Guide to the Winston F. Bolton Papers

The core of this collection comprises the literary works of Winston F. Bolton, encompassing poetry and short stories crafted over a span of six decades. Additionally, Bolton\u27s repertoire extends to the creation of short scripts for skits, plays, and screenplays. Intertwined within this collection are letters exchanged between Bolton and his longtime companion, Faye George, including a jointly authored letter addressed to President Ronald Reagan. An equally substantial component of this series comprises Bolton\u27s ideological essays, delving into significant social, Finding Aid: Winston F. Bolton Papers (MSS-056) 3 Maxwell Library Bridgewater State University / 10 Shaw Road / Bridgewater MA 02325 [email protected] / 508-531-1389 cultural, and philosophical themes that deeply resonated with him. Moreover, the collection offers insight into Bolton\u27s personal narrative through thirty years\u27 worth of journal entries

Guide to the Amelia E. Leconte Collection

This collection is organized into two series, each offering a comprehensive glimpse into the life and accomplishments of Amelia Leconte. The first series encompasses a rich assortment of documentation, photographs, and correspondence stemming from Amelia\u27s teaching in Oujda, Morocco. Within this series are documents such as her USA Grant Award Letters, a congratulatory telegram from John F. Kennedy while he was a Massachusetts senator, travel documents, a meticulously kept notebook containing lesson notes and grades, a curated selection of publications on Morocco and notable travel destinations, and speeches delivered upon her return to various high schools. The second series delves into Amelia\u27s academic pursuits, highlighting her poetic publications, acquisition of both a bachelor\u27s and master’s degree in French, a prestigious Fulbright scholarship that allowed her to teach English in France, and her remarkable 35-year tenure as a high school French teacher in Barnstable. Noteworthy within this series are newspaper clippings chronicling Amelia\u27s academic and scholarship achievements, elevating her to the status of a local celebrity in South Shore Massachusetts. Additionally, the series includes multiple folders of photographs capturing pivotal moments such as her graduation from Bridgewater State Teachers College (BSU), BSU Alumni events for her graduating class, her college yearbook, and portrait headshots spanning various stages of Amelia\u27s life. A unique aspect of this series is the correspondence exchanged between Amelia and her mother during her global travels, accompanied by a stamp collection from each country she visited. Accompanying both series are multiple tin boxes containing photographic film slides of Amelia’s time teaching in both France and Morocco

Inequality in the Participation of Women on Corporate Boards

In recent years, studies on gender inequality have increased because of the 1995 World Conference on Women, which aimed to increase women’s participation in decision-making and exercising power. This paper investigates this research question: How does participation by gender on corporate boards and in directorships impact the rest of the decision-making positions? We conducted this study to give evidence of the gender inequality that exists on boards of directors and within leadership positions in Mexico with the aim of proposing strategies to remedy this situation. The hypothesis is that if men make up the majority of corporate boards and directorships, the difficulty for women to attain these positions increases. This exploratory study originates from the 2019 report Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective and analyzes reports of 29 companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange, including financial services, media technology, telecommunications, consumer products, industry, energy, and health sectors. The results show that in the countries studied, including Mexico, the predominance of men in directorships and corporate boardrooms prevails. We highlight that in countries where women have been included in decision-making positions, the presence of women in functional directorship positions is increasingly common. Although in Mexico a movement to demand the constitutional right to equality was followed by the establishment of positive measures in favor of women, the initiative to set gender quotas as a fair practice in forming corporate boards and filling directorship positions has not taken hold. This has motivated us to argue for a norm in favor of equality in the positions of directors and board members

Do Resources Create Empowerment?: A Study of Tribal Women Farmers in Madhya Pradesh, India

As of late, there has been debate about the importance of recognizing women in agriculture as farmers. The demand to be recognized is backed by women’s significant contribution to the household economy. Scholars have attempted to establish a correlation between land ownership and women’s empowerment in agriculture. This is an oversimplification of the situation of women farmers and their empowerment, especially in the context of tribal society where women have better access to and control over community and forest resources. We undertook this study to examine if having land and other resources is a prerequisite for the empowerment of tribal women farmers. The study is based on a primary survey conducted by a network of civil society organizations (CSOs) that enhance the livelihoods of tribal women in Madhya Pradesh, India. The analysis is informed by the researchers’ decade-long experience of working with tribal women farmers, our visits to the villages during the study period, and the available literature. The survey’s findings indicate that having resources is necessary but not sufficient on its own for the empowerment of tribal women. Additionally, the survey points out that having better access to and control over resources has a very weak to weak correlation with decision-making, leadership, and wellbeing outcomes. Many ethnographic studies and our direct work with tribal communities in Central India show that agency is also exercised through the work tribal women put in and the knowledge they have. Moreover, understanding the agency of tribal women requires a nuanced and close observation of women’s assertions and negotiations in their everyday lives. We believe it is crucial to examine how tribal women perceive their immediate environment, as well as their relationships with people, nature, work, and kinship affiliations. Therefore, this paper calls for future ethnographic studies to understand tribal women’s agency and an in-depth exploration of sociocultural contexts in which tribal women live

Book Review: Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency

Doubleday released Andy Greenberg’s Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency in November 2022. Through vivid case studies of global criminal investigations, the book dispels myths about the anonymizing power of cryptocurrency. The book details how the ability to identify cryptocurrency users and payment methods successfully brought down several large criminal empires, while also highlighting the continuous cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement officials and criminal actors using cryptocurrency. The book is an excellent resource for law enforcement officials, academics, and general cybersecurity practitioners interested in cryptocurrency-related criminal activities and law enforcement techniques

Women’s Empowerment and the Honey Production Projects in the Protected Areas of Usumacinta Canyon, Mexico

Beekeeping is an activity with positive effects for biodiversity and food security; furthermore, it is compatible with the conservation objectives of protected areas. Likewise, previous studies show that the participation of women in beekeeping projects gives them access to paid work and triggers the possibility of their empowerment. The aim of the article is to explore the process of women’s empowerment as one of the social results that derives from the meliponic farmers and beekeepers’ projects implemented in the protected area of the Usumacinta Canyon, Mexico. For this research project, visits were made to the places of honey production in the Usumacinta Canyon, notes were collected from participant observation and unstructured interviews were taken at the site. The findings indicate that the participation of women in these projects has given them access to material resources, such as earning income from their work, and they exhibited other dimensions of the empowerment process, in particular agency—the ability to define and achieve their goals

Subjugation of Adivasi Women and the Role of NGO PRADAN in Holistic Development

Adivasis are the original inhabitants of India, and their history has been plagued by suffering and deprivation. From the Aryan invasion of 1400 B.C. to the British colonial period, Adivasis have been subjected to domination, displacement, organized loot of resources, and suppression. They are still experiencing forced displacement and other forms of injustice and inequalities in the name of capitalist development. The Indian government took many positive steps to change the condition of Scheduled Tribes (the constitutional term for Adivasi), but despite these governmental actions, no significant changes have been witnessed in their livelihood. A vast majority of the Adivasi population cannot use governmental facilities. The condition of Adivasi women is even worse than that of Adivasi men. PRADAN (Professional Assistance for Development Action), a nonprofit, non-government organization started in the 1980s with the vision of bringing positive changes to the lives of less privileged people, primarily works on problems of severe poverty, illiteracy, high infant mortality, and social evils like dowry, slavery, and wife burning. The present work presents a brief history of the Adivasi and the constitutional debate over the term Adivasi, a highlight of the measures taken by the government, and a discussion of the difficult life circumstances faced by Adivasi women. This paper critically explores the pattern of crime against Adivasi women. It further focuses on the innovative and effective strategies and community-based approaches that PRADAN embraced in helping to improve the lives of Adivasi women. Specifically, this paper will discuss how Adivasi women are becoming united through PRADAN’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and other women’s organizations formed by PRADAN, such as Narmada Mahila Sangh (NMS), Damodar Mahila Mandal (DMM), and Nari Adalat (Women’s Court) that provide justice and hope to Adivasi women