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    Breaking the masculine looking glass : women as co-founders, nurturers, and executors of extremism in New Zealand : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Defence and Security, Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Carson, Donna
    The world of extremist violence is not wholly masculine despite presenting as such. Women are just as capable as men of embracing toxic ideologies, organized hate, and committing acts of violence. Yet when it comes to women's active presence in violent extremism (VE) and Extremism/Terrorism (E&T), general skepticism about women’s agency and free will means that any discussion will be focused on men. Focusing on the NZ environment post 9/11, this thesis presents insight into how women can, and do, participate in extreme ideologies, specifically in contemporary Islamic (IE) and Right-Wing extremism (RWE). It aims to advance conceptual foundations applicable to the NZ counter-terrorism (CT) environment and enhance public and government agency understandings. This thesis will show that the predisposition to gender profile women erases them as potential extremists (violent and non-violent) which has ramifications for national security. This erasure happens in two ways. Firstly, gendered norms and narratives that infantize or sexualize these women inspire security, legal and political responses to do the same. Secondly, it leads security frameworks to focus on men and disregard the women in their lives. Continuing to underestimate women means the more extensive and complex picture of extremism in NZ remains missing. Women's IE or RWE ideological adherence and involvement are not purely domiciliary. Framing it as such deprecates women’s contribution as actively committed co-creators of a euro supreme nation or a militant Islamic caliphate. This thesis confirms that extreme male hegemonic movements have long drawn diverse female recruits, and NZ women are not the exception. If NZ refuses to treat these women now or in the future with the same seriousness as their male counterparts, gender cynicism obscures potential national security threats. NZ needs to update its future-focused CT infrastructure to remove definitional silos and gender-blind spots because VE and E&T are ongoing global and local phenomena.
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    Baby-boomer women's stories : gendered from primary school to retirement : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Terry, June E
    Gender inequality has had a major influence on the lives of women throughout history. Along with many western countries, New Zealand women protested for the right of suffrage, battled for decades in law courts to achieve personal autonomy over their own bodies, and played a role in the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Their aim was to achieve equal rights and greater personal freedoms, however, sometimes their own life experiences tell a different story. My research looks at the lives of a group of New Zealand women born into the baby boom generation, from the time they were part of the education system in the 1950s and 1960s, until the present day in their retirement. I examine their state of dependence within a patriarchal society and how feminism has unconsciously aided their journey through to the time they achieved their version of freedom later in life. The research conducted for this project involved a micro-level qualitative study using informal, semi-structured interviews with a specific group of women born into the generation known as baby boomers. The thesis shows that some areas of women’s lives have not benefitted from the feminist movement. In particular, the power and control that men continue to have over some women in the 21st century remains an under-explored area. The most significant theme to emerge from my analysis is that the participants were unaware that many of the events that took place during their life course were anything other than specific to them. Being part of a generation where problems at home were never discussed, they deserve to have their stories told.
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    Silence and the narrative body : liberating lost voices in narrative : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Creative Writing, Massey University, Manawatū, Aotearoa New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Fransham, Lena Huia
    How can words express a silence? How can the silence of the traumatised be put into narrative? How can language, generated by a given culture, give voice to perspectives that are erased by that culture? Language, as a regulatory social product centring the white, male, able-bodied subject, mutes those it correspondingly renders marginal; a silencing compounded in traditions of narrative that construct the non-white, non-male, differently-abled subject as Other, contributing to a real-world culture that amplifies the white male voice over all others. How can narrative, as a category of language, adequately express the experience of imposed silence? Emerging from post-structuralist thought around the problem of resistance to the linguistically-structured monoculture of the centred male subject, Julia Kristeva’s argument that the physical drives emerge in transverbal modes of communication gives rise to the possibility of the body as a transformative force in narrative. More recently, corporeal narratology has fostered inquiry into the body’s role in both the perpetuation and the disruption of oppressive narrative conventions. With a focus on works by Kathy Acker and Angela Carter against this background of feminist post-structural theory and corporeal narratology, the critical component of this thesis explores silences imposed by language and examines how the textual body might tell a story otherwise untold. The collection of short fiction that comprises the creative component approaches themes around silence, voicelessness, the body, and the world-making powers of language, with a range of exploratory narrative strategies inspired by fairy tales, Kristeva’s semiology, post-structuralist discourse and the notion of the body as a text.
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    Women and their fur-babies : leaving family violence together : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Gillespie-Gray, Jasmine
    The use of animal abuse as a coercive control technique within intimate partner violence is found in nearly half of all violent relationships. Concern for their animals’ well-being, fear for their own safety and difficulty finding temporary animal accommodation leads to women remaining in these relationships. Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge is the only women’s refuge in New Zealand that makes formal provision for animals at their safe houses, enabling women and animals to leave violence together. This research explores the relationship women have with their animals within the context of intimate partner violence, positions animals as victims of family violence themselves, and asks why the service Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge offers is important in enabling women and their animals to leave family violence together. Three women who had animals and were residing at Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge, two Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge social workers and four Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff volunteered to participate in conversational interviews that were focused on women’s relationships with their animals and experiences of animal abuse and intimate partner violence. The provision of accommodation for animals leaving violence was investigated. The interviews were voice-recorded, transcribed and analysed using feminist standpoint epistemology and Riessman’s (1993) method of narrative inquiry. The analysis represents the strength of women’s relationships with their animals and the importance of them being able to leave their violent relationships together. Animals were positioned as victims of family violence within this research, resulting from the animals’ experiences of physical abuse, purposeful neglect and emotional suffering. Women were found to generally position their animals to be part of the family and an important source of comfort, unconditional love and companionship, especially during difficult times. Having these animals at the safe house with them meant that the women were able to settle in to the safe house better and focus on moving forward with their lives, rather than worrying about their animal’s safety or grieve the loss of, or temporary separation from, their relationship with their animal. This research has highlighted the need for systematic changes to the way we understand family violence and how we view animals within our society, and the need for the development and implementation of programs, like Tiaki have, that enable women, children and animals to leave violence together.