Elucidating linkages between women’s empowerment in livestock and nutrition: a qualitative study

This article investigates knowledge and perceptions of women’s empowerment from the perspective of female livestock keepers and elucidates linkages between women’s empowerment and household nutrition in relation to livestock. Eight focus groups with 62 female livestock keepers were conducted in Tanzania. Women’s empowerment in livestock was associated with improved household nutrition. Other opportunities for empowerment were identified that could contribute to women’s decision-making power. The article recommends that all development interventions in the livestock sector be gender sensitive and engage local men in conversations about gender inequities. It also discusses other pathways to increase women’s empowerment and household nutrition.     

Gender,energy, and empowerment: a case study of the Rural Energy Development Program in Nepal

Rural women in general, and mountain women in particular, are greatly involved in managing household energy systems in Nepal. Alternative energy technologies have a high potential to reduce women's workloads and improve their health status, as well as increasing efficient energy supply. Interventions in rural energy are primarily aimed at reducing firewood use and increasing economic growth through rural electrification, rather than aiming to reduce human drudgery, especially that of women. Hence, such intervention takes place without considering the needs, roles, interests, and potential of rural women, even though women are the primary users and managers of rural energy resources. This article aims to analyse the gender implications of rural energy technologies in Kavre district, where the Rural Energy Development Program (REDP) has been implemented, especially in terms of saving women's labour and increasing socio-economic opportunities for women.     

Benefits and challenges of micro-enterprise participation: women's cottage industry in Kaimosi,Kenya

This article investigates the perspectives of Kenyan women in the Kaimosi cottage industry regarding the benefits and challenges of producing craft commodities for the global marketplace. Utilising qualitative methods, the research provides an understanding of issues the women faced in producing and marketing goods and offers insights for NGOs into some pitfalls for the sustainability of micro-enterprises. The women asserted that participation in the micro-enterprise had improved their family's economic well-being, helped finance their children's education, and improved their community status. This supports the literature that has found that women's involvement in micro-enterprises reduces poverty and improves well-being.     

猪源新城疫病毒的分离鉴定

从发生呼吸道症状的病猪鼻腔中分离到 1株病毒 ,经电镜观察、血凝和血凝抑制试验 ,确定为新城疫病毒。经对鸡胚平均致死时间、鸡胚半数致死量、对鸭胚和鸡、鸭的致死性测定及荧光PCR检测 ,证明分离毒为温和型毒株。     

黑龙江省哈尔滨地区鸡球虫的区系调查

在哈尔滨地区采用群体采样法分别从6个区218个鸡场采集新鲜粪样,经饱和盐水漂浮法检查,有136个鸡场感染艾美球虫,感染率为62.39%,表明哈尔滨地区鸡球虫感染现象比较普遍.经临床症状及卵囊形态观察,共检出6种艾美球虫,分另q是柔嫩艾美球虫、堆形艾美球虫、毒害艾美球虫、早熟艾美球虫、和缓艾美球虫与巨型艾美球虫,其中柔嫩艾美球虫为哈尔滨地区鸡球虫病病原的优势虫种.     

Women and NGO professionalisation: a case study of Jordan

This article examines the impact of NGO professionalisation on the recruitment of NGO staff. Based on an in-depth survey of employees in 20 advocacy NGOs in Jordan, it demonstrates the gendered impact of professionalisation. The majority of NGO employees are highly educated women, often Western-educated, who work in NGOs primarily for career opportunities and because they are attracted by the NGO's goals. In contrast to existing literature, this article argues that gender considerations, such as job flexibility to accommodate household duties, play less of a role in determining the reasons why women seek work in NGOs and their degree of job satisfaction.     

Women's involvement in small-scale aquaculture in Northeast Thailand

In Northeast Thailand, women are heavily involved in small-scale aquaculture. However, as aquaculture becomes more intensive, women are in charge of less. Women's decision-making power in aquaculture and in the household is stronger when women have greater material resources and knowledge than their husbands; and the case studies on which the article draws show that what is important is not how much women have, but how much they have in relation to their husbands. The case studies also illustrate that women's gender roles and responsibilities, as well as the social expectations placed upon them, limit what they will gain through aquaculture. In intensive aquaculture in particular, women are expected to invest all their resources in this activity in order to sustain the family enterprise.     

The power of small-scale solar: gender,energy poverty,and entrepreneurship in Tanzania

Energy poverty is a major challenge in the developing world, with an estimated 1.2 billion people lacking household electricity. Although energy poverty affects both men and women, the burden of household energy supply disproportionately affects women in low-income countries in the developing world. This article examines the impact of a women-oriented solar lighting social enterprise, Solar Sister, in Tanzania for both solar entrepreneurs and customers, demonstrating that solar lanterns positively impact household savings, health, education and women’s economic productivity and empowerment. Our study argues that Solar Sister’s approach is successful because of its explicit gender lens. Providing energy access to women translates to a pro-woman, pro-child, and pro-family development intervention.     

Balancing act: Business and household in a small Bolivian city

Sucre is a city of micro enterprises. The lines between business and household are often blurred: accounts are mixed, space is shared, and partners from outside the household are rare. On the surface, this kind of business organisation seems most inadequate for economic success. Yet a closer look at the internal workings of Sucre's businesses suggests that the complex 'balancing act' between business and household may represent not sloppy management (as micro-enterprise development agencies often maintain), but a flexible strategy for household well-being. Sucre's businesses essentially follow 'triple bottom line' accounting at the household level, taking into account both financial and non-financial goals.     

Shifting gender roles: an analysis of violence against women in post-conflict Uganda

Based on findings from a qualitative study in northern Uganda, this article explores factors leading to gender-based violence (GBV) in the post-conflict African context. The crisis of masculinity becomes crucial to understanding women's vulnerability to GBV. This crisis stems from the trauma of losing one's internal resources – socially constructed identity role and purpose, and one's external resources – wealth and productive assets. We find that armed conflict replaces the positive male identity as household head with a destructive model of masculinity. It is the interaction between negative masculinities and extreme poverty that characterises the prevalence of GBV in such conditions.     

A note on household approach to credit rationing in agrarian economies

Using clues from transaction cost economics this note develops an intertemporal agricultural household model to explain the demand-side credit rationing from formal financial institutions in agrarian economies. The model employs ex-ante transaction costs, namely search cost and negotiation cost to explain this phenomenon. The model shows that with market failure an agricultural household's production decision is not separate from its consumption decision. This is when the policy analysis household approach, which includes simultaneous decision making in production and consumption side, becomes essential.     

More money,new household cultural dynamics: women in micro-finance in Ghana

This article reports on research into the impacts of micro-finance on gender roles, the extent to which socio-cultural factors influence these changes, and how such changes affect the well-being of rural Bogoso households in the Wassa West District of Ghana. Findings indicated that micro-finance has changed men's and women's control over decisions and resource allocations, which consequently affected financial responsibilities and the education of children, and largely contributed to household well-being. However, the small size of the loans was a limitation. The article concludes that socio-cultural factors may promote or inhibit well-being in rural households, and that micro-finance is not a sufficient tool in itself to promote women's and households' well-being. It is recommended that if rural people's well-being matters, collaborative efforts in the appraisal, monitoring, and evaluation of micro-finance initiatives, with the government providing leadership, are imperative.     

Women's empowerment in challenging environments: a case study from Balochistan

This article offers strategies for women's empowerment in conservative, tribal, and religious environments, based on an innovative programme in Pakistan. Mainstreaming Gender and Development (MGD) encouraged participants to build on their communities' strengths, minimised resistance among families and communities by including them in the development process, and succeeded in building a cadre of women activists. Drawing on its experience, the author questions the importance of collective action, suggests that the selection of participants should be based on aptitude rather than socio-economic status, and highlights the potential for women's empowerment in challenging environments.     

Impact of microcredit on income,poverty, and economic vulnerability in Peninsular Malaysia

This article examines the effect of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia's (AIM) microcredit programme on low-income households' income, poverty rate, and vulnerability in Peninsular Malaysia. This study employed a quasi-experimental approach, cross-sectional design, and stratified random sampling method. Findings indicated that participation in AIM's microcredit programme leads to an increase in household income and reduces both the poverty rate and level of economic vulnerability. AIM and policymakers, therefore, should focus on promoting a supportive environment to improve cooperation among participants by designing a dynamic and well-diversified microfinance programme and specialised skills-building training programme.     

Engaging with cultural practices in ways that benefit women in northern Nigeria

This study explores the intra-household impact of improved dual-purpose cowpea (IDPC) from a gender perspective, in terms of productivity and food, fodder, and income availability, the impact of which is linked to the income thus placed in the women's hands. Surplus income is important in providing food and nutritional benefits to the home, particularly during periods of risk. More importantly, income generated through the adoption of improved cowpea varieties has entered a largely female domain, where transfers of income reserves were passed on between women of different ages, with significant impact in terms of social and economic development. However, the technology has strengthened the separation of working spheres between men and women. Future technologies should, from the outset, explore provisions existing within the local rubric, to focus on women with the aim of expanding their participation in agriculture with the associated benefits to their families.     

鸡IL-18对禽多杀性巴氏杆菌DNA疫苗的免疫佐剂作用

为了探索鸡IL-18在禽多杀性巴氏杆菌H基因DNA疫苗中的免疫佐剂作用,分别用共表达鸡IL-18基因和禽多杀性巴氏杆菌C48-1H基因的DNA疫苗、鸡IL-18真核表达质粒pcDNA3/cIL-18与禽多杀性巴氏杆菌C48-1H基因的DNA疫苗混合物、禽多杀性巴氏杆菌C48-1H基因的DNA疫苗肌肉注射5周龄鸡,首免后每周采取外周血及外周抗凝血,应用ELISA和MTT法分别检测免疫鸡的体液免疫及细胞免疫水平。二免后第2周用10 LD50禽多杀性巴氏杆菌强毒菌株C48-1进行攻击。结果鸡IL-18能够明显增强禽多杀性巴氏杆菌H基因DNA疫苗的免疫原性,显著提高免疫鸡的体液免疫和细胞免疫水平,并且鸡IL-18与禽多杀性巴氏杆菌H基因共表达时的免疫佐剂作用最强,能强有力地抵抗强毒菌株C48-1的致死性攻击。结果表明,鸡IL-18可作为DNA疫苗的一种理想的免疫佐剂。     

柔嫩艾美耳球虫感染鸡的盲肠上皮间淋巴细胞表达白介素17的动态变化

以1×104个柔嫩艾美耳球虫(Eimeria tenella)孢子化卵囊感染10日龄AA肉鸡,于感染后第24、48及72小时分离鸡盲肠上皮间淋巴细胞(IELs)。提取鸡盲肠IELs总RNA,用实时荧光定量PCR方法检测IL-17的表达动态;然后用FITC标记的抗鸡CD4单抗和PE标记的抗小鼠IL-17单抗作为抗体对盲肠IELs进行荧光抗体染色,再进行流式细胞术分析,检测了表达IL-17的CD4+盲肠IELs在柔嫩艾美耳球虫感染后的动态变化。实时荧光定量PCR结果表明,鸡在感染柔嫩艾美耳球虫后能够显著上调IL-17mR-NA的表达水平,流式细胞分析结果表明,在球虫感染后表达IL-17的CD4+细胞数量显著上升。这些结果表明,IL-17参与了宿主抵抗球虫感染的反应。     

Combining sanitation and women's participation in water supply: an example from Rajasthan

Water supply and sanitation provision are key elements in progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Women's participation is considered integral to the sustainability of the projects created to meet these two MDGs. Bringing feminist and geographic critiques to bear on gendered approaches to improving sanitation coverage, the research reported on in this article indicates that latrine building and women's participation may be contradictory goals for sanitation projects, despite the fact that women are the target group for latrine-building interventions. The findings of the analysis suggest that attention must be given to latrine building as both a technical undertaking and a gendered political intervention.     

Are there “women’s crops”? A new tool for gender and agriculture

A “Gender Control Tool” was developed to measure women’s control over decision-making for agricultural production, sales, and use of income. The tool was tested for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, where mechanisation has increased male participation in groundnut shelling, and for goats in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe, where the introduction of auctions has increased investment and sales. A mixed methods approach was used, that involved focus group discussions (FGDs) and a quantitative household survey. This article compares the results obtained from these two methods and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the tool in understanding how commercialisation affects women’s control.     

Gender in education: policy discourse and challenges

This article examines the socio-economic and cultural milieu of girls in Bangladesh and how it erodes the benefits of education. Laws and rules, even basic human rights, are unknown to many women. Economically active women too are affected by cultural norms and social taboos which reinforce their helplessness. Gender discrimination, especially for women, and inequity, physical, and verbal abuse persist. Women's empowerment is resisted by some women, and this poses a barrier to girls’ education, as evident from a rights perspective. Women's subordination to men is conditioned by a whole range of traditional practices embedded in the family and kin-group. Women's scope of work is mostly limited to domestic chores and care: education investment, borne out of the instrumentalist approach, is rendered ineffective as it is quite dependent upon socio-economic status and concomitant social structure. Education investment must uphold a capabilities approach to achieve sustained outcomes in education.