International journal for intersectional feminist studies

Editorial collective report It gives me immense pleasure to write the first editorial report on behalf of our editorial collective. International journal for intersectional feminist studies is a publication of Project Monma research centre, and is published with the aim of providing opportunity for young researchers, scholars and postgraduate students to publish their feminist work and share it with the world. The journal also provides the young scholars a chance to peer-review other researchers’ work. This prepares them for future challenges and introduces them to the world of publication. For the first issue we received diverse submissions on various feminist issues which highlights the different challenges faced by women across the globe. The first article from Aisha Bhatti & Dr. Rabia Ali provides an interesting description of the lifestyle and health of professional Pakistani women. The article sheds light on how social transformation has increased the burden of both paid work and unpaid domestic work on these women which affects their health. In “Leaders in the desert: The Sahrawi women of Western Sahara” Johanna Higgs & Dr. Christine Ryan discuss the experiences they had with Sahrawi women in refugee camps in Southern Algeria. Higgs and Ryan elucidate that Sahrawi women are empowered and the main challenges they face are coping with the hot weather, water scarcity and achieving independence rather than patriarchy. Sandra Iskander, in her article on forced marriages in New Zealand focuses on the gaps in current New Zealand legislation. These gaps indicate the current legislation is not enough to provide protection to the female victims of forced marriages from African, Middle Eastern and African communities living in New Zealand. In our last article, Ambika Kohli, discusses the New Zealand government’s reluctance to pass specific legislation on forced marriages. Kohli argues that this suggests that the current legislation is based on the ideology of public patriarchy that is mainly experienced of by European women in New Zealand. However, the multicultural fabric of the New Zealand society. In closing I would like to thank all our contributors, our peer-reviewers, our editorial collective team, Sionainn Byrnes from UC Fem Soc (University of Canterbury Feminist Society), and UC Fem Soc. For any inquiries regarding the journal please contact Ambika Kohli [e-mail] Kind regards Ambika Kohli