The Festivals of Ancient Women

FOR hundreds of thonsands of years, Chinese folk festivals were formed based on the demand of farmers who offered their sacrifices to the gods and on the influence of historical legends and religious belief. Because some folk festivals had a close connection with women's lives, they were called "Daughters' Festivals." The Dragon Boat Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month) and Qiqiao Festival (the seventh day of the seventh luna? month) are both Daughters' Festivals. For two thousand years, these     

‘Cinema,Glamour, Atrocity’: Narratives of Trauma

Abstract

Cinematic treatments of trauma have to confront the challenge that every aesthetic choice is also an ethical one. This challenge poses special problems for questions of truth and the representation of victims and perpetrators. Three documentaries made by Mark Kaplan (1996–2004) explore the history of South African student activist Siphiwo Mtimkulu, tortured and murdered by security policemen in the early 1980s, and the subsequent interaction between Gideon Nieuwoudt, one of the perpetrators, and the Mtimkulu family during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Hearings. Ian Gabriel's fiction film, Forgiveness (2004), uses key aspects of this history in his treatment of a repentant perpetrator seeking forgiveness from his victim's family. In my analysis, I argue that respect for a realist aesthetic – the notion that the camera can and does reveal the world to us – may be combined with self-reflexivity, narrative layering and generic innovation to produce a complex representation of truth, victim and perpetrator. I suggest, further, that the initial choice of subject will determine to some extent the degree of complexity with which issues of truth, on the one hand, and the nature of the victim and the perpetrator, on the other, will be developed.     

The Grand Assembly of Chinese Women

Photos by CHENG JINGJINGIn fall 1993,the Seventh National Women’sCongress was held in Beijing.Deputies exercised their right tO elect membersOf ACWF’S Seventh Executive Committee.Deputies from all walks of life gathered togetherJinuo,Han and Miao deputies exchange ideasP月r tv and气tate!eaders Inelud一n日】lan只又e,1llr (from L toR):T一ans日:J}allZ日d()l!Hua「t,Z卜OU,Kangl,ng,Zhan、1,al·2卜en,Ht才ango}zao Llu日alr()n只〔12}厂妙曙卿屺;￡巴习刃翻.竺代巴群二二飞romth。Peop!e…     

The Path of Chinese Women in Politics

FOR over 2,000-year Chinese feudal society excluded women from political life. Women had their feet bound. This very real restraint also symbolized the way women were oppressed by political power, clan power, religious authority and the authority of the husband. Because of their long history of subjection women could hardly comprehend the profound meaning of the equal political rights stipulated in the first constitution after     

The Role of Women in Social Development

WOMEN, a powerful force accounting for some 50 percent of world's total population, are deeply involved in social development and are actively joining their male counterparts in promoting the progress of mankind. Nonetheless, people seem to be paying increasingly less attention to the aforementioned facts. Therefore, the following question is meant to call people's attention to the matter. What would happen if women withdraw from economic, political, cultural and family activities? In terms of the economy, it would mean that about one billion people would go on strike due to the fact that some 897 million women across the world are engaged in paid economic activities. The worldwide grain output     

The Zhuang Women

A Zhuang bridegroom has to carry his bride on his back and walk on a single-log bridge. This symbolizes the couple's promise to support each other in happiness and hardships and live to ripe old age in conjugal bliss.     

The General Situation of Chinese Elderly Women Today

CURRENTLY there are more thar 50 million Chinese women over the age of 60, making up nine percent of the total female population. This number is increasing at the rate of about 2.8 percent per year. It is estimate that by the end of this century, one of every 10 women will be over the age of 60. This group of older women, with its own characteristics and demands, needs the attention and help of society. Over half a century ago when these women were born, China was still an     

The Self-Employment of Men and Women: What are their Motivations?

Do men and women carry different motivations for entering self-employment? Earlier researchers have suggested that, as primary care givers for children and families, women face a more stringent time constraint relative to men. Thus, where men see self-employment as a chance for greater financial opportunity, women see a chance to take work that allows more time at home. This paper investigates this hypothesis using unique data that allow analysis of individual self-employment as a function of traditional economic and demographic variables as well as variables that partially capture individuals’ opinions and perceptions of pecuniary and nonpecuniary aspects of entrepreneurism. Results suggest that men who choose self-employment are influenced principally by pecuniary concerns, while women are influenced principally by family concerns and by the opinions of their family, friends, and peers.     

‘Red Devils’: The Botwin company in the Spanish civil war

Zionists “Unmasked”

VTORZHENIE bez ORUZHIYA (Invasion Without Anns), by Vladimir Begun, Moscow, “Molodaya gvardiya”, 1977. 175 pp. 35 kop.

SOVIET JEWISH RESETTLEMENT IN AMERICA

THE SOVIET JEWISH EMIGRE. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE INTEGRATION OF SOVIET JEWS INTO THE AMERICAN JEWISH COM MUNITY, December 26–27, 1976, ed. by Jerome M. Gilison. Baltimore, Baltimore Hebrew College, 1977. 167 pp. Bibl.

INTER‐WAR POLISH JEWRY

ON THE EDGE OF DESTRUCTION. JEWS OF POLAND BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD wars, by Celia S. Heller. New York, Columbia University Press, 1977. xi, 369 pp. IIIus. Index. $ 14.95.

EUROCOMMUNIST AMBIGUITIES l'eurocommunisme, by Fernando Claudin. Paris, François Maspero, 1977. 151 pp. (Cahiers libres 336). F.22.00.

EURO‐KOMMUNISMUS, by A. Dalma, J. Rovan, A. Razumovsky, M. Vermeh ren, H. Ramseier. Zürich, Edition Interform AG, 1977. 110 pp. (Texte + Thesen 79). DM 8.00.

THEORIES OF NATIONALISM

NATIONAL LIBERATION REVOLUTIONS TODAY. Part I. Some Questions of Theory, by K. N. Brutents. Moscow, Progress Publishers. 1977. 321 pp. (Problems of the Third World.)

THE EVOLUTION OF NATIONALISM IN ASIA AND AFRICA. MOSCOW, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1976. 204 pp. (Problems of Contemporary World, no. 36.)     

The Pride of Bai Ethnic Women—Yang Yanjun, Executive Vice Mayor of Dali

ALONG with its long history, Dali in Yunnan Province boasts strong local folk customs and magnificent natural beauty. With spring temperatures year-round, it is among the first batch of historical and cultural cities and landscapes in China listed by the State Council. It was also listed as a state-level natural preservation area in 1993.     

Leadership in Voluntary Associations: The Case of the “International Association of Women”

Three models of leadership in voluntary associations have been proposed in the literature: democratic leadership, oligarchy, and leadership by default. Through an intensive case study of leadership structure, differences in the attitudes of members and leaders at three hierarchical levels, and differences between the attitudes and behaviors of aspirants and nonaspirants to leadership in a women's service association, this article examines the degree of fit between these models and a specific organization. Data is drawn from questionnaires, annual reports, and interviews. The results fail to conform to any of the existing models, suggesting instead a fourth model, leadership for self-development—in which leaders are motivated primarily by a desire to develop administrative and interpersonal skills.     

Women’s Experiences with Infertility: The Fluidity of Conceptualizations of ‘Family’

In this study, I examine women’s experiences with infertility and the impact upon their conceptualizations of ‘family.’ Active interviews with 32 women revealed most women started out with conceptualizations that reflected a traditional ideology of family. Participants who conceived biological children through medical assistance expressed a broader conceptualization of family through a greater appreciation for their children and family life in general. Women who did not conceive, despite medical assistance to do so, also discussed broadening their conceptualizations so that ‘family’ took on new meanings, structures, and/or significance. Conceptually, the analysis shows how notions of family are not static, but rather a fluid process subject to interpretation and re-evaluation as a result of life events, in this case, encounters with infertility.     

The Production of the Female Entrepreneurial Subject: A Space of Exclusion for Women of Color?

SUMMARY

Using critical discourse analysis, this paper examines how the female entrepreneurial subject is constructed/produced within entrepreneurial discourses, how this subject is racialized, gendered and classed, and examines what practices contribute to the shaping of the female entrepreneurial subject. I specifically look at four areas/discourses central to entrepreneurship; that of independence, self-definition/self-monitoring, networking, and women's abilities as businesswomen. I contend that contemporary self-employment discourses mirror those of neo-liberalism/modernization where the notion of the independent liberal subject has the ability to self-determine and self-monitor, which is a sign of autonomy and mastery of the self. I also argue that the space of women's entrepreneurship legitimizes white middle-class women's experiences and excludes women of color from becoming active subjects in entrepreneurial discourses.     

Explaining Legislators’ Actions on Behalf of Women in the Parliamentary Party Group: The Role of Attitudes,Resources, and Opportunities

Scholars of women’s substantive representation have often looked for an empirical link between legislators’ sex and their actions on behalf of women. However, to understand “how women’s substantive representation occurs” (Celis et al. 2008), studies also need to consider differences that exist among women and include men’s activities in the analyses. This contribution presents several sources that explain women’s as well as men’s agenda-setting behavior on behalf of women in 11 European democracies. The sources relate to legislators’ feminist awareness, gender-related resources, and the incentives they receive from the party-political context.     

Fertility Intentions, Career Considerations and Subsequent Births: The Moderating Effects of Women’s Work Hours

Prior research indicates a negative relationship between women’s labor force participation and fertility at the individual level in the United States, but little is known about the reasons for this relationship beyond work hours. We employed discrete event history models using panel data from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 2,411) and found that the importance of career considerations mediates the work hours/fertility relationship. Further, fertility intentions and the importance of career considerations were more predictive of birth outcomes as women’s work hours increase. Ultimately, our findings challenge the assumption that working more hours is the direct cause for employed women having fewer children and highlight the importance of career and fertility preferences in fertility outcomes.     

Why Do Women Want Children? The Case of Hong Kong,China: A Lowest-Low Fertility Context

ABSTRACT

Governments in low fertility countries tend to tackle low birth rates by addressing macro-level factors rather than the meaning that having a child holds for men and women. Yet whether or not an individual decides to have a child depends in part on what they think having a child will mean for their lives. This study examines the meanings that constitute reasons for wanting a child among a sample of middle-class, married, Hong Kong Chinese women who wanted children. These women were living in Hong Kong when it had one of the lowest total fertility rates in the world and the lowest in its history. Using semi-structured, in-depth interviews, it finds that for these women, to have a child makes one’s family complete; is the next stage of life; provides happiness, fun, and enjoyment; brings care and company in old age; and children are “lovely” and “cute.” Governments concerned about low birth rates can use research on what having a child means for women to improve policy so as to make having a child more attractive, and to create messages that hold greater appeal to women.     

The Pleasures and Problems of Leonid Osyka’s Zakhar Berkut: Poetic Cinema and Its Limits

Abstract

This article discusses the aesthetic and sociopolitical contexts of Zakhar Berkut, a 1972 film by the Ukrainian director Leonid Osyka, one of the leading figures of Ukrainian poetic cinema. An ambitious adaptation of a canonical nineteenth-century historical novel by Ivan Franko, it was conceived as the first big-budget Ukrainian historical film since World War II. An unusual and controversial hybrid of poetic cinema techniques and mainstream filmmaking oriented towards a mass audience, it became the last work of Ukrainian poetic cinema released before a severe state-sponsored crackdown brought the heyday of this film school to an abrupt end.     

Enforced reconciliation without justice: The absence of procedural,retributive, and restorative justice in the “Comfort Women” Agreement of 2015

Using a combination of theory and case study analysis, this article aims to show that the “Comfort Women” Agreement, ratified on December 28, 2015 between South Korea and Japan, lacks procedural, retributive, and restorative justice, with subsequent effects on the chances of reconciliation between the two countries and of restoring the honor and dignity of victims. This outcome prompts important questions regarding the role of agency and authority in reconciliation, namely, whether a government has the right to reconcile on behalf of victims, and whether the views of survivors and involvement of the public should be excluded in favor of confidentiality and efficiency. In discussing these matters, this article seeks to provide a solution to the “comfort women” issue, while illuminating its implications for the future relationship between South Korea and Japan.