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"Gender Equality in Iranian History", 2008.
A review of "Gender Equality in Iranian History - from Pre-Islamic Times to the Present (2006)" by Minoo Derayeh.
2,099 words (approx. 8.4 pages), 0 sources, $ 65.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses how the book "Gender Equality in Iranian History - from Pre-Islamic Times to the Present (2006)" by Minoo Derayeh is written in a methodical, clear manner, explaining how Iranian society and women's experience altered sharply with the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It looks at how the book can be considered an effective guide that promises an account of a radical departure from centuries of pre-Islamic and Muslim women's history.
From the Paper
"The fourth chapter on modernity and tradition notes a number of issues concerning Sunni vs. Shiite Islam, how the hijab was adopted or ignored in Iranian society, as time went on, the veil in Iran explained as a custom that indicated class membership in the beginning - a reality that Western feminists often miss, in a preoccupation with covering the head as somehow indicative of oppression, even though Western women wore hats two generations ago in religious settings or as signs of respectability. On a more amusing note, such scholars need to live in warm climates without covering the head to sense the aesthetic and practical appeal of the veil, the plight of the Iranian poor woman unable to cover herself plain. Much later, the veil became attached to Islamic ideology, a pre-Islamic convention attributed to female religiosity and modesty by the regime of 1979. "
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Female Terms, 2008.
This paper describes the different ways of referring to women.
1,180 words (approx. 4.7 pages), 6 sources, MLA, $ 40.95
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Abstract
This paper looks at different words to refer to females, and explains that although the term female is first a biological distinction, the way the word is used, has a gender as much as a sexual distinction.
The author explores many other ways in which women are portrayed; some with biological basis; others that are clearly culturally defined; some that carry value judgments; concluding that both verbal and nonverbal cues contribute to how we view gender and how influential society at large is in this debate.
From the Paper
"The term "female" is used in various ways, with the most basic use of the term being as the identifier of slightly more than half the population. Female is first a biological distinction in opposition to male, but the way the word is used has a gender as much as a sexual distinction, with gender being cultural rather than biological. The term is also used as an adjective to identify either biological differences or gender differences, with certain attitudes, states, or things characterized as "female" rather than "male.
"The dictionary definition of female follows the biological and states that a female is "a person bearing two X chromosomes in the cell nuclei and normally having a vagina, a uterus and ovaries, and developing at puberty a relatively rounded body and enlarged breasts, and retaining a beardless face; a girl or woman" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary CD-Rom). As an adjective, the dictionary says the word refers to being "of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a female person; feminine." Random House Unabridged Dictionary CD-Rom). The latter meaning in particular suggetes again gender differences, for what is masculine and what is feminine differ from one culture to another and may have little to do with sexual differences at all for a given individual."
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Feminist Elements in Literature: A Comparison, 2008.
An analysis of the feminism in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker and "Beloved" by Toni Morrison.
1,229 words (approx. 4.9 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 41.95
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Abstract
The paper compares and contrasts the feminist elements within "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker and "Beloved" by Toni Morrison. The paper addresses the issues of female victimization, gender roles and feminist liberation. The paper shows how the crucial elements of feminism depict a greater sense of female identity in African-American literature.
From the Paper
"Alice Walker reveals issue of feminist victimization through her characterization in The Color Purple. The evolution of mostly male perceptions of life through racism was the norm until women writers began to change this focus in African American literary forums. Nellie often takes on the part of victim to male aggression, since she has been raped repeatedly by her owner, and the other abusive males in her life. Walker's portrayal of Nellie is very similar to the way and manner in which Morrison depicts her female roles in Beloved, such Sethe. However, the major difference between these two women is the way that slavery has affected them, and how they had let it affect their lives."
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Women and the Canadian and Mexican Workforce, 2008.
This paper argues that globalization is widening the already existing gender gap in the workplace, making Canadian and Mexican women more vulnerable.
1,300 words (approx. 5.2 pages), 7 sources, APA, $ 43.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that, on the American continent, the NAFTA agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S.A. has been responsible largely for the liberalization of economies, privatization and deregulation, which have all impacted the workforce, particularly women. The author points out that globalization has brought about an unequal structure of the global economy in which corporations are creating labor segregation, paying the most minimum wages possible and providing the least amount of labor regulations, all of which cause social and economic marginalization of women. The paper relates that various trade agreements push countries to privatize public resources causing a shift away from welfare and social programs such as social insurance, health care, child-care and childcare subsidy. The author stresses that the new jobs created for the sole profit of the employers are usually lower-paid, part-time or contract flexible work having no benefits.
From the Paper
"One example of such harassment and discrimination is cited by Quintero-Ramirez, (2002). She describes how managers are often able to request a medical examination to show that a job applicant is not pregnant. Because of deregulation, the working conditions in these factories are often unsanitary and even dangerous, and inadequate or non-existing healthcare often exasperated the health impacts suffered by these women workers. These women work for minimum wages while foreign countries reap most of the benefits. The maquiladora sector is of particular importance because it has grown 89% in the period between 1995 and 2000 . The managers of these manufacturing plants often prefer to hire women because of the patriarchal beliefs that women are more docile and better suited for boring repetitive jobs. "
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Zora Neal Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God", 2008.
This is a book review of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston.
928 words (approx. 3.7 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 32.95
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Abstract
This paper evaluates the feministy maturation of the character Janie in Zora Neale Hurston's, "Their Eyes were Watching God". The author analyzes the male relationships in the main character's life that help Janie grow a stronger sense of female identity. In the conclusion of the paper, the author explains how the novel provides a gender construct that defines the abusive male relationships the character goes through for her personal growth as a woman.
From the Paper
"This literary study will analyze the male relationships in Janie's life that help her to grow a stronger sense of female identity in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Janie slowly becomes more mature in her view of men, as often-abusive marriages tend to teach her the nature male aggression, which has been brought down to her through her familial relatives. In essence, Janie learns to discover and mature an independent feminist identity that is the result of multiple abusive male relationships in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
"Janie Crawford is a woman that begins her young adult life by being coerced into marrying a powerful man, Logan Killicks. Nanny is responsible for her being pressured into becoming involved with this man, as she does not wish Janie to suffer under the same conditions she had undergone as a slave. Hurston defines Nanny as an important figure that was raped by a white plantation owner, and now wishes her granddaughter to avoid this tragically horrific life. However, Logan soon turns to physical abuse, as Janie quickly becomes a mere object in his rise up the economic ladder. This misogynist objectivity makes Janie a servant, much as Nanny was as a slave to her white master. When Logan turns to hitting Janie, it is Joe Starks that recognizes (at this point in the novel) her beauty and individuality, providing an important incentive for Janie to leave Logan:"
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Wage Inequality, 2008.
This paper looks at the connection between later marriages and wage inequality.
986 words (approx. 3.9 pages), 1 source, MLA, $ 35.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses that with the rise of overall wages in America, there still remains a great amount of discrepancy in the wage equality between men and women. The writer notes that data shows that in the 1970s to the 1990s, the marriage age increased, as did the income inequality between men and women. The writer maintains that it is likely that these two issues are linked, for without one, there is little chance that there will be another. The writer concludes that the rising wage inequality has resulted in an unwillingness for women to marry, and will result in a propensity for the marriage age to continue to increase.
From the Paper
"For many years, males were seen as the primary breadwinners for the household. They were the ones who would leave the home each morning, head off to work, and spend their day trying to make ends meet for their family. Their entire life was structured around their work schedule, and their family was merely an accommodation to that schedule. As the primary wage earner, men were also in a position of greater equality with other men. They were able to work on a relatively level playing field that focused on skills, ability, and education as the keys to success.
"Women were not so lucky in this timeline. As their husbands went off to work, they were left at home to maintain the family. It is not a bad thing that this is the case, for many women have found a tremendous amount of fulfillment from raising a family. However, these women did not have any other options."
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Creating a New Trust, 2008.
This paper discusses creating a new trust between the Canadian police and Aboriginal women of Canada.
2,046 words (approx. 8.2 pages), 10 sources, MLA, $ 64.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer discusses that Aboriginal women in Canada suffer a long-standing distrust of Canadian police that compromises their safety and citizenship. The writer notes that like all Canadians, First Nations women need police support to deter violence and injustice against them. If they cannot turn to the police, a fundamental democratic right that they are entitled to is not functioning properly. The writer points out that this problem has been written about by Aboriginal women's groups, Canadian policing organizations, and even Amnesty International. The writer maintains that the mainstream Canadian police continue to fail Aboriginal women because they lack the imagination necessary to conquer the problems that Aboriginal women face. Or, perhaps provincial police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a good idea, but they lack the courage to employ it. The writer concludes that in either case, all Canadian citizens would benefit from new police initiatives that work for everyone.
From the Paper
"It is exceptionally difficult, even in mainstream Canadian society, for a woman to extricate herself from a situation of domestic abuse. This requires financial and legal support. It means walking away from someone she once loved, or may still love. It means turning your life upside down while working with the police to ensure her safety. This is critical: without police support, a woman is open to harassment and assaults from not just her former spouse, but from anyone."
"But what if she distrusts the police? What if the police are, in her view, just another brutal gang that may well take advantage of her? A woman in peril cannot be expected to choose the protection of an untrustworthy bunch of thugs over the thug she intends to extricate herself from. That would be compounding her problem, rather than reducing it. As one Aboriginal writer noted in The Manitoban Online, even Native women who had been severely brutalized by family members still felt less safe when police were seen on the reservation."
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Feminist Methodologies, 2008.
An analysis of the shortcomings of traditional feminist methodologies for analyzing cultural practices that are unfamiliar or challenging.
1,873 words (approx. 7.5 pages), 6 sources, APA, $ 59.95
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Abstract
This paper briefly describes traditional feminist methodologies for analyzing cultural practices that are unfamiliar or challenging. It highlights the shortcomings of the methodologies and discusses potentially more appropriate methodology. The writer considers how the task of finding more appropriate methodologies is made more difficult for her by the fact that it frequently challenges her own culturally normative ideas about gender relations.
From the Paper
"For many years Western feminists have positioned themselves within their own Western culture, assuming that they occupy higher ground, in the sense that the Western culture is liberal, individualist, and a lot less sexist than non-Western cultures. From this point of view, Western feminists have felt free to pity their non-Western sisters, and also to attempt to "save" them - for example, Abu-Lughod (2002) takes issue with the fact that Americans have taken it upon themselves to "save" women in Afghanistan from the Taliban and the burqa. Volp (date) sums it up, stating that Western women theorizing about non-Western women living within Western nations have erred because of their "conflation of racialised immigrant communities and regressive sex-subordinating culture in a variety of contexts, including female genital surgeries and so-called "cultural defenses" (p. 109). It has become clear that this way of analyzing other cultures has serious shortcomings. For one thing, as Narayan (1997) points out, it distorts analyses. When information is gathered about women in other countries, this information crosses borders, and loses much in the crossing. The information becomes distorted. Another problem is that culture is blamed for the problems of non-Western women, in a way that is never done for Western women, with the result that Third World women are deemed to have suffered "death by culture" (Narayan, 1997, p. 84). For example, a woman in the West who is shot or strangled by her husband is deemed a victim of domestic violence, but a woman in India who is burnt to death by her husband is deemed a victim of culture, because this method of murder is seen as exotic, and therefore culture-specific. One of the problems with this mode of analysis, as Narayan (1997) points out, is that the Western feminist is unable to even see the connection between domestic violence and dowry-murders - the connection is invisible to her. Moreover, many American feminists are unaware that at least 1,400 American women are killed by their domestic partners annually - but extremely aware of dowry-murder. However, what is the real difference, apart from a difference in choice of murder weapon? Guns are the weapon of choice in the USA because they are ubiquitous, while fire is the weapon of choice in India, because fires are ubiquitous there."
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Sisterhood, 2008.
A discussion on Bell Hooks' article "Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women" and Linda Carty's article "The Discourse of Empire and the Social Construction of Gender."
1,280 words (approx. 5.1 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 43.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses Bell Hooks' article "Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women." It then compares the concepts in her article to Linda Carty's article "The Discourse of Empire and the Social Construction of Gender." The paper argues that it is only through the construction of a multi-dimensional perspective on the realities of women's experience that we can hope to achieve a sisterhood based upon our common strengths and achievements.
From the Paper
"It is perhaps understandable that only someone who knows the lack of empowerment could understand the critical importance of the littlest piece of agency and strength in one's life. Hooks' perception of the fundamental divisions that fragment the potential Sisterhood - divisions fostered and reinforced by the structures of class and race that are deeply intertwined with white patriarchy - one recognizes the extent of the struggle that remains for women. Consider, for example, the unpleasant fact that many young women today would not identify themselves as "feminists" despite their lives being built upon the advantages won by decades of feminist struggle. When hooks writes of how the focus on shared victimhood led many "white women activists to abandon feminist movement when they no longer embraced the victim identity" (hooks 107) the weaknesses engendered in the women's movement by this wallowing in "victimhood" become apparent. I have sometimes wondered why so many women find the terms feminist and feminism disturbing and alien to them. Hooks' contention that they are operating from the illusion of power serves to explain this otherwise inexplicable aspect of social identification."
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Women and Work, 2008.
This paper analyzes the award-winning documentary 'The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter' by director Connie Field.
2,667 words (approx. 10.7 pages), 8 sources, MLA, $ 80.95
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Abstract
In this article, the writer notes that Connie Field's documentary 'The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter' explores a world and a social context far removed from the world of working women today in the early 21st century. As such, its use as a non-typical resource for study might appear surprising. However, as this essay argues, many of the issues addressed in this documentary with respect to women and work - choice, racism, the dichotomy of domestic and paid labor - continue to be issues confronting women today over a half-century later. From an inclusive political economy perspective, this essay argues the thesis that the experiences of the women represented in 'The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter' are reflective of broader, large scale social phenomena in regard to the differential treatment of women's labor in our globalized capitalist economies and the state structures that support these economies.
Outline:
Introduction
Rosie the Riveter in an Historical Context
Choice, Opportunity and the "Breadwinner Ideal"
Opportunity and Status of Women's Labour
Conclusion
From the Paper
"When we understand women's labour in this historical continuum, we gain insights into the larger structural and economic forces shaping not only opportunities for women but also the exploitation of women's labour, and the restrictions placed upon women's choices by capitalist power structures. The fact that women in the 1990s worked to ensure family survival in much the same way as did women in the 1930s is indicative of the deep structural forces that have determined women's labour opportunities over time. Moreover, this historical contextualization allows us to understand the depiction of women and work in The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter in a more complex way. Many women, and in particular women from low-income families, who were often coincidentally women of colour and/or recent immigrants, have had to work in the paid labour force before the Second World War. The significance of the historical events outlined in Connie Field's documentary is not so much that women were in the paid labour force for the first time but that the nature of their labour, and their standard of recompense, was radically different from that which they "enjoyed" in the years before the Second World War."
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"Gender Differences in Pay", 2008.
A review of the article "Gender Differences in Pay" by F. Blau and L. Kahn.
764 words (approx. 3.1 pages), 1 source, APA, $ 27.95
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Abstract
The paper examines the article, "Gender Differences in Pay" by F. Blau and L. Kahn where the authors discuss the differences in pay between men and women, their different occupations and discrimination. The paper looks at the valid reasons offered for the wage gap but points out that the article only briefly discusses the problem of discrimination. The paper believes that more information about discrimination and women should be discussed in any article about the wage gap between men and women.
From the Paper
"The wages women receive have risen since the 1970's to the present time. During the 1970's and earlier, people believed women should be paid less than men. Even the Bible states that the wages women should receive is 30 shekels of silver with men receiving 50 shekels (Kahn & Blau, 2000, p. 78). Different reasons for giving men higher wages were argued by the employers and women accepted the difference in pay. However, the wages women received began to increase during the 1980's and have continued to climb in the 1990's. Several problems exist as to why women fail to receive the same wage as men as they get older. Men receive higher wages in their 30's because women often quit their jobs due to having children and only continue to work when their children get older. Men usually stay on the job without taking any time off."
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Female Friendships in Literature, 2008.
This paper contrasts the importance of female friendships as described in J. Bauman's "Winter into Spring" and despaired of in "The Existential Paralysis of Women" by Simone de Beauvoir.
1,365 words (approx. 5.5 pages), 3 sources, MLA, $ 45.95
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Abstract
This paper explains that, although male dominated society excludes and exploits women, as portrayed in Ibsen's "A Doll House", the importance of friendship between women can overcome their marginality and restore women to the center of a husbanding society. The author compares Bauman's work to Beauvoir's and points out that Beauvoir writes about the exploitation of women in Western bourgeois society; whereas, Bauman recounts the trials of women in the void of that society smashed to pieces by the Nazis. The paper relates that Beauvoir sees the "eternal feminine" nature of a woman as shaped by the male dominated, patriarchal social structure even if women join together to off set the "masculine universe". The author thenstates that, in contrast, in Bauman's existential account of WWII, the friendship of five women who do "band together" to establish a "counter-universe" and survive is not only important but also vital.
From the Paper
"The women in Mrs. Pietrzyk's room joined their common longings for life and love to link themselves back into the woman's world of hope, mystery, the sway of her body moving through the ebbs and tides, and the attainment of woman's wisdom. They did this with nothing but their hearts in a time of death. The rejected martyrdom and the paralysis mold. De Beauvoir says the lot of woman's life is passive waiting, but in truth nothing is more powerful: "I've been thinking now about this glorious future that I dreamed up last night. Will it come true? Shall I ever live a free, useful, happy life with someone I love and who loves me? "
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