Race and Independent Living among Elderly Brazilians Since 1980

S (English) MAUREEN BAKER, Department of Sociology,University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019,Auckland, New Zealand. Medically Assisted Conception: RevolutionizingFamily or Perpetuating a Nuclear and GenderedModel? New reproductive technologies have the potentialto radicalize family life, as they could blur kinshiplines, separate biological and social parenthood,and encourage couples to create 'designer babies'.On the other hand, these technologies could helpmore married couples create socially-acceptablenuclear families and reduce unwanted childlessmarriages. This article uses the 'stories' fromqualitative interviews with couples seekingfertility treatments in New Zealand to interrogatemotives for treatment, gendered experiences withprocedures, and views about the future of marriagewithout children. The interviews show that,despite the potential of medically assistedconception, these participants use reproductivetechnologies as a vehicle to normality and socialacceptance. The results of this study, combinedwith overseas research, suggest that medicallyassisted conception could reinforce pronatalismand patriarchal families rather than lead to a futurerevolution in family life. SU-HAO TU and PEI-SHAN LIAO, Center forSurvey Research, Research Center for Humanitiesand Social Sciences, Academia Sinica, 128 Sec. 2Academia Road, Nangang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan Gender Differences in Gender-Role Attitudes: AComparative Analysis of Taiwan and CoastalChina This article investigates gender differences ingender-role attitudes in two societies with thesame cultural heritage and identifies factorsdifferentiating patterns of women's and men'sattitudes. The data were collected from twosurveys conducted in Taiwan and coastal Chinaduring 1996 97, with a total of 2,801 and 2,907completed interviews, respectively, used in theanalysis. Latent Class Analysis revealed two similar latentforms of gender-role attitudes for both genders inthe two societies. Most of the respondents, withmore males than females and more coastal Chinesethan Taiwanese, were classified as holding"traditional type" attitudes. The gender gap intraditional attitudes was larger in Taiwan than incoastal China. The factors differentiating women's patterns ofattitudes from men's found in Taiwan supportthe perspectives of gendered self-interest andpaternal role-model. Urbanization and cohorteffects were more significant in coastal China,showing that political ideology and policyimplementation in different stages and regionsshape gender-role attitudes in different societies.This study supports the importance ofincorporating gender analysis into interpretationsof societal differences in the ways gender-roleattitudes are structured. SUSAN DE VOS and FLAVIA ANDRADE,Center for Demography of Health and Aging,Department of Sociology, University ofWisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. Race and Independent Living among ElderlyBrazilians Since 1980 This paper examines independent living amongelderly Brazilians age 65+ of different racialgroups using 1980 and 2000 census microsamples.Although there was an overall increase inindependent living among Brazilian elders, thatincrease mainly reflects change among Whiteswhereas there was little change among Browns orBlacks. Since Whites tend to have highersocioeconomic status than Browns or Blacks inBrazil, one might suppose that a racial disparitymerely reflects socioeconomic differences. Thatis a common argument anyway. But if that wereso, then after controlling for socioeconomic factors Journal of Comparative Family Studies there should be 1) no racial difference in thelikelihood of independent living, and 2) no racialdifference hi the change in that likelihood. However,we find 1) net racial differences in independentliving in both 1980 and 2000, and 2) a net racialdifference in change among unmarried men. Ourfindings suggest that social, cultural or minoritystatus factors not captured in our statistical modelsmay explain these differences. Additional studyis needed to confum or negate this that will ideallyinclude information about non-coresident as wellas coresident kin. JANEEN BAXTER, BELINDA HEWITT andMARK WESTERN, School of Social Science, TheUniversity of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072,Australia. Post-Familial Families and the Domestic Divisionof Labour This paper takes as its starting point recent claims• by Beck-Gemsheim (2002) that we are living inan era of "post-familial families." Beck-Gemsheim(2002) argues that our lives are no longerstructured as they once were by tradition, class,religion and kin. Instead the family has become atransitional phase as individuals strive forfulfillment of personal goals and personal lifeprojects. The demographic evidence to supportthese claims is clearly evident in relation tochanging patterns of family formation anddissolution, as well as the movement of marriedwomen into paid employment. But what is lessevident is a decline in traditional patterns of genderstratification within families. This paper usesrecent national data from Australia to examinethe relationship between post-familial status, asindicated by marital status and employment, andtime spent on housework. The results show thatgender is still a clear predictor of time spent onhousework, but that within gender there isevidence that gender inequality may be decliningin non-traditional households. JIPING ZUO, Department of Sociology andAnthropology, St. Cloud State University, St.Cloud, MN 56301, USA. YANJE BIAN, Division of Social Science, HongKong University of Science & Technology,Kowloon, Hong Kong.Beyond Resources and Patriarchy: MaritalConstruction of Family Decision-Making Powerin Post-Mao Urban China Resource theory and the patriarchy perspectivemaintain that wives have less family decision-making power either due to their lack of valuableresources or the persistence of male dominanceculture. We examine a somewhat different patternin post-Mao urban China, where wives have fewerresources and do more housework but nonethelesshave greater family decision-making power thantheir husbands. Our in-depth interviews of 43couples in Beijing show that resource-basedpower use is common among individualized orincompatible families. However, the dominantfamily organization is collectivized, in which thecouple shares family resources, denounces equity-oriented exchange, and is guided by relationalharmony. Among the couples from collectivizedfamilies, household responsibilities are recognizedas a vital contribution to the family's well-beingand thus are a primary source of family decision-making power. Male dominance culture is foundmore evident among collectivized thanindividualized or incompatible couples, but itspresence does not seem as strong as that ofhousehold responsibilities regarding familydecision-making. S. NIRANIAN, Department of DevelopmentStudies, International Institute for PopulationSciences (IIPS), Deonar, Mumbai 400 088, India SARITHA NAIR, Research Officer, NationalInstitute for Research in Reproductive Health(NIRRH), Parel, Mumbai, India. T. K. ROY, Director & Senior Professor,International Institute for Population Sciences(UPS) A Socio-Demographic Analysis of the Size andStructure of the Family in India This paper is an attempt to study the currentsize and structure of family according to differentsocio-demographic and economic characteristicsof the households in India and its states. Data areobtained from the National Family Health Surveyconducted in 1998-99 which covered arepresentative sample from 26 states in thecountry. Results suggest that the proportion of