“Canada's Most Notorious Bad Mother”: The Newspaper Coverage of the Jordan Heikamp Inquest*

Lcar;auteure de cet article se penche sur la couverture médiatique de l'enquête portant sur un enfant mort de faim dans une maison d'hébergement pour femmes sans‐abri, en 1997 à Toronto. Elle étudie l'utilité d'utiliser le discours sur les mères conjuguéà celui sur l'individualisation de la responsabilité pour comprendre pourquoi une certaine interprétation de ce cas s'est emparée de l'imagination du public et a imprégné les comptes rendus des médias. Examiner comment l'image de la mère de cet enfant a été construite en celle de la « mauvaise » mère aide à comprendre comment les notions hégémoniques de la « bonne « mère sont renforcées et perpétuées. Cependant, l'invocation des idéaux de la maternité nous empêche de voir la réalité des expériences des autres concernant la maternité ainsi que le fait que, pour plusieurs, il existe des barrières et des restrictions à l'idéal des bons soins maternels. This article is an examination of the media coverage of the inquest into the 1997 starvation death of an infant in a homeless women's shelter in Toronto. It explores the usefulness of using the discourse of mothering, intersected with the individualization of responsibility, to understand why one interpretation of this case seized the imagination of the public and informed media accounts. Examining how the mother of this infant was constructed as a “bad” mother helps to understand how hegemonic notions of “good” mothering are reinforced and perpetuated. The invocation of the ideals of motherhood, however, prevents us from seeing the reality of others' experiences of motherhood and the fact that, for many, there are barriers and restrictions to the ideal of good mothering.     

Respectable Women and the Law*

A defendant's prior criminal record is usually conceived of as a ubiquitous indicator of severity of sanction. Utilizing Black's (1976) conception of prior criminality— respectability—we argue that other, nonlegal indicators of respectability will also affect the sanctions female criminal defendants incur. In addition to prior criminal record, indicators of respectability include prior psychiatric care, previous drug or alcohol abuse, employer censorship, and peer deviance. Estimating a set of multivariate equations for a sample of 1,034 female defendants, we find support for Black's proposition: (1) regardless of the offense, the lower a woman's respectability, the greater the likelihood that she will receive a more severe sentence; and (2) respectability has similar effects on sentencing regardless of whether the indicators are internal or external to the criminal justice system. The degree to which these findings can be construed as sex specific is discussed.     

Women Sociologists in the Midwest: A Status Report*

This report examines the status of Midwest women sociologists in occupational attainment and professional participation, and seeks to answer three questions: (1) What is the current status of Midwest women sociologists? (2) What changes have occurred in the status of Midwest women sociologists in recent years? and (3) How does the status of women sociologists in the Midwest compare to their colleagues nationally?     

Women in Religion: A Sociological Perspective*

Religious ministry, theology, and even the study of religion in history and sociology have been done for so long from a male point of view that the burgeoning activity and reflection of women scholars and activists are not yet researched or deliberated when male scholars define the parameters for interpretation and name the problems as they perceive them. Current scholarship is sadly lacking in its address of modern problems in religious perspective, especially as attempts are made to understand the new pressures on population and institutions.     

Rapunzel & the Pumpkin-Eater: Marital Systems of Agoraphobic Women*

A fairy tale character and a nursery rhyme are used to dramatize the marital systems of women with agoraphobia. This systems perspective emphasizes that the disorder is more than an individual or intrapsychic one, that it is an interpersonal or marital adjustment and that the phobic symptoms of the wife also provide a defence for her husband. Rapunzel characterizes an agoraphobic woman with severe dependency and separation problems. Her husband may be a Rescuing Prince — protective of her and denying of his own problems; or, a Pumpkin-Eater — sexually inadequate and withdrawn. The marriages involve unconscious transactions promising mutual protection. Finally, some aspects of psychotherapy, both individual and conjoint are examined.     

Childbirth on the Canadian Prairies 1880–1930

Abstract One of the issues faced by families who migrated to the Canadian prairies during the settlement years was the lack of affordable and accessible health care practitioners to assist women during pregnancy and childbirth. Maternal and infant mortality rates on the prairies during the first decades of the twentieth century bear witness to the risks which homestead women were forced to take to deliver their children and the primitive conditions in which many childbirths took place. In this article, homestead women's personal accounts of their childbirth experiences are blended with analysis of the social and political environment in which proposed solutions to this serious social problem were addressed.     

Socially Sanctioned Violence Against Women: Female Genital Mutilation Is Its Most Brutal Form

A historic survey indicates that Female Genital Mutilation occurs not only in the Third World but has also been practiced in the Occident. Though the differences in the practices, scope, and extent of the genital mutilations performed in these two divergent cultures are great, the basic goal has been the same. In the prevalent patriarchal societies, men sought and seek to curb, at times even eradicate, women's sexuality. Psychoanalytic findings indicate that the motive for female genital mutilation is based on men's unconscious fear of women's sexuality. The minimal psychic consequences following the mutilation of female genitals are loss of trust, a prevailing lack of bodily well-being, post-traumatic shock and depression.     

Educating Women: Gender Inequalities among Canadian University Graduates*

Dans le présent article, les auteurs proposent une analyse comparative des revenus et du chomage dliommes et de femmes diplômés universitaires entre 1978 et 1988. Les résultats montrent que le sexe continue d'exercer une influence importante sur ces données; le rapport global hommes-femmes est en effet passé de 84% a 91%. Seule une petite partie de l'écart des revenus peut s'expliquer par des différences entre les hommes et les femmes au regard du recrutement sur le marché du travail. Les auteurs considèrent ces résultats révélateurs de la ségrégation entre les hommes et les femmes, et que celle-ci mène à des différences dans les cheminements de carrière. De plus, pour l'avenir, ils prévoient que, tandis que l'écart des revenus continuera probablement de diminuer, les formes d'inégalité entre les diplômés seront peut-ôtre de plus en plus marquées, surtout que l'écart des revenus est en déclin parmi les cohortes récentes. This paper compares male versus female income and unemployment for three cohorts of university graduates between 1978 and 1988. Results show that gender became a weaker predictor of these outcomes, with the female-male earning ratio growing from 84% to 91% over this period. Nonetheless, a notable wage gap remained in later cohorts, and for one cohort income disparities widened with time in the labour market. Moreover, only a relatively small portion of the earnings gap could be attributed to male-female differences in market endowments. The authors interpret these results as illustrating gender segregation within occupations that result in disparate earning trajectories. Also, it is suggested that while the wage gap will likely continue to shrink, future patterns of inequality among graduates may become increasingly uneven, especially since real wages are declining among recent cohorts.     

Changing Roles for Women: Implications for Marriage Counselors*

Noting that marriage counselors focus on the male-female relationship and that changes affecting women also affect men, the author examines changes in womens' roles in American society and draws implications for marriage counselors. Editor.     

Antiracism Organizing and Resistance in Nursing: African Canadian Women*

Cette étude porte sur la lutte menée en Ontario et au Québec de la fin des années 1970 jusqu'aux années 1990 par les femmes de couleur - et plus particulièrement par les infirmières noires -contre le racisme sévissant dans le contexte de leur vie professionnelle. L'auteure procède à une analyse intégrale du phénomène dans une perspective antiraciste. Elle démontre que le racisme est le principal facteur opérant dans la subordination des infirmières noires et que le parti pris contre les femmes et les préjugés fondés sur les origines sociales ont toujours été tributaires d'un racisme sous-jacent. This study examines women of colour, specifically African Canadian nurses, organizing and resisting racism in nursing in Ontario and Quebec from the late 1970s to the 1990s, from an integrative anti-racism perspective. The author demonstrates that although racism is more visibly salient in black nurses' subordination, gender and class have historically been racialized in nursing, a phenomenon that continues today.     

Sexual Harassment in Public Places: Experiences of Canadian Women*

Des chercheurs ont étudié les cas de harcèlement sexuel en milieu de travail et dans les universités. En collaboration avec des experts judiciaires, ils ont conceptualisé le harcelement sexuel et en ont fait une question de droits de la personne. Notre recherche, fondée sur un sondage effectue en 1992 auprès de 1 990 femmes canadiennes, réVéle que le harcèlement sexuel se produit aussi dans les lieux publics. Nous présentons des données inédites sur le sujet en exa-minant le type, la fréquence et la gravité du harcèlement, les carac-téristiques des femmes le plus susceptibles d'être harcetées, les implications pouvant servir à bâtir une théone sur le harcèlement dans les lieux publics, les réactions des femmes a l'égard du harcèlement ainsi que ses conséquences sur les plans émotionnel et psychologique. Researchers have expended much effort studying sexual harassment in the workplace and universities. Together with legal experts, they have conceptualized sexual harassment as a human-rights issue: a form of sexual discrimination that typically occurs in relationships of unequal power. Our research, based on a 1992 survey o{ 1,990 Canadian women, suggests sexual harassment is also prevalent in public places such as streets, transit systems and malls. We supply rare data about sexual harassment in public places by examining the types, frequency, and severity of harassment; the characteristics of women most likely to be harassed; the theoretical implications of public harassment; women's responses to harassment; and its emotional and psychological effects.     

Intermarriages Between Western Women and Palestinian Men: Multidirectional Adaptation Processes

This article addresses cultural adaptation of Western‐Palestinian intermarried couples. Using in‐depth interviews, information was gathered from 16 participants, 7 Western women and 9 Palestinian men, living in Palestinian cities in the West Bank. Adaptation strategies are typified by the extent to which each spouse embraces the partner's culture. The data suggest that intermarriage engenders a multidirectional adaptation process. Patriarchy and East‐West power relations affect mainly the women, having to face marginalization on the basis of their gender and their foreignness. The men undergo a double process of cultural adaptation: to the Western culture and to their native culture after their return. Both the husbands’ extended family and the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict were found to affect both partners’ adaptation.     

Sex Role Attitudes and the Employment of Married Women: the Direction of Causality*

The causal relationship between the employment status of married women and their attitude toward sex roles is investigated for a cohort of women approximately thirty years in age, using data collected in 1970 from a national sample. Two-Stage Least Squares is employed to estimate the components of the proposed bidirectional relationship between attitudes and employment. Husband's income, age of children, educational attainment, the employment of the respondent's mother, and religious orthodoxy are hypothesized as predetermined variables affecting either sex role attitudes or employment, or both. Employment status has some influence on attitudes toward women's roles but no effect in the opposite direction is evident. The relationships found between other variables in the model confirmed the results of earlier studies. The implications for research and theory on the relationship between attitudes and employment are discussed.     

Support Among Women for the Issues of the Women's Movement*

Using both data from a national and community sample, this paper explores support among women for issues relevant to the women's rights movement, and the extent to which the issues of the movement are perceived as a coherent whole by women. Five distinct issue dimensions emerged. Support for or agreement with each of the issue areas was only slightly correlated with support for the others. Thus some types of women are supportive of the variety of issues and in agreement with the basic assumptions of the movement while others are more selective in their support. In general, support for any particular issue area is greater than support for women's liberation, yet even those opposing women's liberation agree with the position of the women's movementon on a majority of issues examined.     

From Marx to Bonger: Socialist Writings on Women,Gender, and Crime*

Contemporary socialist criminologists concentrate their analysis of crime on production relations, ignoring the co-determination of reproduction and thus the role gender plays in crime by men and women. The author argues that this omission has occurred by reason of the theoretical work of Marx and Engels, as well as other socialist “criminologists” of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The importance of the paper lies in its demonstration that the questions raised by these early socialist theoreticians are inadequate for developing a comprehensive theory of crime.     

Rich Sensitivities: An Analysis of Conflict Among Women in Feminist Memoir*

Alors que le mouvement nord‐américain des femmes est surtout connu pour ses efforts en vue de transformer les relations sociales entre les femmes et les hommes, ses partisanes ont également mis l'accent sur la reformulation des relations entre les femmes. Utilisant une source de données novatrice, les mémoires du mouvement social, l'auteure souligne la profondeur de la déception que les féministes s'infligent les unes aux autres. Les mémorialistes débattent des notions provenant du mouvement et du courant principal voulant que les femmes soient compétentes socialement. Cet article présente le concept d'«idéation relationnelle» pour décrire la façon dont les mémorialistes féministes analysent d'une manière critique la compréhension de la socialité des femmes tenue pour acquise et aiguisent leurs désirs d'une nouvelle éthique sociale entre elles. While the North American women's movement is most known for its efforts to transform social relations between women and men, its adherents have also focused on remaking relations among women. Using an innovative data source, social movement memoir, this paper indicates the depth of disappointment feminists cause one another. Memoirists dispute notions found in the movement and mainstream that women are socially capable. The paper offers the concept “relational ideation” to describe the way feminist memoirists critically examine taken for granted understandings of women's sociality and amplify their desires for a new social ethic among them.     

The Social Mobility of Women: a Causal Model of Socioeconomic Success*

This paper extends the analysis of socioeconomic achievement initiated by Blau and Duncan and subsequently developed by both Jencks and Rainwater. The major extensions are the specification of models for female heads of household in the labor force and the inclusion of several previously neglected predictors of socioeconomic achievement including some which require panel data. Our analysis suggests that a different model is needed for females than for males and that a different model is needed for black females than for white females. The evidence also suggests that the socioeconomic success of women is more fixed by background, education, and occupational factors, and is less a function of individual ability than is the case for men. The evidence supporting this conclusion is particularly compelling for black women.     

Making Sense of Muscle: The Body Experiences of Collegiate Women Athletes*

Using ethnographic research, this paper explores the experiences of elite women athletes on a Division‐I college soccer team. I draw on existing literature in the sociology of sport, sociology of the body, and interactionism to inform my analysis. With this approach, I illustrate the complicated relationship women athletes have with their bodies in relation to physical competition and dominant notions of femininity today. Key reference groups influenced the players’ self‐perceptions and encouraged the women to closely monitor their own appearances and actions. While undoubtedly affected by these inter‐actions as well as their place in the gender hierarchy, many women athletes subtly resisted notions of idealized bodies and constructed their own meanings about their bodies and experiences. Investigating the day‐to‐day body awareness and negotiations of women athletes reveals the gendered nuances of sport and the complicated relationship between cultural ideals and female embodiment.     

Differential Mother and Father Influences on the Educational Attainment of Black and White Women*

This study examines the impacts of maternal and paternal influences on the educational attainment of women and whether these parental effects operate similarly for white and black women. Specifically, the study measures the differential effects of mother's and father's education, occupation, and encouragement. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience (NLS), 428 white and 145 black women were examined. Findings indicate different patterns in the way mothers and fathers affect their daughters' educational attainments. For both groups of women, father's education was found to be a generally better predictor than mother's education, while mother's occupation was more important than father's occupation. Mother's occupation and parental expectation variables were relatively more important for black women, and parental education variables were more important for white women.     

Violence against and the Harassment of Women in Canadian Public Housing: An Exploratory Study*

Aucune étude nord-américaine n'a examiné de façon systé'matique l'importance des divers types degressions sexuelles, notamment le harcèlement sexuel et racial, que subissent les femmes dans les logements sociaux. Les logements sociaux et les rues des quartiers pauvres du centre-ville sont les endroits typiques où se jouent les relations de force entre les sexes et où l'influence de la drogue a exacerbé la violence exercée contre les femmes. À l'aide de données provenant du Quality of Neighbourhood Life Survey, dans lequel sont interrogés des ménages habitant dans six logements sociaux situés dans un centre urbain de Test de l'Ontario, cet article permet de combler une lacune importante dans la recherche. On y étudie les données exploratoires sur l'incidence de la violence conju-gale et de la violence extérieure ainsi que trois types de harcèlement vécus par des femmes vivant dans des logements sociaux. No North American study has systematically examined the extent of various types of woman abuse in public housing, including sexual and racial harassment. Public housing communities and inner-city ghetto streets are key arenas where gendered power relations are played out, and where the influx of drugs has exacerbated the degradation and abuse of women. Using data from the Quality of Neighbourhood Life Survey, administered to households in six public housing projects in an urban centre in Eastern Ontario, this paper helps fill a major research gap. Exploratory data on the incidence of intimate violence, stranger violence, and three types of harassment experienced by women in these dwellings are discussed. As men on the street lose their former authoritarian power in the household, they lash out against the women and children they can no longer control. Men are not accepting the new rights and roles that women are obtaining; instead, they are desperately attempting to reassert their grandfathers' lost autocratic control over their households and over public space.