Posts Tagged ‘gender’
Female leaders for South America
Now that Argentina has followed Chile in electing a woman president, some observers are wondering if this portends a new era of female political power in South America. Here in the land of machismo, where leaders were long supposed to conform to the standard of the strong-armed military man in epaulettes, a rising wave of [...]
Kicking, punching and being a girl in Thailand
They are two things that just don’t seem to go together. The gentle Thai female and the vicious sport of Thai boxing. But according to this story, female participation in Thai boxing is a growing phenomenon despite the fact that these same women are expected to behave according to the deferential traditions of their culture [...]
Japanese career women still battle customs
Despite other changes in Japanese society, women who pursue a career path in Japan still battle ingrained cultural traditions that make it difficult for them to advance on the job, according to this International Herald Tribune story. Yukako Kurose joined the work force in 1986, a year after Japan passed its first equal opportunity law. [...]
Challenges for single women in India
There is an intriguing article in the Christian Science Monitor about some of the challenges faced by single women in India, particularly for those who are independent enough to want to live on their own. It is apparently still somewhat rare for individual females to move out of their family home, so those that do often discover [...]
Women make gains in Spain
Women in every country have strived for decades to achieve some measure of equality in the corporate boardroom and in politics. Gains have been easier to come by in some countries and more difficult in others. Not surprisingly, progress has tended to be slower in societies that are more conservative or that have cultural tendencies toward the [...]
The decline of machismo?
In Latin cultures, both in southern Europe and in Latin America, there is a long tradition of machismo. This can take many forms, from a strong sense of masculinity that manifests in a certain physical appearance or swagger to an acceptance of extramarital affairs to a more overt domination of women in the home or workplace. In some [...]
Muslim sportswear
The design of most modern sportswear puts many Muslim women athletes in a curious bind: adhere to their faith and have their motions hampered or compromise their beliefs in the name of athletic performance? This is obviously a conundrum for Muslim female athletes. However, as National Geographic recently reported, a few companies have broken new ground by developing sportswear that covers the body, [...]
Saudi society on screen
It’s not every day that a big budget film is produced in a country where movie theaters are still considered illegal (because it promotes the mixing of the sexes). But that is exactly what is happening in Saudi Arabia, with a new movie by Saudi producers examining the conflict within a family when a young girl [...]
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Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
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