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Summer 2008: Table of Contents
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The Major Influences of the Boundless-Extended Family System on the Professional Experiences of Black Zimbabwean Women Leaders in Higher Education
Miriam Miranda Chitiga
Abstract
The article examines the major influences of the black Zimbabwean boundless- extended family system on the professional trajectories of women leaders working within the higher education system of Zimbabwe. The study is based on in-depth interviews conducted with thirty female leaders who shared information about their major family responsibilities. Using an analytical framework that facilitates a critical analysis of the evidence, the paper discusses the persisting significance of the interdependent systems of social stratification, namely race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and class in the private and public spheres of the female leaders. In an effort to preserve the nuances, essence, and voices, as well as to give them the prominence they deserve, the paper includes excerpts from the participants' responses. The paper suggests private and micro (familial and cultural) and public and macro (institutional and systemic) ways of alleviating some of the major challenges that the boundless- extended family system places on the professional advancement of women leaders.
Stepping out of the third wave: A contemporary Black feminist paradigm
Chiquita D. Howard-Bostic
Abstract
Black feminists have engaged in dialogue that confronts and transforms reactionary thinking and problematic performance projected toward Black women and other women of color. In accordance with Springer (2002), I posit that the ‘wave analogy’ presented in support of white feminist discourse is both problematic and untenable to the roles of women of African descent as feminists. Hence, by restraining models of Black feminism into a Eurocentric bottle, or wave, universal categorization of feminism has obscured the historical role of race in feminist organizing.
Roth (2004) introduces a typology of separate feminist movements engaged among African-American, Chicana, and White feminists. Parallel with Roth’s typology, I adopt a scheme of logic to expunge African-centered thought from the agenda of the traditionally defined ‘three waves’ of feminism. I offer a brief history of a current/contemporary paradigm of Black feminist thought and liberatory feminism. This transition from the wave analogy into contemporary Black feminist thought allows for a deconstruction of the wave ideology. Hence, the positions and themes that define the scope of contemporary Black feminism are rooted in a transition from a universal conceptualization of women’s rights and gradual movement toward difference among women.
Who Are the Women Who Have Broken Through the Military’s “Brass” Ceiling?
Darlene M. Iskra
Abstract
Those who rise to the top ranks in the military must have a dedication, loyalty and determination that distinguish them from their peers. The vast majority of these positions are held by white men. In the past this was due to discriminatory government policies, protectionist legislation, and social constructs favoring them based on their assumed leadership capabilities. Historically, women have been excluded from senior military positions because it is a social institution that favors men as the ideal worker, it requires a work schedule based on an assumption of unlimited availability, and it has an opportunity structure which hinders women’s ability to rise past a certain level.
However, women are a growing part of this elite group. This article describes the demographic and professional backgrounds of the military women who have broken through the structural impediments of the “brass” ceiling and become General and Flag officers. Data were collected through a content analysis of their military biographies and other sources, in addition to survey data, and were analyzed from a demographic perspective. Results varied only by cohort, and they indicate that women are participating in our nation’s defense while pursuing a fulfilling personal life.
Women’s Voices of Resistance: An Analysis of Process and Content in National Higher Education Policy
Penny A. Pasque
Abstract
This research study explores the various and complex perspectives of higher education’s relationships to society as shared through discourse by higher education policy leaders. Leaders’ perspectives from 250 university presidents, legislators, faculty, community partners, foundation officers and graduate students during a twelve day national policy conference were considered in the overarching research project. Through examination of the linguistic complexities of this national policy discourse, I found that some women, people of color, and people outside the academy are silenced and/or their perspectives are reframed or discounted. Further, if participants shared more of an advocacy perspective, their voices are marginalized (Pasque 2007).
This particular paper explores further the voices of women during these policy conversations. Specifically, I explore the voices of women who share “advocacy” perspectives and whose perspectives were reframed, redefined, and/or silenced in the discourse. Importantly, I discuss the content – what was said – and the process – how it was said – in order to further our understanding of multiple strategies for educational change. I argue that if a more thorough understanding of women leaders’ perspectives is not offered, then dominant perspectives shared in policy circles may continue to perpetuate the current ideas of higher education’s relationship with society – from an economic rationalization perspective – without consideration of alternative perspectives. The perpetuation of the current trajectory and the continued marginalization of alternative perspectives offered by women may be detrimental to working toward social justice and educational equity.
Literature And Ethos Of Public Space: Is There A Heaven Space For The Woman?
Anthonia I. Umoren and Rose Acholonu
Abstract
Salvation which has to do with the redemption of mankind by the Blood of Jesus Christ is bedeviled by sexual politics. It is palpably evident that the various religious divide have connived as it were to leave the woman as a negligible minority on the Nigerian Church pulpits. Again, there seems to be a collaborative agreement by both the Nigerian patriarchal and the biblical Jewish cultures that “a woman be silent in the church”. The ‘silence of the woman would have robbed the world of the many laudable contributions of the woman in all life sphere. The statistics of the research recently conducted by these presenters in the sampled churches in the South-South Nigeria and references made to some acclaimed women novelists’ works corroborate the fact that even when a woman is ‘saved’, her sex militates against her being ordained as a pastor or a priest to preach salvation messages on the churches pulpits. This is a political incarceration of the woman’s abilities even in the church where she forms the bulk of the population. This is paradoxical. Riding on the feminist’s theories, our research finding exposes the politically motivated sexist’s tragedy of the woman’s history which frustrates her salvation and self-actualization. The research also finds out that “the dialectics of sexism lies in the presence of only two sexes” male and female without a mediation (Chukwuma 1974:9). The paper periscopes two outstanding Nigerian female novelists of two different generations and debunks the farce that “…intelligence, sensitivity and creativity [which are Godly attributes] are poisoned gifts for an African Woman” (Aidoo 1985:5). This paper thus sues for a balance between salvation and politics across the sexual divide for the most desired global accord.
A Consideration of Tenure and Its Effect on Women Faculty Members: A Proposal for Increasing Parity Between Men and Women on College Campuses
Patricia A. Wilson
Abstract
At four-year colleges and universities, particularly those at which either master’s degrees or doctoral degrees are the highest degrees conferred, women continue to be underrepresented in the ranks of tenured faculty. At one time, the disparity could be explained by the paucity of women who had earned doctoral degrees and were otherwise qualified to teach at the university level. However, for almost twenty years, women have earned at least 40% of the doctoral degrees conferred, and currently that percentage is approaching 50%. Nonetheless the disparity at four year colleges between tenured male versus female faculty continues.
This article questions why the disparity continues to exist and offers a proposal for how parity between female and male faculty might be attained. It concludes that although there are sufficient numbers of women qualified to hold entry-level positions, the structure of the traditional tenure system appears to be a cause for the disparity among tenured faculty. It further considers the anti-discrimination statutes and concludes that they do not serve as an effective remedy when bias occurs in evaluating women for tenure, which may explain the gender disparity among tenured faculty. This article proposes, as an alternative to the traditional tenure structure, consideration of a framework wherein either tenure no longer existed or was modified to result in periodically reviewable contracts. Finally, it analyzes how a different framework may impact parity between male and female faculty members.
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