To mark International Women's Day on 8 March, we've curated this collection of six articles from across our journals, highlighting the diverse experiences of women across the world and the past, present, and future challenges we face as we strive towards gender equality.

Quality of care in maternal and neonatal health in Jumla, rural Nepal: Women’s perspective | Pasang Tamang

Women’s experiences of care play an essential role in improving the quality of care in maternal and neonatal health. The health system needs to consider women’s experiences while planning for maternal health system in order to improve the maternal and neonatal health outcomes. This study explores women’s perspective on quality of care in maternal and neonatal health in the Jumla district of Nepal. Read more.

Feminine Magic | Lynne Kelly

Having been introduced to magic by my father, I have adapted the classic methods to work in my role as a mature female teacher. Using performance and mysterious narrative, intriguing props and playing on my femininity, the classic magician routines have served me well when performing for teenagers. Reworking the classic routines in this way ensures that a school magic club for teenagers serves the various needs of both male and female students. Read more.

Living with the mantle of the strong black woman | Laura Pusey

This research project identifies factors navigated by the African-Caribbean-British woman, such as intersectionality, and investigates tropes that encourage emulations of strength and instil shame and stigma. It uses semi-structured interviews with six African-Caribbean-British women between the ages of 40-49 to explore the challenges faced by the displaced African woman, raised outside of Africa and Othered due to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Read more.

Sylvia Plath and the containment of women’s domestic identity | Eleanor Catherine Slater

Examining the political climate of Cold War America through the lens of domestic containment, this article argues that poet Sylvia Plath tackled the illusions of consumerism to fuel her writing, challenging outright gender inequality which defined the nation. Through her raw depictions of realism in literature and intense poetry, it becomes impossible to ‘contain’ Plath, not only within the domestic sphere, but also in her own writing. Read more.

Measuring the relationship between workplace opportunities and motivation among women in the technology industry | Jess Murdoch

The issue of gender imbalance is one that affects almost all industries but is particularly prevalent within technology and engineering. Just 14.4% of the overall science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) workforce in the UK are female (ONS, 2015). This paper looks into the reasons women are still not choosing engineering and technology careers and the reasons why the women who have broken through into the industry are leaving. Read more. 

The Rhetorical Goddess: A Feminist Perspective on Women in Magic | Laura C Bruns and Joseph P Zompetti

Although female magicians have existed since the rise of entertainment magic, women have faced difficulty in entering the “fraternity” of the magic community. As an art form largely based around persuasion, it is useful to study female magicians within the context of rhetoric. Examining the rhetoric of female magicians provides insights on the rhetoric of women in this unique arena, and of women in a historically gendered and underrepresented field. Read more.

Fields: Journal of Huddersfield Student Research journals Journal of Performance Magic International Women's Day article collection