Social science & medicine
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Social science & medicine · May 2003
Implications of women's work for child nutritional status in sub-Saharan Africa: a case study of Nigeria.
The study examines the relationships between women's work and child nutritional status (stunting and wasting) of 5331 Nigerian children aged 0-59 months, using data from the 1990 Nigerian Demographic and Health Survey. In defining women's work, the study considers whether women earned cash from their work and carried their children to work in order to assess the importance of childcare and income, which are the principal pathways through which women's work affects child nutritional status. The study also examines infants and children differently in order to assess the influence of child's age on nutritional status. ⋯ During childhood, higher birth weight, immunization, and having a Christian mother reduced stunting and wasting. Children in wealthy households are less likely to be stunted, while mother's education and being a higher parity child increased stunting. Also during childhood, having a Christian mother reduced wasting while recent episodes of fever increased wasting.
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Social science & medicine · May 2003
Emplotting children's lives: developmental delay vs. disability.
While it is increasingly possible to envision "perfect" babies, it is not always the case that reproduction actually proceeds according to individual will; for example, there has been no recent reduction in rates of childhood disability. Nevertheless, in most studies of new reproductive technologies, the birth of those children whom few would actively choose-"defective" or disabled infants-is presented only in hypothetical terms. This paper argues for expanding the domain of reproduction to include research on the parenting of children with disabilities. ⋯ I suggest that American mothers' narratives, by utilizing the concept of developmental delay, can assert personhood, or rather, the potential for its future attainment; in doing so, they justify ongoing nurturance of a disabled child in spite of negative attitudes about disability. A particular case of one mother's emplotment of her child's life within a story of developmental delay, in competition with the physician's story of disability, is analyzed. The paper concludes with reflections on how stories of developmental delay told by mothers just encountering a diagnosis of disability may differ from the stories told by those who have experienced mothering a disabled child over time, and on the implications of these differences for the cultural construction of personhood in the United States.
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Social science & medicine · May 2003
Antiabortion positions and young women's life plans in contemporary Ireland.
At a critical time when Ireland's abortion ban faces legal challenges and the number of women obtaining abortions abroad each year continues to climb, some antiabortion advocates have turned their attention toward the social factors that influence women's abortion decision-making. Through an analysis of articles carried in the Irish mainstream and Catholic presses, this article examines how antiabortion advocates since the late 1990s have promoted an "antiabortion, pro-motherhood" message in response to trends that they identify as indicating that Irish reproduction has "gone awry". ⋯ These women are more likely than young women in past generations to postpone childbearing or opt for abortion in the face of an unwanted pregnancy, and thus, symbolize for antiabortion advocates the devaluation of a "traditional" Irish culture centered on the privileging of motherhood and married family life. This article examines antiabortion ideologies deployed around motherhood, work, and childcare, and argues that antiabortion advocates' "pro-motherhood" campaign fails to adequately respond to the changing realities of young, middle-class Irish women's life opportunities and expectations.