여성정책의 변화에 관한 정치사회학적 연구 : A도를 중심으로

김애령 이화여자대학교 1999 국내박사

This study investigates the gender politics involving the womens policy transformation in a Korean locality. "Gender politics" is used here as the process of power struggle among gendered individual and groups/organizations around the issue of womens empowerment. It was only recent that Korean local governments adopted gender-sensitive policy approaches to womens issues, which was drastic change from the old residual welfare-oriented approach. Some of the local leaders, directly elected in 1995 for the first time in Korean history, enthusiastically initiated the new womens policy approach. However, few seem to haven been successful. "A" province was one of these where the gender-sensitive womens policies and programs were curtailed in two years. Comparative literatures reveal that, in many developing countries, womens policies beyond a residual welfare approach had not been undertaken in a linear manner due to the resistance of patriarchal power in the existing system. They also indicate that gender-sensitive programs can be successful only when it is accompanied by empowerment and participation of women NGOs. This study concentrates on three questions: First, who were the main actors that initiated and intervened in the new womens policy in the local context of "A" province? Secondly, how did the transformation process take place? And, how did the main actors behave characteristically in the process of gender politics? Finally, what are the intended and unintended consequences and the implications of the particular gender politics? Relevant provincial documents and interviews provided the main source for this study. Women and men, altogether 58 persons, within and outside the local government were interviewed from December 1, 1997 to October 31, 1998. They include both progressives and conservatives. In addition, occasional observation of the related officers and agencies were undertaken. Finding of the study are as follows. 1. Throughout the transformation process, the governor played the key role. Right after the governor of "A" province took office in 1995, he introduced a series of gender-sensitive womens policies establishing a new branch office of womens policy. However, it is questionable whether he truly intended to empower women. His earlier gesture of womens policy changes turned out to be merely a means for his personal power and authority of higher level. 2. The initial attempts of womens policy transformation were welcomed by the grass-rooted womens organizations which had been excluded from participating in the institutional processes. On the other hand, all these moves were posited as a threat to the conventional forces including the bureaucrats and the womens organizations which had long been closely interconnected as patrons and clients, upholding the marginal status of women vis-a-vis the local authorities. 3. A strong resistance from these conventional patriarchal forces led the governor to withdraw his earlier policies. The transformation czcle came to an end when the governor resigned the post to run for the presidential election of 1997. 4. There was a siginificant transformation on terrain of the local politics of womenas organiyations, which was an unintended consequence. In the first phase of the transformation, grass-rooted womens groups, formerlz kept marginal and perceived dissident, came forward to particioate in the decision naking process in relation to the organiyations. Then, being alerted bz the strong resistance of the patriarchal groups, the newlz emerging womenas groups was empowered rather than distressed. The reinforcement of womens groups was an unintended consequence of the gender politics of the transformation. Practical and theoretical implications of the these findings are as follows: The process of institutionaliyation of a new womenas policz approach is more than simplz initiating a series of new policies or programs. It follows a rather complicated process of gender politics involving pros and cons political apparatuses inside and outside the government. It is, therefore, essential to identifz various social forces intervening in the process and to analzye in full the dznamics of direct and indirect interactions. Finallz, from a feminist perspective, it is critical for progressive womenas organiyations to strengthen so as to bring genderßsensitive demands togetjher and to win a wide support from the grassroots. 이 연구는 최근 한국의 지방정치영역에서 이루어진 여성정책의 변화를 성의 정치(Gender politics)의 관점에서 분석하려는 목표를 갖는다. 여성정책을 둘러싼 성의 정치의 관점이란 여성정책이 추구하는 여성세력화의 목표를 개인 혹은 조직적 차원에서 성별간의 권력갈등의 지속적인 전개과정으로 보는 새로운 관점을 의미한다. 1995년의 민선지방자치제도의 출범과 더불어 지역여성정책에서 가시화된 가장 중요한 특징의 하나는 특수계층의 여성을 대상으로 하던 잔여적인 복지(residual-welfare)중심의 정책으로부터 일반 여성들의 사회참여욕구를 강조하는 성인지적인(gender-sensitive)정책으로 의제의 전환이 이루어진 점이다. 특히 지역의 일부 단체장들은 새로운 여성정책의 접근을 표방하는데 상당히 적극적이었다. 그러나 변화과정은 그리 순탄하게 진행되지는 않았다. 특히 A도("A"Province)에서는 성인지적인 여성정책이 불과 2년 만에 정지(停止)하는 특수한 상황이 나타나게 되었다. 지역의 여성정책의 전개상황을 예측하기 위해 다음과 같은 비교연구가 선행되었다. 우선 대부분의 발전도상국가에서 복지적 접근을 넘어서는 새로운 성형평적 접근들은 제도권에 기득권적인 가부장적인 세력들의 저항 때문에 부침을 겪고, 그로부터 실효성을 거두는 데에 한계를 갖는다는 연구들이 제시되었다. 이로부터 성인지적인 프로그램들은 여성비정부기구들이 참여하고 세력화(participation and empowerment)하는 과정을 통해서만이 성공적으로 수행될 수 있다고 보는 분석들도 제시되었다. 이로부터 다음과 같은 세가지 연구문제를 도출하여 분석상의 초점을 두게 되었다. 첫째, 사례지역인 A도에서 새로운 여성정책을 주도하거나 혹은 그 과정에 개입해온 행위주체는 누구인가? 둘째, 이들 행위주체들은 성의 정치과정에서 어떠한 전략과 특정행위유형을 선택하는가? 셋째, 이로부터 구성되는 특수한 성의 정치과정의 (가부장적 세력들이)의도한 결과, 그리고 의도하지 않은 결과는 무엇이며 그것이 갖는 함의는 무엇인가? 연구방법으로는 질적인 면접연구와 문헌연구방법을 취하였다. 기존의 연구가 전혀 없는 탓에 일차적으로 A도의 여성정책 수행과정에 나타난 자료들을 면밀하게 수집하였다. 그리고 1997년 12월 1일부터 1998년 10월 31일까지 약 11개월에 걸쳐 총 58명의 연구대상자들에 대한 심층면접과 관찰을 실시하였다. 사례분석에 앞서 다음과 같이 두 단게로 성의 정치의 환경을 설정하는 작업이 선행되었다. 첫째, 1995-1998년의 3년 기간동안 A도에서 단체장과 관료 및 권력의 중심부와 특수한 호혜관계를 갖는 여성세력들, 그리고 성인지적인 세력들간의 4자간의 행위주체들이 선택할 수 있는 전략을 추론하여 모형화하였다. 둘째, 이로부터 4자간의 서로 다른 전략을 시공간적으로 배치하여 여성정책의 변화시도와 그 효과라는 최종의 성의 정치의 모형을 확정하였다. 연구결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 변화과정에서 단체장은 가장 핵심적인 역할을 수행하였다. 1995년에 취임한 직후 단체장은 새로운 여성정책을 담당한 부서를 설치하는 등 일련의 성인지적인 여성정책을 도입하려고 시도하였다. 그러나 그가 실제로 여성복지정책을 넘어서서 여성들의 세력화에 대한 관심과 의도를 갖고 있었는지는 의문시된다. 오히려 그가 여성정책의 변화를 통해 궁극적으로 의도한 바는 개인적인 권한강화에 있다는 것이 드러났다. 둘째, 이러한 여성정책변화의 시도는 이제까지 지방권력의 주변부에 있던 대중적인 여성단체들의 호응을 받게되었다. 그러나 이들이 새로운 여성정책의 의사결정과정에 참여하여 주변적인 여성의 위치를 문제제기하게 되면서 가부장적인 권한을 추구하기 위해 오랜기간 후원-수혜의 상호관계에 있던 관료와 권력중심부의 여성세력들의 위기의식과 저항이 나타나게 된다. 셋째, 관료조직의 은밀한 저항은 마침내 1997년에 이르러 단체장이 여성기구의 성인지적인 활동을 정지시키는 가장 강력한 저항을 초래하게된다. 단체장은 새로운 권력강화 욕구를 표출하고 이로부터 국면이 전환되어 성인지적인 여성정책은 형식화되고, 결국 가부장세력의 복권으로 결말이 났다. 넷째, 가부장적 세력들의 저항은 또 다른 모순적인 효과를 초래하는데, 결국 의사결정에 개입한 성인지적인 여성단체들이 일련의 가부장적인 의도를 포착하면서 보다 세력화 하는 결과가 나타난다. 결국 A도에서 이제까지 주변부에 있던 대중적인 여성단체들이 새롭게 제시하는 세력화의 방향은 여성정책변화를 둘러싼 성의 정치과정을 통해 나타난 의도하지 않은 또다른 결과라고 할 수 있다. 지역의 사례분석을 통해 얻게되는 중요한 함의는 새로운 여성정책이 형식화되고 이전의 여성복지수준으로 회귀하는 경향은 복잡한 가부장적인 사회세력들과 성인지적 여성정책을 지지하는 세력들간의 성의 정치의 결과라는 점이다. 주민자치와 민주화로 변화라는 이행과정 속에서 가부장적인 지방권력의 힘은 약화될것으로 예상되지만, 이 연구의 결과는 성의 정치라는 문제의식을 통해 가부장적인 새력들이 다양한 방어적인 전략을 보일것이라는 점을 함의하고 있다. 이 연구는 지방정치구조와 성별관계를 결합하는 정치사회학적 관점을 적용함으로서 여성정책연구의 새로운 지평을 열고자 하였으며, 동시에 사회과학이 여성 및 여성정책에 대해 갖는 주변적인 관심을 환기시티는 효과를 기대하였다. 또한 실천적인 함의로는 여성들의 경제적×정치적×사회적 세력화를 목표로 하는 여성정책을 구현하기 위해서 다양한 여성조직들이 장기적인 성의 정치과정 속에서 여성세력화에 저항하는 가부장적 새력들의 이해관계를 끊임없이 경계하고 또 이에 대항하여 여성들의 요구를 결집하고, 또 제도적으로 분출하여야 한다는 함의를 제기할 수 있을 것이다.

Essays on Impacts of Women Empowerment on the Health Outcomes of Children

Das, Sagnik ProQuest Dissertations & Theses City University of 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Chapter 1: Taking cognizance of the lack of representation of women in politics, the Indian government in 1993, enacted the 73rd constitutional amendment which led to a sudden increase in the representation of women in the local governments. Exploiting the exogenous variation in the timing of implementation of the 73rd amendment across the states, I study the spillover effects of this mandated empowerment of women on the health outcomes of children by using nationally representative survey data and employing a difference-in-difference estimation strategy. In this study, I find evidence of a positive impact of mandated women empowerment on the survival outcomes of higher birth order children. I also find evidence of increased birth spacing as the possible mechanism through which the increased representation of women in the local government leads to the improvement in the survival outcomes of children. Findings also suggests that the reservation at all levels of the local government is not equally effective and is mainly driven by the increased representation of women at the village level.Chapter 2: In this paper, I investigate the impact of the change in the gender composition of politicians due to the improved electoral performance of women in state-level elections in India on the survival outcomes of children. Early childhood mortality in India has been a matter of concern as it is among the countries which report high neonatal and infant mortality. The lack of decent healthcare facilities coupled with the cultural and social norms which dictate the preference for boy children have led to inferior health outcomes for the higher birth-order children, especially girl children. In this paper, I postulate that an improvement in the representation of women in a male-dominated decision-making position leads to better healthcare infrastructure and policies and a reduction in bias against women stemming from social and cultural norms and thus improves the early childhood mortality outcomes of children. I use a health survey data consisting of information about the reproductive history of mothers who gave birth in the period 1990 to 2015 and combine it with the data on the electoral performance of women in state legislative assembly elections conducted within the period 1989 to 2014 to examine the impact of a change in the gender composition of politicians at the district level on the neonatal and infant survival outcomes of the children born within each election-cycle in the respective districts. To correct for the endogeneity concerns arising out of the unobserved voter preferences, I exploit the quasi-randomness of women’s victories in close men-women elections using a regression discontinuity design. In contrast to previous research, I find that a change in the gender composition of politicians at the district level does not have an overall impact on the survival outcomes of children. Contrary to previous research, the findings also suggest that only girl children of higher birth order experience an improved neonatal survival probability relative to boys.

Exploring Karkara Women’s and Adolescent Girls ’Perceptions Toward Leadership Positions as a Vector of Empowerment: A Case Study in the Sahel Niger

Adolphe, Halima Therese Gbaguidi The Pennsylvania State University ProQuest Dissert 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

Women’s advancement and inclusion in society have been on the rise in many nations, but some countries still have not made significant improvements. The Niger Republic is one country in West Africa where gender inequality is still prevalent in contemporary times. Women and girls, particularly in the country’s Karkara communities, have faced decades of gender discrimination due to unequal access to critical social and natural resources, educational opportunities, and services. This inequality has prevented them from participating fully in society and the decision-making process, attaining leadership positions, and learning skills crucial to their well-being. As a result of these gender disparities, few women hold leadership positions in the male-dominated sectors of society.In the Republic of Niger, since independence in 1960 to the present day, much ink has been spilled about the issue of women's involvement in leadership positions/roles. Women are constantly absent, misrepresented, and often excluded across different societal spheres. A recent report from the United Nations Development Program ranked Niger 154 out of 162 countries in terms of the Gender Inequality Index (UNDP, 2020), highlighting the stark inequalities facing women. The government has made progress in enhancing women’s participation in many sectors, including the implementation in 2001 of the Quota Act (Alidou & Alidou, 2008). However, there is still persistent inequality in women’s positions. Yet, despite its critical importance, the Quota Law has barely been respected since its inception, and even less, it does not necessarily apply to women and young girls in rural areas who are non-literate or without higher education. This inequality has prevented them from participating fully in society, attaining leadership positions, and learning skills crucial to their well-being. As a result of these gender disparities, few women hold leadership positions in the male-dominated sectors of society. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 countries across the globe (including Niger) in September 2015. These goals continue the work begun by the Millennium Development Goals, which were established in 2000 (United Nations, 2015). As part of the original Millennium Development Goals, women's empowerment and gender equality remained fundamental elements. A more sustainable world begins with gender equality as a fundamental human right. Gender equality also supports economic growth, peace, prosperity, and a stronger economy, hence the importance of this study. Currently, there is a dearth of published literature on rural women and girls in Niger, making it quite difficult to ascertain the nuanced situation of the inequalities faced by women and girls. Moreover, there is limited literature on leadership, especially regarding rural women and girls, which is critical to the conversations on advancing women in society. Therefore, this qualitative case study explores how rural women and girls view leadership within their community and how that can contribute to their empowerment. In other words, the study examines how Karkara women and adolescent girls perceive leadership as a vector of empowering them and future generations. The study focuses particularly on rural women and girls in three rural areas within the region of Tahoua in Niger. Findings show that leadership can be a vector to empowerment and that participants ’influence in leadership roles is exhibited in diverse ways, such as their involvement in women’s groups or associations, the community and within their household.

Response to Stress and Trauma among Racially/Ethnically Diverse Women in Different Health Settings: A Three-Study Dissertation

Waldron, Elizabeth M Northwestern University ProQuest Dissertations & T 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

Stress, trauma exposure, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with chronic health conditions. In the U.S., women of color face trauma at up to four times the national rate. They also contend with chronic stress from the intersectional hardships of racism, discrimination, sexism, and economic hardship that is the result of historical and current institutional racism. Health systems and clinics can intercede in the cycle of trauma, stress, and chronic illness by integrating stress- and trauma-focused interventions within accessible settings where women of color receive their care. The aim of this three-study dissertation is to explore the potential for stress- and trauma-based interventions for women of color in primary and community health settings at three stages of intervention development. The first stage is to identify the need. The study, “Posttraumatic Stress, Adverse Birth Outcomes, and Prenatal Care Among Black/African American Women,” analyzes the associations of self-report posttraumatic stress symptoms and electronic health records of prenatal care and birth outcomes of Black/African American pregnant women. This analysis reveals that women with more severe symptoms are less likely to engage in adequate prenatal care and more likely to give birth preterm. This study’s findings emphasize the importance of more comprehensive trauma-informed outreach and obstetric and mental health care for Black/African American women. This dissertation’s second study focuses on intervention development. “Stress, Coping, and the Acceptability of Mindfulness Skills Among Pregnant and Parenting Women Living with HIV: A Focus Group Study” explores the psychosocial treatment needs of pregnant and parenting women living with HIV and assesses their receptivity to mindfulness in pursuit of developing a mental health intervention. This study shows that pregnant and parenting women living with HIV are open to mindfulness skills for coping with stress and to a non-stigmatizing group intervention to decrease their isolation. The final study of this dissertation is “The Impact of Participation in a Mindfulness-based Intervention on Posttraumatic Stress Symptomatology among Black/African Women: A Pilot Study.” This final study examines the efficacy of an adapted mindfulness-based intervention delivered in a community health setting. Findings reveal significant reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and increases in mindfulness from baseline to end of treatment among Black/African American women with trauma histories. While stress and trauma are linked to chronic health conditions and poor health outcomes, interventions that are accessible and non-stigmatizing, like community-based mindfulness interventions, have great potential for improving the mental and physical health of women of color.

Feminine Plural: Representations of Vulnerabilities and Vulnerabilities of Representations Narratives of Women in Contemporary Egyptian Cinema

Ahmed Assaad, Jacinthe University of Washington 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

Huda Shaarawi's purposeful unveiling in 1919 and the violent undressing of the girl in the blue bra in 2011 trace a narrative arc that begins with the birth of the Egyptian nation and end with the collapse of the state. These representative moments are engulfed by a nationalist discourse that appropriates the female figure to raise sentiments of loyalty, solidarity and belonging, a discourse that has resurfaced in and since the 2011 Egyptian revolution. National narratives come to replace personal female narratives. Feminine Plural explores the patterns of signification implied between both iconic moments, through a critical examination of four contemporary Egyptian films, in order to understand how various, and often divergent, representations of women's modalities affect the marked social and political positions of women in Egyptian society. What meanings does cinema as cultural production articulate, negotiate and ultimately project of women's identities and modes of being? How can we account for the complex patterns of subjectivity that we have a moral duty to understand, and simultaneously explain the connections between the visual reproduction of women and their systematic political marginalization?. I examine the narratives constructs of female identities and subjectivities, and the complex patterns of social and political relations that four exemplary films offer: Scheherazade Tell Me A Story directed by Yousry Nasrallah (2009), Cairo 678 directed by Mohamed Diab (2010), This Is Chaos directed by Youssef Chahine and Khaled Youssef (2007), and finally The Yacoubian Building directed by Marwan Hamed (2006). The content of these films provide considerable imaginative insight into the social and cultural inscriptions of gender roles and relations in society. The disappearance of the classical Arabic feminine plural (and dual) in colloquial Egyptian, to be replaced by the ubiquitous masculine (grammatical) gender, articulates the semantic erasure of the female subject. Thus, woman is rendered the object of discourse, never its subject. The first chapter, "Semantic Vulnerability: Interstices Between Voices and Images," examines the significant function of the storyteller. The interwoven narratives of four female protagonists provide a confessional setting to address and acknowledge the presence of the female speaking subject. The narratives deconstruct conventional conceptions of female identity, including, the importance of marriage, the role of women in husband and wife relations, and the image of the nurturing mother. The second chapter, "Physical Vulnerability: Public Displays of Violence and the Vanishing Subject," reveals how the semantic erasure of the grammatical subject is accompanied by a physical one. Addressing the pervasive problem of public sexual harassment in Egypt, Cairo 678 portrays how this violation further negates the presence of women, as both citizens and subjects, reducing them to abstractions. Shamed and silenced, women struggle against a discourse of property and propriety to redefine their experiences, so often denied, and assert their autonomous and self-determining subjectivity, including the right to own and protect their bodies. Three fragmented narratives weave continuous, yet distinct, stories that challenge identificatory binaries of victim/perpetrator, pure/impure, oppressed/oppressor, and dominant/submissive. In the final chapter, "Symbolic Vulnerability: State of Aporia" I examine the dangers of writing the nation's history through women's lives. The semantic and physical vulnerabilities discussed in the first two chapters contribute to the symbolic vulnerability of women, especially when they embody the nation to the detriment of their own subjectivity. This Is Chaos exposes social constructs that enforce female subjection, and trap female subjectivity within the rhetorical binaries of tradition/modernity, Egyptian/Westernized norms, and purity/corruption. The Yacoubian Building traces the disintegration of the nation through the systematic alienation of its citizens. This alienation is reinforced by the commodification of male and female bodies, the inescapable powerlessness at the hand of the government, and the dissipation of individual dreams. The examination of female subjectivities and representations is paralleled by an exploration of the representations of hegemonic masculinity, and the characterizations of the nation's ideal "hero," which the films also criticize. Ultimately, these four films provide a subversive criticism of a society in crisis over the representations of its citizens and its assertion of power. My three axes of analysis, that retrace the semantic, physical and symbolic vulnerabilities of women within those representations also reveal how those representations are equally vulnerable, and can therefore be renegotiated and redefined to reflect women, not as they are idealized, fantasized, and appropriated, but as they are: self-determining subjects.

Constructing Modern Missionary Feminism: American Protestant Women’s Foreign Missionary Societies and the Rhetorical Positioning of Christian Women, 1901–1938

Wolfe, Marion Aikens The Ohio State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2018 해외박사(DDOD)

From 1901-1938, the ecumenical Central Committee on the United Study of Foreign Missions (CCUSFM) published a series of annual textbooks intended for American Protestant women, members of local branches of women’s foreign missionary societies, to study and teach each other. The United Study texts constructed a version of women’s rights rhetoric that I refer to as modern missionary feminism. They positioned their readers as heirs to the history of Christianity, participants in contemporary political and social movements, and sisters to “heathen” women around the world who needed their help. In these ways, the United Study series created interrelated exigencies for American women, who were told that because of their privileged status as educated, modern, Western women, they were required to help other women and that the way to do so was through their support of Christian evangelism. To CCUSFM members and the authors they commissioned, the conversion of the world to Christianity, the spread of women’s rights, and modernization through Western cultural imperialism were inseparable. In particular, they believed that modern Christian women needed to act on behalf of missions in order to bring about the ideal, unified, egalitarian, and peaceful Christian utopia of the future. The contradictions inherent in their rhetoric (which utilized opposing ideas such as conservative/progressive, professional/familial, international/local, and unity/diversity) went largely uninterrogated; rather than viewing such binaries as either/or, their rhetorical positioning of modern missionary feminists allowed them to embrace multiple sides of various debates, revealing new ways in which rhetorical scholars can consider women’s and religious rhetorics.

Targeting barriers to care for pregnant women at risk for depression: Examining the role of stigma and the feasibility of a web-based depression prevention program

Felder, Jennifer Nicole University of Colorado at Boulder 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

Depression is common in pregnancy and postpartum, and associated with negative consequences for women, their families, and society at large. Despite evidence-based treatment options, few women receive treatment. In the context of three studies, this dissertation addresses the overall aim to examine strategies to increase treatment engagement among pregnant and postpartum women, including identifying and targeting barriers to depression care and disseminating interventions in innovative ways to overcome barriers. The Public Attitudes About Perinatal Depression study was developed in response to research suggesting that perceived stigma is a barrier to pregnant and postpartum women seeking help for depression. This study examines public attitudes about perinatal depression using 241 participants from Amazon's Mechanical Turk who completed measures assessing attitudes about, warmth towards, and spontaneous associations with depressed pregnant women, depressed postpartum moms, depressed women, as well as depressed dads-to-be, depressed postpartum dads, and depressed men. Results provide no evidence that people view depressed pregnant or postpartum women more harshly than they view depressed women in general. Limitations and future research directions are addressed. The Depression Screening and Feedback study tested the feasibility and impact of a brief, mailed intervention on depression symptom severity, and examined barriers to help-seeking and actual help-seeking actions among perinatal women with elevated depression symptom severity recruited from a local Obstetrics/Gynecology clinic (n=20). Data collection for this study is ongoing, and results from the data collected to date are presented. Finally, the Mindful Mood Balance for Moms study examines the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of a web-based depression-prevention program for at-risk pregnant women (n=37). Results suggest that the web-based program was feasible, and self-report and interview data nominate areas for further refinement. Contrary to hypotheses, participants did not evidence significant reduction in depression symptom severity. Future studies should address the extent to which this program helps to prevent depressive relapse among this vulnerable population. Together these studies emphasize the continued importance of identifying and targeting barriers to care among at-risk and depressed perinatal women.

Agents of See Change: Catholic Women's Organizations in West Germany, 1945-1968

Brothers, Heather Michigan State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2022 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines Catholic women's organizations in West Germany from 1945 to 1968. Women in organizations like the Central Association of Catholic Women and Mothers’ Organizations (ZKFM) were important agents of change within both West German society and the Catholic Church. Despite being largely left out of scholarly discussions about the postwar period, West German Catholic women and the knowledge they created fundamentally shaped the intellectual culture of the Catholic milieu during this era. The ZKFM, and other organizations like it, gave Catholic women a platform within the Church that both limited the scope of their ideas and actions, but also provided these women with networks and connections that empowered them to effectively challenge Catholic dogma and tradition and to intervene in West German debates about women’s role in family, society, and state. By studying the intellectual work of Catholic women and their organizational labor, I argue that we can better understand the relationship between women, the Church, and West German society. This dissertation explores how interactions between conceptions of gender and Catholic faith are integral to understanding both women’s place within the structures of Church and state and also how women worked to shape these structures to their own ends. Women in the ZKFM expressed a wide diversity of opinions, and the organization allowed and encouraged new interpretations on both faith and gender that helped to set the association’s agenda moving forward. While influenced by conservative Catholic tradition and a conservative West German state, the diversity within the ZKFM also emboldened members to explore feminist ideas and other progressive pursuits. When we look closely at ZKFM conferences, publications, benevolent activities, and public interventions, we can see that these women and their intellectual work played a significant role in shaping the landscape of postwar West Germany.

How Living in a Disadvantaged Neighborhood Is Associated With Abortion Access and Contraceptive Behavior

Lang, Kaiting The Ohio State University ProQuest Dissertations & 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

Background: Contraception and abortion access are essential to reproductive justice and women's equality. These services are critical for women to achieve their reproductive goals. Extensive studies have measured the association between individual-level characteristics with abortion access and contraceptive behavior, especially with different types of contraceptive methods. Limited studies were completed to investigate how living in a disadvantaged neighborhood can impact contraceptive behavior and abortion access. These limited studies mostly used income/poverty to measure neighborhood socioeconomic and structural conditions, which are single-level measurements and do not capture resources and opportunities available in each neighborhood. In addition, studies that measure contraceptive behavior often use type of contraceptive methods as the outcome; no study has been completed to investigate how living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with whether women report using their preferred contraceptive method. Limited studies have been completed to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the change of contraceptive behavior. Thus, the goal of my dissertation is to fill the aforementioned gaps. Methods: To measure how living in a disadvantaged neighborhood affects abortion access and contraceptive behavior, this dissertation used two data sources. The first data source used to measure abortion access was collected by the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network (OPEN), where a 20% sample of 2014 to 2018 abortion records was drawn from three abortion facilities in the State of Ohio. The second data source used to measure contraceptive behavior was the Ohio Survey of Women, an Ohio population-representative survey collected by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC). To measure neighborhood socioeconomic and structural conditions, we used the Ohio Opportunity Index (OOI), which includes seven domain scores (transportation, education, employment, housing, health, environment, and crime) and a composite of all seven domain scores that captures that neighborhood's opportunity and resources. In Aim 1, I used Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models to measure the association between neighborhood effects using the OOI and access to abortion. I assessed four outcomes: 1) whether the individual received an abortion after visiting an abortion facility, 2) the type of abortion method patients chose, 3) the number of days between the first abortion appointment visit to the surgical abortion, and 4) the gestational stage at the surgical abortion. In Aim 2, I used the weighted GEE to measure the association between neighborhood effects using the OOI and contraceptive behavior. I assessed four outcomes: 1) choosing female sterilization or long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) over other highly effective methods (e.g., injection, oral contraception, patch, and ring), 2) choosing highly effective methods (≤10% failure rate) over not highly effective methods (e.g., cervical cap, diaphragm, sponge, male condom, female condom, spermicides, and fertility awareness-based methods), 3) using any contraceptive method compare to not using any, and 4) using their preferred method compared to a non-preferred method. In Aim 3, I used a Sankey diagram to show how the non-response (loss to follow-up) and type of contraceptive method change over time. I performed descriptive analyses to explore individual and neighborhood characteristics in relation to non-response and contraceptive method change over time, and how COVID related to these changes.Results: Of the neighborhood-level characteristics examined, all variables except health resources were significantly associated with whether a patient received a surgical abortion at a later gestational stage (>64 days). Living in a neighborhood with more resources and opportunities (transportation, education, employment, and housing), as well as lower crime, lowers the odds of getting a surgical abortion at a later gestational stage; whereas, living in a neighborhood with more environmental resources increases the odds of getting a surgical abortion at a later gestational stage. In this study, neighborhoods' environmental resources were highly correlated to rural/urban characteristics of the neighborhood, where rural areas have less pollution and more green space. Although most neighborhood-level characteristics were not significantly associated with contraceptive behavior, a consistent pattern was observed when modeling type of contraceptive method as the outcome. After controlling individual-level characteristics, women who lived in a disadvantaged neighborhood had increased odds of using contraception (compared to not using), increased odds of choosing LARC and female sterilization over other highly effective methods, and increased odds of choosing highly effective methods over not highly effective methods, compared to those who living in a neighborhood with more resources and opportunities. However, opposite relationships were observed when using the preferred contraception method as the outcome. When investigating the distribution of methods across different neighborhoods, among participants who reported using their preferred method, women who reported using LARC and living in neighborhoods with the lowest resources and opportunities were significantly more likely to report using their preferred method. However, they were less likely to report other non-LARC methods as their preferred method compared to women living in a neighborhood with more resources and opportunities. During the early and mid-pandemic phases (2019-2021), there was an increase in changes to less effective contraceptive methods compared to the late pandemic (2021-2022). Black women, women with less than high school degree, and women living in neighborhoods with less resources and opportunities were more likely to report changing to less effective methods, and more likely to be lost to follow-up. Discussion: This study shows that living in disadvantaged neighborhoods is associated with getting an abortion at a later gestational stage. Compared to neighborhoods with more resources, women who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to report using highly effective contraception, especially LARC and female sterilization. However, they are more likely to report they are not using their preferred contraception, because dissatisfaction with their less effective and non-LARC contraceptive methods. The result indicates that neighborhood interventions can help women access abortion services in time, and more studies are needed to investigate why women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are dissatisfied with non-LARC methods. Interventions that target women who use non-LARC methods in disadvantaged neighborhoods can improve access to their preferred methods. Disparities in access to contraception during the pandemic suggest that interventions should be tailored to specific subgroups, such as Black women, women with low education levels, and women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. .

Global Rise or Persistent Inequalities? A Cross-National Analysis of Women Faculty

Nakagawa, Mana ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Stanford Universit 2015 해외박사(DDOD)

Over the last decade, women have increasingly outnumbered men in higher education enrollments in the vast majority of countries around the world. Yet, studies reveal that women continue to be underrepresented as faculty, particularly in the higher echelons of the academic hierarchy and across traditionally male-dominated disciplines. This dissertation explores the global status of women faculty in higher education institutions from historical, national, and organizational level perspectives. The experiences of women faculty have been well documented in specific countries and regions throughout the world, but the extent to which these trends can be generalized in a global and historical context is far less understood.My first paper utilizes data from the UNESCO Institute of Statistics to examine the global trends of women faculty attainment across 93 countries from 1970 to 2012. Using descriptive analysis and country-fixed effects regression analysis, I examine (1) how women faculty have advanced cross-nationally over time, and (2) to what extent these changes are driven by global and transnational dynamics, and/or by country-level characteristics. Although the conditions of women academics have been widely examined across different countries worldwide, extant studies have largely been cross-sectional in nature, or focused on single country or university contexts. The contribution of this paper is to examine the phenomenon from a cross-national and longitudinal perspective. I find that despite the current prevailing discourse focusing on the underrepresentation of women academics, women's share of faculty positions has in fact grown dramatically and consistently over the last several decades.While the first paper provides an important historical context to understanding the current status of women faculty worldwide, more recent research emphasizes the unequal access and opportunities that women faculty continue to face in reaching the higher ranks of tenure, particularly in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. In order to understand these gender differences among academic faculty, the second paper employs a comparative analysis of women faculty in current-day, top ranked universities worldwide. Given the limited availability of comparative international data on women faculty, I utilize a uniquely constructed dataset on over 12,000 current faculty (2013-14 academic year) from 13 advanced and developing countries, across four diverse fields of study. The investigation relies on descriptive and multi-level analyses focusing on two main dependent variables: (1) women's share of faculty positions inside higher education institutions across four fields of study, and (2) women's share of tenured or permanent faculty positions inside a higher education institution, across disciplines. I find that in this current-day sample of elite universities worldwide, women are in fact, vastly underrepresented at the tenure ranks across all fields of study across the 13 countries, and particularly in engineering. From a global perspective, countries that are interlinked to a world society are more likely to see women in faculty positions across all ranks and disciplines. Various political and structural factors at the national level jointly contribute to the limited advancement of women faculty, particularly in the science and engineering fields, as well as in higher ranks of faculty positions across disciplines.The third article examines the organizational-level characteristics of higher education institutions that contribute to the growth of women faculty across the 52 elite universities for which data is uniquely collected. I find a wide variation in the institutional characteristics associated with differing levels of women's representation in faculty positions. Most prominently, the presence of women department heads is significantly linked to greater representations of women faculty, both overall and at higher ranks of tenure. Building on feminist and organizational-level theories, I argue that the current underrepresentation of women in higher ranks of faculty are functions of a dynamic, multi-level gender system in which global-, national- and organizational-level processes work together to perpetuate the gender segregation in academic hierarchies across the world.This dissertation contributes a unique examination of the status of women faculty in a global context from a variety of sociological, feminist, and organizational frameworks and perspectives. Given the cross-national scope of these papers, the findings contribute new evidence for the generalizability of existing theories on women in higher education cross-nationally, beyond the existing state of theories focusing on single country studies. As the under-representation of women, particularly in elite and leadership positions, spans diverse socio-economic and political contexts around the world, these papers further offer new considerations for scholars and stakeholders invested in the broader issues of gender, work and organizations.