Gender Relations

The gender related suicide and unemployment rates for 1964-1986 from twenty-three Western countries were reviewed. A statistically significant correlation was found for both genders for the 1974-1986 period, which saw major rises in both suicide and unemployment in many Western nations. This was in contrast to a non-significant correlation for 1964-1973. As unemployment reached a critical level the statistical link with suicide became stronger. This suggests that unemployment is a contributing factor in increased suicide. Major gender changes occurred, in particular rises in female suicide rates, though these were not uniform. Whilst the expected greater male/female ratio for suicide was confirmed, there were significant variations between countries, with the ratio widening particularly amongst anglo phone nations. This indicated differential gender changes in patterns of suicide. The possibility of some 'protective' mechanism against suicide for women in anglo phone countri...

Nos résultats montrent que le personnel infirmier se trouve « coincé » entre une philosophie caritative associée aux idéaux infirmiers (éléments fondateurs) et une philosophie coercitive (sécuritaire) associée au milieu psycho-légal. Parallèlement, nous notons que les dynamiques de groupe sont des facteurs non négligeables au regard du sentiment de sécurité et de gestion des comportements violents. D’une part, on fait mention de l’expérience des hommes qui implique une vulnérabilité (souffrance) liée au maintien de sécurité et au besoin de protéger leurs collègues. D’autre part, les femmes se font reprocher leur souplesse – invoquant le manque de rigueur dans le renforcement des règles – empêchant ainsi, de part et d’autre, le déploiement d’une pratique professionnelle complète.  Le but premier de cette thèse doctorale consistait à explorer les rapports sociaux de genre en milieu psycho-légal – un milieu typiquement masculin. Notre recherche a d’ailleurs souligné en quoi le maintien de la sécurité est un élément indispensable à la pratique infirmière. En effet, l’aspect sécuritaire du milieu nous a permis d’explorer comment les risques de violence polarisent les interventions selon le sexe biologique du personnel soignant, dans la mesure où ce dernier est lié à des caractéristiques/attributs stéréotypées. Le milieu psycho- légal encourage une virilisation des soins et ce discours sexué participe aux divisions genrées des soins infirmiers. Il est important d’apprécier l’impact des stéréotypes sexués sur la pratique infirmière et le fait que celle-ci soit partagée entre deux perspectives divergentes. Les rôles sexués entraînent selon nous une violence entre les sexes ce qui facilite l’instrumentalisation des deux sexes. L’effet du discours hétéro normatif sur les rapports sociaux de genre, a permis de comprendre comment les comportements sont modulés par la conception de l’homme fort et de la femme à risque dans un milieu potentiellement violent. Le cadre hétéro normatif jumelé au milieu psycho-légal facilite l’amplification des normes hétérosexuelles. Les résultats de recherche ont permis de mieux comprendre comment le personnel soignant est confronté à un ensemble d’injonctions et de mandats contradictoires. En dépit des stratégies déployées par le personnel soignant pour s'adapter au milieu, l’exercice des soins infirmiers demeure difficile vu les contraintes organisationnelles; ces dernières représentent d'ailleurs un obstacle à la pratique et soulèvent des enjeux éthiques importants.

As growing numbers of youth in the United States play video games, potential effects of game playing are being considered. We focused on gender-related aspects of gaming in a study of 206 college students. Men were significantly more likely than women to play video games two or more hours a week and to indicate that video game playing interfered with sleeping and with class preparation. A greater proportion of women than men complained about the amount of time their significant other played video games. Participants rated female video game characters as significantly more helpless and sexually provocative than male characters and as less likely to be strong and aggressive. Gender differences in participation and character portrayals potentially impact the lives of youth in a variety of ways.

In July 1995, the Rugby World Cup was won by South Africa and Nelson Mandela appropriated the Springbok emblem in an effort to unite the nation. At around the same time, Ali Bacher secured an 8 million rand sponsorship deal for boys' cricket in Soweto, and development programmes for township football were evolving. These events are conspicuous symbols of the massive gender equalities in the sporting structures of the country and the strong association between sport and masculinity. In spite of the restructuring of sport in the new South Africa, there are no equivalent resources or efforts being put into female sports. In large part, this is because gender has tended to be treated as less important than race and ethnicity as a factor that effects equality, and because little attention is paid to the ways in which gender articulates with race and ethnicity.This paper will address the specific difficulties facing the development of women's sports in South Africa: it will look at the hidden history of women's sports during Apartheid; the effects of the legacy of apartheid; and the complexities affecting women will be considered. The particular relationship between gender and race is central to the analysis, but other factors, such as economics, politics, class, and religion interrelate in ways that illustrate that problems of sports participations are very different for different groups of women. Cultural diversity is therefore a key idea. Because very little has been written about women's sports in South Africa, the paper is heavily dependent on original material gathered during a 4-week trip to the country during June/July 1995. Observation methods were used, interviews carried out, and documentary evidence examined. Although most women that were interviewed lack direct power, their energy, enthusiasm, and determination confirms the idea that recognizing human agency is vital in understanding women's sport in South Africa, and that gender relations of power are unequal but shifting.

This study investigates the ideological implications of Real Men, a Korean reality show that portrays the experiences of celebrities who join the military as new conscripts. We situate the popularity of Real Men in the context of the changing gender geography of Korea. Through an analysis of the official Real Men online bulletin board, we explore how the male audience's discourses regarding the authentic military experience and ideal soldiers are related to their desire to restore hegemonic masculinity. Our findings suggest that Real Men became a vehicle that was used to demand women's appreciation of the difficult work of men in the military. A desire to be symbolically remunerated for military service involved the positioning of women as primary caregivers who fulfill traditional female roles. By calling for the restoration of traditional gender roles, the male viewers attempted to recover the hegemonic masculinity that they perceived to be under threat from changing gender relations.

The issues of gender-related persecution and violence against women have been put onto the international agenda, largely thanks to lobbying by feminist NGOs and transnational networks. There is a question, however, of how successfully this agenda-setting has translated into effective policy-making and policies that will increase the protection of women who are victims of gender-related persecution. One of the problems with policies to support women refugees and asylum seekers lies in a failure of transmission of the goals of gender sensitivity through all the various bureaux and representatives of a large bureaucratic organization such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For nearly twenty years, since the early 1990s, the UNHCR has identified ‘refugee women’ as a policy priority, and yet, despite this prioritization of concerns about women refugees and gender issues in the asylum and refugee process, it could be argued that little progress has been made in implementation of policies on refugee women. This article will examine the way in which the concept of gender has been adopted within the UNHCR and the processes that have been put in place to mainstream gender within refugee protection activities. How far has mainstreaming managed to move policies to protect women beyond a mere focus on ‘vulnerable’ groups, and to integrate a gendered understanding of the global processes that produce refugees, and of the protection needs of these refugees?

During the last two decades teachers in many countries have found themselves facing new demands and changes. In his “intensification thesis” Apple, MW [(1986). Teachers and Texts. A political economy of class and gender relations in educations. London: Routledge] made a ...