Labeled Language analyses the use of language in the Mencius with the goal of finding out how gender differences feature in this Confucian text. It uses an innovative (original) methodology that...Show moreLabeled Language analyses the use of language in the Mencius with the goal of finding out how gender differences feature in this Confucian text. It uses an innovative (original) methodology that fuses text (data) mining and traditional close reading analysis, building from a gap in the academic literature on the topic of language and gender in the Mencius.Show less
Rojava, or Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, is an autonomous region that operates under the premises of democratic confederalism, a political theory based on direct democracy,...Show moreRojava, or Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, is an autonomous region that operates under the premises of democratic confederalism, a political theory based on direct democracy, political ecology and gender egalitarianism. This study will analyse the implementation of gender egalitarianism through the lenses of the Political Process Model, a theory of social movements that aims to situate human agency in the centre of the analysis. The Political Process Model considers three elements in order to assess the emergence and development of social movements: mobilising structures, political opportunity structure and framing. These three elements will show different strategies that women have implemented in order to ensure their liberation in political, economic, and social terms.Show less
Adults who have experienced trauma in their childhood risk having a wide range of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there may be protective factors...Show moreAdults who have experienced trauma in their childhood risk having a wide range of mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, there may be protective factors that could explain why not all victims develop psychopathology in adulthood. One of these potential factors is ‘psychological resilience’: a cognitive process that determines if an individual is able to bounce back from a negative experience through flexible adaptation. The current study aims to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms, along with the possible moderating impact of psychological resilience on this relationship. This was investigated with a cross-sectional design, by means of an online selfreport questionnaire performed by 26 Dutch women aged 25 to 62 years of whom most had experienced some type of trauma. The data was collected using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SR), the PTSD Checklist for DSM-V (PCL-5) and the Resilience Evaluation Scale (RES). The results of a multiple regression analysis demonstrated that, as expected, women who experienced more childhood trauma showed an increased amount of PTSD symptoms (R² = .614, p ≤ .000), and that women with a higher level of resilience showed a lower amount of PTSD symptoms (R² = .74, p ≤ .000). However, resilience cannot be considered as a moderator of the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms, as the interaction between childhood trauma and resilience was not significant (p = .179). Instead, the study did find that women who experienced more childhood trauma show lower levels of resilience (r = -.574, p = < .005). The current study recommends future studies to examine what exact role resilience has in the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms. In addition, it emphasizes to boost resilience in victims of childhood trauma, because it may decrease the likelihood of developing PTSD symptoms in adulthood.Show less
During the partition, more than twelve million people crossed the border to reach Pakistan or India, soon communal violence roared in which women, out of revenge and hatred, became the victim of...Show moreDuring the partition, more than twelve million people crossed the border to reach Pakistan or India, soon communal violence roared in which women, out of revenge and hatred, became the victim of sexual violence at the hands of the other ethnic community. One of the major issues plaguing women was the widespread abductions of women by men from the other ethnic community in which many women were stuck on the other side of the border. Soon after, an interdominion agreement was drafted to recover abducted women from Pakistan to India and vice versa. In 1949 this agreement was discussed again to be renewed and possibly amended. The Constituent Assembly transcript of this debate that lasted for four days has been used to investigate through critical discourse analysis which roles of women within ethnicity are reproduced and to what extent. This thesis has used the framework from Anthias and Yuval-Davis to define those roles. Women's roles as boundaries, signifiers of difference, and biological reproducers become highly visible in the debate and most of all point to one issue: the lack of autonomy and representation of the voices of abducted women. Moreover, while the distinct roles of Anthias and Yuval-Davis are helpful, they lack a relational approach to the prescribed roles of women and men.Show less
This research aims to answer the question “How gender representation in politics affects the outcome of policymaking in the federal government of Nigeria”. And to help answer the questions, two...Show moreThis research aims to answer the question “How gender representation in politics affects the outcome of policymaking in the federal government of Nigeria”. And to help answer the questions, two hypotheses were formulated which are H1: greater women's representation in politics and decisionmaking positively affects the outcome of policymaking leading to economic growth and development of a country; H2: increasing the number of women decision-makers in politics leads to an outcome that is beneficial for women as well as their male counterparts. To test these hypotheses, a combination of desk research and informal/unstructured interview was carried out. It is emphasized that the gender representation in this research is focused on politics at the federal government level. Gender representation in politics at the federal level is selected because laws, policies, and decisions made at the federal government supersede all other levels (states and local government levels) of governance in Nigeria. The findings of this research support the two hypotheses as the desk research shows that the few women in politics who served on the federal level have positively impacted life’s in diverse ways while contributing to the economic growth of the country; from empowering the poor and vulnerable, providing jobs, developing new policies, challenge previous unfavorable status quo and above all alleviating poverty and thereby boosting the economic situation of the country. These findings were also supported by the interviewees. When women are included in political affairs such as decision making, it led to the development of laws and regulations that every inhabitant of the country benefit from. The research also contributed to knowledge by enumerating factors limiting the political representation of women at the federal government level. These main factors identified include religion, culture, marriage, fear, perception, education, and less or no fund. The dominant factors seem to be religion, culture, and marriage; these factors were further substantiated by the interviewees.Show less
This thesis investigated why Marko Vovchok, a Russian noblewoman, chose to narrate her stories through the voices of Ukrainian serf and peasant women. Likewise, this research sought to determine...Show moreThis thesis investigated why Marko Vovchok, a Russian noblewoman, chose to narrate her stories through the voices of Ukrainian serf and peasant women. Likewise, this research sought to determine what significance her use of the Ukrainian language in her early prose fiction had apart from its folkloric / national values, and whether it had any significance for the topic of gender. She was the first female Ukrainian writer. Using the Ukrainian language uttered by peasant and serf women, Vovchok found a way to talk about otherwise difficult issues through a kind of ‘wilderness’, defined by Elaine Showalter as being outside of male experience. Female bodily, cultural, and social issues were problematic in the contemporary literature of the Russian Empire. Therefore, her deployment of a neutral form of Ukrainian, but based on female peasant and serf forms of speech with folk elements, opened up a ‘wilderness’ of expression not yet available to anyone in Ukrainian – whether they were male or female authors. Another important feature of her stories and their language is their universalism: firstly, in their applicability to oppressed people everywhere, and secondly in their applicability to oppressed women everywhere.Show less
This thesis set out to analyse the eighteenth-century library of Johanna Paauw. If looking at the books in someone's bookcase offers some insight into who they are, what might one conclude on the...Show moreThis thesis set out to analyse the eighteenth-century library of Johanna Paauw. If looking at the books in someone's bookcase offers some insight into who they are, what might one conclude on the basis of Johanna Paauw's bookshelves?Show less
This thesis focuses on the representation of Jewish women in Czech Holocaust prose, providing a comparative analysis of Arnošt Lustig's The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S., Jan Otčenášek's...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the representation of Jewish women in Czech Holocaust prose, providing a comparative analysis of Arnošt Lustig's The Unloved: From the Diary of Perla S., Jan Otčenášek's Romeo, Juliet and Darkness and Ladislav Fuks's The Cremator.Show less
This thesis explores the power structures in the formation of the canon of Surrealism. The question why female artists are still excluded from the master narrative of Art History is researched...Show moreThis thesis explores the power structures in the formation of the canon of Surrealism. The question why female artists are still excluded from the master narrative of Art History is researched through the actors who were involved in the formation of the canon of Surrealism and in the writing of Art History. The Surrealist art scene in 1930s and 1940s New York is the main topic of this research, together with the question of rereading, differencing or rejecting the canon and the move towards an inclusive Art History anno 2018.Show less
This thesis examines the buying behaviour of Dutch women during the eighteenth century and determines whether a change can be detected in the kinds of works that women bought. The research is based...Show moreThis thesis examines the buying behaviour of Dutch women during the eighteenth century and determines whether a change can be detected in the kinds of works that women bought. The research is based on the female customers that came to Luchtmans, an academic bookshop in Leiden, and thus the main source of this study is the extensive archive that the firm has left behind. At the start of the eighteenth century, a wealthy mother primarily visited the shop to purchase school books for her young children. However, as the century progressed, an increasing number of unmarried women came to buy newspapers and novels, as they had more freedom to pursue their own interests. Although these women were certainly not representative of the general female population in Leiden, an interesting shift presented itself when comparing women from two time periods in the eighteenth century.Show less
The literature on women’s inclusion in peacebuilding has not only raised much criticism about women’s poor involvement, but also hopes for what their inclusion could entail. This research aims to...Show moreThe literature on women’s inclusion in peacebuilding has not only raised much criticism about women’s poor involvement, but also hopes for what their inclusion could entail. This research aims to unravel the question of whether involving local women's groups in the official peace process will lead to women's political, legal and economic emancipation in post-conflict societies. This is done with a case study of Liberia, as it has become well-known for its active women’s peace movement, and election of the first woman president in Africa. The 2003 Comprehensive Peace Agreement was somewhat gender-sensitive, and also involved a regional women’s organization— MARWOPNET— as one of the signatories. Yet, while the gender agenda has been present in several programs and policies in Liberia’s reconstruction, the results so far have been moderate. This thesis argues that local women’s involvement in official peace processes will lead to gender issues being more present in countries’ post-conflict reconstruction. However, to achieve their goals, women’s organizations need support from other actors, and the focus should be on their involvement both in quality and quantity.Show less
This edition contains 26 letters from the Doesburg Letter Collection (1777 -1822) focusing on its female correspondents. The letters give an exceptional insight into the personal lives of men and...Show moreThis edition contains 26 letters from the Doesburg Letter Collection (1777 -1822) focusing on its female correspondents. The letters give an exceptional insight into the personal lives of men and women from all layers of the population in a time in Dutch history that was marked by almost constant war and the subsequent political, social and economic changes that came with these conflicts. Many of the letters are signed by women, which make the letter collection a rare source, since not many writings have been preserved from women living in this period, especially not from the lower class. For this reason, this edition focuses entirely on the female correspondence of the collection. The letters for this edition were chosen based on their geographic variation in order to give a broad picture not only of the lives of women from Doesburg, but from all over the Netherlands in the regarding period. To place the letters into context, this edition includes: an overview of the history of the Netherlands and Doesburg in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, of reading and writing in the Low Countries, of the position of women in the Netherlands, and provides a sketch of the Dutch postal system between 1777-1822.Show less
This thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered,...Show moreThis thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered, Hertfordshire, where she wrote a prose romance and a collection of poetry. Her work has survived in one manuscript (MS Lt q 32) that was discovered in the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library in 1996. Pulter wrote her poetry during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the ensuing period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. She openly expressed her support of the king and the royalist cause in her poems. For Pulter, Charles I was unquestionably the country´s and the church´s leader. The political aspect, though, is also present in the less obviously political poetry. References to politics crop up through the whole collection. Royalism was an integral part of her life and an inseparable part of her language. In fact, the political component forms an important characteristic of her work.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2016-10-24T00:00:00Z
Women with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have become focus of research only recently, thus far there is little knowledge about the female phenotype of ASD in relation to social information...Show moreWomen with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have become focus of research only recently, thus far there is little knowledge about the female phenotype of ASD in relation to social information processing. This study focused on social cognition in high functioning women with ASD with specific focus on social attention and empathy. Participants consisted of 31 women with ASD and 29 non-clinical controls. Social attention was assessed by measuring eye fixation patterns using eye tracking while participant watched four movie clips of children expressing specific emotions. Empathic abilities were assessed using the informant reported Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Results show deceased fixation duration on the face and mouth in women with ASD compared to non-clinical controls, no differences were found in fixation duration on the eyes, objects and outside the areas of interest. In addition, women with ASD had a reduced ability to take the other’s perspective, a reduced ability to imagine the actions and feelings of (fictional) characters, and experienced more personal distress in stressful situations compared to non-clinical controls. In women with ASD, a negative correlation was found between personal distress and total fixation duration to the face. It is concluded that women with ASD have a deviant attention in social situations and reduced cognitive empathic abilities, but have more distress in social situations al well. It is suggested that an attentional deployment hypothesis might explain the findings. These findings stress the need for adjusting diagnostic assessment and treatment of women with ASD to the female phenotype of ASD.Show less
This thesis examines how Japan's declining birth rate and women's work-life balance are related, and how the government has responded to this in terms of policies.
