Structures and Strategies: Women, Work and Family.

Abstract

Published as Vol 3 of Woman and the Household in Asia (series editor, Leela Dube), & presented in 11 Chpts with a Preface & a Glossary, this vol focuses on women in the "business of living" & explores the interlinkages between two themes central to the analysis of gender - family structure & intrahousehold relations on the one hand, & production on the other - in widely dispersed parts of Asia: Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, & South Korea. Rajni Palriwala - Introduction - discusses the importance of kinship relations & values as a powerful medium in expressing bonds of ethnicity, caste, class, & religion, emphasizes the structural relationship between the economy & the family-household/kinship system, & considers the explanatory framework called patriarchy used to address such questions as whether gender relations are always an issue of power/subordination; Haejoang Cho - Transformation of Gender Structure in Cheju Island - draws on interview data from migrants (N not specified) in the divers' community of Cheju Island, South Korea, to show how Cheju society moved through three phases in terms of gender relations: from a relatively egalitarian society (though culturally & ideologically male-dominant), to a neither-dominant society, & finally to a modern society, qualitatively different & characterized by class-based male domination; M. Cristina Blanc-Szanton - Gender and Inter-Generational Resource Allocation among Thai and Sino-Thai Households - discusses family strategies with regard to intergenerational resource allocation & investment relative to gender in the context of rapid industrialization experienced in Thailand's eastern seaboard, comparatively examining the situations of Thai & Sino-Thai civil servants, professionals, shopkeepers, & businessmen; Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes - Migration, 'Progressive Motherhood' and Female Autonomy: Catholic Women in Goa - examines the complex implications for women's roles & female autonomy resulting from international migration among Catholic Goans, arguing that this has helped upper-caste, middle-class Catholic women to gain a high degree of power & autonomy; Johanna Lessinger - Work and Modesty: The Dilemma of Women Market Traders in Madras - discusses the question of women's economic marginality in India, examining women's limited participation in retail produce trading, an integral part of the informal economy in Madras, via interviews with 249 men & women; Jayoti Gupta - Class Relations, Family Structure and Bondage of Women - focuses on how class relations mediate between various forms of family & gender relations in India with regard to land ownership, labor in agriculture, the development of prostitution as a form of bondage for women, & the emergence of polygyny among the landless or near landless, bonded or free, scheduled caste Koltas; Carol B. Hetler - Survival Strategies, Migration and Household Headship - reports findings of a survey of female household heads in the village of Jaten, Java (population 6,000), concluding that differences in the civic role of household heads are correlated with gender-related norms that govern women's behavior; Marty Chen - Poverty, Gender and Work in Bangladesh - examines the consequences of rapid socioeconomic change on production & kinship systems of rural Bangladesh, drawing on data gathered over 6 years work with & research on poor women. It is argued that the systems of class & of patriarchy intersect to put poor women at a particular disadvantage; Nigar Ahmad & Shahnaz Ahmad - A Day in the Life of Masi Jheelo - examines the culture of rural poverty & social transition in Punjab, India, illustrated by a detailed account of the typical daily activities & preoccupations of one woman in her family setting; Soheila Shahshahani - Women in the Kinship Structure of Iran - argues that in pastoral & peasant societies, economic units are organized around kinship units, & suggests that women's roles within the Iranian kinship structure have been as links to preserve this strucutre; Soon-Young S. Yoon - Super Motherhood: Rural Women in South Korea - suggests that the Western concept of housewifery may not accurately describe Asian ideologies concerning women's household roles, as demonstrated by a comparison of Western women's lives with the situation of rural women in South Korea. It is concluded that contradictions within oppressive ideologies are important, since these reproduce as well as influence their institutionalization: if motherhood is oppressive, it is also empowering; & if seclusion restricts freedom, it also grants security. Thus it is that patriarchy controls even when its participants do not agree. Some conclusions & recommendations concerning overall development strategies for women are offered. Each Chpt includes references. M. Crowdes