Son preference and educational opportunities of children in China— “I wish you were a boy!”

Gender bias in family formation, such as sex selected-abortion, imbalance of the sex ratio, child abandonment, and sibling size/order in relation to fertility is well documented in China. Much less is known about continued gender bias after birth in relation to children's status inside the family. In particular, there is a relative scarcity of research on the impact of the parental son preference in determining differential educational opportunities of male and female children. Continued and fast economic growth in China is not accompanied by the dramatic change in traditional value, and many peasants still hold son preference value. Using 1990 China census data and drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Beijing and its suburbs, I examine children's educational opportunities, and investigate the relationship between parents who hold the son preference value and their unequal treatment when rearing children. The results demonstrated that the continued son preference value, based on traditional views as well as on perceived financial returns to families, leads to a lower level of educational attainment among daughters in rural areas of China. The lower educational attainment and higher labor force participation rates of rural female adolescents reflect unequal opportunities provided by their parents in addition to social inequality in China. Children who live in urban areas with educated parents received better educational opportunities and experience less gender bias. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. Her research interests include social demography, social deviance, social psychology, race and ethnicity, and quantitative sociology. Her recent publications include illegal drug rehabilitation and detoxification, international migration, sociology of emotions, and gender inequality.     

The impact of resources and family-level cultural practices on immigrant women’s workforce participation

This article aims to assess the extent to which women's labor force participation reflects culturally or situationally induced family strategies above and beyond the well-known effects of opportunities and constraints associated with education and the life cycle. We focus particularly on women immigrants from the former Yugoslavia in Australia, and explore the family strategies by comparing the Yugoslav women systematically to immigrant women from other parts of the Mediterranean world and to immigrant women from other parts of the Slavic world. To this end, we use data from the one percent public use sample of individual records of the 1981 Australian Census. We find that the labor force particiaation patterns of immigrant women from the former Yugoslavia are more shaped by education and less shaped by the life course than is true of other groups, although the life course matters for all of them. Indeed, in the impact of education on labor force they closely resemble the Eastern Europeans across most of the range of education. But in the impact of life cycle stage on participation they more closely resemble the Greeks and the Italians. This emphasizes how important it is that statistical agencies release data at the greatest possible level of detail: A country may belong in one group for some purposes, but in a different group for other purposes. We assess a number of explanations for birthplace differences in participation patterns, and find most wanting. We suggest that they may reflect culturally conditioned intergenerational wealth flows and patterns of time investiment in children and the elderly. M.D.R. Evans's research focuses on comparative, international analyses of stratification, ethnicity, culture, and gender. Her book, Prejudice or Productivity, is forthcoming from Westview Press.     

The family investment model: A formalization and review of evidence from across immigrant groups

In what has become known as the Family Investment Model, several scholars have hypothesized that financing investment in host-country skills by immigrant husbands is a factor affecting the labor force decisions and human capital investment of immigrant married women. This paper reviews empirical evidence from one stream of research on the family investment model. I also formalize the family investment hypothesis and incorporate it into a traditional model of female labor force participation. The formalization provides a simple way to conceptualize the family investment hypothesis. Including it in a conventional model of female labor force participation emphasizes that the effect of a family investment strategy on the work behavior of immigrant women must be understood in the context of a woman's level of host country-specific skills, as well as all other factors generally included in models of female labor force participation.     

隐藏在民间哭嫁与哭嫁歌中的女性意识

哭嫁是流传于民间的一种习俗,有着极为丰富的内涵,其中充满了女性意识的自我表述。首先,通过哭嫁歌对压迫女性的夫家进行直接控诉;其次,哭嫁歌在很大程度上突出了女姓的性别意识;最后,通过哭嫁歌,女性在对男权制度下的婚姻形式进行批判的同时,表达了自己朴素的婚姻观。     

Gender and work: The occupational expectations of young women and men in the 1990s

This article uses data from a longitudinal survey of youth to examine the effects of gender on the occupational expectations and attitudes of youth in the 1990s. Twelve hundred youth from central and eastern Canada were surveyed in 1989 and 1994. Results show few gender differences in the status rankings in the youths' expected occupations, or in their intentions to enter the paid labour force. However, there were differences in the ways females and males saw themselves combining work and family responsibilities—especially pre-school aged children. The attitudes and experiences of the young women's mothers appeared to affect these plans—plans that were unrelated to social class background. The results are discussed in the context of McCall's notion on gendered dispositions. where she has been faculty since 1975. Her research interests include the sociology of education, youth and gender issues. She currently holds two research grants funded by Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, one as principal investigator, the other as a member of a research network on longitudinal studies of youth. Her research interests include sociology of education and work, youth and gender issues.     

家庭负担、性别分工与贫困劳动力就业——基于湖北J县易地扶贫搬迁户的调查

基于湖北省J县易地扶贫搬迁户劳动力的调查数据,运用二元Logit回归模型,探讨不同类型的家庭负担对贫困劳动力就业的影响及其影响的性别差异。结果显示：整体来看,不同类型的家庭负担对贫困劳动力就业影响不同,其中,赡养负担对贫困劳动力就业具有促进作用,疾病负担对贫困劳动力就业有阻碍作用;分性别来看,家庭负担对贫困劳动力就业的影响存在着性别差异,女性比男性更容易受到家庭负担的阻碍。据此,应完善农村公共服务建设,减轻家庭负担对就业的阻碍;增加居家就业机会,减轻就业与家庭的冲突,以此促进贫困劳动力的充分就业。     

陕西农户健康投资意愿影响因素分析

文章基于对陕西农村的462个农户的实地调查,分析了影响农户健康投资意愿的因素。结果表明,农户收入水平、劳动力身心健康程度、劳动力的文化教育水平、劳动力外出务工、农户家庭结构、新型农村合作医疗制度、家庭信贷可获性、医疗机构水平及可及性因素对农户健康投资意愿有着不同程度的影响。因此,当地政府在农村推行医疗保障制度过程中,应充分考虑农民的健康投资意愿,制定更为合理的政策。     

Gender differences in socioeconomic returns to family migration in Malaysia: the role of family decision making versus labor market stratification

In this article I examine gender differences in the effect of family migration on socioeconomic attainment in Malaysia. The analysis discerns the relative importance of gender roles in household migration decisions, compared to gender stratification in the labor market. The Malaysian economy has undergone rapid industrialization and great structural changes which have opened up new economic opportunities, particularly for women. Despite the somewhat advantaged position of women compared to men in the Malaysian labor market. I find that men experience much greater socioeconomic gains than women from family migration. Hence indicating that family migration decisions in Malaysia, rather than optimizing family gains, compensate for the gender effect in the labor market. However, the gains of Malaysian men are more assured when they move alone. Data for the study come from the second round of the Malaysian Family Life Survey. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1995 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, Washington D.C., August 19–23. I. thank Michael White, Frances Goldscheider, Sidney Goldstein, Ronald Rindfuss and the two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. I also thank Christine Peterson for help regarding the data set, and Lynn Igoe for editorial assistance. Research support from the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University, the Population Council, and the Carolina Population Center is gratefully acknowledged. Prior to joining Kansas State University, she was a postdoctoral scholar at the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. from Brown University in 1997. Dr. Chattopadhyay's research interests include social demography, gender role/differentials and households and families.     

中国农村妇女问题研究综述

随着党中央对三农问题的重视,中国农村妇女问题逐渐凸现出来。对近二十年的中国农村妇女研究重新进行阶段划分,并对中国农村妇女研究所涉及的性别与劳动就业分工,农业女性化问题,农村妇女家庭地位及其变化,农村妇女科学文化素质及培训,农村女性劳动力流动及影响因素,农村妇女与贫困,农村妇女与人口再生产,农村妇女与资源、环境和持续发展,农村妇女参政议政等问题,进行多角度的分析说明,从中总结出经验和不足。农村妇女发展要联系农村实际,要针对多方面因素考虑农村妇女发展与农村诸要素之间的关系。农村妇女研究要采取定量与定性相结合的分析方法,从不同地域、不同环境入手分析当地农村妇女的实际情况,以便在今后的研究中得以借鉴。     

夫妻双方受教育水平对中国家庭内部劳动分工的影响

文章采用2012中国综合社会调查（CGSS 2012）问卷数据，选取2148个已婚家庭样本为观测对象，系统梳理研究了夫妻双方受教育水平对家庭内部劳动分工的影响。结果显示:家庭内部劳动分工中女性的家务劳动负担较重；女性的受教育水平、年龄、性别平等观念、目前工作状况、身体状况对其家务劳动承担比重有显著影响；而配偶受教育水平、女性收入贡献率、家庭经济状况、家庭生活满意度对女性家务劳动承担比重影响不显著。总之，受教育水平是改变家庭内部劳动分工，减少女性家务劳动承担比重的重要影响因素。     

Active aging and pension reform: The gender implications in France

In the first section of this article, the authors Christel Gilles and Antoine Parent, argue that in France, public policy and the pension system provide financial incentives favoring early retirement. The implementation of “bridge jobs” to facilitate the transition from full employment to full retirement, could, in theory, lessen the long-term decline in employment rates of men and women. Gilles and Parent, in the second section, question the idea that rising labor force participation rates among women are adequate to narrow pension inequalities between men and women. Regarding this point, we also note that since women's careers are generally shorter than men's and their labor income remains, on average, lower, an increase, in female labor force participation would lead, in an occupational-based system, to a substitution effect between direct and indirect entitlements. The impact of this effect on pension gender inequalities remains uncertain. In the third section, the authors examine, from a gender perspective, other pension reform options that may, in theory, provide greater gender equality, but that are, in practice, far from the implementation phase.     

社会性别视角下闽西农村女性家庭地位分析

根据实地调查研究发现,闽西农村女性积极参与社会化大生产,家庭中出现了＂男女同工＂和＂农业生产女性化＂的新型分工模式。随着女性经济地位的提高,其家庭地位相应提高,具体表现为女性自主权、决策权和支配权的地位提升。然而,从社会性别视角分析发现,男性仍然占据家庭的主导地位,新型的两性分工模式依然存在隐性的不平等。     

Italy’s Path to Very Low Fertility: The Adequacy of Economic and Second Demographic Transition Theories

The deep drop of the fertility rate in Italy to among the lowest in the world challenges contemporary theories of childbearing and family building. Among high-income countries, Italy was presumed to have characteristics of family values and female labor force participation that would favor higher fertility than its European neighbors to the north. We test competing economic and cultural explanations, drawing on new nationally representative, longitudinal data to examine first union, first birth, and second birth. Our event history analysis finds some support for economic determinants of family formation and fertility, but the clear importance of regional differences and of secularization suggests that such an explanation is at best incomplete and that cultural and ideational factors must be considered.     

Gender role attitudes and college students’ work and family expectations

Work and family issues are becoming increasingly important for both women and men. This study examines college students' plans and attitudes concerning work and family, gender differences in attitudes and expectations, and the effect of gender role attitudes on future expectations. Findings indicate that a majority of men and women expect to marry, have children, and work full-time. While men expect to work more hours at a job, there are no gender differences in ideal work hours. Women who hold more egalitarian gender role attitudes are less definitive in their plans to marry and have children. Egalitarian men expect to work fewer hours and are more willing to stay at home than their traditional counterparts. Her research interests include gender, family, demography, aging, and the life course. She is currently working on a study of fathers' experiences with work-family conflict and adaptive strategies for balancing the two domains, which is being funded by the American Sociological Association.     

少数民族地区妇女性别意识研究——以贵州道真、雷山两县已婚育龄妇女为例

基于社会性别理论,以贵州道真、雷山少数民族地区已婚育龄妇女为例,从家庭责任承担、家庭事务决策、家庭暴力认知、子女期望、村民自治参与、生殖健康意识和能力方面研究分析了少数民族地区已婚育龄妇女的社会性别意识,指出现代社会性别意识的构建需要社会、家庭和女性自身的共同努力,构建中还应注意借助民族地区社会民俗文化的传承教育功能。     

19世纪末20世纪初美国服装厂中的犹太移民女工境遇探析

19世纪末20世纪初,一大批东欧犹太女性进入美国。犹太女性移民大都因为生活贫困不得不进入就业市场,又因为传统文化和人际关系网络而主要进入美国工业化城市中的服装厂工作。这些犹太服装女工以年轻未婚女性为主,大都作为廉价劳动力分布在制衣生产线的基础性岗位上,面临职业升迁困难,工资处于低水平,以及遭遇性别歧视等困境。对于这样的工作境遇,她们一方面积极适应美国工厂的生产方式,同时也通过跳槽、参加工会和罢工等方式进行抗争,但大多数女性在婚后回归家庭,结束工厂职业生涯,选择以家庭为中心开展新的经济参与活动。     

Are men or women more reluctant to marry in couples sharing a non-marital birth?

In this paper I examine whether one gender is driving the “retreat from marriage” among unmarried parents. I use a sample of romantically involved unmarried parents—taken from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Survey—to examine whether a gender difference exists in marriage attitudes that are current-relationship specific and not relationship specific, with and without controls of current relationship quality. Using ordered logistical analysis, I find that, net of other factors, men are more positive regarding marriage and their current relationship than their female partners. She earned her M.A. in sociology from Northwestern University in 2004. Her research interests include gender and the family.     

The Cost of Low Fertility in Europe

We analyze the effect of fertility on income per capita with a particular focus on the experience of Europe. For European countries with below-replacement fertility, the cost of continued low fertility will only be observed in the long run. We show that in the short run, a fall in the fertility rate will lower the youth dependency ratio and increase the working-age share, thus raising income per capita. In the long run, however, the burden of old-age dependency dominates the youth dependency decline, and continued low fertility will lead to small working-age shares in the absence of large migration inflows. We show that the currently very high working-age shares generated by the recent declines in fertility and migration inflows are not sustainable, and that significant drops in the relative size of the working-age population should be expected. Without substantial adjustments in labor force participation or migration policies, the potential negative repercussions on the European economy are large.     

农村劳动力流动模式选择影响因素分析

文章基于陕西、河南两省随机调查数据,以职业和地理区位变化为标准,将农户分为四种流动模式,运用多元定类logit回归模型,在农户水平上探讨了农户流动模式选择的影响因素.结果表明,家庭收入、家庭主要劳动力数、劳动力平均受教育年限、地区就业环境等对农村劳动力流动模式选择都有重要影响,特别指出季节性就业流动模式是竞争弱势家庭在本地竞争被挤出后的次优选择.此外,流动模式选择表现出了较明显的区域特征.