Mujer y escritura:construcción de una subjetividad dinámica en cóncava mujer y del dolor y las alas

The title of Juana Castro’s poetry book publshed in 1978, Cóncava mujer — Concave woman — expresses the hollow nature of the social female subject. From Juana Castro’s point of view, this female social concavity is only allowed to transformed itself into its opposite, the convex women which clearly represents the reproductive role of the female body. These two extreme roles assigned to women, hollowness or maternity, are the poetic paradigms for Juana Castro’s two poetry books analised in this article. As if we were presented with the two sides of a coin, Cóncava mujer and Del dolor y las alas – On anguish and wings--(1982) reflect the author´s concious realisation of the above-mentioned female duality as a defined and percieved subject by male society. Each poetry book, however, respond to two different personal moments, and each result in two different ways of conceiving poetic language. On one hand, the poetic subject of Cóncava mujer emerges with all its force as a feminist voice whose goal is the attack of all aspects of the patriarchal society as the cause of the female concavity. On the other hand, in Del dolor y las alas the poetic voice unfolds her motherhood as both loss and creation: the death of Juana Castro’s son makes the poetic subject incomplete, and therefore a concave one; whereas the poetic discourse appears as the perfect way to occupy the empty space left by the son’s death.

Género y traducción:elementos discursivos para una reescritura feminista

Este artículo explora el binomio género y traducción desde la convicción de que ésta última, al constituir un punto de contacto entre realidades lingüísticas, culturales e ideológicas diferentes, desempeña un decisivo papel en el cambio de la naturaleza patriarcal y sexista del lenguaje y de las sociedades. Para comenzar a abordarlo, reflexionaré sobre las influencias y confluencias entre traducción y feminismos, que tanto han contribuido a la renovación y enriquecimiento mutuo de ambas disciplinas. Esta perspectiva me ubicará en una posición privilegiada desde la que plantear el compromiso de la traducción feminista, materializado en la adaptación (más que invención) de estrategias ideológicas y textuales legítimas para traducción, con las que contribuir a la implementación de la reforma lingüística y social superadora de la discriminación de género. This article explores the relationship between gender and translation with the conviction that the latter is a point of contact between different linguistic, cultural and ideological realities, and therefore plays a vital role in the change of the patriarchal and sexist nature of language and societies. I will begin by examining the influences and confluences between translation and feminisms, which have powerfully contributed to the mutual renewal and enrichment of both disciplines. This perspective will place me in a privileged position from which I will consider the purpose of feminist translation, a purpose exemplified in the adaptation (rather than invention) of legitimate ideological and textual strategies for translation, which make it possible to contribute to the implementation of a linguistic and social reform which seeks the eradication of gender discrimination.

Schoolgirls in a rural context

It is proposed that, for rural secondary schoolgirls, school is a site of contestation. Rural girls attempt to `use' school as a means of resisting traditional patriarchal definitions of a `woman's place'. In their efforts, the girls are thwarted by aspects of the school itself, the behaviour and attitudes of the boys in school, and also the `careers advice' which they receive. It is argued that the girls perceive school as being of greater importance to them than is the case for the boys, and that these gender differentiated perceptions are related to the `social' lives of the girls and boys, and also to their future employment prospects. Unlike the boys, the girls experience considerable restrictions concerning these two areas. This theory was grounded in an ethnographic study which was conducted in and around a village in a rural county in England. As well as developing the theory through ethnography, the thesis contains tests of certain hypotheses generated by the theory. These hypotheses relate to the gender differentiated perspectives of secondary school pupils with regard to the areas of school itself, life outside school, and expectations for the future. The quantitative methods used to test these hypotheses confirm that there is a tendency for girls to be more positively orientated to school than the boys; to feel less able to engage in preferred activities outside school time than the boys, and also to be more willing to move away from the area than the boys. For comparative purposes these hypotheses were tested in two other rural locations and the results indicate the need for further research of a quantitative kind into the context of girls' schooling in such locations. A critical review of literature is presented, as is a detailed discussion of the research process itself.

La traducción como mecanismo de (re)canonización:el discurso nacional y feminista de Rosalía de Castro en sus traducciones a inglés

Women authors have been traditionally ignored by patriarchal values informing the dominant literary canon. The most important icon of Galician literature, however, is a woman – Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885). She is not only a foundational myth for Galician letters, but also one of the most widely translated Galician authors. That said, the way she has been canonized in the Galician literary system has generally presented her work as exclusively committed to the construction of the national/ist identity, disregarding and muting her subversive feminist ideas. Taking this context as a starting point, in this article I shall examine most English translations of her work published between 1909 and 2010 in order to assess to what extent these translations have contributed to either disseminating or concealing Rosalía de Castro’s national and/or feminist discourse. I also aim to offer new critical readings of some of the author’s texts written in 19th century, which show how the Galician author is a real pioneer in Western literary feminism.

Ist Religion schlecht für Frauen? Empirische Erkenntnisse zum Zusammenhang zwischen öffentlichen Religionen und den Menschenrechten der Frau

Religion is a dynamic concept. It can be a means of supporting masculinist power structures as well as a means for challenging established gender hierarchies. This article therefore suggests the proposition that it is not religion as such constituting a problem for the human rights of women but the privileging of patriarchal interpretations of religion and the marginalization of progressive interpretations in many contexts, respectively. From an empirical perspective, thus, the question of the concrete conditions contributing to the ability of conservative religious actors to enforce their patriarchal views in politics and society arises. This article consults existing empirical studies on predominantly Christian democracies and Muslim societies to find answers to this question. It discusses the impact that the institutional relations between the state and religion, the significance of religion in the political party system as well as the confessional composition and the strength of religiosity in a society have on the human rights of women. The article, moreover, deals with the effect of democracy and certain rights on the promotion of women's rights in religious contexts. It demonstrates the requirement of and provides suggestions for further empirical research in this area.

Challenging masculinity in CSR disclosures:silencing of women’s voices in Tanzania’s mining industry

This paper presents a feminist analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a male-dominated industry within a developing country context. It seeks to raise awareness of the silencing of women’s voices in CSR reports produced by mining companies in Tanzania. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and women are often marginalised in employment and social policy considerations. Drawing on work by Hélène Cixous, a post-structuralist/radical feminist scholar, the paper challenges the masculinity of CSR discourses that have repeatedly masked the voices and concerns of ‘other’ marginalised social groups, notably women. Using interpretative ethnographic case studies, the paper provides much-needed empirical evidence to show how gender imbalances remain prevalent in the Tanzanian mining sector. This evidence draws attention to the dynamics faced by many women working in or living around mining areas in Tanzania. The paper argues that CSR, a discourse enmeshed with the patriarchal logic of the contemporary capitalist system, is entangled with tensions, class conflicts and struggles which need to be unpacked and acknowledged. The paper considers the possibility of policy reforms in order to promote gender balance in the Tanzanian mining sector and create a platform for women’s concerns to be voiced.