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The study investigated the impact of National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS) on poverty alleviation among women in the three project sites of Oyo State, Nigeria. The study identified the socio-economic characteristics of women participants and non-participants and investigated the projects carried out under the programme. Also, the study examined the participants' and non-participants' present conditions of living, and finally compared farm size, output and income before and after the programme. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 166 participants from the sites of the programme while Systematic sampling technique was used to select 110 non- participants from the list of the farmers provided by the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) officials in Oyo State. A structured interview schedule was used to gather information from the respondents. Data collected were collated and subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequency counts, percentages and Tobit regression estimates. Results of data analysis revealed that most (39.8%) of the women participants are middle-aged and still active in agricultural production. In addition, majority (60.2%) of the participants were literate and participated more in cassava and maize production, while insufficient loan ranked first among the problems encountered by the participants. The estimates of Tobit regression analysis showed that a significant relationship existed between respondents' output (- 0.0000344, p Key words: poverty, alleviation, impact, output, participation, INTRODUCTION Poverty in Nigeria has been a long standing issue and its reality is manifested in worsening incidence and severity over the years, despite the vast human and natural resources, [...]

In this study, we sought a better understanding of how poor women made meaning of their poverty and health. Twenty research participants used varied, multiple, and at times contradictory discourses that shaped their identities as both legitimate and powerful and illegitimate and powerless. We identified four discourses in the women's talk--illegitimate dependencies, legitimate dependencies, overwhelming odds, and critique and collectivism. These four discourses revealed complexes of meanings and networks of interpretation that subverted, accommodated, and reinterpreted dominant discourses of poverty and health. This examination is relevant for feminist researchers attempting to understand the impact of dominant discourses in the lives of socially marginalized women who continually struggle to establish and strengthen claims to legitimacy and moral worth. Keywords: discourse; identity; poverty; women's health; feminist action research

The objective of this paper is to identify the incentives and barriers to marriage among cohabiting women, especially disadvantaged mothers who are targets of welfare reform. We use the newly released cohabitation data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979-2000), which tracks the partners of cohabiting women across survey waves. Our results support several conclusions. First, cohabiting unions are short-lived--about one-half end within one year, and over 90% end by the fifth year. Unlike most previous research, our results show that most cohabiting unions end by dissolution of the relationship rather than by marriage, Second, transitions to marriage are especially unlikely among poor women; less than one-third marry within five years. Cohabitation among poor women is more likely than that among nonpoor women to be a long-term alternative or substitute for traditional marriage. Third, our multinomial analysis of transitions from cohabitation into marriage or dissolution highlights the salience of economically disadvantaged family backgrounds, cohabitation and fertility histories, women's economic resources, and partner characteristics. These results are interpreted in a policy environment that increasingly views marriage as an economic panacea for low-income women and their children.

We use Demographic and Health Survey data from Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti to compare women in different poverty and violence categories in terms of their experience of selected reproductive health outcomes. 'Poor' women are those who belong to the bottom quintile of households arrayed according to a widely accepted asset-based wealth index. The results suggest that women who are both poor and have experienced violence are not unique in their reproductive health disadvantage. In particular, for all three reproductive health outcomes we consider, the negative association with having experienced violence cuts across all women, poor and wealthy.

Vouchers for fresh fruit and vegetable purchase were provided to low-income women participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in Los Angeles, CA. As the program is currently constituted, the supplemental foods provided contain no fresh produce except for carrots for exclusively breastfeeding women. This study investigated whether providing supplemental financial support specifically for purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables would result in high uptake of the supplement, and what the individuals would choose to purchase. A total of 602 women enrolling for postpartum services at three selected WIC program sites in Los Angeles were recruited. Sites were assigned to intervention with vouchers redeemable at a local supermarket, a nearby year-round farmers' market, and a control site with a minimal nonfood incentive. Vouchers were issued bimonthly, at the level of US $10/wk, and carried out for 6 months. Of 454 participants who completed the study (75.4%), 86% were Hispanic, 7% non-Hispanic black, and 7% of other ethnic backgrounds. Assessment of uptake was by voucher redemption rates and was approximately 90% for both groups. Participants reported purchasing a wide variety of items at both sites. The 10 most frequently mentioned items were oranges, apples, bananas, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, and potatoes. In conclusion, low-income women used the supplement provided almost fully, and purchased a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables for their families. No particular barriers arose to redemption of the vouchers by either the participants or the retail vendors.

This research uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to explore the relationship between unemployment and material hardship for women who were employed at the beginning of the 1996 survey panel. Using two-stage logistic regression analysis, we find that, controlling for demographics and initial poverty status, having been or currently being unemployed increases the relative odds of experiencing one or more of six hardship measures by half and doubles the relative likelihood of lacking telephone service or failing to receive needed medical care. Experiences of food insufficiency, inadequate dental care, and loss of or inability to pay for housing increase more than sixty percent with unemployment. Those previously or currently unemployed are also substantially more likely to have difficulty maintaining utility service than the continuously employed. The article concludes with a discussion of policies that would enhance employment tenure and help avoid hardship during unemployment. KEYWORDS. Unemployment, unemployment insurance, safety net, poverty, hardship, women doi: 10.1300/J501v27n03_12

A number of studies report the multiple problems facing women during the welfare reform transition. Within this group is a large number of single mothers struggling with both poverty and chronic health problems or disabilities. Those with these additional challenges might be expected to experience less success in moving out of poverty than those without these health challenges. In this study, we examine the progress of 178 women around the state of Wisconsin who were interviewed repeatedly about their experiences with welfare reform and poverty between 1997 and 2000, when the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program was being implemented. The incidence of health problems is related to level of education, and the type of disability has major impacts on expected outcome. Those with less education are more likely to suffer from health problems, especially mental health issues, depression and post-traumatic stress, which seem to be the most debilitating. These women also had difficulty accessing non-work support, such as Supplement Security Income (SSI), a federal assistance program for disabled persons with little or no income, or assistance from the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), a federal and state program of assistance to promote the employment abilities of adults with disabilities. KEYWORDS. Welfare reform, disability, health, mental health, single mothers, poverty, employment, Wisconsin, income assistance doi: 10.1300/J501v27n03_06

This study evaluates historical changes in the relative importance of key factors influencing white, African American, and Hispanic women's poverty. Empirical results, based on reduced form logistic regressions, indicate that work has become, relative to marriage, a potentially better way to decrease women's poverty. The greater relative importance of work when compared to marriage is strongest for blacks and weakest for whites, although for all three groups of women this pattern holds. This trend is consistent with the move from women's main economic support being generated through marriage to instead being generated through work. At the same time, children continue to increase women's chances of being in poverty, though their impact has changed differently among the three groups. The findings suggest that resources directed towards alleviating poverty should ideally be allocated towards efforts to create good job opportunities combined with support to reduce the costs associated with balancing market and family responsibilities. KEYWORDS. Children, employment, poverty, marriage, African Americans, Hispanics, whites, single mothers doi: 10.1300/J501v27n03_02

Until the missing story of ourselves is told, nothing besides told can suffice us/We shall go on quietly craving it/In the missing story of ourselves can be found all other […]

Statistics indicate that sexual health problems like HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancies are prevalent among young South African low-income women. To improve the effectiveness of preventative programmes for adolescents it is important to focus on adolescents' own understanding and experience of their sexual behaviour within the contexts in which it occurs. Female adolescents' experiences of their own sexuality are shaped by a range of contexts: from the very specific context of their intimate relationships to the broader contexts of gender, ethnicity and social class. It is therefore imperative to adopt a research approach that stratifies groups and develops interventions that are based on the needs, interests, sexual beliefs and behaviours of specific communities rather than developing general educational messages. The current paper is part of a larger study exploring female adolescent sexuality in a South African low-income rural coloured (1) community. Twenty-five adolescent coloured women aged 14-18 years were interviewed about how they viewed their sexuality. The grounded theory analysis indicated that the participants demonstrated a limited sense of sexual agency in these constructions of their sexuality. The mothers of these young women were powerful agents in the young womens' constructions of their own sexuality and they unintentionally contributed to their daughters' limited sense of sexual agency. Mothers presented sex as a dangerous activity to their daughters. This discourse of sex as danger contributed towards a mutual understanding that sex should not be talked about. Daughters' deception of their mothers about their sexual activity maintained mother--daughter connections, but left them without an interactional space where they could talk freely to their mothers about sexuality. Keywords: Mothers; Daughters; Sexual agency; South Africa

This study examined social support and its association with employment, income, and drug use in a sample of 534 low-income women. Functional support was defined as the perceived quality of one's interactions with others. Structural support was defined as the number of individuals within five particular types of networks: social, employment, drug, close, and emergency. Over the two-year study period, significant increases were observed in hours worked, income from work, income from other sources, and total income. There was also a significant decrease in welfare income. Results suggest that the perceived quality of support received is an important factor in achieving positive employment outcomes. Keywords: Drug abuse, employment, social networks, TANF, INTRODUCTION In 1996, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) (1) was enacted with the goal of promoting the economic self-sufficiency of families by transitioning them from public [...]

Objective: To establish reliability and construct and discriminant validity of selected factors adapted from the Health and Taste Attitudes Questionnaire developed in Finland and the Food Choice Questionnaire developed in England for use with low-income mothers in the United States. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Head Start and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children sites in south-central Wisconsin. Participants: A convenience sample of 211 nonpregnant non-Hispanic black and white women. Variables Measured: Predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing constructs of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model. Analysis: Factor analyses. Results: After modification, the resulting measurement models of predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing constructs demonstrated good reliability and construct and discriminant validity. These models showed excellent model fit (g2/df range 1.5-2.0, root mean square error of approximate range .05-.07, non-normed fit index range .97-1.0, comparative fit index range .98-1.0, incremental fit index range .98-1.0), with all factor loadings significant (P < .001). Items previously developed with European adults demonstrated different pattern structures in predisposing and enabling constructs but the same structures for reinforcing construct when applied to low-income mothers in the United States. Conclusion and Implication: This modified instrument provides a tool for researchers and educators to further explore factors affecting fat intake behaviors in low-income mothers. KEY WORDS: validity, reliability, low-income women