Through an ethnographic account of a social reform project led by Islamic activist women in the village of Mehmeit in rural Egypt, this article analyses women's Islamic activism as a form of worship. Women's experiences of activism are at the centre of this account, which highlights their attempts to economically and socially develop a destitute rural community. Their development ideals mirror the embedded principles of liberal secular modernity and offer a tangible example of the (...) concomitance of these so-called binaries of religion and secularism in women's religious activism. Normative assumptions regarding religion and secularism as two binary constructs have largely dictated a monolithic view of women who engage in Islamic activism as religious subjects primarily devoted to a spiritual, internal faith. Persistent models of religious selves engaged in a continuous exercise of self-fashioning towards a fixed ‘religious ideal’ overlook the complexity and seamlessness of the desires that animate these subjectivities. Moreover, it is inaccurate to represent participants in Islamic activism as homogenized into one overarching group that adheres to standardized religious membership criteria. Discourses of modernity have also constructed separate spheres of what is defined as religion and secularism. Yet, these spheres, in practice, are not always so neatly demarcated as they are in modern principles. Societies shaped by the historical and temporal dynamics of colonialism, modernization, secularization and nation building projects present more complex and heterogeneous forms of subjectivities in their members. This article illustrates how a theoretical concomitance of religion and secularism opens up new possible considerations of women's activism in Islamic movements. The author argues that the desires and subjectivities of Islamic women that inform their activism are ultimately linked to the historical emergence of secularism and state modernization schemes aimed at transforming Muslim subjects into modern citizens of liberal democracies. (shrink)

Poverty creates many problems. Out of which one major problem is an increase in migration rate. In Pakistan, the rate of inter province and rural urban migration has increased in the last few years resulting in an expansion in urban population. The objective of this study was to explore the experience of women who have migrated from rural to urban areas with their families and are living in urban slums. Moreover, the study aims to explore the reasons (...) of migration from rural to urban areas, the change occurred in their living conditions and their level of satisfaction. Total 100 women from selected katchi abadis of Karachi and were in-depth interviewed through questionnaire method. To have an in depth analysis of the situation, both open and closed ended questions were included. Results show that most of these women have migrated with their families due to poverty. The need is to take decisions that promote equity and social justice. The distribution of resources and development planning need to focus on the need of urban and rural areas on equal bases because just moving towards metropolitan city does not change their living rather it is deteriorating the situation. (shrink)

Examines criteria for settling on productive and situation-appropriate development projects.

Female-entrepreneurship plays a significantly important role in rural areas of China today. In fact, it is a driving force behind inclusive economic development of the country as a whole. However, notably very little literature out there has focused on the impact of how widespread usage of information technology tools affects the mothers entrepreneurship in the outskirt regions. Here, in this paper, the authors attempt to explore the finer details of such an impact by utilizing the data from the (...) 2017 China Integrated Social Survey; along with the IV-Probit model to explore the transmission mechanism. Interestingly enough, it was discovered that Internet applications and tools do indeed increase entrepreneurship among women with children by a roughly 7.88%. In addition, this paper finds that the utilization of such “InfoTech” promote a continuous progress in entrepreneurship among those women with children who endeavor to start a self-managed enterprise in the less developed areas. Lastly, when looking the analysis of the transmission mechanism, this paper found that the role of Internet-usage in promoting rural mothers entrepreneurship was mainly through three factors – the gender equality effect, the information learning effect, and the financing effect. This accumulated data will be thoroughly presented here in the ensuing sections. (shrink)

Conventional gender analysis of development policy does not adequately explain the slow progress towards gender equality. Our research analyses the gender discourses embedded in agricultural and rural development policies in Myanmar and Nepal. We find that both countries focus on increasing women’s participation in development activities as a core gender equality policy objective. This creates a binary categorisation of participating versus non-participating women and identifies women as responsible for improving their position. At the (...) same time, gender (in)equality is defined exclusively as a women’s concern. Such discourses, as constitutive practices, produce specific knowledge about rural women and new subjectivities that prescribe and govern them solely as subjects of development. Our research suggests that such a limited discursive practice invisiblises gendered power relations and structural and institutional issues, ultimately slowing progress towards gender equality. We demonstrate the importance of studying policy as discourse, beyond the effectiveness of policies or mainstreaming tools, and call for empirical evidence on the impact of these discourses on women’s subjectivities and lived experiences. (shrink)

ICT for development projects often focus on integrating social factors in information systems design. A well-designed ICT4D solution must be tailored to the needs of the people who will use them and subsequently, requires an extensive understanding of the context and constraints in people’s lives. With an objective to explore how context-specific issues influence the conveyance of appropriate agricultural information to women, this paper uses PROTIC, a 5-year collaborative project between Monash University and Oxfam, as a case. PROTIC (...) was implemented in three climate vulnerable ecological zones of Bangladesh with an aim to overcome the agricultural information gap for rural women. Based on a study in mixed research method and triangulation, this paper brings evidence on the significance of considering context-specific attributes in designing effective and sustainable information services for marginalized women farmers in developing countries. The paper upfolds some significant recommendations which is expected to contribute to the domain of context-specific information system design in resolving socio-economic problems to pave the way of sustainable development. (shrink)

Recent literature shows that ethics of care can be used as a theoretical basis to add a new, important dimension to social issues. Th.

This paper explores changing production relations in agriculture in context of increasingly widespread and longer-duration male outmigration, as against previous, short-duration and seasonal migration. It investigates how de facto women-heads of households (WHHs) are changing a resilient crop-sharing system in absence of adequate access to productive assets, formal training or experience in farming, and while contributing labour to farming and coping with gendered demands on their time. Based on qualitative inquiry in one of the poorest parts of South Asia, (...) the Eastern Gangetic Plains, the paper shows that a section of WHHs are replacing sharecropping arrangements with fixed-value rental arrangements that resemble commercial contracts. The paper ends with a discussion on the implications of this emerging development. (shrink)

In this paper, the author points out that although by-passed by international development assistance in many parts of the world, women have been providing skill and labor for agricultural production, as well as subsistence of food, water and firewood for their families. Some of the assumptions which have contributed to the marginal attention to women as agriculturalists in international development assistance programs are reviewed. Factors contributing to these assumptions, examples of achievements in development projects and (...) persistent problems are discussed. Some issues which continue to challenge national policy makers in developing countries as well as donors are identified. The author notes that while various donors and organizations address bits and pieces of the issues intermittently, a systematic, organized and universally shared approach to the issues, within a nation state or on a global basis is lacking. She concludes that just as agricultural production inputs and information need to be modified to fit the unique constraints of any ecological niche, similarly, modifications must be made in development assistance programs to fit the specific needs of women in their agricultural roles and cultural settings. (shrink)

This case study investigates Gram Vikas' innovative social entrepreneurial approach to sustainable rural development through its 'Water and Sanitation Programme'. We explore its key innovation of 100 % inclusion and the process of creating democratic, self-governing management systems. This allows us to demonstrate how a social enterprise tries to realize its vision of "an equitable and sustainable society where people live in peace with dignity", and ultimately, how it contributes to the United Nations Millennium Goals of improving health, (...) empowering women and breaking the vicious circle of poverty. We also discuss the management challenges that the organisation faces in the area of finance, personnel management and scaling up. (shrink)

The shift from the conventional agri-food system to alternative practices is a challenging transition for agricultural producers, yet surprisingly under-studied. Little research has examined the social and cultural processes in rural communities that mobilize producers and construct and sustain producer-driven alternative food networks (AFNs). For AFNs to go beyond just offering “alternative foods” or “alternative networks” and to be constructed as “alternative economies”, this transformation in the producer community is indispensable. This paper presents a case study of a (...) class='Hi'>rural cooperative in Shanxi, China. The discontent with both productivist agriculture and the social decay in communities motivated a group of women to engage in a decade-long process of social mobilization, cultural reconstruction, and learning by experimentation. Through this, they developed an alternative vision and successfully created a localized alternative socio-economic model, which I call “anti-productivism”. It prioritizes ecological sustainability, self-reliance, reciprocity, and cultural values over output maximization, productivity growth, commodity exchange, and monetary gains. This case contrasts sharply with the urban-initiated, consumer-driven AFNs studied in the China literature, which mostly just offered alternative foods but brought little change to the producer community. It shows that the alternative economy must be embedded in an alternative community united by strong social bonds and shared cultural values. (shrink)

Linked to extractive practices, territorial dispossession can be traced back to the colonisation of Abya Yala. From a decolonial commitment, this article complicates notions of dispossession and extractivism as merely emerging from war in Colombia and focuses on their presence in Campesinas territories. Based on the conceptualisations of the coloniality of power and coloniality of gender, I narrate how territorial dispossession and extractivism are felt in women’s ‘body-lands’ through foreign tourism/conservation development and new export crops in two (...) class='Hi'>rural veredas in the Colombian Andes and in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta where I conducted participatory visual projects in 2016. From a relational understanding of place, I also demonstrate the ways that the rural population is resisting and negotiating within these processes. Ultimately, I make a call for feminist scholars to politically commit to the dismantling of the coloniality of gender, and to the resistances to territorial dispossession and extractivism (epistemic and economic) that rural women are leading in place in the Global South. (shrink)

Trust is of great significance to the economic and social development of a country. In the case of China, the trust of rural women has undergone tremendous changes along with the development of rural areas. It is seen that the trust of rural women has changed from localized to generalized trust, and it is stated that the major factor leading to this transformation is education. To explore the phenomenon empirically, the current study uses (...) the survey data of rural women sourced from China Family Panel Studies over the year 2018. Through the ordered probit model, the study reveals that education plays a significant role in influencing rural women’s generalized trust and localized trust. Through mediation analysis, the study further reveals that reliance on Internet information, access to public resources, and income are the factors mediating the relationship between education and generalized trust. Besides, the outcomes further unveil that the impact of education on localized trust is stronger when the level of mobility is low. For robustness check, the current study additionally employs a regression discontinuity model. The overall findings elucidate that education is the major factor triggering the trust of rural women in China. The findings propose that policymakers in China should imply education-oriented strategies as individuals with higher levels of education are more inclined to trust others. (shrink)

_Misapprehensions of culture and religion are used for the early marriages of women in Pakistan, which generates few significant challenges for women to pursue their higher education. The present study identifies such challenges for married women in higher education. These challenges are relevant to women’s post-marriage lifespan in rural Pakistan. Building upon Fredrickson’s (2001) and Hobfoll’s (2001) theories focused on post marriages issues, the study has developed open-ended questions for collecting in-depth information. Therefore, 43 in-depth (...) interviews with married women were conducted and through qualitative data analysis using NVIVO software, the study has highlighted that early marriages of girls have become a cultural norm, and education priorities of the girls are insignificant for parents to decide the marriage date. Married women pursuing education at marriage do not get any support from husbands and in-laws as the patriarchal norms prohibit women from stepping out from home. In these circumstances, women may get subject to the victim of many unlawful practices, including intimate partner violence (IPV). Thus, the present study findings imply that married women's participation in higher education is negligible due to weak legislation on women’s rights and strong illegitimate tribal practices._. (shrink)

The purpose of this study was to examine the determinants for early discontinuation among IUCD users in a rural district of northern India. Multivariate analysis indicated several significant predictors of early discontinuation of IUCD use. The risk of discontinuation increased more than two times in the presence of factors such as more than usual amount of menstrual flow before insertion and intermenstrual bleeding after insertion. Similarly, residence or alternatively those coming from villages without health centres were nearly two times (...) more likely to discontinue. Menstrual disturbance increased the risk nearly three-fold. If only those women who report normal menstrual cycles had IUCDs inserted, it is very likely that the high discontinuation rate due to menstrual disturbance could be reduced. Knowledge about the IUCD and its effectiveness decreased the risk of early discontinuation but was not a statistically significant factor in multivariate analysis. Validation of the developed model was done by using the bootstrapping method and the model was found to be 18% noisy. These findings may help family planning providers in counselling and practice. (shrink)

Poverty statistics in many countries of the developing world, with Zimbabwe being no exception, continue to show a gender-skewed trend, with women more than men increasingly being more affected. This is worrying, considering the fact that it is women who are the majority, and they carry the brunt of the burden for most household duties. Zimbabwe adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and yet women continue to be hit hard by poverty. This was a qualitative study (...) involving interviews and focus group discussions with 58 purposively sampled participants from Muchadziya village to determine the extent to which women in Muchadziya village are contributing towards sustainable development in Zimbabwe. The aim of this article, was to explore the ways in which women in Muchadziya village are contributing towards the alleviation of poverty. In the process, they will be contributing towards the attainment of some of the SDGs, such as the ones focusing on ending poverty in all its forms everywhere (SDG 1) and ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture (SDG 2). Using Africana womanism theoretical framework, the article maintained that African women should be perceived as agents, not subjects, of development and transformation in their communities. Findings indicated that women in Muchadziya village are selling various products and have sought markets in Beitbridge, Gweru and Zvishavane to sell them; others have set up shops and flea markets, and others make use of the land even though they do not own it to produce farm products to fight against poverty. The study concluded that women, despite being in difficult circumstances, are capable of contributing towards the achievement of the SDGs, particularly SDG 5 focusing on women’s empowerment and attaining gender equality. It is therefore recommended that women be given the necessary support to achieve more. Contribution: In a context where women are the most affected by poverty, Ndau women have proven that they can be agents of change by contributing towards the achievement of SDGs such as ending poverty in all its forms, zero hunger, education, gender equality and women’s empowerment and water and sanitation. Not much scholarly attention has been paid to the agency of women in Chimanimani in enhancing Zimbabwe’s sustainable development. This gap in literature might be influenced by the fact that African women, particularly women in rural areas, are perceived as beneficiaries or recipients of aid or development initiatives. As such, most programmes mainstreamed by aid or donor agencies in Africa have a specific focus on distributing aid to women and girl-children. Unfortunately, such programmes rarely seek to capacitate or empower their beneficiaries; hence, their interventions eventually disempower the intended beneficiaries. (shrink)

This article tells the empirical story of women from seven villages of Kwale, the most southeastern county in the Coast Province of Kenya that borders with Tanzania—Lunga Lunga, Godo, Perani, Umoja, Maasailand, Mpakani and Jirani—as they searched for community health, equity, gender equality and peace on their own terms. This article shows that creative health initiatives can be successfully used as mechanisms for peace building. Since 2010, the Nikumbuke-Health by All Means projects from the University of Madison-Wisconsin in the (...) United States, have trained 57 health promoters and 32 female actors on disease prevention and health promotion that have outreached approximately 120,000 inhabitants around the county enhancing unity in diversity, and breaking down the walls of ethnic hostilities and prejudice. Because of its low cost and high effectivity, the United Nations awarded N-HbAM[1] the 2013 Public Service Award as a model of best practice in gender, community development and sustainable wellbeing. [1] In 2013, at the time of the UNPS Award the projects were still called Nikumbuke-Health by Motorbike. The name was changed in 2018 as the projects broadened in scope and geographical location. (shrink)

The onset of the electronics-based information revolution will augur changes in the sociological perceptions of 'suitable careers' for women. This phenomenon is particularly evident in rural Appalachia. A planned, systematic delivery system was designed, developed, and implemented by Southwest Virginia Community College to introduce women to the challenges and possibilities of technical careers. This was accomplished through a gradualized phase-in to Technological Literacy, followed by in-depth involvement, culminating in an industrial internship experience. A special curriculum was designed (...) to ease the transition of the women, most of whom were homemakers, into the fast-paced mainstream of the academic environment. Duration of the introductory segment was one academic quarter. All project participants were clustered in a peer group, led by the project director, a trained counselor. In addition to a central course on Career Directions for Women, the program design emphasized Industrial Dynamics, the variety of uses possible with "user-friendly" microcomputers, Computer-Assisted Drafting, Electronics Instrumentation, Mathematics and Communications. Field experiences and visits to area industries were integrated into the program plan, as were visits from women who had achieved success in technical careers. Particular efforts were made to arrange for visits by the limited number of women alumni from the college's technical programs. Students were then mainstreamed into a regular program in Electronics or Computer Aided Drafting in the intermediate segment. Students are given a closer look at the industrial sector in the final segment. An examination of the social structure in Appalachian Virginia is presented, together with an albeit tentative prediction of the implications for female wage earners in this highly traditional region, so dependent heretofore on coal mining. Finally, the concept of whether this effort will lead to evolution, rather than revolution, is discussed. While covering a somewhat homogeneous and unique population cluster, the action blueprint outlined can be applied to other population groups in the U.S. and abroad. (shrink)

The essay examines local resistance to the New Deal rural electrification program in the United States before World War II as a crucial aspect of sociotechnical change. Large numbers of farm men and women opposed the introduction of the new technology, did not purchase a full complement of electrical appliances, and did not use electric lights and appliances in the manner prescribed by the government modernisers and manufacturers. These acts of 'transformative resistance' helped to shape artefacts and social (...) practices. (shrink)

Entrepreneurship is considered as one of the strategies for economic and regional development. In particular, women entrepreneurs engaged in different geographic locations, where their characteristics and business factors are different in each location. This study examines home-based women entrepreneurs in Pakistan in relation to their place of residence, specifically rural or urban context. Very few studies have considered place of residence as a variable affecting women’s businesses at the household level. This is critical since the (...) business context can exert a major influence on available resources and constraints that affect business viability and sustainability. Data were collected from 504 women entrepreneurs using a survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and binary logistics regression were used to achieve the objectives of the study. The findings revealed important and significant differences based on the rural versus urban context of women entrepreneurs including home ownership, household size, the number of adult family members in the household, family financial position, business record keeping, having a bank account, and type of business. While the binary logistic regression analysis reported adult family members, family financial position, business record keeping, bank account, and beautician business were the significant predictors of the women entrepreneurs’ rural–urban model. The findings offer implications for policymakers, funders, bank/financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations for increasing women’s entrepreneurship, empowerment, and income equality in developing countries. (shrink)

The authors explore how urban versus rural community location shapes the extent to which various individual, relational, and structural factors affect the gender gap in small business success. Building on previous research on gender and small business success, gender queuing theories, and gendered organization/institution theories, they develop a place-specific theory of the gender gap in small business success. The findings, based on small business data collected in urban and rural Iowa, support queuing arguments and raise questions about the (...) effectiveness of crowded-sector explanations. They indicate that the gender gap in small business success operates such that men-owned businesses are more successful in both urban and rural settings but that men-owned businesses are even more successful than women-owned businesses in urban than rural communities. The authors discuss the causes and consequences of the gender gap in small business success in rural and urban places and identify key issues for further research. (shrink)

Women entrepreneurs innovate, initiate, engage, and run business enterprises to contribute the domestic development. Women entrepreneurs think and start taking risks of operating enterprises and combine various factors involved in production to deal with the uncertain business environment. Entrepreneurship and technological innovation play a crucial role in developing the economy by creating job opportunities, improving skills, and executing new ideas. It has a significant impact on the income of the household. The study focused on investigating the role (...) of women’s entrepreneurship and innovation technologies in contributing to household income in the challenging situation of the pandemic COVID-19. The paper emphasized identifying the determinants of female entrepreneurial contribution toward household income. This study collected data from selected rural and urban areas of district Faisalabad through a self-administered questionnaire. Investigators interviewed female entrepreneurs and chose them through the snowball sampling technique from a population of purposively selected female-run businesses. Interviews were conducted with women entrepreneurs to gather relevant information for the survey investigation at their workplaces and home. The effects of various factors, including age, education, family size, income from other sources, time allocated to entrepreneurial activity, firm size, and location (rural/urban) were estimated empirically using an ordered logit model. The study findings exhibited a positive and significant role of respondents’ education, family size, time allocated to entrepreneurial activities, and firm size. The survey outcomes also indicated that the contribution of entrepreneurial income to household income in the rural areas is significantly higher than that in urban areas. This study signifies that regulations against gender discrimination in public and private institutions are helpful. Besides, encouraging an environment for entrepreneurial culture among women in the country would increase family income. The study’s findings and policy implications directly link to Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 5 of Gender Equality (GE) and SDG 8 related to decent work and economic growth. (shrink)

Phenomenological interviews with queer women in rural Nova Scotia reveal significant forms of trauma experienced during labour and birth. Situating the accounts of participants within both phenomenological and intersectional analyses reveals harms enabled by structurally embedded heteronormative and homophobic healthcare practices and policies. Our account illustrates the breadth and depth of harm experienced and outlines how these violate core ethical principles and values in healthcare.

Family farm ideology encapsulates one strand of the historical relations of Americans to the land. An examination of gender differences in historical experiences of land in Iowa suggests that men and women have had different patterns of access to land and to profits from agricultural enterprises. Where men have seen the land as a resource to be exploited, women have tended to view land as a setting for reciprocal interaction.In the late nineteenth century the state promoted the family (...) unit as a source of cheap labor in the development of the central United States to provide capital for the industrialization of the Atlantic seaboard. It was on this basis that Iowa farming developed. Before World War II the farm man, as head of the farm operation, managed the production of farm commodities and conducted the farm market transactions; the woman reproduced the farm labor force and exchanged goods and services locally through personal contacts.Since World War II the family farm has changed structurally, but the family farm ideology has persisted as a basis for the construction of farm policy emphasizing private property and free enterprise. Such an ideology is no longer consistent with a goal of economic democracy. The experience of women on the land provides elements of an alternative ideology which stresses reciprocal nurture, cooperation and shared good. (shrink)

Extrinsic mortality is a key influence on organisms’ life history strategies, especially on age at maturity. This historical longitudinal study of 125 women in rural Domenica examines effects of extrinsic mortality on human age at maturity and pace of reproduction. Extrinsic mortality is indicated by local population infant mortality rates during infancy and at maturity between the years 1925 and 2000. Extrinsic mortality shows effects on age at first birth and pace of reproduction among these women. Parish (...) death records show huge historical variation in age-specific mortality rates. The infant mortality rate (IMR) in the early 1920s was low, increased dramatically beginning in 1929, and reached a maximum in the 1950s, at which point IMR declined steadily to its present low rate. The mortality rate early in life showed a quadratic association with age at first birth. Women who experienced conditions of low IMR early in life reproduced relatively late in life. Those born into moderately high levels of infant mortality tended to reproduce earlier than those born at low levels. At very high infant mortality levels early in life, women went on to delay reproduction until relatively late, possibly as a result of somatic depletion and energetic stress associated with the conditions that lead to high IMR. Population mortality rates at age of maturity also showed a quadratic association with age at first birth. The pace of reproduction, estimated as number of surviving offspring controlled for maternal age, showed a similar quadratic effect. There were complex interactions between population mortality rates in infancy and at maturity. When extrinsic mortality was high during infancy, extrinsic mortality later in life had little effect on timing of first birth. When extrinsic mortality was low to moderate in infancy, extrinsic mortality later in life had significant effects on adult reproduction. I speculate that these effects are mediated through development of personality facets associated with reproduction. (shrink)

Pro-energy advocates have often cited fracking as a potential solution to our pressing need for energy because it can offer the United States a significant domestic energy source that can decrease American dependence on foreign oil and increase jobs. In addition, some proponents argue that the development of the industry is vital for economic growth in certain rural and poverty stricken areas. Advocates of the industry argue that fracking has several economic benefits, including an increase in jobs and (...) cheaper natural gas. Some states with an abundance of oil-rich sands have aggressively engaged in industrial... (shrink)

An understanding of factors influencing the decision of rural people to keep sheep and/or goats is crucial when formulating technologies and policies that support village-based small ruminant production. The knowledge of such factors will also improve assessment of impact intervention strategies on the livelihoods of rural people. Structured questionnaires administered in 228 households were used to study the ownership patterns of small ruminants in southern Benin. The ownership of goats was higher (91%) than sheep (35%) because goats are (...) not affected by any ethnic or cultural restrictions. Goats are also perceived to be a less risky to invest into compared to sheep. Women represented 71% of the keepers of goats. Predictive models of ownership were developed using logistic regression. The results showed that younger household members (p < 0.05) especially young women (60%) are more likely to own small ruminants. Owners of small ruminants are less likely to be involved in off-farm activities and would often have no access to credit facilities. Gender, ethnicity, and perception of risk associated with species are the major factors affecting people’s choice of species. These findings highlight the financing and insurance roles that small ruminants, particularly goats, are playing in the study area. In order to develop suitable technologies and formulate policies to improve productivity and enhance livelihoods, the constraints to goat production need to be identified, and the local knowledge of the keepers should be investigated. (shrink)

The recent political “left turn” in Latin America has led to an increased emphasis on social policy and poverty alleviation programs aimed at women. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in a rural village in Nicaragua, I argue that one of the consequences of such programs is an increase in women’s daily workload, which I call the gendered burden of development. By exploiting women’s unpaid community care labor, these non-governmental organizations and state-led programs entrench established (...) gender roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, through their selective interventions, these programs reinforce the neoliberal ideal of self-sufficiency in women’s everyday lives, contributing to the formation of a particular kind of developmental subject who assumes responsibility for her own hardships. Although these programs have produced some tangible improvements in women’s lives, they ultimately do little to alter the structural conditions affecting the precariousness of women’s survival. (shrink)

To redefine work as a concept, the author develops the theoretical contours of a multidimensional continuum model of women's work that moves away from older dual spheres models, using oral histories of older rural white women from Iowa and Missouri. Based on a grounded theory analysis, the author discusses three important dimensions of a continuum model of work: economic benefits, location, and time control characteristics. These dimensions tend to funnel women into multiple work strategies where they (...) combine several labor options to maximize economic benefit. A multidimensional continuum model allows us to observe some of the mechanisms operating in women's labor decision-making process. It suggests new ways of thinking about women's life course patterns. By providing us with a definition of work that more accurately reflects observed experience, it casts doubt on some of our social policies, especially those regarding the care of children and the elderly. (shrink)

Women’s education has been central to discourses that have sought to modernize developing and Muslim societies. Based on ethnographic data collected from women teachers from rural and low-income communities of Pakistan, the article shows how being a parhi likhi woman implies acquiring a privileged subject position making claims to middle-class and Islamic morality, and engaging in specific struggles within, rather than against, the institutions of family, community, and Islam. This focus on the lived experiences of educated Muslim (...) women complicates the prevalent narrative of modernity that presents women’s education and gender empowerment as an expression of individual women’s choice and free will against the oppressive frameworks of family, community, and Islam. (shrink)

Governmental and non-governmentalagencies worldwide have devoted considerablefinancial, technical, and organizational efforts toconstruct or rehabilitate irrigation infrastructure inthe last three decades. Although rural povertyalleviation was often one of their aims, evidenceshows that rights to irrigated land and water wererarely vested in poor men, and even less in poorwomen. In spite of the strong role of irrigationagencies in vesting rights to irrigated land and waterin some people and not in others, the importance ofagencies‘ targeting practices is still ignored.This article disentangles how (...) public irrigationagencies either included or excluded women and mensmallholders as right holders to irrigated land andwater. This is done on the basis of significant casestudies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America thatpoint in both positive and negative directions. Thegeneral conclusions are the following. Rights toirrigated land are related to the site-selection andphysical design of land-bound irrigationinfrastructure. These rights are vested in the pooreither by implementing a localized land reform or bydirectly selecting poor people‘s land forimprovement. Among all potential land users in aselected site, water rights have to be defined. Thepoor are included as title holders if water rights arevested in land users rather than land owners, and inboth women and men, rather than in male householdheads. A common condition to get water rights is thatone has to participate in construction investments.Agencies need, firstly, to open up this condition forthe poor, also for women, and, secondly, ensure thatpoor people‘s investments are linked to rights.Parallel to vesting land and water rights, externalagencies influence the composition of the local forumsin which decisions on land and water rights arerefined, endorsed, and implemented, and they influencethe order in which project activities are planned andundertaken. Early inclusion of the poor in theseforums and crystallization of expropriation andallocation criteria and procedures before constructionstarts are pivotal for poverty alleviation. (shrink)

Urban dwellers are more likely to develop mental disorders such as mood and anxiety disorder as well as schizophrenia compared to rural dwellers. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that even short-term exposure to nature can improve mood and decrease stress, but the underlying neural mechanisms are currently under investigation. In the present intervention study we examined the effects of a one-hour walk in an urban vs. natural environment on activity in the amygdala, a brain region previously associated with stress (...) processing. Before and after the walk 63 participants underwent an fMRI paradigm inducing social stress. Since there is a pronounced gap in the literature regarding interindividual differences in stress-related neural effects of urban and natural environments, we set out to explore sex differences. We observed that amygdala activity decreased after the walk in nature, but only in women, suggesting that women may profit more from salutogenic effects of nature. Moreover, performance on the arithmetic tasks improved in women after the walk in nature, whereas men performed better after the walk in the urban environment. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report differencial tendencies in men and women concerning the stress-related neural activity as an effect of acute exposure to urban vs. natural environments. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of sex differences when exploring effects of the environment on brain function and stress. Evidence for beneficial effects of nature on stress-related brain regions may inform urban design policies to focus on providing more accessible green areas in cities and this study suggests that sex differences in experiencing the environment should be taken into consideration. (shrink)

Farmers, especially those within historically underserved populations, utilize networks to access educational training, community support, and market opportunities. Through a case study of the Pennsylvania Women's Agriculture Network's three-year Women's Rural–Urban Network (WRUN) initiative, this research analyzes the process of developing solidarity across geographic and racial lines while building a statewide farmers' network. Applying White's (2018) Collective Agency Community Resilience (CACR) theoretical framework to this initiative offers a way to evaluate how socially marginalized groups in agriculture build (...) farmers’ networks to resist oppression within the white heteropatriarchal agricultural system. This research draws on interviews with 12 steering committee members and three years of participant observation to understand how participants assessed the initiative. Findings suggest that changes to existing programming were influential in creating a place for diverse women farmers and growers to meet, thus contributing to prefigurative politics; however, the inability to form commons as praxis and economic autonomy due to divergent needs, varying roles in the agrifood system, and different levels of engagement with racial justice deterred network-building efforts. This initiative examines food justice theory through praxis. Findings offer insights for predominately white non-profits, research institutions, and activists in future anti-racism and food justice efforts in the agrifood system. (shrink)

Proper utilization of antenatal and postnatal care services plays an important role in reducing the maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality rate. This paper assesses the utilization of health care services during pregnancy, delivery and post-delivery among rural women in Uttar Pradesh and examines its determinants. Data from a baseline survey of UP Community Mobilization project was utilized. A cross-sectional sample of currently married women who delivered a baby 15 months prior to the survey was included. Information (...) was collected from 2208 women spread over five districts of UP. Information on socio-demography characteristics, utilization of antenatal care, delivery and postnatal care services was collected. To examine the determinants of utilization of maternal health services, the variables included were three ANC visits, institutional delivery and PNC within 42 days of delivery. Separate multilevel random intercept logistic regressions were used to account for clustering at a block and gram panchayat level after adjusting for covariates. Eighty-three percent of women had any ANC. Of them, 61% reported three or more ANC visits. Although 68% of women delivered in a health facility, 29% stayed for at least 48 h. Any PNC within 42 days after delivery was reported by 26% of women. In the adjusted analysis, women with increasing number of contacts with the health worker during the antenatal period, women exposed to mass-media and non-marginalized women were more likely to have at least three ANC visits during pregnancy. Non-marginalized women and women with at least three ANC visits were more likely than their counterparts to deliver in an institution. Contacts with health worker during pregnancy, marginalization, at least three ANC visits and institutional delivery were the strong determinants for utilization of PNC services. Self-help group membership had no association with the utilization of maternal health services. Utilization of maternal health services was low. Contact with the health worker and marginalization emerged as important factors for utilization of services. Although not associated with the utilization, SHGs can be used for delivering health care messages within and beyond the group. (shrink)

Ever since Max Weber started an argument about the role of Protestantism in jump-starting northern Europe's economic development, scholars have clashed over the influence of religion and culture on a society's economic prospects. Today, many wonder whether the "explosion" of Protestantism in Latin America will effect a similar wave of growth and democratization. In this book, Sherman compiles the results of her field study and national survey of 1000 rural Guatemalan households. She offers persuasive evidence that, in Guatemala (...) and throughout the region, religious world-views significantly influence economic life. Sherman explains how the change in attitude and behavior that accompanies conversion from animism to a Biblically orthodox world-view has improved the domestic welfare and economic status of many families. Further, she asserts that this new attitude, sympathetic to democratic-capitalism, has created a "moral cultural soil" in which freedom, personal empowerment, an enhanced status for women, and a desire to get ahead can be nurtured. (shrink)

Purpose: A cursory look at the lives of most people living in the rural areas of Ghana suggests that they are poor as compared to their counterparts living in the urban areas. The study aimed at investigating into the culture, philosophy, lifestyles and factors that have impacted negatively on the socio-economic situation that make the people living in the rural areas poor. Methodology: In order to obtain data on the causes of poverty among the rural people, the (...) qualitative research approach was used for the study in which the observation method was employed to collect information from the elderly, youth, farmers, women, men, workers, illegal miners, traders, market women, etc. in some villages on their social lifestyles and economic activities. For effective and reliable outcome, unstructured interviews, surveys and investigations were used as tools to gather data. The use of unstructured interviews and conversations enabled majority of the sampled population who could not read nor write offer useful information. Findings: The study revealed that rural poverty is on the ascendency because most of the youth who serve as the work force migrate to the urban areas in search of jobs and better living conditions while a fraction of those who remained engage in illegal mining. The effect of this illegal activities has led to the degradation of arable lands, destruction of millions of acreages of cash/food crops and river bodies making agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy, very unsustainable. The attitude of majority of Ghanaians to time and work, especially in the public sector, leaves much to be desired. As a result, a lot of man-hours is rendered unproductive due to unpunctuality, religious and cultural activities. Unique contribution to theory and Practice and Policy: The outcome re-echoes the need for a policy direction on education that focuses on skill development and hands on experience to enable school leavers enter into entrepreneurship and be self-reliant so they will not be dependent on the limited government work. It will also make people come to the realization that only few people benefit from illegal mining but the harmful effects are universal and back government effort in fighting/curbing it. Government, Municipal/District Assemblies will see the need to provide amenities that rural communities lack, initiate intervention programmes for youth employment especially, in the rural areas to curtail rural-urban migration. (shrink)

The “smart village” flourishes – at least in policy papers that envision the revitalization of rural areas through the civic deployment of networked media and telecommunications. Yet, while such aspirations are widespread, little is known about the views of those tasked with supervising and supporting digitally driven public participation for rural progress. To address the lack of insight into what these intermediary administrators conceive as catalysts and challenges for the realization of smart village conceptions, we surveyed representatives of (...) regions in Germany who oversee rural development schemes, most notably within the European LEADER framework. For these key actors, digital participation does not mainly hinge on broadband access and IT availability. Instead, they emphasize the importance of human and administrative resources as well as multi-actor collaboration, which we discuss in terms of digital readiness, digital willingness, and digital activity. Building the smart village, we conclude, seems not so much a matter of technological infrastructure, but rather of sociotechnical infrastructuring. (shrink)

Studies of local knowledge and farmer participatory research tend to focus on raising crops and livestock. Little attention is given to processing and marketing farm products, an important source of income for rural households, particularly women.This article presents the case of an investigation into processing and marketing of milk products by agropastoral Fulani women, which revealed how the women under stand local market forces and recognize important social and even local political functions of their marketing activities. (...) However, it also revealed the limits of their knowledge about how the local economy interlinks with national and international economies.Reasons are examined why the study did not lead to local technical and institutional development in dairying. Differentiation is made between two types of research: “extractive” research to provide information for development planners and academics; and participatory or “enriching” research, in which data collection, analysis, and reporting are done with rural people, to use in their own problem-solving. It is argued that “enriching” research should be aimed at increasing rural people's present knowledge, so that they can better understand and cope with external influences on their activities. They could then better defend their own interests against the macroplanning State.Finally, the ethics of documenting the research results are questioned. Documentation of conventional research is primarily for empowerment and enrichment of the extractive economic and academic systems. But there is also a danger that wider dissemination of results of participatory research and local knowledge will not benefit the rural participants but rather strengthen the information base of planners, so that they can better manipulate local economies. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to show that any process of benefit sharing that does not guarantee the representation and participation of women in the decision-making process, as well as in the distribution of benefits, contravenes a central demand of social justice. It is argued that women, particularly in developing countries, can be excluded from benefits derived from genetic research because of existing social structures that promote and maintain discrimination. The paper describes how the structural problem of (...) gender-based inequity can impact on benefit sharing processes. At the same time, examples are given of poor women’s ability to organise themselves and to achieve social benefits for entire communities. Relevant international guidelines (e.g. the Convention on Biodiversity) recognise the importance of women’s contributions to the protection of biodiversity and thereby, implicitly, their right to a share of the benefits, but no mechanism is outlined on how to bring this about. The authors make a clear recommendation to ensure women’s participation in benefit sharing negotiations by demanding seats at the negotiation table. (shrink)

The issue of gender and agriculture has been on the research agendas of civil society organisations, governments, and academia since the 1970s. Starting from the role of women in agriculture, research has mainly focused on the gendered division of work and the normative constitution of the farm as masculine. Although the gendered division of work has been questioned, the idea of binary gender has mostly been taken as a given. This explorative research shifts the attention from the production of (...) (traditional) gender roles to the making and unmaking of binary gender. An ethnographic study of four farms in Switzerland is drawn on to explore queer farming practices and investigate how queer farmers navigate gender normativity and what this tells us about gender in agriculture more broadly. After considering the mechanisms through which queer farmers are discouraged from farming as a livelihood on the basis of their sex, gender or sexuality, this article argues that queer farmers de- and re-construct gender and farming identities differently, which has research and policy implications for a more diverse and resilient rurality. (shrink)

A survey of women in two highly developed rural counties of China, Sichuan and Jiangsu Provinces, was carried out in late 1991, to gain information about demographic and economic change between 1980 and 1990. Three separate surveys were conducted: the first a questionnaire administered to married women aged 30–39, eliciting information about childbearing and contraception, as well as the social and economic background of the respondents; the second, focus group interviews emphasizing the motivation for childbearing. Official information (...) about the selected villages, townships and counties was also collected. (shrink)

The political developments in post-socialist countries are taken as a general frame for discussing rural development in the transition from centrally planned to market economies. Rural communities and agriculture in post-socialist countries are facing major problems related to decollectivization of property, the stimulation of effective private agricultural units, and the building up of integrated rural communities and their local autonomy. After presenting the developments in Slovenia in detail, the author comes to the conclusion that no foreign/western (...) development model can be literally applied to any post-socialist state. These nations must define their own goals and formulate the strategies to reach them based on the analysis of their specific situations, and in doing this they must engage their own scientists/professionals and take foreign experts only as occasional advisors. (shrink)

NCMRD initiated the Women in Management Research Program in January 1988. One of the objectives of the program is to help managers and policy makers deal with issues arising from women's increased participation in managerial and professional jobs backing research to help arrive at solutions to the problems being encountered both by institutions and by women themselves. Significant research funds have been raised from the private sector and ten projects have been funded to date. This article describes (...) the early development of the Program and its research mandate. (shrink)

This article examines the historical relationship between agriculture and tourism and its implications for food security strategies in rural development. Food security is one of the foundational pillars for sustainable rural livelihoods. Integrating agriculture and tourism has enhanced resilience and food security in rural development. This study reviews the historical case studies of agriculture and tourism across various regions to trace the evolution of agriculture and tourism and their mutually dependent relationship, as well as the (...) local food culture playing an essential role in a journey to attract visitors and to enhance local economy and employment. Results indicate that practical cooperation between these two sectors can result in resilient food security, heightening community identity, and strengthening environmental awareness. This article also studies rural areas' challenges and the opportunities for integrating agriculture and tourism to improve food security. Ultimately, it emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach incorporating historical insights, community engagement, and innovative strategies. (shrink)

As interest in women’s roles in agriculture increases, research on women livestock-keepers remains limited. Advances in feminist scholarship highlight farming women’s dual roles in agricultural production and biological and socio-cultural reproduction, including women’s uncompensated labor in child-bearing, child-rearing and home-making. To expand knowledge about women pastoralists’ lived experiences, we conducted life-history interviews with 25 herder women in two regions of Mongolia, following-up with participatory workshops in each region. As mothering and carework emerged as key (...) themes, we drew on feminist care ethics and the anthropology of mothering and motherhood to analyze interview data and co-interpret results with workshop participants. Our findings reveal three caring conflicts experienced by Mongolian herder women: between caring for _nutag_ (homeland) and caring for herds, between caring for herds and caring for children, and between caring for family, herd and _nutag_ and caring for self. These conflicts highlight contradictions between normative Mongolian motherhood as depicted in cultural images and narratives, and the lived reality of herder mothers, and between public valorization of and incentives for motherhood and the lack of sufficient public support for mothers and carework in rural Mongolia. Unmet needs for care, resulting risks to maternal and child health, and the extraordinary workload associated with mothers’ multiple caring tasks likely contribute to rural–urban migration and increasing masculinization of the Mongolian countryside. Although Mongolian culture frames mothers as leaders who unify their communities through their wisdom, many herder-mothers today live isolated lives where their multiple caring responsibilities preclude active participation in community development and governance. (shrink)

Increasing attention has been given to participatory methods in agricultural research and rural development. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) has become popular among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and applied researchers in development. This paper analyzes PRA with respect to its usefulness for NGOs, drawing upon the outcomes from two experimental PRA workshops conducted with a Chilean NGO. Emphasis is given to discussing farmer participation in PRA and its empowerment effects. It is argued that PRA is potentially empowering if (...) it is situated within broader long-term social and political strategies guiding the interactions between rural community and external organization. (shrink)

Social protection programs have been an important part of development process and planning in India since its Independence. However, after sixty-five years, around one-fourth of its population lives in poverty. Despite a plethora of social protection programs, vulnerable groups among the poor have not been well targeted. However, the recent paradigm shift towards rights-based legislations may have hit the right chord with its self-targeting mechanism. The Right to Work, or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) (...) provided employment to almost 55 million households and spending nearly 8 billion US dollars in April 2010–March 2011. Participation of women and socially backward groups has been exceptionally high. This paper analyzes the policy provisions, implementation and monitoring mechanism of MGNEGA to argue that policy designs with legal enforceable mechanisms and collaborative governance systems can lead to empowerment of the marginalized sections. (shrink)