice will provide social workers with the knowledge, values and skills most likely to promote human rights and social justice. In this paper, we present an overview of both theories and illustrate them with a case example.     

Toward a gender politics of aging

The article proposes a Gender Politics of Aging approach to the study of aging societies. The approach recognizes the feminization of old age, ageism’s roots in sexist discourse, and the need to recognize the role of politics in driving demographic debates. Drawing together arguments from feminist gerontology and political demography, the article argues that the intersection of politics and gender must be considered if appropriate responses to an older, feminized demography are to be produced. I conclude that the work of aging feminists provides a rich vein of research and praxis from which a gender politics of aging approach can draw.     

Uneasy passages between neoliberalism and feminism: Social inclusion and financialization in Israel's empowerment microfinance

This article focuses on feminist non‐governmental organizations advocating for economic empowerment of women (EEW) through microfinance, using Israel as a case study. Through fieldwork, interviews and documents, we investigate the institutional practices, cultural discourses and struggles that EEWs develop in order to expose the particular ways in which feminist organizations interact with the world of finance and state institutions. Our analysis points to the complex power dynamics of mediation, suggesting that there are ‘uneasy passages' between neoliberalism and feminism, ones that help re‐signify the meaning of financial discourses while re‐politicizing women's social and economic exclusions. Simultaneously, however, this relation induces a series of compromises, whereby EEWs adopt neoliberal modes of governance. Rejecting the notion that contemporary feminism has simply been co‐opted by neoliberalism or the perception of EEW microfinance as a mere expansion of neoliberal rationalities, we reveal new sites and ways in which feminism both colludes and collides with neoliberalism.     

Presidential Address: Heroes,Warriors, and Burqas: A Feminist Sociologist's Reflections on September 11

My presidential address looked back at the gendered imagery of American heroes and warriors, Muslim terrorists, and oppressed Islamic women as they appeared in comparatively sophisticated media sources in the first 6 months after September 11. The imagery was conventionally gendered, but the actions of women and men reported in the same sources showed multiple gendering—heterogeneity within homogeneity. Making this multiplicity of gendering visible blurs and undermines gender lines and the inequities built on them. The social constructions of heroism, masculinity, and Islamic womanhood are core parts of the gender politics of September 11, a politics deeply embedded in the current debates over the causes and consequences of terrorism and war.     

西方女性主义文论与中国的女性文学发展

西方女性主义文论的背景(女权主义运动)及其理论成果对中国女性意识的崛起和女性文学的发展有着或深或浅的影响作用。通过梳理西方女性主义文论的兴起和中国女性文学的发展，指出这种影响作用是相互的，它不仅对促进中国文学创作的发展、审美价值观念的更新和批评话语的重建，乃至中国的妇女解放，都有着十分重要的现实意义，而且对世界范围内的女性主义文论的成熟和进一步发展，也能起到一定的促进和参照作用。     

《宠儿》的女性身份解读

国内学者对《宠儿》的研究不少,但涉及到黑人女性身份问题的很少。该文从女性主义和种族的角度出发,运用身份和拉康的镜像理论,对《宠儿》中三个女主人公:塞丝、贝比.萨格斯和丹芙进行分析,揭示《宠儿》中黑人女性对身份的寻求及莫里森对黑人妇女和黑人文化出路问题的探索。     

女性主义与基础教育课程建设——一个本土化的理论思考

女性主义思想最早进入教育领域是在美国的课程概念重建运动中,如何将西方的女性主义课程理论引入我国基础教育是作者思考的问题.本文主要结合理论梳理和现状分析,从课程设置和课程实施两个方面探索变革当下基础教育课程的思路,以期推进我国基础教育课程的建设.     

林语堂的女性观探源

林语堂的小说把女性的地位提到了一个相当的高度.其创作模式受到多方面的影响首先,受到西方女权主义运动和西方主流文化的影响;其次,西式的教育和所处的位置使林语堂美化着古老中国的一切,包括一些糟粕;最后,作为一个男性作家,林语堂难以摆脱男权文化的影响,在创作中不自觉地歧视女性.可以说林语堂的女性观是一种不正确的女性观,他笔下的女性是被男人欲望化的女性.     

美国女性主义文化研究述评

女权主义在欧美作为一种思想活动和一种政治策略已经有了一段很长的历史。虽然女性主义一开始就不是传统意义上的独立学科,因为它既在现存学科之中,又在现存学科之外,曾一度被称为是只有观点,没有理论和方法的非学术政治。如今,在文化研究和文化社会学的领域,人们对大众文化中的女性形象表现出与日俱增的兴趣,使之成为广泛复苏的女权主义和女权主义理论的组成部分。美国女性主义文化研究在这方面提供了有力证明。     

西方思想的传入与中国女性主义的崛起--新文化运动时期女性主义的思想来源

新文化运动时期的女性主义的产生,受到了西方思想的启迪和影响:西方女性主义开辟的话语系统,提出的讨论范畴,如婚姻自主、人格独立、参政权、教育权、产儿制限等,被直接用于新文化运动前期女性主义的建构中;马克思主义女性观随着马克思主义在中国的广泛传播也进入中国,并以其阶级的视角而成为新文化运动后期女性主义的指导思想。