Feminism and Intra-Gender Relations in Africa: A Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Feminism is the principle that stipulates that women be given political, economic and social rights equal to those of men. It is also the movement that seeks to raise vibrant women who will be culturally influential and politically powerful. Therefore, it seeks to demand for representation and recognition of women and to wage war against sexual discrimination in the labour force, in education and all works of life. This paper aims to assess the ideology of feminism and feminist criticism, with the view to affirm its success in Africa over the years while focusing on intra-gender relations among women as reflected in Gynotexts (literary texts written by women). It is discovered that the relationship between female characters in gynotexts if left as it is does not promote the feminist ideology but is inimical to it. This is because the lack of healthy sisterhood, though not inherent, but is constituting a distraction to the actualization of the goals of the feminist movement in Africa

Determination of some yield and quality characteristics among individual plants of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia mill.) populations grown under mediterranean conditions in Turkey

This research was carried out on the individual plants of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.). In this research, the main aim was to find out the characteristics of the individual plants; to determine the existence of promising plants to continue the study under Mediterranean condition, and lastly to determine the genotypes which are able to supply the highest yield with better quality. In the study, the characteristics such as the plant height (cm), the flower height (cm), fresh plant yield (g/plant) and the essential oil rate (%) of 260 plants in the first year and 256 plants in the second year were measured. In the individual plants, the highest drug flower yields were 84.70 and 113.30 g/plant in first and second years of study respectively. The essential oil content varied between 0.07% and 4.58% in 2015, 0.05% and 3.55% in 2016 respectively. The results indicated that there was great variation among the individual plants in intrapopulation of Lavandula angustifolia Mill. The seeds of population as palnt material obtained from Pharmasaat GmbH (Germany). Thus the superior genotypes in terms of drug flower yield and essential oil contents can be used in plant breeding programs to develop useful variations for enhancing the oil yield. © 2018, Pakistan Botanical Society. All rights reserved

Laurel (Laurus nobilis L.): A less-known medicinal plant to the world with diffusion, genomics, phenomics, and metabolomics for genetic improvement

Medicinal plants have gained the world’s attention due to their application in various ways. Laurel (Laurus nobilis. L) is a very important medicinal plant of the Mediterranean region. Traditionally this plant has been successfully used in medicine, and its essential oil has great importance. Genomics, breeding, and metabolomics of different crops have remained the main focus of researchers, which made this plant to less known to the world. Most of the researchers only worked about the essential oil and its antibacterial and antioxidant activities. However, still almost no work has been done about the breeding aspects of this important plant. The present review offers an overview about the origin, diffusion, genomics, phenomics, breeding, and metabolomics of laurel. This information would be very helpful for the researchers who are interested in the breeding of this plant. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018