http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/gender-roles Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Mon, 04 May 2026 20:10:52 -0400 Mon, 04 May 2026 20:10:52 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1936/explaining-the-gender-gap-in-the-criminal-justice-system-how-family-based-gender-roles-shape-perceptions-of-defendants-in-criminal-court By Katharina Geppert - Numerous studies have investigated why women are vastly underrepresented in prisons across the United States. In explaining this “gender gap,” scholars have found that women are treated more leniently than men at various stages of the judicial process. Explanations for women’s lenient treatment are often oversimplified as “sex differences” in criminal behavior and could benefit from further investigation. Through qualitative interviews with federal judges and attorneys, as well as observations of criminal court proceedings, this study examines how the family, as a... Wed, 09 Feb 2022 01:17 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1936/explaining-the-gender-gap-in-the-criminal-justice-system-how-family-based-gender-roles-shape-perceptions-of-defendants-in-criminal-court http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1842/the-illusion-of-empowerment-a-feminist-analysis-of-disneys-hercules By Kasandra J. DiSessa - Disney’s Hercules, which features both a strong male lead and a strong female lead, has the potential to appeal to, and therefore influence, a larger group of child viewers than the more gendered movies, such as the traditional Princess movies. Meg, the female lead, is often touted as a feminist character and praised for her independence from men. However, Meg still lacks agency and acts within the confines of traditional gender roles, thus reinforcing stereotypes about gender while seemingly subverting them. This essay includes a feminist media analysis of Hercules, focusing specifically... Tue, 24 Nov 2020 08:08 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1842/the-illusion-of-empowerment-a-feminist-analysis-of-disneys-hercules http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1788/toxic-royalty-feminism-and-the-rhetoric-of-beauty-in-disney-princess-films By Stephanie X. Hu - At Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom, light cascades across the night sky before spiraling down through the stars. The castle that towers within the dark shines bright amongst the fireworks’ sparkling ceruleans and violets. Once the night show rises to a crescendo of color and song, the snaps of cameras coalesce with the symphony as spectators strive to capture the moment in time. Such a scene stands as a cherished childhood dream, cemented at the heart of the contemporary American identity. Since the birth of Walt Disney’s animation studio, countless children have become spellbound... Thu, 23 Jul 2020 02:11 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1788/toxic-royalty-feminism-and-the-rhetoric-of-beauty-in-disney-princess-films http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1782/gender-dynamics-in-the-sheik-as-novel-and-as-film-adaptation By Sophie Hammond - The 1921 Hollywood film The Sheik tells the story of Lady Diana Mayo, a spirited English peeress who, on a trip to the French Sahara, is kidnapped by and eventually falls in love with the Arab sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan. The film made Rudolph Valentino an international heartthrob, showered Paramount Pictures in money, and nearly singlehandedly founded the genre of “oriental romance” Hollywood films. The film’s power over the public imagination relied on American fantasies of the Orient as a place of billowing sands, luxurious silks, and heated, primal romance (Teo 110). But The Sheik... Fri, 28 Feb 2020 08:28 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1782/gender-dynamics-in-the-sheik-as-novel-and-as-film-adaptation http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1749/class-gender-and-the-anxieties-of-meritocracy-in-jacobean-england By Joshua B. Black - The staged plays of the early Jacobean period are valuable textual products for the literary critic, the cultural researcher and the historian alike. These plays are significant containers of knowledge about the mutually reinforcing social and political tensions of the early years of King James I’s reign. There is a body of literature which presently deals with questions about the complex class and gender politics of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (1614): Frank Whigham concluded that the ‘play was written, at least in significant part, to dissect the actual workings of the... Tue, 08 Jan 2019 09:46 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1749/class-gender-and-the-anxieties-of-meritocracy-in-jacobean-england http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1710/come-sir-boy-subverting-masculinity-through-cross-gender-performance By Rachel Chung - I was the wounded soldier in the opening scene of Macbeth, lying spread-eagled on the stage, flaunting my unsightly gashes. I closed my legs self-consciously. Even portraying a hyper-masculine character, I found myself subject to the parameters of feminine performance. Later in the same production, I gave what was, for high school, a raunchy and riotous performance as the Porter. I referenced what would be my male genitalia, indicating what would be a beer belly, leaning heavily into the masculinity of the scene. I found the humor not just in the words themselves, but in the fact that they were... Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:49 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1710/come-sir-boy-subverting-masculinity-through-cross-gender-performance http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1708/walking-gendered-lines-the-contradictory-expectations-of-men-who-work-in-early-childhood-education By Isabella Scurfield - This paper aims to look at the expectations set forth for males working in ECE and how they affect the men’s willingness to enter the field, as well as the level of care they are able to provide once there. In order to fully address these issues, the ways in which traditional values and ideas of hegemonic masculinities affect men’s (and larger society’s) view of childcare influence men’s perceptions of this field as a career choice must also be addressed. Acker’s theory of gendered occupations will be used as a starting point through which these issues can be addressed... Mon, 27 Nov 2017 09:48 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1708/walking-gendered-lines-the-contradictory-expectations-of-men-who-work-in-early-childhood-education http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1701/the-feminine-threat-reconsidering-the-damsel-in-distress-in-early-disney-films By Hugo Ljungback - “Disney perpetuated a male myth through his fairy-tale films,” argues Jack Zipes (1995, p. 37). He writes that Walt Disney framed “women’s lives through a male discourse” in his films (p. 36), and that he reinforced “nineteenth-century patriarchal notions” and “benevolent attitudes toward women” (p. 37). This paper looks at Walt Disney Pictures films released in the 30-year period between 1937 and 1967, from the company’s first feature-length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to The Jungle Book, the last film Walt Disney himself... Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:52 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1701/the-feminine-threat-reconsidering-the-damsel-in-distress-in-early-disney-films http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1456/awareness-of-emirati-womens-economic-roles-before-the-oil-boom-changing-perceptions-of-gender-roles By Rana AlMutawa - In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in general, women played an important economic role in the pre-oil era (before the 1960s) in addition to their “traditional” domestic role. Fatima Al-Sayegh states that women’s economic roles in the UAE were particularly significant between 1900 and 1930 (Al-Sayegh 2001). Today, however, the dominant perception of Arab Gulf women before the oil is relegated to the domestic sphere. The common belief is that it is only recently that Gulf women started playing economic and leadership roles. This perception... Sun, 09 Oct 2016 08:42 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1456/awareness-of-emirati-womens-economic-roles-before-the-oil-boom-changing-perceptions-of-gender-roles http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1442/a-contemporary-analysis-of-action-films-with-female-leads By Myranda A. Dapolito - A doorbell rings. Off screen, we hear a sing-songy “Coming!” A woman dressed in a cerulean track suit rushes to the door, expecting to find her daughter home from school. Instead, she finds another woman, blonde and leather jacket-clad. With one startling punch, the blonde woman simultaneously initiates a fight and inserts herself into the home. The two women proceed to destroy the living room of the house: shoving each other into framed pictures, propelling into tables, throwing shelves of painted china, becoming more and more bloodied by the second. The fight reaches a standstill... Wed, 07 Sep 2016 08:26 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1442/a-contemporary-analysis-of-action-films-with-female-leads http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1447/gendered-literacies-a-qualitative-study-of-literacy-practices-in-an-all-female-obgyn-clinic By Ira Memaj - In this ethnographic case study, field observations were conducted of an all-female obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) clinic located in Livonia, Michigan. While interacting with professionals as a student volunteer at the clinic, I took the role of a hidden participant observer and examined the behaviors of these female doctors and compared my observations to those of expected gendered roles. Writing from a New Literacy Studies (NLS) perspective and drawing from the works of sociologists James Gee and Brian Street, this paper provides possible evidence for social theories of literacy that emphasize... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1447/gendered-literacies-a-qualitative-study-of-literacy-practices-in-an-all-female-obgyn-clinic http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1449/analyzing-female-gender-roles-in-marvel-comics-from-the-silver-age-1960-to-the-present By Katherine J. Murphy - Comic books, a form of American popular culture, offer a window into the past, allowing researchers to track societal changes over several decades. The purpose of this study was to determine if, how, and how much female gender roles have changed in Marvel Comics from the Silver Age (1960) to the present (2014) to help understand how popular culture portrays and treats female characters. It was hypothesized that female gender roles in Marvel Comics in the last decade have become less stereotypical and more equitable as compared to the 1960s, as determined by the sevenpoint quantifiable rubric.... Tue, 31 May 2016 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1449/analyzing-female-gender-roles-in-marvel-comics-from-the-silver-age-1960-to-the-present http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1235/how-important-are-masculinity-and-femininity-in-the-culture-of-militaries By Ciaran Kovach - This debate raises a further question: just how important a role does sexuality and gender play within modern military culture? In this essay, the roles of masculinity and femininity, particularly in the context of the modern US military culture, shall be examined through a series of issues in military culture related to gender. An issue that will see particular scrutiny is the role and impact of gender roles and gendered behaviour within militaries. The role of debates on biology and sexual orientation, as well as scrutiny from civilian society of military culture will also be used to explore... Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1235/how-important-are-masculinity-and-femininity-in-the-culture-of-militaries http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1595/the-effects-of-electoral-systems-and-gender-quotas-on-female-representation-in-national-legislatures By Amy Manning - Women make up anywhere from 0% to 56% of the national legislatures around the world. Research has attributed this wide spectrum to political, socioeconomic, and cultural or ideological factors. After testing these existing theories on a sample of 188 countries, this study offers a more comprehensive explanation for this wide variation in female representation. A quantitative analysis of the cases yields four statistically significant factors: type of electoral system, presence or absence of quotas, socioeconomic status, and predominant religion. These factors all affect the proportion of women... Sat, 31 May 2014 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1595/the-effects-of-electoral-systems-and-gender-quotas-on-female-representation-in-national-legislatures http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/569/emily-dickinsons-my-life-had-stood-a-loaded-gun-revealing-the-power-of-a-womans-words By Kathleen E. Gilligan - At other times, Dickinson’s poetry can seem confusing or strange to even the most careful reader. In such instances it is necessary to sift through the clues she leaves in her words in order to decipher the hidden meaning. Her seemingly random capitalization, lack of punctuation or obsession with dashes, and incorrect use of grammar were all done deliberately, sometimes to highlight the message that would have otherwise gone unheeded. One such poem which has multiple meanings is “My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—.” To the average reader, Emily Dickinson’s &ldquo... Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:01 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/569/emily-dickinsons-my-life-had-stood-a-loaded-gun-revealing-the-power-of-a-womans-words http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/157/comparing-female-characters-in-christabel-and-the-eve-of-st-agnes By Alina Saminsky - Despite both being the leading female characters in their respective pieces, Christabel from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Christabel and Madeline from John Keats’ The Eve of St. Agnes have many striking similarities. Throughout both poems, the two women are constantly referred to as pure, innocent, generally good girls.  They are praised by the other characters and by the narrators.  However, both women engage in behavior that defies their descriptions.  Occasionally, this behavior even disrupts gender roles, and the position of the girls in their respective texts is questioned... Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:23 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/157/comparing-female-characters-in-christabel-and-the-eve-of-st-agnes http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/139/women-as-the-submissive-sex-in-mary-shelleys-frankenstein By Stephanie S. Haddad - ... Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:51 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/139/women-as-the-submissive-sex-in-mary-shelleys-frankenstein