Muslim women as ‘ambassadors’ of Islam: breaking stereotypes in everyday life

This article explores the efforts of Dutch Muslim women who try to break the ‘oppressed Muslim woman’ stereotype by monitoring their own behaviour in everyday interactions with members of the non-Muslim ethnic majority. In representing themselves as modern and emancipated, they try to change the dominant image of Muslim women in Dutch society, and thus also that of Islam. Based on interviews and archival material, I demonstrate that initially this strategy was mostly adopted by Dutch converts to Islam, and later also by ‘born’ Muslim women. Why do more and more Muslim women turn themselves into ‘ambassadors’ of Islam? And what are the costs of this form of self-essentialization? This article demonstrates the usefulness of studying self-representations of minority groups in the light of existing stereotypes, arguing that Muslim women’s self-representations should be seen as part of a politics of belonging.     

The Distress and the Meaning Making of Divorced Abused Arab Women in Israel

Women’s divorce in the Arab society in Israel goes against patriarchal social values. The aim of this research is to explore the meaning that abused Arab women gave to their divorce. The present study based on interviews with 13 women, who had been divorced for 2 to 5 years. Analysis revealed that the women perceived their coping as navigation between the cost of stigma and familial and social distress, and the gains of their connection to sources of strength and self-worth. The discussion based on the interviewees’ existential experience their self-identity as meaning makers and choosers.     

A Different Take on the Big Bang Theory: Examining the Influence of Asperger Traits on the Perception and Attributional Confidence of a Fictional TV Character Portraying Characteristics of Asperger Syndrome

Research shows that media figures can influence the construction of one’s personal and social identity. However, there are few studies that examine representations of stigmatized groups with developmental disorders, such as those with autism spectrum disorders. This research examines the effect of a viewer’s scores on the autism quotient (AQ) and their relationship with homophily and attributional confidence towards Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, who is suspected of having Asperger’s syndrome (AS). Guided by uncertainty reduction theory the results indicated a positive relationship between the dimensions of the AQ and homophily with Sheldon, and a positive relationship between higher scores on the AQ and attributional confidence towards Sheldon. The implications of identification with fictional television characters for individuals with AS, and the application of the AQ in future research are discussed relative to the current findings.     

西部农村留守妇女的身心健康及其影响因素——来自四川农村的报告

本文采用西部地区24个行政村千余名农村妇女的调查数据,探讨了农村留守妇女的身心健康及影响因素。研究发现,留守确实影响了农村妇女的身心健康,留守妇女比非留守妇女更担心自己的身体健康状况,更倾向认为自己的身体健康状况不及同龄女性和比以前更差了,更容易出现一些生理和心理不健康的症状;留守妇女的家庭压力、社会支持网络、当地医疗卫生状况等因素对其身心健康有不同程度的影响。文章最后提出建立夫妻间良好的沟通机制、构建社会支持网络、改善农村医疗卫生状况三点建议。     

论城市界面下回族女性婚姻观念和行为的变迁

目前,中国正在进行着一场深入的变革.在这场变革中强调的是观念和制度的调适,构建的是积极现代的人际互动模式.不可否认,现代化的冲击和裹挟给生活在城市中的回族女性带来了巨大的利益和信息.但是必须看到任何现代化的构建和前进都有诸多非现代化的制约因素.对于回族来说,这一承载着太多宗教与传统因素的民族.它的发展与进步也是在现代化的转型中进行着潜移默化的调适.笔者正是把对城市回族女性婚姻观念和行为的研究放置在这一大的时代背景之下,主要探讨回族女性在现代化背景下婚姻观念行为的调适与变迁.     

政治、法律与社会习俗之间的博弈——对1926-1928年女子财产继承权法律变化的解读

1926年国民党通过的《妇女运动决议案》赋予女性与男性平等的财产继承权,但当时的最高法院在解释女性这一用语时,进行了狭窄的解释,从而对女性财产继承权进行了很大的限制。从民初独特的社会背景来看,最高法院司法解释的倒退并非单纯是司法保守性的体现,事实上,从1926--1928年期间,在女性财产继承权变化的表象背后,更多地体现了政治、法律、社会等各个层面的力量相互之间的作用过程。     

论古代犹太妇女的教育

在《圣经》时代,犹太教育具有明显的宗教特色。对于接受最基本的宗教教育来说,犹太妇女和男子之间的受教育机会还没有形成明显的差别。但是,随着公元一世纪学校的建立,妇女被排除在正规教育以外的现象日益凸现。犹太妇女之所以在受教育机会、受教育内容及受教育程度上与男子均存在差异,首先是由于妇女和男子不平等的宗教地位,同时也源于男权社会对妇女的角色定位以及男权社会对女性接受教育存在着根深蒂固的偏见。     

Tongues of fire: women's suicide and self‐injury by burns in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Self‐burning and self‐immolation are forms of self‐harm found across the Eastern Mediterranean region and South and Central Asia. The majority of those choosing these methods of self‐harm are young women. Using data from 100 young female survivors of suicidal attempts in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, this article analyses the phenomenon in the context of a life‐course progression arguing that the period around first marriage is a time of particular trauma to women. We suggest that self‐burning should be understood as a communicative act with an indigenous semiology which functions as an expression of subordinated agency within a male‐dominated society, in which marriage is a major source of conflict between generations and genders.     

Re-covered: Wangechi Mutu,Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle,and the postcolonial potentiality of black women in colonial(ist) photographs

By pasting on, cutting into and drawing over images of bodies, artists Wangechi Mutu and Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle re-cover colonialist photographs to recover postcolonial black female subjectivities. In her project, The Uninvited, ongoing since 2009, Hinkle has literally and conceptually drawn upon colonial-era postcards that feature photographs of nude West African girls and women, while Mutu has strategically combined images of black African and black American women from ethnographic and pornographic magazines to create her Ark Collection (2006). In the artists’ hands, the black female body is no longer shot, captured, framed or otherwise subjected to the camera. The narrative force and assumed veracity of photography is denied by ambiguous re-presentations of the multifaceted, processual nature of both art and the self. Moreover, rather than merely suggest the subjugation and fragmentation of black women, the works represent the postcolonial potentiality of transformation and agency.     

‘Now,We Have the Same Rights as Men to Keep Our Jobs’: Gendered Perceptions of Opportunity and Obstacles in a Mexican Workplace

Drawing on extensive qualitative data at a Mexican‐owned multinational corporation, this case study investigates professional employees’ perceptions of changes to a prohibitive work policy requiring women to quit working upon marriage and having children. Employees believed the policy change meant working women were valued employees, but how this translated into opportunity highlighted distinct views of the types of positions professional women could occupy at the company, reinforcing sex‐segregated job allocation. Whereas women's narratives pointed to cultural resistance, men's narratives attributed the dearth of women in higher level positions to their lack of professionalism and commitment to work. The work policy change only guaranteed the right for women to work as the company modernized to fit the neoliberal demands of the global marketplace. Now women faced the challenge of turning that right into career advancement in a traditionally masculine‐defined company. I argue that even with the policy change, gendered discourses on women in professional occupations constructed and maintained gender inequities in the workplace. This study contributes to the scholarly discussion on gendered discourses within the context of global restructuring by showing how mechanisms at work maintain gender inequity in the workplace.