Suchergebnisse

Industrial society, or the regime of scarcity, is contrasted with the regime of gender that existed before it. In industrial society, human beings are defined as neutral entities on which the characteristic of sex has been superimposed; in all such societies, women are relatively disadvantaged. This is true equally in the reported economy, the unreported economy, & the nether economy of household production. It does not appear possible to end sexual inequality within industrial society. In preindustrial society, in contrast, almost no work existed that could be done by both men & women; the two did not even use the same tools. This is part of a category that can be called gender, which is distinct from sex & establishes two parallel social realities of men & of women. Vernacular culture is wholly organized around gender differences; this encompasses tools, economies, kinship, & marriage. Both space & time are divided between genders. The modern environment, in contrast, does not make allowance for separate realms of men & women, & in particular does not allow birth to take place in a separate domain of women. Interpretations of these past societies, insofar as they are based on sex rather than on gender, are unavoidably misleading. There appears to be no way in which industrial society's destruction of gender can be reversed, but the loss needs to be recognized if accurate social thought is to be possible. W. H. Stoddard.

At the level of rhetoric, it is acknowledged that unequal gender relations rooted, manifested, & perpetuated in the sexual DofL are central to women's subordination & oppression in contemporary Tanzania. Nevertheless, available research, including data from interviews (N not given) conducted June-Aug 1979, suggests that this reality remains unaddressed, with respect to both theoretical conceptualization & execution of women's development projects & programs in Tanzania. In addition to a discussion of the organizational capacities & interests of Tanzania's National Women's Organization, the scope & nature of women-focused or -directed projects in the country are considered, & the nature of the constraints on Tanzanian women -- the Ru poor as well as women who make decisions about the kinds of programs initiated for & by women -- is assessed. Modified AA.

Biopolitics draws on the theory, substance, & method of the life sciences in analyzing human political behavior. The relationships between sex differences & politics can be explored from many perspectives within the social & natural sciences, correlating data from sociobiology, psychophysiology, ethnology, & endocrinology with known factors of social structure, political attitudes, socialization, & participation. In an introduction to the topic of biopolitics, theoretical history & recent research are reviewed. A crucial issue is the matter of sex-role socialization, ie, how & whether culture & genetics act together to evolve characteristics of leadership & political activity. 1 Figure. D. Dunseath.

Economists contribute to the decision-making process by proposing alternatives & by outlining the implications of choices. Economics as a profession contains very few women; in a 1970 census, only 11% of economists were women (US Bureau of the Census, 1970). Economics deals with people's roles in economic activities as producers & consumers, neither of which is wholly masculine or wholly feminine. But women have been differentiated from men in their roles, & a simple model of economic activity can be used to review the distinction. For example, within the framework of all the alternatives to work, the woman's choice is different from that of the man because society has assigned to woman different roles as a producer. In the role of consumer, the income women spend accrues chiefly because of their dependence on income earned by men. Because in most developed countries women make most of the household purchases, they are seen as consumers. It is important to note that the activities that women perform in the home, such as cleaning & cooking are also available on the market. The continuing growth in the number of working women ranks first as an economic phenomenon demanding attention. Only recently has it become evident that women's jobs differ from men's in pay & position. Women exist separately from men because of their poverty. The gender of economics is "indubitably M." 2 Tables, 1 Figure. R. Lent.