Working Women Research Articles

Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy

Promising research from Thailand already highlights women in the sexual entertainment industry as being active participants in both intimate relationships and commercial transactions simultaneously. Notably, they are neither victims nor alienated laborers, as some activist narratives assert. Women working in Thailand’s sex entertainment industry consistently adapt working cultures to modernity’s demand to reduce sex to a commercial transaction while often seeking emotional engagement. One result is that new forms of intimacy emerged, taking on new cultural meanings. The profoundly felt need to care for and take care of someone else [dulae (Thai: ดูแล)], seen as a form of “intimacy”, is, in fact, deeply rooted in the Thai social context. We reframe the literature about sex work in Thailand by assuming that intimacy is key to understanding how “sex work” arose and is sustained there. Focusing on intimacy distances research about sex work away from western assumptions about the commodification and alienation of labor. This gives a more holistic understanding of the complexity of overlapping and intersecting dimensions of the work women perform in sex entertainment. “Intimacy” ties together the issues of money, labor, and a need to care for someone and be taken care of. This thread links women with their customers, families, and themselves.

Programmatic approaches to achieving equity for women in anesthesiology.

Programmatic approaches to achieving equity for women in anesthesiology.

Association between Home-Cooking Frequency and Nutrient Intake Adequacy among Working Women in Malaysia

Women, especially those already married, usually will manage most household chores, including cooking. However, more significant percentage of married women have worked for a living in addition to doing household chores now [1]. Due to the long hours of working, it is hard for the women to frequently prepare meals at home, resulting in a lower quality of nutrient intake. The convenience meals, fast food, and other foods cooked outside the house are linked with a significantly greater calorie, sodium, and fat intake and a poorer intake of micronutrients [2].
 This cross-sectional study aims to determine the association between home cooking frequency and nutrient intake adequacy among working women in Malaysia. A total of 131 working women in Malaysia aged 18 to 60 were recruited using a convenience sampling method after excluding 9 participants due to the underreported dietary intake. The participants must answer the questionnaire regarding the frequency of cooking at home in a week. The nutrient intake is determined based on the 24-hours dietary recall and analyzed using Nutritionist Pro™ version 5.4.0 software. The participants were able to track their daily nutrient intake and home cooking frequency within a week.
 The participants (median age: 27.0 ± 17 years) were aged between 18 to 60 years old, predominantly married (51.1%), Malay (96.9%), and full-time workers (92.4%), with monthly income for most of the participants (78.6%) are ≤ RM 4 850. Also, 52% of the participants work in the government sector and most current work at Terengganu (48.1%). Also, the majority of the participants do not have any children below 18 years old (70.2%). Most of them live together with their husband and children (41.2%), followed by parents (29%).
 Most participants reported that they only tended to cook at home between zero to twice a week. Nevertheless, this study indicates that the median energy consumption is somewhat lower, at 1362 kcal, compared to the median energy intake of women from the 2014 Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS), which is 1445 kcal [3]. More than half of the individuals (54.2 %) had a poor diet, with scores of less than 51.
 
 To conclude, from this study, it is reported that most working women do not get a proper nutrient intake due to the long working hours and other responsibilities. This study revealed that adequate nutritional intake differed considerably between working women who regularly cooked throughout the week and those who did not. Understanding healthy food and ingredient selection along with healthy preparation may improve dietary habits while cooking food at home. Hence, simply devoting time to cooking food at home may not result in a healthy diet since other variables such as socioeconomic position, attitudes, and family preparation abilities may impact diet quality.

The impact of work interference with family on depressive symptoms among married working women: A longitudinal panel study.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of work interference with family (WIF) on depressive symptoms among married working women. Data from 2014‒2018 of the Korean Longitudinal Survey of Women and Families were used. Only married women living with their husbands and wage workers were included, whereas those diagnosed with depression at the baseline year and those with missing values were excluded. A total of 1,504 individuals were included as the study population. The impact of WIF on depressive symptoms was analyzed using the generalized estimating equation model with a logit link. After adjusting for all the potential confounding variables, it was found that WIF had an effect on depressive symptoms. Women whose work interfered with their family were 1.58 times more likely to experience depressive symptoms than those who did not experience WIF (95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.30‒1.92). WIF due to irregular working hours had the highest odds ratio for depression (Adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.01, 95% CI: 1.32‒3.08). Women with WIF were more likely to develop depressive symptoms when they had two or more children (With 2 children, Adjusted OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.31‒2.18; With 3 or more children, Adjusted OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.07-2.49). Thus, married working women who experienced WIF were found to be at a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms. Therefore, considering how prevailing stereotypes that roles of men and women are separated can harm women's mental health, policy measures should be implemented to ensure women's quality of life based on the work-family balance.

Home adjustment of secondary school students of working and non-working women

The Secondary school students who are passing through the stage of adolescent is in a period of stress and strain. Generally in this period adolescent feel more difficulties of adjustment in relation to their home, school, society and health etc. IN fact, the mystery of our Indian mother’s responsibility is to take care of their kith and kins and other family members. But in current situation it is based on purely vigilant multi role player specially caring and daring. So the present study was conducted to investigate the home adjustment of secondary school students of both working and non-working women.

Chivalry, Reading, and Women's Culture in Early Modern Spain: From Amadís de Gaula to Don Quixote

Chivalry, Reading, and Women's Culture in Early Modern Spain: From Amadís de Gaula to Don Quixote

The prevalence of communication. A case study in the communication history of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)

Organisations are – as communication studies know – constituted through communication. Against this theoretical background, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which was founded in 1919 after the end of the First World War as a sub-organisation of the League of Nations, is examined here. It came into being in the course of the Versailles peace negotiations with the aim of harmonising the rules and standards of labour internationally and creating common standards for this purpose. The primary function of the ILO was to collect and disseminate information and communication on labour conditions in the world in order to adopt conventions and make recommendations on the basis of this information (e.g., on daily working hours, night work, women’s and children’s work, etc.). The external constitution and the internal structure of the organisation were designed for this. The prevalence of the ILO’s communication is also confirmed by the considerable communication costs and the wide range of communication instruments it used. Methodologically, this is a hermeneutic examination of the sources produced by the ILO in the process of its foundation and establishment. The organisation documented and archived its activities extensively from the beginning.

Occupation- and industry-specific cancer mortality among Japanese women from 1980 to 2015

BackgroundThe number of women in Japan who continue working after childbirth is on the rise. Over the past few years, Japan’s cancer mortality rate has increased. About 50% of all cancer deaths among Japanese women aged 25–64 are caused by lung, gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. This study aims to examine the difference in mortality risk for key cancers among women and explore the effect of the economic crisis in the mid-1990s separately for occupational and industrial categories.MethodsData from 1980 to 2015 were gathered from the Japanese Population Census and National Vital Statistics conducted in the same year. A Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate mortality risk and mortality trends for lung, gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancer among Japanese working women aged 25–64 years.ResultsAcross most industrial and occupational groups, the trends in age-standardised cancer mortality rate for women have declined. Workers in management, security and transportation have a higher cancer mortality risk than sales workers. The risk of death from all four cancers is higher for workers in the mining and electricity industries than for wholesale and retail workers.ConclusionTo improve the health and well-being of employed Japanese women, it is crucial to monitor cancer mortality trends. Using these population-level quantitative risk estimates, industry- and occupation-specific prevention programmes can be developed to target women at higher cancer risk and enable the early detection and treatment of cancer.

Experiences of married working women about the effects of work on the sexual life: a qualitative study

Experiences of married working women about the effects of work on the sexual life: a qualitative study

'It's just the nature of the work': Barriers and enablers to the health and well-being of preconception, pregnant and postpartum working women in a community service organisation.

Poor lifestyle practices, combined with excess weight gain and weight retention during the preconception, pregnancy and postpartum periods can increase health risks for mothers and their children. Little is known about how workplaces impact the health and well-being of women of child-bearing age, particularly across work roles and settings. This qualitative descriptive study explored the enablers and barriers to the healthy lifestyle practices and well-being of women of reproductive age within an Australian community services organisation by capturing the perspectives of both the women and workplace executives. Eleven interviews were conducted with executives (n=12), and three focus groups and three interviews were conducted with women (n=16). Data were thematically analysed, and six main themes were identified: blurring of the role and work environment, clarity and equity in policy and entitlements, the nature of community services work, individual responsibility for health, tiered levels of support and a management-driven culture of awareness and support. Barriers included high-stress roles, work targets, sedentary work behaviours, lack of clarity around policies, funding and the emotional labour associated with community services work. Hands-on leadership, open communication, work relationships, resourcing and manager training were identified as facilitators. While findings indicate agreement between executives and the women, many executives focused on the challenges associated with pregnancy in the high-risk workplace environment and did not perceive specific barriers for those in non-frontline roles. Management education to generate an understanding of women's needs during this life stage and increased resourcing to facilitate workplace well-being would be beneficial.

In/visible: The intersectional experiences of women of color in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine in Australia

AbstractIt is now well‐established that science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) institutions globally should invest in building diverse and inclusive workforces. However, women of color remain underrepresented in STEMM in Australia and their organizational experiences are under‐researched. To address this gap, we used a qualitative approach to explore the complex intersections of race/ethnicity and gender that may contribute to women's underrepresentation in Australian STEMM. Primary data encompassed interviews with 30 self‐identified women of color working in academia, industry, and government STEMM organizations. We drew on intersectionality theory to explore participants' experiences of their working environments and grounded theory in our analysis. This article focuses on an understudied area related to the maintenance of white male power in STEMM and everyday experiences of “in/visibility”—the paradoxical space of invisibility and hypervisibility that women of color occupy within STEMM fields. For example, various features of women of color's identities, such as physical appearance, cultural background, accent, and name, led to participants feeling “different” and hypervisible in STEMM workplaces in Australia, in which the stereotype of a white male scientist predominates. Women also felt hypervisible as race/gender tokens when they were expected to do the diversity work of the institution. In contrast, participants felt invisible when they were professionally and socially excluded from networking events, such as after‐work drinks. Women of color's experiences of having to work much harder than white colleagues to gain recognition of their organizational value also contributed to feelings of invisibility. The study findings provide deep insight into Australian STEMM cultures by foregrounding how in/visibility shows up in the experiences of women of color. This study builds on our understanding of women's STEMM careers as inextricably linked to intersectional features of social identity and white masculine power dynamics in organizations and society more broadly. We conclude by advocating for a more nuanced understanding of “women in STEMM” in Australia (e.g., via more sophisticated data collection and analysis) to ensure that national policies and initiatives benefit all women.

Pandemic productivity in academia: using ecological momentary assessment to explore the impact of COVID-19 on research productivity

ABSTRACT The unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns on mothers around the world were identified as a concern in the early months of the pandemic. Almost immediately, women decreased work hours and women researchers reported reductions in research time as research publications by women dropped precipitously. In order to examine day-to-day activities of academics during June and July 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we utilised Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to ask 130 academics around the world about their current activities at six random times per day over the course of one week. Results showed that parents, especially mothers, were less likely to have uninterrupted work time and that mothers were 3 times more likely than fathers to multitask, nearly 5 times more likely than fathers to multitask while caring for children and 4.25 times more likely than fathers to be caring for children when contacted. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on academic mothers has many long-term implications on career progression and alleviating this gendered impact should be a priority for adminstrators worldwide.

Spirituality and cultural factors impact on sexuality: A qualitative study

Due to the relationship between the employment of married women and some cultural and religious beliefs in Iranian society, working women were used to examine their experiences to explain the spiritual and cultural factors affecting sexuality. This qualitative research whose information was obtained through face-to-face interviews with semi-structured and open-ended questionnaires and Interviews were conducted with 26 working women to examine their experiences to explain the spiritual and cultural factors affecting sexuality. The method of sampling was purposeful and data analysis was performed using qualitative content analysis by MAXQDA software. Data analysis from interviews resulted in the formation of 223 primary inferential codes, 1 main category and 4 subcategories. The results of data analysis are presented in a main category including “the effectiveness of spirituality and culture on sexuality”. This main category consists of four subcategories “Committed behavior”, “Ideas related to paying attention to the sexual needs of the spouse”, “Excessive expectations from working women” and “Promoting beliefs”. The experiences of working women showed that Spiritual and cultural factors in Iranian society affect sexuality. This effect is in most cases a positive effect on sexuality and in a few cases has a negative effect on sexuality.

Gender Budgeting and its Outcome on Women Labour Force Participation in Unorganized sector

Unorganized sector always plays a vital role in terms of providing employment opportunities to a large segment of the workforce in India. Near about 92% of the total employment in the Indian economy during the period 1999-2000 was accounted for by the unorganized/informal sector (NSSO 55th Round 1999-2000). In most states the share of informal workers is approximately the same as the national average. Female work participation has always been low at 26.97% compared to 52% of men (World Bank Report, March 2018). The problem is that women have always been at work; only the definitions of work and work plan have never been defined or realistic to include their contribution to the economy and the society. In order to deal with gender disparity and bring efficacy in women labour force participation, Gender Budgeting was started in India in 2004. However, the outcomes show that their condition has improved in formal sector but in informal sector the working conditions has not much improved. The aim of this paper is to evaluate some of the new initiatives taken by Government of India in Public Economics in reference to Gender budgeting. It relates to government expenditure in welfare measures for the upliftment of women labour force participation in organized sector. The researchers tried to find out the outcomes of gender budgeting by critically evaluating the changing pattern of Indian working women in the unorganized sector and find out the condition of health, safety and well- being of working women in unorganized sector of India.

ЗАСОБИ ВИПРАВЛЕННЯ ТА РЕСОЦІАЛІЗАЦІЇ ЗАСУДЖЕНИХ ЖІНОК: МІЖНАРОДНИЙ ДОСВІД

The article is devoted to the generalization of international experience regarding the involvement of convicted women in work, professional training and education in order to promote their resocialization. The process of engaging convicted women in work and vocational training is analyzed on the example of countries with a developed penitentiary system, and the ways of solving their employment while serving their sentence are highlighted. It is noted that education and vocational training of convicts, in particular women, is an effective way to reduce the level of recidivism, and makes it possible to reduce the costs of maintaining offenders convicted of repeated crimes. World experience in this field is one of the most important sources of progressive innovative ideas. It is an integral part of international penitentiary cooperation. Today, the international cooperation of the penitentiary system of Ukraine is carried out in the following areas: implementation of international projects and implementation of foreign experience on humanitarian grounds; implementation of conclusions and recommendations of UN and Council of Europe bodies. The penitentiary system of our country has the closest ties with the countries of Germany, France, Switzerland, and England. Despite the national and other specificities of these countries, the application of their experience will save time and avoid mistakes in the development of the activities of institutions that carry out criminal punishments, take into account local conditions and significantly improve our system of resocialization of persons who are in prisons. It should be said that the experience of foreign countries in terms of labor involvement of those sentenced to imprisonment is divided, in some - labor involvement is mandatory, in others - it is carried out at his will. In Ukraine, those sentenced to imprisonment have the right to work on a voluntary basis on the basis of a civil law contract or an employment contract concluded between the convict and a natural person - an entrepreneur or a legal entity, for whom the convicts perform work or provide services. Thus, it is expedient to analyze the process of engaging convicts, in particular women, to work on the example of a country with a developed penitentiary system and to identify ways of solving their employment while serving their sentence. After all, professional training is one of the most important educational and rehabilitation programs that can be organized in prisons.

Women and Diabetes

Background: Prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes is 53.1% in India as reported by the International Diabetes Federation in 10th Diabetes Atlas 2021. Diabetes is affecting people of all ages and gender. Very high prevalence of abdominal obesity and large percentage of women in Haryana with elevated body mass index (BMI) make it crucial to screen them for type 2 diabetes. Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) is a proven tool to identify the people at risk of becoming diabetic in future. Early detection and primary prevention are the most effective ways to prevent the rising numbers among women. Objective: This study was conceived to estimate the risk of type 2 diabetes in young working women (25–40 years) using the IDRS tool. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional observational study was followed through with 504 working females in the age bracket 25–40 years. Data were taken down using a structured questionnaire administered through personal interview procedure. Demographics and parameters listed in IDRS such as age, waist circumference, family history of diabetes, and physical activity were itemized in the questionnaire. A purposive random sampling procedure was utilized for getting the numbers. Known cases of diabetes and subjects who refused to sign informed consent were excluded from the survey. Results: About 504 working women completed the survey questionnaire. IDRS scores revealed 18%, 53%, and 29% of the subjects in high-, moderate-, and low-risk brackets, respectively. Waist circumference, sedentary lifestyle, family history, and age were found to be significantly associated with the risk level. Conclusion: The research study brings forward the need for early detection though screening of young women at risk of becoming diabetic in future and necessary steps for primary prevention for the same. It remains imperative to device a comprehensive communication strategy for responsive transitional progression from high risk to absolute healthiness among the young working women.

The Image of a Woman in the Literary Works of Ancient China

The object of this study is ancient Chinese literature, and its subject is the depiction of female characters in the literary works of Ancient China. The following research methods were chosen: meaningful analysis of specific female images in ancient Chinese literature; a comparative analysis of the typical characters of female characters, a comparative historical analysis of the images of women in literary works of various periods in the development of Ancient China, a historical analysis of the influence of literary works on the formation of female self-awareness. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is an analysis of female images in the literature of Ancient China from various points of view: in terms of historical development, terms of typical characters, and in terms of influence on modern women. Based on the results of the work done, the following conclusions are drawn: female images in Chinese literature have rapidly transformed as Chinese society has developed. The courageous and determined characters of literature have helped real Chinese females to boost their self-confidence to start fighting for their rights.

Hannah Claire Haines, 1891–1974: Not the Average “Militant Female”

Hannah Claire Haines, 1891–1974: Not the Average “Militant Female”

Portraits of Working Women: Lola Ridge’s “The Ghetto” and the Visual Record

This essay focuses on Lola Ridge’s long poem “The Ghetto” in relation to the gendered imagery and visual construction of the modern laborer emerging across early twentieth-century print media. Perpetuating gendered notions of the modern worker as predominately masculine, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century visual representations of the laborer typically feature manly, virile figures, often in resistance to capitalism and inevitably eliding the industrial woman laborer. Ridge’s “The Ghetto” alternatively locates modern labor in the female industrial worker. The essay considers the poem’s splicing of collective and individual portraits of immigrant working women, developing a visual rhetoric that asserts women’s agency amidst modernity’s changing forms of work, insisting upon their visibility as workers, activists, and feminists. Consideration of several visual print genres includes women’s labor publications; social and industrial documentary photography; and periodical illustrations from The Masses. In visually representing women workers, these sources of visual media contextualize Ridge’s approach in “The Ghetto” and social attitudes toward gender and labor persisting in the century’s early years.

Expressions of Violence against Women in French Novel Syngué Sabour and the Indonesian Translation

Abstract Violence against women is a gender issue that often appears in literary works. In cases where those works become translated, this theme may experience shifts in context from the source text to the target text, which can cause a shift in meaning as well. This research aims to discern how expressions of violence against women as narrated in a source text become translated into the target text. In this qualitative descriptive study, data in the forms of words, phrases, or sentences denoting violence against women have been taken from the French novel Syngué Sabour and its Indonesian translation, Batu Kesabaran. The results show that the expressions related to verbal and sexual violence were translated by means of overlexicalization. The translator employed this strategy to place emphasis on the problems raised, although the results give the impression that the translator portrays women in an exceedingly inferior and negative manner. On the other hand, expressions related to physical violence, murder, and human trafficking tend to use a more neutral language. This is true since the issue of violence against women in literary works can be seen not only through the chosen diction but also through the characters’ actions and behaviors.