Showing papers on "Women's work published in 2014"

The Relevance of “Women’s Work” Social Reproduction and Immaterial Labor in Digital Media

Abstract: In the ongoing debates about the role of immaterial labor in digital media economics, the work of feminist researchers into affective labor performed in the home—“women’s work”—has barely featured....

Exploring the “feminisation of poverty” in relation to women’s work and home-based enterprise in slums of the Global South

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in urban slums. Design/methodology/approach – The paper’s discussion of the “feminisation of poverty” draws substantially from ethnographic field research conducted in The Gambia, The Philippines and Costa Rica. This research led the author to propose the notion of a “feminisation of responsibility and/or obligation”. The latter approach draws attention to issues such as gendered disparities of labour, time and resource inputs into household livelihoods, which are often most marked in male-headed units, and are not captured in conventional referents of the “feminisation of poverty”, which are rather narrowly confined to incomes and female household headship. Findings – An integral element of the author’s critique is that the main policy response to classic “feminisation of poverty” thinking, to date, has been to “feminise” an...

Does Mother Tongue Make for Women's Work? Linguistics, Household Labor, and Gender Identity

Abstract: This paper studies the formation and transmission of gender identity in a sample of U.S. immigrants. We document that households with individuals whose native language emphasizes gender in its grammatical structure are significantly more likely to allocate household tasks on the basis of sex and to do so more intensively. These gender identities are evident even in the behavior of single person households. To isolate the role of language, we employ a differences-in-differences analysis based on the critical period hypothesis of language acquisition. This analysis demonstrates that time allocations are particularly skewed only for immigrants who arrive after previously learning a gender marked native language. Once established, gender norms persist regardless of how long an individual has lived in the U.S. However, we find little evidence of intergenerational transmission of these identities, and instead document rapid cultural assimilation among second-generation immigrants.

Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women's Work and Agency in Rural South India

Abstract: This paper reexamines the linkages between women's work, agency, and well-being based on a household survey and in-depth interviews conducted in rural Tamil Nadu in 2009 and questions the prioritization of workforce participation as a path to gender equality. It emphasizes the need to unpack the nature of work performed by and available to women and its social valuation, as well as women's agency, particularly its implications for decision making around financial and nonfinancial household resources in contexts of socioeconomic change. The effects of work participation on agency are mediated by factors like age and stage in the life cycle, reproductive success, and social location – especially of caste – from which women enter the workforce.

The Contribution of African Women to Economic Growth and Development in the Pre-Colonial and Colonial Periods: Historical Perspectives and Policy Implications

Abstract: Bringing together history and economics, this paper presents a historical and processual understanding of women's economic marginalization in sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been economically active or productive; it is rather that they have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three major arguments. First, it discusses the historical processes through which the labor of women was increasingly appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial Africa, utilizing the concepts of “rights in persons” and “wealth in people”. Reviewing the processes of production and reproduction, it explains why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the cultivation of cash crops and European missionary co...

"Fishing na everybody business":women's work and gender relations in Sierra Leone's fisheries

Abstract: While small-scale fisheries in many developing countries is “everybody's business,” a gendered labor division concentrates production in the hands of fishermen while women dominate postharvest processing and retailing. The production bias of fisheries management programs has not only largely overlooked the role of fisherwomen, but also marginalized “fish mammies” in terms of resources and training. This study draws on three in-country fisheries surveys, as well as interviews and focus groups, and employs a gender-aware sustainable livelihood framework to make visible the economic space occupied by women in Sierra Leone's small-scale fisheries. The study highlights how women's variegated access to capital and resources interacts with social norms and reproductive work and argues for more social and economic investment in women's fish processing and reproductive work enabling them to reconcile both roles more effectively.

Gendered commodity chains : seeing women's work and households in global production

Abstract: Gendered Commodity Chains is the first book to consider the fundamental role of gender in global commodity chains It challenges long-held assumptions of global economic systems by identifying the crucial role social reproduction plays in production and by declaring the household as an important site of production In affirming the importance of women's work in global production, this cutting-edge volume fills an important gender gap in the field of global commodity and value chain analysisWith thirteen chapters by an international group of scholars from sociology, anthropology, economics, women's studies, and geography, this volume begins with an eye-opening feminist critique of existing commodity chain literature Throughout its remaining five parts, Gendered Commodity Chains addresses ways women's work can be integrated into commodity chain research, the forms women's labor takes, threats to social reproduction, the impact of indigenous and peasant households on commodity chains, the rapidly expanding arenas of global carework and sex trafficking, and finally, opportunities for worker resistance This broadly interdisciplinary volume provides conceptual and methodological guides for academics, graduate students, researchers, and activists interested in the gendered nature of commodity chains

The Scarring Effect of "Women's Work": The Determinants of Women's Attrition from Male-Dominated Occupations

Abstract: Women’s entry into formerly male-dominated occupations has increased in recent decades, yet a significant outflow remains. This study examines the determinants of women’s exits from male-dominated occupations, focusing on the effect of previous occupational trajectories. In particular, it hypothesizes that occupational trajectories in female-dominated occupations are often imbued with meanings and beliefs about the (in)appropriateness of the worker, which adversely affect women’s integration and chances when they enter the male sector. Using the NLSY79 data set, the study analyzes the job histories of women employed in the United States between 1979 and 2006. The results reveal a disproportionate risk of exit among newcomers from female-dominated occupations. Also, women who reenter the male field are more likely to leave it again. Altogether, the findings challenge explanations based on deficiencies in the information available to women at the moment of hiring. The evidence points to the existence of a “scar effect” of previous work in the female field, which hinders women’s opportunities in the male sector and ends up increasing the likelihood of exit.

The Politics of Women's Work: The Paris Garment Trades, 1750-1915

Abstract: Few issues attracted more attention in the nineteenth century than the "problem" of women's work, and few industries posed that problem more urgently than the booming garment industry in Paris. The seamstress represented the quintessential "working girl", and the sewing machine the icon of "modern" femininity. The intense speculation and worry that swirled around both helped define many issues of gender and labour that concern us today. Here Judith Coffin presents a fascinating history of the Parisian garment industry, from the unraveling of the guilds in the late 1700s to the first minimum-wage bill in 1915. She explores how issues related to working women took shape and how gender became fundamental to the modern social division of labour and our understanding of it. Combining the social history of women's labour and the intellectual history of nineteenth-century social science and political economy, Coffin sets many questions in their fullest cultural context: What constituted "women's" work? Did women belong in the industrial labour force? Why was women's work equated with low pay? Should not a woman enjoy status as an enlightened homemaker/consumer? The author examines patterns of consumption as well as production, setting out, for example, the links among the newly invented sewing machine, changes in the labour force, and the development of advertising, with its shifting and often unsettling visual representations of women, labour, and machinery. Throughout, Coffin challenges the conventional categories of work, home, and women's identity.

The Influence of Gender Role Attitudes on Perceptions of Women's Work Performance and the Importance of Fair Pay

Abstract: Gender role attitudes and their influence on perceptions of male and female work performance are important aspects understanding workplace gender inequality. Reskin (2000) suggests researchers must look to non-conscious causes in order to understand and alleviate gender inequality in the workplace. Also critical to understanding workplace gender inequality is the differential importance placed on being paid fairly. Using a survey sample of 525 traditional undergraduate students from a public university in the middle south of the United States consisting of approximately one-third African Americans and two-thirds whites, race and sex differences are examined. The more liberal the respondent in terms of gender roles, the less they perceived performance inferiority of females. Excluding white males, those more liberal on gender roles perceived fair pay as more important. Gender differences are stronger among whites. Implications for the gender inequities at work are discussed.

Beyond the census. Reconstructing Dutch women's labour market participation in agriculture in the Netherlands, ca. 1830–1910

Abstract: Many historians have pointed out for various countries that nineteenth-century national censuses do not accurately reflect women's economic activity. This was no different for the Dutch national censuses. In this article, we argue that under-recording was especially severe in agriculture, and that this problem increased towards the end of the century. The rise in under-recording was partly due to an increased irregularity of women's work on farms, but it also reflected changing living standards and ideologies, in which work was increasingly defined as undesirable for women. In relative terms, agriculture did become less important to men and women alike because of mechanization and industrialization. Nevertheless, agriculture continued to employ many women, especially married women and daughters working on their husbands' and fathers' farms. By offering additional source material and methods for estimating women's labour force participation in agriculture on a regional level, such as relating their occupat...

Expanding the Conceptualization of Workplace Violence: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice

Abstract: Workplace violence generally refers to interpersonal aggression, sexual harassment, bullying, and other forms of discrimination and oppression occurring within the confines of the paid workplace. Workplace violence affects women across the globe, resulting in a wide range of health, economic, and social problems. We advocate for broader, transdisciplinary, intersectional, and transnational conceptualizations of workplace violence in research, policy, and practice. Supported by findings from research conducted around the globe, we argue that workplace violence occurs not only within the context of women’s paid employment in the formal workplace, but also within the contexts of other types of work in which women of all ages engage. An expanded, more inclusive conceptualization of women’s workplaces in research, policy, and practice will promote broader recognition and acknowledgement of women’s experiences of interpersonal violence in the contexts of their multiple work roles in unpaid and informal work, as well as the paid labor force. Incorporating intersectional, transnational, and transdisciplinary perspectives into research, policy, and practice related to workplace violence will expand understandings and interpretations of women’s experiences of workplace violence across the lifespan; within their own multi-faceted cultural contexts and racial, ethnic, gender, and class identities; and will facilitate transnational, cross-cultural comparisons. Implementation of policies based on expanded conceptualizations of workplace violence can contribute to more effective education and prevention efforts, improved reporting procedures, and enhanced post-violence support services and treatment programs that meet the needs of women across a wider spectrum of workplace contexts.

Enabling women's work

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Still a Man's World? Revisiting Men Who Do Women's Work

Abstract: In 1995, Christine Williams built on the well-versed theory of tokenism and introduced the concept of the glass escalator to describe the social processes by which men maintain advantages in female-dominated occupations. This paradigm has proven extraordinarily useful as a way of understanding the pathways that reproduce men's opportunities and benefits in culturally feminized jobs. In this paper, we review the literature in this area and consider how new perspectives have contributed to insightful and interesting ways of understanding the experiences of men who do “women's work.”

A Marriage Bar of Convenience? The BBC and Married Women’s Work 1923–39

Abstract: In October 1932 the British Broadcasting Corporation introduced a marriage bar, stemming what had been an enlightened attitude towards married women employees. The policy was in line with the convention of the day; marriage bars were widespread in the inter-war years operating in occupations such as teaching and the civil service and in large companies such as Sainsbury's and ICI. However, once implemented, the BBC displayed an ambivalent attitude towards its marriage bar which had been constructed to allow those married women considered useful to the Corporation to remain on the staff. This article considers why, for its first ten years, the BBC bucked convention and openly employed married women and why, in 1932, it took the decision to introduce a marriage bar, albeit not a full bar, which was not abolished until 1944. It contends that the BBC marriage bar represented a quest for conformity rather than active hostility towards the employment of married women and demonstrates how easily arguments against the acceptability of married women's work could be transgressed, if seen as beneficial to the employer. Overall, the article contemplates how far the BBC's marriage bar reflected inter-war ideology towards the employment of married women.

Missing women? The under-recording and under-reporting of women's work in Malaysia

Abstract: Common methods to collect data on women's labour force participation frequently result in under-reporting and under-recording of their work. Based on fieldwork in Malaysia's Penang state, this article presents some of the difficulties associated with recording women's informal work. It contributes to theorization on the under-reporting of women's remunerative activities in official surveys by arguing that while women's work is often devalued, under-reporting may also be the result of women making strategic and pragmatic choices. By reporting themselves as “housewives”, for example, they may avoid questioning their society's gendered norms while securing their own interests in work outside the home.

Lost in registration? Missing occupations of single women in the Bruges countryside, c.1814

Abstract: The absence of occupational titles for women in historical censuses has stymied numerous scholars. Various authors have explained this phenomenon as carelessness or bias on the part of the census-takers. Women's work was of little interest to the authorities and census officials focused their efforts upon the activities of the head of household. While source triangulation can be a useful tool for uncovering ‘hidden’ employment of women, it is often a complex and time-consuming process. In this article we outline an alternative to deal with the issue of missing occupations of single women in censuses by exploring their living arrangements. We identify four aspects of co-residence that can highlight the roles played within the household by single women without registered employment: their relation to the head of the household, and that individual's occupation, property and marital status. Comparing data from the 1814 population census regarding two social agro-systems and the city of Bruges, we argue that o...

How well did the nineteenth century census record women's ‘regular’ employment in England and Wales? A case study of Hertfordshire in 1851

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to test the commonly made, but not well evidenced, assertion that the English and Welsh census data relating women's work is largely unreliable This paper explores the hypothesis that when women were ‘regularly employed’ their occupations were fully enumerated in the 1851 census There is considerable evidence to suggest that women's part-time, seasonal and casual work was not always recorded in the nineteenth century censuses Rather than being seen as evidence of inaccuracy, it is argued here that these omissions indicate that householders were following the census instructions In the years 1851–1881, these instructions requested that only the occupations of women who were ‘regularly employed’ be recorded Comparing the listings of a mid-nineteenth century trade directory of Hertfordshire with the Census Enumerator's Books (CEBs) for the same county, this paper presents the results of new empirical research, and a method which provides a means to test systematically the

Women in American Energy: De-feminizing Poverty in the Oil and Gas Industries

Abstract: Women have historically been excluded from work in the male-dominated American oil and gas industry due to unfavorable working conditions and industry hiring biases. However, due to recent developments in on-land drilling techniques and increased overall production, this gender discrimination is slowly beginning to change as more women are being hired for energy industry jobs. In the short term, this means a greater distribution of wealth in what can be a lucrative field. Greater access to employment with security and room for advancement could also mean a long-term structural change in industry hiring norms, granting women greater access to energy employment in the future.

The role that mentors play in women's work life balance

Abstract: Organizational leaders need to establish policies and programs to retain quality employees. Mentorship and work life balance positively impact organizational commitment and reduce turnover intention. The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to explore the role that mentors play in helping women achieve work life balance. Two major theoretical frameworks were used as a basis of this study. Giele (2008) identified 4 life course dimensions that contribute to an individual’s behavioral system: identity, relational style, drive and motivation, and adaptive style. Elder and Giele (2009) built on this work and combined elements of their paradigms to link dimensions of an individual’s behavioral system and the setting where that individual functions. Kram (1988) documented 2 major categories of mentorship functions. The first set of functions, career functions, focuses on those aspects of the mentoring relationship that enhance career advancement. The second set of functions, psychosocial functions, focuses on interpersonal aspects of the relationship. The research questions focused on how the presence of a mentor in the workplace impacted women’s experiences and enabled them to meet the challenges of work life balance. The research questions explored how having a mentor while dealing with the challenges of work life balance impacted the 17 participants’ perceptions of organizational commitment and turnover intention. The researcher also investigated how mentorship functions differed based on the characteristics of the mentor relationship. This researcher gathered the data by sending an online survey to 80 women who had previously participated in the Digital Women’s Project (Weber, 2011). Data were coded based on a priori lists that were developed from the theoretical frameworks and the literature. Themes were established and utilized to develop findings for each research question.

‘Kaaj’: Understanding women’s work, development and local knowledge in rural Bangladesh

Abstract: In many parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa women spend considerable time doing agricultural work, and for domestic chores, such as cooking, childcare and animal care (Quisumbing, 1998). Participation of women in household as well as farm labour is a common feature of peasant communities across the world. In rural Bangladesh, women’s work is a significant part of the village economy (Abdullah & Zeidenstein, 1982). Particularly in the char lands, where livelihood conditions are vulnerable, women work for longer hours than men to support their households. Considering such a situation, rural development projects mostly target poor women as beneficiaries by involving them in income-based welfare schemes. It is important to understand how women interpret work (kaaj), in order to identify how development projects affect their own way of doing work. In this article, firstly I intend to focus on patterns of women’s work on the char, in Char Khankhanapur and Decree Charchandpur, two villages located in Rajbari region of Bangladesh and secondly, investigate how women perceive kaaj. In my attempt to understand whether development is improving or depreciating women’s lives, I, also delve into understanding local women’s knowledge.

Emissaries, allies, accomplices and enemies: married women's work in eighteenth-century urban Sweden

Abstract: Based on so-called Excise court records, this article argues that in eighteenth-century urban Sweden much of middling women's work took place in the interstices between households, as ‘help’ given to other women, often across social divides. These forms of work are often difficult to track in the historical records and, consequently, they have remained unnoticed, creating the erroneous picture that women did not contribute to their households through paid work. The lack of attention to these kinds of work has also overemphasized the closed character of early modern households which were, in fact, both flexible and permeable units.

A survey of available literature on rural women and women's work in agriculture

Abstract: Literature review is an essential part for research. Before starting research on a meticulous topic, one needs to map the types of available writings on the topic of research. Literature review helps in choosing a topic for research which has not been studied yet or less studied. It also tells the importance of research topic. This study assembles all the major categories of research on rural women and their work in agriculture. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v1i2.10284 Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-1, issue-2: 69-73

Explaining the Revolution in U.S. Fertility, Schooling, and Women’s Work among Households Formed in 1875, 1900, and 1925

Abstract: This paper addresses revolutionary changes in the education, fertility and market work of U.S. families formed in the 1870s–1920s: Fertility fell from 5.3 to 2.6; the graduation rate of their children increased from 7% to 50%; and the fraction of adulthood wives devoted to market-oriented work increased from 7% to 23% (by one measure). These trends are addressed within a unified framework to examine the ability of several proposed mechanisms to quantitatively replicate these changes. Based on careful calibration, the choices of successive generations of representative husband-and-wife households over the quantity and quality of their children, household production, and the extent of mother’s involvement in market-oriented production are simulated. Rising wages, declining mortality, a declining gender wage gap, and increased efficiency and public provision of schooling cannot, individually or in combination, reduce fertility or increase stocks of human capital to levels seen in the data. The best fit of the model to the data also involves: (1) a decreased tendency among parents to view potential earnings of children as the property of parents and (2) rising consumption shares per dependent child. Greater attention should be given the determinants of parental control of the work and earnings of children for this period. One contribution is the gathering of information and strategies necessary to establish an initial baseline, and the time paths for parameters and targets for this period beset with data limitations. A second contribution is identifying the contributions of various mechanisms toward reaching those calibration targets.

Self-Employed Women in the Informal Economy: Beach Vendors in Acapulco

Abstract: Purpose Although there have been many articles and books on street vendors, ambulant and fixed, around the world, and many works written about them in Mexico, little has been done on the ubiquitous ambulant beach vendors in tourist centers. Design/methodology/approach This paper offers an analysis of the backgrounds, levels of contentment, and aspirations of 25 women beach vendors interviewed in Acapulco in 2010. Findings A third of the women beach vendors had fathers who were peasants, and others had grandparents who were. Thus the article shows light on the fate of some of the offspring of a dispossessed peasantry. Far more than half of the women vendors were very content with their self-employment vending wares on the beach, a few because they could set their own hours, and a few because they had no boss. Other’s contentment was linked to the fact that they could help support their children. Part of this help meant keeping them in school. This was true whether the women were married, widowed, or abandoned. Not all were content, however, and this underscores the importance of their income to their households. Most of the women, though not all, had aspirations for more education and better work, whether in the formal or the informal economy. Social implications The women can be seen as marginalized because of their current poverty, and many because of past poverty leading to a lack of educational opportunities when they were young. They value education for their children.

Migration in Italy is Backing the Old Age Welfare

Abstract: Our research analyzes the effect of changes in migration policies and the accession to the European Union of former countries of emigration, considering the crucial role played by migrants in an aging society. We focus on the demand of family-care workers by using the last five years of the Italian Labour Force Survey dataset. Our results show that especially during the last years of recession, foreign labor (mostly female) has become fundamental in the family sector,favoring the participation of Italian skilled women in the labor market.