When Loss Becomes Gain: Transforming Women’s ‘Internal Saboteur’

Even as they strive for their, own self-definition, women hold onto old relational ties. In this paper, two ease examples are used to elucidate the complex relationships that women have with their earliest caregivers—mainly their mothers. The cases demonstrate how women remain fixed in early familial internalizations and identifications and find themselves repeating patterns of self-sabotage that impede their success. The relational approach to psychotherapy, furthered by the analyst’s use of the transference-countertransference paradigm, can create the gateway to explore and understand patients’ internal barriers to growth. The analysis can then help patients to achieve a more integrated self-view that allows them to enjoy success and fulfillment in both their private and public lives.     

Genito-Pelvic Pain Through a Dyadic Lens: Moving Toward an Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Model of Women’s Sexual Dysfunction

Researchers and clinicians alike widely acknowledge the inherently interpersonal nature of women’s sexual dysfunctions given that both partners impact and are impacted by these difficulties. Yet theoretical models for understanding the role of interpersonal factors in women’s sexual dysfunctions are severely lacking and have the potential to guide future research and inform more effective interventions. The most widely studied sexual dysfunction in women that has espoused a dyadic approach by including both members of affected couples is genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder (GPPPD). In this article we use the example of GPPPD to introduce a novel interpersonal emotion regulation model of women’s sexual dysfunction. We first review current knowledge regarding distal and proximal interpersonal factors in GPPPD. Then, we describe our theoretical model and consider relevant pain and sex-related research on emotion regulation processes—emotional awareness, expression, and experience—in the context of GPPPD, including sexual function, satisfaction, and distress. Next, we review how existing theories from the fields of chronic pain and sex and relationships research have informed our model and how our model further builds on them. Finally, we discuss the implications of our model and its applications, including to other sexual dysfunctions in women.     

Why are there so few women in information technology? Assessing the role of personality in career choices

Despite increases in female labor force participation, women remain substantially under represented in most scientific and technical fields. The small number of women in engineering, physics, chemistry, computer science and other similar fields has variously been attributed to discrimination, differences in ability or choice. This paper uses a unique data set containing information on vocational interests to examine the determinants of entry in to Information Technology occupations. We show that men and women differ systematically in their interests, and that these differences can account for an economically and statistically large fraction of the occupational gender gap.     

Changing informal institutions via mimesis: Gender equality in marriage proposals

Marriage equality has exposed how the institution of marriage is changing, but less attention has been given to how informal institutions around heterosexual marriage rituals are affected by a growing demand for gender equality. By applying institutional theory and feminist institutionalism to the context of women proposing to their male partners, this paper observes how shifts in gender norms change heteronormative institutions. Drawing from interviews with women who proposed to men and a virtual ethnography, we describe how reverse proposals can set precedence for emulation of practices or mimetic isomorphism. We therewith contribute to institutional theory in threefold ways. First, we describe how mimetic isomorphism introduces new standards and norms into a highly traditional institution. Second, we show how this integration of new standards and norms serves this patriarchal institution to remain relevant and appear progressive. Finally, we contend that this tension of joining a patriarchal institution but doing so in a subversive manner represents a double bind for women who are encouraged by society to formalize their heteronormative relationships through marriage and yet chastised for initiating this themselves.     

Social class background and gender‐(a)typical choices of fields of study in higher education

By employing a Bourdieu‐inspired class scheme that differentiates between classes’ volume and composition of capital, and by analysing Norwegian administrative register data for birth cohorts between 1987 and 1992, this paper examines the relationship between social class background and gender‐(a)typical choices of higher education. Fields of study in higher education in much of the Western world remain segregated by gender despite the gender gap in educational attainment having been reversed. However, some changes have taken place due to the influx of women into male‐dominated, high‐status fields. Few recent studies have examined the relationship between social class background and gendered educational choices in light of these changes; furthermore, the focus of previous research has been limited to the vertical dimension of class. The results presented in this article suggest that men and women are more likely to make gender‐atypical choices when this leads to social mobility and that focusing solely on the vertical dimension of class may mask horizontal differences.     

Women's Success in Academic Science: Challenges to Breaking Through the Ivory Ceiling

Although a greater number of women are entering academic science than ever before, women remain underrepresented and are perceived as less successful than men in their fields. The reasons behind this are complicated and debatable. In this paper, I review the challenges that women continue to face in the natural and social academic sciences. Women continue to face barriers toward obtaining academic positions and securing promotions. A crucial aspect of the problem lies in the subjective definition of “success,” which creates subconscious biases as well as gendered processes within institutions. These processes include biased evaluations of success in academia, limited mentorship for women in science, limited networking opportunities, and lack of institutional support for mothers. Future research should look more closely at the gendered definition of success, and related constraints within academia that keep women from breaking through the ivory ceiling.     

Integrated or Disconnected? Examining Formal and Informal Networks in a Merged Nonprofit Organization

This article introduces nonprofit researchers and practitioners to a social network analytical technique for assessing internal staff relationships after a merger. We studied a case of a nonprofit merger, investigating its formal and informal intraorganizational networks to see which parts integrated and which remained separate operationally. We discovered a prior‐organizational‐affiliation‐based homophily within the merged organization: most interpersonal relationships existing within these networks remained among the employees who worked together prior to the merger. However, the informal and expressive networks of mentoring, friendship, and socioemotional support were even more disconnected than the formal and instrumental networks of work relationships and problem solving. We highlight the role of a mentoring network in bridging formal and informal networks in a merged organization.     

THE ARCHITECTURE OF IDENTITY: Embedding privacy in market institutions

As the Internet becomes integrated into the institutional world around it, attention has increasingly been drawn to the diverse ways in which information technologies mediate human relationships. As an increasingly commercial Internet has been employed to capture personally identifiable information, privacy concerns have intensified. To analyse these matters more systematically, this article considers the ideas about human identity that have been implicit in the development of economics and computer science. The two fields have evolved along parallel tracks, starting with an assumption of perfect transparency and moving toward a more sophisticated appreciation of individuals' private informational states. Progress in the analysis and resolution of privacy problems will require that this evolution be taken seriously and continued.     

Women in elite positions: Insiders or outsiders?

Formal institutional locations and informal participation in elite networks are examined for women and men occupying principal decision-making positions in powerful institutions in three advanced societies: the United States, West Germany, and Australia. In all three countries, the few women are concentrated in a small number of elite positions, especially those set aside for women. Social backgrounds vary, with women coming from somewhat higher status and class origins than their male counterparts. Further, network analyses reveal that men are more integrated than women in informal elite networks in all three nations. The results suggest that women in formal positions of power remain outsiders on the inside.     

Vanishing Act: Non-straight Identity Narratives of Women in Relationships with Women and Men

This research examines how women who experience a change to a partner of a different gender make sense of this shift both to themselves and to others. Specifically, the study draws on 32 interviews conducted with self-identified lesbian, bisexual and queer women who have moved from relationships with female partners to relationships with male partners. None of the women interviewed sought to identify themselves as straight or heterosexual. Many, instead, tried to negotiate non-straight identities. We conclude that women, in doing their non-straight identities, mainly rely upon a strategy of narrative, including narratives of attraction, choice of men and challenging homophobia.     

SHIFTING ARRANGEMENTS: INDO-TRINIDADIAN WOMEN,GLOBALIZATION, AND THE RESTRUCTURING OF FAMILY LIFE

This article focuses on the changing relationships between East-Indian daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law in a developing society: Trinidad, West Indies. Changes in how families are structured are seen as active responses to processes of globalization. While these changes have provided younger women with opportunities to resist older arrangements, their responses have in turn created new problems that remain unresolved. I argue that these families' experiences of change are linked to complex relations that include increased access to education, changes in the village economy, and global media penetration, all of which are part of broader processes of modernization and globalization. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork as well as census data and economic, educational, and demographic changes since World War II.     

Chinese women's participation in fertility discussions

In an attempt to better understand the process through which the family planning (FP) programs and socioeconomic developments in China affect fertility, women's participation in fertility discussions with their husbands are examined as an intermediate factor in a study based on results of a random survey of 6654 ever-married women of reproductive age from 7 cities and 30 counties of Guangdong. First, it must be noted that Chinese couples do have individual choices (albeit quite limited ones) about their fertility; they can choose to follow or ignore government policy or they can choose to remain childless. The present study has 3 major hypotheses: 1) the more a woman is involved in fertility discussions with her husband, the fewer children she will have; 2) urban women with a higher educational status will be more likely to have such discussions; and 3) women who are contacted individually by FP personnel are more likely to be involved in fertility discussions. After a discussion of data collection and variables (number of living children, education of wife and husband, age at marriage, residence, living with parents, contacted by FP personnel, and discussion with husband), the results are presented in terms of zero-order correlation coefficients indicating their relationships. The bivariate analysis supported the hypotheses. Multiple regression analysis showed that age at marriage, education of wives and husbands, FP contacts, and participation in discussions remain significant fertility determinants (but the correlation between fertility and residence becomes trivial). A further regression model indicated that a woman's educational attainment is the most significant positive indication of their participation in fertility discussions. These results imply that as women's status continues to improve in China and the deeply-rooted patriarchal tradition loses hold, increased gender equity and education will influence a fertility decline. FP personnel could also encourage women to actively participate in fertility discussions with their husbands.     

Domestic Violence, Criminal Justice Responses and Homelessness: Finding the Connection and Addressing the Problem

As more social scientists examine the female side of social issues a host of questions are answered and further inquiries form in the wings. Two fields where much detailed and valuable information on women have been provided, and many questions still remain, are social work and criminal justice. A meeting point for these disciplines lies in the area of homelessness and females. By most accounts, a sizable proportion of homeless women, many of whom are mothers, become homeless due to domestic abuse. Knowledge of ineffective criminal justice responses to domestic violence leaves one to ponder whether there exists a connection between lack of social control in domestic abuse calls and the onset of female homelessness. The present work addresses this knowledge gap and suggests future research necessary to delineate a proposed link between weak criminal justice responses and female homelessness. Policy initiatives to correct these flaws are provided as well.     

A Cognitive Ecological Model of Women'S Response to Male Sexual Coercion in Dating

Summary

We offer a theoretical model that consolidates background, environmental, and intrapersonal variables related to women'S experience of sexual coercion in dating into a coherent ecological framework and present for the first time a cognitive analysis of the processes women use to formulate responses to sexual coercion. An underlying premise for this model is that a woman'S coping response to sexual coercion by an acquaintance is mediated through cognitive processing of background and situational influences. Because women encounter this form of sexual coercion in the context of relationships and situations that they presume will follow normative expectations (e.g., about making friends, socializing and dating), it is essential to consider normative processes of learning, cognitive mediation, and coping guiding their efforts to interpret and respond to this form of personal threat. Although acts of coercion unquestionably remain the responsibility of the perpetrator, a more complete understanding of the multilevel factors shaping women'S perception of and response to threats can strengthen future inquiry and prevention efforts.     

Identity,Campus Climate,and Burnout Among Undergraduate Women in STEM Fields

Women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and these male‐dominated fields are often described as “chilly” and unwelcoming to women. This study examined the potential moderating effect of chilly climate on woman–scientist identity interference and academic burnout among 363 female undergraduate STEM students. Results indicated that identity interference related to greater emotional exhaustion, greater cynicism, and lower academic efficacy. A chillier climate related to more emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Furthermore, a positive relation was found between woman–scientist interference and cynicism when chilly climate was low or moderate. When interference was high, chilly climate did not have a relation with cynicism. When women experienced many threats (i.e., high chilly climate, high interference), they reached a threshold where additional emotional cost did not matter. Results highlight the importance of improving the campus climate for female scientists, as well as the need to assist female scientists in identity development.     

A comparison of path factors influencing depressive symptoms in children of immigrant women and Korean children in South Korea

The aim of this study is to compare Korean children and the children of immigrant women with respect to how depressive symptoms in these two groups are related to potential causes, including paternal neglect, maternal neglect, gender, socioeconomic status, ego resilience, peer relationships, teacher-student relationships, and discrimination. Concurrently analyzing multiple populations, we found that the path model and the path coefficients we used for the study were appropriate for both groups. Peer relationships and discrimination were found to have direct influences on depressive symptoms in both groups. We also found that gender, ego resilience, and teacher-student relationships had indirect effects in causing depressive symptoms in the children of immigrant women. Furthermore, maternal neglect had a more significant indirect effect among the children of immigrant women, whereas paternal neglect had a more significant indirect effect among the Korean children in our study. The results indicate that the same path model could be applied to both groups of children, allowing us to conclude that the same focus and approaches for intervention could be provided to both groups to decrease the levels of depressive symptoms.     

Job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. Workers

Abstract

The negative outcomes associated with job insecurity have been well established in the literature. Yet, scholars know very little about how job insecurity is related to coworker relationships in the workplace. Informed by the life stress perspective, this study examines the relationship between job insecurity and coworker support among U.S. workers. It also considers whether relationships diverge by gender. We use data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. workers (N?=?2,822) to examine these relationships. The results showed that job insecurity was negatively related to coworker support among both men and women, with no evidence of gender disparities. Altogether, the findings suggest job insecurity is damaging to the workplace environment, creating barriers to supportive coworker relationships among both men and women.     

Protecting Women Asylum Seekers and Refugees: From International Norms to National Protection?

Little attention is paid in most national asylum policies and legislation to the specific position of female asylum seekers, and to gendered aspects of refugee and asylum situations. Further, even in those countries that have adopted asylum legislation to specifically address the question of women asylum seekers and victims of gender specific persecution, problems still remain in the implementation of these policies and in the full recognition of persecutions specific to women. Whilst the issue of protection of women victims of this type of violence have been put on the international agenda, at least to some extent, through directives on the defence of women’s human rights and on the protection of female refugees and asylum seekers, the international norms which have thus been created have been implemented unevenly and unequally in different national contexts. This article seeks to analyse the extent to which national asylum legislation and policies have integrated a concern with the protection of women victims of gender specific forms of persecution, and how effective this implementation has been. The article will engage critically with existing accounts of global norm creation to examine the uneven diffusion and implementation of norms on the protection of female refugees, pointing to the importance of discursive opportunity structures open to actors in mobilising around these issues at local and national levels. It will also argue that even where policies and legislation dealing specifically with women refugees and asylum seekers do exist, they may not actually address some of the important insecurities facing these women because of an approach that does not fully comprehend and act upon gendered structures and relations of power.     

TOO MANY MEN? SEX RATIOS AND WOMEN'S PARTNERING BEHAVIOR IN CHINA

The relative numbers of women and men are changing dramatically in China, but the consequences of these imbalanced sex ratios have received little attention. We merge data from the Chinese Health and Family Life Survey with community-level data from Chinese censuses to examine the relationship between cohort- and community-specific sex ratios and women's partnering behavior. Consistent with demographic-opportunity theory and sociocultural theory, we find that high sex ratios (indicating more men relative to women) are associated with an increased likelihood that women marry before age 25. However, high sex ratios are also associated with an increased likelihood that women engage in premarital and extramarital sexual relationships and have had more than one sexual partner, findings consistent with demographic-opportunity theory but inconsistent with sociocultural theory.