This paper documents the impact of rapid social and economic change on child rearing, early education, and community mobilization in Kenya. The study employed a collaborative, micro-ethnographic design, which draws heavily from interview data and repeated observations in eight districts of Kenya. Data came from 462 parents, grandparents, children (older siblings, ages 8-12 years), preschool teachers, community leaders, and professionals working with children and families in communities representative of four types of settings. These settings include the following: 1) traditional/pastoralist; 2) rural/varying agricultural productivity; 3) plantation/tea and coffee estates; and 4) urban/high population density. Results showed that the most common theme concerning socioeconomic changes and associated problems affecting families was the issue of increasing poverty and an array of related problems, including cost of living and increasing cost of children\'s education. In addition, changes in family roles and structures, including transition from communal, extended family to nuclear family situations were noted. This problem was specifically acute in plantation and urban slum settings. Moreover, land tenure issues and nature of parent involvement had an impact on family and economic issues related to child rearing. Implications for early childhood policy and program planning and for authentic collaboration in cross- national research are discussed.

Structural adjustments can have negative impact, especially for the poorest people in the rural areas. This article explores the consequences of the liberalization of cotton production in northern Ghana, in terms of gender relations in the household and the bigger community in the context of production and provisioning. It draws on an 18-month study conducted in 1995 and 1996. Section 1 describes gender relations and agriculture in Kusasi, northern Ghana. Section 2 looks at the households, farming and provisioning situations in Mamprusi. The effects of liberalization and structural adjustment and how women responded to the new opportunity are discussed in sections 3 and 4, respectively. The final sections examine the difficulties faced by women who take on new burdens as a result of structural change and looks at alternative means of meeting strategic needs of women farmers.

This article investigates the denigration of women in Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) commercials. A random sample of 100 commercials was tape-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a content-analysis method. Results showed that 36 of the 100 commercials portrayed females negatively. 41 commercials were judged to denigrate females; of these, 24 portrayed them as having little authority, 4 as dependent, 8 as home-oriented, 5 as noncompetitive, and 4 as sex objects. The large number of commercials featuring both female and male voices reflects the widespread and internalized acceptance of gender stereotypes, which favor men in wider Malawian society. In order to improve images of women, three actions must be taken: commercials must be conceived in a balanced manner, there must be an increase in the female-male ratio among MBC employees, and training on gender issues and on nonsexist advertising techniques should be introduced. While radio commercials are not the fundamental cause of the subordinate status of women, and women\'s status will not be transformed by the commercials alone, radio advertising can stimulate change.

The project reported in this article aimed to discover how well the needs of women were being met with respect to rural development and to identify the best approaches to communicating information to farmers in Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews of male and female respondents in selected 200 households in Shinyanga, northwestern Tanzania, were conducted. The interviews were conducted in order to record data on gender differences in farming and herding with the aim of determining how to communicate information on development. Findings showed that women continued to be the poorest group in the community. Use of introduced technology was mostly associated with men\'s work. The activities of Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga conducted through communication channels were also more accessible to men than women. The improved stoves specifically aimed at women also failed because of ineffective communication strategies. It is difficult to approach women because they tend to be tied far more closely to the area of their homes. Thus, training through village workshops would encourage the active participation of women. This would enable information to be shared with, and between, as many women as possible.

This paper considers the results of a gender review of Oxfam/Great Britain\'s work in Uganda that sought to determine what gender approaches had been adopted (theoretically and actually) and how they could be improved. After a desk review in the UK, a team conducted a field visit to Uganda where an initial conventional approach that \"targeted\" women had given way to efforts to conduct an in-depth gender analysis of programs. The team noted that the post of Gender and Development Program Officer in Uganda had been eliminated so that the entire staff would be responsible for addressing gender concerns. The review revealed that the staff exhibited a poor understanding of key concepts, was unwilling to challenge traditional roles and attitudes, deployed ad hoc initiatives, and failed to interact with appropriate local organizations. This situation occurred because of a lack of systematic procedures for planning and evaluation. Also, the fact that there was no extra compensation for staff living in harsh and insecure conditions discouraged female staff from seeking or maintaining positions in the field. Oxfam needs to develop a clear and binding strategy that will spell out the type of social change the Uganda program is seeking, integrate gender concerns, and implement monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. There is also a need to adopt a more political approach to gender concerns by taking advantage of opportunities and confronting attendant risks.

In Nigeria women\'s empowerment is essential to improving their standard of living and protecting their right to participate fully in development. More effective strategies are needed for women to participate in decision making. There are both static and dynamic aspects of the concept of empowerment. The former may lead to exogenous power strategies, while the latter may lead to endogenous empowerment facilitated by the dynamic concept that regards empowerment as a bottom-up process that develops the capacity of individuals. This process can be accomplished in six stages that encompass awareness, skills and capacity assessment, capacity-building and skills development, participation and greater control in decision-making, action for change, and evaluation. Nigeria needs an endogenous empowerment strategy for women\'s effective participation within organizations that is based on the tenet that women can only protect their interests through effective participation in their organizations and that highlights awareness-building, skills-acquisition and capacity-building, and changing discriminatory norms. External agents can not empower women but can foster conditions conducive to self-empowerment.

This paper describes the history and geography of Mauritius and its elitist colonial educational system; presents a literature review of female education, development, and position in the labor market; discusses the economy in the post-GATT era and wasted potential; and calls for a new educational order. Mauritius has a multiplicity of cultures and a complex cultural, socioeconomic, and political context. French colonialism is characterized as limiting expansion of education on the island. Education was expanded under British colonial rule; mass education was promoted, but not much changed in the nature and role of schooling. The elites of today are those descendants of diverse ethnic people who managed to become educated. Mauritians are marginalized today due to the lack of implementation of its official policy of equal opportunity. About 6% of primary school children leave the system illiterate. About 20% are functionally illiterate. Many leave primary schools without passing the Certificate of Primary Education tests. A 1994 survey indicated that female labor force participation rates were higher among persons with lower levels of education. Women have a subordinate role in the labor market due to a long history of a subordinate role, gender inequity, a large concentration of women in the clothing sector of the Export Processing Zone, and gender segregation in managerial and professional occupations and advancement. Some associate development with marginalization of women. Teachers and textbooks reinforce gender roles. Mauritius needs to retain students, gender sensitize the educational system, and eliminate job discrimination.

This study examined water use patterns in Botswana, and socioeconomic and political factors that influence sustainable water supply, and discusses water conservation and high sustainable levels of supply and demand; the market structure and its prices, costs, and subsidies; and sustainable water supplies. Data were obtained from unpublished workshop papers on integrated water resource management from seminars conducted in 1994, at the University of Botswana\'s Department of Environmental Science. Rainfall varied by location. Evaporation is about 4 times the average annual precipitation, which leads to continual water deficiency. Water supplies are based on ground and surface water in the ratio of 2:1. Groundwater is only partly renewable. Surface water is renewable only under the circumstance of sufficient rain and maintained storage capacity. Conservation of water is affected by the high rates of evaporation, few suitable dam sites, high temporal variability of runoff and large surface water storage capacity, the constraints of semi-arid environments, the normally critical water balance, rapid population growth and concentrations in urban areas, economic conditions, and the general increase in living conditions. The governments need to strengthen control over non-market water use and to provide sufficient incentives for efficient water use. Water prices should increase in order to reflect the total economic value, regardless of the political consequences. There are needs to protect water catchment areas and to clarify ownership of water resources. Control of demand should include prioritizing water consumption.

Over the short term, irrigation projects often negatively influence the nutrition and health of target populations through factors which are either directly or indirectly related to the development process of the project. A cross-sectional survey of 187 households in, and 168 households from surrounding areas of the Mwea-Tebere rice irrigation scheme (MTIS) in Kenya was conducted to study the individual and social characteristics associated with childhood malnutrition. The cultivated area in the MTIS grew from 7000 acres in 1965 to 31,000 in 1987. However, during the same period, the population grew from 16,000 to 40,000, with most or all of the tenants\' children continuing to live with their parents and overcrowding scheme villages. The proportion of under-fives who had weight/age, weight/height, and height/age indices under -2 standard deviations of the WHO-NCHS reference values was higher among MTIS residents than among nonresidents. Maternal education was the only variable significantly associated to all indicators of malnutrition used in the study. the area of residence, the number of resident dependents upon proceeds from the same farm, recent episode of diarrhea, child\'s age, mother\'s occupation, mother\'s age, type of caretaker of the child in the mother\'s absence, and mother\'s marital status were associated to one or two indicators of malnutrition. The level of maternal education is significantly higher at MTIS than off-scheme. However, the influence of MTIS\' crowding and poor sanitation conditions is strong enough to make the nutritional status of preschool children worse within the scheme. Maternal education should be promoted, facilities provided to improve sanitary conditions, and programs launched to control population density in on-scheme villages.

This study examines the influence of women\'s status in the household on family size and use of family planning in rural Kenya. The study relies on the theoretical framework of power relations of Lappe and Schurman (1990). The structure of decision-making power within the family, village, community, national governments, and international institutions influences the choices open to people. The power structure refers to the rules that determine who is allowed to participate in decision-making processes and how their views are part of the final decision. The study sample includes three ethnic groups: the Abaluhya of Sabatia region, Vihiga district; the Abagusii of Nyamachee division, Kisii district; and the Masai of Kilgoris division, Narok district. The random sample includes 200 currently married women aged 15-49 years among each ethnic group. Analysis is based on participant observation, interviews, and in-depth focus groups among selected women and elderly key informants. Findings indicate that 47.7% had high status, 40.5% had moderate status, and 14.5% had low status. The mean number of children was 4.5. The mean number of children was 4.1 for wives with high status, 4.4 for wives with moderate status, and 5.8 for wives with low status. This childbearing pattern applied in general and for both the Abagusii and Abaluhya ethnic groups. Among the Masai, women had the same number of children regardless of their position. Findings suggest that wives\' participation in decision making about family size, family planning, and management of income is likely to have a dampening effect on fertility. Wives participation in income generation activities improved their status and self-confidence. The results suggest that married women\'s status is not static, unified, and unchanging, but flexible, modified continually, and reinterpreted in an adaptive process.