Browsing by Subject "gender"

This thesis aims to study if personal values mediate the effect of gender on pro-environmental behavior, PEB. It is important to investigate the antecedents of PEB, since the current climate crisis is caused by human behavior. Among the most influential areas of behaviors are those related to energy. Therefore, two energy related behaviors were chosen to represent PEB in this study: energy use reduction and intention of buying an energy efficient appliance. Values have been shown to affect behavior and there is some evidence of gender differences in values, thus gender and values were chosen as predictors of the behaviors. The theoretical basis for this argument lies in Schwartz theory of basic values and several models on antecedents of PEB, e.g. the Value-Belief-Norm Theory. The material comes from the 2016 dataset of the European Social Survey Round 8 (ESS8), which included a module on climate change and energy and used the Portrait Values Questionnaire for measuring values. The data is limited to the Finnish nationally representative sample. The hypotheses examine whether Finnish women behave more proenvironmentally than Finnish men do, and whether women’s higher self-transcendent values and men’s higher self-enhancement values explain this difference in PEB. Hypotheses were tested through hierarchical stepwise regression analysis and mediation analysis. The results were as expected, with small, but statistically significant, differences between men and women in both values and behavior. On average, Finnish women have more self-transcendent values and behave more pro-environmentally, than Finnish men do. The mediation was supported even when covariates were included, which further supports the findings. The only exception to this was the mediation of gender on energy efficacy behavior through self-enhancement values. Explanations for this and the other results are discussed, as well as critique of the binary definition of gender and other limitations. This study adds to the understanding of antecedents of pro-environmental behavior, which is fundamental to achieving effective behavior change.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted Finland to re-evaluate its national security and led to increased support for NATO membership. This study examines how Finnish news media portrays national security at the time of heightened sense of insecurity. The objective of the study is to explore and expose the nexus of security and gender within the NATO discussion context. Drawing on feminist security studies, this study views security as a gendered concept. It takes an interdisciplinary approach, integrating security studies, gender studies, and media studies. The thesis investigates the gendered nature of security by using traditional masculine and feminine values as tools in discourse analysis. Additionally, the thesis analyses whose voices are heard in the media. This case study focuses on the NATO discussion in Helsingin Sanomat, Iltalehti, and Yle from January to March 2022. The thesis comprises two parts from the perspective of methodology and data. The quantitative content analysis of 671 online news articles examines gender representation in the media, while the qualitative analysis of 70 opinionated online news media articles employs thematisation and Wodak’s approach to critical discourse analysis. The findings of this study imply that the dominant notion of security in the media is narrow and masculine. The hegemonic notion of Finnish national security aligns with traditional masculinity, emphasising militaristic, physical, and rational characteristics. The analysis shows that growing insecurity appears to correspond with decreasing feminine notions of security. The study argues that the prevailing security discourse in the media is exclusive to the performances of militarised masculinity. Additionally, security is predominantly discussed by male voices in the media. Finally, this thesis argues that the dominant narrow, masculine, and militaristic notion of security is not contested in the media, thereby lacking a comprehensive understanding of securities and insecurities as well as inequalities. The study addresses a need for further critical research to examine the interrelation of national security, militarism, and gender in Finland.

The sex/gender model used in biological archaeologies to investigate human remains and past lives is one that relies on the epistemological and ontological separation of sex and gender. Despite this separation the model ends up treating these concepts synonymously due to the taken-for-granted binary nature of sex which in a deterministic manner eventuates into an equally binary gender. This thesis develops a theoretical framework for an archaeological concept of gender that operates without the division, binarism and determinism implicit in the sex/gender model. Pursuing answers to the questions whether it is possible to approach both sex and gender in archaeology in a nonbinary way, and if so, what is an archaeologically feasible alternative, it seeks to devise a method to approach sex and gender in mortuary archaeology beyond the deterministic binary. This thesis is firmly theory-oriented and the writings of various authors within the discipline of archaeology, feminism and queer studies comprise the necessary material. The theories pertaining to the field of feminism are intersectionality and queer theory, which eschew normativity and essentialism and call for gender diversity. Respective to archaeology, the theories influencing this thesis derive from new materialisms to whom the rejection of divisions and dichotomies is characteristic. In this regard, of particular note are the writings of new materialist and feminist theorist Karen Barad. Applying her theories concerning the relational, entangled and mutually constitutive nature of matter and meaning to the topic of sex and gender is central in devising a nonbinary new materialist perspective to be used for the purpose of a more open and inclusive mortuary archaeology. This thesis reveals that the dualistic division between nature and culture has resulted in a separate conceptual development and different strategies of engagement concerning sex and gender. The reason why sex is seen as a biological fact and gender as a cultural meaning proves false when both are affected equally by nature and culture, with the body serving as a nexus-point in which these two forces converge. Applying Barad’s insight reveals that binary sex is not an inherent quality of the body, but one that is produced through a scientific biomedical apparatus. Sex and gender exist in a state of inseparability when undetermined, but when subjected to a determination process, they become mutually exclusive phenomena, thereby disrupting sex-to-gender determinism. In their separate state, both are constitutive of matter and meaning, which is why gender made determined through intersectionality can be used to study gendered understandings through the materiality of the body, exempt from binary views. Analysing a topical bioarchaeological publication concerning a female Viking warrior through the approach that does not depend on the sex binary reveals that a scientific biomedical apparatus is subject to criticism on multiple fronts. Though the case study should be credited with rejecting gender role stereotypes, it demonstrates determinism and binarism as well as homogeneity and universalism in terms of categories. Failing to imagine possibilities beyond a fixed binary also results in the exclusion of alternate ways of knowing and being. The open-ended approach proposed in this thesis not only seeks to grant these possibilities opportunities to exist, but counsels cognisance towards the exclusions apparatuses enact. Embracing speculation, it also holds ambiguity and vagueness to be meaningful qualities pertaining to gendered archaeology. Regarding the mortuary setting, binary sex determinations need not be abandoned, but they should be used alongside this nonbinary approach.

Recent trends in urbanization have contributed to re-defining urban demand and rural supply across the global agricultural landscape. These dynamic interactions occur within both formal agricultural economies, as well as within informal networks of non-commodity exchange. This research identifies on-the-ground systems of non-commodity exchange practiced in urban agroecology, and explores the implications of these systems of exchange upon the demand for changes in the ways humans relate to food, and the governing structures determining their distribution. Framed by the exploration of urban agroecology as a science, practice and social movement, this research probes exchange pathways across two city-sponsored urban agriculture networks: The P-Patch Community Gardening Program in Seattle, United States and the Allotment Gardens of Helsinki, Finland. As both garden networks are embedded within each city’s respective development plan, these sites offer the distinct benefit of probing civic responsibility and active engagement within civic agriculture outside of the discourse of food production for self as a political act. I employ an interdisciplinary approach to this research methodology which draws from the disciplines of planning, human geography, sociology, and agroecology. Data was collected and analyzed utilizing qualitative methods including semi-structured interview and ethnographic photography. I argue that the identification of these non-commodity exchange systems, and the fragmented urban place-based knowledge pockets from which they emerged, can be utilized to derive principals useful in the design and management of sustainable urban agroecosystems.

Women of colour across the globe have played key roles in leading resistance to oppressive regimes, across time and space. Beginning with the anti-slavery freedom movement in the colonial era from the 16th century onwards, and into the digital spaces of the twentieth first century, women of colour’s activism has been pivotal to securing social justice. While this phenomenon has gained momentum in international scholarship, there is very little research on the women of colour digital activism in Finland. This study seeks to answer the following research question: How do women of colour in Finland use digital media to raise their voice[s]? The notion of raising one’s voice signals the need to move from an abject silenced position to take up space in public discussion. For the purpose of this thesis, digital media platforms and spaces represent potential or actually powerful routes for forging solidarity, spreading awareness, advocacy and campaign work in pursuit of social justice. In this thesis, the notion of raising one’s voice has a second implication: it refers to activism aimed at supporting those who are not heard to amplify their voices in public spaces. The study was conducted in the form of 19 semiconstructed interviews with women of colour living in Finland who engage in activism in digital platforms. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings, based on data derived from a thematic content analysis of the interviews, suggest that women of colour in Finland use digital media platforms as a resource to facilitate their participation and amplify their voices in public conversations from which they would otherwise be silenced.

Pro gradussani tarkastelen naishahmoja John Greenin kirjoissa Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns ja The Fault in Our Stars. Tutkielmani tavoitteena on selvittää miten naishahmoja kuvataan Greenin kirjoissa ja miten se eroaa mieshahmojen kuvauksesta. Lisäksi pohdin mediarepresentaation tärkeyttä etenkin nuorille suunnatussa kirjallisuudessa sekä sitä, ovatko Greenin naishahmot autenttisen tuntuisia. Teoriataustana käytän teoksia hahmojentutkimuksen, feministisen kirjallisuusteorian, kerronnantutkimuksen ja stereotyyppientutkimuksen alueilta. Tutkimusmenetelmänäni on tekstin huolellinen lukeminen, eng. ’close reading’, teoria-aineistooni nojautuen. Aineistonani käytän Greenin kirjojen lisäksi hänen omia mielipiteitään, kommenttejaan ja vastauksiaan, joita hän on esittänyt lukuisissa blogeissaan. Pro graduni keskeisimpiä tuloksia on se, että naishahmot on esitetty eri tavalla kuin mieshahmot, etenkin kun kyseessä ovat muut kuin nimettömät sivuhenkilöt. Naishahmoihin liitetään enemmän fyysiseen viehättävyyteen liittyviä piirteitä ja heidät on kuvattu vähemmän persoonallisiksi kuin miespuoliset henkilöhahmot. Vaikka hahmonkehitystä tapahtuu, se on usein sidoksissa miespuoliseen päähenkilöön. Naispuoliset henkilöhahmot ovat myös miespäähenkilön epäluotettavan kerronnan varassa, The Fault in Our Stars pois lukien. Totean Greenin kirjojen olevan kohdistettu pääosin teini-ikäisille tytöille. Koska representaatio vaikuttaa sekä kuvaan omasta itsestä että toisista, on tärkeää että se olisi monipuolista. Greenin kirjoissa naishahmojen representaatio on melko yksipuolista, mikä vähentää autenttisuutta. Naishahmojen autenttisuutta edustaa parhaiten The Fault in Our Stars, koska siinä on naispäähenkilö, jonka kerrontatyyli on melko realistinen. Autenttisuutta luodaan myös henkilöhahmojen omilla stereotypioilla, maailmankuvilla, huumorilla ja luonteenpiirteillä, sekä kerronnan keinoin. Green ilmaisee monissa kommenteissa olevansa tietoinen kirjojensa puutteista etenkin vähemmistöjen edustamisen suhteen sekä naishahmojen roolien suhteen, ja tämä tiedostaminen näkyy verratessa The Fault in Our Starsin naiskertojaa muiden kirjojen mieskertojiin. Green tekee naishahmojen yksinkertaistetun kuvittelun ja romantisoinnin ongelmallisuutta selväksi myös kirjoissa, joissa se on esillä toistuvana teemana, etenkin Paper Townsissa.

This thesis analyses the position of working-class women in Victorian Spiritualism, and how they transcended class positions using their role as mediums. Spiritualism was a religious movement that was popular in both North America and Europe during the Victorian era, and women were especially important to the movement because of their “innate” connection to the natural and supernatural realms. As the movement primarily focused on communication to and from the spirit world, women acted as intermediaries by using their bodies as “vessels” and through this attained positions of power and respect. Recent scholarship has mostly focused on the contributions of middle-class women towards this movement; however, working-class women were also greatly involved in Spiritualist circles. Working-class women were held to a different societal standard however, due to sexual and moral qualities that had been prescribed upon them by the middle class. There were many working-class women Spiritualists but how they were introduced to the movement and how they operated within it differed to their middle-class peers. This thesis examines why Spiritualism was appealing to working-class women, because they would not have used the movement to gain access to the public sphere (as was the case with middle-class women). Working-class women were already present in the public sphere and thus there must have been another reason why they were drawn to the movement. As is shown in the thesis, many Spiritualists also identified as Socialists; the two movements shared many similarities, including a vision of a utopic future where classes and genders were equal as well as a distrust for the middle-class Christians of their society. Another question examined is how working-class women viewed their own position in Spiritualism, which brings forth issues of agency and consciousness. Through examining sources from the mediums themselves as well as newspapers I am able to construct an understanding that working-class mediums knew that in order to be respected in the Spiritualist community they had to downplay their own involvement as well as emphasize their lack of interest in worldly goods. A portion of this thesis focuses on the differing treatment of public and private mediums – those women who were private mediums were commonly regarded as less likely to be fraudulent and more respected than those who were public – public, in this instance, meaning those mediums who took payment for séances and extended their circle beyond that of their family and friends. Working-class women in Spiritualism remain emblematic of contradictions that were so prevalent in Victorian society – the body of the working-class woman was thought to be her strength and her connection to the spirit realm, but it was only through giving up her agency and acting as a mouthpiece for these spirits was she respected and taken seriously. Research methods I have used include an examination of historical sources, mainly being newspapers, accounts from people present at séances and an autobiography from one of the most prominent mediums of the time. I have also included a brief overview of intersectionality and why it is important for this thesis, as well as an analysis of power. From my thesis I hope to show the Spiritualist movement from the perspective of working-class women as well as how they used it to attain their own agency.

Research’s (Eldar 2006) have shown that social skills are connected to physical activity and involving in sports maintains close relationships between people and offers opportunities to create new relationships. Being involved in organized team sports has shown to have positive effects in children’s peer relations. Social skills are a major factor when making friends. This study tries to solve the connection between 5th and 6th graders hobbies and social skills in Viikki, Teacher´s Training School. The research problems were: - Is there a connection between being engaged in team sports and having good social skills? - Does girls rate themselves higher in social skills than boys? The survey was held in Helsinki, Viikki’s Teacher Training school and the answers were collected from 5th and 6th graders. The survey had two sections: Social Skills self-evaluation and hobbies. An-swers were collected from total of 109 students which includes 39,4 % (n=43) fifth graders and 60,6 % (n=66) sixth graders. 51,4 % (n=56) were girls and 48,6 % (n=53) boys. Collected answers were uploaded in SPSS – statistics program which was also used to get results with different methods. The study showed that engaging in team sports does not have a statistical connection to social skills. However it was shown that gender played a part in social skills. Girls got higher scores in social skills than boys.

In my research I examined violence in secondary school from the point of view of the students. I asked, how the students themselves defined violence. I focused on who was considered to be someone who has information on the phenomenon or power to define it. In previous research it has been reported that mundane, everyday violence has been studied less than extreme acts of violence. In my research, I drew attention to the mundane aspects of the phenomenon and what it is at its limits. I tried to determine why some things were named violence, when others were not. In my research I regarded violence as gendered, since I wanted to study the phenomenon as a structure rather than as attached to specific individuals. In my understanding, violence and power are inseparably linked. Therefore I chose to approach the phenomenon from the perspective of a feminist theory. Key concepts in my research were violence, gender, school and agency. I used feminist ethnography as a method to both produce and analyze the data. In feminist ethnography it is essential to interact as respectfully as as possible with the people who are being studied as well as to maintain a critical attitude toward knowing and the hierarchies related to knowledge. The ethnographer tries to understand the world of the people she studies by participating in it. In feminist ethnography attention is drawn to power relations as well as in the intertwining differences. The data consist of field notes and interviews. For two weeks I observed the school days of the students of one seventh grade in one school located in the Helsinki metropolitan area. My observation covered classes, breaks and meal times, but I did not follow the students if they left the school grounds unless the classes were held there. I interviewed 17 of the 18 students in the class, in pairs or individually. Half of the interviews were done individually and the other half in pairs. There were 12 interviews in total. According to my research, the student’s status in the social hierarchy, their position regarding the norms in the society and the discourses related to violence or bullying in society were some of the factors that influenced the way the students defined violence or were affected by it. Violence in school appeared to be so normal that often it was not even noticed or regarded as such. An atmosphere was maintained actively where the possibility of violence was always present. The teachers used the threat of violence as a resource to emphasize their message. Gendered structures were also entwined with the normalization of violence. Violence or the threat of it was linked in particular with the correct representations of masculinity. In addition to gender other differences affected how it was possible to be present in school and how violence could be defined or used as a resource. According to my research, racism, homophobia and gendered structures limit the students' agency. The students seemed to be struggling to understand situations from other person’s points of view and to understand the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, the teachers did not seem to understand the students' perspective. I too shared the difficulties with identifying and naming violence. My conclusion is that even though no one is able to distinctly define violence, it is not to be accepted. Based on my research, violence should always be intervened, despite the difficulties of defining it.

In the Monsoon season of 2015, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, revealed his ambitious programme ‘Digital India’ which aims to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. However, the gender dimension of digitalisation is absent in the conversations about Digital India. In the said background, the thesis strives to address the lacunae in the debates and investigate what digitalisations means for expanding women’s capabilities in India. The premise of the thesis was grounded in two conceptual notions. Firstly, Amartya Sen’s and Martha Nussbaum’s capability approach served as the normative framework and as a tool for evaluating digitalisation in India. Secondly, information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) formed another fundamental building block for the thesis. The principal objective of the study was to investigate women’s wellbeing in the digitalisation process in India. Nine organisations, working in the field of women’s rights and/or digitalisation, were interviewed to gather the principal data. In the research, knowledge acquired was rearranged with the support of the theoretical framework. The qualitative content analysis method was employed through which three distinct categories were discovered: independence, sexuality and control. In the analysis, these three categories were utilised to dissect the impact of digitalisation on women’s capabilities in India. The findings of the thesis demonstrate that digitalisation efforts expand women’s internal capabilities. Women have acquired independence through gaining economic capabilities through e-commerce, where women are able to sell their products to a larger audience. Furthermore, technologies allow the incorporation of women’s voices in the flow of information, addressing issues that matter to them and rendering their view on events. Many interviewees stressed the importance of access to information that women gain with ICTs. However, Modi’s government treats digitalisation as a panacea for India’s challenges and views ICTs as ends rather than means. The Government fails to address the socio-cultural norms that impede on women’s capabilities to utilise ICTs even if they acquire digital literacy. As seen through the study, women have shown poorer conversion rates in transforming ICT-commodities into capabilities and functionings. Thus, the current implementation of digitalisation in India is at a risk of generating more inequalities as opposed to reducing them.