Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Women – Germany – Economic conditions'
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Nickel, Carsten. "Rhineland revisited : subsidiarity and the historical origins of coordination : comparing Germany with the Netherlands and France (800-1914)." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9b3f50c9-cddf-43a2-bf5b-c6ab5689a4a3.
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What explains the historical emergence of coordinated economic institutions for human capital formation and welfare provision? Surveying roughly one millennium of political and economic development in Germany, the Netherlands and France up until 1914, this thesis argues that da-ting back to the Middle Ages, the earliest forerunners of modern economic coordination could develop only in institutional complementarity with a specific form of political decentralisation, connected via their jointly enabling effect on collective action. This mutually re-enforcing com-plementarity gave rise to societies organised around the principle of subsidiarity, in which an often structurally unclear distribution of decision-making powers prompts political and eco-nomic actors to coordinate across different hierarchical levels. The comparison of eventually federal Germany with the ultimately unitary Netherlands - both of which developed significant patterns of economic coordination - demonstrates that political decentralisation under subsidi-arity does not simply equal the modern (American) reference model of clear-cut, rights-based federalism. Meanwhile the experience of strongly centralised France highlights that without this decentralisation, institutions of economic coordination hardly develop. Collective action is diffi-cult to harness if subsidiarity is absent because on the central state level, and unlike in economically more homogenous local contexts, economic interests often remain too diverse to coordi-nate. The historical result has been the emergence of decentralised-coordinated political econo-mies under subsidiarity in Germany and the Netherlands, and of a centralised, non-coordinated system in France. A better understanding of these institutional complementarities can help us historically inform recent scholarly debates on the emergence of modern political-economic organisation in the 19th century and on current governance problems in the Eurozone. The thesis seeks to contribute to the historical study of comparative political economy by highlighting how particular complementary institutions of political and economic governance have co-developed over time. It is argued that this understudied aspect of institutional development is crucial for understanding processes of continuity and change in advanced capitalism.
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Fuder, Katja. "No experiments : federal privatisation politics in West Germany, 1949-1989." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2017. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3610/.
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Privatisation has been a key policy in the late 20th century in many countries. In West Germany, the federal government sold most of its corporate industrial shareholdings to private investors between 1949 and 1989. Unlike many other countries, West Germany did not nationalise entire industries after the Second World War. Instead, the portfolio of public enterprises and participations was mainly an inheritance from the Third Reich. The aim of the thesis is to explore the causes of privatisation and the driving and delaying forces in the privatisation process between 1949 and 1989 based on qualitative historical documents. After the sale of participations stemming from the war economy in the early 1950s, the conservative federal government of CDU and CSU and later the conservative-liberal government of CDU, CSU and FDP under the Federal Chancellors Konrad Adenauer (CDU) and Ludwig Erhard (CDU) pursued a larger scale privatisation programme by issuing people's shares between 1959 and 1965. The programme featured social elements and aimed at the property formation of employees and a wide dispersion of shares in the society. In the 1970s, public enterprises expanded under a social-liberal government of SPD and FDP, until a conservative-liberal government of CDU, CSU and FDP under Federal Chancellor Kohl (CDU) sold most of the remaining federal participations in industrial enterprises between 1984 and 1989. The total volume of privatisation as measured by revenues remained modest compared to other West European countries and strong political resistance within the government parties CDU and CSU manifested in the process. Findings indicate a high continuity of thought and policy patterns from the 1950s until the end of the 1980s while the main reasons for privatisation shifted slightly. In the 1950s and 1960s, privatisation was primarily motivated by fiscal reasons - access to equity capital proved to be limited for the growing federal enterprises. Privatisation in the 1980s was caused by re-interpretations of the economic situation due to globally changing conditions and increased international competition. Hence, it can be interpreted as a lagged response to market crisis in the 1970s. Ideological shifts of paradigm did not drive privatisation. Rather, advocates of ordoliberalism focused on other economic reforms in the 1950s and liberal ideas in the 1980s co-developed with privatisation politics. For many decades, public enterprises were not viewed as ineffcient per se as long as they were operating in competitive markets. This perception only began to change slowly in the 1980s.
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Hary, Simone. "'Kyopo' daughters in Germany : the construction of identity among second-generation German-Korean women in Germany." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2012. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/39685/.
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This thesis explores the construction of identity amongst the second generation of South- Korean migrants to Germany in Frankfurt am Main, focussing mainly on women. Overwhelmingly, when talking about migrants the German media focus on the Turkish minority. Literature follows a similar pattern. However, West Germany recruited South Korean nurses and miners during the 1970s as labour migrants. Today, they and their children constitute the largest South Korean minority in Europe. In this thesis I examine the second generation of the Korean minority in relation to broader discourses on migrants and integration in Germany, and trace the dynamics of identification and self-understanding. Central to these are narratives of shared experiences, of having Korean parents and of living in German society, particularly in relation to discourses in which they are identified as foreigners. Korean parents impart a sense of “Korea” as a source of timeless tradition and practices; whereas “Germany” is a setting for their everyday lives. These shared experiences are mobilised as a framework for negotiating identities. In contrast to the essentialist understanding of identity invoked by Germany society, the second generation describe themselves as kyopo, a Korean term meaning “Korean living in a foreign country” and which, in the German context, means “Second-generation German-Korean living in Germany”. This thesis looks at the ways Korean-Germans articulate the possibilities and limits of kyopo identity in relation to narratives and discourses on ‘Koreanness' and ‘Germanness', and in the context of social interactions. I focus especially on the ways in which this occurs for women, whose experiences are often marginalised in the process of kyopo identity negotiation. They are caught between the need to expose the problems of male privilege and the desire to unite with Korean-German men to contest the German discourse on integration and foreigners that confines them both.
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Vonyó, Tamás. "Post-war reconstruction and the economic miracle : the dynamics of West German economic growth during the 1950s and 1960s." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.669982.
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Lalonde, Gloria Marjorie Lucy. "National development and the changing status of women in India : a state by state analysis." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=66067.
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Phelps, Thomas Edward. "The German peasant family, 1925-1939 : the problems of the republic and the impact of national socialism." Virtual Press, 1990. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/720350.
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Rural society during the German National Socialist movement has been overlooked by most historians. Instead the urban elements are stressed. I have chosen to study the impact of National Socialism upon peasant families.Three major limitations exist for this project. First, only the peasant family itself is reviewed. Second, this project is concerned only with the years from 1925 through 1339. Third, this project limits its review to only that territory comprising Germany after World War I. This was done to allow for a more equal comparison of agricultural statistics.The construction of this project remains simple. Three major chapters exist. Chapter One reviews the Republic: its politics, economy, and the problems of the peasant family. The remaining chapters then review these problems as they were resolved by the National Socialists. Chapter Two reviews the family itself: family size, health, inheritance, and social status. Chapter Three reviews farm-management: production, mechanization, labor, and prosperity. Both chapters are divided into two parts: part one reviews the new policies; part two reviews the impact.The findings of this project were different than expected. I had expected to find minimum improvement in the condition of peasant families. Instead, I discovered that, in general, these policies failed in their objectives. The reasons for these failures differed. But much of the blame rests in faults of the laws themselves. Final results, however, were mixed. Farm-management improved slightly, but the family itself witnessed reduced health. The average family was not destitute, but neither did it prosper.Department of History
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Thomson, Neil. "Barriers to change and integration in foreign M and As within East Germany : a qualitative study." Thesis, City University London, 1998. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7562/.
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Many domestic take-overs and mergers are not successful, over half fail. Crossborder M&As are even more fraught with problems due to differing national cultures exasperating different organisational cultures. International M&As in rapidly transforming East Germany offer attractive possibilities for research as change in the firm, and resistance to it, takes place against a backdrop of external, revolutionary societal change as well as internal, national and organisational clashes. The research followed a grounded theory, qualitative methods approach embedded in the overarching strategic management theoretical framework of the Resource Based View of the Firm. Through a series of case interviews with East German managers and employees in six foreign acquired M&As split off from old combines, together with employees released after take-over, the type of acculturation and perceived level of integration was examined. A model was developed to measure post acquisition integration problems signalled by acculturative stress. By highlighting using two of the case studies as a contrast, acculturative stress was seen to make a significant contribution to causes of failure. On the other hand, further development of the model showed successful integration as having implications as a stepping stone to two-way learning and onwards to long term success. The research's claims to contribution can be synthesisedd own to three areas. Firstly, the importance of the group in East Germany has been overlooked and its continued existence in the face of pressures for more individualisation has important implications for motivation, incentives, change and learning. Secondly, the choice of top managers and their relationship to the firm (co-ownership or not) is crucial in reducing acculturative stress and achieving integration and two-way learning. Finally, the acquired human resources, due to their knowledge, knowledge potential through unlearning, shared experiencesa nd languagea re a potential route to competitive advantage. The areas of contribution form the basis for speculation and future research.
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Whiteley, Julianne Beverley. "Trends in mobilisation and unionisation in South Africa and Germany: a comparative analysis." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003125.
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The purpose of this study is to investigate long-term trends in the union membership of South Africa and Germany, and to highlight trends in unionisation in both of these countries over a period of time. The long-term aspect of this study differentiates it from more detailed specific studies concerned with the individual fortunes of confederations or unions. The changing fortunes of trade unions have been associated with changes in work organisation, the influence of institutional pressures, or long term changes in the economic cycle. All these factors may, of course, shape and be shaped by each other. From a comparative perspective this dissertation determines whether the fortunes of unions are ultimately a product of the long waves of an economic cycle, or if other factors, such as variations in union/state relations, changes in the forms of work organisation and shifts in the employment market, impact upon union membership and mobilisation. It is hoped that the comparison of a transitional and an advanced economy may shed new light on the causes of union growth and decline, and the impact of specific social, legal and cultural variables thereon. The theoretical frame of reference for this study emerged from literature pertaining to union growth and decline. This literature discusses the historical, economic and sectoral challenges that confront the identity of unions and their ability to mobilise membership within contemporary labour markets. The entire study relies heavily on primary data collected from a wide range of sources in both countries. This method facilitates the comparison and cross-checking of information, which ensures a full and balanced study. A synthesis of the facts obtained led to certain suggestions relating to the areas in which both South African and German labour organisations could adapt their agenda and interests to the changing nature of the employment market in order to avert membership decline. The methodology of this research draws from Skopol’s work which argues that social studies ought to be grounded in historical experience in order to make sense out of specific social events that occur today. The research design utilises an initial comparative historical-political analysis of the emergence of unionism in South Africa and Germany, so as to establish those factors which have, in the past, affected union growth and decline in both countries. Thereafter, the impact of contemporary economic and sectoral trends that reoccur in the South African and German labour markets are examined and compared, in order to establish their influence on the growth or decline of union membership in both countries in the future. This study consists of four sections. The first section comprises a historical dimension that uses Valenzuela’s work relating to the political nature of labour movements to establish those factors which, in the past, have affected union growth and decline. This is done to determine whether the type of insertion of labour movements into historical national political processes, and the links formed between trade unions and political parties influences membership growth or decline. The following three sections deal with the present challenges that may affect the unions in the future. Section Two deals with factors of economic recession (namely, poverty and unemployment) which confront trade unions in the 1990s. Hyman’s Theory of Disaggregation is applied to determine if recessive socio-economic factors can account for the strength of decline of unions, as opposed to union mobilisation being purely linked to transitions between long waves of the economy as Kelly suggests. The relevance of these theories to the rise and decline of unionism in South Africa and Germany is compared and contrasted. The third section determines whether changes to more flexible forms of work organisation and shifts in the employment market can account for the contrasting strength of the South African labour movement and the decline of the German labour movement today. The way in which these issues impact negatively upon union strength in South Africa and Germany in the 1990s is compared and contrasted, again using Hyman’s Theory of Disaggregation. The final section establishes whether or not the roles adopted by the South African and German labour movements during their confrontation with labour repressive regimes impacts upon their ability to attract union membership today, despite the constraints imposed upon unions by prevailing economic and structural uncertainties. Therefore the historicity of the South African and German labour movements, (based upon the findings of the first part of this study), is referred back to. At the same time, the reactions of the South African and German labour movements to prevailing economic and structural realities, (as examined in the second part of this research) are re-examined. Three conclusions are reached. Firstly, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses, all labour organisations are capable of adjusting to the adverse changes taking place in contemporary employment markets if they prove willing to advance and defend the interests of all who work, including those in the informal sector. If unions continue to neglect the informal labour market, they run the risk of being transposed by social movements that are antagonistic to trade unions or new expressions of the workforce’s latent collectivism. Secondly, in successfully playing a social movement role that led to the downfall of Apartheid in 1994, the South African labour movement has evolved as an energetic body with a dimension of recumbent militancy that attempts to adapt its identity to the changing nature of the employment market. This enables the South African labour movement to continue to attract membership despite the prevailing economic uncertainties. In contrast, forced co-operation and consensus within the German industrial relations arena since World War Two has resulted in a less dynamic union movement that lacks initiative in adapting to the changing nature of the employment market. The result is a decline in unionism. Finally, the fortunes of unions are not, as Kelly suggests, purely a product of economic cycles. Political climates can also influence mobilisation, as has occurred in both South Africa and Germany. This implies that mobilisation is not only activated by the economic dissatisfaction of a union movement.
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Hategekimana, Celestin. "Women's empowerment in the post-1994 Rwanda: the case study of Mayaga Region." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1314.
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This research looks at the process of women’s empowerment in post- 1994 Rwanda, with special focus on twelve cooperatives working in Mayaga region and the way these cooperatives empower women, their households and the community at large. Traditional Rwandan society has been always bound by patriarchy which has not valued the reproductive roles of women as economically productive in their households and the society as a whole. On the one hand, this understanding was reversed in the post-1994 Rwanda by the commitment of the government to gender equality at the highest level of political leadership through progressive policies and legislation. On the other hand, in Mayaga region, cooperatives brought about socio-economic development and changed relationships of gender and power in a patriarchal post-conflict society. The findings from cooperatives in Mayaga region show that to prevent women from reaching their full potential is economic folly. If women are empowered, they can generate important development outcomes such as improved health, education, income levels and conflict resolution. The findings further indicate how women’s empowerment is determined by the livelihood strategies women adopt themselves to respond to their vulnerability, and by the ways in which they express their agency in making a living in a sustainable way, with the available community assets that they have access to (financial, social, human, natural and physical). This research highlights that the accessibility of the community assets used by women in Mayaga region and in Rwanda as a whole is also determined by policies, institutions and processes that are able to influence their livelihoods positively.
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Adams, Stephanie P. "Too Many (Working) Women: Economic Reconstruction and Constructing Gender Roles in Western Germany, 1946-1957." Ohio : Ohio University, 2008. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1212782224.
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Gelder, Ilse Ulrike. "Working for women? : family day care providers' social and economic experience in England and Germany." Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/1731.
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Family day care providers operate at the interface of the private and the public. They are self-employed and work at home, yet their 'suitability' to provide childcare is scrutinised by officials and rules and regulations operating on different levels which can restrict their business opportunities. Family day care takes place in a particular cultural context concerning ideas of childrearing and against the backdrop of other childcare and educational provision. The focus of the thesis is the family day care provider, one of the members in the childcare triangle of child, parents and childcare worker. Previous research was mainly interested in the quality of childcare provided and parents' satisfaction. Here working conditions, such as hours worked, workload, income are examined, as are career prospects. Who are the women who become family day care providers and how do they see their future? The daily routines of family day care providers are examined and possible detenninants investigated. However, perceived needs of children may differ from demands arising out of parents' reason for using this kind of childcare service. Family day care providers accounts are examined in order to identify the various aspects of childcare arrangements and how to develop relationships that promote successful arrangements. Since family day care takes place in the home other family members are part of the setting and are affected by their mother's or wife's work. At the same time their contribution to the work of a family day care provider has to be included in the investigation ofthe working conditions. The comparison of family day care providers living in two different locations, four local authorities in the Northeast of England and one town in the Northeast of Germany allows the influence of family and childcare policies and the impact of cultural perceptions of good childrearing practices to be traced. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. Apart from new insights into the actual working conditions of family day care providers, a better understanding of the intended and unintended effects of policies regulating family day care has been gained. The findings contribute to the debate on paid and unpaid work, and paid and unpaid care, as well as to the debate over equal opportunities, showing a more complicated relationship than just a gendered division.
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Gordon, Eleanor J. "Women and the labour movement in Scotland, 1850-1914." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1985. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4883/.
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In recent years there has been a concerted effort by feminist historians to retrieve women from historical obscurity and reinsert them into the historical landscape. Early research concentrated on this task of reclamation and produced a number of self-contained monographs and studies of women's lives. However, the emphasis has shifted towards viewing the sexual divison of labour as a central object of study and as a tool of analysis and evaluating its impact on the historical process. It is argued that in this way feminist history can transform our knowledge of the past and contribute to a greater understanding of the process of historical change. The present study seeks to contribute to this project by examining the lives of working women in Scotland between 1850 and 1914. It takes issue with standard accounts which assume that women's paid labour and women's organisation at the point of production will take male forms and argues that gender ideologies had a significant impact on women's experience of work. The pattern of women's employment 1S examined and it is illustrated that because work has been defined according to the male norm of full-time permanent work, outside the home, the extent of women's paid labour has been seriously underestimated. It is also argued that in order to account for the characteristics of female employment it is necessary to take ideological factors into consideration and that notions of what constitutes women's 'proper' role in society had a pattern of women's employment. important role played by trade powerful influence on the The study identifies the unions in maintaining occupational segregation and confirming women's work as unskilled and low paid. It is also suggested that the model of labour organisations was influenced inter-alia by an ideology of gender which limited its ability to relate to the experience of women workers. It is argued that women's experience of work was mediated by their subordination as a gender and that this generated particular forms of resistance and organisation which did not necessarily conform to the standard male forms. The study concludes that we have to reappraise the received view of women workers as apathetic and difficult to organise and suggests that alternative forms of labour organisations which do not reflect but challenge gender divisions are required.
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Arnot, Julie. "Women workers and trade union participation in Scotland 1919-1939." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1999. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3086/.
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This thesis seeks to provide an assessment of women’s work, their participation in the trade union movement and the extent of women’s strike activity n Scotland in the period 1919-1939. It will highlight the position of women in the labour market, their continuing confinement to a narrow range of industries and occupations and the low paid and low status nature of their work. The weakness of trade union organisation among women workers in the inter-war period will be an important consideration. It will be shown that despite the massive influx of women in to the trade unions in the First World War and the attempts by trade unions and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) to encourage greater numbers of women into the trade union movement, organisation among women in most industries remained weak throughout the entirety of the inter-war period. Therefore, this thesis will seek to offer a number of explanations for the lack of extensive trade union organisation among women during this period. These will include the occupational and industrial distribution of women workers, their low earnings, the impact of the depression, high unemployment and the failure of the General Strike. However, it will also be suggested that one of the reasons for the low level of trade union organisation among women may have been related to trade union policies and practices. The argument to be developed is that despite recruitment drives undertaken by trade unions and the STUC, trade unions themselves could often be very hostile to women workers and the failure to address issues of importance to women and the remoteness of the movement from the needs of potential women members could mean that there was very often little incentive for women to join trade unions. In order to support this argument, it will be shown that trade unions employed exclusionary tactics either by limiting the entry of women into certain areas of work, attempting to exclude women from work altogether, via agreements with employers, or by excluding women from trade union membership.
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Macdonald, Barbara A. "Socio-economic correlates of rural women's nutrition : the special case of re-introducing quinoa in Ecuador." Thesis, McGill University, 1999. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=35910.
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A cross-sectional study with repeated measures was conducted in the Ecuadorian Highlands to determine whether quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) production was associated with improved nutrition among women. Agricultural production systems, income, socio-economic status, morbidity, diet and protein-energy status were compared between a group of quinoa-producers and a randomly sampled quasi-control group of non-quinoa-producers (total n = 90 households) over four study rounds (pre- and post-quinoa-harvest).Seasonal and age-related variability in nutrient intakes as well as anthropometric status provided evidence of nutritional vulnerability in this population. Post-menopausal women (50+ years of age) consumed less energy (300 calories), less protein (11 g) and maintained a lower mean body weight (3.66 kg) compared to their younger counterparts. Seasonal changes in dietary quality and anthropometric status were apparent for women of all ages with less protein and micronutrients consumed post-harvest and mean arm circumference 6 cm smaller. Marked prevalences of inadequate intakes of many of these same nutrients (including iron, niacin, and vitamin B12) were demonstrated with the Probability Method.
Correlates of diet quantity (energy), quality (animal protein adjusted for energy) and anthropometric status were established. By means of a Principal Components analysis, socio-economic status was shown to be comprised of two unique constructs: modern lifestyle and farming wealth. Both factors were related to diet quality but neither was related to diet quantity. Diet quality, in turn, was significantly related to anthropometric status in multivariate models.
Women in quinoa-producing households consumed higher amounts of most nutrients and maintained larger arm protein-energy stores than those in non-quinoa-producing families. Trends were similar in children with no evidence of a difference in anthropometric status. However, quinoa-producers scored higher on both scales of socio-economic status, demonstrating self-selection bias. In multivariate models, quinoa production was related to increased intakes of energy, iron, zinc and folate but effects on animal protein intake and anthropometric status were confounded by the socio-economic effects. Therefore, while quinoa production was associated with positive nutritional impacts, the most impoverished households were left virtually untouched by this agricultural opportunity.
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Breashears, Margaret Herbst. "An Analysis of Status: Women in Texas, 1860-1920." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279203/.
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This study examined the status of women in Texas from 1860 to 1920. Age, family structure and composition, occupation, educational level, places of birth, wealth, and geographical persistence are used as the measurements of status. For purposes of analysis, women are grouped according to whether they were married, widowed, divorced, or single.
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Carlin, Wendy. "The development of the factor distribution of income and profitability in West Germany, 1945-1973." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1987. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b8e58734-be29-474f-9a56-80d906add35d.
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A synthetic hypothesis is constructed to account for the pattern of manufacturing profitability. The explanatory role of labour shortage, growing openness, union bargaining power and exchange rate changes is confirmed. Set in the context of institutional and policy changes, these factors provide a more satisfying description of the determinants of profitability than previous, frequently monocausal, explanations.
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Hughes, Michael Grant. "The symbolic, socio-economic and exchange value of Imperial German and National Socialist medals and badges, 1701 to the present." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2016. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7584/.
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This thesis examines the manufacture, use, exchange (including gift exchange), collecting and commodification of German medals and badges from the early 18th century until the present-day, with particular attention being given to the symbols that were deployed by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) between 1919 and 1945. It does so by focusing in particular on the construction of value through insignia, and how such badges and their symbolic and monetary value changed over time. In order to achieve this, the thesis adopts a chronological structure, which encompasses the creation of Prussia in 1701, the Napoleonic wars and the increased democratisation of military awards such as the Iron Cross during the Great War. The collapse of the Kaiserreich in 1918 was the major factor that led to the creation of the NSDAP under the eventual strangle-hold of Hitler, a fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic movement that continued the German tradition of awarding and wearing badges. The traditional symbols of Imperial Germany, such as the eagle, were then infused with the swastika, an emblem that was meant to signify anti-Semitism, thus creating a hybrid identity. This combination was then replicated en-masse, and eventually eclipsed all the symbols that had possessed symbolic significance in Germany’s past. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, millions of medals and badges were produced in an effort to create a racially based “People’s Community”, but the steel and iron that were required for munitions eventually led to substitute materials being utilised and developed in order to manufacture millions of politically oriented badges. The Second World War unleashed Nazi terror across Europe, and the conscripts and volunteers who took part in this fight for living-space were rewarded with medals that were modelled on those that had been instituted during Imperial times. The colonial conquest and occupation of the East by the Wehrmacht, the Order Police and the Waffen-SS surpassed the brutality of former wars that finally culminated in the Holocaust, and some of these horrific crimes and the perpetrators of them were perversely rewarded with medals and badges. Despite Nazism being thoroughly discredited, many of the Allied soldiers who occupied Germany took part in the age-old practice of obtaining trophies of war, which reconfigured the meaning of Nazi badges as souvenirs, and began the process of their increased commodification on an emerging secondary collectors’ market. In order to analyse the dynamics of this market, a “basket” of badges is examined that enables a discussion of the role that aesthetics, scarcity and authenticity have in determining the price of the artefacts. In summary, this thesis demonstrates how the symbolic, socio-economic and exchange value of German military and political medals and badges has changed substantially over time, provides a stimulus for scholars to conduct research in this under-developed area, and encourages collectors to investigate the artefacts that they collect in a more historically contextualised manner.
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Winters, Jacqueline. "Women in Indian development : the dawn of a new consciousness?" Thesis, McGill University, 1987. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=66247.
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Lee, Rebecca Anne. "When work empowers : women in Mexico's City's labour force." Thesis, McGill University, 2004. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=85183.
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The sudden and steady increase in the involvement of women in the Mexican labour force beginning in the 1980s, signifies a major shift in gender roles and activities. It is a little studied outcome of Mexico's combination of economic crisis (which served to increase the supply of female labour) and subsequent adoption of neoliberal economic policies (which stimulated the demand for female labour). In fact, what is not known, are the implications of this employment for the Mexican women themselves. The dissertation moves beyond the existing literature on the gendered consequences of employment and economic development, by bringing in the citizenship literature to help define women's status. Specifically, the dissertation proposes a way of determining these consequences by examining three dimensions of women's status, two of which refer to women's roles and capabilities in the public sphere---political and economic---and one which refers to women's status in the private sphere---the household. By disaggregating the status variable, the dissertation highlights the significant improvements in women's status while identifying the remaining obstacles to gender equality. The dissertation develops a number of measures of women's multidimensional status, and assesses the differences between employed and non-employed women using data obtained from a survey of women in Mexico City. In the economic sphere, the findings indicate that employment improves women's status by enhancing women's independence. Employment provides women with the economic resources that enable them to lessen their dependence on men. At the same time, women continue to face inequality in the labour market, signifying the continuing subordination of women. In terms of women's household status, the findings show that women retain the primary responsibility for childcare, and for the maintenance of the home. This inequality is significant, and serves to limit further improvements in
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Evans, Eliza Robinson. "Women, microcredit and capability in rural India." Access restricted to users with UT Austin EID Free text (PDF) of UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3031050.
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Singh, Swati. "Microcredit, Women, and Empowerment: Evidence From India." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2014. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc699847/.
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Microfinance programs, by providing financial services to economically disadvantaged individuals, generally women, are intended to help poor self-employ and become financially independent. Earlier research in India has documented both positive and negative consequences of microfinance programs on women, from financial independence to domestic abuse. However, most of the research has been geographically limited to the southern states of the country, with a matured microfinance industry, and has given little attention to how variations in cultural practices across different regions of the country may influence the impact of microfinance programs on its members. To fill the gap in the existing literature, three related studies of Indian women were conducted. The first study was a qualitative study of 35 women engaged in microfinance programs in the northern region of India. The study found that women engaged in microfinance programs reported having increased social networks, higher confidence and increased social awareness. The second and third studies used nationally representative data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-2006. Controlling for a variety of other individual-level and community-level characteristics, the second study examined if getting a microloan affected women’s access to public spaces, and the third examined if getting such a loan influenced married women’s participation in household decision-making. Both studies further investigated if the microloan effect on these dimensions of women’s empowerment varied by the normative context of woman’s respective communities. The results indicated that, all else equal, women who had ever taken a microloan were more likely to go alone to places outside their home such as market, health clinics and places outside the community compared to women who had never taken such a loan. Getting a microloan also had a positive effect on women’s participation in decisions about large household purchases and husband’s earnings. The hypothesized moderating effect of the normative context of women’s respective communities was found only for women’s participation in decisions about large household purchases. Getting a microloan had a stronger positive effect on women’s participation in these decisions if they lived in communities with restrictive gender norms.
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Darnell, Melissa Liberty. "Rethinking empowerment: Collective action as intervention with women." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2008. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3401.
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This study explores women's feelings of empowerment that result from participating in collective action events. The study contributes to the growing body of social work scholarship on empowerment practice by identifying and describing the specific variables that may contribute to or enhance empowerment feelings in women as a result of collective action participation.
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Pal, Mariam S. "An analysis of the role of women in economic development /." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=66051.
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Hlavacek, Jen. "Militarization and Its Effects on Women's Economic Status: a Cross-National Study." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1990. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500861/.
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This research tested the hypothesis that militarization of societies, as defined by the percent of national budgets spent on military expenditures, has adverse effects on women's economic status relative to men's. This study also examined other predictor variables known to affect women's status. Data from sixty different nations were analyzed by means of multiple regression techniques. Results show that the militarization variable increased women's share of agriculture, which suggests that as men are mobilized into military activities, women are left to produce food for the country, a situation which can have contradictory effects on women's economic status. What is more important than militarization in predicting women's economic status relative to men's are high birth rates and sex ratios, which clearly depress women's economic opportunities.
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COREKCIOGLU, Gozde. "Gender and political economy." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/60675.
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Defence date: 28 January 2019Examining Board: Prof. Andrea Ichino, EUI, Supervisor; Prof. Andrea Mattozzi, EUI; Prof. Selim Güleşçi, Università Bocconi; Prof. Stefano Gagliarducci, Università di Roma Tor Vergata.
This thesis is a collection of independent empirical essays on gender and political economy. The first chapter investigates the effect of a pro-Islamist local government on female employment, using a unique dataset of civil servants in Turkish municipalities. Exploiting quasirandom variation in contested local elections and the time variation in the repeal of the headscarf ban, I establish two results. First, an Islamist mayor employs a lower share of females when religious women are denied jobs. Second, an Islamist mayor does not recruit females differently than a secular mayor, when institutions allow religious females to work. The proposed mechanism is the Islamist mayors’ preference for religious female employees, rather than intrinsic gender bias. The second chapter, co-authored with Marco Francesconi and Astrid Kunze, investigates labor demand effects of the extension of parental leave duration in Norway. We focus on whether and how firms adjust the gender composition of their workforce when the opportunity costs of certain types of workers rise. Using rich employer-employee data, we uncover that firms substitute potential mothers and fathers with older workers. Our results demonstrate potentially undesirable consequences of parental leave for women, even when some leave is provided for men. In the third chapter, co-authored with Fatih Serkant Adıg¨uzel and Aslı Cansunar, we consider the extent to which the geography of healthcare provision is effective in buying electoral votes. We construct a unique database of free primary healthcare clinics in Istanbul, Turkey. We estimate that a ten-minute decrease in walking time to the nearest clinic increases support for the incumbent party by 6 percentage points in local elections. While low-educated voters only care about visibility, highly-educated voters only value quality of healthcare. We argue that the spatial distribution of public service provision captures the information available to voters, which in turn, influences political outcomes.
--1 Headscarves and Female Employment --2 Parental Leave from the Firm’s Perspective (Chapter 2: co-authored Marco Francesconi and Astrid Kunze) --3 Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Proximity to Health Care and Electoral Outcomes (Chapter 3: co-authored Serkant Adıgüzel and Aslı Cansunar) --A Appendix
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Wood, Cathy. "The Marshall Islands and the Germans, 1860-1914." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1988. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/26184.
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The Marshall Islands are to be found in the very heart of the Pacific Ocean and are quite the furthest of all South Sea Archipelagos from the major ports of the large continents bordering on the Pacific Basin. This geographical position meant that the Marshall Islanders were far away from the traditional shipping routes of the early sailing vessels and remained undisturbed by the events of the outside world. Their contacts with exogenous elements up to the beginning of the nineteenth century were brief and accidentaL‘ But unlike other South Sea island groups this isolation extended well into the middle of the nineteenth century as the violent reputation of the Marshallese chiefs and the relatively inhospitable nature of the people assisted in keeping passing ships at bay. The frequent calling of whaling vessels and the intermittent residency of deserters, that was so much the norm in other Pacific Island'chains , was almost non-existant in the Marshalls.
This independence on the part of the Marshall Islanders was eventually eroded, not by the more violent and belligerent elements of South Sea pirates like Bully Hayes and Captain Ben Pease, but by quiet, peaceable missionaries from genteel parlours of Boston middle class suburbs.
Their settlement in the islands in 1857 prized open the door of trade and allowed the irreversible contact and influence of outside cultures. The first trader to take advantage was a German from Braunschweig, Adolf Capelle, but his roots were not firmly implanted in the Germanic States (Germany was not founded as a nation until 1871L and his connections did not extend beyond the Pacific area. The linking of the Marshalls to German shores came through the later establishment of the Hamburg trading houses of Godeffroys and Hernsheims in the 1870s. It was the activities of these companies and their demands for German government support of their trading interest that led to the founding of a German Protectorate in the islands in 1885. This ensured a continual social, political and economic relationship between the German nation and the Marshallese people until the outbreak of the First World War.
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Jaim, Jasmine. "The influence of gender upon women business-owners' access to debt finance in Bangladesh, a patriarchal developing nation." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/35932/.
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There is growing attention to analyse the influence of gender upon women’s entrepreneurship. Nonetheless, the body of literature almost entirely concentrates on developed nations, specifically on the USA and Europe. The research context for the thesis is Bangladesh, a South Asian developing nation, where there was a government initiative to support small businesses of women through bank loans. Recognising that entrepreneurship is a social phenomenon, it is important to explore how gender subordination is articulated in the experiences of women business-owners in developing countries. Placing women at the centre of the study, this feminist standpoint research undertook interviews with 21 Bangladeshi women business-owners. Considering finance as a major area of entrepreneurship, this thesis analyses the influence of gender upon women business-owners’ access to debt finance in the context of a patriarchal developing nation. To address this aim, the study investigates the family as well as the broader societal context. The thesis contributes to advance the understanding of gender subordination of women business-owners within the context of debt financing from developed nations to developing nations. The extant literature on debt finance of developed nations focuses almost solely on discrimination-related issues. It is individual woman business-owner centric, ignoring the family or the broader societal context. Nevertheless, the empirical evidence of this study suggests that male family members were inevitably involved in the process. Further, in developed nations, the exploration of patriarchal practices is primarily limited to the adverse effect of societal expectation of work (i.e., domestic responsibilities and childcare) on the businesses of women. This study extends the view by demonstrating that the dominating, oppressing and exploiting roles of male family members were evident at the individual level with a direct influence on the business activities. The husbands of many women were even found to share the bank loans entirely or partially. This has implications for the effectiveness of the government policy, aiming at the emancipation of the women. Moreover, the study significantly adds to the prevailing knowledge by identifying certain context specific family related issues (for instance, child marriage) or the structural, cultural issues of the broader society (such as, corruption) in relation to gender subordination of women business-owners. While explaining gender subordination of women business-owners, the contribution of the thesis is not limited to its understanding in a developing nation. Given the highly patriarchal nature of the context, the study provides opportunity to extend the comprehension of some of the issues of gender subordination (for instance, the respectable position of women) that are existing in developed nations in a more subtle form. Thus, it provides a platform for future research in the field of entrepreneurship, gender and finance in developing nations as well as in developed nations.
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Gunasekera, Arosha Indika. "Achieving rural development in Sri Lanka through a systematic model : microfinance and women's empowerment." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.708366.
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Johnstone-Louis, Mary. "Women's empowerment through entrepreneurship : an examination of theory and practice." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2017. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:88664900-5e03-469b-829d-bec642c9d904.
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Corporate-led programs aimed at increasing women's entrepreneurship are rapidly proliferating across many industries. The gendered nature of this phenomenon suggests that feminist approaches may bring much to bear on analysis of management theory and practice. In particular, I argue that insights from feminist economics regarding the historically prevalent - but narrow and gendered - definition of work, which artificially separates production from reproduction, provide fruitful tools for theory building and analysis of practice. Through a systematic literature review of the entrepreneurship literature, I demonstrate that the gendered separation of production and reproduction is typically taken as given in mainstream management theory. Findings from two organizational cases, both featuring industry-embedded approaches to women's empowerment, support the conclusion that unpaid/care work and market work are typically framed as forms of activity that are gendered, dichotomous, and existing in ontological conflict with one another in management practice. I present a conceptual framework of what is to be gained by examining management theory and practice in this light, and suggest how scholars and practitioners might use this framework for future work and research.
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Doherty, Deborah A. "Maasai pastoral potential : a study of ranching and Narok District, Kenya." Thesis, McGill University, 1987. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=39222.
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The socio-economic conditions which affect development in general, and group ranching in particular, among the Maasai of Narok District, Kenya are analyzed. Systems of relationships between Maasai social units are examined to demonstrate how different individuals and groups within Maasai society, each with a diversity of vested interests, react to the opportunities and disadvantages offered them by imposed development programs and altered ecological conditions.A single group ranch, Rotian OlMakongo, is the focus of intensive study. Maasai on this ranch, which is located in a semi-high potential wheat-growing area of Narok District, have largely been resistant to planned change.
The reaction of group ranch members to development are analyzed showing how lineage and clan affiliation, age set relations, stock friendships and other systems of relations affect individual and group decision-making.
On the one hand the analysis demonstrates how the structure of the group ranch itself is not conducive to the consensual decision-making which ranch planning officials anticipated would occur regarding such important issues as stock limitation. On the other hand traditional Maasai social units are seen at different times both to promote and inhibit new organizational forms to deal with a changing set of economic, ecological and political conditions.
A general trend toward impoverishment, disenfranchisement and supplementary economic pursuits is outlined. However, traditional pastoralism is not seen as being totally subsumed by a more dominant, essentially capitalistic mode of production. Rather, traditional pastoralism is seen to define the transformation of internal forms through a structure which incorporates the modern sector. The tension between the traditional and modern sectors is not their disassociation, but rather, their integration into the dynamic process of change within the structure.
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Werner, Stephan D. "Endogenous risk in non-life insurance : evidence from the German insurance sector during the Interwar period." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2016. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/3269/.
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Motivated by the recent 2007/2008 Financial Crisis, this dissertation identifies endogenous risk in the German insurance sector during the Interwar sector. In the context of principal agent theory, endogenous risk is the result of a company reacting to shocks that are generated and amplified within the financial system by shifting risk from shareholders to policyholders. This dissertation provides analytical support for this interdependence on the basis of established financial as well as actuarial models and assumptions. The empirical analysis considers the German insurance sector during the Interwar period due to the presence of a pronounced business cycle, the absence of exogenous low-probability high-cost events, a consistent regulatory framework as well as available quantitative data. The econometric analysis is based on four newly compiled datasets that collect the 1924 gold account opening balances, company- as well as line-specific financial information, and stock price quotations for all publicly traded German insurance companies during the Interwar period. The dissertation finds that during the Interwar period in the German insurance sector (Ch.2), the risk of getting discontinued prior to default (3) led companies to cater dividend payout (Ch.4) and reinsurance operations (Ch.5) to an optimistic investor clientele (Ch.6), yet in contrast to the underwriting cycle (Ch.7).
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Haston, Catriona M. "A tale of two states : a comparative study of higher education reform and its effects on economic growth in East and West Germany 1945 - 1989." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2010. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1780/.
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The hypothesis at the heart of this thesis is that long-term economic growth depends on the discovery and development of new ideas and technologies which enable innovation resulting in increased productivity. As technological innovation generally results from research processes instigated and performed by those with higher levels of education, it becomes important to analyse higher education as an economic actor as well as a symbolic institution of cultural and elite reproduction. The thesis compares the development of higher levels of human capital in East and West Germany over the period 1945 – 1990: states with two very different and competing myths of democratic legitimacy and radically opposed social, political and economic systems but both convinced that human capital development held the key to reconstruction and economic growth. In highlighting the imperatives for reform and outlining the main changes which took place in higher education within the strictures imposed by competing ideologies, the thesis assesses the effectiveness of human capital investment in terms of the success of the economic objectives identified by both countries. The thesis finds that the initial hypothesis is proven, albeit that its effectiveness was mitigated by a number of external economic shocks and internal social and political factors which, in the end, led to the demise of the East German regime.
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Jolosheva, Aida A. 1984. "Entrepreneurship and Microfinance: Economic Development and Women's Empowerment in Kyrgyzstan." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/10650.
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xi, 105 p. : ill., maps. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.This thesis focuses on microfinance in Kyrgyzstan as a response to the initiation of economic, social and political reforms following Kyrgyzstan's independence in 1991. These reforms accelerated Kyrgyzstan's transition from a centrally-planned to a liberal market-based economy. Microfinance became a favored mechanism for encouraging individual entrepreneurship and thus economic development. Based on field research I conducted in Kyrgyzstan during the summer of 2009, this thesis examines the economic impact of these reforms on women entrepreneurs, as women were particularly vulnerable to the social fallout from such reforms. Through participatory observation, small focus groups and semi-structured interviews, I analyze myriad aspects of the lives of women entrepreneurs who have participated in a microfinance project. I argue that microfinance provides an empowering, sustainable path for them. However, the historical occupational divisions encouraged by the Soviet Union affect how people use microcredit. I conclude with suggestions on improving microfinance practices in Kyrgyzstan.
Committee in Charge: Dr. Anita M. Weiss, Chair; Dr. Laura Leete; Dr. Shankha Chakraborty
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Mitchell, Judith Dale. "Gender and property among sedentarized pastoralists of Northern Kenya." Thesis, McGill University, 2007. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=103275.
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In the context of growing poverty and sedentarization, the socio-economic status of pastoral women is an important indicator of how pastoralists in northern Kenya respond to social change. Accordingly, this study examines women's position in three communities in distinct settings of sedentarization. One is located in a semi-arid region dedicated to pastoralism and conservation, while the other two are in a moister mountain area where rain-fed and irrigation agriculture is combined with animal production. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data, gathered from women and men during 2002--2003, indicate that women have largely responded to social change by using two strategies to secure the well-being of themselves and their children. First, despite the cultural assumption that married women are supported by their husbands, they have strengthened their relationships with natal kin, solidifying a support network to carry them through times of difficulty. Secondly, given decline in returns from subsistence pastoralism, women have seized numerous opportunities to diversify their economic pursuits in order to generate steady income.Essentially, findings illustrate that, in addition to gaining access to various resources through their marital homes and their own efforts, the majority of women receive socio-economic support from their natal kin, especially brothers. In two communities where land is being privatized, most women have been excluded from the land registration process because of traditional and national policies. However, many fathers are awarding their daughters permanent usufruct rights to family land to ensure they do not become landless because of the death of a spouse or negligence on the part of husbands. Although this does not eliminate the discrimination many women face from being excluded from the registration process, it is a move towards the betterment of women's long-term food and financial security.
Besides contributing to domestic activities, women engage in very different forms of income-generating activities; in Archer's Post, they obtain earnings from craft sales or tourist-related services, in Parkishon/Karare they gain income from milk-marketing, while in Songa, women pursue cultivation for subsistence and market sale. It is a positive finding that most women generate steady income over which they have managed to maintain control.
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Joseph, John Santiago. "The relevance of involvement in micro-credit self-help groups and empowerment : findings from a survey of rural women in Tamilnadu." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=100632.
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The purpose of this dissertation is to establish the extent to which women's membership in self-help groups and their involvement in various activities of these groups, with particular reference to Micro Credit programs, impacted their socio-economic empowerment. The objective is to study the socio-economic empowerment impact factors (evidences) in women members of micro-credit self-help groups in rural India upon the self, the family and the community.Data selected for analyses was based on an operational model of empowerment that encompassed indicators of purported empowerment at the personal, family and community levels. The working hypotheses in quantitative analyses are that there are significant differences in income, savings, assets, expenditure, basic amenities, as well as attitudinal and behavioral changes in the rural women before and after their group membership.
The qualitative interviews helped to assess the life conditions of the women as the process of empowerment before and after their participation in self-help group micro-credit program. The qualitative interviews were to corroborate the veracity of reported progress from the survey to shed some light on the specific factors that contributed to their empowerment in line with their present quality of life at personal, family and community levels. Hence, the impact of the program is measured as the difference in the magnitude of a given parameter between the pre-and post-SHG situations by comparing the life condition of members before joining the self-help group to their condition three years after joining.
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Drolet, Julie L. "Women and micro credit : towards an understanding of women's experiences in Cairo, Egypt." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=100353.
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Women's access to micro credit has increased substantially worldwide. International organizations, non-governmental organizations, commercially-oriented institutions and governments support the proliferation of micro credit programs through diverse funding arrangements, and specifically target women to participate in such initiatives. This dissertation explores women's experiences in a micro credit program in Cairo, Egypt, funded by Save the Children (USA) in order to contribute to the growing debate on women's poverty reduction and empowerment potential. Because women's voices are critical the issues are raised through questions regarding women's situation in micro credit and what factors assist women in meeting their choices and concerns, and empowerment outcomes.A qualitative research study of women's micro credit groups based in Cairo's Abdeen and Imbeba neighbourhoods was used in order to address women's experiences. In the literature reviewed on micro credit and micro finance, international development paradigms for women, and the socio-economic context in Cairo served to identify important influences. Women's sources of power based in the household were used to develop a conceptual framework. Women's triple roles in production, reproduction and community managing, women's practical and strategic gender needs, and theories of women's empowerment formed the principal elements.
Findings were based on interviews and observation with 69 project participants, including 54 women borrowers, of which 11 interviewed women agreed to a second interview, and 4 key staff members of the Group Guaranteed Lending and Savings program. Numerous assumptions regarding the role of micro credit in the lives of low-income women are reported and analyzed. An exploration of women's experiences reveals that, social issues in micro credit are as important, perhaps even more so, than the economic concerns of the projects. Only through building a more complete picture of women's lives can micro credit programs achieve their objective: to contribute to greater gender equity in society.
Keywords. micro credit; women; informal economy; poverty; empowerment; international social work; Middle East
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Dhlodhlo, Lindelani Mkhumbuzi. "Exploring the local economic development initiatives for unemployed rural women in Mandeni municipality." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/5393.
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Thesis (MPA (Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Unemployment and poverty have an adverse effect on society and proactive and sustainable measures are needed to deal with it. Women and rural women in particular, form the most affected group when it comes to unemployment and poverty. Illiteracy and underdevelopment are the major barriers to the advancement of unemployed rural women. Women in rural settings in most cases rely on local economic development (LED) initiatives for day-to-day survival. Local government has a constitutional mandate to promote social and economic development in order to improve the quality life for the citizens of South Africa. This mandate has been followed by a number of policy documents and guidelines for LED to enable local authorities to perform this task efficiently. The concept of LED is a micro approach in that it deals directly with local issues of economic development through partnerships between communities, business, workers, development agencies and governmental agencies to promote local economy. There is a pressing need for local government to be proactive in dealing with issues of rural development and in supporting LED initiatives of rural women. The literature review covers the theoretical framework of LED through examining both international and domestic practices. The review deals with the history of LED, the LED concept, development theories, evaluation of the practices of LED, as well as participatory development, pro-poor LED, and tourism as a response to LED. It further assesses the contextual framework of LED with particular attention to South African policy and practice. The state of LED in South Africa is discussed, together with the way forward for LED. The study provides an investigation into the background of the Mandeni Municipality by looking at the demographic factors and geographical location of the area. The state of LED in Mandeni Municipality is highlighted, together with LED strategy for the Municipality, and major future development associated with LED. The study clearly portrays that there is a gap between the LED initiatives of the unemployed rural women and the Municipality. The strategic location of the Municipality facilitates future economic prospects for the area and new development proposals associated with LED. It is clear from the LED Unit structure in Mandeni Municipality that there is a lack of capacity to deal with the LED challenges and local economic initiatives. From the literature review it is clear that women are critical role players in LED because of their ability to initiate community-based economic development projects and to perform multi-task activities. It is evident that strong partnerships with various LED stakeholders working directly with low-income communities can play a meaningful role in alleviating poverty, and in the creation of employment.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Werkloosheid en armoede het vandag .n nadelige invloed op die gemeenskap en proaktiewe en volhoubare maatreels is nodig om dit hok te slaan. Wat werkloosheid en armoede betref, val vroue onder die groepe wat die meeste geraak word, veral plattelandse vroue. Ongeletterdheid en onderontwikkeling is die vernaamste hindernisse vir die vooruitgang van werklose plattelandse vroue. Vroue in .n plattelandse milieu steun sterk op plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe vir hulle dag tot dag oorlewing. Plaaslike regering het .n konstitusionele mandaat om maatskaplike en ekonomiese ontwikkeling te bevorder ten einde die lewenskwaliteit van burgers van Suid-Afrika te verbeter. .n Enorme behoefte bestaan dat die plaaslike regering proaktief moet optree wanneer aangeleenthede rakende plattelandse ontwikkeling en ondersteuning van plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelings-inisiatiewe vir plattelandse vroue aangespreek word. Op beleidsvlak het Suid-Afrika sterk klem geplaas op plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkeling as maatreel om sosio-ekonomiese toestande vir plattelandse gemeenskappe te verbeter. Plattelandse vroue staar egter reuse uitdagings rondom onderontwikkeling in die gesig. Die groot probleem vir hierdie navorsing is dat die Mandeni munisipaliteit se plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsprogramme, wat vroue as voorheen gemarginaliseerde en kwesbare groepe teiken, onsigbaar is. Plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe geskied in isolasie van die munisipaliteit en daar blyk maar .n powere vennootskap tussen die munisipaliteit en plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe wat deur vroue gevoer word, te wees. Die Plaaslike Ekonomiese Ontwikkelingseenheid (LED-eenheid), wat oor .n mandaat beskik vir die implementering van plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsprogramme, het .n niksseggende rol in die bevordering van plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsprogramme vir plaaslike werklose vroue gespeel. Daarbenewens is daar baie vroue onder die bevolking van die Mandeni-munisipaliteit en die meerderheid van hulle is werkloos. Die vernaamste doelwitte van hierdie studie was om probleme te identifiseer wat die LED-eenheid gehad het met die implementering van LED-programme vir die werklose vrou en om sy vlak van deelname, in belang van die werklose plattelandse vroue, te assesseer. Die fokusgroep-metode is tydens navorsing ingespan met die insameling van data oor die twee verskillende vroueorganisasies wat plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsprojekte geinisieer het. Voorts is die onderhoud-metode tydens die studie toegepas vir die insameling van data rondom die drie munisipale amptenare en die Speaker van die munisipaliteit. Die vernaamste bevindinge van die navorsing toon duidelik dat daar .n gaping bestaan tussen LED-inisiatiewe deur die plattelandse werklose vroue en die Mandeni-munisipaliteit. Die bevindinge van die studie dui daarop dat die LED-eenheidstruktuur van die Mandeni-munisipaliteit oor onvoldoende fondse beskik en gebrek toon aan die nodige vermoe om die plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsuitdagings en plaaslike ekonomiese inisiatiewe van die werklose plattelandse vroue te hanteer. Dit is duidelik dat vroue kritiese rolspelers in plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkeling is weens hulle vermoe om gemeenskapsgebaseerde ekonomiese ontwikkelingsprojekte te inisieer en hulle kennis om veelvuldige taakbedrywighede van stapel te laat loop. Ten slotte beveel die studie aan dat die LED-eenheid geherstruktureer word om die LED-agterstande binne die Mandeni-munisipaliteit aan te spreek, dat daar behoorlike koordinering van LED-programme moet wees, en dat die plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe vir vroue sterk deur die Mandeni-munisipaliteit gesteun moet word.
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Adams, Elise. "The role of socio-economic strategies in the childbearing decisions of Anglophone women in Montreal, Quebec /." Thesis, McGill University, 2007. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=112322.
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Do welfare and social service provisions affect the childbearing decisions of Anglophone single mothers living below the low-income level in Montreal? Neoliberal rhetoric has asserted that increased welfare generosity will ultimately breed dependence on social services and propagate a lack of self-sufficiency for single mothers.Rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship between welfare generosity and the birthrate of single mothers relying on welfare, my evidence suggests a weak correlation: while these provisions may alter the context in which childbearing decisions are made, they do not solely or primarily determine the outcomes of a pregnancy. By altering the economic context in which childbearing decisions are made, an environment is created that may be supportive of single motherhood to a greater or lesser degree; however this alone will not determine outcomes.
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Clifton, Naomi. "Women, work and family in England and France : a question of identity." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d39ca1d0-d8fc-4f54-aea3-fba3fd68e984.
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This thesis explores some of the individual attitudes and choices which may explain differing patterns in women's work in England and France. Women's work, however, cannot be considered outside the context of their family lives, and there exist important differences between England and France in terms of the structures in place to facilitate the combining of paid work and family commitments. It is proposed that these are related to broader social and economic structures which characterise the countries concerned, and the family and gender roles assumed by them. The question addressed, therefore, is the relationship between work identity and female identity. This is examined by comparing full-time working women, both single and with families, in the two countries. Since the question concerns meanings rather than frequencies, quantitative methods such as surveys are rejected in favour of a triangulated methodology combining repertory grid, Twenty Statements Test and in- depth interview. The results from each of these are reported separately. There is strong convergence within and clear differences between national groups, regardless of marital status. French and English groups are both committed to working, but this takes different forms in the two countries. The French women define themselves equally in terms of work, personal relationships and social lives, with relatively little conflict between them. For the English women, work identity comes first, there is more conflict between work and family roles and more tension in personal relationships. This may partly be accounted for by the English women's greater concern with career progression and personal advancement, which is more likely to conflict with family roles. The findings are related to broader issues of economic, social and family policy, historical factors, religious traditions and attitudes towards gender and equality. These themselves are seen as reflecting more general ideologies in the countries concerned. Finally, there is a consideration of questions raised by the study, and suggestions for further research.
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袁月興 and Yuet-hing Cynthia Yuen. "Regulation, negotiation and resistance: rethinking women's experiences of the reform in rural south China." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31220253.
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Ngan, Ching-ching Dora, and 顔菁菁. "Alleviating poverty of rural landless women: paths taken by Bangladesh and the Philippines." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3195229X.
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Rice-Snow, Jennifer L. "Embracing complexity : an analysis of gender status in South American societies." Virtual Press, 1999. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1133727.
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This study analyzes the status of women and men in eight South American societies, as reported in ethnographies. It uses a multidimensional model of status, examined in two aspects (distribution of economic goods and child care), and compares women's and men's resulting status configurations within societies and among them. Overall, women's statuses are highest in the domestic domain and lowest in the political public area for both variables. Men have high statuses in all areas of distribution, especially the public. Women generally have less choice than men do in their participation in both variables. An important outcome of this study is a method for analyzing qualitative information in context, allowing the researcher to present analysis in as much context as is appropriate, then display the results in a comparable form. This thesis also includes status flexibility, an innovation which allows presentation of the range of statuses for women and men.Department of Anthropology
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Whitworth, Lesley. "Men, women, shops and 'little, shiny homes' : the consuming of Coventry, 1930-1939." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1997. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/36346/.
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In the 1930s many people leaving the United Kingdom's depressed areas in search of work were drawn to Coventry. Companies involved in the manufacture of motor cars, electrical goods, artificial silk and machine tools were typical of those located in the city. Most incomers found work: unemployment remained at a low level whilst the city's population exploded. The city boundaries were extended, and Coventry was rapidly suburbanised in response to the heightened demand for accommodation. Private developers noted with surprise how few of the new houses were built to let. The 1936 edition of Home Market placed Coventry first on its national index of purchasing power. From the middle of the decade, the city was closely associated with rearmament and four shadow factories provided further employment opportunities. This research addresses changes in the processes and practices of (primarily non-food) shopping amongst prosperous working-class Coventry people in the 1930s. It assesses the development of new spending patterns In relation to new products and services, and examines the role played by gender in determining the who, what, when, where and why of shopping. The thesis asks how these men and women negotiated financial power and consumer choice between them and discovers that the families who benefitted most from new material opportunities were those which placed a value on togetherness'. A range of source material is utilised to interrogate and contextualise oral testimony, and to explore the development of local retail provision. relationship is established between the city's manufacturing, retail and domestic environments. The research suggests that men spent slightly more time in the home, and women slightly less during this period. It also asserts that going shopping was not necessarily about acquiring goods; that acquir1ng goods did not necessarily involve going to the shops; and that the shopper was not always a woman.
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Lau, Sum-yin, and 劉心硏. "Escape, exploration and pursuit: Japanese women working in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31221191.
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Young, Mai-san, and 楊美珊. "Women in transition: from working daughters to unemployed mothers." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31225524.
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Lai, Pui-yim Ada, and 黎佩炎. "Working daughters in the 1990's." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1999. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31221063.
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Chirau, Takunda John. "Understanding livelihood strategies of urban women traders : a case of Magaba, Harare in Zimbabwe." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003742.
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This thesis seeks to understand and analyze the livelihood strategies of urban women traders at Magaba in Harare (Zimbabwe) in the context of the contemporary economic and political crisis. The crisis emerged in the 1990s with the introduction of a structural adjustment programme and deepened further with the fast track land reform programme initiated by the Zimbabwean government in the year 2000. The crisis has involved a down-sizing of the Zimbabwean economy and a massive rise in the rate of unemployment in the formal economy. Consequently urban life became increasingly unbearable for poor blacks and informal economic activities blossomed and started to make a significant contribution to household income and livelihoods. The role of women in the informal economy was particularly pronounced. Theoretically, the thesis is underpinned by the sustainable livelihoods framework. In examining the vulnerability context of the Magaba women traders and the institutional interventions which complicate the lives and livelihoods of these traders, I identify and unpack their diverse livelihood activities and strategies and the resources (or assets) they deploy in constructing urban livelihoods. Though their livelihood portfolios complement any earnings from formal employment by household members and though they contribute to their household’s sustenance, there are a number of daily challenges which they face in their trading activities and which they seek to counteract through a range of often ingenious coping mechanisms. The thesis is important for a number of reasons. It fills an important empirical gap in the study of Magaba market specifically, it brings to the fore the gendered character of the informal trading activities in urban Zimbabwe, and it deploys the livelihoods framework in a manner which is sensitive to both structure and agency.
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Schmidt, Doris M. "The leveraged management buyout : concept, nature, macro- and microeconomic factors and take-over models in the UK and Germany and the development of LMBO company performance in Germany under difficult economic conditions." Thesis, De Montfort University, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/4166.
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Ally-Schmidt, Fadeela. "An exploration of care-giving resources available for chronically poor female-headed Ceres households." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=init_2246_1177498856.
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This thesis explored the resources available for care-giving in chronically poor female-headed households. It investigated the relationship between resources as enabling in the practice of care and the choices that women can consequently make in light of the multiple roles that they play as workers, as mothers and as significant people in female-headed households.
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Junker, Berit. "A local economy before its transition to the market economy : a case study of a German village." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34006.
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This work examines the socio-economic context of the small town of Eichelborn in the Westphalia region of Germany. There, a local and 'moral' economy existed until the end of the 1960's that resisted the forces of integration into a wider self-regulatory market system for an exceptionally long time, continuing to rely primarily on simple craft production and small-scale farming for the local market. Employing mainly qualitative methods, the aim of research was to describe the economic and social structure of this place as well as to determine whether it functioned according to the principles of a pre-market society as indicated in Karl Polanyi's writings. The findings of my research show that one can, indeed, understand Eichelborn as a Polanyi-type community and as a 'moral' economy in which a strong interrelation and unity between the social and economic realms result in the reconciliation between 'personal self-interest' and 'morality'.