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Internet statistics indicate a reduction in the gender discrepancy online. Yet, what is the situation within specific online communities like Internet Relay Chat (IRC)? Likewise, what is the gender status of those occupying positions of power online? An exploratory study of chat room operators (those who govern chat rooms) was conducted to investig...
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... Therefore, women's voices are being heard through digital space and many issues such as 'women's rights, social restrictions, family issues, relationship struggles and personal feelings are put into words by female bloggers who have hardly had a chance to speak in real space in such a way' (Behrouzan 2005: 27). Furthermore, access to online resources and databases provides these women with knowledge about gender issues worldwide, and helps them join the global community of women and learn about different kinds of issues other women are battling with to achieve gender equality and women's civil rights (Bowker and Liu 2001). Sreberny and Khiabany explain how feminist sites such as Iranian Feminists Tribune (iftribune.com), ...
The potential impact of the internet on women’s empowerment can be identified in a variety of ways. The internet can provide diverse avenues for women’s social, political and economic empowerment and valuable sites can help with education, health, information and awareness of human rights in the public and the private spheres. Beyond these parameters the internet is also an open gate to the world, one that allows women to join global networks from the confines of their homes and break the boundaries of closed societies. In this article, we explore the changes the internet has brought to the lives of Iranian women. Drawing on interviews with a group of Iranian women who are active internet users in Tehran, we address how they understand and perceive digital empowerment.
... The study announcement was made through both Internet communities for midlife women (ICMWs) and Internet communities for ethnic minorities (ICEMs). These two settings were chosen because they have been reported to be effective research settings for studies among midlife women (Baehring, Schulze, Bornstein, & Scherbaum, 1997;Barrera, Glasgow, McKay, Boles, & Feil, 2002;Bowker & Liu, 2001;Im, Shin, & Chee, 2008). A total of 2,309 ICMWs and 4,421 ICEMs were approached for the larger study. ...
To explore Asian American midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity using a feminist perspective.
A qualitative online forum study.
Internet communities/groups for midlife women and ethnic minorities.
A total of 17 Asian American women recruited through the Internet using a convenience sampling method.
A 6-month qualitative online forum was conducted using 17 online forum topics. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Three major themes related to Asian American midlife women's attitudes toward physical activity were extracted from the data: keeping traditions, not a priority, and not for Asian girls. Because Asian American midlife women were busy in keeping their cultural traditions, they rarely found time for physical activity. The women gave the highest priority to their children, and physical activity was the lowest priority in their busy lives. Also, the women were rarely encouraged to participate in physical activity during their childhoods, and they perceived that their weak and small bodies were not appropriate for physical activity.
Several implications for future development of physical activity promotion programs for this specific population have been suggested based on the findings.
... The settings of this study included Internet communities for midlife women (ICMWs) and Internet communities for Asian American (ICAAs) women in the U.S. ICMWs have been used as a resource for researchers who are investigating middle-aged women who reside in different geographic areas (Baehring, Schulze, Bornstein, & Scherbaum, 1997; Bowker & Liu, 2001; Barrera, Glasgow, McKay, Boles, & Feil, 2002). ICAAs were also targeted for posting of the study announcement because studies reported that ethnic minorities were more successfully recruited in churches and support/social groups that have ethnic and culturally specific memberships (Gavalier, Bonham-Leyba, Castro, & Harman, 1999; Gilliss et al., 2001; Stoy, Curtis, Dameworth, et al., 1995). ...
To compare the menopausal symptom experiences of subethnic groups of Asian American midlife women.
A cross-sectional study among 91 Asian American women online. Questions about background characteristics, ethnic identity, and health and menopausal status, and the Midlife Women's Symptom Index were used. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
The most frequently reported and the most severe symptoms differed by subethnicity. The total number of symptoms differed by subethnicity, as did total severity scores for the symptoms.
Researchers and clinicians should be aware of subethnic differences.
... The settings of the study were Internet communities/groups among midlife women (ICMWs) and Internet communities/groups for Hispanic women in the U.S. (ICHWs). In recent studies, the popularity of Internet communities/groups was indicated; the importance of these Internet communities/groups as a resource for researchers who are investigating middle-aged women who reside in different geographical areas was found (Baehring et al. 1997, Bowker & Liu 2001, Barrera et al. 2002. In order to reach Hispanic women in various geographical areas in the U.S., the study was nationally announced through the ICMWs and ICHWs. ...
Using a feminist approach, we examined the menopausal symptom experience of Hispanic midlife women in the United States This was a qualitative online forum study among 27 Hispanic midlife women in the United States. Seven topics related to menopausal symptom experience were used to administer the 6-month online forum. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: (a) "Cambio de vida (change of life)," (b) "being silent about menopause," (c) "trying to be optimistic," and (d) "getting support." More in-depth studies with diverse groups of Hispanic women are needed while considering family as a contextual factor.
... Yet, White midlife women who were the participants of the online forum reported in this paper were recruited only through the ICMWs since the ICEMs targeted only ethnic minorities. Recent studies indicating the popularity of ICMWs have demonstrated the importance of these ICMWs as a resource for researchers who are investigating middle-aged women who reside in different geographical areas (Baehring et al. 1997, Bowker & Liu 2001, Barrera et al. 2002. For example, ICMWs make it possible for a researcher in Washington, DC to reach women in California or in Hawaii. ...
The aim of the study was to explore the menopausal symptom experience of White midlife women.
Recent cross-cultural investigations have indicated important ethnic differences in menopausal symptoms and have challenged the universality of these symptoms. Currently available cultural knowledge on menopausal experience, however, is inadequate to guide appropriate and adequate care even for White women in the menopausal transition.
A cross-sectional qualitative online forum study was conducted in 2007 with 23 midlife women who self-identified as non-Hispanic Whites using convenience sampling. Seven topics related to menopausal symptom experience were used to guide the online forum for 6 months. The data were analysed using thematic analysis.
The experiences of menopause caused women to redefine themselves within their busy daily life schedules. They were optimistic about their symptoms, and tried to laugh at the experience to boost their inner strength and motivate themselves to persevere. Many thought that both generational and life-style differences were much more important than ethnic differences in menopausal symptom experiences. In seeking assistance with the symptoms of menopause, women were not satisfied with the guidance of their physicians.
Nurses need to listen carefully to what women themselves say about their own experiences with menopausal symptoms and avoid imposing predetermined symptom management strategies. Further studies of women's perceptions of life-style influences are needed to guide symptom management. In addition, studies of generational changes in menopausal symptom experience are needed.
... The world of women on the Internet is not completely bleak. Feminist scholars are developing work on why women matter on the Internet (Consaluo & Paasonen 2002) and there is evidence that women's participation on the Internet has grown, thus eliminating some concerns about access (Bowker & Liu 2001). Women are using information technology to create women's networks online (Burke 1999;Sherman 2001). ...
Shulamith Firestone was a foundational second-wave feminist thinker. Firestone’s radical feminism argued for a future where technology was used to eliminate sexism by freeing women from childbirth and liberating both men and women from the patriarchal nuclear family. In many important ways, Firestone’s work is the precursor for contemporary cyberfeminist writing, especially the work of Donna Haraway. This paper examines Shulamith Firestone and her contribution to the information age.
... Dubrovsky, Kiesler, & Sethna, 1991;Kielser & Sproull, 1992;Rice, 1992;Sproull & Kiesler, 1986;Sproull, & Kiesler, 1991) and online surveys (c.f. Bowker & Liu, 2001;Bowker, in submission). Such approaches are particularly useful for testing and confirming hypotheses about users' behaviour. ...
This paper presents another approach for researchers to access users' understandings of their online experience. The merits of discursive research -a particular kind of qualitative data gathering philosophy and technique, are considered. An empirical example of discursive research is given, which analyses users with disabilities' (UWD) interview data about their online experiences. Research findings demonstrate the benefits of engaging in text-based environments for UWD because of users' ability to control the textual construction of their identity. Considerations are suggested for multi-media design of online environments, where audio and visual enhancements are encouraged. Analysis offers a way into users' conceptualisation of their online interaction, allowing users' ideas to influence the research sphere. Beyond a functional capacity, the online medium is embedded within social practices, which enable users to operate beyond the constraints of a visible category of identity.
... Chatting allows users to converse with others outside the times that meeting people is usually allowed. Empirical research has put much emphasis on CMC creating impersonality, hostility, and harassment (We 1993, Shade 1993, Herring 1993, Walther, 1996, Spears & Lea, 1995, Tannen 1996, Ferris, 1996and Savicki et al., 1996;Savicki & Kelley, 2000;Wolf, 2000;Bowker & Liu, 2001;Stewart & Choi, 2003, Anolli et al., 2005. ...
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University. The Internet plays an increasingly significant role in people's lives. Poverty of data and research on Internet use and users is probably one of the most significant factors affecting the understanding of the Internet use and attitude in a conservative country and society such as Saudi Arabia. The aim of this research was to identify and analyse Saudi university students' use of the Internet, with particular emphasis on factors associated with, and influencing, female university students' attitude toward using the Internet. A mixed method approach was used utilising a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. It included a questionnaire to more than 700 male and female university students in King Saud University which incorporated questions on web and email use as well as an adopted Internet attitude scale from Tsai et al (2001). This was followed by series of focus group interviews with female students on Internet gender related issues. The study found that demographic variables are associated with Saudi university students' use of the Internet. Gender was found to be significantly associated with students' email usage, chatting, and feelings about the web. Culture also affected women's reasons for using the web, choice of websites visited, and web activities. It also influenced reasons for e-mail use and non-use, and the people with whom they communicated using email. Females in Saudi Arabia face many challenges when it comest o Interneta ccessa nd use. These barriers tend to be somewhat different than those faced by man. For Saudi females it is more cultural (i.e. family restrictions, lack of time) and psychological (i.e. security and privacy, internet complexity). The majority of students had positive attitudes towards using the Internet. Female students were as positive in their attitude as male students. However, females had real or perceived difficulties in their ability to control their Internet usage. Considering the scarcity of previous literature in this particular context (Saudi Arabia), this research provides an original and comprehensive contribution to knowledge regarding Internet use and attitude among university male and female students.
In “Transporting the Subject: Technologies of Mobility and Location in an Era of Globalization,” Caren Kaplan writes, “As technologies of transportation and communication become more and more disembodied, more and more displaced from corporeality, and more and more a practice of mind and of simulation, the unified subject of the European Enlightenment is less and less a requirement. Whether or not we believe such a creature exists ever existed, the shift in the paradigm of the subject is significant enough to warrant theorization.”1 It is also significant enough to warrant dramatization, and that is precisely what Sarah Ruhl, Bathsheba Doran, and Quiara Alegra Hudes do in the three plays I will analyze in this chapter.
This paper provides a research perspective on developing information communication technology (ICT) in service to women and their communities. The activities which produce women's information are those which primarily serve, examine, and/or enhance the lives of women. ICT, when well designed, can make a significant improvement in both the development and dissemination of this information. Three interdisciplinary constructs underpin the proposed ICT research: development of women's knowledge structures, patterns in women's communication, and gender-related technology response patterns. Knowledge structure research can improve the design of information storage and retrieval systems by reinforcing the mechanisms many women use to incorporate new information into their extant understanding. Socially constructed communication patterns can provide a substantive array of strategies and tactics for women to use in sharing information, Understanding technology response patterns can improve ICT design and development as well as its deployment by supporting adaptation to both individual and community situations. Each of these three constructs is carefully explained in terms of both theory and current research. Finally, a three-part research agenda is proposed as the next stage in the cohesive, interdisciplinary, international development of women's information communication technology.
