Gender & Women's Studies

During the onslaught of the Islamic caliphate on Kobanî, Syria, media outlets across the globe broadcast pictures of brave and often unveiled Kurdish women fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), a quintessentially male force of destruction. The images of women fighting Islamist male aggressors aroused outrage, admiration, and pity among observers. But had all Kurdish fighters been male or had women fought for ISIS, viewers might have reacted differently. To examine some of the most widely disseminated gendered pictures and videos of the Syrian uprising in the media, this article draws on Mohja Kahf’s three categories, which typify how Muslim women, Arab women, or both are perceived by the Anglophone reading and viewing public: the first is victims; the second, escapees; and the third, pawns of patriarchy and male power. While this typology helps in examining gendered images of the Syrian uprising, it also obscures the socioeconomic realities on the ground.

This book examines the gender dimensions of large-scale mining in the oil industry and how oil exploitation has produced long-term economic, political, social and environmental risks and benefits in developing countries. It also shows that these risks and benefits have been unequally distributed between women and men. This project maps the ongoing dialogue between women’s issues and resource management, particularly, oil. The author attempts to answer the following questions: What are the impacts of oil projects on women in oil-rich countries? How can these impacts be explained? How can these impacts be reduced?

The Customary Stigma and Transphobia among
(LGBTQ) in India – A Study on Transgenders in
Kerala
Haseena VA1
1Assistant professor & Head of the Department, M.E.S Kalladi College, Kerala, India
Abstract: Kerala is the leading state in India in matter of education, socio-economic development and the related development criteria.
Development indicators such as HDI, PQLI, and GDI etc are very high in Kerala. In Kerala as like in other states in India we have a
community known as Transgenders. Their population is around 25,000; located in almost all the districts in the state. In the category of
LGBTQ (Lesbian, gay, bisex, transgenders and queer) transgenders occupies an important place. Transgender have a recorded history of more
than 4,000 years. Asian countries have centuries-old histories of existence of gender-variant males who in the modern’s times are labelled as
'transgender women'. India has a history of people with a wide range of transgender related identities, cultures, and experiences. People with
such identities include Hijras, Aravanis, Kothis, Jogtas/Jogappas, and Shiv-Shakthis. Ancient myths bestow them with special powers to
bring luck and fertility. Kama Sutra provides vivid description of sexual life of people with 'third nature' (Tritiya Prakriti). There happened
a big crisis in transgender identity in Kerala. Gender variation and gender expression often leads to Transphobia and stigma in Kerala.
Automatically there raised a lot of issues in the society made them an unwanted element in the society. These identities have always been
part of the broader culture and were treated with great respect in the past though only some are accorded such respect in the present. Our
society is, however, very harsh on gender-variant people. Some transgender people have lost their families, their jobs, their homes and their
support, they are in lack of social security and omission from economic participation, they face hurdles to use social welfare schemes,
degraded health facilities etc. due to shortage of livelihood choices exceptions transgender children may be subject to abuse at home, at school
or in their communities. The rights of the transgenders are very essential for keeping their life successful. The child born with some sexual
abnormality is abandoned in fear of social stigma. Because of the shortage of mechanisms preventing the violation of rights of transgenders,
such persons are easily defrauding the society. Thus, right to life and to live in the family and society is first and essential right. If any
practice infringes this right, it will prevent future generation to exist. One of the important successes in the life of transgenders in India is
the abolition of Section 377 by the supreme court of India in 2018. Section 377, plainly read, punishes with imprisonment for life or for a
term of up to 10 years any person who voluntarily has “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”.
These are not the root of their transgender identity; rather, they are the side effects of society’s intolerance of transgender people.

Starting from an episode of gender violence suffered by the community of Franciscan tertiaries of Santa Maria de la Cruz de Cubas and caused by its prelates, we analyze here the denounce discourse formulated by these women in the biography of the visionary Juana de la Cruz and in her sermons. Possible change proposals in these texts are also evaluated. In order to do this, we review their concept of what the Church is and the relationship model between the sexes. The prophetic nature of this feminine discourse confers to its views an undoubted political weight.
Partiendo de un episodio de violencia de género sufrido por la comunidad de terciarias franciscanas de Santa María de la Cruz de Cubas a manos de sus prelados, se analiza aquí el discurso de denuncia que estas mujeres formularon en la biografía de la visionaria Juana de la Cruz y en sus sermones. También se valoran posibles propuestas de cambio en estos textos. Para ello, se pasa revista al concepto de Iglesia y al modelo de relación entre los sexos. El carácter profético de este discurso femenino confiere a sus planteamientos una indudable carga política.

El siglo XV asistió en la Corona de Castilla a un amplio y diversificado fenómeno de creaciones conventuales femeninas promovidas por mujeres que fue muy visible en las ciudades. Se inscribió en las reformas de la Baja Edad Media y coincidió con el debate conocido como “Querella de las Mujeres”. Partiendo de la idea de que hubo un Humanismo femenino, pensado y enunciado por las mujeres en sus propios términos, en estas páginas se buscan las conexiones entre dichos fenómenos, especialmente entre las aportaciones femeninas de reforma religiosa concretadas en las fundaciones de espacios de espiritualidad y la “Querella de las Mujeres”. Para ello, se fundamenta el análisis en una ciudad concreta, Córdoba, y se delimitan cronologías y tipologías religiosas a fin de determinar sus contenidos programáticos. El objetivo último es perfilar algunas de las principales formulaciones y claves explicativas del proyecto humanista de las mujeres.

GENDER STUDIES 2019 CONFERENCE: ON VIOLENCE 
University of Helsinki 24th - 26th of October

Workshop 26: Comparative perspectives on violence and agency in social movements
Chairs: Lucie Drechselova & Begard Reza

Martina Biondi: Voicing the pain of the ‘Years of Lead’: Gendered Violence in Moroccan Prison Narratives 
Kerry Mackereth: Performing slow death through hunger striking in Yarl’s Wood