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Describes how "ordinary" women have formed the mass base & leadership behind nongovernmental environmental groups dedicated to direct action & civil disobedience. It is argued that women can sometimes use their "gender privileges," ie, their positions as homemakers & mothers in societies with strict divisions of labor, to further environmental goals in ways that men cannot. Women are also able to both challenge traditional gender stereotypes & use them to their advantage. Three case studies of such activities are offered: (1) the 1970s Chipko movement against deforestation in the Himalayan mountains of India; (2) the creation of a homeowners' association to fight the health hazards caused by pollution in Love Canal outside Buffalo, NY; & (3) the resistance against the building of a toxic waste dump in a poor, working-class black community near Raleigh, NC. 23 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Describes how "ordinary" women have formed the mass base & leadership behind nongovernmental environmental groups dedicated to direct action & civil disobedience. It is argued that women can sometimes use their "gender privileges," ie, their positions as homemakers & mothers in societies with strict divisions of labor, to further environmental goals in ways that men cannot. Women are also able to both challenge traditional gender stereotypes & use them to their advantage. Three case studies of such activities are offered: (1) the 1970s Chipko movement against deforestation in the Himalayan mountains of India; (2) the creation of a homeowners' association to fight the health hazards caused by pollution in Love Canal outside Buffalo, NY; & (3) the resistance against the building of a toxic waste dump in a poor, working-class black community near Raleigh, NC. 23 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

Examines women's role in contemporary racist movements & the impact of their growing membership on organized racism, drawing on observational, documentary, & interview data; in particular, unstructured life-history interviews were conducted with 34 female members, ages 16-90, of US racist groups in the mid-1990s to examine their level of racist identification & commitment. Familial, social, & operative roles of women are detailed. Tensions concomitant with the introduction of women into the racist movement are then discussed in terms of conflicts within racist groups & personal relationships. In this light, the problematic nature of gender inclusion in racist groups is evident. J. Zendejas

Critically discusses Gita Sen & Caren Grown's Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions (1987), a theoretical explication of an alternative to the prevailing ideology of the women in development project, focusing on (1) their deployment of the sexual division of labor category as a way of understanding women's oppression; (2) the relation of sexual division of labor to emancipatory forms of knowledge; & (3) the representation of Third World women as victims in narratives of Northern feminists. It is argued that Sen & Grown have failed to provide an acceptable alternative framework for the development enterprise. More specifically, they are criticized for privileging a production-reproduction grid, which has the effect of importing into their discourse & practice the very presuppositions they wish to oppose, ie, capitalism & patriarchy. Further, by incorporating all women's experience under the category of labor, Sen & Grown are accused of erasing differences in women's organizations & political affiliations & class, race, & gender barriers. D. M. Smith

Case studies are used to examine women's experiences in organization building in inner-city Schenectady, NY, & Chelsea, MA. In Schenectady, women formed the organization Clean Sweep United to deal with the city's drug problems, while in Chelsea, Latina women challenged recent education policy decisions made by the city. In each of these cases, it is demonstrated that these poor women did not organize to deal solely with conventionally conceived women's issues. Rather, they addressed issues important to the whole community that were rooted in widespread social & economic changes. It is argued that women should identify these larger patterns in their neighborhood efforts & unite to push for broader economic, social, & political changes. 33 References. D. M. Smith

Explores Filipino women's perspectives on motherhood, drawing on late-1980s open-ended interview data from 19 mothers in Manila. Responses fit squarely into conventional categories of thinking about marriage, motherhood, family, & children in the Philippines; ie, marriage is the most natural state for women, reproduction is a primary female role, self-sacrifice is more a woman's than a man's duty, & parental obligations continue after a child's marriage. A maternalist ideology is found to structure women's perceptions of their role in Filipino society. While the force of this ideology results at times in oppression, it is argued that, for these women, motherhood is attached to material & moral support of kin, thus representing an experience of unequaled joy as well as personal selflessness. D. M. Smith

Die Autorin berichtet aus US-amerikanischen Hochschuleinrichtungen, die von Spitzenuniversitäten bis zu einem Community College reichen, und zeigt, welche Rolle die Leitungsebene von Frauen dabei spielt. Diese Einrichtungen haben zum beruflichen Erfolg von Wissenschaftlerinnen beigetragen, indem die jeweilige Hochschulleitung sich engagiert für die Frauenförderung und eine Gleichstellungspolitik einsetzte, die Leitbilder von Gender Mainstreaming und Diversity als Elemente von Exzellenz betrachtete und dies auch nach innen und außen kommunizierte. Hinzu müssen allerdings geeignete Gleichstellungsprogramme, eine hinreichende Finanzierung und eine generelle Veränderung des kulturellen Klimas in der Hochschule treten, wie die Autorin in ihrem Vortrag betont. Dabei ist das Ziel solcher Programme zum einen der weitere berufliche Aufstieg von Frauen auf eine höhere Position in den Personalstrukturen der Universität und insofern deutschen Programmen zur besseren Vorbereitung auf eine erfolgreiche Professur vergleichbar. Zum anderen erfolgt explizit eine Stärkung der Motivation für die Beteiligung an wichtigen Gremien sowie die Vorbereitung auf die Übernahme von Leitungsfunktionen für Frauen, von der Institutsleitung bis zur Hochschulleitung. (ICI).

In order to filter women's use & role in the Yugoslav war through an "action-response complex" model, Slapsak considers the anthropological & cultural traditions of the Balkans. Illustrations of seminal Serbian poetry, philosophy, & mythology are given. The activities & history of death cults are examined. Female striving for independence is related from the French Revolution. Changes in Yugoslav women's roles after WWII & in relation to communism are delineated. Also considered are the impacts of Tito's death, widespread rape in Bosnia, conflicts between feminism & Croatian nationalism, Serbian women's war opposition, & activities such as "Women in Black." Consideration of women's potential considers populist reactions to the war's purported causes, the role of international media attention, & transmutation by women of tradition & ritual to address wounds & issues. M. C. Leary

The traditional barriers to entry of women into the modern university context have generally been dismantled; however, there still exists a hierarchy of positions & universities that prevents women from achieving status in the upper echelons of the academy. Moreover, as women have made dramatic strides in the academy as a whole, a new conservative assault on the university currently threatens to erase the gains they have made. In this context, it is suggested that three questions require immediate response by female academics: the extent & kind of response women should make to the conservatives' marketization of the university; the relation of women's studies programs to one another & to the academy at large; & the issue of ownership & control of knowledge in a climate dominated by market principles. It is deemed time that women make strategic use of their hard-earned space in the academy for the benefit of women & the academy generally. 19 References. D. M. Ryfe

As part of the author's larger comparative project on immigrants in New York City during two major waves -- 1880-1910 & 1960-1990 -- the situation of immigrant women wage earners in each period is analyzed, concentrating on married wives & mothers. In the earlier period, focus is on East European Jews & Italians, groups that comprised the majority of new arrivals to the city, while in the later period, women from the wide variety of ethnic groups -- Asian, Latin American, European, & West Indian -- that make up the new immigrant populations are considered. Women's roles in community economic life are compared, showing that most Jewish & Italian women in the early part of the century earned money through taking work into the home, eg, sewing. In the late 20th century, women are much more likely to work outside the home, but continue to assume primary responsibilities for child care & domestic tasks. Though labor force participation has had an empowering effect on immigrant women, gender inequalities persist; this is attributed in large part to the persistence of patriarchal codes & practices, both those carried from their home cultures & those characteristic of US society. 60 References. K. Hyatt Stewart