A company of women and men: men's recollections of childbirth in medieval England

The events that took place in medieval English birthing chambers were witnessed and assisted by a company of women. Although these events may have been isolated, they did not exist in isolation. Rather, they interacted in complex ways with the lives and activities of the men in the manor hall. This article examines those interactions as they are evidenced in proof-of-age inquests, legal documents that record the recollections of husbands, fathers, and male relatives and neighbors regarding the events surrounding the birth of an heir to crown land. It concludes that even though men rarely entered the birthing chamber, their dynastic interests and social politics routinely penetrated its walls, blurring the boundary between private and public spheres, female and male space.     

Rentiers,teachers and workers: Greek women in late nineteenth-century Odessa

Abstract

This article sheds light on a neglected aspect of the Greek paroikia of Odessa, its female component, in the late imperial period. By revisiting the 1897 All-Russian Census, it offers an insight into the demographic and social features of Greek women, and depicts their occupational position. It shows that middle-class and working women formed the majority of the Greek female workforce and suggests that their participation or non-participation in the labour market depended on the ability of the male breadwinner to support his household financially.     

Mortality differences according to marital status among men and women in Kuwait

Higher mortality among unmarried persons compared with currently married ones has been reported in many previous studies. There is paucity of such studies in developing countries. We analysed the association between marital status and mortality in Kuwait, an oil-rich Gulf Muslim country. Data were obtained from the Public Authority for Civil Information that has maintained a linked record database of population characteristics with death notifications since 2005. Deaths during 2005–2010 were aggregated for the analysis. Age-specific death rates and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated according to marital status (married, never married, divorced and widowed), age (15–49, 50–64 and 65+), gender, and nationality (Kuwaiti vs. non-Kuwaiti). Among Kuwaiti nationals, the SMRs for widowed, divorced, and never married were 1.75, 1.68 and 1.15 compared to the married. Higher mortality was found among unmarried men and women at almost all ages. These findings may be indicative of considerable public health problems such as higher disability and depression among the unmarried.     

Creativity gaps and gender gaps: women,men and place in the United States

This article situates Florida's (2002) work on creative regions in the United States in the context of a critical discussion of place and gender and investigates the gender–class structure of his most and least creative regions. It analyzes the distribution of creative class, working class and service class occupations by gender within those 21 regions as well as earnings, household income, poverty and educational attainment using data from the US Census 2000. Women and men are compared within and across the two categories of most and least creative regions. The major finding is that the gender gap in earnings within categories of regions is larger than the creativity gap, i.e. the earnings gap within genders across regions. As new technology industries have been layered over old industries, altering spatial divisions of labor, gendered labor remains integrated in largely traditional ways.     

Landscapes of women and men: rethinking the regional historical geography of the United States and Canada

This paper proceeds from the premise that historical geographers are not prejudiced against women, but many are unsure how to incorporate information on women into their research. The result unfortunately is a historical landscape in which only half of the residents normally are visible, despite many models of regional studies published in women's history. Historical geographers of rural Canada and the United States are to some extent limited by their frequent use of one narrative form, the national epic, that cannot readily portray women as important actors unless its essential plot line is reinterpreted in ways less familiar to geographers. Taking the examples of three western frontier women, I discuss how their narratives indicate ways to give a more balanced impression of both women and men in studies of regional economies and landscape modification. Incorporating female experience is likely to change some fundamental assumptions about the historical geography of the United States and Canada.     

明清时期安徽沿淮女性的生活选择

明清时期安徽沿淮地区女性出现了游走乞讨与守家耕织的生存方式,既说明当地社会经济发展的滞后,又显现其存在着发展空间,反映了该区域社会经济发展的徘徊不前.部分女性施舍行为凸现了该区域贫富分化的加剧.沿淮女性的生存方式突破了传统社会"男耕女织"的理想模式,女性在经济活动中享受了与男性一样选择职业的自由.     

传统与现代之间的两难选择——丁宝桢文化性格解读

在中西化冲突与交融中,丁宝桢不可能与自己熟悉的化模式决裂,也不可能完全接受西方的价值观念,而是处于传统与现代的两难选择之中。     

A comparative analysis of first and second generation immigrants: residential and occupational mobility in Metropolitan Sydney

The residential settlement of the second generation of the major European immigrant groups in Metropolitan Sydney in 1981 is compared with that of the first generation, and the occupational composition and mobility of the second generation is related to those of the first generation and the host society. This is the first large data set intergenerational analysis to have been conducted in Australia, and hypotheses as to the relationship between social and spatial distance, and between first and second generation segregation are tested. A theory of intergenerational convergence, and thus integration, is found to be applicable to the Australian urban situation, rather than labour market segmentation or structural pluralist theories.     

A method for the identification of the location of regional cultural boundaries

Although it is widely accepted that exchangeable items often have a role in boundary maintenance, the forms of regression analysis used by archaeologists in the analysis of artifact distributions are generally unable to recognize the marked boundary effects that might be theoretically predicted, and alternative techniques are clearly required. In this study, it is suggested that single boundary profiles are well represented by a two-parameter family of functions related to the Verhulst model for population growth. A curve of this type was fitted by an iterative technique to empirical data values provided by the distribution of various regional series of late Iron Age coinage in southern Britain, and preliminary results suggest that in most cases the boundaries identified correspond to those which have been inferred on the basis of historical evidence. In addition, the analysis has drawn attention to a number of features which might repay further study—a close relationship between boundaries and major rivers, and a suggestion of the existence of distinct boundary zones between discrete territorial units. There are, however, a number of problems in the application of the method, and further work is needed.     

The gender dimension of the agrarian transition: women,men and livelihood diversification in two peri-urban farming communities in the Philippines

Based on parallel field research conducted in two peri-urban villages in the cities of Naga and Valencia, the Philippines, this article deploys gender analysis to understand livelihood diversification in the context of agrarian change. In analyzing the role of state organizations and NGOs in (re)producing gender differences, hierarchies, roles and identities within agrarian settings, it brings poststructuralist and postcolonial theory into conversation with political economy to explore how gender is at stake in daily livelihood struggles. Specifically, attention is drawn to how structural constraints and institutional discourses still render livelihood diversification a gendered project, and how state and other development organizations are continuing to perpetuate gender inequalities and reinscribe normative gender discourses, particularly around masculinities and women's reproductive roles, in agrarian communities.     

A changing sense of Somaliness: Somali women in London and Toronto

This article considers how direct and indirect transnational linkages influence Somali refugee women settling in London, England and Toronto, Canada, and lead to shifts in identity in resettlement contexts. Drawing on interviews with Somali refugee women and discussions with resettlement staff, this article shows that under influences of distant and local linkages with other Somalis and through the cultural and social influences of the receiving society, Somali women develop a changing sense of their own Somaliness. The article argues that indicators of belonging, such as dress, religion and language, come to hold new and increased value within the new context, and familiar facets of national, cultural and religious identity shift in significance in response to competing influences and are used as intentional signifiers of identity.