The food insecurity―obesity paradox as a vicious cycle for women: inequalities and health

Poverty and income inequality undermine women's health in a myriad of ways. This article discusses findings from the Full Plate Project, which addressed women's experience of food security, obesity, and chronic disease in Atlantic Canada. Through first-hand accounts, it identifies a vicious cycle surrounding the food insecurity–obesity paradox. The cycle's core elements included experiences of poverty, food insecurity and nutritional deprivation, weight gain leading to obesity, stress, and experiences of chronic illness. These mainly qualitative findings provide a vivid and multi-layered analysis of the effects of inequalities on health. A majority of Full Plate participants were lone mothers and unattached women, and existing outside of a two-adult member household framework. The vicious cycles experienced are intertwined and cannot be addressed by compartmentalising elements of health or social services. Evidence indicates that policies must respond fully to the social determinants of health and multiple inequalities related to poverty, gender, age, mobility, disability, location, culture, coping skills, and other dynamics.     

SafetiPin: an innovative mobile app to collect data on women's safety in Indian cities

Women's safety is a key concern of governments and civil society today. In India, the issue has become prominent in the wake of the gang rape and murder in 2012. One of the key elements in addressing the lack of safety in cities is identifying the causes. SafetiPin, a mobile app, is one tool that has been developed to collect data on safety in cities. Building on the international methodology of safety audits, SafetiPin has transformed it into a mobile app that crowd sources data and information on insecurity in cities. Using SafetiPin, data have been collected in seven Indian cities. This article examines some of the data to understand what factors lead to lack of safety and insecurity in cities, and discusses future plans for the project.     

Strategic Intersectionality and Political Representation: Female Muslim Councilors in London

This article addresses questions of how race/ethnicity, gender, and religion influence political representation. We use original interview data to test a strategic intersectionality theory developed by Fraga and colleagues (2005) in the case of female Muslim councilors in London, the United Kingdom. The original strategic intersectionality theory proposes that women are more effective advocates for ethnic group interests due to their unique capacity to leverage three primary resources: a substantive policy focus, multiple identity advantage, and gender inclusive advantage. We modify the thesis by analyzing religion as an additional identity marker and further disaggregating the three primary sources of leverage. We use the modified thesis to test whether female Muslim councilors of three London boroughs are more effective advocates for Muslim interests than their non-Muslim colleagues. We find mixed evidence for the presence of the three sources of leverage associated with strategic intersectionality, resulting in a more complex theorizing of this phenomenon than that found in prior research. This study offers a new contribution to the operationalization of intersectionality and the literature on intersectionality and political representation.     

从已婚妇女的地位来看妇女的解放史

从已婚妇女的地位探索妇女解放史 ,可以分为蒙昧时期、冠姓时期、平等时期三个阶段 ,从而揭示出妇女的解放并不是单纯妇女的任务 ,它是全人类的使命 ,只有具备了一定的条件才能实现 ,是人类历史发展到一定阶段的产物     

我国女性服饰流变中的性别权力关系探析

中国女性服饰的演变大致经历了四个时期,每一次演变过程都昭显出特定时期独特的两性权力关系,由此也可以窥知中国女性寻求个性解放的尝试及艰难历程。     

简论女丹修炼的特殊机理

女丹功法,又称"坤诀",是指妇女修炼内丹之法。女性之内丹修炼活动虽可追溯至唐代,但其学说成熟则较晚。男女两性存在着生理和心理上的差异,因此,内丹修炼在功法和步骤上也应有所区别。传统中医学原理可以帮助我们阐释女丹修炼程序及"斩赤龙"的特殊机理及其意义。女丹功法的关键步骤为"太阴炼形"之术,其关窍为膻中穴和血海;"阳神出壳"是女子丹功炼至最高层次时所出现的现象,炼功者此时要格外谨慎。     

论五四时期的“性伦”文化

“五四”知识分子否定和批判了性伦偏向、性伦本能、性伦禁忌、性伦杀人等方面的封建性伦文化 ,提倡和主张高尚合理的两性状态、新式道德观和贞操观、进行性教育和生育节制教育等新式性伦文化 ,并开始了初步的实践活动。尽管五四时期性伦文化的变革还存在明显的历史局限性 ,尤其在婚俗变革过程中呈现出曲折性与复杂性 ,但它仍是开启现代文明性伦生活的先导 ,促进了社会解放、思想解放和文化转型。     

论后选举权初期美国妇女的参政困境——基于社会性别视角

获得选举权揭开了美国妇女参与选举政治的序幕.但由于内化了贤妻良母的传统社会性别身份,美国妇女在后选举权初期未能积极参与投票.即使参与投票,她们亦无法只依据自我的社会性别身份而形成统一“投票集团”.因对社会性别平等有着不同理解,各女权组织间分歧严重,这无形中消减了妇女的参政效应.通过社会性别视角,文章着力剖析后选举权初期美国妇女的参政困境.     

制度嵌入生活:农村贫困女性减贫的本土实践及反思——源于“扶贫车间”的案例考察

动员和组织农村贫困和留守女性参与到精准扶贫之中,能更好地提高减贫效率和减贫质量。既有研究对女性参与减贫的制度设计和生活空间关注度不够,对性别主体性的实践形式缺少细致分析。“扶贫车间”作为精准扶贫体系中的微观制度创新,从“自上而下的外部动员式嵌入,贴近女性生活的内部需求式嵌入,融合各方力量的集体协同式嵌入”三个层面,打通了女性“家庭—工作—社区”三种生活空间的区隔,重构了贫困女性的生计框架,促进了女性的自我和社会认同。女性减贫又促进了减贫目标的达成和社区治理结构的改善,贡献了“性别红利”,二者呈现出互嵌共促的态势。当然,在实际运行过程中,扶贫制度与贫困女性生活之间也存在一些张力,女性多元发展需求和制度供给之间的匹配度还不高,需要在农村发展的各项制度设计及执行中更好地尊重女性体验,关注女性的日常生活与发展实践,有效提升二者的契合度。     

“You’re a ‘high-risk’ customer”: A qualitative study of women’s experiences of receiving information from health professionals regarding health problems or complications in pregnancy

BackgroundExperiencing complications in pregnancy is stressful for women and can impact on fetal and maternal outcomes. Supportive encounters with health professionals can reduce the worry women experience. Further research is needed to understand women’s perspectives on communicating with their healthcare providers about their concerns.AimThis study explored women’s experiences of receiving information about pregnancy complications from healthcare providers and their interactions with multiple professionals and services during pregnancy.MethodsThis was a qualitative interpretive study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women experiencing pregnancy complications recruited from antenatal services at two hospitals in Sydney. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsWomen had a range of reactions to their diagnoses, including concern for their baby, for themselves and for their labour. Most women reported that communication with healthcare providers was distressing, they were not listened to and staff used insensitive, abrupt language. Women were also distressed by delays in education, receiving contradictory information and having to repeatedly share their stories with different health professionals. In some cases, this damaged the therapeutic relationship and reduced trust towards healthcare providers. Midwives were generally preferred over doctors because they had a more woman-centred approach.ConclusionTo improve women’s experiences of care for pregnancy complications, it is critical to improve the communication skills of maternity service providers. Women’s need for information, resources and support can best be provided by continuity of care with a named health professional, for example, a midwife working within an integrated multidisciplinary antenatal service model.