https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146517 2026-07-24T07:26:48Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147354 Title: "Dejjem ninkwieta fuq il-flus..." the gendered dimensions of emotional inequalities in managing household money in Malta Abstract: Drawing on a critical feminist qualitative study of eight married heterosexual couples in Malta, interviewed both jointly and individually, this paper examines the emotional experience and emotional inequalities embedded in household money management. It explores how partners interpret responsibility, worry, and confidence in everyday financial decision-making and how these affective dimensions shape the gendered organisation of domestic economic life.; Analysis of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews reveals a persistent emotional asymmetry: wives consistently shoulder a disproportionate share of financial anxiety, anticipatory planning, and self-doubt regarding budgeting, spending, and saving. This remains evident even in couples who describe their financial arrangements as "shared." In contrast, husbands more frequently articulate — or are portrayed by their spouses as embodying — feelings of confidence, expertise, or delegated responsibility. Many men frame financial management as a technical or even an enjoyable task, rather than an ongoing emotional burden. Notably, this sense of ease is not mirrored when wives take primary responsibility for the household finances.; These dynamics reflect entrenched cultural norms that position women as the emotional guardians of household wellbeing and men as competent financial actors within marriage. The study demonstrates that emotional inequalities, particularly around anxiety, responsibility, and confidence, constitute an under-recognised dimension of the gendered division of labour. 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147279 Title: Deconstructing gender and power : a feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis of "Il-Każin tal-Imqarbin" (misbehaved club) Abstract: This paper explores how Il-Każin tal-Imqarbin, a contemporary theatrical work set in 1980s Malta, constructs and challenges gendered and heteronormative discourses through the lens of Feminist Post-Structuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA). By critically engaging with the play's language, character dynamics, and narrative structure, the research investigates how power, gender performativity, and marginalisation are communicated, contested, and reimagined within a historically queer-invisible Maltese context.; The study highlights the importance of examining cultural productions as sites where silenced LGBTQ+ narratives can be reclaimed and made visible, particularly in periods marked by institutionalised heteronormativity and social conservatism. The analysis focuses not only on the play's historical backdrop but also on its continuing relevance, demonstrating how Il-Każin tal- Imqarbin destabilises rigid binary gender roles. By adopting a feminist post-structuralist perspective, the paper examines how discourses surrounding gender and sexuality are both reflected and subverted within the script, offering alternative ways of understanding subjectivity and agency. 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147278 Title: Institutional contradictions and gendered realities : a feminist reworking of new institutional theory in higher education Abstract: This article investigates how formal institutional frameworks and family-friendly policies at the University of Malta intersect with gendered cultural norms to shape uneven outcomes for working mothers. Using an integrated analytical approach that draws on New Institutional Theory (NIT), Feminist Institutionalism, and Institutional Ethnography (IE), the study reveals how organisational structures that appear inclusive on the surface are often undermined by discretionary practices and informal expectations that reproduce gendered hierarchies.; The research combines textual analysis of institutional documents, survey data, and qualitative interviews with academic and support-staff mothers. The findings demonstrate a consistent implementation gap between policy and practice, highlighting the influence of managerial discretion, entrenched power asymmetries, and the persistence of invisible labour. By bringing feminist institutional insights into conversation with NIT and IE, the study offers a more nuanced framework for understanding the motherhood penalty in academia and underscores the need for stronger accountability and gender-sensitive institutional practices.; The argument builds on and extends existing feminist scholarship on institutional processes and inequalities (Cacace, Mellino, & Recio, 2023; Chappell & Waylen, 2020; Monro, 2021; O'Connor, 2022; Smith & Griffith, 2022). 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/147259 Title: Beyond the anthropological machine : a biopolitical reading of the intersection between woman and animal Abstract: Historically, the construction of the normative subject has perpetuated Cartesian dualism, establishing a framework where the "Other" is subjected to structural oppression under anthropocentric, patriarchal, speciesist, and capitalist hegemony. Stripped of subjectivity and reduced to objecthood, marginalized bodies are rendered violable, exploitable, and "killable," revealing violence as a systematic form of governance. Women and animals serve as the primary sites of this biopolitical administration.; Sovereign power employs a discursive violence — specifically, a two-way metaphorical transitivity — to legitimize this control: the animalization of women and the feminization of animals. Through this transitivity, both groups are abstracted from "rights-bearing subject" and drawn into the "bare life" field of biopolitical power. The body is thus reduced to an object, valued strictly for its productive capacity. The convergence of medical and industrial practices forms a biopolitical nexus between fertility and productivity. Andro-anthropocentrism codes these bodies as 'reproductive machines,' defining femininity exclusively through motherhood. This discourse frames "infertile" or trans women as ontologically "deficient."; A similar situation occurs in the dairy and meat industry through the female animal body. Within this capitalist system, where animals' right to life is contingent upon productivity, cows that lose their fertility or milk yield ("infertile") and "breeding" bulls deemed "dysfunctional" because they cannot perform "masculinity" are reclassified as disposable and are discarded. The intersectional oppression of women's and animals' bodies represents the most naked manifestation of power's authority to make live and kill over bodies. While women's bodies are rendered socially invisible, animals' bodies are physically destroyed. To this end, employing an ecofeminist animal studies perspective and critical discourse analysis, this study examines the categorization practices of sovereign power, presenting a conceptual framework that deconstructs the anthropocentric hierarchy. 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z