Womens Studies International Forum最新文献

{"title":"An existential exploration of Dalit subjectivity in Bama's short fiction “Annachi” and “Chilli Powder”","authors":"Keerthana S","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103183","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103183","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The study interrogates two short fictions by Bama to look at how the narrative reflects the idea of Dalit Humanism as a conceptual framework that straddles the notion of existentialism and “earthy humanness”. While the first objective of the study is to trace and decipher the nuances surrounding the construct of “Dalit humanism”, the second objective exclusively deals with “earthy humanness” and its associated set of ethics and rebellion. The final section of the article intends to read the relationality of social inequality, caste stratification, and availability of resources as determining components in Dalit conjugal relationships. Close reading Bama's “Annachi” and “Chilli Powder”, the article also elaborates upon the need to take cognisance of the empathetic humanism that is inclusive in its approach. While the available discourses on Bama's works have excessively dealt with the aspects of caste and gender, the present study incorporates the often-neglected phenomenological dimension, which hints not just at the caste-gender nexus but also projects the paradigms of “rebel” literature. In questioning the verticality of wealth, the arbitrary nature of respect/dignity and subverting the traditional quotients of caste hierarchy, the study employs an intersectional framework offered by Sartre's philosophy of “existentialism is a humanism” and Roja Singh's “earthy humanness” of Dalit women. Even as the study traces the evolution of the discourses on patriarchy in Dalit lives, it illustrates how Bama's conceptualisation of “Dalit Womanism” is uniquely egalitarian and realistic in its function. In determining their identity through divergent contextual moorings in the social mainstream, the study concludes that the Dalits reterritorialise their self-dignity in radically disavowing their construct as the jettisoned other and reorient their personality with the renewed values of dignity, empathy and militancy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103183"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144767186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Late diagnosis of autistic women in Spain: A participatory study","authors":"Laura Gargallo-Nieto ,&nbsp;Ainhoa Rodríguez-Zafra ,&nbsp;María Clemente-Sánchez ,&nbsp;Irene Garcia-Molina","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103177","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103177","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Evidence suggests that the exponential increase in late autism diagnoses among women may be due to a lack of diagnostic tools tailored to their specific presentation, as well as to societal stigmas and biases from an early age. This study aims to give voice to a group of women to explore the reasons behind receiving an autism diagnosis in adulthood, their motivations for seeking it, and the physical, psychological, and emotional consequences of the process. The study included 30 autistic women aged 18 to 56, from Spain, with diagnostic ages ranging from 18 to 55. They participated in a semi-structured interview through different response modalities based on their preferences (e.g., in-person). This is a participatory study, with autistic individuals actively involved in all stages of the research process. Based on proportional data and a reflexive thematic analysis approach, three themes were constructed, corresponding to different stages of the process: pre-diagnosis, diagnosis, and post-diagnosis. These themes highlight the struggle to find answers and the journey toward self-validation. First-person narratives are essential to raising awareness and improving the diagnostic landscape in Spain. There is a need to develop resources for sensitive support both during and after the diagnostic journey, as well as to provide training in autism and gender perspectives for professionals, ensuring more accurate and accessible diagnoses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103177"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144750358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Breaking barriers for females in IT freelancing: An analysis of challenges in Sri Lanka","authors":"Dinithi Liyanage,&nbsp;Adithya Vidanapathirana,&nbsp;Pulasthi Attanayake,&nbsp;Devinda Mudannayake,&nbsp;Kalpana Ambepitiya","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103173","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103173","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The underrepresentation of female IT freelancers on online platforms in Sri Lanka, contrasted with the increasing acceptance of freelancing among women in developed countries, underscores a significant gap within the global gig economy. This study employs a qualitative research approach, utilizing telephone interviews with female IT professionals. Through the interviews with freelancers, insights gathered show the study proposition regarding the interplay of key variables affecting their motivation, highlighting four independent variables: disinclination, childcare and family responsibilities, gender pay gap and job security and income stability. Thematic analysis was applied to the data, with expert confirmation of the reliability of the variables identified. The research discusses the negative impacts these factors have on motivation, and in addition, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted more women to consider freelancing for self-preservation. Ultimately, the study advocates for an equitable working environment to bolster the demand for female IT freelancers and aims to raise awareness regarding the challenges faced by Sri Lankan women in this field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103173"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144739592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Women's household decision-making autonomy in low economic settlements in Bangladesh: Evidence from a cross-sectional study, 2022?","authors":"Saifa Raz ,&nbsp;M. Shafiqur Rahman ,&nbsp;Bachera Aktar ,&nbsp;Sabina Faiz Rashid","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103181","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103181","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Women's autonomy in decision-making is a crucial indicator of empowerment, with significant implications for their well-being and social status. Several research conducted on women's household decision-making autonomy among women of better socio-economic conditions; however, limited research has been conducted among women living in low-economic settlements. This study seeks to estimate the prevalence of and factors influencing women's decision-making autonomy among women living in low-economic settlements such as urban slums.</div></div><div><h3>Methodology</h3><div>This research is based on data extracted from the Integrated Health-Wellbeing Survey 2022, a cross-sectional study conducted among marginalized groups residing in three selected slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data were collected from 1248 women through a face-to-face interview using a semi-structured questionnaire. Both bivariate with chi-square test of independence and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the association between socio-demographic variables and decision-making autonomy.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>The findings reveal that about three-quarters of women of informal settlements reported having autonomy in mobility, grocery shopping, and healthcare decisions, while only half reported having money management and child education autonomy. Older women, those heading households, those involved in income-generating activities, and women owning mobile phones demonstrated significantly greater autonomy compared to their counterparts (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01). Despite evidence from other contexts linking education to autonomy, slum women's decision-making was driven by economic participation rather than formal education.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The findings underscore the importance of income-generating opportunities in empowering women and highlight the need for a multi-faceted approach, focusing on economic empowerment and social support to enhance women's autonomy in low-economic settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103181"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144739591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Women recidivism in North Macedonia (2017–2024)","authors":"Elena Maksimova,&nbsp;Olga Koshevaliska","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103178","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103178","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Female recidivism presents a growing challenge for the criminal justice system in North Macedonia and is shaped by socio-economic, psychological, and systemic factors. This article investigates women repeat offenders through the lens of Arnaudovski's (2007) theory and with the help of a mixed-methods approach, combining statistical analysis with qualitative data from case studies and interviews. Marital status, parental responsibilities, employment, type of prior offense, substance abuse, and sentencing are used to understand the recidivism rate among Macedonian female offenders, together with offense categories, motives behind initial crimes, and histories of trauma and victimization. Findings reveal that economic hardship, lack of support systems, unresolved trauma, and inadequate gender-sensitive rehabilitation increase the risk of reoffending. Stigma and systemic barriers hinder reintegration. Comprehensive, gender-responsive policies, including mental health services, childcare support, and targeted reintegration programs, can reduce female recidivism and promote successful societal reintegration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103178"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144739644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing women entrepreneurship through resource orchestration and digital technologies","authors":"Pavani Prabha Tanaji,&nbsp;Swati Alok,&nbsp;Rishi Kumar","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103175","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103175","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women entrepreneurs in developing countries like India often encounter socioeconomic barriers, such as limited accessibility and affordability, which confine their businesses within a closed system. According to the Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL), digital penetration has significantly increased, specifically post-COVID, suggesting that technology-driven entrepreneurship could overcome these challenges. This study explores the “process dynamics” of how digital reliance impacts entrepreneurial success measured by sales growth, market expansion, and product offerings through the lens of resource orchestration theory. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 213 digital women entrepreneurs and analyzed using SEM with SmartPLS4 software. The findings revealed that women entrepreneurs relying on basic technologies like mobile/web applications and advanced internet technologies like IoT and AR do not directly lead to entrepreneurial success. Instead, these technologies facilitate “resource acquisition” by providing access to business information, strategic advice, and other valuable assets. However, these acquired resources do not directly lead to entrepreneurial success. Further, basic technologies, being transactional, remain isolated tools if not strategically orchestrated, limiting their overall impact on business performance both directly and indirectly through experimentation. In contrast, advanced technologies like IoT, AR, etc., which are transformational, demonstrate both direct and indirect impacts on performance via business experimentation. This study emphasizes women entrepreneurs to integrate their digital tools and differentiate between the impact caused due to reliance on basic versus advanced technologies. It urges policymakers to shift focus from digital adoptions to digital effectiveness through capacity-building programs and promote resource orchestration often overlooked in entrepreneurship discussions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103175"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144721467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Charting success of female leaders: Case study of accomplished female leaders' inspirational journeys in education","authors":"Mary Braimah ,&nbsp;Hong Zhu ,&nbsp;Foster Abrampa Opoku-Mensah ,&nbsp;Rosemary Braimah","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103172","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103172","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Empirical evidence continues to underscore a significant gender disparity in leadership roles, creating an urgency to explore the barriers faced by females aspiring to attain leadership roles and to deal with gender disparity in leadership positions. Examining stories of the lived experiences of females in order to aid derive lessons from their leadership narratives, the study explored, the challenges and the success stories of female headteachers in basic schools in the Sekyere Kumawu District and Surrounding districts of the Asante Region of Ghana. In-depth interviews were conducted to explore the remarkable success stories of accomplished female leaders in five districts in the enclave. In-depth interviews were used to delve into understanding obstacles in their paths to reaching the pinnacles of their careers. A thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews uncovers three institutional barriers: low academic qualification of females, skewed interview and promotion processes, and unfairness in appointments. The study also uncovers two socio-cultural barriers: discrimination and lack of family support, and three personal factors: low academic qualification of females, fear, choosing motherhood roles over career roles. The study provides valuable insights into the unique journey of female leaders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"113 ","pages":"Article 103172"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144724172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“No strength to stop”: Persevering in fertility treatment despite repeated failures – A qualitative investigation","authors":"Yael Benyamini ,&nbsp;Maayan Bat-Chen Abramov ,&nbsp;Elinor Dori ,&nbsp;Ronit D. Leichtentritt","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103176","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103176","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fertility treatments foster hope of fulfilling the desire for parenthood. However, the difficulties they entail and the decreasing success rates over time raise questions regarding discontinuing treatment, a difficult decision that often happens because of financial constraints. Israel is a highly pronatalist country, where fertility treatments are mostly covered by the State. Thus, it serves as a living laboratory to study the psychological processes involved in decisions about treatment continuation after repeated failures, setting aside financial considerations. We aimed to examine the decision-making process women undergo when choosing to continue in-vitro-fertilization (IVF) despite low odds of success, and the strategies they implement in carrying out the decision to continue. We conducted in-depth interviews with fourteen women, ages 33–45, who had undergone between 4 and 28 IVF cycles. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings showed no evidence of deliberation or hesitation in the decision process, as informants raised no doubts concerning treatment continuation. This confident stance was rooted in three themes: (a) personal, interpersonal, and social motivations; (b) an inability to identify alternatives; and (c) strategies for keeping motivation and optimism, even when the objective chances of success were low. Interpreting the findings from decision-making, self-regulation and self-identity perspectives, suggests that the seemingly irrational perseverance in treatment may be rational, given the social context in which the women are operating. The study raises the need for support in decision-making along the treatment process and for promoting social discourse that legitimizes broader acceptance of diverse family structures and attitudes towards parenthood.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 103176"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144714228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Homicides committed by women in Montenegrin past and present","authors":"Rajka Đoković ,&nbsp;Milena Kavarić","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103163","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103163","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Women are the perpetrators of the crime of murder, both in the past and in contemporary society. New scientific knowledge is most often used in order to look at the contemporary patterns of behavior of female that led to the commission of the criminal act of murder. However, criminal history allows us to use this knowledge to understand one segment of the illicit behavior of women in the past. Accordingly, in this paper, through a feminist prism, we investigate certain aspects of female murders and show the patriarchal conditions that influenced wives, mothers, and daughters-in-law to become murderers. The primary source for researching female murderers in the Montenegrin past is the archive material of the Great Court as the supreme judicial instance. This material provides data on the basis of which it will be reconstructed who the victims of the female murderer were, what her motives were, and what life situations were like in patriarchal society prior to the execution of the murder. This historical part of the study serves to provide a better understanding of the ways of adult female killers in contemporary Montenegrin society, which is still characterized as patriarchal when it comes to some segments of the lives of contemporary Montenegrin women.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 103163"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144685459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Writing the other: The private eye in Cheryl A. Head's Bury Me When I’m Dead","authors":"Sriya Das ,&nbsp;Seema Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103170","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103170","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The paper examines the representation of Charlie Mack, the African American bisexual female private eye in Cheryl A. Head's <em>Bury Me When I'm Dead</em> (2016) to understand the generic and ideological shifts, observed in lesbian crime fiction by contemporary African American women writers. Placed at the intersection of feminist theories and crime fiction studies, it examines how the protagonist in the novel not only questions the Anglo-American masculine ideology of the private eye but also unshackles it from female-heterosexual biases. The paper thus argues that the African American private investigator re-interprets the role of the detective in contemporary crime fiction and highlights the transformation that has shaped the very understanding of the genre. The discussion shows how Charlie Mack is crucial in questioning traditional detective stereotypes, redefining the normative nature of ‘sleuthing’, and claiming agency in the context of intersecting inequalities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47940,"journal":{"name":"Womens Studies International Forum","volume":"112 ","pages":"Article 103170"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144685458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}