Abstract Books of the World Conference on Gender and Women's Studies
The Abstract Books of the World Conference on Gender and Women's Studies (GWSCONF) presents carefully peer-reviewed research presented at the annual Gender and Women's Studies conference organized by Proud Pen. This collection captures original work across the field of Gender and Women's Studies, spanning theoretical frameworks to applied studies. Each volume serves as a reference for ongoing research and study in the discipline.
The Body Undressed: Burlesque Persona as Somatic Instrument for Processing Trauma
This paper explores Burlesque as a site where the emotional body and the performing body meet. In Burlesque, undressing becomes a method of inquiry—a way of peeling back the layers of embodied memory, shame, resilience, and becoming. While the form has been widely examined through feminist and cultural lenses, its potential as a trauma-sensitive, somatic methodology remains underexplored. This project investigates the Burlesque persona as a somatic instrument: an embodied, aesthetic construction that enables performers to access, reorganise, and re-author emotional experience. Drawing from affect theory, trauma studies, embodiment, and psychodynamic approaches, the research conceptualises persona-building as a form of emotional architecture—strong enough to hold what has been fragmented, yet flexible enough to allow transformation. The study employs a 24-week mixed-methods pilot design integrating acting methodologies (Stanislavski, psychodrama, embodied improvisation) with qualitative data (interviews, reflective journals, performance analysis) and a light pre/post psychometric battery. Participants, drawn from diverse embodied histories, engage in a structured creative process that traces how identity, vulnerability, and resilience shift within performance-making. By positioning Burlesque as more than spectacle—as an embodied mode of inquiry—this project expands conversations on gender, agency, and affect, and proposes a trauma-informed framework in which the stage becomes a space for emotional negotiation, narrative reframing, and the gentle reconstruction of self.
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From Inclusion to Transformation: Transfeminist Perspectives on Gender-Responsive Higher Education
This paper develops a transfeminist critique of gender-responsive education in higher education. While gender-responsive approaches have contributed to challenging discrimination, stereotypes and unequal participation, they often remain tied to additive models of inclusion: gender is treated as a dimension to be incorporated into existing pedagogical and institutional frameworks. Drawing on transfeminist theory, queer theory and feminist pedagogy, the paper argues that a transformative approach requires a shift from inclusion as accommodation to inclusion as a critical interrogation of the norms that organise teaching, learning and academic belonging. The paper asks what becomes visible when higher education is analysed not only as a site where gender inequalities are reproduced, but also as an institution that produces the conditions through which gendered and sexual subjects become intelligible, legitimate and governable. It examines how categories such as participation, safety, voice, care and merit are shaped by normative assumptions about embodiment, identity and authority. Particular attention is given to trans, non-binary and intersectionally marginalised subjectivities, which expose the limits of pedagogical models based on stable identities and formal equality. Rather than rejecting gender-responsive education, the paper proposes to radicalise it through a transfeminist framework. This perspective redefines pedagogical transformation as an epistemic, relational and institutional practice. The contribution lies in reframing higher education not merely as a space that includes diverse subjects, but as a field in which the very terms of inclusion, knowledge and recognition can be contested and reconfigured.
Breaking the Labor Market Barrier: The Lived Experiences of Immigrant Women Entering the United States (U.S.) Workforce
Immigrant women (IW) contributed to the U.S. workforce and often navigated systemic barriers while employed. This qualitative phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of 16 IW who were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. The purpose of this research was to understand the challenges that IW faced when entering the U.S. workforce as they transitioned to full-time employment. Three emergent themes were identified: cultural tension, work-life strain, and community networks as a support system. The findings highlighted the systemic barriers faced by IWs, including accent discrimination, challenges in cultural adaptation, and limited access to childcare and resources. Often, these workforce challenges lead to feelings of isolation or alienation, work-life imbalance, and emotional strain. The study findings showed that IWs used community networks and their faith to build resilience against workforce challenges. Through community networks and other support systems, IWs were better able to navigate the workforce. Overall, the findings highlight the need for structural changes and policies to govern the workforce. Policymakers can address discrimination and bullying by implementing anti-discrimination policies and providing bias awareness training. Employers can be more intentional with support by ensuring workforce inclusiveness, offering affordable childcare policies, and culturally responsive processes. Other practical steps include adopting family-friendly policies, developing mentorship programs, and providing cultural sensitivity training to foster inclusiveness. Finally, educators are encouraged to implement cross-cultural communication and life skills curricula to empower IW. Communities can also support IW by providing resources such as childcare and job training.
Edu-Culture Feminist Aesthetic in Ogochukwu’s in The Middle of The Night
In her novel, In the Middle of The Night (sic), Ogochukwu Promise makes an impressive incursion into virtually every facet of Nigerian society, addressing themes that reflect her concern and consciousness of issues relating to corruption, bad governance, insurgency, women’s marginalisation, and other related matters. Beyond these, the novel also affirms that national strength lies in the reconciliation and cooperation of both sexes towards building a conducive and better nation. The research methodology used for this study is qualitative, and a sociological approach is adopted in the analysis of the novel, using this researcher’s Edu-culture feminist model, a variant of African feminist theories, which recognises the inclusion of socio-political and economic issues in the works of contemporary Nigerian female writers, and also encourages love, respect, tolerance, high education, dialogue, conciliation, and group consciousness, which the Nigerian culture embraces. This paper concludes and recommends the adequate and balanced complementary roles of both genders in government administration, and the combination of high education and good moral values advocated by Nigerian culture, to be inculcated by Nigerian leaders in particular and African leaders in general to achieve a peaceful and new Nigeria.
Affective Infrastructures and the Politics of Relationin Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other
Critical discussions of Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other have predominantly approached the novel through the frameworks of representation, intersectionality, and Black British visibility. While these perspectives have been essential in illuminating the text’s intervention in debates on race, gender, and belonging, they have tended to foreground identity categories over the relational conditions through which identities are formed and sustained. This paper reads Girl, Woman, Other through the lens of affective infrastructures, drawing on Raymond Williams’s concept of “structures of feeling,” Lauren Berlant’s notion of “infrastructures of feeling,” and AbdouMaliq Simone’s idea of “people as infrastructure.” It argues that Evaristo’s most significant intervention lies not simply in representing diverse subjectivities, but in rendering visible the networks of care, transmission, memory, and social mediation through which subjectivities emerge and endure. Across generations, institutions, friendships, pedagogical encounters, political movements, and familial histories, the novel constructs social life as a form of interdependence rather than autonomous individuality. Its fragmented structure, polyphonic narration, and hybrid form map modes of connectivity that usually remain below the threshold of narrative attention, thereby shifting the emphasis from identity as a fixed category to relation as an ongoing process. In this sense, Girl, Woman, Other offers a distinctive form of social knowledge in which belonging emerges through circulation, reciprocity, and historical transmission rather than individual achievement or collective homogeneity. By foregrounding affective and social infrastructures that sustain everyday life, Evaristo reimagines the political possibilities of the contemporary novel. Ultimately, Girl, Woman, Other emerges not merely as a site of representation, but as a form that renders visible the relational conditions through which lives become intelligible, narratable, and historically connected.
From Gown to Town: University Gender Centres, SGBV Response and Gender Equality in Nigeria
Gender inequality remains a persistent challenge in higher education across sub-Saharan Africa, where entrenched patriarchal norms, resource constraints, and socio-cultural practices continue to shape institutional cultures, governance and opportunities. In response, Nigerian universities have increasingly established Gender Centres as institutional mechanisms to advance gender equality, prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and mainstream gender perspectives into governance, policies and practice. This study examines the roles, achievements, and challenges of Gender Centres in five Nigerian universities; Federal University Lafia, Moses Orshio Adasu University Makurdi, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Bayero University Kano, and the University of Calabar, supported through the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) Voices from the Halls project. A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed, drawing on key informant interviews, focus group discussions with Gender Centre staff, students, and stakeholders, alongside a review of institutional gender policies. Data were analysed thematically to examine institutional development, leadership support, policy influence, resource allocation, empowerment initiatives, community engagement, and SGBV prevention and response. The findings demonstrate that Gender Centres have strengthened institutional responses to SGBV, influenced the development and implementation of gender-responsive policies, and expanded empowerment initiatives for students and staff. Their effectiveness, however, varies according to institutional maturity, leadership commitment, governance arrangements, and the availability of sustainable financing. Common challenges include a culture of silence around SGBV, persistent patriarchal norms, limited institutional autonomy and chronic underfunding, yet Centres have made measurable progress in shifting institutional cultures and extending “Gown to Town” engagement into surrounding communities. The study highlights implications for sustainable financing, survivor-centred programming and stronger institutional accountability and policy enforcement n to enhance their long-term effectiveness and sustainability across Nigeria’s higher education landscape.
Challenging Gendered Boundaries: Women’s Experiences and Equal Opportunity in Male-Dominated Engineering-Oriented Sectors in China and Sri Lanka
This study aims to compare people’s perceptions of female underrepresentation in male-dominated engineering-oriented sectors across China and Sri Lanka, with a particular focus on how socio-cultural norms and industry structures shape access to equal opportunity. Adopting an interpretivist qualitative design, the research draws on in-depth interviews conducted in China’s engineering and heavy industry context and Sri Lanka’s engineering sector, enabling a comparative analysis of gendered experiences within technical and operational environments. The findings reveal that, despite contextual differences, both countries exhibit similar patterns of gender inequality, where engineering-related work is constructed as physically demanding and culturally masculine, limiting women’s participation in technical, operational, and leadership roles. In China, women are often channelled into administrative positions due to assumptions about physical suitability and protective attitudes, whereas in Sri Lanka, institutional constraints, gender-segregated labour pathways, and socio-cultural expectations reinforce a persistent glass ceiling. Across both contexts, family responsibilities and traditional gender roles further constrain career progression, although women increasingly challenge these barriers through professional competence and support networks. The study contributes to the literature by offering a cross-national comparison of perceptions in male-dominated engineering-oriented sectors, highlighting how shared cultural and structural mechanisms undermine equal opportunity while calling for integrated organisational and societal interventions to address female underrepresentation in both China and Sri Lanka.
Towards Gender Equity and Women’s Representation in Academic Philosophy
This presentation is part of a research project, which is supported by TUBİTAK, with the code 124K502 and the title “Women in Philosophy in 100 years of the Republic of Türkiye: The Evaluation of the Presence of Women in Education and Research in Philosophy at Higher Education.” The research aims at the analysis of the presence of women in Philosophy in Turkish Academia in four aspects: i) the numeric presence of women in department faculties, ii) the thematic presence of women in the departmental course curricula and research works, iii) the in-dept interviews focusing on the lived experience of women in philosophy departments, and iv) the workshop on the improvement practices and suggestions for the future presence women in philosophy. This presentation aims to share and discuss the findings of the research project, more specifically the third and the fourth aspects of the research in order to receive feedback from the international audience of the conference and to interact for more sharing of the experiences and suggestions for more gender egalitarian Philosophy Departments in academia at the transnational level.
Queer Environmentalism in Turkey: Intersectional Survival Against Authoritarian Neoliberalism
In Turkey, the LGBT movement emerged within the broader context of the green movement, which gained visibility in the late 1970s.This study explores the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and environmental movements in Turkey, focusing on how these marginalized groups, both targeted by the Erdoğan regime since 2002, build solidarity to resist state repression and neoliberal policies. The central question driving this research asks: What motivates the LGBTQIA+ movement’s engagement with environmental activism, and how does this intersection shape new forms of solidarity under authoritarian conditions? Applying a queer ecology framework, the study examines the connections between sexuality, environmentalism, and social justice, moving beyond essentialist ecofeminist narratives. It explores whether LGBTQIA+ involvement in environmental activism stems from ideological commitments to social justice or pragmatic strategies to navigate political repression. Using a narrative feminist lens, the study captures activists' lived experiences through semi-structured interviews, centering marginalized voices and linking personal stories to broader socio-political contexts. Findings reveal that environmental activism often serves as a relatively safer space for political dissent, perceived as more socially "legitimate" than LGBTQIA+ activism. Yet, this engagement goes beyond pragmatism; activists also embrace a holistic struggle addressing interconnected forms of oppression, including ecocide, homophobia, and economic injustice. The study underscores how queer environmentalism in Turkey challenges neoliberal and patriarchal structures, fostering coalition-building across marginalized communities and linking local resistance with transnational movements. This research highlights the resilience and strategic adaptability of these groups in resisting systemic injustices.
The Witches of Bucha: Women Defending Family, Community, And Country
War as a gendered phenomenon is well documented. Studies analysing the impact of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia demonstrate an increase in intimate partner violence, sexual violence executed by Russian troops, forced displacement, and associated socio-economic harms. Studies that portray Ukrainian women as empowered are sparse. This paper focuses on the Witches of Bucha, a territorial air defence unit. By day, members, mostly women, many with young children, are employed as teachers, doctors, office and shop workers, or accountants. At night they volunteer to shoot down Russian drones that persistently threaten the skies of Bucha and surrounding areas of Kyiv. Drawing on secondary data this narrative inquiry reveals the lived experiences of several of the unit’s members. Before the invasion, the women perceived themselves as leading traditional ‘ordinary’ lives. Having survived the occupation of Bucha, they have come to view themselves as empowered defenders of their families, their communities, and their country. Their stories illustrate how gender identities can be transformed in a war-torn environment. Embracing an adaption of the witch archetype rooted in Slavic folklore (a woman of great strength and spiritual power), the Bucha witches exemplify a phenomenon that Judith Butler calls performative. Performative gender identities are solidified through repetition. Such a fluid portrayal of gender identity is spurned by an increasing number of nation-states, including Russia. In a period of global pushback on women’s equality and women’s rights the study highlights the importance of Ukrainian women being able to continue their performative journeys of empowerment.
Automating Care? Feminist Ethics and the Politics of AI-Mediated Care Work
Recent developments in artificial intelligence have transformed care work across healthcare, eldercare, childcare, and emotional support systems. From robotic caregivers to AI-driven companion technologies, different forms of care work which has been traditionally feminized and at the same time socially undervalued are increasingly being automated. Ongoing debates on AI and care often focus on technological efficiency or questions of whether machines can provide “genuine” care; this paper, however, argues that such discussions are mostly confined to human-centered frameworks that position AI either as a threat to human labor or as a neutral technological tool. Drawing on feminist ethics of care, posthumanist theory, and xenofeminism, this paper examines how AI-mediated care reshapes gendered labor, relationality, and social reproduction under contemporary technocapitalism. It engages with thinkers such as Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, Helen Hester, Nancy Fraser, and Ruha Benjamin, to explore how AI systems reinforce feminized forms of emotional and reproductive labor while intensifying surveillance and inequality, thereby reproducing patriarchal and neoliberal structures. This paper also argues that AI should not be understood simply as a mechanism of replacement or domination. It reconfigures AI technologies through feminist and posthumanist frameworks in order to support more collective, relational, and non-exploitative forms of care. This paper brings feminist technology studies into conversation with posthumanist ethics and political economy in order to rethink the future of caregiving; a future beyond both techno-utopianism and technological pessimism. This way, it contributes to contemporary debates on AI, gender, and care.
Regulating Women-Targeted Harmful Content Online: Who Bears Responsibility?
Traditionally, governments have been regarded as the primary subjects responsible for safeguarding the health of the public discourse on gender issues, by virtue of their ultimate duty to protect the public interest. However, as digital platforms have come to dominate the production and dissemination of information, they have in fact become deeply involved in shaping how gender is understood and perceived in the public sphere, and should therefore proactively assume corresponding governance obligations. This paper argues for digital platforms’ regulatory responsibility over women-targeted harmful content, grounding its analysis in actor responsibility theory, social cost theory, and causation theory. On this basis, it further introduces product liability theory as a classical analogy, aiming to reinforce the legitimacy and institutional rationality of imposing such governance responsibilities on digital platforms from the perspectives of legal attribution and risk allocation.
Identifying Perceived Patriarchal Practices Perpetrated by Female Characters in Sesotho SA Leboa’s Two Novels: A Liberal Feminist Perspective
It is presumed that an African culture perceives women as inferior, to be controlled by a man, unable to be autonomous, and lacking status in society. Culture dictates how people may live and interact with others as men and women. Which means there are certain ways in which one is expected to live and interact with others in a society. This paper’s central argument is that African women subsequently abandoned their cultural norms and adopted imported practices. Therefore, it is the interest of this paper to identify patriarchal practices perpetrated by female protagonists in the two Sesotho sa Leboa novels, Ke Nako Ya Ka by Molefe (2001) and Ra tla ra Lokologa, Eye! By Mabye and Makobe (2009). This paper employs the feminist method as a research methodology because its objective centers around women. The paper’s underpinning analytical framework is liberal feminism, which is grounded in feminist ideology. This paper anticipates finding that the authors introduced a community of female characters who represent liberal feminist ideas that are too extreme and do not struggle for free and independent lives. The fight for freedom is clear and visible, and appears to be taking full control of their world. This paper’s findings suggest that female protagonists succeeded in coming out of marginalisation and alienation at the expense of putting their male counterparts into marginalisation and alienation. This paper seeks to promote the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Goal 5 of gender equality, as a liberal feminist strives for equality in the existence of men and women. Furthermore, this paper aims to contribute to the critical debates around women’s marginalisation and empowerment.
Cosmetic Advertisements and their Effects on Self-Consciousness to Female High Schoolers in Japan
This research aims to look at current cosmetic advertisements in Japan and assess the effect it has on female highschoolers. Although there have been various studies examining the effect of cosmetic advertisements in general or the effect of imagery in cosmetic advertisements, there are not as many studies focusing on how the text affects consumers. More specifically, there were fewer studies researching how the text on cosmetic advertisements work to perpetuate beauty standards or idealized images of beauty. In this study, an experiment including 12 advertisements and a questionnaire assessing what products participants wanted was conducted. The advertisements were split into two types so that each advertisement would have a duplicate with a different text. The results were then analyzed through dividing the results into groups and comparing the different types of reasoning participants presented as well as what products were selected at different stages of the experiment. Through the experiment it was evident that the advertisements that were considered to highlight different standards of beauty led to participants feeling the need to change something about themselves whereas advertisements that focused on other aspects proved to be superior in terms of marketing and concerns from participants. It is important to recognize small aspects of our life that we do not see as harmful and reassess the influence it has on our life, which is what this study seeks to do.
From Matrons, Typists, and Turnkeys to Officers: Women, Gender, and State Authority in Guyana’s Disciplined Services, Late Colonial Period – 1975
This research examines how women entered Guyana’s disciplined services from the late colonial period to the International Women’s Year in 1975. It focuses on the prison, police, and army services, tracing Guyanese women’s movement from prison matrons, police typists, and turnkeys responsible for female prisoners, to early military specialists, and finally to formal recognition as officers and agents of state authority. This paper argues that Guyanese women were first admitted to these institutions through duties associated with femininity, for example, juvenile care, clerical work, moral regulation, the custody of women, and support for male officers. These restricted roles were ways in which Guyanese women claimed visibility and authority within institutions historically engineered for men. The analysis draws on Guyana’s police histories, newspapers, institutional reports, Guyanese women’s organizational records, and existing scholarship on gendered armed forces in Guyana. It places three moments in conversation: the British Guiana colonial prison matron system; the recruitment of women into the British Guiana Police Force in 1953, including their work as turnkeys and typists; and the entry of women into the Guyana Defense Force/Women’s Army Corps in 1967. By ending in 1975, this research situates Guyana’s local institutional changes within the wider global women’s rights agenda marked by the First World Conference on Women in Mexico City. This research also contributes to Caribbean women’s history by showing that women’s pursuit of equality was not confined to politics, law reform, or civil society, but was also fought inside the prison yard, police station, and military barracks, spaces where gender, discipline, citizenship, and state power met.
A Re-imagining of African Customary Marriage and iLobola through Subaltern Perspectives
Marriage traditions in Zulu culture have changed over time, they continued to shift during colonization and apartheid. Many of their core elements predate the rise of a distinct Zulu identity in the early 19th century. One of the most important traditions is ilobola (bride wealth). Ilobola has been mistranslated commonly as “bride price” or “bride wealth,” which is a phrasing that reduces the socio-cultural practice to a single ritual and emphasizes the transactional aspect of ilobola that commodifies the female gender, particularly as it relates to childbearing. The translation of ilobola as “bride price” also represents more than a simple misunderstanding in language. This paper traces the history of ilobola and offers a critical analysis through Gayatri Spivak’s (1988) framework on subaltern perspectives. Similarly to how the true meaning of Sati (widow immolation) was obscured and lost in translation through colonial interpretation, analyzing the tradition of ilobola to allow the subaltern to speak involves recognizing the often complex interplay of Zulu cultural values, such as ukuhlonipha (to give respect) and its intersection with the custom of ilobola. The parallel to the sati will allow us to highlight how colonial and post-colonial discourses may have obscured the spiritual and cultural dimensions of this practice. Imposing Western categories onto African practices obscures the very essence of those practices in an effort to make these practices obsolete. Through the application of Spivak’s framework, we can uncover the complexities associated with ilobola and its relevance within the broader discourse of cultural identity and resistance.
Exploring Gender, Motherhood, and Fatherhood Wage Gaps in Kosovo
This paper examines gender, motherhood, and fatherhood wage gaps among working-age individuals in Kosovo using pooled SILC data for 2018-2022. Kosovo provides an important case study because its labour market is characterised by low employment and high unemployment, alongside substantial gender gaps in labour force participation, employment and unemployment. These conditions make it especially important to examine whether observed wage gaps among workers reflect differences in characteristics, differences in returns to those characteristics, and selection into employment. The study applies weighted Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition techniques to hourly gross wages in order to separate observed wage differences into explained differences in characteristics, unexplained differences in returns, and interaction effects. The analysis focuses on three comparisons: women and men, mothers and non-mothers, and fathers and non-fathers. The baseline results show a small and statistically insignificant conditional gender wage gap among employed workers and a negative but statistically insignificant motherhood wage gap. By contrast, fatherhood is associated with a large and statistically significant wage premium of nearly 20 percent. When the gender model includes the number of children, the wage gap becomes larger and statistically significant, suggesting that family responsibilities are central to gendered wage inequality. The findings indicate that wage differences in Kosovo are shaped not only by education, age, marital status and household structure, but also family formation and the unequal valuation of similar characteristics. Overall, the paper shows that motherhood appears to mainly lead to reduced employment, while fatherhood is linked to wage advantages.
When Women Stop Coping: Perimenopause, Emotional Labour and the Misrecognition of Midlife Distress
Perimenopause is increasingly recognised as a biopsychosocial transition, yet women's midlife distress is still often misread through narrow medical, psychological or relational frameworks. This conceptual paper examines how perimenopause may collide with the gendered expectation that women continue to provide emotional labour, caregiving, sexual availability, relational stability and professional competence while their own bodies and identities are changing. Drawing on feminist health scholarship, psychotherapy, menopause research and theories of emotional labour, the paper argues that midlife women's anxiety, anger, exhaustion, cognitive shame, sexual withdrawal, body distress and relationship strain are frequently misrecognised as individual pathology, hormonal instability or personal failure. A woman who can no longer tolerate unequal care, emotional over-functioning or self-silencing may be understood as depressed, difficult, irritable or 'not coping', rather than as responding to the cumulative burden of gendered relational labour during a major reproductive life-stage transition. The paper proposes that menopause literacy must include not only knowledge of symptoms, but also awareness of power, care, culture, work, sexuality and relational context. It calls for practitioners across psychotherapy, medicine, social care, occupational health and women's health education to ask more precise questions about who women are expected to care for, what they have been required to silence, and what becomes visible when their capacity to keep coping begins to change.
“What Did You Feel?”: The Embodied and Affective Dimensions of Grey Sexual Experiences
This research explores the affective, embodied and material dimensions of 'grey sex'. The latter is a term that describes ambiguous sexual encounters which are neither fully consensual nor felt as violent. Such encounters are often characterized by a discrepancy between feelings and words; specifically, feeling 'no' but saying 'yes'. These experiences are considered to be a matter of power and gender as they are influenced by gender norms and heteronormative discourses regarding male and female sexualities. Rather than exploring the causes of such experiences or why “yes” was said instead of “no”, this research attempts to move beyond explanations based solely on macro structures and individual agency. Rather than asking "Did you consent or not?", it asks "What did you feel?" Taking a relational approach, new materialisms and affect theories are applied to integrate a transversal method that considers the flows of affect between myriad human and non-human interactions. This method is used to investigate how greyness emerges from these reciprocal, affective relations, going beyond an understanding of individuals as autonomous and separate, and considering them instead as co-constituted by the setting, objects, gestures, and affective atmosphere of an assemblage. The research also examines the gap between what was felt, exploring the visceral, embodied sensations that characterize the ambiguity of these encounters. It considers embodied feelings as valid sources of knowledge, moving beyond verbalization. Theoretical reflections will be presented to enrich the debate on sexual violations in the grey zone, alongside empirical data gathered from body mapping sessions with participants.
South Asian Young Adult Carers in England: How Gender Influences Choices, Opportunities and Challenges
South Asian young adult carers in England are a hidden group of carers. Female young adult carers of South Asian heritage are a particularly marginalised group. Our qualitative research has been novel in exploring the lives of these young people and their hopes and plans for the future. This paper will consider how factors such as gender, culture and religion influence their choice over the caring role and their future aspirations. I will discuss how they navigate and respond to, or resist, the expectations and norms of society, their families and communities. The paper explores the support they receive within their families and from health, social care and education and considers if gendered and cultural assumptions influence what support is provided or accessed. How South Asian young adult carers' aspirations and the opportunities available to them (e.g., for education and employment) vary by gender will be discussed.
Exploring the Strengths and Limitations of Evidence Synthesis for Understanding What Works to Improve Girls' Outcomes: A Meta-Synthesis and Meta-Analysis of Interventions to End Child Marriage in South Asia
Efforts to prevent child marriage across South Asia have expanded significantly over the past decade, yet evidence on what drives effectiveness remains fragmented. Following PRISMA guidelines, we combine a meta-synthesis (65 studies) with a meta-analysis (29 studies) to assess intervention effectiveness across six typologies: social norms change, economic strengthening, education, girls' empowerment, adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH), and law and policy. Beyond assessing effectiveness, we critically reflect on these methods' capacity to explain underlying mechanisms. Our analysis reveals variation in effectiveness across and within typologies, with several typologies showing stronger effects when combined. Social norms interventions reduce child marriage by 4.5% alone, rising to 6.45% when paired with empowerment and SRH components; empowerment interventions follow a similar pattern. By contrast, education and law and policy show no additive effects: standalone education outperforms combined approaches, while law and policy alone has no significant effect. Qualitative synthesis surfaces gendered and relational dynamics not captured in effect sizes: norms around girls' education appear more amenable to change than those governing gender roles and relations; empowerment interventions' effectiveness depends partly on the receptiveness of household decision-makers, especially fathers; and economic interventions may carry unintended consequences, including making dowry more affordable. These findings prompt us to interrogate how far pooled effect-size estimation, even paired with qualitative synthesis, can isolate the active components of multi-component interventions targeting entrenched gender norms. Key evidence-base limitations, including small samples, high heterogeneity, and a near-absence of experimental designs, constrain causal inference. Stronger experimental designs, clearer theories of change, and tighter quantitative-qualitative integration are needed to better capture the gendered and relational processes shaping meaningful change for girls and women in South Asia and beyond.
The Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Subjective Stress Perception
To capture the concept of stress from a feminist perspective, our study examines whether subjective stress perception fluctuates across the menstrual cycle. Using a longitudinal mixed design, the project follows n = 60 healthy women aged 18 to 40 over 30 days. Participants are divided in a naturally cycling, experimental group (n =40), and a hormonally contracepting control group (n = 20). Menstrual cycle phases are tracked via continuous core body temperature measurements using the device OvulaRing. Subjective stress is assessed daily using standardized self-report instruments, including the Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ), visual analogue scales (VAS), and stressors, administered through the smartphone-based survey tool GESIS. By doing so, the study addresses several methodological limitations in previous research, such as simplified two-phase cycle divisions, small sample sizes, and a lack of longitudinal data. Therefore, by combining continuous cycle with daily stress assessments, the project aims to capture within-person fluctuations more precisely. It is hypothesized that naturally cycling participants will show systematic, potentially non-linear variation in stress across the cycle, with higher stress levels expected in phases associated with lower endogenous estrogen, whereas no comparable pattern is expected among hormonal contraceptive users. Data collection is still ongoing and scheduled for completion in August 2026. The findings are intended to improve methodological standards for menstrual-cycle research but also a feminist perspective in stress, and, more broadly, psychological research.
Viewer Reactions to The Performances of Same-Sex Couples in Entertainment Programmes
The project aims to examine public perceptions of the participation of same-sex couples (one male, one female) in the popular entertainment program "Dancing with the Stars" (polish edition). The analysis will focus on the discourse surrounding the program's broadcast online, particularly in comments posted on various social media platforms. The expected outcome of the project will be to identify the dominant narratives and emotions accompanying the perception of same-sex couples online and to identify differences in how they are perceived across various social media platforms. The findings will contribute to the broader debate on the level of tolerance and acceptance of diversity in Polish society, demonstrating how entertainment media can influence attitudes towards sexual minorities. In recent years we have seen an increase in the presence of LGBT+ people in media, particularly in mass entertainment formats. This phenomenon is a significant element of contemporary cultural and communication transformations, contributing to the debate on inclusivity, the visibility of minorities, and the role of the media in shaping social norms.
JUSTEqual: Justice Professionals’ Understandings of Judicial Language and Gender Stereotypes in Cases of Violence Against Women
Violence against women remains a major human rights and public health concern. Within judicial proceedings, language plays a crucial role in shaping women’s experiences of justice, influencing how facts are interpreted, communicated, and ultimately understood. As part of the JUSTEqual project (Eradicating JUdicial STEreotypes and gender discriminatory language. EQUAL access to justice for women in cases of gender-based violence), the present psychosocial study explored how professionals (e.g., judges, lawyers, and forensic psychologists) conceptualise the relationship between judicial language and gender stereotypes in cases of violence against women. Twenty-one semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified. Participants described judicial language as technical, perceived as objective, and grounded in procedural requirements, reflecting a strong commitment to the ideal of professional neutrality. At the same time, the «possible» use of stereotypes and biased language was frequently attributed to external factors, such as the cultural system or other colleagues, rather than acknowledging the possibility of using them in one’s own professional practice. This pattern may be interpreted in light of social psychological research on attribution processes, particularly the fundamental attribution error, whereby problematic behaviours tend to be explained in terms of situational influences when referring to oneself, while being more readily recognised in others. Participants also emphasised the challenge of balancing evidentiary standards and defence rights while minimising harm to victims. Finally, time pressure, workload, and the demands of courtroom interactions were seen as interfering with opportunities to reflect and use language sensitive enough to avoid biases and stereotypes. Taken together, these findings suggest that the influence of gender stereotypes is perceived as something operating beyond the boundaries of one’s own professional practice, making it more difficult to recognise how judicial cultures, professional norms, and language practices contribute to unequal access to justice.
Video Games as a Cyberfeminist Space for the Expression of Multiple Female Identities
The study explores the representation of female characters in various video games across different cultural contexts. By situating the analysis within cyberfeminism and the theory of identity and discourse, a critical evaluation is conducted of how female characters are constructed and performed through language and interaction within cyber environments. Through an in-depth examination of selected video games, the study investigates how nine videogames embody identity constructs, visual design elements, and discursive styles in the portrayal of female characters, shedding light on the intersections of gender, culture, and technology. The study reveals several important patterns, including how video games provide spaces for experimenting with identity while also reinforcing traditional gender norms. Even so, the findings show that video games create complex spaces where female characters make choices, express themselves, and respond to social and cultural expectations. It highlights the potential for video games to serve as a space for diverse digital expressions of identity. These findings show that video games can be seen as important cultural texts that both represent and question common ideas about gender in cyber environments. This study thus contributes to ongoing discussions regarding gender representation in media.
Negotiating “Layered” Belonging: Identities of Itinerant Zimbabwean Migrant Women in the UK
Since 2000, Zimbabwe has experienced sustained political and economic crises, prompting significant outward migration (Chikanda, 2019). While many Zimbabweans initially migrated to South Africa, escalating xenophobia, economic precarity, and social insecurity have driven onward migration to the United Kingdom (UK). This paper examines this underexplored phenomenon of “onward-itinerant” migration through a gendered lens, focusing on Zimbabwean women who migrate from Zimbabwe to South Africa and subsequently to the UK. Drawing on my positionality as an onward-itinerant migrant, I conceptualise this trajectory as layered migrancy—a non-linear process of movement characterised by multiple, overlapping journeys and experiences across distinct national and socio-political contexts. Foregrounding gender as a central analytic category, the study interrogates how Zimbabwean migrant women experience and navigate intersecting forms of structural inequality, labour exploitation, and precarity across these migratory “layers.” Women’s migration is not only shaped by economic imperatives but also by gendered expectations, care responsibilities, and vulnerabilities that are reconfigured across different national settings. In both South Africa and the UK, these women are disproportionately concentrated in low-paid, feminised sectors such as care work, where their labour is simultaneously essential and undervalued. The study employs the emerging Apartheid Studies (AS) framework (Mboti, 2023), particularly its concepts of demotion, persistence of harm, and Rate of Oppression (ROp), to theorise these women’s experiences as forms of “living in harm’s way.” This framework enables an analysis of how structural inequalities are reproduced and intensified across borders, rather than left behind. I further introduce the concept of a triangle of belonging—Zimbabweanness, South Africanness, and Britishness—to explore how identity and belonging are continuously negotiated within shifting regimes of inclusion and exclusion. These negotiations are deeply gendered, shaped by racialised labour markets, immigration regimes, and socio-cultural expectations. Methodologically, the research draws on qualitative data from in-depth interviews and focus groups with Zimbabwean women working predominantly in the UK care sector. Their narratives illuminate how layered migrancy produces enduring forms of insecurity while also generating strategies of resilience, adaptation, and agency. Particular attention is paid to how recent UK immigration policy developments, including the 2025 Immigration White Paper, are experienced by participants as extensions of structural constraint, further embedding conditions of uncertainty and marginality. By centring Zimbabwean women’s lived experiences, this paper contributes to feminist migration scholarship, African diaspora studies, and gender history by advancing a nuanced understanding of multi-sited, gendered migration. It argues that layered migrancy is not merely a sequence of movements but a cumulative process through which inequalities are reproduced, reconfigured, and resisted. In doing so, the study offers new conceptual and empirical insights into the intersections of gender, migration, labour, and belonging in contemporary transnational contexts.
Gender Stereotyping in Educational Materials and Its Impact on Students’ Career Aspirations in Nigeria
Educational materials play a critical role in shaping young people’s perceptions of society and their place within it. However, many school textbooks and instructional resources continue to reproduce gender stereotypes that portray men and women in narrowly defined social and occupational roles. Drawing on insights from Gender Studies and Sociology of Education, this paper examines how gendered representations in educational materials influence students’ career aspirations and self-perception. Through a critical analysis of selected primary and secondary school textbooks, the study explores patterns in the depiction of male and female characters, including the types of professions they occupy, the activities they perform, and the roles they are assigned within family and community contexts. Preliminary findings suggest that male characters are frequently portrayed in leadership, scientific, and technical roles, while female characters are more often associated with domestic responsibilities, caregiving, or supportive occupations. These representations subtly reinforce societal expectations about “appropriate” career paths for boys and girls. Such portrayals contribute to the internalization of gender norms at an early stage of socialization, potentially limiting students’ ambitions and discouraging girls from pursuing fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The paper argues that educational materials function as part of a “hidden curriculum” that reproduces gender inequalities in the labour market. The study concludes by recommending gender-responsive curriculum reforms, inclusive textbook design, and teacher training initiatives aimed at promoting equitable representations that expand students’ career possibilities regardless of gender.
Advancing Gender Equality in Cameroon: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of Law and Policy
Gender equality remains a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development, social justice, and inclusive governance. Despite notable progress in legal and policy reforms, women in Cameroon continue to face significant barriers to equal participation in political, economic, educational, and social life. These barriers are reinforced by entrenched socio-cultural norms, limited access to economic resources, gender-based violence, and gaps in the implementation of existing legal frameworks. This paper examines the current state of women’s rights and gender equality in Cameroon through a multidisciplinary approach that integrates legal analysis with gender studies perspectives. It evaluates the effectiveness of national legislation and international human rights obligations in addressing gender inequalities while highlighting the persistent disconnect between normative commitments and lived realities. The study further explores the role of education, economic empowerment, community engagement, and institutional accountability in advancing women’s rights and promoting inclusive development. Drawing on existing literature, policy documents, and contemporary developments, the paper identifies practical strategies for strengthening gender-responsive governance and fostering greater participation of women in decision-making processes. It argues that sustainable progress requires not only comprehensive legal reforms but also transformative social change that challenges discriminatory norms and promotes equal opportunities for all genders. By situating the discussion within the Cameroonian context, the paper contributes to ongoing debates on gender justice and offers policy recommendations aimed at enhancing women’s empowerment and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5 on gender equality. The findings are intended to inform scholars, policymakers, civil society organizations, and development practitioners working to advance gender-inclusive policies and practices in Cameroon.
Examining the Social Status of British Women in the Early 20th Century through the Daily Sketch
Daily Sketch is a private newspaper founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Holton, one of the British newspaper tycoons at the time。 The newspaper has opened up a special women's module, which has become an important first-hand source for understanding the development of the feminist movement at that time. We can see from this that ordinary urban women live a boring life in war, and basic personal rights are more difficult to guarantee than in peacetime; Women rarely dominate the family, and they can hardly establish themselves in society as equals to men; Moreover, there are huge differences in the social status of women in different social classes. These reports reflect to varying degrees the social status of women during the war. According to the feminist philosopher James Susan's theory of the "umbrella of description", these reports can be seen as a more appropriate "description" of women's social status, in stark contrast to the way voter turnout data, employment rate data, etc. are still described as male-centered. With the help of this theory, we were able to revisit the social status of British women during World War I from a new perspective.
This paper reexamines a controversial dimension of gender relations in ancient Greece: the practice of polyandry in Spartan society. In this context, polyandry denotes a social institution that legitimized married women’s participation in multiple sexual relationships, both within and beyond marriage. Drawing on sources such as Xenophon, Polybius, and Plutarch, the study argues that this practice was not an anomaly, as often assumed, but a socially sanctioned mechanism serving the State’s reproductive and eugenic aims—particularly in unions between younger women and older men. Evidence from textual analysis suggests that the participation of aging men, often past reproductive capacity, was sustained through social and psychological pressure rather than personal choice. Such pressure, it is argued, was exerted within the syssitia (common dining groups)—homosocial spaces where men’s civic identity took precedence over domestic life. By situating polyandry within broader systems of gender regulation, the paper shows that although Spartan women enjoyed greater autonomy than their counterparts elsewhere in Greece, their sexuality was instrumentalized to meet demographic and political imperatives. Over time, the practice appears to have evolved to serve personal and economic motives as well—from protecting unmarried men (confirmed bachelors) from social sanctions to consolidating property among elites. Methodologically, the study combines historical, philological, and sociological approaches with insights from gender theory and anthropology. Through this lens, it offers a new interpretive synthesis that redefines polyandry not as deviance but as a structured mechanism of State control over familial and sexual life characteristic of Sparta’s proto totalitarian order.