Exploring the link between household structure and women's household decision-making autonomy in Mauritania.

Governments in sub-Saharan African countries aim to increase married women's household decision-making autonomy as it remains a critical determinant of desirable health behaviours such as healthcare utilisation, antenatal care visits, and safer sex negotiation. However, very few studies explore how household structure (i.e., monogamous or polygamous) is associated with married women's household decision-making autonomy. Our paper seeks to address this gap. Using the 2019-20 Mauritania Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative dataset, and applying logistic regression analysis, we explore how married women's household structure is associated with their household decision-making autonomy. We find that 9% of married women are in polygamous marriages, while 63% and 65% are involved in decision-making about their health and large household purchases, respectively. Additionally, 76% and 56% are involved in decision-making about visiting family or relatives and household expenditures. After accounting for socio-economic and demographic factors, we find that compared to women from monogamous households, those from polygamous households are less likely to participate in decision-making about their health (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), making large household purchases (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), visiting family or relatives (OR=0.72, p < 0.001), and household expenditure (OR=0.58, p < 0.001). Based on our findings, we recommend the urgent need to review and re-evaluate policies and approaches seeking to promote gender equality and women's autonomy in Mauritania. Specifically, it may be critical for intervention programmes to work around reducing power imbalances in polygamous household structures that continue to impact married women's household decision-making autonomy adversely. Such interventions should centre married women's socio-economic status as a central component of their empowerment strategies in Mauritania.

Decoloniality and women's agency in sex education in Zambia.

In 2018, 22 teachers and four government officers started a six-month development process, designed to integrate a gender-equity lens into sex education in Eastern Province, Zambia. The initiative was funded by the Dutch Government. In this article, I explore the emancipatory potential and limits of this gender transformative approach. Civil society privileges the empowerment of women's and girls' voices through participatory methods. This situated women-led 'encounter of change' between men and women addressed the 'harmful practices' of Chewa initiation, transcending patriarchal opposition in the process. Using an applied anthropological lens, I explore what enabled this contingent change in narrative among teachers, but I also question the coloniality inherent in efforts to transform the gender and sexuality of others through the ubiquity of voice.

Integrating critical thinking on gender and power within sexuality education has been praised for its ability to reduce unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The Dutch government has been investing in this 'gender transformative approach' by strengthening the capacity of 64 schools in Zambia. I draw on findings of a multi-sited ethnography on the experiences of 22 male and female teachers and government officials in Zambia, who underwent training in this approach from 2018 to 2019. Female teachers and government workers utilized this training to critique and change harmful initiation rites of the Chewa peoples. However, this attempt at norm change was hindered by the 'fluidity of patriarchy,' which refers to the ability of powerful men to adapt to outside interventions. In this case, they undermined the project. Labeling this resistance simply as 'dealing with opposition', as Western NGOs have started doing recently, overlooks the ways in which traditions are reimagined and reinvented to sustain patriarchy and gender inequality. In this article, I critique the way Western programs listen to the voices of the young people they aim to support. Due to NGO jargon and a focus on evidence and effectiveness, these voices often go unheard. I urge policymakers and practitioners to ask self-critical questions about who gets to set the research agenda, whose voices are prioritized, and (ironically) how their own masculinist leadership norms and neoliberal practices may embody expressions of coloniality and patriarchy.

Building Back Better: Going Big with Emancipatory Sciences.

This commentary argues that precarity and inequity across the life course and aging has accelerated via the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden's vaccination efforts, $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, and Build Back Better framework reflect a paradigm shift to restore faith and trust in government that boldly confronts entrenched austerity ideologues. We offer emancipatory sciences as a conceptual framework to analyze and promote social structural change and epic theory development. Emancipatory sciences aim to advance knowledge and the realization of dignity, access, equity, respect, healing, social justice, and social change through individual and collective agency and social institutions. Epic theory development moves beyond isolated incidents as single events and, instead, grasps and advances theory through attempts to change the world itself by demanding attention to inequality, power, and action. Gerontology with an emancipatory science lens offers a framework and vocabulary to understand the individual and collective consequences of the institutional and policy forces that shape aging and generations within and across the life course. It locates an ethical and moral philosophy engaged in the Biden Administration's approach, which proposes redistributing - from bottom-up - material and symbolic resources via family, public, community, and environmental benefits.

Cisheteronormativity and its influence on the psychosocial experience of LGBTQ+ people with cancer: A qualitative systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Cisheteronormativity refers to the relationship of heterosexual and cisgender privilege stemming from patriarchy. Although studies have shown that cisheteronormativity can impact health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other sexual, gender diverse, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQ+) people, the specific impact on cancer care has not been described. We synthesized the qualitative evidence on how cisheteronormativity impacts the psychosocial experience of LGBTQ+ people with cancer. METHODS: We conducted a historic search in the CINAHL, LGBT+ Health, PsycInfo, and PubMed databases. Qualitative studies that described the psychosocial experience of LGBTQ+ people with cancer were included. After appraising the quality of the publications, 11 articles were included. Then, we conducted inductive nominal coding, taxonomic analysis, and thematic synthesis. RESULTS: Two main themes emerged, (1) Cisheteronormativity as a social determinant of health, and (2) Cancer, sexual orientation, and gender: Associations and introjections. The themes comprise four categories and 13 subcategories that describe the impact of cisheteronormativity on the cancer experience of LGBTQ+ people. CONCLUSION: Cisheteronormativity within the healthcare system impacts the psychosocial experience of LGBTQ+ people with cancer. Understanding how these gender biases, norms, and social expectations impact the cancer experience is necessary to transform social norms and promote health equity.

Adolescent Girls and Young Women's Experiences of Living with HIV in the Context of Patriarchal Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review.

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in sub-Saharan Africa are disproportionately affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) due to socio-cultural gender, power, and economic disparities. This scoping review examined the literature to explore what is known about AGYW's everyday personal, relational, and social experiences of HIV to help shape future protective HIV policy and practice. Six databases were searched: Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, ASSIA, Google Scholar, and ProQuest, resulting in a total of 12,581 articles. Of these, 40 articles were included in the review. Key themes generated from the thematic analysis were relational and psychosocial challenges, inhibiting sexual expression, poverty, stigma, and discrimination; managing health in everyday life; agency and resilience; and personal space and social support. In conclusion, the review found a lack of understanding of AGYW's everyday experiences of living with HIV from their own perspectives. There was also little consideration of the role of patriarchal culture and how this constrains AGYW's ability to negotiate their relationships. Further research is needed to reveal AGYW's perspectives on living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jealousy: self-inflicted agony and ruin.

This chapter analyses the concept of jealousy (as different from envy) in romantic and sexual relationships. It demonstrates that jealousy is both logically and empirically untenable, as it is: (1) a self-contradictory emotion; (2) a self-destructive activity. As to (1) feelings of jealousy are incompatible with true care for the well-being and satisfaction of the loved partner. Logically, the notion of jealousy is self-defeating: it professes to be an expression of love while at the same time forbidding the loved one the freedom to act autonomously, thus killing the very notion of love. As to (2) nearly all empirical data point to the destructive effects to relationships of the feeling of jealousy, Shakespeare's Othello being its archetypal expression and its scathing analysis. The astounding fact, however, is that in many (most?) cultures jealousy is seen as an expression of love, while in reality it is an emanation of possessive feeling void of affection for the person 'loved'. A thorough cultural analysis, coupled to recently available DNA analyses, however, reveal a wholly different picture of extra-pair offspring, fully undermining the foundations upon which the notion of jealousy if based. Recent developments like 'open relationships' and 'polyamory' may be signs of overthrowing the contradictory and destructive aspects of jealousy. They presuppose, however, to undo deeply ingrained social attitudes accompanying love relationships.

Sex life and sexuality among tongqi: doing gender and heterosexuality.

The term tongqi refers to cisgender, heterosexual women who unwittingly marry non-straight men. In mainland China, their adverse social position and health have been the subject of concern. This study aims to broaden and diversify perceptions of the lived experiences of tongqi by focusing on sex and sexualities in mixed-orientation marriages. Four themes (lack of sexuality-related exploration before marriage, the unsatisfactory nature of marital sex life, the exercise of sexual agency, and increased self-awakening) were developed from observations of a tongqi online support group and 12 semi-structured interviews with members. Using inductive thematic analysis, findings reveal how heteronormativity oppresses and punishes both tongqi and their non-straight husbands. In most cases, husbands not 'doing heterosexuality' as expected were still found to be 'doing gender' in patriarchal ways, with wives' subordinate status thereby being reinforced, making them more vulnerable. However, despite women's sexual autonomy and agency being constrained by normative forces, some were able to navigate their conjugal relationships by practising sexual autonomy and agency within and outside their marriage.

Deconstructing the masculinized assumption of the medical profession: narratives of Japanese physician fathers.

BACKGROUND: Gender studies in the medical profession have revealed gender biases associated with being a doctor, a profession often regarded as more suitable for men. The path to gender equality inevitably involves deconstructing this masculinized assumption. Despite the decades-long expectation that ikumen-men who actively participate in childcare in Japan-would contribute to a change toward gender equality, Japanese society is still male dominated, and women suffer from a large gender gap. With the aim of exploring implicit gendered assumptions concerning being a caregiver and a doctor, the authors focused on the experience of individuals juggling the binary roles of a professional and a caregiver. METHODS: The authors conducted subjectivist inductive research, recruited ten Japanese physician fathers through purposive sampling, and collected data through one-to-one semi-structured interviews between October 2017 and December 2018. The authors recorded and transcribed the narrative data, and extracted themes and representative narratives. RESULTS: The study identified three themes about the reproduction and potential change of the gender gap: maintaining gendered assumptions of the medical profession without experiencing conflict, maintaining gendered assumptions of the medical profession while experiencing conflict, and deconstructing gendered assumptions of the medical profession through conflict. The authors found that these negotiations interplayed with the gendered division of labor between male doctors and their wives as well as the patriarchal family structure. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed how gendered assumptions of the medical profession, as well as gender stereotypes and gendered division of household labor, were reproduced in the course of male doctors' negotiations when they became fathers. For male doctors to question their unconscious gender bias, the authors emphasize the importance of men gaining knowledge about gender stereotypes, and propose that educators create such opportunities. Moreover, the authors assert that increasing doctors' awareness of how masculinized assumptions implicitly interact with ideas of being a doctor-an aspect rarely discussed among medical professionals-is crucial for deconstructing the gendered normativity in the medical field.

Patriarchal norms, partner pronatalism, and women's fertility intentions in Ghana.

Social norms influence many dimensions of women's lives and women's assumptions about male partners' pronatalism can have important associations with fertility behaviours. Using data on married/cohabiting women from the 2018/19 Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey and a series of robust descriptive analyses and logistic regression models, the links between women's internalization of patriarchal norms, presumed male partner pronatalism and fertility intentions are explored. The characteristics of conservative and liberal women are also examined. Logistic regressions show that greater internalization of patriarchal norms is associated with higher odds of women wanting more children- male children, particularly. Additionally, women's perceptions of their partners' fertility preferences were important- women who assumed that their male partners wanted more children tended to have stronger immediate pronatalist intentions themselves. Descriptive analyses show that conservative women, with greater internalized patriarchal norms, are more pronatalist, less educated, resident in rural parts of the country and more likely to be from poorer households, compared to their more liberal counterparts. Findings encourage the tailoring and targeting of family planning messages along cultural lines, to influence women's fertility intentions. Additionally, the importance of effective spousal communication is highlighted. Findings also emphasise the importance of involving men in the implementation of family planning programs.

Bargaining with patriarchy through the life course: obstacles faced (and overcome) by women leaders in Kerala's health sector.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has helped shine the spotlight on the role of women's leadership in tackling the world's health and health system challenges. The proportion of women occupying senior leadership positions in the health sector is less compared to males, even as they constitute a vast majority of the work force. The South Indian state of Kerala is an exception to this trend, a phenomenon that we sought to understand and contextualise. We undertook a study to understand the personal and professional journeys of some women leaders in the Kerala health sector to determine the antecedents of their leadership positions, the challenges that came their way in leadership, and strategies adopted to overcome these challenges. We also investigated into how these experiences shaped their styles and approaches to leadership. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study involving semi-structured in-depth interviews with women leaders. Sixteen women leaders were identified from public records and through peer nomination and interviewed in their language of preference following written informed consent procedures. Interviews focused on participants' professional and personal trajectories, work-life balance, style of leadership, challenges, enablers, lessons learned in their path, and their vision for the health system. The interviews conducted in Malayalam were transliterated into English and thematically analysed using Atlas.Ti8 software by three researchers. RESULTS: Our study participants were aged 40 to around 80 years, from 8 out of 14 districts of the state. Women leaders in Kerala's health sector faced challenges through the life-course: during their early school education, in professional service as well as in their roles as leaders. There were myriad experiences - including gender stereotyping and discrimination at the intersection of gender and other social identities. Women developed manifold ways of overcoming them and evolve unique - and again myriad-leadership styles. CONCLUSIONS: Women leaders in Kerala have faced shared challenges through their life-course to climb up the ranks of leadership; each leader has adopted unique ways of overcoming them and developed similarly unique leadership styles. At each life stage there were bargains with patriarchy - involving family members (often as allies), against formal and informal institutional rules, managers, peers and subordinates., which in turn suggests a feminist consciousness on the part of Kerala women leaders as well as the society in which they are seeking to lead.

"So, when a woman becomes ill, the total structure of the family is affected, they can't do anything " Voices from the community on women with breast cancer in India: a qualitative focus group study.

BACKGROUND: Psychological symptoms are common in women with breast cancer and profoundly affect their role in the family and wider community, varying across cultural backgrounds. Breast cancer is becoming the most common cancer among women in India. We aimed to understand the cultural context within which Indian women with breast cancer living in India, experience psychological concerns from the perspectives of healthcare professionals, volunteers and church members. METHODS: Five focus groups were conducted in South India (clinicians (2 groups)) lay public (3 groups). A topic guide was explored: understanding of breast cancer, experiences of patients with regard to diagnosis and treatment and psychological impact. Groups were audio-recorded and verbatim transcribed. Lay groups were conducted in Malayalam with translation and back-translation. Transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis using "cultural task analysis" as a lens for analysis. RESULTS: Forty-five (oncologists (5), nurses (10), church members (16) and community volunteers working in a palliative care unit (14) participated. Three major themes psychosocial issues related to diagnosis, psychosocial impact of cancer treatment and coping with diagnosis and treatment and nine subthemes emerged from the two groups. All described psychological impact on women with breast cancer including body image, change of family role and their need for support. Family and faith were recognised as the major framework providing key support but also significant stress. Clinicians were also concerned about financial implications and issues around early cancer detection. Laypeople and nurses also commented that poor communication and lack of empathy from doctors aggravated distress. CONCLUSION: Clinical and lay communities were aware of the widespread psychological impact affecting women with breast cancer which are amplified by the patriarchal context within which they live, which extends into clinical practice. Family and faith provide a strong support structure and are a cause of distress, as core roles and expectations are challenged by this disease of womanhood.

Contested notions of challenges affecting Community Health Workers in low- and middle-income countries informed by the Silences Framework.

Despite increasing evidence of the challenges affecting Community Health Workers (CHWs) such as those related to training, supportive supervision and remuneration, there is a need to explore concerns and challenges from the perspective of CHWs themselves. This commentary highlights some of the contested and unexplored notions of challenges affecting CHWs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) informed by the Silences Framework. This framework defines experiences that are under-explored, misunderstood or difficult to share because of the often invisible power relations within communities, but also in setting the research agenda. These challenges include the heavy workload imposed by several stakeholders, dealing with religious and cultural practices, and gendered barriers of care. The workload of CHWs is a major source of stress and anxiety as they have to balance both government and other stakeholders' agendas to deliver interventions with their own need to provide for their families for those whose work is unpaid. The tensions of CHWs carrying out their work among members of the community whose religious or cultural beliefs are different from theirs also needs to be considered. Gender issues are an impediment to the work of CHWs, particularly with community members of the opposite sex around sensitive health issues. Lastly, CHWs have found themselves victims of domestic suspicion while fulfilling their duties in communities, such as when seen having conversations with spouses of other individuals in the community. Solutions to these challenges need to be co-produced with CHWs to both to strengthen their relationship with the communities they serve and shape more sustainable interventions for delivery of healthcare in LMICs.

"Females are always dominated and disregarded by males, just because they are female": the continuation of patriarchal norms for young trafficked women in Nepal.

This article provides insights into the cultural aspects of sexual violence against young women trafficked into the sex industry in Nepal. Participant observation, participatory clay body mapping workshops and group interviews using photography were used to explore the reproductive body of six formerly trafficked women aged 14-22 years. Intimate partner violence against women, domestic violence and violence against women were important issues raised during the research process. Societal and familial patriarchal norms are the root causes of violence against women in Nepal and can be traced back to the Hindu legal code, the Muluki Ain of 1854, which was enforced for over 100 hundred years. Our findings indicate that tackling violence against women is complex for Nepali trafficked women because of its multiple forms and sources.

Patriarchy and gender-inequitable attitudes as drivers of intimate partner violence against women in the central region of Ghana.

BACKGROUND: In order to reduce women's exposure to violence and develop culturally appropriate interventions, it is important to gain an understanding of how men who use violence rationalize it. The present study sought to explore the perspectives of men who had used violence on their female partners, specifically their views on intimate partner violence (IPV), gender norms, manhood, their gender attitudes and to understand how these may drive male perpetrated IPV against women in the Central Region of Ghana. METHODS: This was a qualitative study involving purposively sampled adult men who had participated in a household-based survey in selected districts in the Central Region of Ghana and who had self-reported perpetration of IPV in the past 12 months. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 men. RESULTS: Data revealed how a range of social, cultural, and religious factors ̶ stemming from patriarchy ̶ combined to inform the construction of a traditional masculinity. These factors included the notion that decision-making in the home is a man's prerogative, there should be rigid and distinct gender roles, men's perceptions of owning female partners and having the right to have sex with them whenever they desire, and the notion that wife beating is legitimate discipline. Findings suggest that it was through performing, or aspiring to achieve, this form of masculinity that men used varying forms of violence against their female partners. Moreover, data show that the men's use of violence was a tactic for controlling women and emphasizing their authority and power over them. CONCLUSIONS: Developers of interventions to prevent IPV need to recognize that there is a coherent configuration of aspirations, social norms and behaviours that is drawn on by some men to justify their use of IPV. Understanding the perspectives of men who have perpetrated IPV against women and their motivations for perpetration is essential for interventions to prevent IPV. This is discussed as drawing authority from 'tradition' and so engaging traditional and religious leaders, as well as men and women throughout the community, in activities to challenge this is likely to be particularly fruitful.

Ethnicity, sex composition of living children, and unrealized fertility in Nigeria.

While studies in high-income countries have shown that failure to achieve fertility desires is significantly associated with unfavourable personal circumstances, there is barely any empirical evidence on the factors that influence the pattern of unrealized fertility in sub-Saharan Africa. Using data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, this paper investigates the roles of ethnicity and the sex composition of living children on unrealized fertility in Nigeria. The results show that the odds of having unrealized fertility were higher among Hausa-Fulani women compared with women of other ethnic groups in Nigeria. Also, having daughters only (no sons) was associated with higher odds of unrealized fertility, after controlling for other important covariates. The findings suggest that cultural norms and pronatalism significantly influence the fertility desires of women in Nigeria, even at the end of their reproductive lifespan.

The morality of evolution and a return to subjectivity.

Today societies display, almost uniformly, an aggressive demeanor that can hardly be covered by diplomacy; they are always prepared for war. The prophecy is repeatedly fulfilled and today we are engaged in protracted wars while fearing universal destruction. This basic attitude irremediably corrupts our consciousness and blemishes our self. The biological underpinnings of how we got to this point, psychologically, and the historical sublimations involved are explored here. The result, today, is that we live using a minimum of our human capacity at the huge cost in crucial energetic waste, while nature has started to protest. The self-feeding destructive mechanism is inordinate objectification, at the expense of our unique subjective power. Evolutionarily designed for balanced self-regulation-the sublimation of a dual instinctual disposition backed up by a dimorphic body and brain-nature warns us we have detoured from the moral blueprint and, were we to continue it will be at our own risk. We need to review our moral theories and return to our critical pre-patriarchal subjectivity, which was resourceful, dually-fed, balanced, and discriminating. That subjectivity is now largely replaced by pre-emptive, ideological cognitive modules and stereotypes that block intelligent dialogue and appear to be already modeled on a false Utopia of artificial intelligences.

Barriers to Education of Syrian Refugee Girls in Jordan: Gender-Based Threats and Challenges.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to uncover and describe the barriers to education as experienced by Syrian refugee girls in the Za'atri Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan. DESIGN: A qualitative nonexperimental design utilizing focus group discussions (FGDs), individual interviews, and participant and nonparticipant observation was used for this study. Four FGDs were facilitated in three dropout education centers (nonformal school) in the Za'atri Syrian Refugee Camp. Data were collected over a period of 5 months from December 2017 to April 2018. METHODS: Using an FGD format, the United Nations Human Rights ABC module in the Arabic language was used to educate, to empower with knowledge and skills, and to elicit participants' responses to perceived barriers to exercising their universal human rights, especially their right to education. Data were collected using a demographic tool, digitally recorded FGDs, an observation notebook, a flip chart, and a detailed interview schedule. Fifteen in-depth, individual, 1½-hr interviews of self-selected participants were conducted. Narrative statement and content analysis were used to analyze the data for each FGD. A constant comparative method was used to compare and verify codes, categories, and themes within and between groups. FINDINGS: The complex interplay of patriarchy, tradition, and religious practices, combined with the added vulnerabilities of protracted warfare displacement, prevent Syrian girls from being their own agents, prevent their access to education, and expose them to even greater health risks through coercion into early marriage. Several themes explained the process by which the interactive nature of patriarchy, traditional cultural, and religious practice influenced the girls' right to education and their right to make their own decisions about marriage. These are (a) gender role and the social position of girls in the family, (b) gender role and the cultural disvaluing of girls' education, (c) economic survival priorities and child labor, and (d) the intersection of environmental stressors with preservation of family honor as motivators for early marriage. Repeated exposure to threats and physical abuse seem to be the mechanisms that reinforce the girls' perceived gender-based vulnerabilities, submissiveness, and educational truancy. CONCLUSIONS: Syrian refugee girls seem to consistently face conflicts and daily adverse experiences that pose serious physical and psychological risks to their health with potentially far-reaching negative health consequences. Gender-based physical and psychological threats and abuses, along with the coercive practice of early marriage, while viewed as a way of protecting them, put Syrian refugee girls at greater health risk, psychological threat, and social and economic challenge. Evidence on refugees who experienced violence shows that they are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dissociative disorders, depression, and anxiety, along with a host of life-threatening physical comorbidities. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Syrian refugee girls are at high risk for gender-based abuse and violence. Nurses can play an important role in reducing the health risks associated with gender-based abuse by assessing clients for symptoms of physical and psychological abuse, including symptoms of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Maternal and child health assessment and health-promoting interventions should be included in the healthcare plan. Understanding the sociopolitical conditions, as well as the cultural and religious backgrounds, that shape the lived experiences of displaced girls is also essential for offering a congruent, culturally sensitive plan of care and for creating targeted and relevant educational and treatment intervention strategies and referrals.

How Do Jewish Communities Respond to Manifestations of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse? A Case Study of Malka Leifer and Adass Israel in Melbourne, Australia.

The recent Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse provided some insight into manifestations of child sexual abuse within an ultra-orthodox Jewish community. This paper extends the analysis by the Royal Commission (RC) to another Australian ultra-orthodox community that of Adass Israel, whereby a former school headmistress allegedly abused multiple students and then fled to the State of Israel in 2008. That case is unusual given that both the perpetrator and victims were female. Attention is drawn to a number of components similar to the RC findings pertaining to the particular vulnerability of children within ultra-orthodox communities given the absence of sex education and entrenched patriarchal authority, the reluctance of such communities to report child sexual abuse (CSA) allegations to secular authorities and associated cultural and religious factors, the failure of community leaders within or beyond Australia to support or compensate CSA survivors, and the absence of formal child protection protocols. Additionally, some conclusions are drawn about the key role played by advocacy groups such as Jewish Community Watch in exposing the global travel of child sex offenders, and the problematic legal protection provided to many such offenders by the State of Israel's Law of Return.

'Half a woman, half a man; that is how they make me feel': a qualitative study of rural Jordanian women's experience of infertility.

Infertility is a health problem encompassing physical, psychological and social consequences that may threaten women's quality of life. Few studies have been conducted in Jordan examining rural women's experiences of infertility. This study aimed to explore responses to infertility and its consequences in the Jordanian rural sociocultural context. Using a descriptive qualitative design, data were collected between April and September 2016 from a fertility clinic in a military hospital in Northern Jordan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 purposively selected Jordanian women. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealing women's responses to infertility included: submission and docility, self-isolation, internalisation and persistence in getting pregnant by seeking modern and traditional methods of treatment. The impact of infertility complicated women's everyday living through their experiences of violence, kinship and patriarchal interference, stigma, negative perceptions of the infertile woman, and other's surveillance of their sexuality. Women living in rural areas of Jordan have negative experiences of infertility that are ingrained in sociocultural beliefs about fertility and reproduction. Healthcare professionals are encouraged to raise public awareness about infertility's adverse consequences and to help families by enhancing positive responses to infertility.

Resilient patriarchy: public authority and women's (in)security in Karamoja, Uganda.

This paper draws on fieldwork conducted in 2011 and 2016 to explore the differing experiences of Karamojong women following the Government of Uganda's most recent disarmament programme. Besides being deprived of their guns, Karamojong communities have lost most of the cattle on which their livelihoods and way of life were centred. The study assesses whether or not women's experience of patriarchy has changed in these new circumstances, and, if so, how this impacts on their security and control of resources, or the absence of them. It maps, using information primarily supplied by women, public authorities from below, and evaluates if and how they respond to women's protection and survival needs, as well as if current development/humanitarian interventions are of sustainable benefit to Karamojong women. The paper concludes that apparent shifts in gender relations are probably superficial, contingent on continuing food aid, and that economic development and positive social change for women remain elusive.