Kathryn M. Feltey

From sex differences to gender role beliefs : exploring effects on six dimensions of religiosity

Regardless of the particular dimension of religiosity under consideration, women are generally found to be more religious than men. To date, empirical data has not been used to explore the importance of gender role ideology in explaining these differences. Using the 1988 Akron Area Survey, the effects of sex differences and gender role beliefs on six dimensions of religiosity are explored. The major findings include the following: (1) sex differences in religiosity are not supported for most dimensions of religiosity when other demographic variables are considered; (2) gender role ideology, while not sex related, does improve the explanation of variance in most dimensions of religiosity; and (3) sex is a predictor of the closeness of an individuals relationships to God, while gender role ideology is not. We suggest that stereotypes about women being more religious are misleading and that gender role ideology has an important effect on religiosity. However, sex is more indicative of the level of religious intimacy, measured by perceived closeness to God. We discuss the implications of this finding for changes in family structure and relationships between men and women.

“No Matter What Has Been Done Wrong Can Always Be Redone Right” Spirituality in the Lives of Imprisoned Battered Women

In this article, the authors explore the religious and spiritual experiences and beliefs of incarcerated battered women who killed abusive intimate partners or (step)fathers. Through in-depth interviews with 12 imprisoned battered women, the authors examine the role that religion and spirituality played in the womens lives before and during their incarceration. Regardless of their religious upbringing, most had what they described as spiritual experiences during their time in prison. For them, participation in the support group for battered women and their spiritual experiences “freed them” by giving them a way to reconstruct and reinterpret their victimization, perpetration of violence, and subsequent incarceration.

The Economic Resource Receipt of New Mothers

U.S. federal policies do not provide a universal social safety net of economic support for women during pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period but assume that employment and/or marriage will protect families from poverty. Yet even mothers with considerable human and marital capital may experience disruptions in employment, earnings, and family socioeconomic status postbirth. We use the National Survey of Families and Households to examine the economic resources that mothers with children ages 2 and younger receive postbirth, including employment, spouses, extended family and social network support, and public assistance. Results show that many new mothers receive resources postbirth. Marriage or postbirth employment does not protect new mothers and their families from poverty, but education, race, and the receipt of economic supports from social networks do.

“The Woman is Not Always the Bad Guy”: Dominant Discourse and Resistance in the Lives of Battered Women

Feminist scholars promote an advocacy and social change approach that is rooted in centering womens knowledge and suggestions for change. This article centers and analyzes suggestions made by women staying in shelters for women who have been battered and explores the ways their perspectives reflect individualized or structural discourse and their solutions concentrate needs at the level of survival, equality, or transformation. The article finds that women have a range of perspectives and suggestions, and feminist scholars are encouraged to understand and address these from womens multiple positions while continuing to grapple with how to promote social change to improve womens lives.

Here’s looking at her: an intersectional analysis of women, power and feminism in film

Abstract While feminist film scholars have considered what makes a film feminist, we explore this question from a feminist sociological perspective with an emphasis on power and women in film. We take an intersectional approach to explore gender, race, ethnicity and social class in films about women. We draw from Amy Allen’s conception of power as the interrelated triad of domination (power-over), empowerment/resistance (power-to), and solidarity (power-with). We then apply Sutherland’s elaboration on those forms of power in terms of how they are depicted in film. Results reveal that most feminist films revolve around stories about power-to; women finding the courage to individually confront and challenge existing norms. Power-to films are predominantly tales of white, middle class women. Women of color are most likely to be featured in power-over films. Very few can be considered power-with films that demonstrate solidarity among women. We conclude that more women and men with feminist values behind the camera is a necessary, but not sufficient, requirement to change cultural representations of women and power in film.

Women and power in sociology: SWS as an arena of change

This article explores the ways that the feminist organization Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) has become an arena of change in the discipline of sociology, academic institutions, and larger society. We begin with an examination of feminist models of power and change, followed by a brief history of SWS and an exploration of the use of power in sociology, academia, and beyond. We find that SWS has influenced both the organizational governance structures of sociology (such as the American Sociological Association) and the production of sociological scholarship. As a result, the presence of women is more apparent than ever before, and sociological paradigms are more inclusive and attentive to the voices of “outsiders.” Academic institutions have been challenged and changed by an SWS presence and the monitoring of womens experiences in the academy. Beyond the discipline and academia, SWS strives to participate in the making of public policy that affects womens lives and to be a presence both domestic...

Through the Looking Glass: An Identity Crisis in Sociology?:

As the discipline of American sociology enters its second century, the debate over its goals and purpose still remains. This philosophical debate can no longer continue if sociology expects to survive and thrive as a discipline in the twenty-first century. How will the discipline be judged by a society in need of solutions to problems? Does the discipline have an identity crisis or is it in urgent need of defining and setting its direction for the future? The following symposium discusses what twenty-first century sociology might look like and then links it back to the founding principles. It then discusses whether an identity crisis exists and how sociology can better be defined within and outside the discipline.

When Women ask the Questions: Creating Women's Studies in America

In this text, the author traces the successes and failures of womens studies, 25 years after the establishment of the first womens studies programme. She examines the fields induring impact on the world of higher education and concludes that the rise of womens studies has challenged the university in the same way that feminism has challenged society at large. Setting womens studies in the larger context of American higher education during a century of womens efforts to gain equality in the academic professions, Boxer narrates the history of the field and explores the philosophical and political goal of its practitioners. She examines the present status of womens studies in various types of institutions and traces the impact of a quarter century of feminist scholarship, teaching and academic advocacy since the founding of the first such programme at San Diego State University in 1970. She also comments on the fields increasing international presence. Drawing on experience as a historian, feminist, academic adminstrator and former chair of a womens studies programme, Boxer observes that by working for justice - and for changes necessary to make the attainment of justice a practical possibility - womens studies ensures that women are heard in the processes and places where knowledge is created, taught and preserved. The intellectual transformation behind the emergence of womens studies, Boxer concludes, is one of historic proportions. She asserts that, in common with other great moments in human experience, it has given rise to a flowering of art, literature and science, and to the challenging of previously accepted authorities of text and tradition.