Doctoral Dissertation Research: Construction of Identity in Home-Based Workers

SES-1332621Hester Eisenstein Natascia Boeri CUNY研究生院大学中心这个博士论文项目将研究由于参与非正规经济而导致女性S社会角色变化的动态，重点关注在家工作的工人的经历。超过90%的印度劳动力在非正规经济中。几乎所有这些都被社会政策忽视了，尽管这一部门存在脆弱性。非正式工人更有可能生活在贫困中，不太可能被组织起来，而且女性比例不成比例。在印度，以家庭为基础的工作是非农业非正式工作中最大的一类，绝大多数由妇女担任。研究将在印度艾哈迈达巴德的非正式工人工会--自雇妇女协会(SEWA)进行。这项研究的主要研究问题是：通过参加工会赋予妇女权力是否会对她们在家庭和工作中的角色产生影响？本研究的具体目的是(1)考察非正式工人工会如何满足女性居家工作者的需求；(2)调查女性S参与工会如何增强她们影响工作和家庭环境的机构和能力。特别是，这项研究将揭示哪些机制可以将家庭和工作环境从一个剥削的场所转变为一个赋权的场所。重要的是，这项研究通过探讨妇女如何在家庭、市场和民间社会的社会机构中协商和构建她们作为妇女、工人和工会成员的身份，包括她们的经济价值之外的经历。多方法研究设计包括五种类型的数据收集：调查、深度访谈、家庭和工作环境的空间分析、政府和政策报告的二次数据分析、参与者观察。更广泛的影响基于家庭的工作是一个对应用和学术研究都特别隐蔽的领域，因为它的特点。通过解决社会机构中妇女经历的不平等的多个方面，这项研究将有助于关于妇女、工作和发展的社会学理论。此外，这项研究--S与东南亚妇女协会的合作研究设计，以其激进主义和草根方法而闻名，将为支持非正规部门妇女的计划和战略做出独特贡献。广泛的长期目标是，这项研究的结果将使各国政府、非政府组织和多边组织了解发展中国家非正规经济中妇女的具体需求。重要的是，它努力支持性别和发展模式，以解决不平等社会关系的多个地点。

SES-1332621Hester EisensteinNatascia BoeriCUNY Graduate School University CenterThis doctoral dissertation project will examine the changing dynamics of women?s societal roles as a result of their participation in the informal economy, focusing on the experiences of home-based workers. Over 90 percent of the Indian workforce is in the informal economy. Almost all are overlooked by social policies, despite the vulnerabilities associated with this sector. Informal workers are more likely to be living in poverty, less likely to be organized, and are disproportionately women. Home-based work is the largest subgroup of non-agricultural informal work in India, and is overwhelmingly taken up by women. Research will be conducted at Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a labor union for informal workers in Ahmedabad, India. The main research question addressed in this study is: can women's empowerment through participation in a labor union have consequences on their roles at home and work? The specific aims of this study are (1) to examine how a labor union for informal workers addresses women home-based workers' needs; and (2) to investigate how women?s participation in the union enhances their agency and ability to affect their work and home environment. In particular, the research will uncover what mechanisms might transform the home and work setting from a site of exploitation to a site of empowerment. Importantly, this research includes women's experiences beyond their economic value by addressing how they negotiate and construct their identities as women, workers, and union members across the social institutions of family, market and civil society. The multi-method research design includes five types of data collection: survey, in-depth interviews, spatial analysis of home and work setting, secondary data analysis of government and policy reports, and participant observation. Broader ImpactsHome-based work is a sector that remains especially hidden to both applied and scholarly research because of its characteristics. By addressing the multiple sites of inequality women experience across social institutions, this research will contribute to sociological theory on women, work, and development. In addition, this study?s collaborative research design with SEWA, noted for its activism and grass roots approach, will provide a unique contribution to programs and strategies that support women in the informal sector. The broad term goal is that findings of this research will inform governments, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral organizations of the specific needs of women in the informal economy in developing countries. Importantly, it strives to support a gender and development model that addresses the multiple locations of unequal social relations.