Showing papers on "Women's work published in 1997"

Women's Work in Rural China: Change and Continuity in an Era of Reform

Abstract: Since 1978, reform policies introduced in rural China have had a profound impact on women's work and gender divisions of labour. This book provides detailed information on shifts in women's work patterns. It explains how and why these shifts have come about, and how they relate to women's position in society. While other aspects of reform in rural China have been analysed extensively, this is one of very few, and to date the most comprehensive studies of the effects of reform on rural women.

Women's work in rural China: change and continuity in an era of reform.

Abstract: Since 1978, reform policies introduced in rural China have had a profound impact on women's work and gender divisions of labour. This book provides detailed information on shifts in women's work patterns. It explains how and why these shifts have come about, and how they relate to women's position in society. While other aspects of reform in rural China have been analysed extensively, this is one of very few, and to date the most comprehensive studies of the effects of reform on rural women.

Ale, beer and brewsters in England : women's work in a changing world, 1300-1600

Abstract: Women brewed and sold most of the ale drunk in medieval England, but after 1350, men slowly took over the trade. By 1600, most brewers in London-as well as in many towns and villages-were male, not female. Drawing on a wide variety of sources-such as literary and artistic materials, court records, accounts, and administrative orders-Judith Bennett vividly describes how brewsters (that is, female brewers) slowly left the trade. She tells a story of commercial growth, gild formation, changing technologies, innovative regulations, and finally, enduring ideas that linked brewsters with drunkenness and disorder. Examining this instance of seemingly dramatic change in women's status, Bennett argues that it included significant elements of continuity. Women might not have brewed in 1600 as often as they had in 1300, but they still worked predominantly in low-status, low-skilled, and poorly remunerated tasks. Using the experiences of brewsters to rewrite the history of women's work during the rise of capitalism, Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England offers a telling story of the endurance of patriarchy in a time of dramatic economic change.

Glass Ceilings and Bottomless Pits: Women's Work, Women's Poverty

Abstract: Changes in welfare and safety net programs will worsen poverty for women. But there are policy alternatives that would strengthen work and family.

Women's Work Values in Unified Germany Regional Differences as Remnants of the Past

Abstract: This article examines East-West differences in work values among German women, using data from the 1991 German Social Survey (ALLBUS). Our analyses indicate a clear regional gap in work values: East German women are more likely than West German women to consider employment to be very important and to highly value its socioeconomic and social rewards. We contend that this gap exists because of the effect of preunification differences in state ideology and policy on the life experiences of German women in the two regions. We discuss the implications of the findings for the claim that East Germany was more successful than West Germany in fostering positive attitudes toward market work among women.

Experiences and voices of eugenics field-workers: 'women's work' in biology.

Abstract: Experiences and ideas of eugenic 'field-workers' offer a new historical perspective on American eugenics, while highlighting terms of women's early twentieth-century scientific education and research employment. To advance knowledge of heredity, the US Eugenics Record Office (ERO), between 1910 and 1924, trained 258 students (85% of them women) to collect information about individuals, families and communities. Though some historians have dismissed eugenic field-workers as careless or uncritical, many had scientific or medical backgrounds, and took research seriously. While gendered expectations and other obstacles limited women's hopes for professional advance, the female field-workers created a strong community and culture of their own. Comparing notes, some recognized that their results did not support eugenic assumptions, and cautioned against letting enthusiasm overwhelm scientific integrity. These women field-workers raised serious questions about methodology and ethics, but the situation of eugenics work at the time undermined chances for such criticism to be acknowledged. After World War I, military-related research and political manoeuvring dominated eugenics, further marginalizing field-workers. Ironically, while ERO head Charles Davenport had wanted students to promote eugenics, some demonstrated more fundamental commitment to scientific ideals--but to little avail.

Women's Work against Violence: Community Responses in a Rural Setting

Abstract: Violence is an issue of women's lives that country women, be they of town or farm, share with city women. This article, aims to give voice to the experiences of some women from a rural area by tracing the development of responses to violence against women in the rural centre of Albury-Wodonga.

Revaluing Women's Work: Report Writing in the North Carolina Canning Clubs, 1912-1916.

Abstract: This article explores how an understanding of the nature and purposes of reports may help women gain recognition for their accomplishments, both in conventional business settings and within feminized professions and spheres of activity. A case study of report writing in the North Carolina Canning Clubs (1912-1916) illustrates how reports of work can provide a vehicle for elevating the perceived value of women's work. Since reports also inscribe authorial identity, however, women—indeed all report writers—must consider the ethical implications of their reports.

Teaching as Women’s Work

Abstract: Feminists are almost as unwelcome as divorcees, because their unorthodoxy on women’s place in the world arouses criticism and is likely to be accompanied by an agitating spirit in other matters. Besides, men do not like feminists, and most administrators are men. (Beale, 1936, p. 497)

Introduction: Women, ecology, and economics: new models and theories

Abstract: The Call for Papers mentioned such possible topics as "The parallels between women's work, environmental services and natural resource use with regard to valuation, status as 'externalities,' sustainability, complementarity with financial capital, incorporation in national accounts, etc.; the role of women in creating the conditions for sustainable economies and sustainable trade; women's health as an environmental and economic issue; the economic implications of women's position as environmental stewards, especially in the South; and the impact of globalization on women, from an ecological economics perspective." The journal's editors suggested an additional topic of interest which we listed as women and population policy.

Women's Work in Urban Bangladesh: Is there an Economic Rationale?

Abstract: This study examines gender issues in formal informal and semi-formal employment in Dhaka Bangladesh. Data were obtained from a 1992 household survey conducted among seven randomly selected primary sampling units (PSUs) out of 28 PSUs in metropolitan Dhaka City. Household income is measured taking into account formal educational level of the household head and monthly per capita household expenditure on market goods and services such as food clothing education health care housing and other items. Market skill level is measured by years of formal schooling. A background review of the literature focuses on the role of purdah or seclusion in delineating gender-specific economic activities. Findings indicate that 46% of women were engaged in nonmarket household production. About 20% of women and 25% of men attended school at economically active ages. 25% of women and almost 66% of men received wages for market work. An increase in income was associated with a larger proportion of men and women attending school but women were a lower proportion. The proportion of paid market workers and the female labor force participation rate (LFPR) was highest in the poorest households. In the poorest households almost all women had very low skill levels. Among wealthy households only 14% of women had very low skill levels. Levels of schooling appeared unrelated to market production up to the college level. Results confirm that the supply effects of gender roles and human capital influenced the size of female LFPR. Women were engaged in employment with low returns because women were largely poor and had few or no market skills. Findings suggest that female LFPR was not solely the domain of patriarchal systems and purdah norms but an economic strategy in response to income needs. Policy should be aimed at making the existing market more sensitive to womens needs and equity.

A Woman's Work Is Never Done: Women's Work and Pregnancy Outcome in Albania

Abstract: Albania has undergone extreme social and political changes during the past five years. Conditions regarding women's work and its effect on reproductive health have been unknown. During 1993 and 1994, a cohort of 1199 pregnant women were followed to identify how work factors related to spontaneous abortion, infant low birth weight, gestation length, and perinatal mortality. A small subgroup was interviewed to examine qualitative issues including motivation, attitudes, and personal experiences regarding working and raising a family. Results reveal that certain work factors directly correlated with low birth weight, miscarriage, and/or perinatal death. The significant factors included: fewer household helpers, standing, working in a hot environment, commuting, walking and carrying, and lifting heavy weights on the job. Most women were unemployed, and virtually all were deeply concerned about employment and poverty. Their challenge is to maintain an equilibrium between satisfaction of economic needs and physical needs during pregnancy. International aid programs working in Albanian maternal and child health must consider the physical repercussions from increased work on the job and little or no decrease in work at home. [Albania, pregnancy, women, work, communist]

Women's work and family health: evidence from the Staffordshire Potteries, 1890–1920

Abstract: The progress of industrialization throughout the nineteenth century had profound effects on health and mortality. One relationship that contemporaries found particularly alarming was the potentially damaging effect that the employment of women in industry outside the home could have on their families' health. The fear expressed by public health officials was that women's employment would lead to neglect of their family duties and subsequently put their children's health at risk. Women were also regarded as more susceptible to industrial hazards, particularly to lead. Hence, women's work was seen to have important consequences for maternal and infant health and was considered incompatible with their traditional duties within the home. The introduction of legislation to restrict women's employment opportunities during the latter half of the nineteenth century was partly in recognition of this conflict between work and home. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the importance of good mothering was increasingly cited by public health reformers, mainly male and middle-class, alarmed at the persistent high level of infant mortality in urban areas. In industrial areas where there were opportunities for women's employment, the extent to which it contributed to high levels of mortality became a prominent public health issue associated with growing concern over standards of motherhood. In response to increasing agitation over the employment of mothers, the 1891 Factory Act prohibited employers from knowingly hiring women within a month of childbirth.

Where the Big Fish Eat the Little Fish Women’s Work in the Free-Trade Zones

Abstract: in the new world economic order, small countries must compete against each other by offering lower wages to attract transnational investment. In this “11race to the bottom,” women workers pay dearest.

The Invisibility of Women's Work: The Economics of Local and Global "Bullshit"

Abstract: I have watched women in many pans of the world following herds of animals to scoop up steaming dung in their bare hands, placing it in woven baskets which they then hoist onto their heads and carry. The loads they bend for, lift, and carry are very heavy, and the work is very tiring. In the context ofthe lives ofthese women, access to dung is a matter of daily survival. In addition to providing fertilizer, it is a primary source of cooking fuel and is also used as a building material and plaster. When used as organic manure, the dung must be dried for several months and then carried to the households' farming plots. These are seldom contiguous, and may be several kilometres from the household. I recall images of women walking bare-footed along rough narrow paths on the sides of steep hills, for example, in Indonesia or Nepal. Entire days are spent carrying on their heads baskets full of fertilizer for the small family plots before ploughing. In many places in the developing world, livestock are held in a small enclosure immediately next to the home, since the pressure on land use means that, with a few seasonal and agro-ecological exceptions, fewer livestock are allowed to wander freely or are herded. Gathering fodder for the animals and then bringing them water become more arduous tasks for women and children, with longer and longer walks. At least the dung is closer to the household. In parts of Africa and Asia, dung is also used as a basic material for building construction, maintenance, and decoration. Adobe houses are covered with a mixture of mud, dung, and straw and replastered several times ayear. The mixture is spread by hand, and only women do this work. In some villages, the plaster is mixed with coloured pigments, and spectacular decorative patterns ofien adorn the outside of the houses. As a result offorest depletion, women increasingly need dung to burn as an alternative to wood fuel. After collection, they mix it with straw and water and make it into flat cakes. Then it is dried, usually in the sun, and the women need to turn each cake several times in this process before it is dry enough for storing. Making dung cakes can take up to two hours a day and, when the cakes are stacked, there is the Lrther process of thatching and sealing the pile to keep out the rain. Making dung cakes to be used as fuel appears to me to be an entire manufacturing process, with clear inputs and outputs ofan economic nature. In mining or gas extraction, for example, paid workers harvest the primary resource. Machines transport it to processing plants. The raw material is refined, the product manufactured. It is sold, then consumed. The traditional economic model is followed: workers process raw materials for the market. Thiscounts. Butwhen dung, the \"non-product,\" is carried as a \"service\" by \"housewives,\" to sustain land, dwellings, and households, then, according to the economic model, nothing happens. There is no economic activity. But dungwork is only women's work, so it is a safe assumption that in the official definitions of productive work it will be invisible. The area of human activity generally excluded from economic measurement is household activities, the products of which are seldom or never marketed, i.e. the unpaid services of housewives and other family members, household maintenance, subsistence agriculture performed by children or \"housewives,\" voluntary work, and reproductive work: most of the work that most of the people do most of the time. \"Growth\" figures register \"market\" activities, i.e. cashgenerating activities, whatever the nature of that activity and regardless ofits legal status. In New Zealand, companies dry dung products and sell them in pelletized form for the home gardener. The process is called manufacturing. The results are marketed. The workers are paid. When the rural women ofthedevelopingworld recycle dung, nothing in the process, the production, or the labour has an economic value. The value of this most primary of all forms of production, and its links with women's unpaid work, raise crucial policy questions which have seldom, if ever, been contemplated by the arbiters ofwhat does and does not count. As a consequence, much of the rhetoric intended to ensure continuing exclusion of these activities, and large amounts of women's other work, from measurement is made on the basis that all this has little or no effect on most micro and all macro economic activity.

Social and Cultural Perspectives on Women's Work: Comment on Loats, Hafter, and DeGroat

Abstract: The essays that make up this forum deal with gender and work identity across three centuries of French history. In methodology and subject matter, however, Judith DeGroat's essay contrasts sharply with the other two. Carol Loats's and Daryl Hafter's essays are representatives of what was once called "the new social history" but now might better be called "the old social history." DeGroat's essay falls clearly into the genre of "the new cultural history," which in another fifteen years will doubtless become in its turn "the old cultural history." Loats's and Hafter's essays both demonstrate admirably that there is still plenty of mileage left in the old social history paradigm. Both essays deal with work and family experiences of urban skilled workers in the institutional context of the Old Regime. Both use documents generated by female artisans pursuing their careers and interests as artisans -notarial records of apprenticeship contracts in Loats's case and guild and court records in Hafter's. Carol Loats develops a very specific argument, based largely on quantitative evidence. She finds that many of the apprenticeship contracts made by women in seventeenth-century Paris were made by married women whose trades were unrelated to those practiced by their husbands. This pattern, she points out, contrasts sharply with the "household economy" model assumed by most historians who have written on women's work in early modern cities. According to this model, work typically took place in family units, headed by a male whose profession defined the family's work activities and status. While men's work identities were supposedly chosen early and lasted for their

Gender and women's work in Peru

Abstract: This study identifies the peruvian women's labor conditions and its social and historical determinants due to social class, race and gender differences that influence women subordination in social structure. Bibliographic review shows that the peruvian working woman situation experienced great and deep changes in time, as a result of ideological and cultural patriarchal patterns that culminated in the current capitalist society.

Review of Shaping Women's Work: Gender Employment and Information Technology

Abstract: Review of: Webster, Juliet (1996) Shaping Women's Work: Gender Employment and Information Technology. London: Longman.