Corona, Care, and Political Masculinity: Gender-Critical Perspectives on Governing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria
Titelübersetzung:Corona, Sorge und politische Männlichkeit: Eine geschlechterkritische Perspektive auf das Regieren der COVID-19 Pandemie in Österreich
Quelle: Historical Social Research, 46 (2021) 4, S 50-71
Inhalt: The article departs from the contradiction that the importance of care for society was publicly acknowledged during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic response of the Austrian government did not challenge the structurally devalued status of care. In order to sustain the hegemonic patriarchal-capitalist governance of care and social reproduction in the pandemic government actors had to reframe care. We investigate government discourses that normalised its careless crisis management and interrogate the role political masculinity and affects played therein. Based on our analysis of a set of selected press conferences held in March 2020, we find that a new mode of rational-affective political masculinity was constitutive of the political management of COVID-19 crisis. With help of this hybrid mode of masculinity, political actors reinterpreted care first and foremost as healthcare and caring for the economy, and as caring for the population in terms of biopolitics. At the same time, caring tasks in the 'private' sphere were left to the personal responsibility of individuals and families. In order to generate consent, political actors frequently invoked affects that pertained to risk and danger on the one hand and solidarity and responsibility on the other.
Schlagwörter:Österreich; Austria; Pflege; caregiving; Reproduktion; reproduction; Gesundheitspolitik; health policy; Krisenmanagement; crisis management (econ., pol.); politischer Akteur; political actor; Männlichkeit; masculinity; Biopolitik; biotechnology policy; Hegemonie; hegemony; Gender; gender; rational-affective masculinity; reframing care; care for the economy; solidarity; nationality; Corona; COVID-19; global pandemic; biopolitics
SSOAR Kategorie:politische Willensbildung, politische Soziologie, politische Kultur, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Quelle: Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 6 (2020) , S 1-17
Inhalt: Image recognition systems offer the promise to learn from images at scale without requiring expert knowledge. However, past research suggests that machine learning systems often produce biased output. In this article, we evaluate potential gender biases of commercial image recognition platforms using photographs of U.S. members of Congress and a large number of Twitter images posted by these politicians. Our crowdsourced validation shows that commercial image recognition systems can produce labels that are correct and biased at the same time as they selectively report a subset of many possible true labels. We find that images of women received three times more annotations related to physical appearance. Moreover, women in images are recognized at substantially lower rates in comparison with men. We discuss how encoded biases such as these affect the visibility of women, reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, and limit the validity of the insights that can be gathered from such data.
Beyond Sex/Work: Understanding Work and Identity of Female Sex Workers in South China
Autor/in:
Ding, Yu
Quelle: Social Inclusion, 8 (2020) 2, S 95-103
Inhalt: While scholars and activists often advocate using the term ‘sex worker’ in preference to prostitute, in my research I found that female prostitutes in the Pearl River Delta area, south China, do not like to be addressed as such, and prefer the title xiaojie in Chinese. ‘Sex worker’ generalises the heterogeneity of meanings these women identify and attribute to what they do; it does not capture the complex cultural meanings involved in the term xiaojie. It is stigmatising in that what is exchanged within the transaction is less defined by sexual acts and more by a diversified range of activities. The women employ what is useful to them and infuse new meanings in it to construct gender images and identities to resist the sex worker stigma and to express their desires as rural-to-urban migrants. Using xiaojie becomes a destigmatising and gender tactic. I also found that the women discard the idea of finding alternative jobs partly because of the practical difficulty, and partly because they do not want to work (gongzuo) any more in the future. This study highlights the importance of exploring desire and agency to understand the lived experiences of this particular group of women.
Schlagwörter:China; China; woman; Prostitution; prostitution; Stigmatisierung; stigmatization; Gender; gender; Ostasien; Far East; South China; desire; destigmatisation; sex worker
Running as a woman (or man): a review of research on political communicators and gender stereotypes
Autor/in:
Winfrey, Kelly L.; Schnoebelen, James M.
Quelle: Review of Communication Research, 7 (2019) , S 109-138
Inhalt: Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections. Twelve years later it was the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 133 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books using quantitative, qualitative, and rhetorical methods. Our analysis demonstrates that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in American political campaigns, and women candidates must work to overcome the belief that they are not masculine enough to be political leaders. Additionally this review reveals two common strategies candidates use to negotiate gender stereotypes: feminine style and gender adaptiveness. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand how candidates navigate gender stereotypes in the 21st century, particularly in political debates and online communication.
Schlagwörter:gender studies; Politik; suffrage; political communication; communication research; Präsidentschaftswahl; Kampagne; politische Kommunikation; Wahlrecht; Wahl; campaign; gender; Stereotyp; Kommunikationsforschung; election; Gender; Kandidatur; stereotype; woman; Geschlechterforschung; politics; presidential election; candidacy; femininer Stil
SSOAR Kategorie:Kommunikationssoziologie, Sprachsoziologie, Soziolinguistik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Inhalt: In this article, we draw a parallel between equality of opportunity in educational transitions and equality of opportunity in academic careers. In both cases, many methodological problems can be ameliorated by the use of longitudinal rather than cross-sectional data. We illustrate this point by using Finnish full-population register data to follow the educational and academic careers of the 1964-1966 birth cohorts from birth to the present day. We show how the Finnish professoriate is highly selected both in terms of parental background and in terms of gender. Individuals of different backgrounds differ greatly in the likelihood of completing different educational and academic transitions, but much less in the age at which they make these transitions. By contrast, women’s academic careers differ from those of men both in terms of timing and in terms of rates, with women’s PhDs and full professorships seemingly delayed compared to those of men. We additionally show with the help of a 2015 cross-section of Finnish professors how such differences are easily overlooked in cross-sectional data.
Schlagwörter:Bildung; academic (female); gender; Akademikerin; education; Chancengleichheit; Hochschulbildung; academy; Gender; equality of rights; Akademie; Karriere; Finland; woman; Gleichberechtigung; Akademiker; equal opportunity; Finnland; career; university level of education; academic
SSOAR Kategorie:Wissenschaftssoziologie, Wissenschaftsforschung, Technikforschung, Techniksoziologie, Berufsforschung, Berufssoziologie, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Women's Safety and Public Spaces: Lessons from the Sabarmati Riverfront, India
Autor/in:
Mahadevia, Darshini; Lathia, Saumya
Quelle: Urban Planning, 4 (2019) 2, S 154-168
Inhalt: The Sustainable Development Goals 5 and 11, as well as the New Urban Agenda, emphasize gender equity and safe, resilient, and inclusive cities. The ‘safe cities’ idea for women includes their equal right to the city and public places within it, which includes their right to be mobile in the city at any time of the day, as well as their right to loiter in public spaces without any threats of harassment or sexual violence. These issues have gained importance in urban planning and design in contemporary India. This article is an assessment of how safe Ahmedabad city’s largest public space, the Sabarmati Riverfront, is for women. Ahmedabad, a city in western India, has long carried an image of a safe city for women. The Sabarmati Riverfront is over 22 km in length, 11 km on both sides of the river. This assessment is made through mapping of space use disaggregated by sex and age at four different time points throughout the day and of 100 women’s accounts of the experience of harassment on using the space. The article concludes with specific recommendations on proposed activities and space design along the riverfront to make these spaces safe for women throughout the day.
Schlagwörter:Indien; India; Gender; gender; woman; öffentlicher Raum; public space; Sicherheit; security; sexuelle Belästigung; sexual harassment; riverfront
SSOAR Kategorie:Raumplanung und Regionalforschung, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Die Separierung der Geschlechter: ihre Relevanz für Interaktionen zwischen Geflüchteten und ehrenamtlich für sie Engagierten
Titelübersetzung:Separation of the sexes: a key to understanding interaction between refugees and volunteers
Autor/in:
Zwengel, Almut
Quelle: GENDER - Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, 11 (2019) 1, S 140-155
Inhalt: Interaktionen zwischen männlichen Geflüchteten und alteingesessenen Frauen werden seit den sexuellen Übergriffen in der Silvesternacht 2015 in Köln als problematisch gefasst. Hier wird ein Zugang zur geschlechterübergreifenden Interaktion gewählt, der von positiven Alltagskontakten ausgeht, nämlich der Interaktion zwischen Geflüchteten und ehrenamtlich für sie Engagierten. Leitfadengestützte Interviews mit 26 ehrenamtlich Engagierten werden in Anlehnung an die Grounded Theory analysiert. Die aus dieser Analyse heraus entwickelte Kernkategorie "Separierung der Geschlechter" verweist vor allem auf herkunftskulturelle Zuschreibungen und/oder Sozialisation, aber auch auf weiblich dominierte Unterstützungsnetzwerke und auf geschlechtertrennende Angebote für Geflüchtete. Diese Separierung der Geschlechter führt zu Unsicherheiten bei geschlechterübergreifenden Interaktionen, insbesondere beim Umgang mit Nähe und Distanz. Das Ansetzen von kultureller Differenz wird in der Literatur skeptisch betrachtet. Kritisiert werden ein homogenisierender, statischer und deterministischer Kulturbegriff sowie die Reproduktion und Verstärkung von Vorurteilen und Stereotypen. Dennoch, in der Rekonstruktion von Interaktionen durch die befragten Engagierten spielt kulturelle Differenz eine entscheidende Rolle.
Running as a woman (or man): a review of research on political communicators and gender stereotypes
Autor/in:
Winfrey, Kelly L.; Schnoebelen, James M.
Quelle: Review of Communication Research, 7 (2019) , S 109-138
Inhalt: Women gained the right to vote nearly 100 years ago, but it was not until 1980 that political scholars and practitioners began paying much attention to the role of women in elections. Twelve years later it was the so-called "Year of the Woman" in 1992 that sparked increased scholarly attention on women as political communicators. A record number of women, 117, ran for the U.S. Congress in 1992, but the number of women running and serving has been slow to increases since that time. One reason may be the unique challenges gender poses for female political communicators. Over three decades of research has proven gender stereotypes and expectations play a key role in how women (and men) communicate with voters. This review of research summarizes major findings and changes in gender and political communication research over the past three decades. Our focus is on communication by candidates and how gender shapes that communication. In all, 133 scholarly sources were reviewed; these sources included scholarly journals from related disciplines as well as books using quantitative, qualitative, and rhetorical methods. Our analysis demonstrates that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in American political campaigns, and women candidates must work to overcome the belief that they are not masculine enough to be political leaders. Additionally this review reveals two common strategies candidates use to negotiate gender stereotypes: feminine style and gender adaptiveness. We conclude that more research is needed to better understand how candidates navigate gender stereotypes in the 21st century, particularly in political debates and online communication.
Schlagwörter:gender studies; Politik; suffrage; political communication; communication research; Präsidentschaftswahl; Kampagne; politische Kommunikation; Wahlrecht; Wahl; campaign; gender; Stereotyp; Kommunikationsforschung; election; Gender; Kandidatur; stereotype; woman; Geschlechterforschung; politics; presidential election; candidacy; femininer Stil
SSOAR Kategorie:Kommunikationssoziologie, Sprachsoziologie, Soziolinguistik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
Religious Discourse and Gender Security in Southern Thailand
Autor/in:
Marddent, Amporn
Quelle: ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 12 (2019) 2, S 225-247
Inhalt: This article describes the complexity of applying human security through the notion of gender equality in southern Thailand where violent conflict has been prevalent for nearly half a century in a Malay-Muslim-dominated society. It explores how the concepts of gender and security have been interpreted in Malay-Muslim leaders’ outlooks. To define security more broadly, the article surveys the various notions of peacebuilding dealing with comprehensive human security and any security threat, thus not limited to state of war or physical violence only. In the prolonged armed violence and conflict, like that faced in Thailand’s Deep South, women’s security and their role in peacebuilding emerge as pertinent concerns. The discontinuities within the narratives of women and security highlight a divergence connected to personal-political imaginations of conflict whereby subtle variations in violent conflict can be seen as the products of different policy prescriptions, local cultural norms, and the project outcomes of women groups supported by governmental organizations and national and international donors. Thus, in order to reflect upon how contemporary security notions are framed, gendered security perceptions ought to be considered as they signify the exercise of peacebuilding programs in the local context. Persistent advocacy of gender equality is about cultural change, which eventually becomes a modality for non-violent society.
Schlagwörter:Thailand; Thailand; Kulturwandel; cultural change; menschliche Sicherheit; human security; Gender; gender; Gleichheit; equality; gender-specific factors; politischer Konflikt; political conflict; Gewalt; violence; Friedenssicherung; peacekeeping; religiöser Konflikt; religious conflict; Islam; Islam; Deep South of Thailand; Gender Security; Malay-Muslim Women; Peacebuilding
SSOAR Kategorie:Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, Sicherheitspolitik, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung
