This chapter examines the challenges faced by African American women living with HIV/AIDS and how they learn to live with this chronic illness.

This chapter considers Theme 4 of the "Hamburg Declaration": Adult learning, gender equality and equity, and the empowerment of women. It has a fourfold purpose. It begins with a review of the balance of progress to date in conceptualizing gender. Second, it examines the objectives of CONFINTEA V and VI from a gender perspective. Third, it…

This article highlights four concepts related to embodied knowledge for community awareness: (1) possibilities; (2) risk; (3) collective engagement; and (4) performance. It examines the author's narrative study investigation manifested in a performance text as a case study on how women embodied repressed knowledge and released it through…

The history of adult Jewish education is rich and is replete with learning opportunities for Jewish adults, and Jewish women are active participants in adult Jewish education. In this chapter, the author examines Reform Jewish women's motivations to participate in adult Jewish education. First, she provides a historical overview of Judaism and…

This article arises from dialogue culled from a yearlong doctoral seminar in which both authors participated. The authors are both African ascendant women who teach and learn in a higher education setting. As one of the professors who co-taught the seminar (Cynthia) and a college administrator who was a doctoral student at the time of the seminar…

Narratives are seen as intimate expression, a form of revelation, and a way of constructing a bridge of understanding between the narrator and the audience. However, narratives are also a way of understanding the world, the communities, and one's families. In this chapter, the author first examines how narratives can be used for personal…

This chapter describes social capital theory as a framework for exploring women's networking and social capital resources. It presents the foundational assumptions of the theory, the benefits and risks of social capital engagement, a feminist critique of social capital, and the role of social capital in adult learning.

This chapter examines the cultural influences and applications of women's social capital networks on women's knowledge construction, community development, and autonomy within their cultures and the adult learning context.

Although the value of social capital for organization and individual career success is widely recognized, gender as a moderator in the building of social capital in organizational settings has not received adequate research attention. This chapter looks at how professional women use one aspect of social capital--networks--to assist with their…

In this chapter, two women doctoral candidates examine the nature and function of support systems in graduate adult education. Recommendations and strategies for building social capital in the academy are also discussed.

This chapter examines the potential for personal growth, development, and learning of older adult women who will have many productive years in the workforce. What implications are there for adult education communities who will interact with these older women? How do they adapt to the educational environment, and what social support will enable…

Women have long since used social networking as a means of coping with their struggles, educating and empowering themselves, engaging in broader social movements, and building international advocacy. Internet communities that are designed and facilitated to be inclusive of women's experiences can be important social spaces where women feel…

Humans are social beings endowed with intrinsic and extrinsic capabilities and a desire to seek and receive social support from one another. The extent to which this action takes place varies as people move farther away from their familiar environment to new locations. Many immigrant women have traveled far and wide in search of "better…

Social capital connotes concepts such as assets, wealth, resources, and investments. Applying economic-value terminology to relationships highlights the considerable potential benefits and liabilities (social and economical) that have resulted from women's penchant for investment in social networks, whether they are in society, the workplace, the…

Life for uneducated women involves contending with myriad barriers to economic self-sufficiency. The average income for individuals without at least a high school diploma or GED is about $18,734. That income level falls close to the poverty line established by the federal government for a family of three or more. Further compounding the problem…