Older rural women living with drought

ABSTRACT

Women’s experiences of drought are often made invisible particularly in terms of their long-term effects. Drought differs from other “natural disasters” in that droughts are, by definition, experienced over an extended time. This means those experiencing drought do so as they age, with elderly cohorts particularly vulnerable. As such, there is a need to better understand the longitudinal needs and experiences of women living with drought. This study investigates the experiences of drought for 15 Australian women aged over 70, over a period of 12 years. Longitudinal qualitative free-text comments written by the oldest cohort of women in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health were subject to a thematic analysis. Findings indicate that experiences of drought have a relationship to women’s ability to age in ways they may have hoped. Themes of Work and Physical activity, Connection to place, and, Service access were prominent in women’s comments. These results demonstrate that place is an important aspect in the experience of ageing, that work and physical activity often intensify during drought for elderly people who might otherwise be expecting to retire, and that drought presents particular challenges for older women in terms of access to services. This study highlights the complex interactions of living and ageing in drought for Australian women.     

四川妇女血清中多溴联苯醚的浓度水平与组成特征

用气相色谱-质谱的选择离子法测定四川省妇女血清中多溴联苯醚的质量浓度,并对其组成特征及主要来源进行了研究.在被测的11种多溴联苯醚当中,BDE-209是主要成分,质量浓度从0.12～2.38μg.L-1,中值为0.63μg.L-1,占多溴联苯醚总量的质量分数为63.57%～90.34%,其次是BDE-66、-99和-100,其它多溴联苯醚几乎没有检出,表明污染主要来自十溴联苯醚,其次是四溴和五溴联苯醚.实验结果与其它国家的数据相比,表明多溴联苯醚对普通妇女的污染在四川还处于一个较低的水平.     

妇女，实现可持续发展的“半边天”

该文阐述妇女是实施可持续发展战略的参与者、推动者和受益者,要把妇女参与环境保护的程度作为衡量区域可持续发展进程的重要尺度。分析了妇女在福建可持续发展战略中发挥的“半边天”作用及其潜力。强调妇女参与环境与发展综合决策的重要性,并针对鞋厂女工环境权益保障等问题提出对策建议。     

Some factors influencing effective utilization of drinking water facilities: women,income, and health in rural north Ghana

In the examination of the implementation of rural drinking water facilities, not enough attention has been paid to analyzing the socioeconomic and political relationships that affect the effective utilization of the facilities, particularly as these relate to women in rural society. This paper suggests that much of the difficulty in instituting the utilization of safe water supply sources has to do with the rather low economic status of women—the main water collectors. Poverty consigns women to long periods of work in activities or jobs that bring little reward. This makes it difficult to effectively digest the messages delivered by program staff and limits the extent of usage of the safe water facilities.     

Women, Health and Humanitarian Aid in Conflict

The burden of political conflict on civilian populations has increased significantly over the last few decades. Increasingly, the provision of resources and services to these populations is coming under scrutiny; we highlight here the limited attention to gender in their provision. Women and men have different exposures to situations that affect health and access to health-care and have differential power to influence decisions regarding the provision of health services. We argue that the role of women in planning is central to the provision of effective, efficient and sensitive health-care to conflict-affected populations.     

女性旅游者行为特征分析及其动机研究——以西递、宏村为例

利用SPSS社科统计软件对2005年西递、宏村调查数据进行交互分析和主成分分析，得出女性旅游者客源地结构特征、人口统计学特征、决策行为模式、出游动机等一般规律，最后比较分析了我国与美国高学历女性出游动机的异同，试图为国内外女性旅游市场开发和营销人员提供有价值的参考。     

Epidemiology of tornado destruction in rural northern Bangladesh: risk factors for death and injury

The epidemiology of tornado-related disasters in the developing world is poorly understood. An August 2005 post-tornado cohort study in rural Bangladesh identified elevated levels of death and injury among the elderly (≥ 60 years of age) (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 8.9 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI): 3.9-20.2) and AOR = 1.6 (95 per cent CI: 1.4-1.8), respectively), as compared to 15-24 year-olds, and among those outdoors versus indoors during the tornado (AOR = 10.4 (95 per cent CI: 5.5-19.9) and AOR = 6.6 (95 per cent CI: 5.8-7.5), respectively). Females were 1.24 times (95 per cent CI: 1.15-1.33) more likely to be injured than males. Elevated risk of injury was significantly associated with structural damage to the house and tin construction materials. Seeking treatment was protective against death among the injured, odds ratio = 0.08 (95 per cent CI: 0.03-0.21). Further research is needed to develop injury prevention strategies and to address disparities in risk between age groups and between men and women.     

Repetitive Strain in Nonrepetitive Work: A Case Study

In a Québec factory, a woman in a nontraditional job suffered from epicondylitis whereas her male coworkers were unaffected. A study was undertaken in order to enumerate the operations at risk for epicondylitis. Workers were interviewed in order to identify difficult operations and systematic observations were done over 4 work days. Although tasks were extremely varied, certain movements at risk for epicondylitis were repeated many times. Fifty-three valves were turned against resistance as part of this job, and one valve requiring a particularly difficult movement was turned 20 times in one day. There were at least 61 operations at risk for epicondylitis per day over a 4-day period. Strain on the elbow joint was particularly intense for the woman worker because the design of the workplace gave an advantage to taller workers with larger hands. Although this case study does not permit us to conclude that the worker’s epicondylitis was due to her job, it enables us to suggest that it would be wise to adapt the dimensions of relevant equipment and worksites to a wider range of potential worker sizes. We also raise some questions about the definition of repetitive strain in epidemiological studies. We suggest that it may be necessary to consider not only the cycle time but also the total of forces exerted on a joint in order to study workplace injuries to the musculoskeletal system.     

"环境中女性角色确立系统模型"研究

女性在环境保护与自然资源的开发利用中具有积极的作用。但长期以来受传统观念桎梏。女性在环境保护中的作用受捌低估乃至忽视．从一定程度上导致了环境恶化．自然资源的配置失效。“环境中女性角色确立系统模型”的研究可有效解读女性角色与环境保护间的关系。并提出如何提高女性在环境保护中的作用。从而保障在一个性别平等的文明社会里人类可持续发展目标的实现。