Women and markets: a problem in the assessment of sexual inequality
Peasant marketplaces have enjoyed a reputation as institutions that free women from the sexual discrimination and sexual inequality found in other social contexts. Mintz (1971) argues that market work places a premium on intelligence and decisiveness instead of heavy manual labor, and therefore that market trade tends to be dominated by women. Boserup (1970) has demonstrated that the portion of women in trade is higher than in other occupations in less developed economies. In Bolivia, market women are both geographically and socially mobile, using their trade activities to finance either urban residence or multiple residences (Buechler 1976). Waterbury's (1968) account of the strength of the Oaxacan market union (many of whose members were women) indicates that marketers could depose high government officials and influence policy decisions on a state level. In Haiti, Bolivia, or Mesoamerica, middlewomen appear to have attained an independence and equality which, Mintz (1971) suggests, our own society might emulate. He (Mintz 1971:268) concludes: MWho is more modern, more western, more developed: a barefoot and illiterate Yoruba market woman who daily risks her security and her capital in vigorous individual competition with others like herself; or a Smith College graduate who spends her days ferrying her husband to the Westport railroad station and her children to ballet classes?" Anthropologists with a less optimistic view of markets as arenas of feminine achievement have seldom directly compared men and women in a marketing context. Bossen's (1984) study of women's work in Guatemala unites storekeepers and market vendors in a common category of "commercial occupations." Bossen (1984:78, 358) notes that the must successful stores are those run co-operatively by both spouses, with individual women enjoying less success. Only one male in her study ran his business as an individual, making it difficult for her to isolate sex as opposed to the number of persons involved in the venture as a factor in success. Babb's (1985) study of petty commercial ventures in Huaraz, Peru, stresses the predominance of women in a sphere that she regards as dependent on uneven capitalist development and offering little autonomy to individual vendors. The primary interest in Babb's article is the marginality of the petty commercial sector in the development process, not issues of sexual disparity within that sector. While both these studies present a picture considerably less optimistic than does Mintz, their findings do not directly contradict his suggestions that marketing opens opportunities to women unavailable in other sectors of the economy. This article presents data from an urban Guatemalan marketplace that contradicts an image of market-based sexual equality. Most women sell goods that carry the highest risks, the lowest profits, and the least potential for amassing wealth. While Guatemalan market women are probably more
Stationary Spot Behavior Checks and Extended Observation: Adapting Time Allocation to Marketplaces
By far, the most familiar method in anthropology is spot observation (Johnson 1975; Baksh 1989190). In this method, the researcher visits members of population (or a sample of a population) at randomly selected times and notes what people are doing at the moment of the visit. The alternative method-the focal followcomes from ethology and involves following a single individual for extended observation (Altmann 1974).
Introduction and experience with the primary mail services based on their names for students
Kyushu University provided mail service based on student IDs such as "1AB10123X" to the university students for many years. Using this model, we had problems communicating with the students who graduated from the University and enrolled in the graduate school. The students received new mail addresses based on their new student IDs such as "2AB12789Y". Faculty members were forced to change the student mail addresses in the mailing lists and in their mail client address book. Furthermore, students were forced to notify the e-mail address change to all of their existing contacts. We introduced a new mail system to provide addresses based on the student name, as well as student ID in April 2011. The new naming convention uses the following format: lastname.firstname.999 where 999 is a random number of 3 digits. Students can select some combination patterns of their first and last names for Japanese. We also consider the middle names for foreign students. In the system implementation, we did not have the formal information of alphabetical names for students. We generated alphabetical names from Japanese Katakana names. It is not easy for us to get the appropriate name in this manner. We implemented a confirmation stage of the alphabetical name at first use, and then students can select their mail addresses for their convenience. We paid much attention to the user interface in the system. Since April 2011, the number of users who use the mail address based on their own name has been increasing gradually. This paper will detail the usage status of the new system.