University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

316 International Studies Building

910 S. Fifth Street

Champaign, Illinois 61820

Phone: (217) 333-1994

Fax: (217) 333 6270 Volume 18, Number 3

e-mail: widrr@uiuc.edu February 1998

The article is drawn from a study on the Impact of Rural Industrialization on Intra-Household Gender Division of Labor and Welfare, by Zongmin Li, Ph.D. in Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Land Tenure Center.

This study is focused on gender-specific changes in labor allocation, bargaining power, and welfare in Chinaís on-going rural industrialization. The hypothesis is that changes in labor allocation affect the bargaining power of individuals within the household, and the changes in bargaining power are reflected in changes in certain selected indicators of welfare.

The study focuses on three villages with diverse patterns of industry ownership in Yutian County in Hebei Province. One village exhibits a stagnant collective industrialization and a strong commercial agriculture, another has an industrial sector consisting entirely of small, household-owned or co-owned enterprises, while the third exhibits a mixture of collective and small private enterprises. In each village the households were stratified according to major economic activities: 1) full-time farming households; 2) part-time farming households, type 1, in which at least one household member worked in a non-farming job, and at least one member (possibly the same person) did agricultural work on the home farm; 3) part-time farming households, type 2, in which the household either owns or co-owns a non-agricultural enterprise, and 4) non-farming households. Four instruments were used: a structured questionnaire for the survey; a structured question set for village officials; a structured question set for household case study interviews, and a documentary search of secondary data, for example, administrative records of villages and the county statistics yearbook data by village. Data were analyzed by two methods: 1) frequency statistics quantitatively measured gender division of labor by aggregating the participation of household members in specific or general tasks, such as

domestic, farm work and non-farming work, using Pearsonís Chi square test; and 2) content-analysis was used to qualitatively explain the impacts of the social and cultural context of the survey data.
 
 

The study shows that investment for rural industrialization came largely from local government, banks and private investors. The labor shifts involved were also localized, resulting in many individuals having a dual labor status, working in both agriculture and industry. But the industries developed using not local raw materials but waste materials generated by urban industry. Womenís participation in industry and management was affected by industry ownership, the industrial product, and the scale of the industry. Comparing participation by men and women, it was found that a) rural industrialization has changed household labor allocation, resulting in a broadening of tasks for both men and women; b) women have assumed new tasks in agriculture, but have not been relieved of old tasks (men have dropped some earlier domestic and agricultural tasks which have shifted to women), but c) the reallocation of work between men and women was modest, with more shared tasks and few definitive shifts of tasks from one gender to another. The study also compared participation by women across household types. It was found that the nature of their participation in industry varied significantly by household type and that this affected their bargaining power and welfare. This study found that management was the key factor: simply working in industry did not have a significant impact on womenís bargaining power and welfare, but participation in management was associated with increases in bargaining power, and the increased bargaining power was positively correlated with the selected welfare indicators.

The studyís major conclusions are: 1) Women participate in industry as members of households: simple comparison of men vs. women in isolation provided only limited insights into the changes taking place, but comparing how different groups of women were involved in the changes proved a more productive approach. 2) The nature of the participation matters: it should not be assumed that merely getting jobs in industry will improve womenís situation. Some participation may simply result in heavier burdens on women while other participation may be empowering. 3) Womenís involvement in household-owned enterprises provided more opportunity for them to participate in mangement than other patterns of industrialization, and conferred greater benefits on them in terms of bargaining power within the household and other welfare indicators.

_Illinois Platform of Action for Women and Girls - There will be an open meeting of the state-wide committee to publicize the Illinois Platform of Action for Women and Girls on Sunday, May 3, 1:00-5:00 pm in Room 101 of the International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth St., Champaign. All are welcome.

_Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, one of Africaís and the Arab worldís most well-known writers and feminists will be visiting the UIUC on March 12, 1998. She will talk on Women and Creativity: Obstacles Facing Women. The event will occur at 112 Gregory Hall, March 12, at 4pm. Dr. El Saadawiís novels and books have had a profound influence on generations of activists in her native Egypt and many other parts of the world over the last four decades. Author of 9 novels, 2 plays, 4 memoirs, and 7 scholarly books, Nawal El Saadawiís works have been translated in over twenty languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Portugese, Dutch, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Iranian, Turkish and Urdu. She is the recepient of numerous literary awards and honorary doctorates, including one from the University of Illinois at Chicago in May 1996. Her work is always eagerly anticipated and reviewed in the worldís leading periodicals and journals, and is subject of dozens of dissertations and books each year all over the world.

_ Increased WID Info on Internet. The WID office is in the process of expanding our resources for electronic access. Our web page address is http://www.uiuc.edu/providers/ips/wid.html. In the near future, we will put this newsletter, WID Information, on our web page. If you prefer reading the Newsletter on the Internet, it would save us substantial postage costs, but if you do not have access or if you prefer to receive a copy by mail, we will continue to send it by post. Please let us know if you prefer the Internet and we will take your name off the mailing list.

_ Nelle M. Signor Fellowship in International Relations 1998-99. Thanks to the generosity of the late Nelle M. Signor, International Programs and Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is able to award two Nelle M. Signor Fellowships in International Relations. Each award consists of $2000 for travel and in-country expenses for dissertation field research in any international field. Any unmarried Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who will have completed all preliminary exams and coursework by the proposed date of travel is eligible. Candidates from any international field of any discipline are eligible. Deadline is March 2, 1998. For more information contact Becky Billman at 321 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth St., Champaign. Tel: 333-1993; e-mail: billman@uiuc.edu.

_2nd International Conference on Women in Africa and the African Diaspora (WAAD). The theme of the conference is "Women in Africa and the African Diaspora: Health and Human Rights." The conference will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 22-27, 1998. Workshops at the conference will target specific health and human rights issues -- AIDS, female genital surgeries, traditional medicine/birth, preventive care, reproductive health, widowhood, medical research, infant and maternal health, health care policy, religious fundamentalism, war, ethnic conflicts, and refugee problems. The conference will provide an occassion for participants to not only learn what the problems are, but also to share, celebrate, and learn from success stories. Deadline for the submission of a one-page proposal--March 15, 1998. Contact: Obioma Nnaemeka, Convenor, Womenís Studies Program, Indiana University, 425 University Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46202, U.S.A. Phone: 317 278-2038 or (317)274-0062 (messages), Fax: (317)274-2347, e-mail: nnaemeka@iupui.edu

_ The National Association of Gender Diversity Training, publishers of the Gender Journal: Men and Women Working Together, is pleased to announce the dates of the up-coming fifth annual conference, November 4, 5, and 6th, 1998 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The conference is open to all individuals and businesses concerned with improving gender relations in the workplace and organizational change. Theme of the conference: Mastering The Gender Puzzle for Effective Organizational Development. ALSO: Special two-day certificate program will be offered on Gender Diversity Training. This certficate program will give the participants basic elements of a quality effective program from assessment to implementation. This will be held two days prior to the conference, November 2nd and 3rd, in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information: email: gender@primenet.com, Fax: (602) 473-0427; Tel. (602) 473-0426; Mail: 4621 East Abraham Lane, Phoenix, AZ 8024; Website: http://www.primenet.com/~gender/

_ African Information Technology, Distance Learning and Computer Literacy Conference will be held May 20 - 22, 1998 in Ghana. It will focus on the use of Information Technology (IT) to enhance the economic, social, cultural, and educational development of African countries. The objectives of the Conference include initiating a long-term effort to promote electronic networking for economic and educational development in Africa; examining the future of education in electronic classrooms without walls; exploring the barriers to developing transnational goals for infusing computer literacy into primary, secondary, and tertiary education in Africa; strengthening the capacity of grassroots organizations and low-income communities to initiate, choose, plan and manage their own self-help projects through computer technology and information systems. The deadline for proposal submission is March 15, 1998. The Review Committee will notify all those whose papers are accepted for presentation within 30 days after the abstract is submitted. For all communications regarding Registration, Exhibitions, Social Events /Activities, Accommodations, write to the Conference Secretariat: Information Technology Secretariat, Voluntary Workcamps Association of Ghana (VOLU), P.O. Box 1540, Accra, Ghana, West Africa, 233-21-663486 - Voice; 233-21-665960 - Fax; e-mail: volughana@ug.gn.apc.org; URL: http://www.ulbobo.com/volu

_ Choices and Successes: Women in Science and Engineering. March 12-13, 1998,

New York City. The New York Academy of Sciences is convening a follow-up

conference to the conference held in 1972, to highlight the changes in science and engineering for women during the past 25 years, and illuminate the new challenges. This conference will focus on the factors that influence women to select science careers. Leading experts will discuss work, workplace and quality of life issues that promote women's retention and career development. These influences will be related to organizational policies and practices that promote success not only for women, but for all employees, and therefore, are in the best interest of the science

and engineering enterprise. The findings of two new studies of women in Fortune 500 companies and biotechnology firms will be released during this conference. Representatives from industry, government and academia will present effective practices and models of success. Speakers, discussants and attendees will include accomplished experts and professionals as well as junior

faculty, young professionals and students. The conference schedule will include ample time for questions and discussion and for networking. A key goal of the conference is to build and maintain bridges between corporate, academic and industrial scientists as well as between students, junior and senior scientists. The results and reports from this conference will be widely disseminated in print and electronic media. For registration and related information send all correspondence to: Science and Technology Meetings, New York Academy of Sciences

2 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10021, Tel: 212.838.0230 ext. 324, Fax: 212.838.5640

E-mail: conference@nyas.org, Website: http://www.nyas.org

_ Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Gender Program is assisting International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) to mobilize applications from women scientistics and professionals for the position of Personnel Officer at ICARDA. The post requires a human-resources professional of degree caliber, familiar with modern personnel practices. Candidates should have a minimum of 10 years relevant experience with five years in Personnel Management, preferably in an international environment. Fluency in written and spoken English is essential. Knowledge of the Arabic language would be advantageous. Application Deadline: open until a suitable candidate is identified. For further information contact Joan H. Joshi at 1-301-299-0566 or send an E-mail to JHJOSHI@aol.com.

_ Amnesty International, USA is seeking a fixed-term Assistant for its newly established Women's Human Rights Program. The successful candidate will write action and informational materials, liase with volunteer leaders inside AIUSA as well as in other organizations, develop and carry out a distribution system for AI information on current women's cases or issues, fulfill media requests for women's rights information, and maintain newsletter mailing lists. Position available through September 30, 1998. College degree, two years work experience on women's international human rights and computer skills, including database management required. To apply, write sample, resume/cover letter including salary requirements by February 27 to: AIUSA, Box WR, 322 8th Avenue, New York, New York 10001.

AIUSA is an Equal Opportunity Employer-- women, racial and other minorities encouraged to apply.

_ World Neighbors, Inc. an international non-sectarian organization working to strengthen the capacity of marginalized communities to meet their basic needs in the areas of health and reproductive health, sustainable agriculture, and natural resource management, has announced two international program positions: Area Representative, Mainland Southeast Asia and Area Representative, Central America, Mexico and Haiti. For more information contact Karla Ratchford, World Neighbors, 4127 NW 122nd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73120-8869, USA. Fax: (405) 752-9393; email: jobs@wn.org (there will not be any e-mail replies). No phone calls please. World Neighbors encourages women and men of all ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds and nationalities to apply.

_ UNIFEM is looking for a Gender Specialist to oversee a project they are developing in Tajikistan. The position is for one year, starting in March, and requires the Specialist to implement a project to: 1) Launch a media campaign on women's political rights 2) Establish a Center for training counsellors and social workers to work with taumatized women. 3) Work with the Resident Coordinator System to mainstream gender into on-going UN projects. Required Related higher education, Work experience in GAD/WID projects, preferably with the UN system, knowledge of Russian or Farsi. If interested, send a CV to Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh at shahrbanou@fouzb.undp.org.

_African Feminism: The Politics of Survival in Sub-Saharan Africa by Gwendolyn Mikell (Ed.) Assembling some of the finest thinkers from the region, Mikell renders a powerful portrait of the emergence of feminism in Africa. Case studies from ten African states document the different types of struggles against discrimination and collectively reveal how African women have developed distinctly non-Western survival strategies. With a report on marriage laws in the Ivory Coast, an analysis of female political participation in Kenya and case studies of Swazi healers with an entrepreneurial bent, this book rewards us with a deeper understanding of the role of women in Africa today. 1997. 361 pages. ISBN 0-8122-1580-X US$19.95

_ Ana's Land: Sisterhood in Eastern Europe, Tanya Renne (Ed.). Eastern European women speak honestly and perceptively on the women's movement since the fall of Communism in this collection of first-person reports, essays and interviews. Tackling issues such as abortion, forced unemployment, rape and domestic violence, ethnicity and war, the various contributors provide readers with a feminist compass to help them through a region undergoing profound political and social change. The well-translated text will be of high interest to anyone involved in Eastern European studies, women's studies, post-communist history or human rights. 1997. 240 pages. ISBN 0-8133-2832-2 US$13.50

_ The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women's Movements in Global Perspective, Amrita Basu (Ed.). "How should we interpret a term such as 'global feminism?' Does it identify a common movement that is spread across many regions or several movements that conveniently but inaccurately share the same name?" These questions are central to this groundbreaking book which provides an overview of the emergence, struggles and successes of women's movements in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and the United States. The authors, most of whom come from the countries about which they write, negate the idea that feminism is Western-inspired and middle-class and describe how women's movements comprise a range of struggles against gender inequality. 1995. 493 pages. ISBN 0-8133-2628-1 US$19.50

_ Promise Kept, Promise Broken: A Survey of Governments on National Action Plans to Implement the Beijing Platform. Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). An up-to-the-minute look at which governments have lived up to their commitments since the Beijing Platform for Action was signed two years ago. The tally? So far 110 governments have drawn up national plans to implement the platform and twenty-one more have drafts ready. Still, many governments have done nothing to redress the human rights violations suffered by vast numbers of women and children. This concise update explains these facts and more, and makes an excellent companion to WEDO's 1996 book, Beyond Promises: Governments in Motion One Year After the Beijing Conference. 1997. 10 pages. US$5.00. Order through: Women, Ink. 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA, Tel: (212) 687-8633, Fax:(212)661 2704, e-mail wink@igc.apc.org.

_ The State of Women in the World Atlas. Joni Seager. Want to know how many women work for wages in Malawi? Researching trends on birth control in Peru? Need to find the percentage of women property owners in Malaysia? These and other statistics are at your fingertips in this colourful, compact atlas. Ten years since the book's first publication, Seager has updated the profile of women in 34 key areas--health, employment, politics, literacy, education, the military, the sex trade, violence and abuse, to name a few. Maps and graphics show the gains that women are making--and the many inequalities that persist. For researchers, librarians, writers, and anyone interested in the state of women today, this slim volume is an indispensable and portable reference book. 1997. 128 pages. ISBN 0-14-051374-4 US$16.95.

_ Human Rights USA Resource Center: Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota but reachable nation-wide at the toll free number 1-888-HREDUC8, the Human Rights USA Resource Center is a clearinghouse of human rights education resources. The Human Rights USA Resource Kit, which includes Human Rights Here and Now, Amnesty International 1998 Calendar, Amnesty Interactive CD-ROM, UDHR Animated Video, UDHR Poster, UDHR Passport Set of 30, The

Fourth R newsletters, Educating for Human Dignity by Betty Reardon, and Human Rights for All, published by West Publishing Company. The Resource Kit is available for $50, which includes shipping for orders inside the US. Additional human rights education materials are also available through the Resource Center. Contact Martha Malinski, Resource Center Coordinator at the following: address: 310 Fourth Avenue South, Suite 1000, Minneapolis, MN 55415-1012

Phone toll free: 1-888-HREDUC8; fax: (612) 341-2971; email: hrusa@tc.umn.edu

_ Human Rights USA Web Site: Use the Human Rights USA web site to Educate, communicate, advocate, and commemorate for human rights. The web site address is <www.hrusa.org>. On the site you may share human rights classroom lessons and activities, gather resources from the extensive bibliography listing, and use the interactive web forums to communicate with people working on human rights around the world. Many ideas and tools

for advocating and protecting human rights are available, including a list of community action ideas. Visitors to the site can write to Congress directly using HRUSA web tools.

The University has authorized a national search for a new director of the Office of Women in International Development, because Kate Cloud is returning to her department, hopefully to write, at the end of this academic year. The Position Announcement is attached, and we would appreciate it if you would circulate it as widely as possible. If you need a copy on e-mail for distribution to your networks, just send us a message, and we will forward it to you in that form.
 
 
 
 

Last modified: Thursday, March 19 1998