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    Experiences of women of colour who were third culture kids or internationally mobile youth : an exploratory study of implications for global leadership development : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Chatiya Nantham, Rhema Roja
    Global leadership development programmes (GLDPs) are typically focussed on competency development and teaching culturally appropriate etiquette, but, adapting to new contexts often involves challenges to people’s sense of self, addressing an area which is known as identity work. Learning from people who encountered such challenges early in life could assist in developing global leaders by offering insights into the kinds of identity work strategies needed to deal with their offshore posting, and to ensure that identity work processes are designed into such programmes. To address these aims, this study draws on the lived experiences of nine women of colour who lived outside their home country as children or adolescents, a cohort known as Third Culture Kids (TCKs), to identify various identity-related issues they encountered and the lessons these experiences offer for global leadership development. As such, this interdisciplinary study draws on and contributes to literatures related to TCKs and Adult TCKs (ATCKs), global leadership development, and identity work for leadership development. This qualitative study comprised a series of workshops designed specifically to foster identity work amongst the participants. The data was collected via virtual focus group discussions. The study adopted a combination of participatory and emancipatory action research approaches, underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology and is theoretically informed by Critical Race Feminism, anti-racist feminisms, and identity theory as key influences. These decisions reflect the aim of centring attention on a cohort routinely understudied in the TCK, global leadership development and leadership development literatures, namely women of colour. The findings were thematically analysed via an inductive approach to identify the experiences and identity work strategies of participants as TCKs in response to the racist-sexist prejudices they encountered, their implicit leadership theories and their approach to leadership, showing how the focus group process was itself a vehicle for doing identity work in relationship to their leader identities. I identify the lessons that can be drawn from TCKs, and from the methods used in this study, to inform the deployment of identity work in GLDPs. From these findings, I develop frameworks explaining the identity work processes experienced by TCKs and how they internalised their leadership identity via the methods used in my study and build models for GLDPs from these insights.
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    Gender and ethnicity in politics : an intersectional approach to New Zealand and French media coverage : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at Massey University, Wellington Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Galy-Badenas, Flora
    Media play an important role in reinforcing dominant ideologies and in shaping people’s opinions. Previous studies of media representations of women politicians, many conducted in the US, have illustrated how biased coverage may convey a negative image of these women politicians to an audience. This project contributes to the literature by examining discriminatory media discourses, with a special focus on the representations of minority women politicians outside of the North American context. It investigates the role media discourses play in reproducing and perpetuating hegemonic ideologies that sustain the oppression of and discrimination against some groups in the specific contexts of Aotearoa New Zealand and France. To this effect, this project analyses media representation of five high-profile women politicians: Jacinda Ardern, Rachida Dati, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Metiria Turei, and Paula Bennett. Grounded in social constructionism, this project draws on concepts of neoliberal-feminism, Othering, anti-Māori themes, and intersectionality. Methods used include reflexive thematic analysis, feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA), and intersectionality to analyse data from mainstream news media in Aotearoa New Zealand and France. This project includes three empirical studies. The first one explores the reproduction of, and to some extent the challenging of, dominant ideologies about gender roles in pregnancy, parenthood, and work/family balance through coverage of Ardern’s pregnancy in both New Zealand and international media. The following two articles extend Article I by integrating the concept of intersectionality into the analysis to consider how the combination of various social identities contribute to the construction of varying discriminatory discourses in culturally diverse environments. Article II examines the Othering of Dati and Vallaud-Belkacem in French newspapers Le Monde and Le Figaro, arguing that the immigrant background of both ministers is frequently mentioned in their coverage, especially in reference to their missteps, which effectively render them illegitimate in their ministerial roles. The intersection of other social identities furthers the Othering process present in the coverage of these two minority women politicians. Finally, Article III explores the construction of Turei and Bennett in terms of anti-Māori themes in New Zealand media, demonstrating that both ministers are denigrated both as individuals and in their political roles, but on different grounds: Bennett’s alignment to the Establishment is reflected in the more gendered coverage she received; whereas Turei, who represents the anti-Establishment, is marginalised for her Māoriness along with her gender. Results of all three studies illuminate the complexity of discourses, especially when they involve various intersecting social identities, and the importance of taking into account the societal, political, and historical context in which media discourses are constructed. This research project contributes to the gendered and racialised mediation literature, and furthers the discussion on intersectionality.
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    Skilled women ethnic immigrants : is there any point at which being a multiple minority becomes an advantage, as predicted by Dual Process Theory? : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2017) Madambi, Farai
    Previous research on bias has focused on selection bias in recruitment. This research explores the issue of Treatment Bias (lack of advancement or promotion opportunities). The context for the research is potential treatment bias against skilled immigrant women from a range of different ethnic backgrounds, some of whom may experience bias yet others not. The purpose of this research is to test the theories of treatment bias in particular to find out whether Dual Process Theory can help close the gap in understanding of why some skilled immigrant women may not always be accepted in sustainable (respectful, recognition of skills) forms of livelihood in New Zealand workplaces. The research examines the interplay of psychological theories of similarity attraction, social identity, social dominance and realistic conflict with minority influence theory, which suggests that minority status might actually become an advantage for consistent minorities, e.g., minorities that are a minority across multiple criteria (such as “woman” AND “immigrant” AND “ethnic”). Sixty-five immigrant women with approximately 6.35 years’ experience working in a diverse range of New Zealand organisations completed a scenario-type questionnaire based on their direct experiences of working in New Zealand. Participants ranked employers’ perceived preference for promotion, perceived similarity/cultural fit to the majority culture/workplace, perceived status in the workplace and perceived threat or competitiveness for promotion opportunities. Employees were presented in the scenarios as equally skilled, qualified and all performed at the same level. In a 2x2x2 factorial design, majority and minority status for each employee to be ranked was systematically varied by gender (male/female), ethnicity (ethnic/non-ethnic) and immigration status (immigrant/non-immigrant). Despite equality of qualifications, experience and performance, there was no point at which being a minority presented an advantage as predicated by the minority influence theory. Instead, the mean ranking for perceived preference for promotion revealed that the majority was consistently preferred over single (e.g., female, or immigrant, or ethnic) then double (any combination of two of the above minority criteria) then treble minorities. There was also co-variation between minority status on the one hand and social dominance, social identity, realistic conflict and similarity attraction on the other, suggesting a combined explanatory role for each construct (similarity, identity, etc.) in treatment bias. With each step from single, double to treble minority status there was a consistent decrement in perceived preference; the results showed clear preference for the majority with no particular preference or advantage for the minority at any stage. Discussion focuses on opportunities for future research and improvements regarding the methodology for future research.
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    Associations between physical activity, body composition, nutrient intake, and bone mineral density in pre-menopausal Pacific Island women living in New Zealand : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2015) Casale, Maria
    Background/Aim: Anecdotally it is suggested that Pacific Island women have good bone mineral density (BMD); however little evidence for this or for associated factors exists. The aim of this study is to explore associations between several key predictors of bone health with bone mineral density, as measured by BMD (g/cm2), in pre-menopausal Pacific Island women. Methods: Healthy pre-menopausal Pacific Island women (n=91; age 16-45y) were recruited. Participants’ body composition and total body BMD were assessed using DXA and air-displacement plethysmography (BodPod). A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and current bone-specific physical activity questionnaire (cBPAQ) were completed. Variables that significantly correlated with BMD were applied to a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean BMD was 1.1 g/cm2 ± 0.08. Bone-free, fat-free lean mass only (LMO, 52.4kg ± 6.9) and total mass (90.4kg ± 19) were the only factors to show a significant correlation with BMD. Body-fat (38.4% ± 7.6), cBPAQ score (1.7 (0.4,5.2)), and dietary calcium (1016mg ± 442), protein (18% ± 3.8) and vitamin C (125mg (94, 216)) showed no correlation with BMD. The regression analysis suggests that LMO is the most important predictor of BMD, explaining 13.4% of the variance, while total mass accounts for a further 2.5% of the variance. Together, these factors explain a total of 15.9% of the variability. Conclusions: LMO is the strongest predictor of BMD, while many established contributors to bone health (calcium, physical activity, protein, and vitamin C) do not appear to be associated with BMD in this population. As just 15.9% of the variability can be explained, further research is needed in this area.