Women and Gender Studies -- Graduate Theses

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https://hdl.handle.net/10587/603

Graduate theses completed in the Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies (offered jointly by Mount Saint Vincent University and Saint Mary’s University).

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 36

Frameworks for Freedom: Abolition Work During COVID-19, in Mi’kma’ki
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025) Avery, Ash
This thesis examines abolitionist responses during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on decarceration efforts, responses to intersecting crises, and the development of community-based alternatives to incarceration. Grounded in abolition feminist theory and using autoethnography as methodology, I explore the intersections of abolitionist praxis, the non-profit sector, and the transformative possibilities of building care-based systems rooted in restorative justice, transformative justice, and liberatory harm reduction. Through creative methods, including zine-making and art, this project documents the challenges and potential of abolitionist work amidst unprecedented societal upheaval. The pandemic disrupted every facet of society, exposing deep systemic inequities while offering glimpses of transformative possibilities. In carceral systems, public health risks prompted some decarceration efforts but were paired with heightened punitive measures, highlighting contradictions in crisis-driven reform. These actions revealed that decarceration is both feasible and necessary but also exposed the limitations of temporary, reactionary responses rather than proactive, systemic transformation. My findings reveal significant tensions within abolitionist movements and organizations, including the challenges of cancel culture, moral injury from navigating multiple intersecting crises, and the structural flaws of the non-profit sector, which alone cannot achieve systemic change. This work underscores the importance of resolving internal conflicts within movements without replicating harm, fostering meaningful collaboration, and embracing the radical possibilities of abolitionist frameworks. This thesis situates the COVID-19 pandemic as a critical juncture—a moment that demonstrates both the urgent need for abolitionist advocacy and the limitations of crisis-driven change. Through personal narrative, reflexive analysis, and creative expression, this research contributes to abolitionist knowledge and calls for sustained activism and justice-building grounded in equity, care, and systemic transformation.
Prying into the Cavities: An Abolition Feminist Archival Inquiry of the 2015 Dalhousie Dentistry Restorative Justice Process
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2025-04) Yao, Xinyu
In 2014, the “Dalhousie Dentistry scandal” erupted with the public’s discovery of a series of misogynistic and homophobic postings within a private Facebook group featuring only male Dentistry students. In response, Dalhousie University deployed a months-long restorative justice (RJ) process involving the group members and other Dentistry students. The process elicited mixed responses within the University and the broader community. This thesis delves back into the competing discourses from an abolition feminist perspective, ten years after the incident. The goal of this critical archival inquiry is to complicate a “plausible history” (Enke, 2018) regarding the institutionalization of RJ, especially its use as a gender violence response. Using Ahmed’s (2021) method of “hearing with a feminist ear”, the thesis evaluates from documents produced by the Dalhousie University administration, Dalhousie University students, the news media, and local feminist activists. Through its examination of public, media and institutional discourses, the project seeks to understand the contradictions and tensions that emerge as practices from grassroots movements are adopted by neoliberal institutions.
LGBTQ+ Experiences of the Relationship Between Discrimination and Mental Health Care
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023) Foran, Elayna
This thesis is an exploratory study which examines the experiences that LGBTQ+ individuals have in receiving mental health care in Nova Scotia, uncovering the concerns of LGBTQ+ individuals within care. The recommendations made hereinafter are intended for mental health care providers in Nova Scotia that are seeking to become more cognizant of LGBTQ+-specific issues. The literature that was used explores how LGBTQ+ people are treated in a system that has a history of pathologizing members of these communities. Participants (N=17) completed an anonymous online survey in which they were asked about their experiences in mental health care in Nova Scotia. Survey respondents noted that sensitivities related to disclosure of LGBTQ+ identity, language use, and culturally competent behaviour impacted the perceived quality of care. The analysis of this data also suggests that barriers, such as socioeconomic status or ability, are relevant to the client-provider relationship as well as to the capacity to seek care, and that accounting for the intersectional nature of a client’s identity impacts quality of care, more broadly. Overall, the recommendations presented to providers include understanding their positionality, being mindful of sensitivities related to disclosure of LGBTQ+ identities as well as other aspects of language use, the value of cultural competency training, trauma-informed practices, and understanding the barriers that impact care, such as financial barriers and long wait times.
Persistence of Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya: A Case of Meru County
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2023-08) Kubai, Faith Kairuthi
The goal to end FGM in Kenya by 2022 seems bleak since the practice persists in hotspot areas such as Meru County. This study discusses the persistent crisis of FGM by examining existing discursive practices using feminist content analysis on online content in three organizations that work in the county. The analysis demonstrates that despite having a clear goal to end FGM, there are internal divisions on the use of Do No Harm language, effectiveness of the anti-FGM law, structural gender inequalities fueled by patriarchy and the insider-outsider differences in the African-led movement to end the harmful practice. The divisions emanate from gendered functions of FGM relative to the economic, political, and sociocultural organization of the community that are further exacerbated by the historical positions of sexism, racism, and colonialism characterized by top-down approaches. These are noteworthy because they are key contributing factors in the inability of present approaches to stem FGM and they show that the problem necessitates a bottom-up approach where activists need engagement with what works in their community context and get support to eradicate the practice. Use of discourse analysis in this study helped to consider activists’ standpoints, and grassroots and funder community input that ultimately call for dialogue among stakeholders. The voice of activists is expressed through the content they post in the online media while the grassroots community standpoint is taken from their verbal and written content in the form of testimonies and quotes from anti-FGM campaign training feedback. The funder community as a stakeholder plays a part through the stipulations and recommendations for grantees. This study shows that more successful eradication interventions will depend on factors such as sensitivity to the insider/outsider perspective, dialogue about the FGM law with the community and a focus with more attention on the role of patriarchal power in maintaining FGM practice and on shifting structural changes through women empowerment especially economically.
Equity for Student Parents: Toward Academic Culture and Policy Change
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2022-05) Esau, Erin
This thesis discusses the experiences of undergraduate student parents with university policies and expectations; the factors that affect their experiences; and recommendations to make universities more accessible and inclusive. Data was collected from the websites of seven Nova Scotia universities and through an online asynchronous text-based focus group. The methodological and theoretical framework is based on Intersectionality-based Policy Analysis, Institutional Ethnography, and Ethic of Care. I argue that the effects of systems of oppression are a large factor in student parent experiences and that attempting to address the hardships that many student parents share without attention to structural forces and differential impacts limits the effectiveness of solutions. Recommendations include policy changes to acknowledge the diversity of students and their circumstances, more accessible social activities and events, and an expansion of childcare supports, as well as cultural changes to begin addressing unwritten rules and assumptions.

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