Hasil untuk "Women. Feminism"

Abdul Wadood Asim, Khansa Zafar, Muhammad Raees

Financial inclusion is a longstanding concern across underdeveloped communities, particularly for women. However, there are limited data-driven measures to first quantitatively identify such concerns and second to inform policies. In this work, we examine the digital money service adoption and women's financial inclusion in the context of Pakistan. We use the nationally representative Global Findex data from the World Bank to analyze how mobile money usage, when moderated by phone ownership, internet access, and education, affects women's access to formal financial services. Our findings show that women who adopt mobile money services have significantly higher odds of accessing formal financial systems. Findings also reveal nuanced insights: internet access does not significantly impact inclusion, highlighting the influence of socio-cultural constraints. Despite the limitations of using cross-sectional data and the absence of qualitative dimensions, our study contributes empirical evidence on gendered digital finance adoption. The findings have important implications for policy, including the need for women-centric fintech design and digital literacy reforms to bridge the gender gap in financial inclusion.

Danlin Zheng, Xiaoying Wei, Chao Liu et al.

Over 100 million retired women in China engage in dance, but their performances are constrained by limited resources and age-related decline. While interactive dance technologies can enhance artistic expression, existing systems are largely inaccessible to non-professional older dancers. This paper explores how interactive dance technologies can be designed with an age-sensitive approach to support retired women in enhancing their stage performance. We conducted two workshops with community-based retired women dancers, employing interactive dance and LLM-powered video generation probes in co-design activities. Findings indicate that age-sensitive adaptations, such as low-barrier keyword input, motion-aligned visual effects, and participatory scaffolds, lowered technical barriers and fostered a sense of authorship. These features enabled retired women to empower their stage, transitioning from passive recipients of stage design to empowered co-creators of performance. We outline design implications for incorporating interactive dance and artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) into the cultural practices of retired women, offering broader strategies for age-sensitive creative technologies.

Getahun Tiruye, Getahun Tiruye, Daba Kejela et al.

IntroductionObstetric fistula is a serious and tragic childbirth injury that mainly affects women in resource-limited areas, often leading to social isolation and stigma. While optimal knowledge among women about the prevention, contributing factors, and available treatments for obstetric fistula is crucial for reducing its overall burden, many women in Ethiopia continue to be affected by it and endure its consequences because of a persistent knowledge gap. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the level of knowledge about obstetric fistula and its associated factors among women of reproductive age in Ejere Woreda, West Shewa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among reproductive-age women in Ejere Woreda, West Shewa Zone, Ethiopia, from 1 to 30 June 2024. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to recruit 770 participants. Data were collected using a pretested structured questionnaire, which was then coded and analyzed using SPSS version 27. Variables with a p-value <0.25 in bivariate logistic regression were included in a multivariable logistic regression to identify significant predictors of women's knowledge about obstetric fistula. A p-value <0.05 at a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine statistically significant associations.ResultsThe study found that 46.6% (95% CI: 43.1–50.3) of women had good knowledge about obstetric fistula. Factors significantly associated with the knowledge level of obstetric fistula included being an urban resident [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.12, 95% CI: 2.36–7.19], access to a TV/radio at home (AOR = 2.51, 95% CI: 1.19–5.25), proximity to health facilities (AOR = 4.88, 95% CI: 2.37–10.04), giving birth at health institutions (AOR = 4.62, 95% CI: 2.56–8.33), attending pregnant women's conferences (AOR = 3.42, 95% CI: 1.88–6.22), and having a history of modern contraceptive use (AOR = 4.82, 95% CI: 2.77–8.37).Conclusion and recommendationsNearly one in two women of childbearing age are knowledgeable about obstetric fistula. The study underscores the need to address the urban–rural disparity in healthcare access and information, enhancing media access, and promoting women's participation in pregnancy conferences to enhance knowledge of obstetric fistula.

Maria Tubella Salinas, Alexandra González, Silverio Martínez-Fernández

Background: Despite its impact on innovation, gender diversity remains far from fully being achieved in open-source projects. Aims: We examine gender diversity in Hugging Face (HF) organizations, investigating its impact on innovation and team dynamics in open-source development projects. Method: We conducted a repository mining study, focusing on ML model development projects on HF, to explore the involvement of women in collaborative processes. Results: Women are highly underrepresented in both organizations and commits distribution, which is also found when analyzing individual developers. Conclusions: Addressing gender disparities is essential to create more equitable, diverse, and inclusive open-source ecosystems.

Xingyu Lan, Jiaxi An, Yisu Guo et al.

Image-generating AI, which allows users to create images from text, is increasingly used to produce visual content. Despite its advancements, cultural biases in AI-generated images have raised significant concerns. While much research has focused on issues within Western contexts, our study examines the perceived biases regarding the portrayal of East Asian women. In this exploratory study, we invited East Asian users to audit three popular models (DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion) and identified 18 specific perceived biases, categorized into four patterns: Westernization, overuse or misuse of cultural symbols, sexualization & feminization, and racial stereotypes. This work highlights the potential challenges posed by AI models in portraying Eastern individuals.

Elisabetta Gallo, Henriette Ullmann

This short article is a first of a series describing the scientific journey of exceptional women scientists in experimental particle physics. We interviewed Halina Abramowicz, who started her career in hadron-hadron interactions, in neutrino physics, became an expert of strong interactions, guided the European Particle Physics Strategy Update in 2020 and now moved to an experiment in strong-field QED.

Munazza Zaib, Wei Wang, Dulaji Hidellaarachchi et al.

Neurodivergent women in Software Engineering (SE) encounter distinctive challenges at the intersection of gender bias and neurological differences. To the best of our knowledge, no prior work in SE research has systematically examined this group, despite increasing recognition of neurodiversity in the workplace. Underdiagnosis, masking, and male-centric workplace cultures continue to exacerbate barriers that contribute to stress, burnout, and attrition. In response, we propose a hybrid methodological approach that integrates InclusiveMag's inclusivity framework with the GenderMag walkthrough process, tailored to the context of neurodivergent women in SE. The overarching design unfolds across three stages, scoping through literature review, deriving personas and analytic processes, and applying the method in collaborative workshops. We present a targeted literature review that synthesize challenges into cognitive, social, organizational, structural and career progression challenges neurodivergent women face in SE, including how under/late diagnosis and masking intensify exclusion. These findings lay the groundwork for subsequent stages that will develop and apply inclusive analytic methods to support actionable change.

Sakshi Joshi, Eldho Ittan George, Tahir Javed et al.

Digital inclusion remains a challenge for marginalized communities, especially rural women in low-resource language regions like Bhojpuri. Voice-based access to agricultural services, financial transactions, government schemes, and healthcare is vital for their empowerment, yet existing ASR systems for this group remain largely untested. To address this gap, we create SRUTI ,a benchmark consisting of rural Bhojpuri women speakers. Evaluation of current ASR models on SRUTI shows poor performance due to data scarcity, which is difficult to overcome due to social and cultural barriers that hinder large-scale data collection. To overcome this, we propose generating synthetic speech using just 25-30 seconds of audio per speaker from approximately 100 rural women. Augmenting existing datasets with this synthetic data achieves an improvement of 4.7 WER, providing a scalable, minimally intrusive solution to enhance ASR and promote digital inclusion in low-resource language.

Farah Shahin

This study explores the dynamic and diverse Islamic feminist movement, which aims to promote justice and gender equality by challenging patriarchal interpretations of Islamictexts and customs. Through the work of scholars such as Fatima Mernissi, this research highlights how Islamic feminism seeks to reinterpret Islamic theology and practice to uphold the rights and dignity of women. Using exploratory and historical qualitative methods, this research evaluates the significant contribution of Islamic feminists in challenging existing discourse and improving the status of women. This study examines the contributions of Islamic feminists in Morocco and the Arab world, focusing on their efforts to promote gender equality within an Islamic framework. by investigating Fatima Mernissi's work which emphasizes the need to re-read Islam's sacred texts and expose false and misogynistic hadith. Apart from that, the influence of Kecia Ali's thoughts in "Sexual Ethics and Islam" as well as the critical views of Asma Barlas, Leila Ahmed, and Amina Wadud regarding misinterpretations of the Koran enrich this research so that it provides a comprehensive view. She argues that Fatima Mernissi's works, by offering alternative readings of Islamic discourse on women, have advanced feminist debate and practice in the Arab world, enriching understanding of faith, gender, identity and culture in Islam.

Maria Agustina Sabich

El presente artículo propone un abordaje semiótico-discursivo de los géneros audiovisuales dirigidos a las infancias y adolescencias. A partir del relevamiento de sus dimensiones retóricas, temáticas y enunciativas, el corpus explorado se compone de seis series del canal Pakapaka que dialogan con los lineamientos de la Educación Sexual Integral, a la vez que se vinculan con otras políticas públicas de la Argentina. Por este motivo, el objetivo del artículo es rastrear las huellas de la ESI en los programas televisivos a través de la identificación de los tres niveles de análisis expuestos. Las conclusiones advierten que las propuestas audiovisuales ponen en juego un conjunto de características que exaltan la diversidad sexual y genérica de la ciudadanía en lo que refiere a la presencia de composiciones familiares heterogéneas, masculinidades no hegemónicas y prácticas erótico-afectivas variadas.

Özge Kocaarslan Hasbek, Gülseren Dağlar

Amaç: Araştırmada kadınlarda fertilite farkındalığının ve fertiliteyi etkileyen yaşam biçimi davranışlarının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: Araştırma kesitsel tanımlayıcı tiptedir. Örneklemi, Ağustos-Ekim 2022 tarihleri arasında Sivas Akıncılar İlçe Aile Sağlığı Merkezine başvuran, 20-49 yaş aralığında ve araştırmaya katılmayı kabul eden 305 kadın oluşturmuştur. Veriler Kişisel Bilgi Formu, Fertilite Farkındalık Ölçeği (FFÖ) ve Sağlıklı Yaşam Biçimi Davranışları Ölçeği-II (SYBDÖ-II) ile toplanmıştır. Verilerin değerlendirilmesinde; tanımlayıcı istatistik analizi, tek yönlü varyans analizi, bağımsız gruplarda t testi, ki-kare testi ve pearson kolerasyon analizi kullanılmıştır. Bulgular: Kadınların yaş ortalaması 36,41±7,85 dir. FFÖ puan ortalaması 64,17±11,63; bedensel farkındalık ortalaması 36,46±6,82; bilişsel farkındalık ortalaması 27,71±6,30’dur. Kadınların %59,6’sı orta, %36,1’i yüksek, %4,3’ü düşük düzeyde fertilite farkındalığına sahiptir. SYBDÖ-II toplam puan ortalaması 132,84±21,16, manevi gelişim 27,17±4,32, sağlık sorumluluğu 21,55±5,02, fiziksel aktivite 15,68±4,98, beslenme 21,90±3,96, stres yönetimi 20,49±3,82, kişiler arası ilişkiler 26,06±4,61’dir. FFÖ ve SYBDÖ-II toplam ve alt boyut puan ortalamaları orta düzeyde bulunmuştur. FFÖ ile SYBDÖ-II toplam ve alt boyut (manevi gelişim, sağlık sorumluluğu, beslenme, kişiler arası ilişkiler, stres yönetimi) puanları arasında orta düzeyde, pozitif yönlü, anlamlı; fiziksel aktivite arasında ise çok düşük düzeyde, pozitif yönlü, anlamlı ilişki saptanmıştır (p < ,05). Sonuç: Kadınların fertilite farkındalık düzeyi ve sağlıklı yaşam biçim davranışları orta düzeydedir. Kadınlar en yüksek manevi gelişim en düşük fiziksel aktivite davranışına sahiptir. Fertilite farkındalık düzeyi arttıkça sağlıklı yaşam biçimi davranışları artmaktadır. Bu sonuçlar doğrultusunda kadınlara fertilite farkındalığı ve fertiliteyi etkileyen yaşam biçimi davranışları hakkında eğitim ve danışmanlık yapılması önerilmektedir.

Lina Boman, Jonatan Andersson, Francisco Gomes de Oliveira Neto

Women in computing were among the first programmers in the early 20th century and were substantial contributors to the industry. Today, men dominate the software engineering industry. Research and data show that women are far less likely to pursue a career in this industry, and those that do are less likely than men to stay in it. Reasons for women and other underrepresented minorities to leave the industry are a lack of opportunities for growth and advancement, unfair treatment and workplace culture. This research explores how the potential to cultivate or uphold an industry unfavourable to women and non-binary individuals manifests in software engineering education at the university level. For this purpose, the study includes surveys and interviews. We use gender name perception as a survey instrument, and the results show small differences in perceptions of software engineering students based on their gender. Particularly, the survey respondents anchor the values of the male software engineer (Hans) to a variety of technical and non-technical skills, while the same description for a female software engineer (Hanna) is anchored mainly by her managerial skills. With interviews with women and non-binary students, we gain insight on the main barriers to their sense of ambient belonging. The collected data shows that some known barriers from the literature such as tokenism, and stereotype threat, do still exist. However, we find positive factors such as role models and encouragement that strengthen the sense of belonging among these students.

Ralph Brinks

A MCMC approach is used to estimate the age-specific mortality rate ratio for German men and women with RA. For constructing priors, we calculate a range of admissible values from prevalence and incidence data based on about 60 million people in Germany. Using these priors, MCMC mimics and compares estimated mortality to the findings of a recent register study from Denmark. It is estimated that the mortality rate ratio is highest in the young ages (4.0 and 3.5 for men and women aged 17.5 years, respectively) and declines towards higher ages (1.0 and 1.2 for men and women aged 92.5 years, respectively). The lengths of the credibility intervals decrease from younger towards older ages.

Alexandru Maries, Kyle Whitcomb, Chandralekha Singh

Efforts to promote equity and inclusion using evidence-based approaches are vital to correcting long-standing societal inequities that have disadvantaged women and discouraged them from pursuing studies, including in many STEM disciplines. We used 10 years of institutional data from a large public university to investigate the grade point average trends in different STEM disciplines for men and women who declared a major and then either completed the degree or dropped the major after declaring it. We found alarming trends, such as that women who dropped majors on average earned higher grades than men, and in some STEM majors, women who dropped the majors were earning comparable grades to men who persisted in those majors. While these quantitative findings call for a deeper understanding of the reasons women and men drop a major, we provide suggestions for approaches to make learning environments more equitable and inclusive so that traditionally excluded stereotyped groups can have a higher sense of belonging and thrive.

Zhixuan Zhou, Zixin Wang, Franziska Zimmer

Gender issues faced by women can range from workplace harassment to domestic violence. While publicly disclosing these issues on social media can be hard, some may incline to express themselves anonymously. We approached such an anonymous female community on Chinese social media where discussion on gender issues takes place with a qualitative content analysis. By observing anonymous experiences contributed by female users and made publicly available by an influencer, we identified 20 issues commonly discussed, with cheating-partner, controlling parents and age anxiety taking the lead. The results are placed into context with Chinese culture and expectations about gender. By describing the results in context with the social challenges faced by women in China, and understanding how these issues are anonymously and openly discussed by them, we aim to motivate more policies and platform designs to accommodate the needs of the affected population.

Bianca E. Kavanagh, Stella M. Gwini, Stella M. Gwini et al.

This study aimed to investigate health service utilization among women with mental state disorder only (MSD-PD), mental state disorder plus personality disorder (MSD+PD), and controls in a population-based sample. Women (n = 635) from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study completed mental health assessments and were categorized into groups (MSD-PD, MSD+PD, controls). General practitioner (mental and non-mental health encounters) and specialized mental health service utilization was ascertained from data linkage to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, Australia (01/09/2008-31/12/2012). Negative binomial and binary logistic regression models were employed to assess health service utilization differences between groups. Results indicated that women with MSD+PD had more encounters of non-mental health service utilization than women with MSD-PD and controls. Age significantly modified these relationships: women with MSD+PD and MSD-PD had more encounters of health service utilization at midlife and in the seventh decade of life. No significant differences were found in the frequency of general practitioner mental health service utilization or specialized mental health service utilization between groups. These data suggest that the presence of co-occurring PD is associated with increased health service utilization among women with other common mental health problems. Healthcare providers should be vigilant to the presence of PD when establishing management plans with patients presenting with common mental health problems.

T. L. JUNQUEIRA, D. SPÓSITO, C. AZEVEDO et al.

Verity Allan, Caitriona Leedham

The use of computers and the role of women in radio astronomy and X-ray crystallography research at the Cavendish Laboratory between 1949 and 1975 have been investigated. We recorded examples of when computers were used, what they were used for and who used them from hundreds of papers published during these years. The use of the EDSAC, EDSAC 2 and TITAN computers was found to increase considerably over this time-scale and they were used for a diverse range of applications. The majority of references to computer operators and programmers referred to women, 57% for astronomy and 62% for crystallography, in contrast to a very small proportion, 4% and 13% respectively, of female authors of papers.

Mai He, Priya Skaria, Kasey Kreutz et al.

Background: This study aims to investigate whether maternal SARS-CoV-2 status affect placental pathology. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted by reviewing charts and slides of placentas between April 1 to July 24, 2020. Clinical history of COVID-19 were searched in Pathology Database (CoPath). Controls were matched with SARS-CoV-2-negative women with singleton deliveries in the 3rd-trimester. Individual and group, pathological features were extracted from placental pathology reports. Results: Twenty-one 3rd-trimester, placentas from SARS-CoV-2-positive women were identified and compared to 20 placentas from SARS-CoV-2-negative women. There were no significant differences in individual or group gross or microscopic pathological features between the groups. Within the SARS-CoV-2+ group, there are no differences between symptomatic and asymptomatic women. Conclusion: Placentas from SARS-CoV-2-positive women do not demonstrate a specific pathological pattern. Pregnancy complicated with COVID-19 during the 3rd trimester does not have a demonstrable effect on placental structure and pathology.

Meytal Eran-Jona, Yosef Nir

The absence of women among academic staff in physics is in the focus of our research. To explore the causes of this gender imbalance, we conducted a nationwide representative survey among Ph.D. students and interviews with Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows. Studying both context factors and agency, we reveal the multiple and hidden ways in which gender operates as a power structure, putting up barriers to women's academic careers. This latent power structure influences women's decision-making and experiences in several ways. In the academic field, it produces unequal competition in a male dominated playground. In the social sphere, choosing a demanding academic career is seen as disrupting gender order. Within the family, women carry a greater burden of family work and give precedence to their partner's career and preferences. Within this social structure, women who decide to follow an academic career feel that they must excel. The demand for excellence acts as an invisible barrier within the gender power structure that prevents talented women from pursuing an academic career in physics.