“Behind every woman in prison is a man”: Incarcerated Women’s Perceptions of How We Can Better Help Them in the Context of Interpersonal Victimization

ABSTRACT

Although women’s rates of incarceration have increased dramatically, the criminal justice system does not meet women’s unique needs. This article used qualitative methods to describe the responses of 113 incarcerated women to the following question: How can we better help women like you? Analyses focused on women’s experiences of victimization and highlighted how to address trauma in prison reform and abolition efforts. Women suggested how victimization fueled their criminal offending behavior, detailed re-victimization in the prison milieu, and identified program gaps during custody and after release. Opportunities for immediate action include policy advocacy, mitigation, and shifting to a trauma-informed correctional approach.     

“Egg Donor Wanted”: Social Work with Women Looking for an Egg Donor

Abstract

Women seeking fertility treatment using donor eggs can face challenges associated with recruiting suitable egg donors and negotiating the role that the donor may play in the life of the child. Social work in infertility clinics is an emerging area of practice and social work counsellors have an important role to play with parties involved in the egg donation process. This paper seeks to raise awareness of social work practice with women seeking egg donors, providing an overview of issues for social work practice. Findings from a small practice research project are also presented to highlight the experiences of women advertising for egg donors and to illustrate an empowerment approach to social work practice with these women. It was found that with the support of the social work counsellor, newspaper advertising can be an effective method to recruit egg donors for fertility treatment that allows women control over the process.     

Between two Beneditos: enslaved wet-nurses amid slavery’s decline in southeast Brazil

ABSTRACT

This article discusses a series of questions related to the presence of enslaved women, female slaves working toward contractual or bequeathed freedom, and freedwomen in the domestic sphere in the final years of slavery in Brazil, with an initial emphasis on the contradictions between medical and sanitarian discourses that promoted a new, bourgeois vision of the home and the continued existence of the master-slave relationship and tutelary relations derived therefrom in the most intimate spaces of wealthy households in the cities and towns of the country’s coffee-growing southeast. The article also seeks to reconstruct the perspective of these captive and servant-class women at the moment of slavery’s extinction, thus providing a new perspective on the latter process by noting how the abolition of slavery was conditioned by the gendering of household work. A reconstruction of the life of Ambrosina, a slave woman rented out by her owner to serve another family as a wet nurse, then accused of murder after the death of her young charge, is the means by which these contributions are made.     

Women of Color in State Legislatures: Gender,Race, Ethnicity and Legislative Office Holding

SUMMARY

This article investigates the puzzle of women of color's proportionately higher percentage of office holding in state legislatures compared to white women legislators by testing the predictive capacity of variables commonly used to explain percentages of women at the state level. Using an original dataset that includes characteristics for all 50 U.S. states, the results suggest that standard indicators of women's office holding do not work equally well for all groups of women. The study demonstrates that race and ethnicity do make a difference in regards to women's office holding at the state level when the racial and ethnic characteristics of female legislators are considered.     

“Minutes to Midnight”: Problems and Promises

Abstract

This paper assesses the relative impact of direct and indirect determinants of marital fertility in Pakistan, where the vast majority of women do not use any method of fertility regulation. Data came from the 1990/91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey, and models were estimated for women aged 15–49, 15–24, 25–34 and 35–49. The younger cohort may be the vanguard of change; change which may be masked by investigating only the conventional 15–49 age group. Findings indicate that unlike the older cohorts, the younger cohort does not have negative and significant relationships between education, employment and fertility; and, that the current use of family planning is positive and significant with fertility for the 35–49 cohort only. These findings suggest that there is a threshold or minimum number of children that a woman must produce before determinants such as current use of family planning, education and employment impact fertility.     

Black Minority Racial Status and Fertility in the United States, 1970

Abstract

Reversal in the trend toward convergence of black and white fertility rates in the United States between 1940 and 1970 has given rise to the theory of independent effect of minority racial status. The 1970 Public Use Sample is used in this study to extract data on a 1/1000 sample of all black and white women (excluding Spanish Americans) ages 15 to 59 in order to analyze relationships between fertility and other census variables. The results tend to support the theory of independent effect of minority racial status on fertility. The relationship is more pronounced for women under 35 than for women 40 and over. Distinctive patterns emerge by race and age cohorts.     

Toward a Theory of Fertility and Ethnic Social Capital

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model of ethnic fertility differentials that incorporates the intersection of both the macro societal influences as well as the micro actor level influences. It first contextualizes ethnic fertility differentials within the global fertility decline literature. Then it reviews the extant theories of fertility decline. It then turns to an examination of fertility choices in the developed world. A summary of three major approaches to ethnic fertility differentials is examined and then incorporated into a more eclectic perspective provided by Goldscheider. Finally, this paper merges the Goldscheider perspective with the social capital perspective, as applied to fertility decisions, into a conceptual model of ethnic fertility differentials. Lastly, the new conceptual model is used to reflect upon the current state of global fertility decline.     

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.     

Does Self-Identifying as Having a Health Problem Precede Medical Contact? The Case of Infertility

ABSTRACT

Studies of medical help-seeking presume that self-identifying as having a health problem precedes medical contact, but this ordering of the identity-behavior relationship has not been systematically examined. We used longitudinal data from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers (2004 to 2010) on 412 women with infertility to document the temporal relationship between self-identifying as having a fertility problem and making medical contact. The symbolic interactionist perspective suggests that infertility will be perceived as identity disruption and that in response women will align self-identity and medical behavior over time. Cross-tabulation analysis indicated that more women do self-identify as having a fertility problem first (24%) as opposed to making medical contact first (5.5 percent). There was also a tendency toward aligning self-identification and behavior over time. Latent class analyses revealed six patterns: 1) consistently involved, 2) early consulters, 3) consistently uninvolved, 4) consistent perceivers, 5) medical dropouts, and 6) early perceivers. Strong fertility intent and primary infertility, two identity-relevant characteristics, had the strongest associations with latent class membership. The relationship between self-identification and medical help-seeking is thus dynamic and complex.     

Violence Against African American Women in Prisons and Jails

Abstract

The United States prison population is bulging and in recent years, the percentage of African American women being incarcerated far outnumber any other group. As the Black women in jails and prisons grow, so do the whispers about sexual abuse and labor abuse inside these institutions. This article discusses the nature of violence directed against incarcerated Black women and why it is important to direct national attention to this problem. It argues that though the violence may be individually directed, it is institutionally founded. Strategies are proposed for humanizing local jails and federal and state prisons.     

Mujeres '94

ABSTRACT

Periods of democratic transition may provide space for increased political participation by women. Often, however, women's participation inexplicably falls off after the transition period to former low levels. This article argues that the form women's participation takes in transitions is crucial to both the shape of the resulting new democracy, and the subsequent impact of the new democratic institutions on building or sustaining a women's movement. A case study of the 1992-1994 transition period in El Salvador suggests that women must be present and contribute to the transition; form autonomous organizations but remain engaged with the state; and transform their political behavior from opposition to interaction with the new state.     

The use of political motherhood in Egypt’s Arab Spring uprising and aftermath

ABSTRACT

Political motherhood, which uses traditional motherhood to mobilize and sustain women’s political participation, is understudied in political science. Women played a significant role in Egypt’s Arab Spring and its aftermath by “bargaining with patriarchy” and strategically using traditional motherhood to access the political sphere. In this article, we develop a theoretical argument based on the work of Gentry, Carreon and Moghadam and Amar. We illustrate it with examples drawn from news articles on women’s political activism and social media posts by Egyptian activists. Our argument explores how women’s agency and the larger political context in which women operate reveals how political motherhood takes the particular shape that it does. In the context of Egypt, we examine how the state’s choice to highlight women as “hypervisible” citizens, worthy of protection, backfired. Through a bottom-up political motherhood, women used their respectability as mothers in need of state protection against the state, thereby legitimizing anti-Mubarak and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations and challenging these governments.     

Common and Specific Learnings for a Graduate of a School of Social Work

Abstract

Developing new scholarship on women is a recognized need in social work education. It can be furthered by applying a “gender lens” to the knowledge of the relationship between women and the welfare state. Reflecting historical concerns about providing public aid to the able-bodied male pauper and the impact of relief on the work ethic, social welfare literature has focused on male recipients while generalizing its findings to women. As a result, the story of the female pauper remains largely untold. This paper suggests that the relationship between women and the welfare state is shaped by a “family ethic” that in many ways parallels the work ethic known to shape the relationship between the welfare state and men. The family ethic is defined and applied to major income maintenance programs: public aid and social security. This article suggests foci for change.     

No city for migrant women: construction workers’ experiences of exclusion from urban governance and discrimination in labour markets in Ahmedabad

ABSTRACT

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and a reflection of India’s story of exclusionary economic growth. This article focuses on research carried out with women construction workers with the help of a migrant construction workers’ union in Ahmedabad. It describes the method used by women members of the union to make visible their experiences as migrants in the city – with men, local authorities, and employers – to highlight the additional burdens that they bear due to a negligent state and industry, advocate for better working and living conditions, and raise consciousness of gender inequalities that need to be integrated into the demands of the workers’ union.     

A Reappraisal of the Quality of Women Candidates

Abstract

This article focuses on “second-wave” feminist perspectives on the role of the state and its effectiveness in removing gender-based inequality in Indian society. The major argument is that feminist rethinking of the relationship of women to the state illustrates the maturity of the Indian women's movement and its recognition that well-planned, mobilized, and effective state policies are crucial to the promotion of women's interests. Recent scholarship has addressed, more systematically and more critically than any in the past, the nexus between social and political processes and the subordination of women. It provides a contextualized and nuanced understanding of the complex interconnections between gender, state, religion, and community. Consequently, not only have feminist writings of the past two decades in India added to current gender sensitive scholarship on the state and development, they have also facilitated the construction of programmatic guides for realizing “strategic gender interests.”     

Protecting Older Americans: A History of Federal Action on Elder Abuse,Neglect, and Exploitation

ABSTRACT

Congressional hearings on elder abuse began over a quarter century ago. However, federal legislative and departmental activity for addressing the problem has been slow and lacks coordination and comprehensiveness. In addition, federal funding to combat elder abuse represents only a small percentage of that spent on such other abused populations as children and women. The barriers and challenges to addressing elder abuse are identified along with existing programs at the federal level. The article concludes with a discussion of state and local initiatives which show promise for effectively preventing or treating this problem.     

Counter-maps of the ordinary: occupation,subjectivity, and walking under curfew in Kashmir

ABSTRACT

This article examines practices of resistance that thwart Indian state’s control over everyday life in Kashmir. The state frequently uses ‘curfew’ to dominate public space, shut down ordinary mobility, and suppress pro-independence politics. Curfews are enforced through punitive prohibitions and by activating the militarised infrastructure built to reinforce Indian rule over the region since 1947. Yet, Kashmiris are not passive objects of this control. Through overt and hidden practices of resistance and disobedience, like sangbāzi and, what I call, counter-mapping, they keep their aspirations for independence alive, while rebuilding a semblance of everydayness under the occupation. Desire to walk freely becomes the key metaphor for freedom from military control. Based on ethnographic and theoretical material, the article makes a case that in spaces under long-term military occupations political subjectivity is primarily expressed and enacted as a bodily demand to become visible in public space.     

Party Elites and Women Candidates

ABSTRACT

Using a four state survey of party county chairs and locally elected women, this study finds support for the notion that potential women candidates are subject to bias in recruitment that hinders the cause of electing more women to state legislatures and Congress. It is hypothesized that bias is most likely due to one of two processes: one, the outgroup effect where negative evaluations of women as candidates are predicated on their lack of surface similarity to the predominantly male party elite, or two, the distribution effect where negative evaluations of women as candidates are predicated on the relative paucity of women in high status positions generally and politics specifically. Strong support was found for the outgroup effect, as party chairs consistently preferred candidates more like themselves. Given the ubiquity of men in the party elite, such outgroup biased attitudes represent a significant hurdle for prospective women candidates.     

Decentering Power in Research with Criminalized Women: A Case for Photo-Elicitation Interviewing

ABSTRACT

This article contributes to the project of developing a visual criminology that reclaims social relationships and the humanity and visibility of criminalized people and strives to disrupt the ideological and political underpinnings of mass incarceration and the state’s reliance on punitive responses to social inequality. Using photo-elicitation interviewing (PEI), I draw on qualitative research with 36 formerly incarcerated women living in Chicago. I review PEI’s potential to disrupt the power differential between researchers and participants and to include research participants as collaborators in knowledge production. I examine how limitations imposed by an Institutional Review Board created ethical concerns about representing women’s images and constrained women’s role in the coproduction of knowledge. I argue that PEI based on participant-generated images can help to overcome some of the ethical and methodological tensions encountered in visual criminology.     

Young Adults' Fertility Expectations and Events: Associations With College Enrollment and Persistence

The analyses described in this article investigated the association between adolescent fertility expectations and college enrollment (N = 7,838). They also explored the potential impact of fertility expectations and events on college persistence among 4‐year (n = 2,605) and 2‐year (n = 1,962) college students. The analysis, which used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, showed a significant association between expectations for early parenthood and the likelihood of going to a 4‐year college or 2‐year college for both men and women. In addition, the authors found that pregnancies were associated with an increased risk of college dropout for women; however, if all of the estimated effect of pregnancies on the risk of dropout were causal, they would still not be a major factor contributing to educational attainment because fertile pregnancies among college women are so rare.