Poor Mothers and Habits of Hiding: Participatory Methods in Poverty Research

Poor mothers have long‐standing habits of hiding their lives in response to punitive authorities and stigma. We identify practices of hiding daily life, and we describe participatory research approaches for and ethical concerns in learning more about poor women's critical insights and survival strategies.     

Asian Women,Job Training and the Social Organization of Immigrant Labor Markets

This paper examines the entry of Asian immigrant women into a gendered labor market via government-funded job training programs. The focus is on the intake processing of clients into an employment training program operated by a community based organization. The study reveals that women's family responsibilities and the cultural capital they bring function to screen them into or out of training programs and ultimately shape their location in the workforce. The study thus draws attention to how race, class, and gender enter into the organization of Asian immigrant women into the labor market. This investigation is based in institutional ethnography (Smith 1987), a research strategy which displays how activities in a particular setting are coordinated with more extended forms of social organization. The study shows that the overriding concern with successful placement in a job as mandated by government regulations is a critical factor in selecting the women for these programs.     

The majority legal status of women in southern Africa: implications for women and families

Women in many countries of southern Africa do not have majority status or have only recently gained this right. Majority status grants individuals adult legal status and the right to bring matters to court, own and administer property, have legal custody of children, and contract for marriage. This article summarizes the legal status of women in Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Lack of majority status contributes to the ongoing risk of poverty for women and makes them overly dependent on men. Compounding the situation in these countries is the presence of a dual legal system. Improving the situation of women and their families involves targeting changes in the legal system, influencing implementation of laws, educating women about their rights, and giving women needed support to seek their legal rights. The legal status of women must be viewed in the context of historical changes in the economic, educational, political, and cultural developments of society.The research for this paper was conducted during her previous faculty affiliation with the University of Michigan, School of Social Work. Her research interests include the impact of social change on women and families, rural mental health services, and health and mental health linkages. She received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and her M.S.W. from the Columbia University School of Social Work.Her research interests are gender, work and family, culture and power, social transformations in rural and peri-urban communities, critical education, women and community politics, history of women, family and kinship issues, and community-based program development and evaluation. She received her M.S.W. from Dalhousie University, Halifax.     

Homework and domestic work

This study assesses two competing theories about the extent to which homework—paid work in the home—helps integrate work and domestic roles for men and women. Contrasting male and female homeworkers with their counterparts working outside the home, it supports some aspects of both the resource and role overload theories, but predominantly the role overload perspective. Homeworkers, especially in the working class, experience less interference between job and family life, but perform more housework and child care. They have no more leisure time nor greater marital satisfaction than those working outside the home, but receive more family assistance with their paid jobs, suggesting that they combine tasks from their first and second shifts. Working at home does not break down gender roles in domestic life. Despite time saved from commuting, male homeworkers perform no more housework than comparable men working outside the home. Thus, the gender division of unpaid household labor is not simply a matter of resources or spatial logistics.An earlier version was presented at the meetings of the Eastern Sociological Society, Providence, Rhode Island, April 1991.     

家庭功能与小班幼儿亲社会行为的关系：安全型依恋的中介作用和性别的调节作用

基于McMaster家庭功能模式理论和依恋理论,选取392名小班幼儿为被试,通过问卷调查探讨家庭功能与小班幼儿亲社会行为的关系,并检验安全型依恋的中介效应和性别的调节效应。结果显示,家庭功能、亲社会行为、安全型依恋两两之间均呈现显著的正相关。安全型依恋在家庭功能与小班幼儿亲社会行为的关系中起着部分中介作用。性别显著调节家庭功能与亲社会行为之间的关系。具体而言,家庭功能显著正向影响女性幼儿的亲社会行为,但对男性幼儿亲社会行为的影响并不显著。     

提高妇女素质是提高人口素质的重要保证

母亲的素质对孩子的优生优育有直接的重大影响 ,因此 ,提高妇女素质是全民族刻不容缓的任务     

劳务输出与脱贫致富

长期以来 ,有关方面均把贫困地区脱贫致富寄望于劳务输出。短期看来 ,劳务输出确能在一定程度上缓解贫困压力 ,但长期而言 ,劳务输出并不能从根本上解决贫困地区的脱贫致富问题。这是由劳力输出的限度、制约条件、实际效果及贫困的根本原因决定的。贫困地区脱贫的根本出路在于 :立足并开发贫困地区 ,走政府推进型脱贫致富之路。为此 ,当务之急须认真解决好三个问题 :( 1 )制定并实施开发贫困地区的战略 ;( 2 )国家加大对贫困地区的投入 ;( 3)地方政府真抓实干领导脱贫     

实现男女平等构建两性和谐发展的社会

男女两性协调发展在构建和谐社会中有十分重要的意义,两性协调发展可促进经济、社会协调发展,有利于人的全面发展,同时女性发展得到重视,有助于从根本上提高民族素质,推动三大文明建设。但实际生活中,实现男女平等、协调发展既面临传统与现实的挑战,又面临经济全球化、城市化、工业化进程带来的机遇。本文在分析这些情况的基础上,提出解决男女协调发展的途径。     

文化视野下的《聊斋志异》科第观

从文化的角度,即从个体科场失意的心理与士子普遍的科举心态的层面上,从选贤用能与个体的怀才不遇层面上,从儒家传统文化的传承与八股取士的层面上,从公平竞争的科举选拔制度与试官腐败的层面上,辩证、历史与客观地审视蒲松龄的作品《聊斋志异》所表现出的科第观,重新解读《聊斋志异》的科第观所带给我们的启示。     

A longitudinal study of depressiveness in children in public care

Rajhvajn Bulat L. A longitudinal study of depressiveness in children in public care Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 412–423 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. The aim of this article is to analyse the challenges involved when making longitudinal observations of depressiveness in children raised in public care. The first measurement comprised 375 children from children's homes and foster families; however, most of the results are based on an analysis of the 139 children who participated in both parts of the research. We used the Child Depression Inventory and the anxiety/depression subscales of Youth Self Report and Child Behaviour Checklist as measures of depressiveness. The comparison of results from the first and second measurements showed that depressiveness in children in public care decreased over time. Children who grew up in children homes were, in the first measurement, more depressed than those living in foster families, but after five years that difference had disappeared. Furthermore, decrease in depressiveness is predominantly associated with less frequent delinquent, aggressive or hyperactive behaviour, less withdrawal and better control over uncomfortable emotions.