Gender and Well-Being – serie

How has ‘agency’ – or the ability to define and act upon one’s goals – contributed to global long-term economic development during the last 150 years? This book asserts that autonomous decision making, and female agency in particular, increases the potential of a society to generate economic growth and improve its institutions. Inspired by Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach and looking at this in comparison to contemporary economic theory, the collection of chapters tackles the issue of agency from the micro level of household and family formation and asks how this applies to gender at regional and state level. It brings to the fore new empirical data from across the globe to test the links between family systems, female agency, human capital formation, political institutions and economic development and puts these into broader historical context. It will appeal to scholars researching social policy, gender studies, economic history, development studies and philosophy, as well anyone with interests in the long-term societal development of the world economy and issues of global inequality.

This book offers a comparative perspective on Northern and Southern European laws and customs concerning women’s property and economic rights. By focusing on both Northern and Southern European societies, these studies analyse the consequences of different juridical frameworks and norms on the development of the economic roles of men and women.This volume is divided into three parts. The first, Laws, presents general outlines related to some European regions; the second, Family strategies or marital economies?, questions the potential conflict between the economic interests of the married couple and those of the lineage within the nobility; finally, the third part of the book, Inside the urban economy, focuses on economic and work activities of middle and lower classes in the urban environment. The assorted and rich panorama offered by the history of the legislation on women’s economic rights shows that similarities and differences run through Europe in such a way that the North/South model looks very stereotyped. While this approach calls into question classical geographical and cultural maps and well-established chronologies, it encourages a reconsideration of European history according to a cross-boundaries perspective.By drawing on a wide range of social, economic and cultural European contexts, from the late medieval to early modern age to the nineteenth century, and including the middle and lower classes (especially artisans, merchants and traders) as well as the economic practices and norms of the upper middle class and aristocracy, this book will be of interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender and sexuality, and economists.

This book presents evidence of the evolution of the gender inequalities in Latin America during the twentieth century, using basic indicators of human development, namely education, health and the labour market. There are very few historical studies that centre on gender as the main analytical category in Latin America, so this book breaks new ground. Using case-studies from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay, the authors show that there is evidence of a correlation between economic growth and the decrease in gender inequality, but this process is also not linear. Although the activity rate of women was high at the beginning of the twentieth century, female participation in the labour market diminished, until the 1970s, when it began to increase dramatically. Since the 1970s, fertility reduction and education improvements and worsening labour market conditions are associated to the steadily increase of women participation in the labour market. By gauging the extent to which gender gaps in the formation of human capital, access to resources, quality of life and opportunities may have operated as a restriction on women’s capabilities and on economic growth in the region, this book demonstrates that Latin America has lagged behind in terms of gender equality.

Feminist scholars have long pointed out the relevance of the unpaid work that goes on within European households in sustaining the well-being of the continent's populations. However, care work and domestic labour continue to be largely unremunerated and unequally distributed by gender. This unique volume of interdisciplinary essays casts new light on the roles that households play in securing the well-being of individuals and families, uncovering the processes of bargaining and accommodation, and conflict and compromise that underpin them. Contributors put gender at the centre of their analyses, demonstrating the uneven experiences of men and women as both providers and receivers of welfare in European households, in both the past and the present. As European states grapple with changing family forms, a growing population of dependent people, increased participation of women in labour markets and a profound shift in the nature and organisation of work, this book makes a timely contribution to our understanding of the critical role played by households in mediating processes of economic and social change. It offers new challenges to scholars, researchers and policy makers eager to address gender inequalities and enhance well-being. This book is the second of four volumes being published as part of Ashgate's 'Gender and Well-Being' series that arise from a programme of international symposia funded by the European Science Foundation under the auspices of COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research).

Most European countries have experienced labour market reforms at varying times leading to extended working life and a postponement of retirement age. This book provides a gender perspective on the impact of extended working life on the different dimensions of well-being, the factors which can limit extended working life, and the working conditions of older workers.Over the course of 11 chapters the book explores factors that can limit access to paid work or affect working conditions for older workers, including care for dependent individuals, negative stereotypes surrounding aged workers and poor health. It also investigates differences in working conditions for older workers by gender compared to other groups of workers and across European countries including case-studies from Austria, France, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Albania and Turkey. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, gender studies and labour studies more broadly.

Most European countries have experienced labour market reforms at varying times leading to extended working life and a postponement of retirement age. This book provides a gender perspective on the impact of extended working life on the different dimensions of well-being, the factors which can limit extended working life, and the working conditions of older workers.Over the course of 11 chapters the book explores factors that can limit access to paid work or affect working conditions for older workers, including care for dependent individuals, negative stereotypes surrounding aged workers and poor health. It also investigates differences in working conditions for older workers by gender compared to other groups of workers and across European countries including case-studies from Austria, France, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Albania and Turkey. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, sociology, gender studies and labour studies more broadly.

How has ‘agency’ – or the ability to define and act upon one’s goals – contributed to global long-term economic development during the last 150 years? This book asserts that autonomous decision making, and female agency in particular, increases the potential of a society to generate economic growth and improve its institutions. Inspired by Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach and looking at this in comparison to contemporary economic theory, the collection of chapters tackles the issue of agency from the micro level of household and family formation and asks how this applies to gender at regional and state level. It brings to the fore new empirical data from across the globe to test the links between family systems, female agency, human capital formation, political institutions and economic development and puts these into broader historical context. It will appeal to scholars researching social policy, gender studies, economic history, development studies and philosophy, as well anyone with interests in the long-term societal development of the world economy and issues of global inequality.

This book is the first of four books based on a series of symposia funded by COST, which is an intergovernmental framework for the promotion of European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research. It draws on both historical and contemporary European case-studies to offer a sophisticated account of the relationship between gender and well-being. The authors focus on key discussions of the changing conceptions of well-being from early twentieth century calculations of the relationship between income and the cost-of-living, to more recent critiques from feminist writers. Their fascinating answers allow them to significantly challenge the issue with the idea that well-being is not only associated with income or opulence but also relates to more abstract concepts including capabilities, freedom, and agency of different women and men and will be of considerable interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender, sexuality and economists.

Feminist scholars have long pointed out the relevance of the unpaid work that goes on within European households in sustaining the well-being of the continent's populations. However, care work and domestic labour continue to be largely unremunerated and unequally distributed by gender. This unique volume of interdisciplinary essays casts new light on the roles that households play in securing the well-being of individuals and families, uncovering the processes of bargaining and accommodation, and conflict and compromise that underpin them. Contributors put gender at the centre of their analyses, demonstrating the uneven experiences of men and women as both providers and receivers of welfare in European households, in both the past and the present. As European states grapple with changing family forms, a growing population of dependent people, increased participation of women in labour markets and a profound shift in the nature and organisation of work, this book makes a timely contribution to our understanding of the critical role played by households in mediating processes of economic and social change. It offers new challenges to scholars, researchers and policy makers eager to address gender inequalities and enhance well-being. This book is the second of four volumes being published as part of Ashgate's 'Gender and Well-Being' series that arise from a programme of international symposia funded by the European Science Foundation under the auspices of COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research).

Getting divorced and remarried are now common practices in European societies, even if the rules differ from one country to the next. Civil marriage law still echoes religious marriage law, which for centuries determined which persons could enter into marriage with each other and how validly contracted marriages could be ended.Religions and denominations also had different regulations regarding whether a divorce only ended marital obligations or also permitted remarriage during the lifetime of the divorced spouse. This book deals with predominantly handwritten documents of divorce proceedings from the British Isles to Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe, and from 1600 to the 1930s. The praxeological analysis reveals the arguments and strategies put forward to obtain or prevent divorce, as well as the social and, above all, economic conditions and arrangements connected with divorce. The contributions break new ground by combining previously often separate fields of research and regions of investigation. It makes clear that the gender order doesn’t always run along religious lines, as was too often assumed.This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of economic, social, religious, cultural, legal, and gender history as well as gender and well-being in a broader sense.

Getting divorced and remarried are now common practices in European societies, even if the rules differ from one country to the next. Civil marriage law still echoes religious marriage law, which for centuries determined which persons could enter into marriage with each other and how validly contracted marriages could be ended.Religions and denominations also had different regulations regarding whether a divorce only ended marital obligations or also permitted remarriage during the lifetime of the divorced spouse. This book deals with predominantly handwritten documents of divorce proceedings from the British Isles to Western, Central, and Southeastern Europe, and from 1600 to the 1930s. The praxeological analysis reveals the arguments and strategies put forward to obtain or prevent divorce, as well as the social and, above all, economic conditions and arrangements connected with divorce. The contributions break new ground by combining previously often separate fields of research and regions of investigation. It makes clear that the gender order doesn’t always run along religious lines, as was too often assumed.This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of economic, social, religious, cultural, legal, and gender history as well as gender and well-being in a broader sense.

This book examines different key aspects around new forms of work and gender and intersectional inequalities in platforms, how the platform economy intervenes, changes and reconfigures the organization of work, and the challenges faced by policymakers and workers’ organizations regarding formalization, professionalization, remuneration, quality of work or social protection of platform work.Including case studies from different countries from the Global North and the Global South, it contributes to a better understanding of how digital platforms are inserting themselves into neoliberal transformations in labour markets, taking advantage of digitization, the commodification of reproductive labour and migrant labour regimes to quickly access a precaritized female migrant workforce with low bargaining power.It will be of interest to all scholars and students of gender studies, health and social care and sociology more broadly.

Provisioning for basic human needs is done in three main kind of institutions: the familial household; the commercial enterprise selling goods and services; the institutions of the Welfare State that provide education, medical care and other goods and personal services to all or to some specific groups of citizens in need. The purpose of this book is to study the interplay of these institutions and their impact on well-being, and to analyze key policies and measures that have been implemented in European countries. Institutions determine labour demand (men and women are hired by the institutions of the Welfare State or by market providers of care), the possibilities of consumption (wages earned can be used to buy goods and services only if such goods and services are provided by the market) and allocate people's time, in particular women's time, between paid work and unpaid domestic production and provision of care, shaping both the gender relations and time use of people of both sexes. The proper balance of these institutions is a prerequisite of well-being both of the care givers and of the care receivers, and also for satisfactory gender relations. The chapters in this book focus on the following sub-topics: gender and welfare regimes; gender, well-being and the provision of care in the family and the household; and gender and well-being in the labour market. They emphasise the interdependence of social and labour market policies in the context of fundamental changes in both working patterns (the increase in female labour-force participation rates) and social needs (including population ageing) and demonstrate that we need a more integrated approach to welfare policy which takes account not only of basic welfare entitlements, but also the need for supportive forms of service provision and employment regulation.

This book is the first of four books based on a series of symposia funded by COST, which is an intergovernmental framework for the promotion of European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research. It draws on both historical and contemporary European case-studies to offer a sophisticated account of the relationship between gender and well-being. The authors focus on key discussions of the changing conceptions of well-being from early twentieth century calculations of the relationship between income and the cost-of-living, to more recent critiques from feminist writers. Their fascinating answers allow them to significantly challenge the issue with the idea that well-being is not only associated with income or opulence but also relates to more abstract concepts including capabilities, freedom, and agency of different women and men and will be of considerable interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender, sexuality and economists.

European social movements improve the well-being of men and women but need further analysis through a gender-sensitive lens. Taking an international and cross-disciplinary perspective, this book examines the impact of European social movements on gendered political and material well-being. Insights from history, politics, sociology and gender studies help identify how social movements have been instrumental in changing individual well-being through participation and empowerment. These movements have contributed to collective well-being thanks to victories in health, sexualities, political recognition and access to material goods. The contributions pay particular attention to the role of women activists in social movements varying from unions and religious movements to the women's movement itself. The settings range from 19th century Catalonia to Switzerland and Poland, including studies on European transnational movements today and their impact on global gendered well-being. The authors consider how gender has been important in defining the goals, strategies and outcomes of social movements. Thanks to the international spread of contributions a comparative record can be examined. Together the authors provide unique and concrete illustrations of the role of collective action and the participatory process on transforming women and well-being in European societies. The book provides essential insights for students and scholars working on social and women's movements, European well-being and welfare, and transnational action.

Drugs are considered to be healers and harmers, wonder substances and knowledge makers; objects that impact on social hierarchies, health practices and public policies. As a collective endeavour, this book focuses on the ways that gender, along with race/ethnicity and class, influence the design, standardisation and circulation of drugs throughout several highly medicalised countries throughout the twentieth century and until the twenty-first. Fourteen authors from different European and non-European countries analyse the extent to which the dominant ideas and values surrounding masculinity and femininity have contributed to shape the research, prescription and use of drugs by women and men within particular social and cultural contexts. New and lesser-known, gender-specific issues in lifestyles and social practices associated with pharmaceutical technologies are analysed, as is the manner in which they intervene in life experiences such as reproduction, sexual desire, childbirth, depression and happiness. The processes of prescribing, selling, marketing and accepting or forbidding drugs is also examined, as is the contribution of gendered medical practices to the medicalisation and growing consumption of drugs by women. Gender relations and other hierarchies are involved as both causes and consequences of drug cultures, and of the history and social life of gender in contemporary drug production, use and consumption. A network of agents emerges from this book’s research, contributing to a better understanding of both gender and drugs within our society.

This book offers a comparative perspective on Northern and Southern European laws and customs concerning women’s property and economic rights. By focusing on both Northern and Southern European societies, these studies analyse the consequences of different juridical frameworks and norms on the development of the economic roles of men and women.This volume is divided into three parts. The first, Laws, presents general outlines related to some European regions; the second, Family strategies or marital economies?, questions the potential conflict between the economic interests of the married couple and those of the lineage within the nobility; finally, the third part of the book, Inside the urban economy, focuses on economic and work activities of middle and lower classes in the urban environment. The assorted and rich panorama offered by the history of the legislation on women’s economic rights shows that similarities and differences run through Europe in such a way that the North/South model looks very stereotyped. While this approach calls into question classical geographical and cultural maps and well-established chronologies, it encourages a reconsideration of European history according to a cross-boundaries perspective.By drawing on a wide range of social, economic and cultural European contexts, from the late medieval to early modern age to the nineteenth century, and including the middle and lower classes (especially artisans, merchants and traders) as well as the economic practices and norms of the upper middle class and aristocracy, this book will be of interest to economic and social historians, sociologists of health, gender and sexuality, and economists.

European social movements improve the well-being of men and women but need further analysis through a gender-sensitive lens. Taking an international and cross-disciplinary perspective, this book examines the impact of European social movements on gendered political and material well-being. Insights from history, politics, sociology and gender studies help identify how social movements have been instrumental in changing individual well-being through participation and empowerment. These movements have contributed to collective well-being thanks to victories in health, sexualities, political recognition and access to material goods. The contributions pay particular attention to the role of women activists in social movements varying from unions and religious movements to the women's movement itself. The settings range from 19th century Catalonia to Switzerland and Poland, including studies on European transnational movements today and their impact on global gendered well-being. The authors consider how gender has been important in defining the goals, strategies and outcomes of social movements. Thanks to the international spread of contributions a comparative record can be examined. Together the authors provide unique and concrete illustrations of the role of collective action and the participatory process on transforming women and well-being in European societies. The book provides essential insights for students and scholars working on social and women's movements, European well-being and welfare, and transnational action.

Provisioning for basic human needs is done in three main kind of institutions: the familial household; the commercial enterprise selling goods and services; the institutions of the Welfare State that provide education, medical care and other goods and personal services to all or to some specific groups of citizens in need. The purpose of this book is to study the interplay of these institutions and their impact on well-being, and to analyze key policies and measures that have been implemented in European countries. Institutions determine labour demand (men and women are hired by the institutions of the Welfare State or by market providers of care), the possibilities of consumption (wages earned can be used to buy goods and services only if such goods and services are provided by the market) and allocate people's time, in particular women's time, between paid work and unpaid domestic production and provision of care, shaping both the gender relations and time use of people of both sexes. The proper balance of these institutions is a prerequisite of well-being both of the care givers and of the care receivers, and also for satisfactory gender relations. The chapters in this book focus on the following sub-topics: gender and welfare regimes; gender, well-being and the provision of care in the family and the household; and gender and well-being in the labour market. They emphasise the interdependence of social and labour market policies in the context of fundamental changes in both working patterns (the increase in female labour-force participation rates) and social needs (including population ageing) and demonstrate that we need a more integrated approach to welfare policy which takes account not only of basic welfare entitlements, but also the need for supportive forms of service provision and employment regulation.

Drugs are considered to be healers and harmers, wonder substances and knowledge makers; objects that impact on social hierarchies, health practices and public policies. As a collective endeavour, this book focuses on the ways that gender, along with race/ethnicity and class, influence the design, standardisation and circulation of drugs throughout several highly medicalised countries throughout the twentieth century and until the twenty-first. Fourteen authors from different European and non-European countries analyse the extent to which the dominant ideas and values surrounding masculinity and femininity have contributed to shape the research, prescription and use of drugs by women and men within particular social and cultural contexts. New and lesser-known, gender-specific issues in lifestyles and social practices associated with pharmaceutical technologies are analysed, as is the manner in which they intervene in life experiences such as reproduction, sexual desire, childbirth, depression and happiness. The processes of prescribing, selling, marketing and accepting or forbidding drugs is also examined, as is the contribution of gendered medical practices to the medicalisation and growing consumption of drugs by women. Gender relations and other hierarchies are involved as both causes and consequences of drug cultures, and of the history and social life of gender in contemporary drug production, use and consumption. A network of agents emerges from this book’s research, contributing to a better understanding of both gender and drugs within our society.