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- Convenors:
-
Aneesa Shafi
(University of Kashmir)
Mohmad Saleem Jahangir (University of Kashmir)
- Stream:
- Relational movements: Kin and Gender/Mouvements relationnels: Parenté et genre
- Location:
- LPR 155
- Start time:
- 5 May, 2017 at
Time zone: America/New_York
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
The panel will look at globalization, migration and select moments in time, past and present, through the experience of women.
Long Abstract:
The globe is moving towards an era distinguished by a worldwide integrated economy, where decisions regarding production, consumption and other aspects of social relations increasingly includes international dimensions. Forces of globalization are factual and their influences are felt everywhere. The significant gender differences and disparities with respect to decision-making powers, participation, and returns for effort that prevail in different societies need to be taken into account when responding to the forces of globalization. Because of gender inequalities and discrimination in all parts of the globe, women can be affected negatively by globalization processes to a greater extent than men.
Besides, more women are moving now than ever before. While this may be factual of specific flows to and from specific countries where female migrant labour is by now the country's major export item, overall, women have always represented a significant share of migratory movements. It is the qualitative characteristics, how women move today, in what capacity and for what purposes, that reveal the more dramatic changes that underlie the evolution of the phrase the "feminization of migration".
It is necessary to analytically check the gender impact of change so that the objectives of gender equality and the expansion of human capabilities are not given up.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Gender gaps in access to resources are rooted in social and cultural practices. Women have to bear the tremendous cost for these inequalities but the cost affects harming everyone in the long run of the society. Thus, gender equality is the vital part of development strategy.
Paper long abstract:
Women are highly differentiated socially, culturally and contextually in the Indian society. There is continuous subordination of women by men in all the spheres of life. Women's stereotyped role has manifold and multiplied impacts on their health, nutrition, education and overall development. Gender gaps in access to resources are rooted in social and cultural practices. Women have to bear the tremendous cost for these inequalities but the cost affects harming everyone in the long run of the society. India holds a very complex scenario with multiple socio-economic classes with gender differences.
Some concerns that arise are that whether freedom and equality mean anything to women in India, whether they exercise their right to live with dignity, whether they have the freedom to develop their potentials and choose what they should do or be, if they have the capability to acquire knowledge, be creative and productive and to live long and healthy lives, if they are protected from the major sources of restrictions of freedom - from violence, discrimination, want, fear and injustice and if they enjoy the same chances and choices as men, equally and on the same terms. Situations are more critical in the case of the women in the marginalized communities such as the fishing communities. Human dignity, self respect, mental and emotional security and the assurance of being valued by others are all immensely important to women's lives, but there is no easy way to quantify them.
Paper short abstract:
This paper is an ethnographic study of various forms of sexual and psychological repressions and the practice of agency of the left behind women in a Gulf migrant village in rural Bangladesh following the migration of their husbands abroad.
Paper long abstract:
This paper is an ethnographic description of various forms of sexual and psychological repressions and the practice of agency of the left behind women following the migration of their husbands abroad. In doing so, I explored everyday happenings in the personal life of women when they are in prolonged loneliness from their husbands. I also explored their strategies to cope with the members of their husbands' households and the society in adverse situation. The study was conducted applying participant observation method along with its different techniques in a Gulf migrant village for one year in Munshigonj, Bangladesh. Data showed that through their mobility in household and public spaces, women shape and reshape their gendered boundary and increasingly contest its meanings. But their mobility in the public sphere is carefully observed and they remain under subtle and invisible surveillance and regulation in the name of ethics, morality, norms and values of the patriarchal Muslim society. Sexuality is repressed in the village where all kinds of sex acts, except husband and wife, are strictly prohibited. But women are reproached and stigmatized much more if they do anything prohibited. But the data showed that women are not always passive victims rather they strategize to establish their position. Hence, contextualizing structure and agency, the study investigated how women are influenced by patriarchal structure and how they play role to transform the structure through their activities and resistance in the absence of their husbands.
Paper short abstract:
The paper emphasizes the role that globalization and migration have played in shaping, situating and accessing the reproductive rights of women.
Paper long abstract:
A trend in migration that has attracted much interest in recent years is the growing feminisation of migrant flows. For the world, as a whole, the share of women immigrants has risen slowly from 47% in the early 1960s to almost 50% in 2005. Family migration is the dominant motive among inflows of permanent immigrants. Yet, more women are migrating on their own to improve their living conditions and not just following their fathers and husbands. The feminisation of migration is characterized by a stronger brain-drain of highly educated women from less developed countries. Globalization has provided a free flow of ideas, including changing ideas on what it means to be a woman and migration provides a physical site for the new ideas to take shape and be ascertained. It opens up possibilities for what women can achieve. Even then, the flipside to this position may also be true. In all of this, and an ever developing sense of identity how women negotiate their reproductive choices and interpret and demand reproductive rights is to be established. Though, much attention has been paid to research on these themes, the author feels that the emphasis must shift to other related aspects and impacts of this migration.
Keywords: Globalization, Migration, Feminization of Migration, Reproductive Rights
Paper short abstract:
My ethnographic research among Iranian diaspora in Montreal suggests it is too early to conclude that a “sexual revolution” is taking place among Iranian youth, as traditional marriage values, including virginity, remain strong. Challenges remain for young Iranian women who defy patriarchal values.
Paper long abstract:
Some scholars (Mahdavi 2009, Afary 2009) contend that Iran is in the midst of a "sexual revolution". Mahdavi's claim in particular is based largely on research among Tehran's upper classes, which I argue is not indicative of a more general trend. Drawing from my Summer 2016 ethnographic research among persons of Iranian origin residing in Montreal, I demonstrate that in spite of a movement away from traditional courtship practices, many participants maintain traditional values such as hypergamy. Female virginity remains of concern to both men and women, although premarital sexual activity is not uncommon. I argue, in line with Sadeghi (2008) that any purported increased acceptance of premarital sexual behaviour among Iranian youth does not necessarily benefit women when the emphasis on virginity remains strong. In fact, young Iranian women face particular challenges in their current social environment, whether at home or abroad. The fact that many Iranian migrants to Montreal, who, as emigrants, constitute a privileged, educated, upwardly mobile segment of the Iranian population, continue to hold traditional patriarchal values surrounding marriage and sexuality, indicates that these values continue to hold fast among a fair proportion of Iranians . Therefore, I ask, if a "sexual revolution" is taking place, for whom?
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the lived experiences of military spouses in North Bay, Ontario in relation to frequent geographical mobility and unstable employment.
Paper long abstract:
The military requires its members to move frequently which causes military spouses' careers to be constantly interrupted and can contribute to increased difficulty finding a new job with every move. American literature demonstrates that this frequent mobility and career instability has had a negative effect on many aspects of military spouses' lives. This often results in a tied-migration where the military member moves for employment or career reasons and the civilian spouse follows. Thus, being in a relationship with a military member poses career and work challenges for the civilian spouse. The alternative option to tied-migration would be paramount stress for the military member and his/her family because of family separation. Thus, military spouses often struggle with career choices because they need to a new job with every move, and also because they may find work that does not match their interests. In addition, by cutting into the earning cycle of the tied spouse's work, tied migration leads to slower growth of wages over the life-cycle of the spouse, which in turn can lead to personal frustration and personal stress. Currently, there are limited government programs to facilitate military spouses' employment transitions due to military tied-migration. Therefore, a more nuanced understanding of the effects of tied migration for military spouses is needed. This study will fill a gap in literature on the experiences of military spouses in Canada.