Women Creators: Artistry and Sacrifice in the Novels of Virginia Woolf

This thesis examines different facets of feminine artistry in Virginia Woolf's novels with the purpose of defining her conception of women artists and the role sacrifice plays in it. The project follows characters in "Mrs. Dalloway," "To the Lighthouse," and "Between the Acts" as they attempt to create art despite society's restrictions; it studies the suffering these women experience under regimented institutions and arbitrary gender roles. From Woolf’s earlier texts to her last, she embraces the uncertainty of identity, even as she portrays the artist’s sacrifice in the early-to-mid twentieth century, specifically as the creative female identity fights to adapt to male-dominated spaces. Through a close-reading approach coupled with biographical and historical research, this thesis concludes that although the narratives of Woolf's novels demand the woman artist sacrifice for the sake of pursuing creation, Woolf praises the attempt and considers it a crueler fate to live with unfulfilled potential.

Representações sociais do envelhecimento ativo num olhar genderizado

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar as representações sociais do envelhecimento ativo, procurando detetar os impactos das conceções diferenciadas de homens e mulheres idosos. Foi desenvolvido um estudo de coorte transversal. Foram inquiridas 123 pessoas idosas (M=76,84; DP=8,46). Utilizámos para aceder às evocações sobre o envelhecimento ativo a Técnica de Associação Livre de Palavras. As representações que emergiram com maior frequência foram a “família”, “passeio”, “convívio” e “saúde”. Foi possível destacar diferenças na representação social do envelhecimento ativo a partir de um olhar genderizado. Das evocações exclusivas do sexo masculino a evocação proeminente ancora no “desporto”, enquanto no sexo feminino a “atividade doméstica” predomina. Ambos os sexos elegeram a “família” como evocação proeminente na representação social do envelhecimento ativo. As mulheres, refletindo os papéis que desempenharam ao longo da sua vida parecem assumir que um envelhecimento ativo representa a execução das tarefas que sempre fizeram, centrando-se muitas das suas evocações em conteúdos de cariz familista, onde o papel de cuidadoras se destaca. As atividades de carácter instrumental e associadas à esfera privada, como as tarefas domésticas emergem com maior proeminência. No caso dos homens, a componente familista é também evocada, emergindo concomitantemente atividades de lazer.

Genus i ensemble : En intervjustudie om lärares syn på genusuppdraget och dess innebörd för ensembleämnet

Syftet med undersökningen är att med avseende på skolans genusuppdrag studera musiklärares förhållningsätt i ensembleundervisning på gymnasieskolan. För att uppnå detta har kvalitativa, semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med lärare i gymnasiekursen ensemble, följt av diskursanalys på transkriberingar av dessa intervjuer. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är genusteorier och diskursteorier. I resultatet framkommer lärarnas syn på genusbegreppet och genusuppdraget. Bland de genusdiskurser som presenteras finns synen på genus som rutin, som sidoeffekt på annat arbete och som medvetenhet. Gällande elevsyn visar sig diskurser om eleven som platstagare, som normbrytare och vikten av att eleven känner sig som en synbar individ. Slutledningarna, liksom diskussionskapitlet, rör sig kring genusarbetets framgångar, vilka faktorer som kan ha orsakat dessa, och hur arbetet förändrats på skolorna utifrån dessa framgångar. Genomgående har ett individfokus framkommit, där eleverna inte ses som en grupp, utan som enskilda individer, vilka alla måste mötas personligt.

Richard Yates: re-writing postwar American culture

This thesis explores the fiction of American author Richard Yates to propose that his work provides an insistent questioning and alternative vision of postwar American culture. Such an approach is informed by a revisionist account of four distinct yet interconnected areas of postwar culture: the role of the non-heroic soldier stepping in and out of World War II; suburbanisation and fashioning of anti-suburban performance; demarcation of gender roles and unraveling of sexual conservatism in the 1950s; consideration of what constituted the normative within postwar discourse and representations of mental illness in Yates’ work. These four spheres of interest form the backbone to this study in its combined aim of reclaiming Yates’ fiction in line with a more progressive historical framework while shaping a new critical appreciation of his fiction. Such analysis will be primed by an opening discussion that illustrates how Yates’ fiction has frequently been ensconced in a limited interpretative lens: an approach, that I argue, has kept Yates on the periphery of the canon and ultimately resulted in the neglect of an author who provided a rich, progressive and historically significant dialogue of postwar American life. This PhD arrives at a point when Yatesian scholarship is finally gaining momentum after the cumulative impact of a comprehensive biography, a faithful film adaptation of his seminal text Revolutionary Road (1961), plus the recent re-issue of his catalogue of work. An assessment as to why he remained on the margins of success for the duration of his career is therefore of pressing interest in light of this recent critical and commercial recognition.

El efecto de la cuota de género en Colombia: Un panorama sobre la participación política femenina durante las elecciones legislativas de 2014

El propósito del presente estudio de caso es evaluar el alcance de la cuota género con respecto a la participación política femenina, durante las elecciones legislativas de 2014 en Colombia. A partir de entrevistas realizadas a las congresistas y a los miembros de los partidos políticos, del estudio de los perfiles de las mujeres electas y de una serie de elementos teóricos relativos al sistema electoral; se analizan y explican los factores que llevaron a la cuota a tener un efecto limitado con respecto al número de mujeres electas. Posteriormente, siguiendo los planteamientos de Iris Marion Young, se estudia el funcionamiento de la cuota desde un concepto más amplio de acción afirmativa, lo que permite identificar el efecto de la cuota en relación con las barreras culturales que dificultan la participación política femenina.

Metamorfoses: identidades e papéis de género. Um estudo com Transhomens

Este estudo, de carácter exploratório, tem o objetivo de perceber como se processam as (re)aprendizagens dos vários papéis de género em transhomens, atendendo aos processos de adaptação ao nível social, comportamental e da perceção de si na (re)construção da identidade. Para a concretização deste trabalho, recorreu-se à recolha de informação, através de uma estratégia metodológica qualitativa e utilizou-se um questionário analisado através do método de análise de conteúdo, segundo Laurence Bardin (1979). Participaram neste estudo 20 transhomens (pessoas cujo sexo designado no registo de nascimento foi feminino, mas que se identificam com o género masculino). As principais conclusões sugerem que existem mudanças ao nível dos sentimentos, perceção de si, comportamentos, identidade de género e relação com o corpo que resultam do processo de redesignação sexual. Verifica-se que as aprendizagens e pressões para a conformidade aos estereótipos de género resultam por vezes em comportamentos intencionais na construção das feminilidades e masculinidades. Verifica-se também a consciencialização destas intencionalidades, bem como uma progressiva libertação desses comportamentos e dos constrangimentos a eles associados, o que resulta numa apropriação e autoidentificação de si mais liberta, consequentemente de uma vida mais feliz. Esperamos com este trabalho contribuir para o conhecimento e visibilidade das identidades trans, em específico dos transhomens, na tentativa de desconstrução de estereótipos sociais; Metamorphoses: Identity and Gender Roles. A Study with Transmen Abstract: This study of exploratory nature aims to understand the process of (re)learning the various gender roles in transmen, in relation to the social and behavioural processes of adaptation and self-perception in the (re)construction of identity.To do this work, we gathered information, outlined a qualitative methodological strategy and used a survey using the content analysis method according to Laurence Bardin (1979). 20 transmen participated in this study (people whose sex assigned at birth registration was female but identify with the masculine gender). The main findings suggest that there are changes in the level of feelings, self-perception, behaviour and relation with the body that result from sex reassignment process. It appears that the learning and pressures for conformity to gender stereotypes sometimes result in intentional conduct compliance in the construction of femininity and masculinity before and after the sex reassignment process. You can also verify the awareness of these intentions, as well as a gradual release of these behaviours and constraints associated with them, which results an appropriation and self-identification of himself more free, thus a happier life. We expect this work to contribute to the knowledge and visibility of the trans people, in particular the transmen in an attempt to deconstruct social stereotypes.

. Parentesco y producción: la organización social de la agricultura de exportación en la provincia de Limón, Costa Rica, 1920-1960

Resumen Describe los patrones migratorios que moldearon el perfil demográfico de la vertiente caribe de Costa Rica en la primera mitad del siglo XX, para luego analizar los papeles de genero y las formas de parentesco que imperaban entre los pobladores de la zona, en relación con la organización de la labor productiva y reproductiva en la misma. Abstract The author describes the imgrations patterns which shaped the demographic profile of the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica in the first half of the twentieth century, and goes on to analyze gender roles and kinship forms among residents of the zone, and reproductive labor there.

Heading east this time: critical readings on gender in southeast Asia

This essay intends to discuss some critical readings of fictional and theoretical texts on gender condition in Southeast Asian countries. Nowadays, many texts about women in Southeast Asia apply concepts of power in unusual areas. Traditional forms of gender hegemony have been replaced by other powerful, if somewhat more covert, forms. We will discuss some universal values concerning conventional female roles as well as the strategies used to recognize women in political fields traditionally characterized by male dominance. Female empowerment will mean different things at different times in history, as a result of culture, local geography and individual circumstances. Empowerment needs to be perceived as an individual attitude, but it also has to be facilitated at the macrolevel by society and the State. Gender is very much at the heart of all these dynamics, strongly related to specificities of historical, cultural, ethnic and class situatedness, requiring an interdisciplinary transnational approach.

Which “place and non-place” do women occupy in social economy organisations?

Scientific literature has strengthened the perpetuation of inequality factors in the labour market based on gender, despite the on-going endeavour of various political bodies and legal norms against the vertical and horizontal segregation of women. National and European statistical data shows the relevance and timeless features of theories of market segmentation associated with the labour market dating back to the 70’s of the 20th century. Hence, the European Community considers as a priority in the Europe 2020 strategy, the definition of “policies to promote gender equality […] to increase labour force participation thus adding to growth and social cohesion”. If we consider that on the one hand, social economy is fairly recognised to be equated with market actors and the State for its economic and social role in tackling the current crisis, and on the other hand, that the ideals of the sector, systematised in the “Framework Law of Social Economy” (Law no. 30/2013 8th of May), particularly in article 5 proposing “the respect for the values […] of equality and non-discrimination […], justice and equity […]”, we aim to reflect on indicators that uncover a vertical and horizontal segregation in the labour market. Departing from a mixed methodological approach (extensive and intensive), subject to the topic of "Social Entrepreneurship in Portugal" in social economy organisations, we detect very high rates of employment feminisation, with a ratio of 1 man (23%) for every 3 women (77%). Women are mainly earmarked for technical and operational activities, arising from the privileged intervention areas, namely education, training, health, elderly, families, poverty, ultimately being underrepresented in statutory boards and, as such, far removed from deliberations and strategic resolutions. This is particularly visible in the existing hierarchy of functions and management practices of the responsibility of male members. Thus, it seems easily verified that the sector is travelling away from the ideals of justice and social equity, which can crystallise the "non-place" of women in the definition of a strategic direction of social economy and in the most invisible/private “place” of the organisational setting.

Gender-based Violence: a resource document for services and organisations working with and for minority ethnic women

Gender-based Violence: a resource document for services and organisations working with and for minority ethnic women Click here to download PDF 492kb This is a publication of the Womens Health Council

El desempeño de Unamsil en el programa DDR durante el proceso de paz en Sierra Leona. Estudio de caso: los niños soldados. 1998-2005

El interés de este Estudio de Caso es investigar la manera en que la Misión de Paz de la ONU en Sierra Leona (UNAMSIL) redireccionó el programa Desarme, Desmovilización y Reintegración (DDR) hacia los niños soldados durante el post-conflicto en el país. Se analiza cómo a través de la coordinación de diferentes Agencias y Organizaciones Internacionales con UNAMSIL, el Gobierno y la Sociedad Civil hace posible que se refuerce el rol de los Interim Care Centers (ICCs) en donde se enfrentaron las necesidades esenciales de los menores excombatientes para lograr un mejor proceso de su desmovilización y reintegración. Se explica de igual forma, las diferentes herramientas que sirven para llevar a cabo la resolución del conflicto y la reconstrucción de la paz, enfocándose en el peacekeeping, peacemaking y peacebuilding, como mecanismos que ayudaron a crear un espacio seguro para los niños exsoldados. Por último, se exponen los alcances y límites de los ICCs con respecto a la reintegración de los menores excombatientes

Roles of the non-medical prescribing leads within organisations across a Strategic Health Authority: perceived functions and factors supporting the role

Objectives Extending the roles of nurses, pharmacists and allied health professionals to include prescribing has been identified as one way of improving service provision. In the UK, over 50 000 non-medical healthcare professionals are now qualified to prescribe. Implementation of non-medical prescribing ( NMP) is crucial to realise the potential return on investment. The UK Department of Health recommends a NMP lead to be responsible for the implementation of NMP within organisations. The aim of this study was to explore the role of NMP leads in organisations across one Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and to inform future planning with regards to the criteria for those adopting this role, the scope of the role and factors enabling the successful execution of the role. Methods Thirty-nine NMP leads across one SHA were approached. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Issues explored included the perceived role of the NMP lead, safety and clinical governance procedures and facilitators to the role. Transcribed audiotapes were coded and analysed using thematic analytical techniques. Key findings In total, 27/39 (69.2%) NMP leads were interviewed. The findings highlight the key role that the NMP lead plays with regards to the support and development of NMP within National Health Service trusts. Processes used to appoint NMP leads lacked clarity and varied between trusts. Only two NMP leads had designated or protected time for their role. Strategic influence, operational management and clinical governance were identified as key functions. Factors that supported the role included organisational support, level of influence and dedicated time. Conclusion The NMP lead plays a significant role in the development and implementation of NMP. Clear national guidance is needed with regards to the functions of this role, the necessary attributes for individuals recruited into this post and the time that should be designated to it. This is important as prescribing is extended to include other groups of non-medical healthcare professionals.

Translation practices in political institutions: a comparison of national, supranational, and non-governmental organisations

This paper explores the settings and practices of translation at three types of political institutions, i.e. national, supranational, and non-governmental organisations. The three institutions are the translation service of the German Foreign Office, the translation department of the European Central Bank, and translation provision by the non-governmental organisation Amnesty International. The three case studies describe the specific translation practices in place at these institutions and illustrate some characteristic translation strategies. In this way, we reflect on how different translation practices can impact on translation agency and how these practices in turn are influenced by the type of institution and its organisational structure. The article also aims to explore to which extent the characteristics of collectivity, anonymity and standardisation, and of institutional translation as self-translation are applicable to the institutions under discussion.