Accessing Labour, Resources and Institutions: Women Laborers in Brick Kiln of Jamune Bhanjyang, Tanahun , Nepal

BackgroundSocio-economic inequity leads to health inequity. Inequity is closely intertwined with internal migration. This study was planned with the objective of documenting the maternal health care utilization among women labourers working in brick kilns situated in an area of Haryana, north India.MethodsA community based mixed method study was done in select brick kilns of Faridabad district in north India. A mixed method study was done to assess maternal health care utilization in a sample of 500 women in the reproductive age group. Focus group discussions were also carried out. Descriptive analysis was done. Qualitative data was analysed using the thematic framework approach.ResultsThe mean age of the women was 30 (SD 0.3) years. Mean number of pregnancies per woman was 3.1 (SD 1.7). Only 22.9% ever had institutional delivery. About one third of women had ever received cash benefit under Janani SurakshaYojana (JSY) or had ever used free ambulance services. Seven major themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. Important themes include-Gaps in knowledge regarding local health system; Sub-standard private health care delivered at brick kilns prevent migrants from accessing the basic public health services; Misconceptions and mistrust about public health system influenced maternal health care utilization; Barriers to avail universal health coverage: location of brick kilns, time, apathy of public health system, partial health insurance cover.ConclusionsA typical migrant woman labourer in the brick kiln was an illiterate, had migrated from poor states, belonged to a socially disadvantaged community and worked long hours, and had been doing so for many years. This study has identified migrant women working in brick kilns as a vulnerable population subgroup in terms of maternal health utilization. To achieve universal health care it is important to understand the needs of all population subgroups and make concerted efforts at the health system level.

The extensive participation of Chinese women in rural economic activities has not only contributed significantly to the construction and development of the rural economy but also played a crucial role in poverty alleviation efforts. Womens involvement in various sectors such as agriculture, livestock farming, handicrafts, and small-scale businesses has helped create employment opportunities, increase household income, and improve living standards for their families. However, despite their immense contributions, there still exist disparities in social security rights, including pension insurance, medical insurance, and maternity insurance, between women and men in rural areas. Rural women's labor remains undervalued, resulting in inadequate social security coverage compared to men. By comparing the discrepancies in social security rights between rural women and men, it becomes evident that the value of women is grossly underestimated. It is imperative for the government to establish and improve a policy and regulatory system that safeguards women's personal rights while incorporating a gender perspective into the process of policy formulation to ensure basic rights protection for rural women and promote sustainable development in new rural areas.

The study of the experience of the European Union in solving the problems of the weak development of agriculture as a sensitive sector and the polarization of the socio-economic living conditions of residents in rural areas has an applied value for the implementation of this experience in Ukraine, which determines the relevance and novelty of this research. The object of the research is the tools of the state innovation policy for the development of agricultural production and rural areas of the EU. The subject of this study is the experience of the European Union in supporting the development of agriculture, as a sensitive industry, and increased support for the development of certain depressed regions of the EU in order to reduce their socio-economic depolarization. The purpose of this work is to justify the need to strengthen state policy and its tools for the innovative development of agricultural production and rural areas on the example of the settlement of relevant issues in the European Union. The practical significance of the results lies in the possibility of practical application of the recommendations regarding the definition of instruments of the state innovation policy for the development of agricultural production and rural areas in Ukraine. To achieve the goal, the following were used: а systematic analysis of the evolution of solving the issue of the common agricultural policy of the European Union, which contributed to the formation of recommendations for the definition of innovative tools of state policy for the development of agricultural production and rural areas in Ukraine; management approach - to strengthen the control function of state management in the implementation of state programs related to the support of agriculture as a sensitive industry and the development of rural areas. Conclusions. The development of sensitive industries in each country has not only economic, but also social and political significance, since it is about preserving jobs, consumer opportunities of the population, generating GDP and deducting taxes to the local and state budget, reducing the depolarization of economic growth between individual regions and strata population, and, therefore, socio-political peace in the state. The multifacetedness of this issue affects the decisions of the governments of countries and international integration groups, in particular the EU, whose experience is very useful for research and further implementation in Ukraine. The starting point for the effectiveness of the Program for the Sustainable Development of the Agricultural Industry in Ukraine is a comprehensive approach to solving the problems of increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural production and leveling significant disparities in the socio-economic development of rural areas. These tasks are two sides of the same problem, due to the neglect of which it is possible not only to lose a large number of small and medium-sized Ukrainian villages, but also to face the fact of food insecurity, which threatens the national security of Ukraine. Special attention in the process of implementation of the Program for the Sustainable Development of the Agricultural Industry in Ukraine is needed by the control function, which must be carried out permanently and qualitatively.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a "game-changer" not only for policymakers but also for common citizens of China and Pakistan because of its potential benefits in the economic prosperity and sustainable development in the lives of individuals. Recently, scholars have shown a great interest in researching the eminence of CPEC. Despite prodigious efforts of scholars, the question "how CPEC would influence living standards of rural women and what they perceive?" has been remained unanswered. The present study is the first attempt to unearth the perceptions of rural areas' women towards CPEC. We collected empirical evidence through a structured questionnaire from 302 educated rural women and interviewing 32 uneducated rural women. The following major conclusions are drawn through structural equation modeling via AMOS 21: the rural women significantly directly perceive new opportunities through CPEC; however, they perceive that the CPEC would not directly influence their quality of life and self-enhancement, but through the development of these rural areas. Rural development partially mediates the relationship between CPEC development and perceived opportunities while it fully mediates the relationships between CPEC development and quality of life as well as between CPEC development and self-enhancement. Policymakers need to emphasize on development of rural areas that would improve living standards of poor communities. The government needs to meet the expectations of poor communities and rural women to ensure their sustainable development.

Composition and source apportionment of PM1 at urban site Kanpur in India using PMF coupled with CBPF

Labor Organizer Nannie Helen Burroughs and Her National Training School for Women and Girls

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a “game-changer” not only for policymakers but also for common citizens of China and Pakistan because of its potential benefits in the economic prosperity and sustainable development in the lives of individuals. Recently, scholars have shown a great interest in researching the eminence of CPEC. Despite prodigious efforts of scholars, the question “how CPEC would influence living standards of rural women and what they perceive?” has been remained unanswered. The present study is the first attempt to unearth the perceptions of rural areas’ women towards CPEC. We collected empirical evidence through a structured questionnaire from 302 educated rural women and interviewing 32 uneducated rural women. The following major conclusions are drawn through structural equation modeling via AMOS 21: the rural women significantly directly perceive new opportunities through CPEC; however, they perceive that the CPEC would not directly influence their quality of life and self-enhancement, but through the development of these rural areas. Rural development partially mediates the relationship between CPEC development and perceived opportunities while it fully mediates the relationships between CPEC development and quality of life as well as between CPEC development and self-enhancement. Policymakers need to emphasize on development of rural areas that would improve living standards of poor communities. The government needs to meet the expectations of poor communities and rural women to ensure their sustainable development.

The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of brick kilns on socioeconomic conditions working environment, hazards and risk associated with each of the tasks as well as the negative effect of hazardous work of brick field workers. A semi-structured survey has been served as the main data collection method from the different 9 brick fields of Gouripur and Ishwargonj sub district under the Mymensingh district (n=402). Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) were used to summarize the data. The socioeconomic condition of the brick kiln workers indicated that the majority of the workers are male respondents at the brick kiln with low education level, 91.79% of workers receiving monthly income less than 15000 BDT, as well as facing major health and environmental difficulties. 42.29% of the workers are current smokers, the majority of the workers claimed that they didn’t get proper sanitation (90.8%) and drinking water (98.01%) and having some locomotion problems. A high frequency of respiratory problem, gastrointestinal illnesses, eye and ear problem as well as having some site injuries during work, more commonly in legs and hands were observed in the brick kiln workers and sometime more than that. A sustainable approach should be taken to minimize environmental and health hazards inherent in brick kilns at the right time. Key words: Brick kilns, Bangladesh, socioeconomic status, occupational hazards.

Rural women comprised the largest part of the adult population of Texas until 1940 and in the American South until 1960. On the cotton farms of Central Texas, women's labor was essential. In addition to working untold hours in the fields, women shouldered most family responsibilities: keeping house, sewing clothing, cultivating and cooking food, and bearing and raising children. But despite their contributions to the southern agricultural economy, rural women's stories have remained largely untold. Using oral history interviews and written memoirs, Rebecca Sharpless weaves a moving account of women's lives on Texas cotton farms. She examines how women from varying ethnic backgrounds--German, Czech, African American, Mexican, and Anglo-American--coped with difficult circumstances. The food they cooked, the houses they kept, the ways in which they balanced field work with housework, all yield insights into the twentieth-century South. And though rural women's lives were filled with routines, many of which were undone almost as soon as they were done, each of their actions was laden with importance, says Sharpless, for the welfare of a woman's entire family depended heavily upon her efforts. |A moving account of women's lives on Texas cotton farms during the first half of the 20th-century, this book reveals their substantial contributions to the southern agricultural economy and to family life.

ABSTRACTModest increases in women's labor force participation rates could boost world GDP by at least six trillion dollars; full equality for women could increase world GDP by $28 trillion. One factor limiting women's labor force participation may be religion. We test the effect of religion on women's labor force participation rates in Indonesia. Using data from Indonesia's 2010 Census, we run a logit model for married rural women, married urban women, single rural women, and single urban women. We find that holding other factors equal, married Hindu women in urban areas are as much as 31 percentage points more likely to work than married Muslim urban women, while married Confucian women in rural areas are as much as 31 percentage points less likely to work than married Muslim rural women. These and other results are robust across different specifications and are both economically and statistically significant.

The Sustainable Development Goals, declared by the UN in 2016, which were adopted for the period until 2030, determine the vectors of sustainable economic growth, fair social development, comprehensive affirmation of equality and justice, as well as ecological balance of the environment. Ukraine joined the Sustainable Development Goals and continues to implement them at the national level. The article is devoted to the justification of problematic aspects and prospects of sustainable development of rural areas of Ukraine. The main essence and peculiarities of the legal framework for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, defined by the UN, in Ukraine have been revealed. It was determined that the decentralization reform, although it accelerated it, did not allow to form the expected high level of development of rural areas and ensure the proper standard of living of the rural population. Problems of the development of the Ukrainian rural areas are traditionally associated with economic, social, demographic factors and the general situation in the state and the current agrarian policy. The economic, social and demographic factors of sustainable development of rural areas of Ukraine and their problematic aspects have been identified. The place of agricultural production in the context of ensuring the employment of the rural population is characterized and the need to achieve a decent wage for agricultural labor is emphasized. Problematic aspects of the development of the social infrastructure of villages are revealed, in particular, access of the population to the rural medicine and quality educational services. The role of ecological aspects of preserving agrocenoses and the consequences of using fertilizers in the process of agricultural production are substantiated. Proposed directions for the formation of mechanisms for the implementation of the goals of sustainable development of rural areas are given. It is substantiated that the state policy on the sustainable development of rural areas should include a number of institutional mechanisms based on the interaction of stakeholders and the development of a comprehensive policy on the development of agricultural production, improving the quality of life of the rural population, overcoming unemployment and protecting the environment.

A need assessment is the process of identifying and determining how to bridge the gap between an organization's current and desired state. It is part of a planning process to determine gaps, or “needs,” and address areas for improvement or development. It can help decide where and how resources may be directed, for a specific intervention or method which works well in a rural context. Policymakers and funding agencies who are into rural community developmental activities assess the needs first, to understand the situation and make effective interventions. Rural awareness work experience programme (RAWEP) is an integrated component of B.Sc. (Hons.) Community Science introduced in to the syllabus of B.Sc. Home Science (Hons.) by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, in the year 2002, which initially facilitates the students to understand the rural situations, status of technologies adopted by rural women, prioritize their problems and to develop skills & attitude working with farm families for overall development in rural areas, aiming at bringing improvement in quality of life of rural families. It gives the real-life exposure to the students through providing a close-knit interaction between students and rural families, giving a base for need assessment that exposes to different challenges and opportunities faced by the farm women, their changed role in household work and allied fields and initiate knowledge, understanding and skills among the rural women which leads to the overall development improving the quality of life of rural families. It also offers a firsthand experience to students to utilize knowledge gained in first three years and transfer simple and improved practices to the rural women. RAWEP is an effective tool to access the needs of rural folk, their challenges and opportunities, their changed role in household work and allied fields. Students get a unique opportunity to initiate knowledge, transfer skills to the rural women, which ultimately contributes to the overall development of their families. This article presents fallouts of their experiences in context of learnings viz. field experience, team work, experiential learning, address the problems at field level, exposure to administration and management issues in context of rural and farm women, planning and implementing of different need based capacity building programmes , collecting information through different methods, participation in developmental programmes, etc for their future field situations along with result in identification of ground reality and original problems, seek greater understanding, discover inventive answers and suggest methods to overcome the problems. Data was gathered based on fieldwork conducted at Meenavolu, Sudhaguda, Madhanpalli, Gundampalli, Kowta(B), Madhapur, Chennayapalem,Goliyathanda, Manugur, Dowthabad, Vedira, Mandhamarri, Kamaripet, villages from Peddapalli, Thadiparthi districts. The study perceives how RAWE programme was engaged to identify the needs and problems of the adopted villages.

New insights into the rural development economies under the moderating role of gender equality and mediating role of rural women development

Today, many take it for granted that discriminating against women in the marketplace is illegal and morally wrong. Roberts v. United States Jaycees (1984) remains a foundational case on government’s compelling interest in prohibiting sex (or gender) discrimination in public accommodations, even in the face of First Amendment claims of freedom of association and expression. Curiously, Jaycees seems comparatively neglected by legal scholars, if measured by the cases included in the various collections of “law stories” or “rewritten opinions” projects. Looking back at the Jaycees litigation reveals the parties wrestling over the reach of public accommodations law and the force of the race discrimination-sex discrimination analogy. The parties and their amici invoked NAACP v. Alabama (1957), a significant root of the constitutional right to freedom of association, in strikingly different ways, and strenuously disagreed about how to compare the Jaycees to the NAACP. How did the parties frame the evident conflict between promoting sex (or gender) equality—women’s full participation in society—and protecting freedom of association? What was at stake for women in being excluded from full membership in organizations, like the Jaycees and all-male private clubs, that provided members an entree to the “Old Boys Network”? What was at stake for the Jaycees and similar organizations in a climate in which (as one amicus put it) “‘male chauvinism’ is under attack from all sides”? In Jaycees, even as the Supreme Court elaborated upon the values advanced by the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of association, it upheld the application of Minnesota’s public accommodations law to the Jaycees’s exclusion of women from regular membership despite the Jaycees’s freedom of speech and association claims. Both aspects of Jaycees live on, as was evident in arguments made in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission that related sexual orientation discrimination to other forms of “invidious” discrimination that government may prohibit. This article argues that the relationship between freedom of association and gender equality is double-edged. It concludes by returning to the present day, asking whether the Old Boys Network is simply a relic of the past or has continuing potency. It reflects on some present-day controversies over freedom of association and single-sex organizations.

From studies it is clear that what kept women where they are today are nothing but patriarchy. Patriarchy is the major obstacle to women’s economic advancement and development. Despite differences in levels of domination the broad principles remain the same, i.e. men are in control. The nature of this control may differ but women are always at the receiving end. This write-up presents a comprehensive review of the progress in equal education for females in Nigeria especially in Anambra State. The Nigerian society is patriarchal in nature which is a major feature of a traditional society. It is a structure of a set of social relations with material base which enables men to dominate women. Women are therefore discriminated upon from, in most cases, acquiring formal education, mistreated and perpetually kept as house help; the average Nigerian woman is seen as an available object for prostitution, forced marriage, street hawking, instrument of wide-range trafficking and a misfit in the society. In Nigeria, it is observed that the womanhood is reduced to a mere infidel and a second-class citizen; hence, there is the commonality of general belief system that the best place for women is in the ‘Kitchen’. This paper attempts to examine the conceptual and material bases of patriarchy and gender inequality in Anambra State, identifies dimensions of gender inequality and discrimination, and discusses socio-cultural and political factors leading to discrimination. The paper submits that all forms of inhuman discrimination and gender inequality must be challenged and opines for a deliberate, sensitive, consistent and systematic approach of gender relations this should include gender mainstreaming in all aspects of life. It was found that lack of mentoring, poor remuneration, women’s lack of interest in academia, family responsibilities, the lengthy period of training, and the ideology that women should have low career aspirations due to traditional roles ascribed to them, accounted for the observed disparity in education. The implication of this disparity on the academic development of women is the general reduction in their research output and the perpetuation of their low status in academia. The study concluded that appropriate institutional adjustments and affirmation action programmes are necessary to meet women’s demands of equality and improve retention. Keywords: gender, inequality, patriarchy, gender Relations, gender discrimination, cultural norms DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-6-06 Publication date: March 31 st 2021