A big hole with the wind blowing through it: Aboriginal women's experiences of trauma and problem gambling

Although studies have shown a link between social trauma and problem gambling (PG), there is little research involving Aboriginal women in this area, despite Aboriginal women being potentially at higher risk for both social trauma and problem gambling. This article describes the results of a qualitative phenomenology study asking seven Aboriginal women living in Western Canada to describe their experiences of social trauma and gambling problems. Results suggest four main themes, describing: (1) the Aboriginal women's experiences of social trauma (‘the three tigers’); (2) their use of gambling to cope with these experiences (‘a big hole with the wind blowing through it’); (3) their experience of problem gambling (‘I'm somebody today’); and (4) their process of healing from social trauma and gambling problems (‘a letter to John’). Participants described what they felt was a clear link between social trauma and problems with gambling, and how gambling helped to change their mood and block out the past. The results raise the possibility that Aboriginal women with gambling problems may need support to heal from social trauma – including racism and colonization – and that upstream initiatives to reduce the incidence of social traumas may be an important response to problem gambling among Aboriginal women.     

Working mothers,injury and embodied care work

In this article, we examine how mothers respond when injury interrupts maternal care, using the lens of embodied care, which we conceptualize as a form of ‘body work’. We draw on findings from a qualitative research project with two organizations in Australia that help people with injuries to return to work, examining the experiences of workers who are also mothers of dependent children. Mothers' inability to care for children during periods of injury was a significant concern for our interviewees; constraints on physical labour and physical affection were particularly troubling, indicating the importance of embodied maternal caregiving to maternal roles. Yet, while these mothers inhabited the spheres of paid work and unpaid care work simultaneously, service providers did not consider embodied care work or its relevance to injured women's ongoing needs for support. While our findings reflect the experiences of injured women, they also suggest the need for a materialist analysis of the ways that both paid work and care activities are deeply enmeshed in and through the bodies of those doing the work. Employers and service organizations still fail to recognize maternal ‘body work’, and this may be typical of social attitudes more widely.     

Balancing caring and paid work in the UK: narrating ‘choices’ as first-time parents

Paid work is generally accepted as an important dimension of hegemonic masculinities and men's identities, which can become heightened when they become fathers. Changes in global economies together with educational shifts and other demographic patterns mean that paid work has become a significant feature of many women's lives too. Increasingly across Europe women who are mothers combine caring, domestic chores, and paid work. Using data from a qualitative longitudinal study on women's experiences of transition to first-time motherhood in the UK, this paper will explore how women narrate and reconcile their decisions either to return to paid work or not to, following the birth of their first child (Miller 2005). These findings are considered alongside a companion study on men's experiences of transition to first-time fatherhood (Miller 2011). The comparison shows that women articulate work and caring decisions in narratives which convey a sense of ‘guilt’, whilst the men are able to talk more freely – and acceptably – about ‘career progression’ and the importance of work to their identity and their new family. Even though recent research points to some changes in men's involvement in caring and women's increased activities in the work-place, particular aspects of these arrangements remain seemingly impervious to change.     

Health care,social care or both? A qualitative explorative study of different focuses in long-term care of older people in France,Portugal and Sweden

Challenges with an ageing population are increasingly becoming a reality in the Western world. Since cognitive impairment increases with age, we can expect an increasing number of older people in need of care. The aim of this article is to describe, analyse and compare different focuses on care of older people with dementia, using examples from France, Portugal and Sweden. The questions are principally focused on the participants’ view about their tasks, the organisation of work, the professional role and cooperation with other professions. Everyday care was studied through observations and participant observations and the staff's opinion was explored by means of interviews. Twenty-two care settings for older people were included. The findings showed that France provided mainly ‘health care’, Sweden ‘social care’ and Portugal an integrated ‘health care and social care’. In a comparative perspective the Portuguese general care of older people, which focuses on integration of health care, social care and social work, also seems to provide care for older people suffering from dementia which best corresponds to the previously developed group living model.     

Striving to be ‘good’ mothers: abused women's experiences of mothering

So far, limited work has focused on women's experiences of mothering in the context of domestic violence. This article presents the findings of a study that investigated women's experiences of mothering in the context of domestic violence and, while it accounts for the difficulties and challenges these women face, it emphasises their desire to be ‘good’ mothers and the strategies they develop in order to achieve ‘good’ mothering. The findings demonstrate that abused women typically strive to be ‘good’ mothers, which requires them to put their children first and to protect and care for them. The recognition of these strategies provides ground to question current professional practices and to develop interventions that will best support women and children living with domestic violence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women and the rural idyll

The existence of a ‘rural idyll’ has been widely accepted by social scientists working within the rural field. Yet the term itself has received relatively little critical attention. In particular, the variable characteristics and impacts of the rural idyll amongst different groups within the rural population has been largely overlooked. The cultural turn in rural geography and the emphasis which has recently been placed on identifying and studying the rural ‘other’ provides an important opportunity for the notion of a rural idyll to be unpacked from the perspective of different rural dwellers. This paper investigates the role of the rural idyll in maintaining rural gender relations. It examines women's attitudes towards and experiences of two key elements of the rural idyll; the family and the community. Drawing on material from interviews with women in rural Avon in the south west of England, the paper shows how women's identity as ‘rural women’ is closely tied in to their images and understanding of rural society. It is argued, in particular, that the opportunities available and acceptable to women are built on very strong assumptions and expectations about motherhood and belonging within a rural community. Some of the more practical implications of these expectations are explored in the context of women's involvement in the community and in the labour market.     

Locating Security in the Womb

The discourse surrounding US family planning policies has evolved into a highly moralistic one that mirrors US domestic debates surrounding abortion rights. However, the original intent of ‘population control’ was to protect US access to raw resources and maintain US global supremacy. US family policies did not first identify woman as the object to be controlled, but policies have changed such that women's bodies have become a symbolic representation of – and site of resistance to – the power relationships between the US and developing states. The change in the rhetoric – from population control to family planning, women's empowerment, environmental sustainability and human rights – does not mean the ‘rules’ enforced by the hegemon have changed so much as it indicates a process of identity formation occurring through the implementation of these rules.     

Women's Work,Dirty Work: The Gynaecology Nurse as ‘Other’

This article seeks to explore the world of the gynaecology nurse. This world defines the gendered experience of nursing; that is, women in a women's job carrying out ‘women's work’. It is also a world that receives scant public recognition due to its association with the private domain of women's reproductive health. Many issues dealt with on a daily basis by gynaecology nurses are socially ‘difficult’: cancer, infertility, miscarriage and foetal abnormalities; or socially ‘distasteful’: termination of pregnancy, urinary incontinence, menstruation and sexually transmitted disease. The ‘tainted’ nature of gynaecology nursing gives it the social distinction of ‘dirty work’ but does not deter the gynaecology nurse from declaring her work as ‘special’, requiring distinctive knowledge and skills. Qualitative data collected from a group of gynaecology nurses in a North West National Health Service hospital displays how they actively celebrate their status as women carrying out ‘dirty work’. Through the use of ceremonial work that continually re‐affirms their ‘womanly’ qualities the gynaecology nurses establish themselves as ‘different’, as ‘special’, as the ‘other’.     

Isolated housewives and complex maternal worlds – The significance of social contacts between women with young children in industrial societies*

This article reconsiders the picture of the mother of young children in industrialised societies as the ‘isolated housewife’, suggesting this notion is by no means straightforward. We suggest there is considerable evidence for the existence of mothers' social contacts and their significance both as ‘work’ and ‘friendship’ in industrial societies. A pre-occupation with the notion of the ‘isolation’ of ‘housewives’ has led social researchers to neglect sustained examination of the social relationships within which many/most mothers are involved on a day-to-day basis. Complexities of interpretation, for example what ‘isolation’ can actually mean, need to be drawn out from the existing literature. Evidence presented from two recent ethnographic studies shows patterned opportunities/constraints occurring in relation to mothers' social contacts within localised settings, whether through organised groups or other personal ties. The complex nature of individual women's social contacts is thus brought out. Some key questions are raised for the importance to sociology, anthropology and social policy of these apparently insignificant or invisible women's networks.     

‘Su guagua no escucha nada’: Ecuadorian families confronting the deafness of a child

In accordance with the social model of disability, this study proceeded from the assumption that parents’ experiences of a child’s hearing impairment reflect the circumstances of their lives rather than anything innate in the impairment itself. Few studies have explored the influence both of culture and social structure and of families’ economic and social resources. We studied families’ experiences of the diagnosis of hearing loss in Ecuador, a multicultural country in which family ties are strong but where pronounced social and economic inequalities persist and where many people have no access to health care. The study shows how inequality – and in particular the experience of poverty – shapes families’ experiences of acquiring a diagnosis and of trying to accommodate a child with special needs.     

The economic proposals of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and gender budgeting in Italy

Charlotte Perkins Gilman anticipated Amartya Sen's theories on the economy of wellbeing and the theory of the capabilities by placing humanity at the centre of economic politics, the full development of abilities of the entire population and the participation in all the social, economic and political activities of men and women, as a premise for social progress and genuine democracy. In particular, she highlighted the value of women's competences and female innovative contribution towards the achievement of these goals. Today, the European Union considers these issues as a priority but in Italy they are not fully taken into consideration. Gilman, the American authoritative sociologist and economist, defined in 1993 by the Women's Hall of Fame as one of the 10 most influential women of the twentieth century, thanks to her studies and her in-depth analysis of women's real conditions of life, reached the conclusion that the origins of the traditional sexual roles – and of the female ‘natural’ subordination to man – are not due to nature, but to the economic dependence on man. Consequently, she believed that true freedom and effective citizenship for women are possible only with economic independence. Through the denunciation of the myths and traditional stereotypes that tie women to the so-called ‘natural roles’, Gilman showed the damages that the exclusion of women from socioeconomic activities cause to the progress of human society, and proposed the new woman. The new woman is well-educated – and thus endowed with a critical mind – and professionally prepared, and is aware of the necessity of her full citizenship. Women are also aware of the fundamental social value of maternity. Consequently they are aware that the ‘unpaid caring works’ should not be exclusively assigned to women but rather should be shared by both family and society. Gilman's theories and proposals for the social and economic reorganization, and her criticism of the traditional myths and stereotypes, supply a valid contribution to the present gender politics and in particular to the affirmation of gender budgeting in economics. These policies Gilman had indicated in her study Women and economics, published in 1898!     

WORKING TO EXIT POVERTY WHILE CARING FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM

Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1986, levels of urbanization, industrialization, and women's labour force participation have increased in Vietnam. This article focuses on the experiences of parents in Vietnam and how labour and social conditions affect their ability to work and exit poverty while caring for their children's health and development. We interviewed a sample of 147 parents in Ho Chi Minh City using in-depth, semi-structured questionnaires. Sixty-three percent of parents had faced loss of income or promotions or had difficulty retaining jobs because they had to care for children. Fifty-eight percent of parents lost income while caring for their sick children because they had to take unpaid leave from work to care for their children or because they had to decrease productivity if they were able to continue working. Fifty percent of parents with school-age children experienced barriers to helping with homework, to attending meetings, or to participating in other aspects of their children's education. The aftermath of the Vietnamese – American War affected parents through loss of extended family members, limiting access to a major traditional source of support. The war had affected other parents by preventing them from completing their education, which left them with job choices that offer little or no work benefits. Although Vietnam has made significant progress in providing early childhood care and education and legislating labour laws, working families’ experiences demonstrate the need to ensure that paid leave and work flexibility policies are available and implemented in all work sectors and to expand affordable, quality child care in order to help low-income working parents in Vietnam meet work demands and exit poverty while meeting their children's needs.     

Young Women's Use of a Vaginal Microbicide Surrogate: The Role of Individual and Contextual Factors in Acceptability and Sexual Pleasure

Currently in clinical trials, microbicides have historically been promoted as a woman-controlled (although more recently woman initiated) method of sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention. The contradicition that exists in this rationale is that women's bodies, specifically the genitals, have been constructed as a negotiated space within sexual interactions. This study qualitatively explored the factors influencing 40 young women's use of a vaginal moisturizer (VM), utilized as a microbicide surrogate. The results indicated that use of the VM was dependent upon product characteristics (i.e., the lubricating qualities affect on sexual pleasure, timing of insertion), individual factors (i.e., reproductive health goals, experiences with side effects of existing contraceptive methods), and contextual factors (i.e., social norms). An understanding of these bodily and social issues may be beneficial in designing targeted educational campaigns and effective instructional materials as well as in facilitating positive dialogue around women's bodies and their sexuality.     

Care,empowerment and self-determination in the practice of peer support

The concept of ‘care’ has been fraught with negative connotations within the disability movement; the concepts of empowerment, choice and control have been developed as alternatives. The peer-support movement in the mental health sector draws from this tradition, and is uncomfortable with the provision of care. Drawing on the feminist ethic of care, we will argue in this paper that ‘care’ – in the sense of caring about, rather than caring for – should be seen as fundamental within peer support. The practice of peer support evidences a kind of ‘care’ that does involve some interdependence, and taking of ‘responsibility’. The challenge is to make this a ‘responsibility towards’, rather than a ‘responsibility for’. If this is successfully achieved, care can indeed become acknowledged as part of ‘standard peer support’, and the basis for the development of autonomy and self-determination.     

‘It feels right in my heart’: affective accountability in narratives of attachment

This article makes a contribution to discussions around ‘affect’ in the social sciences (Clough and Halley, 2007; Connolly, 1999; Massumi, 2002). It emerges from a research project involving a network of mothers – in London – who breastfeed their children to ‘full term’. Typically, this would be up to the age of three or four, though ranged, in this case, to between one and eight years old. For many women, the most fundamental reasoning in their decision to breastfeed to ‘full term’ is that it simply ‘feels right.’ The article therefore explores anthropological approaches to the ‘feelings’ that embodied experiences generate, as revealed in the accounts and practices of the people we work with (whether at the physiological, emotional or moral levels). It considers various means of describing the feelings experienced by women during of long‐term breastfeeding – such as ‘hormones’, ‘instinct’ and ‘intuition’– but ultimately argues for a theoretical framework of ‘affect’ to incorporate best the combined physiological and moral aspects of ‘doing what feels right in my heart,’ so critical to women's perceptions of themselves as mothers.     

Travelling theory in China: contextualization,compromise and combination

In this article we explore the dissemination of human rights ideas in China through an ethnographic study of three women's organizations: the government's ‘letters and complaints’ department, the governmental NGO affiliated with it, and a legal aid centre; all are located in Beijing. We argue that there are two paths in China for the transmission of international human rights ideas – a government one and a non‐government one. The government path, featured as contextual and compromising, is rooted in socialist and collective values, and the governmental organizations we studied function squarely within the domestic legal framework and the concept of ‘women's rights and interests’. The non‐governmental path, by contrast, characterized by vernacularization, namely a combination of international ideas with local practice to promote legal reform in China, is the result of economic development and interactions with the international community. Both paths interact within their different spheres to further the development of women's rights.     

Asking for a Child: The Refashioning of Reproductive Space in Post-War Northern Vietnam

In the mid-1980s, population movement, wartime male mortality, and changing notions of marriageability converged to create a radically different marital terrain than that previously encountered by Vietnamese women. Finding themselves without suitable marriage prospects a small number of single women asked men they would not marry to get them pregnant. This paper focuses on three elements that contributed to this refashioning of reproductive space: the women's post-war experiences that prompted them to ‘ask for a child’, state policies that provided a different dynamic for bearing children out of wedlock, and the manner in which the Women's Union sought to provide social acceptance for women who ‘asked for a child’. As a result of the women's agency and the state's decision to incorporate single mothers into society a new reproductive space was forged in which ideologies of motherhood, family, and reproduction took on new meaning in post-war northern Vietnam.     

Conjuring up traditions: atmospheres,eras and family Christmases

Despite some macro level concern with the concepts of tradition and ‘detraditionalization’, sociologists for the most part have paid relatively little attention to the everyday realities of family traditions as they are experienced and narrated in people's lives. Based on a qualitative study of ‘Family Backgrounds and Everyday Lives’, this article explores people's experiences and narratives of family Christmases, and examines how traditions are conjured up and evoked in multi‐dimensional, embodied, emplaced and sensory ways. The article argues that in recognizing and conjuring up family practices and happenings as ‘traditions’, people create a vivid and potent sense of generational eras, atmospheres and family styles. These have a moral currency that matters – sometimes quite profoundly – in people's lives, and are the subject of debate and negotiation between, as well as within, generations. Christmas traditions, it is argued, are central in the constitution of eras not least because they enable the bundling up of time – past, present and anticipated for descendant generations – into packages of generalized ‘time out of time’, characterized by distinctive atmospheres, and around which memories can coalesce and about which stories can be told. These atmospheric eras – more than broad or macro understandings of ‘tradition’ – are central in how generational dynamics and personal family histories take shape, and how memories are ‘indexed’ in and through time.