Female Well-Being : Toward a Global Theory of Social Change

This global survey starts from the assumption that the significant transformations in women's lives deserve to be fully documented and interpreted. Janet Mancini Billson and Carlyn Fluehr-Lobban tackle the complexities of social change by using data from countries in every world region to illustrate the most critical challenges that women faced during the last century - challenges that are also likely to shape the 21st century. Global knowledge and feminism dovetailed in the 20th century, fed by international air travel, telecommunications, the internet, and a growing awareness that solving female oppression would improve the lot of all humankind. The authors therefore adopt a strong international, comparative, cross-cultural, and feminist framework that uncovers the fundamental processes that promote, sustain, or degrade the female condition. At the heart of Female Well-Being are case studies written by country teams of scholars, educators, and policy analysts, in Canada, The United States, Colombia, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Japan, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, and Sudan. Female well-being is measured by analysing trends in infant mortality, maternal mortality, literacy, life expectancy, education, work, income, family structure, and political power. These trends are contextualised in the light of the century's major events, legislative initiatives, social policies, and leadership, to illustrate the processes that enhance, sustain, or detract from the female condition. This book will be a critical resource for academics, development experts and policy analysts. Contents Acknowledgements Preface Part one | Introduction 1 | The twentieth century as a transformative time for women The fate of female well-being The uneven patterns of social change Assessment of female well-being as of 2000 A comparative case study approach Comparative analysis of the case study countries A road map for this book References 2 | The complexities of defining female well-being The complexities of well-being International efforts to improve female well-being Eliminating discrimination against women: CEDAW Globalization versus local networks The ‘gender differential’ References 3 | A critique of social change theories The weakness of existing theories of social change Modernization theory Contributions of ‘second wave’ feminist scholars Globalization and feminist theories References Part two | Case studies 4 | Women in Bangladesh: a journey in stages Status of women in the constitution of Bangladesh A demographic portrait of Bangladeshi women Family status and structure Women’s economic participation Literacy and education Political, educational and cultural leadership Towards gender equality References 5 | Women in Canada: a century of struggle A demographic portrait of Canadian women Family status and structure Violence against women Economic participation Literacy and education Political, educational and cultural leadership Towards the future Note References 6 | Women in Colombia: ‘you forge your path as you walk’ The historical context The political context The social context A demographic portrait of Colombian women Family status and structure Violence against women Literacy and education Economic participation Political, educational and cultural leadership Towards gender equality References 7 | Women in Croatia: continuity and change The geo-political complexities of Croatia A demographic portrait of Croatian women Family status and structure Women’s economic participation Literacy and education Political, educational and cultural leadership Towards gender equality References 8 | Women in Iceland: strong women – myths and contradictions From settlement to independence The historical legacy of Icelandic women A demographic portrait of Icelandic women Family status and structure Economic participation Literacy and education Political, educational and cultural leadership Towards gender equality Note References 9 | Women in Japan: change and resistance to change The twentieth-century framework in Japan A demographic portrait of Japanese women Family status and structure Violence against women Economic participation Literacy and education Editors and contributors Index First and foremost, we want to express our sincerest thanks to the country teams, without whom this book could never have been written. Each team member shared our vision and commitment to documenting female wellbeing during a period of enormous transition. They doggedly tackled the formidable task of gathering statistical data for an entire century on several key indicators. Women and men, educators and activists, researchers and government statisticians, practitioners and administrators approached the task with the attention to detail that quantitative work requires -and with the historical knowledge and social insight essential to interpretive analysis. To each of them, we are deeply indebted. We also want to thank Group Dimensions International research associates Kyra Mancini Reis and Susan J. Little for their invaluable assistance with headings, tables and references. They helped make the book easier for comparative reading. When we first started this project, Elena de Garcés Eder graciously set up two drawers' worth of file folders, all neatly labelled and filled with dozens of reports and articles relevant to Female Well-being. This jump-started our work in an organized fashion, for which we are extremely grateful. Billson: During August 2003 and February 2004, I served as Visiting Scholar at the British Economic and Social Research Council's Research Group on Well-Being in Developing Countries -'WeD'. The group focuses on the study of poverty, inequality and quality of life in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Peru and Thailand, having set itself the daunting task of developing a 'coherent conceptual and methodological framework for understanding the social and cultural construction of well-being in specific developing societies'. WeD became my intellectual (as well as literal) home away from home as I struggled with defining 'well-being' and the question of how female well-being might differ from the well-being of males. Discussions with Laura Camfield (WeD) and

This global survey starts from the assumption that the significant transformations in women's lives deserve to be fully documented and interpreted. Janet Mancini Billson and Carlyn Fluehr-Lobban tackle the complexities of social change by using data from countries in every world region to illustrate the most critical challenges that women faced during the last century - challenges that are also likely to shape the 21st century.Global knowledge and feminism dovetailed in the 20th century, fed by international air travel, telecommunications, the internet, and a growing awareness that solving female oppression would improve the lot of all humankind. The authors therefore adopt a strong international, comparative, cross-cultural, and feminist framework that uncovers the fundamental processes that promote, sustain, or degrade the female condition.At the heart of Female Well-Being are case studies written by country teams of scholars, educators, and policy analysts, in Canada, The United States, Colombia, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Japan, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, and Sudan. Female well-being is measured by analysing trends in infant mortality, maternal mortality, literacy, life expectancy, education, work, income, family structure, and political power. These trends are contextualised in the light of the century's major events, legislative initiatives, social policies, and leadership, to illustrate the processes that enhance, sustain, or detract from the female condition. This book will be a critical resource for academics, development experts and policy analysts.

The twentieth century as a transformative time for women /Janet Mancini Billson, Caroly Fluehr-Lobban --The complexities of defining a female well-being /Janet Mancini Billson --A critique of social change theories /Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Janet Mancini Billson --Women in Bangladesh: a journey in stages /Nasrin Sultana, Alema Karim --Women in Canada: a century of struggle /Tess Hooks, Patrice Leclerc, Roderic Beaujot --Women in Colombia: 'you forge your path as you walk' /Elena Garcés de Eder, Adriana Marulanda Herrán --Women in Croatia: a continuity and change /Vesna Barilar, Željka Jelavić, Sandra Prlenda --Women in Iceland: strong women-myths and contradictions /Thorgerđur Einarsdóttir --Women in Japan: change and resistance to change /Masako Aiuchi [and others] --Women in South Africa: crossing the great divides of race and gender /A.M. (Ria) van Niekerk, Jopie van Rooyen --Women in Sudan: resistance and survival /Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban --Women in Thailand: changing the paradigm of female well-being /Farung Mee-Udon, Ranee Itarat --Women in the United Kingdom: the impacts of immigration, 1900-2000 /Erica Halvorsen, Heather Eggins --Women in the United States of America: the struggle for economic citizenship /Laura Khoury --Common challenges: factors that enhance or detract from female well-being /Janet Mancini Billson, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban --Towards a gendered theory of social change /Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Janet Mancini Billson --Towards a global female well-being /Janet Mancini Billson, Caroyln Fluehr-Lobban Extrait de la couverture : "This global survey starts from the assumption that the significant transformations in women's lives deserve to be fully documented and interpreted. Janet Mancini Billson and Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban tackle the complexities of soical change by using data from countries in every world region to illustrate the most critical challenges that women faced during the last century - challenges that are also likely to shape the 21st century. Global knowledge and feminism dovetailed in the 20th century, fed by international air travel, telecommunications, the Internet, and a growing awareness that solving female oppression would improve the lot of all humankind. The authors therefore adopt a strong international comparative, cross-cultural, and feminist framework that uncovers the fundamental processes that promote, sustain, or degrade the female condition."

At the heart of this book are case studies written by country teams of scholars, educators, and policy analysts from around the world. The cases come from east and west, north and south, poor countries and rich countries. Each team worked diligently to identify catalysts that raised or lowered female well-being in their countries by documenting key trends from 1900 to 2000 in infant mortality, maternal mortality, literacy, life expectancy, education, work, income, family structure, and political power. The teams analyzed the trends in light of the century's major events, legislative initiatives, social policies, and leadership.

This global survey starts from the belief that the significant transformations in women?s lives need to be fully documented and interpreted. It illustrates the critical challenges faced by women in the 20th century using original data from countries in every world region. The case studies are written by teams of scholars, educators, and policy analysts in Canada, the United States, Colombia, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Japan, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa, Sudan, and Kenya. The catalysts for change in female well-being are identified from trends from 1900 to 2000 in infant morta. This book provides case studies written by country teams of scholars, educators, and policy analysts from around the world which document key trends from 1900 to 2000 in infant mortality, maternal mortality, literacy, life expectancy, education, work, income, family structure, and political power. The teams analyzed the trends in light of the century's major events, legislative initiatives, social policies, and leadership A global, cross-cultural survey of the transformations in women's lives over the last century