Matriarchy: Social system in which familial and political authority is wielded by women. Under the influence of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and, particularly, the work of the Swiss anthropologist Johann Jakob Bachofen (b. 1815, Basel, Switz. — d. 1887, Basel), some 19th-century scholars believed that matriarchy followed a stage of general promiscuity and preceded male ascendancy (patriarchy) in human society's evolutionary sequence. Like other elements of the evolutionist view of culture, the notion of matriarchy as a universal stage of development is now generally discredited, and the modern consensus is that a strictly matriarchal society has never existed. Nevertheless, in those societies in which matrilineal descent occurs, access to socially powerful positions is mediated through the maternal line of kin. [Britannica]
Matriarchy: Familial and political rule by women. Many contemporary anthropologists reject the claims of J. J. Bachofen and Lewis Morgan that early societies were matriarchal, although some contemporary feminist theory has suggested that a primitive matriarchy did indeed exist at one time. Claims for the existence of matriarchy rest on three types of data: societies in which women make the major contribution to subsistence, societies in which descent is traced through women (i.e., matrilineal), and myths of ancient rule by women. But myths of ancient female dominance invariably highlight women's failure as rulers and end with men assuming power. Anthropologists believe that these myths function as a rationalization of contemporary male dominance. Women may have greater political power in matrilineal societies than in other societies, but this does not imply matriarchy. Thus, while Iroquois women could nominate and depose members of their ruling council, the members were male and enjoyed a veto over women. Crow women could take ritual offices, but their power was severely limited by menstrual taboos. Women may also have indirect influence through their involvement in material production. In many horticultural societies women produce the bulk of the group's dietary staples. Even so, men often devalue this vital contribution, and usually have the power to expropriate it. The universality of male dominance is not, however, natural or biological, because the form of, and reasons given for, patriarchy differ in most cultures. Through studying the various ways that male dominance is organized and justified, anthropologists have concluded that it is culturally constructed. [Columbia]
Matriarchy: A stratification system favoring women. [Triton]
Matriarchy: Social organization in which females dominate males. [RSU]
Matrilineal Descent: The tracing of kinship through only the female line. [RSU]
Matrilocality: A family residential pattern in which the husband is expected to live near to the wife's parents. [RSU]
MDGs: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals that 189 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. The Millennium Development Goals were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where 189 world leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, from which the eight-goal action plan, the 'Millennium Development Goals', was particularly promoted. [Wikigender]
Menopause: is the permanent cessation of menstruation which occurs a considerable length of time before the end of the lifespan. The term comes from the Greek words 'meno' (meaning month) and pausis (a halt). The term is used in a broader sense, and menopause is the permanent stopping of female reproductive cycles of various lengths and kinds. [Wikigender]
Method: Techniques used for gathering information in the process of research. For example: interviews, surveys, desk-review, focus groups, community mapping exercises, etc. [MIGS]
Methodology: Refers to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge. Methodology is a theory and analysis of how research should be conducted. [MIGS]
Migration: The movement of people from one country or region to another in order to settle permanently. [RSU]
Misandry: is hatred (or contempt) of men or boys. It is the counterpart to misogyny. Misandry comes from Greek ‘misos’ (hatred) and ‘anēr’, ‘andros’ (man). It is a male-specific form of sexism. [Wikigender]
Miscegenation: The mixing of the races through marriage. [RSU]
Misogyny: is a term that refers to the hatred of girls and women. Its counterpart is misandry, the hatred of boys and men. The term derives from the Greek word ‘misos’ (hatred) and anēr, ‘gynos’ (woman). [Wikigender]
Missing Women: In the late 1980s, Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Amartya Sen coined the term "missing women" to describe the large number of women in the world who are literally not alive due to family neglect and discrimination. In 2005, Emily Oster suggested that Hepatitis B could explain part of this phenomenon; a position which she refuted recently. According to estimations of Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, around 100 million women are "missing" worldwide (more recent estimates suggest that there are 50 million missing women in India alone). [Wikigender]
Monogamy: A form of marriage that joins one male and one female at any given time. [RSU]
Moral Rights and Responsibilities: Rights and obligations based on the general principles of fairness and justice; they are often but not always based on religious beliefs. People sometimes feel they have moral rights even when they do not have legal or human rights in a given situation. [HRUSA]
Mortality Rate: The number of deaths that occur in a particular population in a specified period of time (usually a year). [RSU]
Ms: Ms (UK) or Ms. (USA) is an English honorific used for women before their names to designate their sex. It is a contraction of the honorific 'Mistress' and is commonly used in many English speaking countries to address women without reference to their marital status. [Wikigender]
Natural Family Planning: is a form of birth control using natural signs (such as body temperature) to identify when a woman is at her least and most fertile during each menstrual cycle. The woman can then avoid pregnancy by only having sex during her infertile periods. [NHS, UK]
Neolocality: A family residential pattern in which the married couple lives apart from the place of residence of both the bride's and the husband's parents. [RSU]
New Household Economics: An approach to analysis of the household which depicts the latter as combining the time of household members with market goods to produce the outputs or commodities it ultimately desires. It ignores the internal organisation and structure of families and households because, in the context of pure neoclassical theory, and analogously to the treatment of firms, the theory assumes a costless and efficient operation. Its subject matter includes not only the market behaviour of the household (supply of labour, demand for goods), but also such phenomena as marriage, fertility, the education of children, and the allocation of time. [OECD]
Non-Discrimination: Non-discrimination is vital to the concept of equality. It ensures that no one is denied the protection of their human rights based on external factors. Such factors include age, birth, color, creed, disability, ethnic origin, familial status, gender, language, marital status, political or other opinion, public assistance, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. These categories, however, are only examples; they do not mean that discrimination is allowed on other grounds. [HRUSA]
Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs): Organizations formed by people outside of government. NGOs monitor the proceedings of human rights bodies, such as the United Nations, and are the "watchdogs" of the human rights that fall within their mandate. Some are large and international (e.g., the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and the Girl Scouts), while others may be small and local (e.g., an organization to advocate for people with disabilities in a particular city; a coalition to promote women’s rights in one refugee camp). [HRUSA]
Non-governmental Organization (NGO): is any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level. Task-oriented and driven by people with a common interest, NGOs perform a variety of service and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to Governments, advocate and monitor policies and encourage political participation through provision of information. Some are organized around specific issues, such as human rights, environment or health. They provide analysis and expertise, serve as early warning mechanisms and help monitor and implement international agreements. Their relationship with offices and agencies of the United Nations system differs depending on their goals, their venue and the mandate of a particular institution. [Wikigender]
Nuclear Family: A basic family group consisting of married female and male parents and dependent children, living away from other relatives. [RSU]
Occupational Segregation, Horizontal: Concentration of women and men in specific sectors and jobs. The segregation is often accompanied by different financial valuations of the specific forms of employment and sectors. [CZSO]
Occupational Segregation, Vertical: Concentration of women and men at different levels of employment in the sense of responsibility and position. [CZSO]
Open Lineage Family: A family system found in preindustrial Europe in which family relationships are closely intertwined with the local community. [RSU]
Parental Authority: can be defined as the ensemble of right and powers that the law accords to the father and the mother with respect to the person and the goods of their unemancipated minor children, to the end of their accomplishing the duties of protection, education, and support that are incumbent on them (Rubellin-Devichi 1999). In a lot of cases, the parental authority is given to the father. In a perspective of eradication of gender discrimination, the parental authority should be equally shared by the two parents, without any gender distinction. [Wikigender]
Participant Observation: A research method in which the social scientists engages in systematic observation while a member of the group. [RSU]
Participation: Effective participation implies that women and men have the potential to articulate their needs and interests, and take responsibilities for development actions. Development practice generally has viewed participation in stages – with people participating as passive recipients to active change agents. [Gender and rights-based methodologies emphasize the latter. [MIGS]
Participatory Action Research (PAR): PAR is the most activist-based method of the several commonly-used participatory research methods. With roots in the work of Paulo Freire and other South American social scientists, PAR focuses on the empowerment of local communities and works directly with local political/development organizations to bring about sustainable change. The methods used emphasize participation, capacity-building, ownership of knowledge and empowerment. [MIGS]
Participatory Development: implies a partnership which is built on a dialogue among the various actors (stakeholders), during which the 'agenda' is set jointly and a variety of local views and indigenous knowledge are deliberately sought and respected. Participatory development implies negotiation rather than the dominance of an externally set project agenda. [MIGS]
Participant Observer: One of the most commonly-used methods for conducting participatory research, the participant observer method was established in the field of anthropology. The method is based on observing actions (rather than surveys or interviews) in order to gain insight on a community's values, dynamics, internal relationships, structures and conflicts. The participant observer attempts immersion, to the extent permitted, in local life in order to understand and document how things work. However, the participant observer method is the least “objective” of all methods, relying heavily on the intellectual honesty of the researcher, whose experiences cannot be replicated. It is also the most time-consuming. [MIGS]
Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPA): A commonly-used participatory research method referring to a variety of qualitative methods used to assess the multi-dimensional nature of poverty, highlighting the ways in which different aspects of poverty are connected. Methods include: focus groups, in-depth discussions, and various techniques such as mapping transects and Venn diagrams. It is particularly useful for gauging the gendered aspects of poverty, such as the specific disadvantages faced by poor women, connections between reproduction and production, women’s lack of access to resources, and gender differences in priorities. It has its origins in Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approaches. [MIGS]
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA): A commonly-used method for conducting participatory research on poverty. Building on Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), PRA’s emerged in the 1980s and use local graphic representations created by the community that legitimize local knowledge and promote empowerment. Five concepts are central to PRA: empowerment, respect, localization, enjoyment, and inclusiveness. [MIGS]
Patriarchy: Systemic societal structures that institutionalise male physical, social and economic power over women. [MIGS]
Patriarchy: Social organization that structures the dominance of men over women. [RSU]
Patriarchy: refers to a society or group in which men have power over women. Henslin (2008:262) contends that patriarchy is tied to the "social consequences of reproduction." He notes that historically, life was short which required the production of many babies. This fact had serious consequences for women because only women could become pregnant, carry a child, give birth and nurse children. Henslin (2008:262) suggests that because women of child care duties, women "assumed tasks associated with home and child care." [Del Mar]
Patriarchy: A society where women are dominated by men. S. Walby (1990) has distinguished six locations of patriarchal relations: sexuality, the household, male-on-female violence, paid employment, cultural institutions, and the state. These are not mutually exclusive sites of exploitation: historically, the state has tolerated male-on-female violence within the household, for example. Each of these has its own geography. Patriarchy is a key concept in Marxist and socialist feminism, although explanations and interpretations, again not necessarily mutually exclusive, vary from the biological (women are weaker) to the economic (women provide domestic support for the working male, and/or a cheap army of reserve labour) to the cultural (masculinity and traditional masculine skills are valued above femininity and traditionally female skills). [Geography Dictionary]
Patrilineal Descent: The practice of tracing kinship only through the male line. [RSU]
Patrilocality: A family residential pattern in which the wife is expected to live near to the husband's parents. [RSU]
Phallocentric: The term refers to the cultural and social organization of the world fostered by the patriarchy. [MIGS]
Physical Abuse: Physical acts of abusive behaviour and/or threats of abuse such as: pushing, grabbing, shoving, hair-pulling, hitting, slapping, beating up, kicking, burning, choking, using a weapon, or threats of the above. [UNECE]
Policy Research: Social research aimed at clarifying issues and problems that can then be addressed by changes in social policy. [RSU]
Politics of Location: A research perspective which grew out of feminist methodology, primarily through the critiques of women of color in both the global north and global south who viewed the majority of early gender research as stemming from a generic white, Northern, middle-class perspective. The politics of location suggests that personal backgrounds and experiences of researchers (whether chosen or imposed by society) have political and theoretical implications that must be articulated throughout the research process. [MIGS]
Polyandry: A form of marriage in which a woman may have more than one husband. [RSU]
Polygamy: A man marrying more than one wife or temporary wives leading to insecurity of women and facilitating the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is illegal in most countries but still persists. [MIGS]
Polygamy: A form of marriage in which a person may have more than one spouse. [RSU]
Polygyny: A form of marriage in which a man may have more than one wife. [RSU]
Population: In social research this term refers to the total group of people that the researcher is studying. For very large groups, sampling is usually undertaken. [RSU]
Population Density: The number of people who live in a given area. This is usually measured by the number of people per square mile. [RSU]
Population Replacement Level: A condition in which the birth rate and the death rate are about equal, thus leading to zero population growth. [RSU]
Pornography: (commonly shortened to 'porn') is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer. It is distinct from artistic portrayals of nudity or erotica, the use of sexually arousing imagery. Pornography is however targeted and criticised by feminists and human rights campaigners for its negative depiction of women as sexual objects, promoting sexual violence against women and for the exploitation of young women in the industry. [Wikigender]
Postpartum Depression: also called postnatal depression, is a form of clinical depression which can affect women, and less frequently men, after childbirth. It is related to "baby blues" and postpartum exhaustion, though is distinct from both these conditions. [Wikigender]
Poverty: Condition of being unable to achieve an adequate standard of living. Today, standards of living vary greatly among and within nations. Nonetheless, the effects of poverty remain constant: hunger, homelessness, lack of education, and lack of resources to fulfill basic human needs. For example, one of the main causes of hunger is poverty. Most people who are starving do not have the means to obtain the food that they need. [HRUSA]
Poverty Line: The amount of income that it takes to maintain a family at a basic level. This amount is often determined by government. [RSU]
Practical Gender Needs: Practical gender needs are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles. Practical gender needs do not challenge the gender division of labour or women’s sub-ordination in society, although arising out of them. PGNs are a response to immediate perceived and identified necessity within a specific context. They are practical in nature and often are concerned with inadequacies in living conditions such as water provisions, health care and employment. [DRWA, India]
Practical and Strategic Gender Needs Practical gender needs arise from the different material conditions of women and men, due to the roles ascribed to them by society. They reflect women’s position in society, but do not include challenging it. (An example is the need for a clean water supply nearby.) Strategic gender needs relate to women’s empowerment and to what is required to challenge the gender balance of power and control to achieve gender equality. (An example is the need for equal access to decision-making power.) [Commonwealth Secretariat]
Prejudice: Is made up of unfavorable or discriminatory attitudes (not actions) towards persons of different categories. Racial, sexual and other types of discrimination can exist at the level of personal relations and individual behaviour as well as be institutionalised as legal or administrative policy. [MIGS]
Prejudice: The holding of unfounded ideas about a group, ideas that are resistant to change. [RSU]
Premature Birth: (also known as preterm birth) is the birth of a baby before the standard period of pregnancy is completed. In most systems of human pregnancy, prematurity is considered to occur when the baby is born sooner than 37 weeks after the beginning of the last menstrual period (LMP). The opposite condition, postmature birth, is defined as birth more than 42 weeks after the LMP. [Wikigender]
Primary Group: A typically small group of individuals standing in an enduring personal relationship to one another--examples would include parents, spouse, or close friends. [RSU]
Primary Group Structure: A term used in sociocultural materialism to refer to structural groups in which members tend to interact on an intimate basis. They perform many functions such as regulating production, reproduction, socialization, education, and enforcing social discipline. Examples include family, community, voluntary organizations, and friendship networks. [RSU]
Primary Labour Market: The term refers to the economic position of individuals engaged in occupations that provide secure jobs, and good benefits and working conditions. [RSU]
Principle of Equal Treatment for Men and Women: This means eliminating any form of discriminatory behaviour by one person towards another in relation to access to work and service positions, the selection, expert training, work and service conditions and promotion on the grounds that they belong to a particular sex, or because of their marital or family status or family obligations. No one can misuse the rights and obligations under labour-law and service relations to the detriment of another party to labour-law or service relations, or to demean that person's human dignity. To demean a person's human dignity also includes unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature. [CZSO]
Productive Roles: Refer to the activities carried out be men and women in order to produce goods and services either for sale, exchange, or to meet the subsistence needs of the family. For example in agriculture, productive activities include plating, animal husbandry and gardening that refers to farmers themselves, or for other people at employees. [MIGS]
Productive Work: This is work that produces goods and services for exchange in the market place (for income). Some analysts, especially those working on questions of equality between men and women, include the production of items for consumption by the household under this definition, even though they never reach the market place, regarding this as consumption of a form of non-monetary income. Both men and women contribute to family income with various forms of productive work, although men predominate in productive work, especially at the higher echelons of remuneration. Historically, in most societies, changes in economic structure, and hence in the structure of productive activities, have led to changes in the sexual division of labour and gender relations. [MIGS]
Prostitution: is defined by the selling of sex in exchange for cash or services. While there are both male and female prostitutes, the occupation is most commonly practiced by and associated with women. It is often called the 'oldest profession', since there are references to prostitutes as early as the Ancient Greeks; the late Roman Empire had significant legislation on prostitution and it is a profession criticised severely for its perceived sexual immorality during the Middle Ages and beyond. Terms often used instead of prostitute include commercial sex worker or sex trade worker. A hooker or streetwalker solicits customers in public places; a call girl makes appointments by phone. Other terms such as whore in English carry strong pejorative overtones. [Wikigender]
Protocol: A treaty which modifies another treaty (e.g., adding additional procedures or substantive provisions). [HRUSA]
Public Health Care: Government funded health-care services available to all members of the population. [RSU]
Purdah or Pardaa: (literally meaning "curtain") is the practice of preventing men from seeing women. This takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their bodies and conceal their form. Purdah exists in various forms in the Islamic world and among Hindu women in parts of India. [Wikigender]
