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Voices of assertion and resistance do not necessarily emerge within a defined space and time waiting to be theorised but rather appear and disappear through daily rhythms and routines. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with an artisanal family in the Telangana region of South India, this paper addresses the way in which gender distinctions performed through a craft practice are constructed and subverted within everyday language. By looking at how a craft skill is perceived as a male quality, the objective of this paper is to focus on narratives of women artisans that, on the one hand, re-write such a perception while, on the other, innovatively craft their own selves through the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, women's representation among new doctorates and academics has increased dramatically in the English-speaking countries. However, notable differences continue in the work environment, rank, salary, and career development of academic men and women. This paper investigates why the academic gender gap persists, focusing only on the family lives of academics but acknowledging prevailing academic practices and recent university restructuring. Set within a feminist political economy and interpretive framework, the paper draws on two sets of qualitative interviews with academics from Canada in 1973 and New Zealand in 2008 to demonstrate gendered patterns over time in comparable places. Despite improvements in gender equity over the past forty years, I argue that the personal lives of academics continue to substantially differ. Many families still prioritise men's careers and employed mothers are typically 'penalised' in the labour market. These family and personal circumstances, when combined with institutional and academic priorities, help perpetuate the academic gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feminist critics of the mythopoetic men's movement (MMM) have argued that the MMM de-politicises and reinforces gender inequalities. This paper revisits these 1990s critiques, acknowledging their value, and also identifies concepts of gender that cut across the MMM and particular feminist legacies. Specifically, it shows that the MMM and certain strands of feminist thought share binary and essentialist gender constructs, which remain broadly influential today and arguably hamper the common goals of shifting culturally dominant gender ideologies in (neo) liberal social contexts. Research is lacking in New Zealand (and elsewhere) on contemporary manifestations of the MMM, and on feminist responses to and engagements with it. This paper draws on preliminary fieldwork, including recent conflictual conversations amongst MMM participants and feminist activists in New Zealand, in order to signal and to challenge middle-class, Pākehā, and heteronormative standards that are persistently embedded in universalising assumptions about gender identity. In an 'age of difference' for both women and men, the paper also identifies alternative and diversifying concepts of gender that could support more productive dialogue. The analysis is underpinned by an international body of feminist literature supporting poly-vocal, intersectional, and multi-layered accounts of identity wherein gender is one discourse and category of experience among many. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender and ethnicity are recognised as two of the leading axes of marginality in late twentieth century western liberal democratic societies -- the former emerged in the wake of Second Wave feminism of the 1970s and the latter, with the rise of 'identity politics' in the 1980s and 1990s. Both have similarities. As categories of disadvantage, their basis is 'natural' in that the complex webs of social and political organisation, and consequent disadvantages, based on gender or ethnicity can be traced to physiology, that is, differences in either skin colour or sex. These are also, as Nancy Fraser (1997) points out, 'bivalent categories' of disadvantage in that gender and ethnicity display simultaneous discriminations in areas of resource allocation (Redistribution) and as socially acceptable identities (Recognition). Here, however, the common trajectory followed by these social markers ends. Drawing on the changing nature of society and governance in New Zealand, the present paper argues that the differences between gender and ethnicity, rather than their similarities, expose fundamental attributes of contemporary marginality in increasingly diverse western democracies. This paper advances the following proposition (and contradiction): in the past decade, ethnicity and diversity as an axis of social division has gained credibility and has markedly influenced political, economic and social (re)organisation in New Zealand, while in contrast, it has proven harder to justify gender as structural disadvantage. Thus, while the boundaries of 'gender' are ruptured, porous and, at moments, open to erasure, 'ethnicity' has coalesced to become a new, valid, and increasingly relevant border of social inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, in spite of societal shifts and legislation that supports women of diverse sexual identities, heterosexual norms still prevail in many workplaces. In this paper we apply Acker's (2006a) 'inequality regime' as a potential framework to unravel heteronormative practices. We use snippets from our lesbian herstories to illustrate how heteronormativity has affected our lives as women in academe. Through this paper we alert lesbian colleagues to our proposed research project on heteronormativity in academic workplaces and ask that they consider participating in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to look at the contexts of meanings that surround Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) in practice, particularly for issues of gender justice. At the heart of the paper is a critical appraisal of one EEO event; an example drawn from the New Zealand public sector where claims to 'gender disadvantage' is made by an employee and responded to by the agency to which the claim is made. The event is representative of an instance where all parties are equally claiming the need to further EEO and fairness. By deconstructing the language and context of EEO in practice, the paper argues the point that EEO policy is not implemented in discursively uncontested contexts. At a substantive level, the paper builds on feminist theoretical perspectives of social justice, and questions if the contemporary frameworks of meaning in the public sector can support transformations of relationships of disadvantage. More pertinently, it asks if the "removal of unfair disadvantage", on which EEO strategies are based, constitutes the promotion of social and gender justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why is disability care a lifelong role and responsibility for some women? How does disability activism and feminism view the role of disability care? This paper starts with an overview of the limited disability and care data we have in New Zealand, and what can be interpreted from the statistics about the gendering of care. Reference is also made to the new controversial 'Funded Family Care' policy for paying family members for caring for a disabled family member, the recent pay equity win for low-paid aged-care workers, and the 'sleepovers' case. To understand the present and to look into the future it helps to know where we have been, so some illustrative examples of current and historical gendering of disability and care are provided including: past eugenic policies; the mid 20th century struggle by mothers of intellectually disabled children; and mother blaming in autism. This is followed by a consideration of some theoretical approaches in helping to understand the situation from feminist and disability perspectives including addressing issues of ableism and power. The paper concludes with suggestions to address the issues of low status and pay for disability care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations (UN) has long been seen as one of the world's most influential organisations in the movement for gender equality. The UN is unique in its ability to produce binding inter-governmental normative frame-works which have led to legislative and policy reform at the national level, including in New Zealand. The UN has also played an important role through its research, advocacy and programmes. However, during the 2000s many gender equality advocates became increasingly concerned with the gap between policy and practice and the significant weaknesses within the UN system. In particular, the UN has been criticised for providing inadequate resourcing, capacity support and senior-level espousal for its gender architecture. In New Zealand, UNIFEM's weak presence and low capacity to provide technical support to the government and visible advocacy exemplifies the UN's past inability to support gender equality at the national level. It is hoped that the recent establishment of UN Women in January 2011 will alleviate many of the issues related to the UN's gender architecture and signal a new era for the UN's work on gender equality. This paper explores the core reasons for the imperative reform of the UN's gender architecture. The paper then analyses whether UN Women has the necessary scope and funding to address the UN's past failings and deliver tangible results. A strong UN agency with country-level capacity in New Zealand would ill a gap within New Zealand civil society for a leading specialist organisation for gender equality that not only supports governmental and civil society efforts in New Zealand, but also contributes to equality within the wider Pacific community. Therefore the paper then outlines steps for action for New Zealand civil society organisations to ensure that UN Women lives up to its potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a couple has a baby, one of the first significant decisions they make is who will be primarily responsible for care of that baby. Biological considerations, social norms, a range of policies, and various other structural factors have an impact on how parents make decisions regarding the care of their new-born babies, with outcomes that can be significantly gendered. In this paper, I examine the ways in which 12 Pakeha middle class heterosexual couples who were first-time parents made decisions regarding who would be their babies' primary carer, and how much leave each person would take, when their babies were born. Among those with different income levels, their decisions were rationalised on the basis of this difference. However, among those with roughly equivalent incomes, other reasons were given, including breastfeeding. In all but one case, the couples conformed to normative gendered roles, with the mothers taking extended leave and being the babies' primary carers for the first year. The effects of this on both mothers and fathers are discussed, with mothers feeling both satisfaction and constraint, and fathers being framed as 'helpers' in some instances. I conclude with suggestions as to how parental leave policies might be structured so as to minimise the 'motherhood penalty' and allow for greater gender equity in parenting, while also meeting the needs and preferences of parents themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the passing of the Prostitution Reform Act (PRA) in 2003, New Zealand became the first country to implement a full decriminalisation of street and in-house prostitution, nationwide. As few New Zealanders have direct regular contact with prostitutes, the media has a strong role in shaping public discourse in relation to the sex industry. Using Foucauldian inspired poststructuralist analysis, from a critical feminist perspective, this paper investigates the representation of prostitution in the New Zealand print media before and after the passing of the PRA. Newspaper articles from 2000 to 2013 were analysed to identify key discursive constructions of the PRA, prostitution, sex workers, and other key players in the New Zealand sex industry. The main representations identified in the data were adult or child street prostitution, those who sell sex were always depicted as women (or girls) and those who buy sex, as men. Discussions of men who buy sex were noticeably absent, except in coverage of men who had been violent towards sex workers and men who bought sex from children. Inhouse prostitution was depicted as a more legitimate profession than street prostitution and the (street) sex worker was portrayed in disparaging ways. We conclude that although New Zealand has decriminalised prostitution, visible sex worker activity on the street continues to be deplored, due to its violation of various codes of traditional femininity and female sexuality. The media also work to individualise issues related to the sex industry, which require a more social, structural, and economic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caring for people with dementia remains gendered with women still expected to undertake much of the paid and unpaid caring work in the community. This study draws on survey and interview data collected from 48 women community workers in Alzheimers Societies throughout New Zealand. Through the lens of the women community workers the gendered expectations about paid and unpaid work are revealed. The paper argues that cultural ideas about gender differences in caring abilities have implications for women and men as the population ages and the dementia 'epidemic' impacts in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Kiribati, an island nation in Oceania, men tend to dominate sexual and reproductive health decision-making and women assume disproportionate responsibility for contraception. Yet there are couples who challenge this and, moreover, disrupt the way that I-Kiribati gender relations are typically framed. I-Kiribati are the indigenous peoples of Kiribati. This article draws from research which explored links between vasectomy uptake and genderequitable relations among couples in South Tarawa from 2017 to 2018. The case study, conducted with the support of Kiribati Family Health Association (KFHA), reframes essentialist notions of gender roles and gender relations in Kiribati. Building on international literature, the relational aspect of gender and gender normative behaviours associated with sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are examined. Semi-structured informal interviews were held with five vasectomised I-Kiribati men and their wives, interviewed as a couple and individually. Comparative analysis was undertaken with two same-sex focus group discussions, one with non-vasectomised men and the other with their wives, as well as with six key informant interviews. Qualitative data were analysed thematically within feminist and indigenous frameworks, and further triangulated with international and Kiribati studies. Findings suggest that gender equity is likely to be a pre-condition of vasectomy, and vasectomy can lead to equitable outcomes for women. However, connections are complex. Vasectomy, in and of itself, is unlikely to change deeply embedded inequitable practices. Vasectomy uptake can also result from, and lead to, inequitable behaviours. Gender relations within and among couples were multifaceted and contradictions existed. This article argues that approaches to SRHR which privilege dominant perceptions of gender roles and gender relations fail to recognise those who challenge normative behaviours, cannot effectively tackle gender inequality, and, at their worst, perpetuate inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I employ an autoethnographic lens to look at the evangelical Christian purity movement, which I experienced within my high school and church in Aotearoa/New Zealand. To frame my discussion, I focus on two best-selling books by evangelical Christian writer Dannah Gresh: Secret keeper: The delicate power of modesty (2002) and also And the bride wore white: Seven secrets to sexual purity (2012). Both of these books were reverentially passed around my school and church circles as though they were sacred scripture. My analysis of Gresh's writing and evangelical purity culture does not arrive without an agenda, but comes with a plea to end abstinence-only sex education and purity teachings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many constructions of what constitutes 'the Samoan community', the experiences and perspectives of fa'a'afa, fa'a(fa)tama, fa'afafine, trans folks and non-binary as well as further 'gender-divergent' people are often elided, conflated, glossed over or absent. One way of describing these occurrences is as forms of epistemic violence. The primary claim of this article is that language is a major site of epistemic violence against Samoan genderdivergent communities, specifically via usages of the terms 'third gender' and 'LGBTQIA+', as well as through binarism, enforced absence, slurs and segregation. These occurrences are relevant to discussions of violence, particularly those rooted in colonial structures of gender. The significance of the article's assertions can be found in Indigenous sovereignty movements, the aims of which will never be achieved until colonial-derived violence within Indigenous societies is recognised, dismantled and remedied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explores how urban middle-class north Indian women from the states of Haryana and Delhi practise their reproductive agency within collective and patriarchal settings. Snowballing was used to recruit participants; 45 married urban middle-class women who have children were interviewed. Analysis was conducted using Pierre Bourdieu's concept of capital. Many studies take the view that Indian women's reproductive choices are controlled by their husbands and in-laws, suggesting that women are oppressed and without agency. However, this study indicates that women do receive support within their affinal families that influences their choices but does not necessarily indicate they are oppressed. These women, while practicing their agency, aim to achieve their interests through strategies of resistance and/or negotiation within the patriarchal settings of their affinal families. Their ability to both negotiate and resist suggests that agency is at once transformative and reproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past three decades feminist geography and the concept of gender have been deployed unevenly by geographers in Aotearoa/New Zealand. A politics of knowledge production means that feminist geography occupies both the centre and the margins of academic knowledge. In order to highlight the diversity of feminist geographical knowledges we pay attention to local, regional, national and international contexts. First, we begin by positioning ourselves as working in the geography programme at the University of Waikato. Second, we review the directions taken at other universities in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Third, we examine a number of key international organisations that have been important in supporting geographers and others who share a focus on space and gender. In the fourth and final section we suggest strategies for strengthening feminist geography in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently within academic and popular discourse, focus and interest has amplified on the relational and 'increasingly' physical aggression of young women. Examinations into young women's aggression have tended to construct it as a new and emerging phenomenon. This article will compare the historical conception of the aggression of young women, found in the work of G.S. Hall, with current ideas of teenage feminine aggression found in popular and academic discussions. It will show that many of the current 'emerging' and popular ideas can be seen in Hall's theory. Moreover, these ideas limit the aggressive behaviours of young women to pathological and problematic definitions. Hence, a need to critique and question the foundations of the psychology of adolescence continues to this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ways in which parents negotiating care and contact arrangements for their children following separation are portrayed within speeches of the New Zealand Principal Family Court Judge (2005 to 2012). Our analysis finds the speeches to be marked by gender neutrality, and promote prescriptive normative 'ideals' of cooperation and an orientation to the future uncomplicated by the past. We suggest that these texts set out an informal philosophy surrounding the court, and that they construct parents in ways that may work against the interests of mothers, and do not necessarily align with achieving solutions that are in the best interests of children. Our findings suggest the need for professionals working in the area of family law to bring to their work a nuanced and contextual consideration of separating parents and their situations, including recognition of gendered power dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is renowned for its potential to harm and its under-reporting. A study in New Zealand explored non-reporting of IPV, and the extent to which using restorative justice (RJ) could increase reporting of this type of crime. Although the use of RJ for IPV is heavily debated, 79% of participants in my (2010) research considered that increased availability of RJ would increase reporting of IPV. It demonstrated the importance placed upon their relationship by victims and perpetrators, the complexity of power in IPV, and a range of ways IPV is reported. Like most literature on the subject, safety was identified as a priority. In this article I examine the implications of gender and RJ, safety in terms of ways RJ would increase, decrease safety for victims, and ways the process could be made safer in IPV situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People use various practices to shape their bodies into culturally defined ideal physiques, and media both construct and reinforce beauty ideals. However their meanings and ideological effects depend upon viewers' interpretations. The aim of this study was to explore ways in which men and women talk about female and male bodies typically presented in media. Two same-sex friendship groups discussed a set of 11 media images. Discursive analyses showed participants employed three main interpretative repertoires in their discussions. Together these led to a dilemma in which men's space of resistance involved hegemonic masculinity, which emphasised their body's functional ability, but simultaneously repositioned women in the space female participants sought to resist: namely, identities using hegemonic femininity with undermined functionality. Examination of alternative ways of 'doing' gender is needed, as is attention to the negotiated and reciprocal nature of resistance, gender and positioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the ways in which the film Untouchable Girls mediates the apparent contradiction between the Topp Twins' representation as paradigms of "New Zealandness", and their cultural status as yodelling lesbian twins. Utilising Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity, it draws particular attention to the deployment of discourses of authenticity to legitimate Jools and Lynda Topp's performances and misperformances of identity. Through the characters of Ken and Ken, for example, the Topp Twins demonstrate an unquestionable fidelity to the inaugurating discourses of "New Zealand masculinity" while simultaneously disturbing the gender performance that such discourses might usually effect. What this article suggests is that Untouchable Girls, and its attendant publicity, is dominated by an insistence on the particularity of "New Zealand" as a cultural context willing to celebrate its own contradictions, and the Topp Twins as performers uniquely able to utilise those contradictions for potentially subversive ends. It argues that the film demonstrates that the Topp Twins' "authenticity" enables them to insist upon the ways in which their subversive confusions are to be read, and to potentially reveal and reconstitute a queer paradox as integral to New Zealandness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has as its focus a practice of feminism shaped by an ethic of care, and concern for the politics of knowledge production. The context of this practice is a Women against Violence group programme. The article shows how particular moments of reflection by group members offer possibilities for therapist responses and movements for women's lives. To show these mo(ve)ments, the authors take a number of statements made by group participants in the context of a research evaluation of the programme. The statements are used to illustrate positionings offered the women by discourses of gender and feminism. Using these statements, the authors explore the possibilities for practices of feminism that work for collaborative, socially-just, knowledge making. The authors argue that this orientation might be understood as a dis-integrative feminism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]