Rural African women and development

70-90% of Africans still live in rural areas, and 25-30% of rural households are headed by women. Standards of living in rural areas are lower than in urban areas. Rural African women's involvement in development is in its initial stages, and social development for women is likely to be slow. Increasing women's opportunities for education is a means of promoting social justice and fairness. Schools should offer courses of practical value for those not planning on higher education and special programs and career counseling for gifted girls. Women's organizations, African leaders, and other influential parties should aggressively create awareness about the oppressive aspects of traditional attitudes, beliefs, and views about women. Laws on ownership of property, inheritance, access to credit, and employment must be equitable and enforced. Consciousness-raising among rural women is an effective means of encouraging rural women to seek and assume new roles and for questioning unreasonable expectations and norms. Women's professional associations serve important functions and fulfill the need for role models. The quality of rural women's life is effectively improved through formulation of policies relevant to women's needs and problems and improve rural conditions. Women should have fair representation at local and national levels of government. Women's role in agriculture is likely to be enhanced through improved transportation systems, electricity supply, and introduction of intermediate technology. This assessment of rural African women's contributions to economic growth emphasizes women's involvement in farming and the informal sector and their lack of equal remuneration or low wages. Illiteracy places women in a disadvantaged position when competing for employment in the formal sector. Lack of access to credit and limits on credit are other obstacles in the informal sector. The reduced participation of rural women in the formal and informal sector is due to lack of economic power, limited educational opportunities, and policies that place industry in urban areas. Social development that reduces illiteracy and poverty should be encouraged.     

Economic Status,Family Dependence,and Health Outcomes of Older People in Western Rural China

There is a deficiency in empirical knowledge on the physical and mental health of lower-income older people with weak family support in western rural China. To address this research gap, this article uses the data from the 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey to analyze the disadvantaged situation of older people in western rural China through a regional comparative analysis. Our sample consisted of 7,138 older adults aged 60 or older in eastern and western, rural and urban China. We find that lower personal income is significantly associated with poor physical and mental health. Economic support from families means more for older people when they have a disability related to activities of daily living in western rural China. Fostering stronger family support networks might improve the mental health status of older people in western rural China. Our study suggests a broader scope for the state to play a greater role in economic empowerment and in the development of policies to effectively meet the present and future needs of older people in western rural China or other countries with an imbalance in the distribution of the aging population and welfare resources.     

Improving family planning services to rural adolescents

A longitudinal study conducted among young women and family planning service providers in 3 rural New York counties underscored the need to pay attention to individual differences among the clients served. Barriers to family planning acceptance in these counties included factors such as poor public transportation, long distances to clinic, and no telephone in many households that the urban population does not confront. The 900 young women in the sample were categorized as unserved, underserved, adequately served, or well served with regard to their family planning needs. A comparison of psychometric and survey data from these respondents indicated that clinic clients tended to be unmarried, to have a higher personal income, and have fewer children than their counterparts who were contraceptive nonusers. In addition, nonacceptors who completed the Future Events Test expected more positive events never to happen and made less use of planning for the future than the young women who were clients of the family planning clinic in their county. Although qualitative evaluation and participant-observation revealed significant differences between the 3 counties in terms of their family planning services, the distribution of women in the 4 categories did not differ among counties. Overall, these findings indicate that personality characteristics rather than situational variables are the best predictors of success or failure in taking steps to avoid unwanted pregnancy. For young women who are assessed at intake as lacking sufficient motivation to follow through on contraception, clinic personnel should develop an individualized plan aimed at providing education and raising self-esteem and optimism about control over future events.     

Social security for China's rural aged: a proposal based on a universal non‐contributory pension

Yang Y, Williamson JB, Shen C. Social security for China's rural aged: a proposal based on a universal non‐contributory pension Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 236–245 © 2009 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. China's relative lack of social security coverage for rural elders exacerbates the already severe rural–urban economic disparity, slows the rate of rural poverty reduction, and raises social justice concerns. Our analysis draws on evidence from a number of sources including interviews with experts on China, Chinese government documents, Chinese newspaper accounts, and other sources from other countries. Based on our analysis of what has been tried in other countries and the current situation in rural China, we offer some suggestions for Chinese policy makers. We suggest that, for rural China, a universal non‐contributory old‐age pension deserves serious consideration, and refer to our proposed model as a Rural Old‐Age Social Pension. It will reduce the level of poverty in rural areas and the degree of income inequality between rural and urban areas while simultaneously promoting social and political stability.     

加强城乡规划工作,引导中国城镇化健康发展

市场经济的发展使城市在区域之间、城镇之间、城乡之间的经济社会联系加强,中心城市在区域经济发展中的辐射带动作用不断提高,城镇密集地区在区域经济发展发挥着重要作用。因此,加强城乡规划工作,引导中国城镇化健康发展在当前显得尤为重要。     

初婚年龄的影响因素分析——基于CGSS2006的研究

本文基于“2006年中国综合社会调查”（CGSS2006）数据,使用事件史分析方法,探讨了城乡居民初婚年龄的变化趋势及其社会经济原因。研究发现,教育、职业和家庭的社会经济特征对初婚年龄有着显著的影响,并表现出性别和户籍差异。教育程度对女性初婚年龄的推迟效应大于男性,高等教育对农村户籍女性初婚年龄的推迟效应大于城市户籍女性,技术类职业相比非技术非管理类职业,对农村户籍男性居民的初婚年龄有着显著的提前效应。在城市户籍居民中,父母的教育程度越高,子女的初婚年龄越晚;兄弟姐妹越多,初婚年龄越早。对城市和农村户籍居民而言,父亲从事管理类职业对儿子的初婚年龄均有显著的提前效应,而且对农村户籍居民的影响要高于城市户籍居民。     

Who is Jobless? A Comparison of Joblessness in Rural and Urban Areas in China

Since market‐oriented economic reform was launched in China in the 1980s, unemployment has been recognized by the government. This paper focuses on the differences in joblessness in rural and urban areas between rural migrant workers, peasants, and urban citizens. The results indicate that people in rural areas frequently lose their jobs, which differs from the traditional perception. There is a significantly lower jobless rate in urban areas. In contrast to the results of previous studies, the employment situation of rural migrant workers is closer to urban citizens rather than peasants. Logistic regression results show that the elderly, women, and less educated citizens have a higher likelihood of joblessness, both in urban and rural areas. Minorities have a lower likelihood of joblessness in rural areas and a higher likelihood in urban areas. Chinese Communist Party members and people without dependent children have a lower likelihood of joblessness in urban areas.     

Urbanization, caring for elderly people and the changing African family: The challenge to social policy

An inquiry into the role of social welfare in the development process in Africa must start by determining the position of the family in the face of all the social changes that are taking place. The role of the traditional African family may be broadly subdivided into its social role, its economic role and its role as an agent for the transmission and renewal of sociocultural values. Intraditional African societies, there is a complex interaction between the members of the family and the community. Social organization centres on the kinship group and the age group. The economic, political and sociocultural values of present-day Africa, with its sprawling urban centres and industrial zones, differ increasingly from its traditional values. In Africa, the concept of development has been greatly influenced by the colonial experience and Western modernization theory which posited that economic development and growth, mainly through industrialization, would automatically raise the living standards and meet the social needs of the population. Social welfare was viewed as a non-productive activity and therefore accorded a low priority in national development planning and resource allocation. In such a context, the scope of social policy is limited and cannot deal with the critical problems of mass poverty and deprivation afflicting the majority of African peoples, especially in rural areas. The family is disintegrating and social change has brought in its wake a host of new social problems which remedial social welfare services are not adequate to meet. Using Ghana as an example, this paper will critically examine these key issues and make recommendations for effective social policies and programmes that must be incorporated centrally into national development plans.     

Local approaches to counter a wider pattern? Urban poverty in Portland,Oregon

A model U.S. city, Portland Oregon's progressive policies are often credited with making it highly livable, with a vibrant urban core. Yet these policies have not protected Portland from broader trends that have increased urban poverty over the past several decades in the U.S., including social welfare cuts and the shift in the economy to the service sector. In terms of poverty dynamics and social policies, we argue that while regional planning and other progressive policies have helped protect Portland from extremely high concentrated poverty present in many large U.S. cities, it has still experienced growing social dislocations associated with national and macro-level social and economic factors. These trends suggest both the possibilities and limits of local policy, regional planning, and activism for ameliorating the deleterious consequences of social welfare retrenchment and franchise capitalism for vulnerable urban populations, and highlight the importance of the broader social policy context and economic change for understanding urban poverty and the experiences of the urban poor.     

Welfare program participation among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers in China

Xu Q, Guan X, Yao F. Welfare program participation among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers in China Int J Soc Welfare 2011: 20: 10–21 © 2010 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and International Journal of Social Welfare. An estimated 225 million Chinese people have migrated to cities from China's rural areas over the past two decades. These rural‐to‐urban migrant workers have greatly challenged China's welfare system. The pre‐reform welfare system was a duel scheme with an urban–rural distinction in which rural residents were not covered by state‐run welfare programs and had to rely on their families and rural collectives. The development of employment‐based social insurance programs in 1999 made social welfare programs available for rural‐to‐urban migrant workers. Using an anonymous survey conducted in seven cities across China in 2006, we found that social insurance program participation rates were low among rural‐to‐urban migrant workers. Individual factors, including lack of knowledge of welfare programs and of a willingness to participate, and macro‐level factors, including type of employer and industry, are critical in determining migrant workers' participation in welfare programs. Implications for policies and practice are discussed.     

Living on the edge: welfare and the urban poor in 1930s Beijing

This article examines poverty and welfare provision in early twentieth-century Beijing as dialogue and transaction between the city government and the urban poor. Earlier studies of the Chinese urban have tended to emphasize the material aspects of urban development, and the efforts of planners and city governments to modernize China’s cities, rather than the human experience of the city. This article draws on the extensive archives of the Beijing Municipal Government Social Affairs Bureau to extend our understanding of the experience of poverty and the agency of the poor. The archive confirms that Beijing’s growing and increasingly formalized welfare institutions were designed to discipline the poor as they alleviated poverty. However, the correspondence between applicants for welfare and the Social Affairs Bureau also reveals that the poor often approached these institutions instrumentally and assertively. Recourse to the welfare institute became a livelihood tactic, a claim on the authorities in pursuit of which certain sub-groups within the poor mobilized intangible assets, from social networks to understanding of the intended terms of the system, to sway the terms of their engagement with the authorities in their own favour.     

论政府在统筹城乡发展中的功能与作用

统筹城乡发展是一项非常复杂的社会系统工程,加强政府对城乡关系的宏观调控至关重要,不可或缺。政府对统筹城乡发展具有规划功能、导引功能、调节功能、服务功能。政府必须把加快城镇化建设,实现城乡劳动者充分就业,培育城乡统一市场,实现城乡居民收入增长作为调控现阶段城乡关系的方向和重点。应注意充分发挥规划、政策、法律等机制在调控城乡关系中的作用。     

Older People 'on the Edge' in the Countrysides of Europe

Relatively few comparative studies have focused specifically upon the socio‐economic conditions affecting the welfare of older rural Europeans. Such publications as exist are usually confined to single studies. In presenting a European overview of their ‘life‐world’ this paper focuses upon the general conditions of older rural Europeans, living in different types of countryside within a centre–periphery framework. These conditions are largely dependent upon the interconnectivity (nexus) between regional urban centres and the older people's types of settlement. The extent of the global socio‐economic flows between urban centres and countrysides is critical, especially for those living in less accessible and remote European areas. Older people's positive and negative outcomes are seen to occur within four possible urban–rural parameters. The first consists of two‐way socio‐economic urban–rural flows that are more likely to be of benefit to significant numbers of older persons, especially in urban fringe and accessible countrysides. The second parameter arises when there is a long‐standing impasse, where the lack of communication between the rural locality and urban centre hampers socio‐economic urban–rural flows, isolating older people, particularly in less accessible and remote countrysides. The third occurs when regional and local urban centres block or cut back socio‐economic flows to the countryside. The fourth takes place when the rural communities resist socio‐economic urban flows that they regard as a threat to their rural idyll. Exemplars within each of the four urban–rural alternatives help to show the applicability and workability of this four‐way exploratory approach.     

Understanding the cultural adaptation of foreign wives of South Korean men

‘International marriage’ has increased within rural areas in South Korea. As an increasing number of rural women move to urban areas, men are left facing the challenges of finding appropriate spouses. This issue stimulated support for ‘international marriages’ by the Korean government. A review was carried out of the literature of foreign wives' cultural adaptation in South Korea using the ecological systems. While foreign wives have escaped the hardships of lower economic status in their home country, they often face new challenges in South Korea. The article recommends that one-stop multicultural services are needed to address the cultural issues facing non-Korean women.     

African American Lesbian and Bisexual Women

This article explores the convergence of racism, sexism, and heterosexism in the lives of African American women, particularly lesbian and bisexual women, and its effects on the development of their sexuality and sexual identity. Specifics of this discussion focus on African American women, however, the struggles reflected in their development of a personal identity exemplify the kinds of struggles that most women of color encounter. These struggles are reflected in the need to negotiate a dominant culture that devalues women, people of color, and lesbians; the need to master and integrate the cultural derivatives of one's own ethnic group; the need to manage relationships with family, community, and partners; and the need to form a consolidated personal identity.     

The aging of the Chinese population and the cost of health care

It is projected that by 2050 China could have a staggering 115 million elderly citizens over 80 years old. Serious planning is needed to cope with this demand. This is the direct and inevitable result of the one-child policy that came into effect in 1979, as an independent policy to the Comprehensive Economic Reform; but the complementary nature is unmistakable.In accordance with the objective of this special issue of the Social Science Journal, the modest objective of this paper presents a brief history of the health care reform which really only began in 2002. We borrow from a major pilot study (the CHARLS data set) to provide quantitative measures of the cost of medical insurance. CHARLS samples two provinces, the inland poorer Gangsu and the coastal prosperous Zhejiang. The premium was 13 and 27 Yuan for the rural populations Gansu and Zhejiang. For the urban population, the premium was 289 versus 337 for men versus women in urban Gansu. But for the urban areas of Zhejiang, the pattern is radically different; 324.3 Yuan for women and a much higher 608 Yuan for men.Urban residents have always enjoyed better health care. With the support of the central government, 90% of rural population now received some form of basic health coverage. The issue is the reimbursement rate. For outpatient care, the reimbursement rates max out at under 40% and 32% for the urban and rural patients, respectively. This is certainly not enough to cover catastrophic illness, and that is why many Chinese feel they are just one major illness away from utter poverty. Outpatient care is even worse. The reimbursement rates average around only 10%. As Chinese statistics on full medical cost (especially for the elderly) is lacking, we utilize statistics from Taiwan and try to estimate the health care cost of the aging population.We discuss potential issues observed in the Taiwan experience, and proposed an incentive scheme, Self-Motivated Health Maintenance (SMHM), to deal with moral hazards and to reduce the overall health care cost. We believe the SMHM is a win–win–win solution. China has the possibility of building this into their health insurance.     

Savings for Survivors: An Individual Development Account Program for Survivors of Intimate-Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

Survivors of domestic violence often remain in abusive relationships due to limited economic resources, economic dependence on an abusive partner, and economic abuse. Viewing women who have experienced domestic violence as “survivors” suggests that when provided access to appropriate resources, they will seek help and utilize such resources allowing them to increase their stability and potentially escape an abusive partner. Assets have been shown to have a variety of positive associations with a wide range of economic, social, and psychological outcomes. Economic initiatives, such as financial education and individual development accounts (IDAs), aimed toward survivors of domestic violence are on the rise. However, to date, there are few studies. Data on IDA activity, including savings rates, withdrawals, and asset purchases, for 125 women who participated in an IDA matched-savings program for survivors of intimate-partner violence were examined. Approximately 2/3 of women reached their savings goal and 76% made at least 1 matched-savings withdrawal and asset purchase. Results suggest survivors can be successful savers and purchase assets that may contribute to their economic stability. Implications are discussed, including the need for long-term studies to examine how participation in a matched-savings program affects women's well-being, safety, and future experiences of intimate-partner violence.     

农村妇女土地承包权问题分析

土地是农民生存和发展的根基,农村妇女由于传统习惯和文化素质的影响对土地的依赖性更强,所以对农村妇女土地权益的保护更为重要。农村妇女土地权益受侵害的现象比较严重和突出,在一定程度上扰乱了农村的经济秩序和社会秩序。关注农村妇女权益保护、对侵犯妇女权益的原因进行阐述和法理分析,明确农村妇女在家庭承包中的法律地位以及土地承包权的物权性质,对解决农村妇女土地,问题是非常必要的。     

Gender, social capital and location: understanding the interactions

In recent years, governments in many post-industrial nations have re-discovered 'community'. Social capital and neighbourhood renewal are key concepts underpinning policies aimed at building the capacities of communities to respond to the problems facing them. Despite the apparent consensus amongst Anglo-American governments about the use of social capital, and related concepts, as a guide for policy formulation these ideas remain hotly contested amongst social policy commentators. Against a general backdrop of disquiet about the application of social capital initiatives to communities facing significant social and economic challenges, some commentators highlight the curious inattention to gender in debates about social capital. This is all the more troubling given the apparent reliance of social capital initiatives on the informal network-building activities often undertaken by women. In this article we present findings from an empirical study of social capital creation across four geographically diverse communities. We show that the relationship between gender and social capital is complex. We argue that the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to social capital formulation fails to recognise gendered patterns of social capital formulation, but so, too, do analyses of gender that neglect the complex interactions between gender and other factors, particularly location, age and income. We argue for approaches to policy formulation that recognise local differences, including differences between and amongst men and women in social capital creation.     

“单方索取”还是“相互需要”——代际同住中的需求组合与亲子选择

基于2018年中国老年社会追踪调查的数据,本文深入挖掘老年人与成年子女的同住需求组合类型,并分析其中子女的性别和排行两个维度的同住机制。研究发现,在中国,代际互惠的合作型同住占据首要地位,代际重心下移和浓厚的互惠色彩是当今代际同住的主流, 城乡之间代际互惠的逻辑存在差异。从代际同住机制看,特别是在农村,儿子依旧是同住选择偏好的对象,但女儿在代际同住中更有可能承担赡养的责任;农村地区排行靠后的子女在代际同住中更有可能得到父母的帮扶,也更有可能承担赡养的责任。