This thesis discusses Virginia Woolf's feminist thought and Joanna Russ's feminist thought and argues the influence Woolf has had on Russ's feminist science fiction writing.
This paper explores the European Union's discourse in response to the #MeToo movement. To this aim, a qualitative exploratory study with a critical discourse analysis was conducted after in-depth...Show moreThis paper explores the European Union's discourse in response to the #MeToo movement. To this aim, a qualitative exploratory study with a critical discourse analysis was conducted after in-depth reading and manual coding of European Union preparatory legislative documents explicitly mentioning the movement. In addition, a sample of these documents was compared to similar papers before the movement to investigate whether it has influenced the formal discourse of the Union on gender-based violence and women rights. According to the results, the #MeToo movement has been used to go further and quicker on previous initiative already ongoing to fight against gender-based violence such as the Member States ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Even though prevention is at the heart of the European Union discourse in every document, it seems that after the #MeToo movement, there is a partial shift from exclusive prevention to more condemnation. However, the word perpetrator is almost absent compared to victim in all the documents analysed, even more in the ones mentioning the movement. Thus, we know what the European Union is urgently condemning but we do not know who. Moreover, progressive feminist discourses such as the rejection of patriarchal social order seem to have overtaken the arena of the European Parliament. Still, most of the perspective taken in the discourses and initiatives listed are symptomatologic treatment of the problem. Finally, the European Commission's texts differ from those of the European Parliament because of a significant economic cost-benefit approach to gender equality. This perspective could be described as a neoliberal discourse using feminist values of egalitarianism and empowerment for non-feminist purposes. This raises the question of gender equality for whom and especially for what?Show less
Over the past few years transgender rights have become increasingly mainstream, and issues affecting transgender people have frequently made headlines. When considering these issues, transgender is...Show moreOver the past few years transgender rights have become increasingly mainstream, and issues affecting transgender people have frequently made headlines. When considering these issues, transgender is often placed within the greater scope of LGBT rights. However, only fairly recently has the LGB community embraced the T. This research will look at the history of transgender activism, and how the sectional nature of homosexual men and lesbian women excluded the intersectionality of transgender people. This thesis will consider the relationship between these factions in activism, in medical terms and in social terms. It will further come to show that the history of transgender activism is a struggle that is still alive today.Show less
China’s exceptional growth, since the early 1980s, has been accompanied by a startling rise in gender-wage inequality. Gendered occupational segregation is identified as a primary cause, and has...Show moreChina’s exceptional growth, since the early 1980s, has been accompanied by a startling rise in gender-wage inequality. Gendered occupational segregation is identified as a primary cause, and has been a prominent feature of China’s economic transition and integration into the global economy. The channeling of women into low-skill, low-wage occupations is an often neglected factor in the story of China’s export-led economic growth and the development of its growing service industries. The purpose of this thesis is to establish how the revival of traditional gender norms in China has contributed to high levels of occupational gender-segregation and rising wage inequality. In particular this thesis focuses on changing constructions of gender as advanced by the state, through social policy and labour regulations, and in state media.Show less
