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International conventions, covenants and resolutions on protection of human rights and freedoms include the prevailing standpoint that society is composed of individuals, and that each individual is an independent being in one’s own right. In the past, an individual used to be subject to different social interests and marital life was essentially based on idealistic theories of marriage. These theories considered that man and woman join in the holy matrimony to become one person, and that the aim of marriage was to reach pleroma (Greek: πλήρωμα). Regardless of their religious beliefs, all human civilisations considered marriage to be something elevated and divine. In ancient societies, man was considered to be fully free and the lord of his own life only after getting married. Today, all countries that signed the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), or are State parties to the European Council, are obliged to adjust their legislation with the proclaimed principles, including the provisions on marriage and family. The definition of marriage is changing and spouses are becoming partners, cohabitants, two fluid and low-frequency sides of a whole, which is slowly being dissolved. In this way, marriage is gradually being obliterated as the foundation of family and social life, whereas the society is gradually dissolved into crowds of individuals without personality. In response to this global phenomenon, we bear witness of an absolutely unexpected process which includes recourse to retrograde law that governed marital relations hundreds years ago. Thus, some groups, whose members do not want to be individuals but members of the community, accept Sharia law, which is totally in contravention of the conventions accepted by the countries they live in. This way of defending the institute of marriage may induce some other processes in society, which are the subject matter of consideration in this paper.
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The aim of this paper is to report on an experiment designed to evaluate the perception of high frequency sibilant articulations in Hungarian male speech and to theorise on the results. The main findings of the experiment are that the Hungarian listeners rate high frequency sibilants with femininity. These findings suggest that there is at least some social awareness of sibilant frequency in Hungarian. What follows from this is, in turn, that the sociolinguistic salience of sibilants as a variable is not confined to dialects of English, where the phenomenon has been most thoroughly described and discussed.
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While a group of girls are preparing the launch of the first Kyrgyz satellite in Bishkek, Croatian artists design a card game to pay tribute to female trailblazers.
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Though women make up roughly one third of all problem gamblers, research has typically focused on male problem gamblers. Recent research has started to shift its attention toward the importance of gender. However, studies rarely attempt to understand gender differences in problem gambling or subject these differences to thorough multivariate analyses. To address some of the gaps in our knowledge of gender differences, we examine whether patterns of gambling behavior and psychological factors mediate the relationship between gender and problem gambling. Methods: We use logistic multiple regression to analyze two large Canadian datasets – the 2005 Ontario Prevalence Survey and the 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey. Results: Variables found to mediate the relationship between gender and problem gambling are the type(s) of game(s) played (in the 2005 Ontario Prevalence Survey) and the number of games played (in the 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey). Conclusions: Men are more likely to be problem gamblers than women, and this gender difference is understandable in terms of differences in patterns of gambling behavior. We conclude that men experience problems because they play riskier games and women experience problems because they prefer chance-based games, which are associated with significantly higher odds of problem gambling. We specify the three main ways that women’s reasons for gambling – to escape or for empowerment – translate into chance-based games.
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To explore the experience of pregnancy for women who have a history of anorexia nervosa (AN), in relation to the impact of AN on pregnancy, and pregnancy on AN. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six women with a history of AN. Data were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Results: Four super-ordinate themes emerged: ‘Effortful resistance of AN’; ‘The unvalued self, valued other dialectic’; ‘In new territory’; and ‘Feeling distanced’. Conclusions: Various factors motivated the women to try and change their AN behaviours. This was achieved with varying degrees of success. Attempts to manage AN cognitions and emotions were less successful, and this aspect of their illness persisted. Whilst the baby was viewed as worthy of nurturance, the self was not. Pregnancy represented an unfamiliar experience, and was a time of relative isolation and lack of psychological support. Findings are discussed in the context of theory, research and practice.
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It might be tempting to conclude, giving the prominence of male writers in the Hungarian canon, that until the late 20th century the question of women writers was rarely raised, if it all, and the contributions of women writers were peripheral. This conclusion, however, would be unfounded. Women writers have been significant in the Hungarian literary tradition for several centuries, as notable examples clearly illustrate.
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Leading Russian independent media refuse to report from parliament as long as journalists’ sexual harassment claims are not treated seriously.
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The aim of this article is to present the political activities of Aleksandra Kollon¬tai during her stay in Norway 1915-1917. Aleksandra was born on April 1, 1872 in Sankt Petersburg to an aristocratic family. At age twenty-one, she married her cousin - a czarist generał, Vladimir Kollontai. However, they soon separated and she decided to go to Western Europę to study economics so as to become a radical journalist. During her stay in Europę, she came into contact with the leftist Marxists. She also engaged herself in the building of a working women’s movement both in Western Eu¬ropę and her homeland. Consequently, Aleksandra had to flee Russia in 1908. Next eight years she lived in exile. In 1915, Kollontai moved to Oslo after being expelled from Sweden for participation in anti-military propaganda. During her stay in Norway, she was an active representative of the Bolsheviks. Aleksandra was promoting Lenin’s theories among socialist youth, was in touch with one of the most prominent social activists, Mar¬tin Tranml, and took an active part in the Norwegian women’s movement. Moreover, thanks to her influence, Scandinavian representatives supported Lenin’s fraction connected with the revolutionary internationalism during the conference in Zimmerwald in 1915. Furthermore, she also played a crucial role in the re-opening of the northern smuggling route that led through harbors in Vard0 and Murmańsk. As a result, Lenin was able to keep in constant contact with the revolutionary movement in Russia during the WWI. In particular, Aleksandra Kollontai was regarded by the Norwegian socialists as a beautiful, temperamental woman as well as a talented speaker. Not surprisingly, her diplomacy also led to recognition of Soviet Russia by Norway in 1924.
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Perceptions of women’s power and authority in Islam range from Orientalist discourses that present the Muslim woman as an exotic, victimized, and elusive figure in need of reform, to patriarchal scholarships that confine her to a secondary, consequential role under male regulation, to Islamic feminist exegeses that seek to liberate her, and itself, from either of these assessments. This study explores the flaws in contemporary patriarchal male scholarship, referred to herein as “patriarchal scholarship” or simply “male scholarship,” and defined as the line of scholarship that claims traditional precedent and mainstream consensus, that necessitate Islamic feminism. I build on Asma Barlas’s observation that while male scholarship professes egalitarianism in Islam by upholding Qur’anic values of equality at a theoretical, spiritual level, this profession is duplicitous, as patriarchal scholarship simultaneously fails to apply its Islamic theory of egalitarianism to Islamic practice, which should be challenged as a detrimental lapse in logic. My argument consists of three elements: I assert that inconsistencies between Islamic belief and Islamic practice as promoted by patriarchal scholarship prevail at even the interpretational level, that this male legacy of interpretative authority is afforded a continuity that female scholarship is denied, and that the formations of Islamic feminist exegeses predate European colonial influences in the Middle East. It is this third point that renders disingenuous the characterization of Islamic feminism as non-traditional compared to patriarchal scholarship, and subsequently an insufficient reason to dismiss feminist scholarship, though it is one commonly employed and further facilitated by the harmful dynamics of Orientalist discourse that seek to “free” the Muslim woman over her agency.
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The present study is grounded on the premise that street names represent an embodiment of the socio-political order in the realm of everyday life (Azaryahu 2002, 135-144). It develops on three complementary axes of interest: a descriptive statistical analysis of power distribution among genders and professional categories in the current configuration of street names, a case study of Ion Câmpineanu Street as a ‘memorial landscape’ (Dwyer and Alderman 2008, 165 – 178) and the street's subjective history as it is recalled by locals in semi-structured interviews. Research’s findings sustain the idea that individuals invest personal or contextual significance endorsed with emotional resonance, in street names and rarely reflect upon the personalities naming their streets. The case study outlined Ion Câmpineanu Street as a self-contradictory, vivid landscape, an urban setting where several versions of history vindicate their memory. The analysis of street names in sector one reveals an unequal distribution among genders in favor of men, who are prominent in naming streets. The novelty in the present inquiry emerges from a gender sensitive approach upon the subject of street toponymy and social memory. Street names are understood as an embodied instrument employed in the social construction of gender in urban spaces.
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The present article has its starting point in the feminist critiques directed against the theory of public reason detailed in Political Liberalism. These feminist critiques reject Rawls’ model as they consider it limits both the individual's access and also the topics and themes subjected to debate. Starting from the question how and who establishes the limits between political and non-political (and therefore the implications reasonable/unreasonable, public/private, inclusion/exclusion), this paper will analyze Rawls' model (and its reasonability restriction), Habermas' proposals (and the rational argument restriction) and those of Iris Marion Young (communicative democracy), adding in the last part Morgan-Olsen's conceptual frame. The four approaches will be then used in a short overview of the 2014 Judiciary Committee debate on legalizing civil partnership in Romania.
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This article seeks to examine and critically discuss the dynamics between private and public space in an urban context, in relation to meanings and structures identified as components of queer identity and culture. Starting from theoretical interrogations regarding urban space and sexual identities, I will analyze the role and function of a specific socio-cultural practice: the LGBTQ film festival. Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia is central to the placement of the film festival in the larger context of urban queer identity formation. The division line between private and public is explored, as it facilitates the understanding of contemporary social attitudes and practices, while illuminating clashes of meaning and subjectivity in an urban setting.
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When examining the representation of women in Romania's communist society, the women's magazine Femeia is often cited and used as a case study. My paper examines the representation of women in advertising that appears in Cinema magazine between 1968-1974, a periodical that aimed to address all those interested in film, regardless of gender. I first examine the context in which advertising appeared in Cinema, arguing that it was symptomatic of the beginning of the brief period of relaxation in Romanian politics of the time. As advertising is usually associated with the consumer culture in Capitalism, I consider the differences between the way advertising functions in Western magazines as opposed to how it functions in Cinema, a magazine published in the communist context. I use close textual analysis of specific examples of adverts from the magazine highlighting the central role that women had in them. I consider the representation of women in terms of the double burden as both workers and caretakers for the family but also in terms of how they are used to showcase specific products. In doing so, I hope to add to the area of scholarship that examines the representation of women, with a case study that has not been analysed from this perspective.
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This article analyses the roles of women leading women rights nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in Romania and Poland. In the twenty-seven years that passed since the fall of communism, both countries have benefited from many improvements concerning the status of women. Yet, both countries experienced a “fast-line” feminism, in which generations, ideologies and institutions that have been developed for long periods of time in the West had to be fast-forwarded in post-socialism (Grabowska 2009). Within this context, how did women’s leadership roles evolve in the civil society sector in two Central and Eastern European countries? How are women working in non-governmental organizations affected by flexible programs, fluctuations in wages, shifts of personnel and demands of funders? In order to offer some insights on these issues, in the first part of the article I explain how contextual elements determined women’s effectiveness as leaders. To substantiate the findings, in the second part I focus on women’s experiences inside civil society organizations (CSOs), the difficulties and lessons learned, the internal dynamics, roles and strategies that they employ both in their relations with states and with funders. I focus on the micro level of the organizational cultures, how work inside CSOs differs from other types of work due to activities, relations, time spent and wages and highlight the diversity of women’s organizations and roles. The dynamics of these processes are captured by a two year comparative analysis, through a collection of 30 interviews in Romania and Poland. The findings highlight the particularities of women’s leadership roles, mechanisms and tactics in creating a fairer workplace culture through participatory decision-making, which in turn stimulates employees; and develop negotiating, resisting and decoupling strategies with state representatives and funders to maintain their autonomy, voice and strengths, at the intersection of local context and international normativity, in their quest for gender equality.
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The mass participation of women in the communist-led Yugoslav Partisan resistance is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the Second World War, which unprecedented and elsewhere unrivaled female military involvement of more than two million women joining the Partisan movement has inflicted change in the gender norms and values installing the Yugoslav Communism. The female transition from the medical corps to the Partisan forefront combats not only created the new model of warfare, but also laid the foundations of the gender (semi)inclusive communist leadership of the Partisan State, where though the Women’s Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia, the political, economic and social realms, have become the new battlefields for equality between the genders. Although constitutionally defined as a “Federal Republic of equal nations and nationalities freely united in achieving specific and common interests, where all social actors, each according to ability and needs, are contributing to the realization of the human rights and freedoms with respect to human dignity” (as stated in the Constituent Acts of Yugoslavia and Constitution of SFRY, 1974), women in the Yugoslav system were well represented in comparison with the representation of women in other communist or noncommunist countries at the time (prior to the first-wave of the feminist movement), but yet, underrepresented in comparison with their participation in the National Liberation Movement. Instead of being celebrated, the merit of women in all aspects of the anti-fascist resistance, after winning the battlefield of the Second World War was disregarded, which has put them in another battlefield for equality between the genders. Considering the extent of the struggle, conclusions can be drawn that the fight against the fascist aggressor was easier than the fight against the patriarchal one. In that regard, through an analytical, qualitative, quantitative and comparative approach, this article aspires to answer the question of if and how the Yugoslav Communism has affected the gender and power discourses in the former Communist Federal and today’s Democratic Sovereign Republics.
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The paper examines the issue of women’s emancipation in communism and its consequences in terms of the double burden imposed on them. The state-approved reproductive policies are analysed in terms of their ideological dimension and also of their practical consequences on the liberated women’s lives. Due emphasis is attached to the recent research and to the emerging re-evaluations of the “red century” and its impact on women. The focus is constantly dual throughout the paper: women in the Soviet Union and women in Romania where we tend to see, just like in all communist states, a replication of the Soviet blueprint, which justifies the interest attached to the condition of the Soviet women after their emancipation. A personal touch in the form of anecdotes illuminating the hypocrisy of the communist propaganda and the communist overall vision will add a distinctly real-life Romanian dimension. The personal anecdotes are intended to further validate the research findings, while also highlighting the current challenges facing women when making their reproductive decisions in the post-communist society.
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The article is about women’s situation in Albania during and after the Second World War. The goal of this article is to share the Albanian experience as a former communist country, related with gender equality, and to give a short summary of the situation of Albanian women before the Second World War. This topic was selected because the author would like to share general information about the communism propaganda machine related with the re-evaluation of its position in the new revolutionary society. The structure of this article is designed to show you a ‘during and after’ WW II “panorama”. Its structure has two sections: 1. The women who fought against fascism and taboos; 2. The women who work and gave their contribution to rebuild the country after the war and live happily in the new socialist society, with the same rights as men, without prejudices. Concerning methodology, this is a historic perspective article and the comparative method was used. The facts that are mentioned were gathered from secondary sources: newspapers and books, photos and movie trailers’. This social phenomenon is very interesting because it explores the Albanian experience during communism era.
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The fall of communism in Albania and Romania brought several social changes. The transition of post-communist countries has had different paths, however general societal and cultural traits seem to prevail, the role of women and gender equality among those. This paper evaluates the accuracy of the observation that after the fall of communism in South East European countries, there is a retraditionalisation of gender roles in the societies. The countries in focus are Romania and Albania. The reason why these countries are taken into consideration is their similar type of communist regime. Compared to all the other countries of the region these two have experienced the harshest communist regimes. The assessment of the hypothesis is done by taking into account several aspects of gender issues, during and after communism for each country. The paper’s attempt to evaluate the hypothesis is a contribution to gender studies in the region of South Eastern Europe.
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