Working Conditions Of Women Research Articles

Women Workers Confront One-Eyed Science: Building Alliances to Improve Women's Occupational Health

SUMMARY Women suffer many health problems related to their work, but attempts to improve their situation face obstacles at two levels: recognition of their problems and ability to organize to prevent them. Recognition by occupational health specialists has been delayed due in part to: A perception that women's issues have been included in research focussed on male workers; pressure to deal with more visible issues of mortality and well-established illness; ignorance of women's working conditions; methodological biases and inadequacies. Recognition by unions is slowed when women and their concerns are absent from union membership and/or governing structures. Feminist health advocates have not often participated in these struggles, due to social class differences and difficulties in linking with some male-dominated unions. Also, due to the wide variety of hazardous working conditions, they do not emerge from population-based analyses of health determinants in the same way as do domestic violence, tobacco or poverty. The authors describe three alliances necessary for successful research, policy and practice in women's occupational health: between feminist and working-class organizations; between feminists and occupational health scientists; between researchers and women workers.

Marital fertility in Lebanon: a study based on the population and housing survey

This study tested the general economic theory of fertility within the contextual setting of the Lebanese society, by using the 1996 Population and Housing Database Survey. The theory argues that the household's demand for a child is closely related to different services and utilities ascribed to that child. It also claims that fertility as such is income-inelastic, but becomes positively associated with the household's income when the notion of child-quality is added to the model. Findings confirm the baseline inverse association between an index of the household's socioeconomic status (HSES) and the cumulative fertility level. However, when women's education was added to the model, an interaction was observed whereby the illiterate subgroup — unlike the educated — was at higher risk of having a large number of children with improvement in their economic conditions. A similar interaction was found between women's and husband's education. It was concluded that in response to higher socioeconomic status, illiterate women end up supplying an excess number of children, an effect mediated by the shortening of lactation period, which is in turn triggered by a higher access to breast milk substitutes. On the other hand, their educated husbands demand ‘child quantity’ since this educational gap grants them more power to decide their family size. In contrast, educated women demand child ‘quality’ as they expect both material and opportunity costs of having a child to coincide with the norms and values of their social class. Their lower supply of births with increased economic well-being is primarily attributed to a higher use of modern contraceptive methods. Other factors investigated in this study included the potential effect of family structure on fertility, and control was done on a number of other sociocultural and demographic variables, such as women's work status, husband's occupation, age at marriage and area of residence.

"Designing women": gender and the architectural profession

Annmarie Adams and Peta Tancred Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000; 190 pp. Reviewed by Emily Andreae Graduate, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design, 1999 University of Toronto and Janice Andreae English York University Toronto, Ontario [A woman's] intellect is not for invention or creation, but for sweet ordering, arrangement, and decision. -- John Ruskin (Sesame and Lilies) One would not expect Ruskin's perspective position and capacity of woman in 1860s to so closely represent currently held attitudes towards a group of professional women. The persistence of this ideology at different levels continues to influence careers of many women associated with Canadian architectural profession as noted by Annmarie Adams and Peta Tancred in 'Designing Women': Gender and Architectural Profession. Through historical and sociological research and analysis, Adams and Tancred piece together a retrospective view of how many Canadian women entering, existing in, and exiting architectural profession -- past and present -- have faced their peers' reluctance to accept their qualifications and recognize their accomplishments. Far too little has been written to challenge Ruskin's views a woman's capacity to design public spaces. Surprisingly, 'Designing Women' is first book of its kind to address history and working conditions of women in Canadian architecture. Written by an architectural historian (Adams) and a sociologist (Tancred), study is divided into sections that examine social and political dynamics of gender relations in architectural profession. The authors employ a qualitative methodology that includes case studies developed from interviews, and quantitative analyses of statistical and archival materials. This approach is applied to each area of investigation as a way of identifying limitations and barriers architectural profession in Canada, particularly in Ontario, maintains to keep women out or at least, as a recent [1991] national survey indicates, on margins of a male institution of the old school sort. Because 81 percent of profession is male (p. 7), possibility of not actually being able to participate in profession despite their qualifications is a dominant issue for young women studying architecture. Compare this with their peers in other professions, who are mainly concerned with minimizing possibility of reaching a glass ceiling. In fact, this text looks beyond its own borders to lives and work of women in medicine, engineering, and law, to develop a framework that parallels existing investigations of women's professional work in these fields. To date, such considerations of women's work limited their research to architectural profession. Usually women's contributions and their status were established by and positioned in relation to their male counterparts' and framed by an organizational structure similarly imposed through their longtime dominance of profession. For example, previous comparisons have been made between men and women who have achieved and/or maintained registration, a necessary status required by profession in order to practise legally as an architect, yet many men, and more women, have opted out of this process over course of their working lives. Such analyses of participation are often compared provincially and nationally throughout North America and/or abroad. Rarely, as these writers note, do these examinations tackle questions of cultural, social, and political relations invested in practices of architectural profession. Where, they imply, do issues of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ability, and age enter into discussions of daily working conditions and professional advancement? As suggested by title, text has dual intentions: to literally reflect careers and lives of female designers, and to question how diversity of constraints placed upon their careers has designed position of women in architectural profession in Canada. …

The Gender Paradox in Work Satisfaction and the Protestant Clergy

Female clergy are more likely than male clergy to serve small, rural churches in declining communities, yet they express a high level of satisfaction with their work, often higher than that of male clergy. Why are female clergy relatively happy with their jobs in spite of poor work conditions ? Studies of other occupations have consistently found that while women's work conditions and rewards are inferior to those of men in comparable positions (a situation which should reduce satisfaction), women report being as satisfied or more satisfied with their work (Fry and Greenfield 1980; Mannheim 1983; Phelan and Phelan 1983; Moore 1985; Bokemeier and Lacy 1986; Hodson 1989; Phelan 1994). This discrepancy is called the gender paradox in work satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to address female clergy's reports of higher satisfaction, using the five main explanations of the paradox which have been identified and tested (Phelan 1994; Mueller and Wallace 1996); the emphasis is on arguments that involve justice perceptions. Beyond the effects of justice perceptions on satisfaction, gender difference in justice perceptions are of interest in and of themselves, since sources of gender inequality are not likely to be corrected as long as men and women evaluate those inequalities as just and fair (Marx [1848]1964; Smelser 1962). A comprehensive model of sources of satisfaction will be used, as previous studies (Mueller and Wallace 1996) have found that using a properly specified model may eliminate much of the paradox for job satisfaction. The data come from a 1996 national survey of pastors in two Protestant denominations, and show that a gender paradox does exist for clergy job satisfaction. While justice perceptions play a highly significant role in explaining job satisfaction, they fail to eliminate the gender paradox. A finding which contradicts previous studies is evidence of differences in job values for male and female clergy. It is suggested that future studie

Black mothering, paid work and identity

Recent figures suggest that in Britain today, 77.3% of black women are engaged in full-time paid work, a figure which has remained fairly consistent since the introduction of statistical data assessing the work activity of African-Caribbean women from post-war years (CRE 1997). The study addresses the extent to which black women's high work rate derives from a combination of historical cultural and structural economic factors. Historical and cultural, because the experiences of slavery, colonialism and economic migration have had a direct impact on black women's relationship to full-time paid work today in contemporary Britain. In addition, structural economic factors such as high rates of unemployment for black men and lower rates of pay for black men and women compared to their white male and female counterparts, actively encourage a high proportion of black women towards full-time paid work in order to make up for this economic shortfall. A primary consequence of these inter-locking factors is that full-time paid work becomes central to black women's mothering and black mothers' work status is part of their everyday family experience.

Women's Work and Economic Development

Using a cross-country dataset and microdata from India and Thailand, we examine how women's work status changes with economic development. Several clear patterns emerge: women's labor force participation first declines and then rises with development; women move from work in family enterprises to work as paid employees; fertility declines; and gender gaps in education narrow. Women's education levels, and those of their spouses, appear to be important determinants of women's labor market activities. Broad welfare indicators, such as mortality rates and education levels, indicate that women's well-being improves on average with development, both in absolute terms and relative to men.

Martha Nussbaum's Feminist Internationalism

The term ‘feminist internationalism’ generally means the elaboration of transnational principles and standards to advance the position of women. The move to define international benchmarks to improve women’s globally disadvantaged situation has a long history. For example, international women’s groups were established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to deal with issues such as equal access to education and training and women’s suffrage.1 Women’s groups lobbied the League of Nations and the International Labour Organisation to develop standards and practices relating to matters such as the nationality of married women, trafficking in women and girls, women’s suffrage, and the working conditions of women.2 Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, the international arena has become increasingly attractive for women’s groups, which have worked to persuade states to adopt treaties and resolutions dealing with many aspects of women’s lives. The most significant of these international standards is the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Feminist internationalism has encountered considerable controversy and resistance from various quarters. A major source of antipathy is from states (whether ‘‘liberal’’ or ‘‘religious’’) which regard recourse to international standards with respect to women as illegitimate because they may challenge national culture, traditions, policies, and laws. A different form of resistance to feminist internationalism comes from some feminist activists and scholars who regard it as dependent on essentialist accounts of women, obliterating differences of race, class, wealth, sexuality, and so on. Prompted by her work as a research adviser at the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research, be-

Worker Control: The Bases of Women's Support

A vast amount of research on women and work indicates that women have not gained parity with men in the paid workforce. Workplace democracy is particularly relevant for women. I employ US national survey data from 1991 to analyze women's support for worker control over workplace decision-making. The nature of this support is hypothesized using four branches of feminist theory. An analysis of the gender gap in attitudes is performed and then I incorporate logistic regression to test for cleavages in women's attitudes. The lack of consistency across the items suggests that these specific work issues are not reflective of a larger, generalized predisposition to workplace democracy. I conclude by considering the relationship between women and the labor movement. Union-supported worker participation is most likely to improve women's working conditions.

Cross-cultural dimensions of breastfeeding practices and abstinence: Evidence from Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu, India

The analysis contained in this paper brings out very clearly that the practice of breastfeeding and abstinence in the two major states of India: Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu are highly related to socio-cultural factors and changes in generational gaps. The findings reveal that literate, non-Hindu, and rich (high SLI) women have shorter breastfeeding durations than illiterates, Hindus, and poor (low SLI) women of Uttar Pradesh and Tamilnadu. In addition, the breastfeeding practice in Uttar Pradesh is influenced by residence background and generational age-gaps. The role of socio-cultural factors in influencing post-partum sexual abstinence period has been found to be significantly important through the variables; residence background, generational age-gaps, religion and working status of women. The results reveal that urban women, of younger cohorts (below 30 years), non-Hindu, and non-working women have shorter abstinence periods compared to rural women, of older cohorts (above 30 years), Hindus, and working women in both the states.

Influence of women's work status on the well-being of Indian couples.

In urban India, working women are expected to continue to discharge their traditional domestic duties; the likely result is compromised well-being due to role strain. Husbands of working women may also experience pressures and hence poorer well-being. Well-being in working couples, particularly husbands, is little researched in developing countries. The Subjective Well-Being Inventory was administered to 46 'one-working, (only husband employed) and 51 'both-working' (both spouses employed) randomly selected urban, middle-class couples. In one-working as well as both-working families, wives experienced less well-being than their husbands. Working wives experienced more confidence in coping than non-working wives. Husbands in both-working families experienced better social support but less social contact, less mental mastery, and poorer perceived health than husbands in one-working families. Few or no sociodemographic variables were associated with well-being. Employment may benefit women but stress their husbands.

`Top-of-the-Head' Descriptions of Baby and Self: Links to Reported Health Behaviors and Social Context in Early Pregnancy

This research investigated pregnant women's spontaneous descriptions of their babies and themselves as mothers early in pregnancy as related to prenatal health behaviors, family background characteristics and women's work status. In semi-structured interviews, 59 married women in their 4th month of pregnancy described the fetus, the baby after birth, and themselves as mothers to the expected child. Consistent with construct accessibility theory and recent representation based models of parenting, the amount and kinds of content that women used to describe their babies and themselves as mothers varied systematically as a function of women's prenatal health behaviors, parity and marital adjustment. Suggestive evidence also was found for a relationship between the content of women's descriptions of themselves as mothers and women's work status. The authors discuss clinical and methodological implications of the findings.

Correlates and Consequences of Divorce in an Iranian City

This papcr cxatnines the recent trends in divorcc in Iran and analyzes data about the determinants and consequenccs of divorce drawn from a divorce survey in a large urban center. Rcvicw of trends in divorce for the last three decades in Iran suggests that the divorce rate has been changing in response to social and legal changes and eight years of war. Urban background, education, work status of women, and religiosity are significantly related to divorce. Women who are divorced, comparcd to married women, suffer economically and expcricnce more psychological problems. Children of divorced women show indications of a higher level of etnotional disturbance and delinquency.

Work Conditions, Mastery and Psychological Distress: Are Housework and Paid Work Contexts Conceptually Similar?

ABSTRACT This research examined how the conditions of paid work and unpaid housework were related to women's sense of mastery, depressed mood and anxiety. The data for these analyses were taken from the American Changing Lives (ACL) survey (House, 1986). This research draws from a subsample of 992 black and non-Hispanic white women aged 24 to 59. The conditions of work on the job and in the home are not consistently related to women's psychological functioning. Among employed women, decision latitude on the job is related to depressed mood indirectly through their sense of mastery; the physical demands of work are directly related to depressed mood, but the effect is stronger among employed women than employed homemakers. In contrast, decision latitude at home is directly related to depressed mood among homemakers; the physical demands of housework are related to depressed mood only indirectly through women's sense of mastery. This pattern is repeated in the relationship between anxiety and decision latitude both at home and on the job, and in the relationship between anxiety and physical demands of work on the job. Both unpaid housework and paid work are forms of productive activity, but these Findings suggest they are not a ubiquitous entity with similar effects for all women. Rather the context of work shapes the effect of work conditions for women's psychological functioning.

Sexual Harassment in Women's Jails

The pernicious problem of sexual harassment continues to infest criminal justice workplaces. The research indicates and theory predicts that the incidence level of this behavior is particularly high in work environments that are traditionally and predominantly male, descriptors that are applicable to most criminal justice work. Thus, in this study of sexual harassment incidence in seven women's jails, where the number and status of women workers is generally higher, the authors find a predictably lower level of sexual harassment than might be expected in similarly situated men's facilities. The authors also find that gender is the most important variable in predicting support for affirmative action in these unique jails.

Women and work in Kerala: a comparison of the 1981 and 1991 censuses.

This study examines census data on women's work status during 1981 and 1991 in Kerala state in India. During 1981 and 1991, Kerala had a stable female work participation rate (FWPR), which placed Kerala 19th out of 30 states and Union territories. However, Kerala's FWPR declined in size and in the ratio to the male work participation rate during 1951-81. The work participation rate in Kerala was 15.85 for women and 47.58 for men in 1991 and 16.61 for women and 44.89 for men in 1981, which was under the national average. Fertility declined from 3.7 during 1970-75 to 1.7 in 1992. Life expectancy at birth was 74.7 years for women and 68.8 years for men, which is higher than the national average. The proportion of persons aged 15-59 years increased. Several explanations are offered to explain the low FWPR. Women increased in the number of enrollments in higher education. The increase for women was 50% compared to only 24% for men. The number of unemployed women aged 15-34 years rose during 1961-81. A 1987-88 unemployment survey revealed that over 10% of the unemployed in India lived in Kerala state, which had only 3.4% of total Indian population. A 1987 migration survey indicated that 300,929 workers from Kerala migrated to the Middle East, of which 92.5% were men. 31.43% of Kerala's population in 1991 were workers. The increase in the proportion of workers during 1981-91 was due primarily to the increase in male workers. The number of main workers increased over the decade for men and women, although only marginally for women. Marginal workers declined for both genders. Work participation rates of main and marginal workers increased for men and declined for women. Urban employment for women increased. Two districts had very low FWPRs. 48.78% of the female work force worked as cultivators and agricultural laborers. Growth occurred in urban and tertiary activities.

Qualities of Older Women's Friendships: Stable or Volatile?

The purpose of this study was to identify changes and stability in the qualities older women attribute to their close friendships. Seventy-four older women responded to eleven structured statements describing qualities of their relationships with ninety-one close friends. Change was found for seven of the eleven qualities examined. Differences in the women's responses were observed according to which close friend they were discussing and changes in the women's marital, work, and health status. The findings provide insight into the character of women's close friendships in later life.

Justice and the Paradox of the Contented Female Worker

Studies have shown that women are as satisfied with their jobs as are their male counterparts. This finding is viewed as suggesting a paradox because women's rewards and work conditions are usually less favorable than men's. Phelan (1994) evaluated five explanations for the paradox but could not evaluate the possibility that perceived justice accounts for the paradox. We evaluate the same explanations, but also examine the importance of perceived justice. We find, for a sample of female and male lawyers, that no paradox exists for job satisfaction when the model is specified properly. For pay satisfaction, however, perceived justice is critically important in explaining gender satisfaction differences, but even this does not account entirely for the paradox. The use of same-gender reference groups in evaluating justice may be responsible for the gap that remains, although supplemental data suggest that this is not the case for these lawyers.

Editorial Trends in contraception in the coming years

Contraception is one of the fields of gynecology that has undergone many changes during recent years and its many problems are still not completely solved. We have to face one of the most striking problenis in the modern world: the growing poverty in the developing world and the growing prosperity in the developed world. One of the main goals of public health is to create the conditions in which demographic transition to stability can be approached.This implies a need to consider contraception as an important tool to be used properly during the coming years. In Europe, there are still differences between north, south, central or eastern countries. We need to consider not only the modern contraceptive technologies, but also the demographic and sociocultural evolution which should precede the technical evolution of contraceptive methods. The rates of population growth in Europe vary widely; in all countries the mortality rate has decreased but the fertility rates show big differences, being the more dominant factor in population growth.The gap between fertility and mortality rates varies widely from region to region. In this sense, population will be determined by fertility, and fertility is highly related to contraceptive prevalence. The differences in total fertility rate between countries can be explained by the variability in contraceptive use but also by other factors, mainly cultural, such as marriage pattern, induced abortions or the working status of women. The marriage pattern ha5 changed: couples are getting married at an older age and they start having children later. On the other hand, the age of nienarche is now earlier. Both factors have increased the time between the age of becoining fertile and the arrival of the first child, so that young people, mainly adolescents, are one of the groups with which our Society is concerned. Induced abortion is still one of the major problems in Eastern and Central Europe; the prevalence of contraception is low and fiequently, the only solution is repeated abortion. In some countries, abortion is performed illegally and the morbidity rate is high. Contraceptive methods, mainly hormonal, are refused because of the fear of complications. So information is needed regarding the benefits and risks of contraceptive methods and abortion. Another determinant of the total fertility rate is the income per capita of a country and the economic status of the women. These conditions have changed widely during recent years and vary throughout Europe.The working conditions of women have been a major determinant of the age at which a woman has her first child and whether she uses contraception. Methods that can provide high eficacy with safety, with good cycle control and without interference with the quality of life, are still one of the major targets of contraception. In the near future, the European Society of Contraception has to consider seriously all the above facts, to study the plurality not only of Europe but of all the world, to improve contraception for everyone, independently of their economic or social status. New methods of contraception should be developed, taking into account the needs and wishes of the various populations, and forging a link between the technological innovation of the scientists and the users. The EuropeanJournal ({Contraception and Reproductive Health Care was initiated with this idea in mind and we will work steadily in that direction. There is still much work to do from the scientific point of view; we need to continue to investigate new methods that could ensure the basic elements of reproductive health: the capacity to control fertility and enjoy safe sexuality, success in the procedure of producing a healthy baby that can grow in good conditions, and finally, security, in the sense that the process of controlling fertility and bearing a baby can be carried out under the best conditions for everyone.

Obstetric Experience of Female Medical Practitioners as Patients

The objective was to investigate the obstetric experience of South Australian medical practitioners, and in addition, to assess whether the reported increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes among medical practitioners in America occurs in South Australia. A population-based postal survey of the entire registered female medical population of South Australia was carried out. Comparison was made with randomly selected individually matched pregnant South Australian control women. No significant increase in any complications was found when compared with a case-controlled group matched for age, parity, year of delivery, and social class. There was a strongly significant increase in their interest in pregnant women and empathy with the difficulties of pregnancy after their own deliveries. The reported increase in complications in American women may be due to the working conditions of those studied. Further assessment of obstetric outcome should consider the individual women's working conditions, including stress. The South Australian group in general reported more difficulties with the postpartum period than the pregnancy itself, and this is the area where more research, and practical assistance should be concentrated.

“Hard work and much patience”. Career prospects for women scientists

Abstract The purpose of this article is to gain an understanding of the conditions which facilitate career attainment of women scientists. The data for this study come from interviews with 60 Norwegian scientists from university departments and institutes of applied research within the fields of chemistry, biology and psychology. The results indicate that flexibility in amount of years in recruitment position and a good mentor relationship are important strategies which can facilitate career attainment for women scientists. Improved working conditions for women can compensate for the more extensive child‐care responsibilities that women have compared to their male counterparts.