Labor Policy and the Social Meaning of Parenthood
The article explores an aspect of the debate over the place of women in the paid labor force. Focusing on disputes over “protective” labor policies, “fetal protection” policies in particular, the essay discusses the implications of such policies for the social meaning of parenthood. Using data from interviews with 49 mothers and 37 fathers of children in neonatal intensive care units, the essay presents evidence suggesting that traditional social values inherent in female-exclusive labor policies are inadequate when one is dealing with the practical needs of parents. A policy that views women as nurturing and men as economically active resides in assumptions that women have the sole biological connection to children and overly determines a narrow conception of parenthood. The parents in this sample demonstrate the ongoing and complex negotiations involved in parenting, negotiations that labor policies have often ignored.
PROTECTING THE WOMB: THE MYTH OF PRIVACY IN REPRODUCTION
This paper examines the policing of the sexuality of juvenile females, pregnant women and abortion within a framework of the public/private dichotomy using Gerald Turkels typology of Marxian postulates. It explores five primary roles of women under the capitalist system in the United States and relates them to policies directed at women's reproductive rights based on the public/private distinction.
Archaeology and mud wall decay in a West African village
Abstract A detailed study of the processes of deterioration of mud walls and of the physical evolution and devolution of a contemporary West African village is seen to facilitate the location of decayed mud structures at a nearby archaeological site. Various climatic and pedological conditions at the site make it unlikely that such walls will be discerned. The archaeologist wishing to obtain the fullest and least biased picture of the settlement configuration of the ancient community should therefore heed all the inferential lessons to be had from a focused ethnographic investigation. Given similar climatic situations and practices of house construction, taphonomy and ethnographic analogies may both be necessary for a valid reconstruction of an archaeological settlement.