Poor Mothers Research Articles

Factors determining child mortality in Uganda

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish socio-economic factors and maternal practices that determine child mortality in Uganda.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines the role of sex, birth weight, birth order and duration of breastfeeding of a child; age, marital status and education of the mother; and household wealth in determining child mortality. The study employs a logistic regression model to establish which of the factors significantly impacts child mortality in Uganda.FindingsThe study established that education level, age and marital status of the mother as well as household wealth significantly impact child mortality. Also important are the sex, birth weight, birth order and breastfeeding duration.Research limitations/implicationsPolicies aimed at promoting breastfeeding and education of female children can make a significant contribution to the reduction of child mortality in Uganda.Practical implicationsHealth care intervention programs should focus on single, poor and uneducated mothers as their children are at great risk due to poor and inadequate health care utilization.Originality/valueThis paper could be the first effort in examining child mortality status in Uganda using a logistic regression model.

Barriers to access in maternal healthcare services in the Northern Bangladesh

Poor women, in both rural and urban areas in the northern region of Bangladesh, experience high maternal mortality rate (MMR), and compared to other regions, this group also has a low proportion of receiving antenatal care (ANC) and of births assisted by the skilled health personnel. One of the prime factors for this situation is the lack of the poor mothers’ access to maternal health care (MHC) services. Finding out physical, social and organisational access barriers to MHC services and exploring how these barriers caused three delays in healthcare seeking behaviour were therefore the main objectives of the paper. The study used both primary and secondary data to meet its objectives. The primary data was collected from October to December in 2010 interviewing 160 mothers who were pregnant or delivered at least one baby during the last ten years and the heads of seven relevant health centres, administering eight focus group discussions and observing the field. An assortment of articles, reports, theses and books were consulted in complementing and substantiating the argument. The study found social (early marriage, perception of pregnancy and childbirth, high financial cost) and organizational (lack of female health staff, lack of a guiding principle in the health sector, in/exclusion errors in benefit distribution, low quality services) barriers more acute than physical (distance and waiting time) barriers. As concluded, all these barriers seem to have caused delays in seeking healthcare, reaching facility centres at the right time and receiving adequate services. The findings of the current study suggest that rescheduling official time of the service centre, recruiting and posting female health workers, following a guiding path and providing emergency obstetric care at free of costs are the feasible ways of getting better maternal health situation in the study areas.South East Asia Journal of Public Health Vol.6(2) 2016: 23-36

Treatment of maternal antenatal depression

IntroductionWorld statistical data show that a large number of mothers suffer from antenatal or postnatal depression and that it is linked with difficulties in personal and emotional development in child.AimTo present the importance of treatment of antenatal depression.Material and methodsWe present is a 32-year-old woman man, with completed high level of education, married, mother of one child, pregnant in first trimester, who suffered of depression several years ago. Diagnosis was made in line with the ICD 10 (F33), and the following diagnostic instruments were used: HAMA, HAMD, clinical interview.We present is a 32-year-old woman man, with completed high level of education, married, mother of one child, pregnant in first trimester, severe depression with depressive mood, weight lost, insomnia, agitation, suicidal thoughts.She was treated in the day hospital of our clinic with SSRI antidepressants, individual and group psychotherapy.ResultsDuring the day hospital stay patient was treated with pharmacologic agents (SSRI anti-depressants – tbl. Sertralline), which showed a great success, that is reduction in the depression, sleep improvement, normal gain weight and regular pregnancy and baby birth with APGAR score 9/9.DiscussionLiterature shows that antenatal depression is associated with poor mother self-care during pregnancy including poor visit of antenatal clinics, substance misuse, low birth weight, preterm delivery and significant intellectual and emotional deficits in children whose mothers were suffered of antenatal or postnatal depression.ConclusionTreatment of antenatal or postnatal depression is very important for mothers’ mental health and for the normal develops of child also.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The contribution of poor and rural populations to national trends in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health coverage: analyses of cross-sectional surveys from 64 countries.

SummaryBackgroundCoverage levels for essential interventions aimed at reducing deaths of mothers and children are increasing steadily in most low-income and middle-income countries. We assessed how much poor and rural populations in these countries are benefiting from national-level progress.MethodsWe analysed trends in a composite coverage indicator (CCI) based on eight reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health interventions in 209 national surveys in 64 countries, from Jan 1, 1994, to Dec 31, 2014. Trends by wealth quintile and urban or rural residence were fitted with multilevel modelling. We used an approach akin to the calculation of population attributable risk to quantify the contribution of poor and rural populations to national trends.FindingsFrom 1994 to 2014, the CCI increased by 0·82 percent points a year across all countries; households in the two poorest quintiles had an increase of 0·99 percent points a year, which was faster than that for the three wealthiest quintiles (0·68 percent points). Gains among poor populations were faster in lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income countries than in low-income countries. Globally, national level increases in CCI were 17·5% faster than they would have been without the contribution of the two poorest quintiles. Coverage increased more rapidly annually in rural (0·93 percent points) than urban (0·52 percent points) areas.InterpretationNational coverage gains were accelerated by important increases among poor and rural mothers and children. Despite progress, important inequalities persist, and need to be addressed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.FundingUNICEF, Wellcome Trust.

Breaking Stereotypes: Helping Mothers with Intellectual Disability to Care for Their Infants

Mothers with intellectual disability (ID) are considered a risk to their infants and often prevented from enjoying the pleasure of being a mother. Inadequate mothering skills may stem not just from low intelligence but also from poor support. The reality in India is that several women with milder forms of ID get married and have pregnancies. Such mothers need to be supported in infant care giving. We describe two mothers who were admitted to the Mother Baby Unit for poor mothering skills. Appropriate psychosocial interventions tailored to the mother’s intelligence levels were implemented. While both women were not able to independently care for their infants, there was considerable improvement in their mothering abilities at discharge. Infants and older children’s needs were also assessed and addressed. Programs tailored to the needs of mother infant dyad when the mother has ID will enhance their quality of life.

"Choosing" Wisely: Paralleling Food Sovereignty and Reproductive Justice

"Choosing" WiselyParalleling Food Sovereignty and Reproductive Justice Rachel A. Vaughn (bio) outlining the parallel I recently came across a reusable cloth shopping bag in the window of a local storefront in Kansas. The bag sported an image of a tree followed by the phrase "I'm saving plastic and the planet. What are you doing?" I chuckled to myself, recalling activist Derrick Jensen's "Forget Shorter Showers," in which he argues, "Consumer culture and the capitalist mindset have taught us to substitute acts of personal consumption (or enlightenment) for organized political resistance."1 My thoughts were torn by a classic environmental conundrum. On the one hand, greater education and awareness are central to efforts toward justice and change. On the other hand, given my research in waste politics and industrialized commodity flows, I couldn't help but view the message as another extension of ethical consumerist trends in environmental activism, wherein individual consumption remains at the center of popular environmentalisms, while systemic, highly profitable industrial models go unquestioned, even protected, by the state.2 In like manner, questions of food politics, sustainability and healthier diet currently at the forefront of popular food politics endeavors are often portrayed as matters of good, or more ethical, lifestyle "choices" that people consciously make daily. This embeds what scholar Abby Ferber refers to as a form of color-blind, post-feminist, abstract liberalist discourse rooted in an absence of intersectionality and premised upon right choice making; or, as the title of this article suggests, presumptions of "choosing wisely."3 Similarly, tempestuous political debates over reproductive health in the United States are often couched in rhetoric pertaining to good or bad, right or wrong "choices" rather than as extensions of environmental and socioeconomic constraint or healthcare limitations, including accessible, reliable, or even simply available resources.4 Such matters are constructed through the prism of the "right" kinds of lifestyle shifts, or a bootstrap lens of individual purchasing power, rather than as systemic and systematic environmental [End Page 22] inequities. No comparative icon embodies my point more than the welfare queen stereotype born from President Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign, an icon persistently shamed as a system cheat and public burden and utilized as a straw-person for rationalizing funding cuts to robust public services. As a legacy of the Reagan campaign trail, reproductive historian Ricki Solinger references the term welfare queen to discuss how the icon absorbs and reflects social, cultural, and political ambivalence "toward women in trouble [and] poor mothers receiving public assistance money from the mid-1960s onward." The racialized icon of the assistance-needy WQ centers upon hostility over the inability to pull oneself up by one's own bootstraps to become "legitimate consumers" and "blocks our ability to imagine the social and economic forces that have created hardship, especially intractable poverty for millions of women and children in the United States."5 Reproductive justice (RJ) activists have long worked to highlight tensions between rights-based versus justice-centric understandings, drawing attention to the underlying racial, ethnic, class, and nation-based inequities that mainstream reproductive rights movements at times failed to incorporate, on topics ranging from birth control access to eugenics, sexuality education, adoption, childcare, medical informed consent, and more. Sociologist Zakiya Luna underscores such tensions in public shaming via her analysis of rights versus justice frameworks in social organizing: "While abortion was a concern, another part of [Sistersong] members' experiences not felt by middle-class white women was that the media has continually represented their choices to become mothers as irresponsible and pathological, as seen in debates around welfare reform and other controversial issues."6 Similarly, scholar Andrea Smith critically examines gaps in pro-choice/pro-life rhetoric to engage other intersecting needs in indigenous communities, like "Fighting for life and self-determination of their communities. The criminalization of abortion may or may not be a strategy for pursuing that goal."7 Thus reproductive justice exposes the ways in which choice rhetoric fails to encompass the intersecting issues affecting communities with less class, racial, ethnic, gender, sexuality, or national privilege. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's 2012 Draft Principles for Food Justice similarly underscores the right "to produce...

‘Growing Up Poor’: child welfare, motherhood and the State during the First World War

ABSTRACTIn the history of child welfare in Ireland and other western countries, the period during the First World War coincided with a time of international attention on poor and working-class families and children. As this occurred at a time of ‘revolution’ as well as a time of war, the efforts of voluntary and state services were often driven by a variety of motives, including genuine concern for poor mothers and children, sectarianism, class bias and international child welfare developments. This article addresses the extent to which the lives of working-class and poor mothers in Ireland were affected by the war—primarily through concern expressed by child protection agencies (such as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children), directly connecting the history of child welfare with the history of motherhood.

Patronage Politics and the Development of the Welfare State: Confederate Pensions in the American South

Beginning in the 1880s, southern states introduced pensions for Confederate veterans and widows. They expanded these programs through the 1920s, while states outside the region were introducing cash transfer programs for workers, poor mothers, and the elderly. Using pension application records and county-level electoral data, we argue that political considerations guided the distribution of these pensions. We show that Confederate pension programs were funded during years in which Democratic gubernatorial candidates were threatened at the ballot box. Moreover, we show that pensions were disbursed to counties in which these candidates had lost ground to candidates from alternative parties.

Epidemiologic characteristics, knowledge and risk factors of unintentional burns in rural children in Zunyi, Southwest China.

We investigated the knowledge level and risk factors for pediatric unintentional burns in rural Southwest China with an aim to provide basic evidence for the prevention strategies. A stratified sampling method was used to recruit 1842 rural children from 9 schools. Self-reported burns during the past 12 months and relevant risk factors were collected by questionnaires. The burn incidence of all surveyed children was 12.7% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 11.2–14.2%). We found that burn incidence had a trend to increase with the increasing school grade level and a trend to decrease with increasing knowledge scores on burns. The top two causes of burns were hot liquids (36.3%) and hot object (29.5%). More than 30% of children had little knowledge about preventive measures and how to give first-aid after burns. The main risk factors for burns included female gender, left-behind children by parents who were working in cities, and poor mother school education level. As the incidence of pediatric unintentional burns was high in rural southwest China, schools, families, and local public health agencies should put efforts into health education targeting burn prevention and first-aid measures after burns, particularly in “left-behind” children and those with mothers with poor education.

Promoting Financial Capability of Incarcerated Women for Community Reentry: A Call to Social Workers

ABSTRACTFemale incarceration rates are increasing at unprecedented rates. The majority of women are poor single mothers, serving sentences for nonviolent drug-related and property offenses. Among challenges faced when transitioning back into society are a history of interpersonal violence and financial instability. This study examines literature with regard to the barriers women experience with an emphasis on financial struggles and explores outcomes of one initiative to begin addressing the financial capability of women in a minimum security prison. Findings reveal women benefited from the class experience. Social workers are called upon for additional financial capability programming and research in this area.

Between parental efficacy and parental distress: how early maladaptive schemas contribute to the motherhood experience of young mothers who have aged out of care

The present study aims to explore, using Young’s early maladaptive schemas (EMS), the cognitive and emotional dimensions associated with the experience of motherhood of young women ageing out of care. It also assesses the relationships between EMS and two dimensions of the parental role (parental efficacy and parental distress). The sample is composed of 29 young mothers who were placed in care as adolescents. Parental efficacy was significantly correlated with only one EMS: Social Isolation/Alienation. Parental distress was moderately and positively correlated with the following EMS: Mistrust/Abuse, Emotional Deprivation, Social Isolation/Alienation and Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self. Results showed a more comprehensive picture of these young mothers’ pervasive patterns of emotions and cognitions. This picture is more balanced than the poor mothering outcomes typically associated with early motherhood in the scientific literature, or the overly positive depictions of young motherhood that have emerged from some qualitative studies. Implications for intervention are discussed.

A survey of sow management at farrowing in the UK

AbstractFarrowing is an important period in pig production, with sow health and piglet mortality representing a welfare issue and an economic loss. Sow health and welfare is critical for piglet survival and good management can improve welfare and productivity. This study investigated the management of sows around farrowing and attitudes of UK pig farmers towards sow pain and difficulty farrowing. Farmers were asked how often they provided night checks, used farrowing induction and administered pharmaceutical products during and after farrowing. Farmers and veterinarians were asked if they used or prescribed anti-inflammatories for farrowing-related health issues. Farmers were asked if pain at farrowing was a problem for gilts and sows and what percentage they considered to have difficulty farrowing. Convenience sampling using a number of distribution methods was used. Sixty-one farmers and 52 veterinarians responded. Of the farmer respondents, ten worked on outdoor and 51 on indoor farms. Night checks were reported as frequently provided and farrowing induction was rare. Many respondents reported using oxytocin substitutes at least sometimes during (74%) or after (54%) farrowing. Azaperone was reported to be used at least sometimes by 45% of respondents during and 33% after farrowing. Farmers indicated that pain at farrowing was more often a problem for gilts than sows and 5% of gilts and 4% of sows were considered to have farrowing difficulty. The high level of supervision around farrowing, with the use of night checks, is encouraging and could improve welfare. Frequent use of oxytocin substitutes, which promote farrowing and milk let-down may negatively impact sow and piglet welfare and could be masking poor mothers that fail to perform well without intervention. This study provides interesting information regarding the management of sows around farrowing, which could inform future research and education to improve sow and piglet welfare in the periparturient period.

LBW and IUGR temporal trend in 4 population-based birth cohorts: the role of economic inequality.

BackgroundLow/medium income countries, with health inequalities present high rates of neonates having low birthweight and/or are small for the gestational age. This study aims to analyze the absolute and relative income inequality in the occurrence of low birthweight and small size for gestational age among neonates in four birth cohorts from southern Brazil in 1982, 1993, 2004, and 2011.MethodsThe main exhibit was monthly family income. The outcomes were birth with low birthweight or small for the gestational age. The inequalities were calculated using the Slope Index of Inequality and the Relative Index of Inequality adjusted for maternal skin color, schooling, age, and marital status.ResultsIn all birth cohorts, poorer mothers were at greater odds of having neonates with low birthweight or small for the gestational age. There was a tendency to decrease the prevalence of small for gestational age in poorer families associated with the reduction of inequalities over the past decades, which was not observed regarding low birthweight.ConclusionsEconomic inequalities occurred in neonates with low birthweight and with intrauterine growth restriction in the four studies, with a higher incidence of inadequate neonatal outcomes in the poorer families.

Establishing the Measurement Invariance of the Very Short Form of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised for Mothers Who Vary on Race and Poverty Status

ABSTRACTWe examined the measurement invariance of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised–Very Short Form (IBQR–VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, & Leerkes, 2014) in a sample of 470 racially (185 White, 285 African American) and socioeconomically diverse mothers (158 below federal poverty threshold, 296 above federal poverty threshold) of infants. Using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, we demonstrated configural, full metric, and full scalar invariance demonstrating that the 3-factor structure (negative emotionality, positive affectivity/surgency, orienting/regulatory capacity), pattern of item loadings, and item means were comparable for White and African American mothers, and for poor and not poor mothers. In addition, we demonstrated full error invariance across racial groups and partial error variance invariance across poverty status, demonstrating that item reliability was comparable for White and African American mothers, and both those above and below the poverty line (with the exception of a subset of items). Thus, the IBQR–VSF appears appropriate for use in racially and socioeconomically diverse samples.

Inequalities among malnourished children in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to measure the health inequalities among malnourished children; second, to decompose the health inequalities to identify key socioeconomic predictors for child malnutrition; and third, to assess the change in the proportional contribution of key predictors over time. Design/methodology/approach – The study has used data of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 1992-1993, 1998-1999 and 2005-2006. The information on anthropometric indicators for children below three years of age is provided; however the study is restricted to “weight-for-age,” as it is considered to be a comprehensive indicator of child nutritional status. In the first stage of analysis, health inequalities are measured among malnourished children using concentration indices (CI) for each round of NFHS. In second stage, the inequalities are decomposed to estimate the proportional contribution of socioeconomic predictors. In the third stage, change in the relative contribution of socioeconomic predictors over three rounds is assessed to suggest target-specific policies and programs. Findings – The results highlight a slow decline of only seven percentage points in the proportion of malnourished children in India during 1992-2006. The increasing values of CIs from −0.13 (1992) to −0.18 (2006) demonstrates the concomitant rise in economic inequalities among malnourished children. The results of decomposition analysis point toward household poor economic status and mother’s illiteracy as the major contributor of inequalities during 1992-2006. During the study period, the economic status explained 50, 65 and 59 percent of inequalities, whereas mother’s illiteracy explained 40, 30 and 29 percent of inequalities, respectively. Overall, the contributors to health inequalities remained the same over time with a change in their relative contribution. Research limitations/implications – The present study is focussed on three rounds of NFHS data conducted at different time period and so it has certain limitations which should be kept in mind while interpreting the results. The study has revealed mother’s education and economic status of the household as the major contributory factors toward child health inequalities. However, one should not forget that the level and quality of education has undergone tremendous change from 1992 to 2006 which the authors could not capture considering the availability of data in the form of years of schooling. Second, since the NFHS-1 has collected the information about the caste groups in only three categories, i.e. schedule caste, schedule tribe and others; the authors have to pool the other backward caste groups with the general caste groups. Third, the authors have used the broad classification of place of residence, i.e. rural and urban area to analyze the inequalities assuming the uniform level of development across the urban regions; however there exists huge disparities within urban areas which leave scope for further research. Fourth, though, the authors have estimated the wealth based inequalities, but NFHS does not provide the absolute level of wealth and so the authors have computed the proxy measure for wealth based on the household assets which has been extensively used in the field of research. Despite these limitations, the authors however believe that the present research work has appropriately decomposed the inequalities among malnourished children and have revealed the changes in the proportional contribution of socioeconomic factors over time. Practical implications – The decomposition analysis brought into light that average health indicators are insufficient for determining the right approach to health intervention programs. Health policy interventions have to focus ideally on both health averages and within and between group inequalities based on varying contributions of socioeconomic determinants. Social implications – Concentrated efforts along with the inter-sectoral concurrence, good nutrition governance, effective investment and unequal distribution of resources are pre-requisites to ameliorate the level and existing inequalities in child malnutrition in India. Originality/value – The distinctiveness of this study can be primarily found in the use of all three rounds of NFHS data to estimate health inequalities among underweight children. The study has also decomposed the health inequalities to estimate and analyze the change in relative contribution of socioeconomic predictors for each round to facilitate the formulation of target-specific policies and programs.

Factors associated with postnatal care utilisation in Rwanda: A secondary analysis of 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data.

BackgroundPostnatal care (PNC) in the first seven days is important for preventing morbidity and mortality in mothers and new-borns. Sub-Saharan African countries, which account for 62 % of maternal deaths globally, have made major efforts to increase PNC utilisation, but utilisation rates remains low even in countries like Rwanda where PNC services are universally available for free. This study identifies key socio-economic and demographic factors associated with PNC utilisation in Rwanda to inform improved PNC policies and programs.MethodsThis is a secondary analysis of the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey, a national multi-stage, cross-sectional survey. In bivariate analysis, we used chi-square tests to identify demographic and socio-economic factors associated with PNC utilisation at α = 0.1. Pearson’s R statistic (r > 0.5) was used to identify collinear covariates, and to choose which covariate was more strongly associated with PNC utilisation. Manual backward stepwise logistic regression was performed on the remaining covariates to identify key factors associated with PNC utilisation at α = 0.05. All analyses were performed in Stata 13 adjusting for sampling weights, clustering, and stratification.ResultsOf the 2,748 women with a live birth in the last two years who answered question about PNC utilisation, 353 (12.8 %) returned for PNC services within seven days after birth. Three factors were positively associated with PNC use: delivering at a health facility (OR: 2.97; 95 % CI: 2.28–3.87), being married but not involved with one’s own health care decision-making (OR: 1.69; 95 % CI: 1.17, 2.44) compared to being married and involved; and being in the second (OR: 1.46; 95 % CI: 1.01–2.09) or richest wealth quintile (OR: 2.04; 95 % CI: 1.27–3.29) compared to the poorest. Mother’s older age at delivery was negatively associated with PNC use (20–29 – OR: 0.51, 95 % CI: 0.29–0.87; 30–39 – OR: 0.47, 95 % CI: 0.27–0.83; 40–49 – OR: 0.32, 95 % CI: 0.16–0.64).ConclusionsLow PNC utilisation in Rwanda appears to be a universal problem though older age and poverty are further barriers to PNC utilisation. A recent change in the provision of BCG vaccination to new-borns might promote widespread PNC utilisation. We further recommend targeted campaigns to older mothers and poorest mothers, focusing on perceptions of health system quality, cultural beliefs, and pregnancy risks.

한부모 빈곤여성의 사회적 배제감이 탈빈곤 의지에 미치는 영향 -사회적 지지의 매개효과를 중심으로-

본 연구에서는 한부모 빈곤여성의 사회적 배제감이 탈빈곤 의지에 미치는 영향에서 사회적 지지의 매개효과를 알아보고자 하였다. 이러한 연구목적을 달성하기 위해 부산광역시와 김해시, 양산시에 거주하는 20세에서 60세까지의 한부모 빈곤여성 376명을 대상으로 설문조사를 실시하였다. 본 연구결과 다음과 같은 사실이 밝혀졌다. 첫째, 한부모 빈곤여성들은 건강차원과 관계차원, 생산차원, 소비차원, 정치참여차원, 그리고 주거 차원에서 배제감이 높을수록 사회적 지지가 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 한부모 빈 여성들은 사회적 지지가 높을수록 탈빈곤 의지가 높았고, 건강차원과 관계차원, 생산차원, 소비차원, 정치참여차원, 그리고 주거차원에서 배제감이 높을수록 탈빈곤 의지가 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 셋째, 사회적 배제가 탈빈곤 의지에 미치는 영향에서 사회적 지지는 매개효과가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 연구결과를 볼 때, 한부모 빈곤여성이 경험하는 사회적 배제감을 완화하고, 탈빈곤 의지를 증대시키기 위해서는 국가와 지역사회에 의한 공식적 사회적 지지와 이웃과 친구, 그리고 친지들의 비공식적 사회적 지지가 강화되어야 할 것으로 보인다. The purpose of this study was to examine whether social support produced any mediating effects when needy single mothers' sense of social exclusion affected their own will to escape poverty. The subjects in this study were 376 poor single mothers who resided in the cities of Busan, Gimhae and Yangsan and who were in their 20s to 60s. The findings of the study were as follows: First, the single mothers who lived in poverty were given less social support when they felt more excluded in the dimensions of health, relationships, production, consumption, political participation and housing. Second, the needy single mothers had a more will to escape poverty when more social support was provided and less will to escape poverty when they felt more excluded in the dimensions of health, relationships, production, consumption, political participation and housing. Third, social support produced mediating effects when social exclusion affected the will to escape poverty. The findings of the study suggest that in order to relieve needy single mothers' sense of social exclusion and bolster their will to escape poverty, formal social support from the nation and local community and informal social support from neighbors, friends and relatives should both be strengthened.

Reproducing the British Caribbean: Sex, Gender, and Population Politics after Slavery

Reproducing the British Caribbean, by Juanita De Barros, maps the new concerns that emerged after slavery in the British Caribbean over control of the size of the population and focuses on the territories of Barbados, Jamaica, and Guiana. In the words of its author, “This book examines ideas about reproduction and the size and health of Caribbean populations in the British Caribbean from the early nineteenth century to the 1930s” (p. 14). This anxiety over the size of the population had profound effects on the development of policymaking, which governed the work of midwives as well as issues concerning health, hygiene, and sanitation and which also had implications for the building of infant welfare clinics in the region. It was in this sociohistorical context that colonial reproductive policies were formed. The primary apprehension of the postemancipation period revolved around “the effects of falling birthrates, rising rates of infant mortality, and population ‘degeneration’” (p. 8).The effects of emancipation on sugar production and profitability in the British Caribbean increasingly disillusioned the planter class there. Quite naturally, the blame for the region's economic decline had to be placed on the formerly enslaved. Blame was placed on their behavior and on the lifestyles of African-descended men and women. In this regard, De Barros makes a strong case for understanding the impact of the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the creation of colonial policymaking. This confluence of social factors is also germane to the colonial distinctions made between African Caribbean and Indo-Caribbean people. Though poverty was recognized as a serious problem for the social reproduction of these countries, it did not exculpate the formerly enslaved for their alleged ignorance of modern sanitation and hygiene (p. 8). “Poor women in particular,” as De Barros notes, “found themselves condemned as ignorant and indifferent mothers whose poor mothering skills were seen as contributing to infant mortality” (p. 8).Reproducing the British Caribbean is clear in its analysis of how the colonial authorities and the planter class viewed the sexual and domestic practices of the formerly enslaved, who were characterized as uncivilized and immoral and therefore in need of colonial tutelage in the form of the assistance of British women in the colonies. Indeed, the argument might have been strengthened in this regard if the author had pointed to the literature, travel accounts, and novels of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Caribbean that viewed the British Caribbean as a site of sexual profligacy. Nevertheless, the author notes that “in Britain's colonies, white British women were believed necessary to solve a range of social problems that were attributed to the behavior of colonial people, including infant mortality” (p. 12). De Barros described the work of these British women as “maternal imperialism,” an adjunct to the “imperial ideological and administrative system” (p. 12).Given the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practice by British Caribbean women of home births, the contracting of traditional midwives for their services was not surprising. As is to be expected, therefore, the formally trained nurses were critical of the traditional midwives, most of whom were of African or Asian descent. It was the midwives who were blamed for infant deaths, because they were deemed prone to superstition and lacking in adequate training and medical knowledge. Given their sheer numbers and relationships with local women, the midwives could not be eliminated and had to be integrated “into the regulated world of colonial midwifery” (p. 93). Whereas the early nineteenth-century discourse in the British Caribbean revolved around population size, infant mortality, and the general health of the region according to De Barros, the early twentieth-century concern began to focus on overpopulation. Thus a new set of anxieties began to emerge with respect to British Caribbean labor.Reproducing the British Caribbean makes a useful contribution to an understanding of the social and historical factors that shaped the colonial policy of the early nineteenth-century Caribbean. However, it would have been useful to tie colonial policymaking more specifically to the control of labor in the postemancipation era beyond a focus on the labor unrest of the 1930s. Indeed, a stronger critique of the need to oppress labor in the interest of reproducing capitalism would have been quite welcome in this text. Social control over the labor process was not restricted to slavery but was crucial to reproducing the status quo, whether through the regulation of sexual reproduction, population size, or health status. A more specific focus on how these concerns related to the development of peripheral capitalism in the British Caribbean would have added another layer of complexity to this important project.

Tenuous Ties: The Nature and Costs of Kin Support among Low-income Rural Black Mothers

Abstract Since Stack’s (1974) landmark ethnography of kin support in a close-knit group of poor black mothers in the Midwest, there has been ample research on social support among low-income black families. While this body of work has largely painted a picture of the cohesive and supportive nature of families in black communities, recent research has highlighted the limited nature of kin support, especially the support available to low-income black mothers. Much of this work, however, has focused primarily on urban black mothers and paid less attention to the conditions that poor rural black mothers face when seeking and giving family support. Using longitudinal ethnographic data from a sample of 16 low-income black mothers in the rural South, we draw on social exchange, negotiated-order, and social capital perspectives to scrutinize the nature and costs of kin support in family networks marked by limited resources, instability, and chronic need. Our findings reveal the centrality of problematic resources and unpredictable family networks as conditions that diminish mothers’ autonomy and compromise important "side bets" as mothers seek out, manage, and repay support. Implications of this study for theories of social support and social capital are also discussed.

‘A Job That Should Be Respected’: contested visions of motherhood and English Canada's second wave women's movements, 1970–1990

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the forgotten voices of marginalized feminist mothers—those active in welfare rights groups. These activists were primarily poor single mothers who understood motherhood differently from more mainstream feminists. Whilst they echoed mainstream feminist demands for childcare, they also supported women's right to stay at home with their children, emphasizing the role of the state. This presented a serious class-based critique in a society that increasingly saw stay-at-home motherhood as a middle-class option. This article focuses upon working-class mothers' groups, thus problematizing dominant feminist discourses and developing a more diverse history of second wave feminism in Canada.