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Modern Articulations of Gender Parity: the ‘New Woman’ Debate in the British Victorian Era and the Modern Muslim World
Get PDFWithin the ‘New Woman’ debates within the Victorian era in Britain and the modern Muslim world (the areas of the former Ottoman Empire), one can witness a powerful feminist consciousness and astounding consistencies in the quest for gender equality, despite the difference in religious traditions, contexts, and contingencies. The debates attest to a consistency in feminist goals and challenges across time and space. The challenges include: intimate and long-standing linkages between scriptural traditions and the social order; interpretative legacies on women and their ‘nature’ that solidified cultural understandings of gender; and the relationship of these legacies to structures of power, namely patriarchy, resulting in limitations placed on women and their access to modernity. In response, women sought the undoing of regressive, patriarchal notions of gender and gender roles that suppress women in culture and law and sought more favorable religious and political expressions in support of women’s progress in their respective societies. More specifically, in the Muslim world, women of all classes began articulating a feminist consciousness in explicit ways from the nineteenth century onward. In the mid-nineteenth century, the writings of Zainab al-Fawwaz (1860-1914), Hind Nawfal (1860-1920), and ‘Afifa Karam (1883-1924) re-articulated understandings of women’s nature, deconstructing linkages between nature and moralities. By the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, women like Malak Hifni Nasif (1886-1918), Nabawiyyah Musa (1886-1951), and Huda Sha’rawi (1879-1947) tackled fixed socio-cultural notions, hierarchies, and gender-specific practice and participation, opening up avenues for women’s education, public participation, and social and political activism. In an attempt to undo patriarchal notions that suppress women in culture and law, they argued for equal religious participation and legal rights, and an expansion of roles of women beyond the bounds of domesticity. Towards the mid-to-late twentieth century, women such as Nezihe Muhiddin (1898-1958) and ‘Aisha Abd Al-Rahman (1913-1998) voiced political and religious ideas in support of women’s progress. Women in the Muslim world, in similarity to their European counterparts, broadened frontiers and constructed new sensibilities and inclusive modernities with their writing
Women and Literacy: Exploring the Literacy Experiences and Practices of Women Farmers in the Philippines
Get PDFFilipino women farmers have displayed their indispensable contribution to the Philippine agricultural economy for a long part of history, yet there remains a dearth of knowledge concerning how these women use literacy to effectively perform their roles in society. This research looked into Filipino women farmers’ literacy experiences and practices. Through an ideological literacy perspective, feminist framework, and ethnographic research approach, it was revealed that the literacy practices of the Filipino women farmers of a rice-planting community in Northern Philippines are deeply rooted in their social and economic environment. Their literacy events vary according to what they want to achieve and what roles they play in the different domains of practicing literacy. Furthermore, it was found that these literacy practices and the women’s experiences with literacy are patterned after long established sociocultural practices and existing patriarchal structures within Philippine agricultural societies
Book Review: No Nation for Women: Reportage on Rape from India, the World’s Largest Democracy
Get PDFFilm Review: Capernaum, A Lebanese, Refugee Drama Film
Get PDFIn Capernaum, a drama film directed by the Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, the viewer is taken through a child’s perspective on life in the slums of Beirut, Lebanon. Through the perspective of the 12-year-old boy, Zain El Hajj, the film depicts global issues including child poverty, child marriage, the current Syrian refugee crisis, lack of documentation, and gender-based violence
Globalization and Migration: The Great Gender Equalizer?
Get PDFGlobalization has been extensively debated in a range of contexts, from trade to borders, international relations, and conflict. It appears to be a positive force for women as many scholars contend that it has offered women new opportunities, thus enhancing greater gender equality in many countries where traditional patriarchal structures are firmly entrenched. However, some scholars are more skeptical of the benefits of globalization for women. They note that despite women gaining an increasing share of employment opportunities in a globalized world, the expected redistribution of domestic, household, and childcare responsibilities often did not materialize. They also argue that multinational corporations appear to uphold patriarchal systems, as these entities often view women’s labor as generally cheaper and more expendable than men’s labor. In this paper, the intricacies between globalization, migration, and gender are examined in order to investigate gender inequality and its consequences as well as the ways in which international migration is facilitated by globalization. Our review of relevant scholarship in these areas reveals that globalization has adversely affected women in both the Global North and the Global South, but the consequences to women in the latter are even more profound. The feminization of migration brought about by globalization has resulted in many challenges to women, including disruptions to family life and to the children left behind when mothers migrate to other countries in search of employment. It has also resulted in women’s position in society becoming more vulnerable as there is very little protection afforded to them as migrants, thus exposing them to many dangers such as sexual harassment. The findings above suggest that creating and implementing gender-responsive, equitable, and effective labor migration policies for migrant women should be prioritized and should be the shared responsibility of both countries of origin and countries of destination
Mothers Born or Produced?: An Analysis of the Mother-Daughter Relationship in Well-Behaved Indian Women
Get PDFThe word motherhood has been used for centuries without thorough examination of what it encompasses. Literature exhibits the changing reality and needs of mothering irrespective of the outcome: imposed motherhood, and institutionalized mothers. Motherhood has been bifurcated in meaning as “the potential relationship of any woman to her powers of reproduction and to children; and the institution, which aims at ensuring that that potential-- and all women--shall remain under male control” (Rich 13). A woman’s biological capacity to bear and nurture a child has been a significant factor in the existence of human life. Another facet of this is the development of the child’s identity while growing up close to the mother. On the one hand, a son gives up or is given up by his mother at a certain age; daughters, on the contrary, have no reason to be given up, and thus the mother-daughter bond is cultivated to be permanent. The paper explores Well-Behaved Indian Women (2020), the debut novel of Saumya Dave, to discover this relationship in three generations of women. The authors examine how motherhood is practiced in the ways a woman is brought up under a certain set of beliefs by her mother, and how she transfers the same set of beliefs to her own daughter. This shift edges towards an inflicted identity that is not one’s own. The daughters and mothers in the novel suffer separation resulting from their conflicted identities and go on journeys of self-analysis to resolve these conflicts. We seek to examine their struggle by highlighting select concepts in motherhood studies
Optimizing Photosystem I and Plastocyanin Isolation to Develop a Photosystem I-Catalyst System for Photochemical Hydrogen Production
Get PDFOver the course of many years, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) have formed in large amounts in the atmosphere, which has contributed to global warming. Global warming can lead to extreme weather conditions or have an impact on living organisms, for example, wildfires, droughts, limited amount of food sources, and respiratory issues from pollution. This is mainly due to the use of burning fossil fuel as an energy source, which emits greenhouse gases into the air and traps heat into the atmosphere. Thus, the aim of this study is to assemble and characterize a system capable of generating a clean burning fuel source, hydrogen (H2), from a system comprised of a protein, Photosystem I (PSI), linked to a catalyst. This project seeks to use sunlight and generate a fuel, H2, where combustion only generates water as a byproduct. The hydrogen evolution system is comprised of the photosystem I protein, isolated from the green alga, Chlorella vulgaris, with a covalently attached a synthetic hydrogen catalyst. Electrons are provided to the system via a separately isolated electron transfer protein, plastocyanin, and sacrificial electron donor. C. vulgaris was used to isolate and purify the protein, PSI, and the bacterium, Escherichia coli was used to over express and purify plastocyanin. The research focused on optimization of the purification techniques for PSI and Western blots to confirm the presence of isolated PSI. While this project aimed to determine the rate of H2 gas production, and total amount of H2 gas produced when different catalysts are linked to the PSI system, these experiments were not conducted due to time limitations. Future experiments will consider how the change in environmental conditions or specific catalyst attached may affect the catalytic rate and amount of H2 produced by the system
Children Are to be Seen and Heard
Get PDFThe stage is set for the next generation. Our classrooms are filled with young people who have lived through a pandemic, grown up on social media, and counted standardized testing methods in their sleep instead of sheep. Students should be encouraged to ask questions and be curious about who they are and what is going on in the world. By incorporating drama education into their daily curriculum, students can see themselves in positive ways. The opportunities are endless when the teacher believes in them. Students can see themselves as role models, world leaders, and academic achievers with the help of theatre education. Theatre Education’s benefits stretch beyond the classroom. They will notice a difference in their socialization, confidence, and public speaking skills. By integrating theatre into the classroom, the next generation can make positive changes to our world. Performing Arts can be utilized to understand world issues, yourself, and academic concepts