The Influence of Confucianism on Women’s Leisure in Taiwan

Abstract

Confucian philosophy has traditionally had a considerable influence on many aspects of the lives of the Taiwanese people. It is therefore necessary to take this belief structure into account in order to explain Taiwanese women’s leisure perceptions and behaviours. The purpose of this study is to examine this issue. The factors that constrain women’s leisure in Taiwan are identified. These categories can be broadly termed economic, domestic, social, and cultural constraints     

Location,location, location: women’s leisure in rural Australia

For many women living in rural Australia the location of both leisure and work is the family farm, a location that defines their identity as a ‘women of the land’. This paper investigates the impact of geographical location in shaping the leisure activities of rural women living in the Yass Valley Region of Australia. Using an interpretive research perspective and a process of narrative inquiry, data for the study were obtained from women born between 1946 and 1964 through open-ended, in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that for these women the specific geographical location had a strong impact on the types of leisure activities available in which they were able to participate. The findings from this study suggest that for older women in rural Australia, the specific geographical location can facilitate or inhibit the degree of involvement in community leisure activities that engender social capital among older women living in these locations.     

Services supporting female entrepreneurs

There are many public initiatives that fund services which support women entrepreneurship. In order to help them improve, this paper takes a closer look at the characteristics of female entrepreneurs, their motivations, and the difficulties they face in their ventures. Through a literature review and the results of a Delphi study with 25 technicians from an EU-funded support programme, this research concludes that policies for the support of women entrepreneurs should aim at strengthening pull motivators and concentrate in designing programmes specifically tailored to the type of business, focusing on long-term policies rather than short-term initiatives.     

中国医疗卫生事业效益分析之系列研究——全国各地区孕产妇保健情况的社会效益分析

研究全国各地区孕产妇保健情况,孕保健开展好的地区有江苏、宁夏、北京和浙江。加强对西藏、青海两地区孕保健基础工作,加速培养本地区医疗卫生人员,降低孕产妇死亡率。     

女性休闲体育活动现状的调查与研究分析

随着社会的进步,女性社会地位的提高,使得女性享有了与男性同等的权利。女性休闲体育作为休闲文化的一部分,在女性中也受到了前所未有的欢迎。目前,关于女性休闲体育的研究还不多,本文通过调查研究,对参加休闲体育锻炼的女性个人情况、余暇时间、地点、活动方式及对休闲体育的态度等诸方面进行分析探讨,以期对女性休闲体育的发展提供理论依据。     

论国有企业女职工在企业发展中的作用

女职工是国有企业的重要组成部分,发挥女职工的优势,激发女职工的积极性和创造性,对促进企业科学发展,建设和谐企业具有重要意义。     

Career success for international professional women in the land of the equal? Evidence from Norway

This study investigates the career success of international expatriate women in Norway. Norwegian and international women were compared on both objective and subjective career success. Participants were 125 Norwegian women and 168 international expatriate women who answered a 58 item questionnaire. Although Norwegian women achieved higher career success than the expatriate group, these effects disappeared for objective career success when expatriate women had a high level of education, high English language competency and motivation. Motivation, self focused conflict resolution and language competency were positively associated with subjective career success. Results suggest that although being foreign can be a disadvantage in Norway, expatriate women can overcome this liability through investment in education, language and motivation. Implications for international expatriate women are discussed.     

农民工分化与留守儿童流变——以安徽枞阳DS村为例

农民工分化与留守儿童流变的相关性研究是对留守儿童研究的拓进。安徽省枞阳县DS村的个案研究表明：当前农民工主体的新生代农民工也发生了横向上的职业分化和纵向上的岗位分层,初步形成了自立门户的工商业者、企业白领和完全依赖受薪的苦力从上到下的蜡烛台式的分层结构。留守儿童就是父母为外出务工谋生的农民工而守望着家园的法定劳动年龄以下的未成年人,留守儿童流变即是留守时期里发生的留守儿童由“留守”到“非留守”或非留守儿童由“非留守”到“留守”等的变化及其结果的确定。留守儿童次生于农民工,留守儿童流变决定于农民工分化,留守儿童流变的方向及其结果的确定也决定于农民工分化流动的水平及其分层位次等。因此,解决留守儿童问题的直接前提是农民工的销镕。     

A context-specific perspective of equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies

The purpose of the paper is to offer a context-specific perspective of gender equality and its implications for equal employment opportunity in Islamic societies. The paper discusses various discourses on the Islamic perspective of gender and how they might impact female employment in the formal employment sector. The study highlights some major differences among Muslim countries with respect to gender ideology and the corresponding prospects for equal employment opportunity. Furthermore, the paper argues that any attempts to reform the socio-political institutions and labor policies in Islamic societies must be informed by their particular formal and informal institutional features.

Does microfinance empower women? Evidence from self‐help groups in India

Microfinance programmes like the Self Help Bank Linkage Program in India have been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact and the belief that they empower women. However, only a few studies rigorously examine the link between microfinance and women’s empowerment. This article contributes to this discussion by arguing that women’s empowerment takes place when women challenge the existing social norms and culture, to effectively improve their well‐being. It empirically validates this hypothesis by using quasi‐experimental household sample data collected for five states in India for 2000 and 2003. A general model is estimated by employing appropriate techniques to treat the ordinal variables in order to estimate the impact of the Self Help Group (SHG) on women’s empowerment for 2000 and 2003. The results strongly demonstrate that on average, there is a significant increase in the empowerment of women in the SHG members group. No such significant change is observed however, for the members of the control group. The elegance of the result lies in the fact that the group of SHG participants show clear evidence of a significant and higher empowerment, while allowing for the possibility that some members might have been more empowered than others.