The rise in popularity of women's history and the history of letter writing has ensured much debate on these subjects in recent years. However, little research has been conducted on the letter writing of unmarried women and networks shown in their letter writing. From courtship to widowhood, the relationships created and sustained through the medium of letter writing are manifested, and the detail of their lives makes for compelling reading. Through largely case based studies, I have sought to show the types of support systems women had in place, not only from men, but from friends and relatives. Their lives are documented through analysis of both manner and content, examining style, rhetoric and expression. I have sought to include not only examples of women who have already been examined, such as Dorothy Osborne, and Anne Newdigate, but lesser known sources, such as Isabella Strutt and the correspondents of Jane Stringer. This adds a new depth to the work already conducted on the lives of early modern women. Single women were able to create agenda and autonomy through their letter writing, employing a variety of rhetorical devices and personas subject to their stage in the life cycle. Through their letters, they were able to maintain bonds with men and women, cutting across gender and class barrier, broadening their experiences and enriching their lives.

Preferences of the size of family and the relationship between the size of family and a number of socio - economic and demographic variables were studied among high school senior girls in three northern Utah counties by a special survey. The questionnaire specifically designed for the study was administered between November 1967 and February 1968 in all high schools in Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties with the exception of Logan High School in Logan and Box Elder High School in Brigham City. Two questions were used to elicit the answers on the preference of family size; one was designed to elicit an answer with the respondent as the point of reference and the other was the "generalized other" as a reference point. Both sets of data were c ross-tabulated with socio - economic and demographic variables. Both data indicated that the mean number of children desired was 4 .4 and 4.3 for the family of "generalized others " and the respondent's own family respectively. A weak relationship was found between the ideal size of family and the education of respondent's mother and father, income, religion, residence, occupation, and the demographic variable, the respondent's own family size. The data also indicated that those with a belief in birth control prefer a smaller family than those who do not believe in the use of contraceptive devices. Due to the sample size and the exploratory nature of the study, relationships between ideal size of family and the selected number of variables can only be suggestive.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132-139).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 132-139) Also available in print.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The proportion of children born outside of marriage in Chile increased from 15.9 percent in 1960 to 64.6 percent in 2008. Similar increases have been taken elsewhere as indicative of a Second Demographic Transition (SDT). In this dissertation, I study differences between married and unmarried mothers in Chile and the reasons why such a large proportion of children are born outside of marriage, with the goal of understanding whether the demographic changes we are observing in the country are part of a global movement towards the SDT. The data comes from a postpartum survey implemented in Santiago, the capital city. I analyze differences between women according to the family arrangement they live in, including married women in nuclear households, married women in extended households, cohabiters in nuclear households, cohabiters in extended households, visiting mothers, and single mothers. I consider women’s socioeconomic wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, social support, attitudes and values, and reproductive health. The results show large demographic and socioeconomic differences, marking the socioeconomic advantage of married women in nuclear households, who are the oldest, and the disadvantage of cohabiters in extended households, visiting and single mothers, who are the youngest women in the sample. Married women in extended households and cohabiters in nuclear households are between these two poles. Differences in emotional wellbeing exist, benefiting married women in nuclear households, but they are not so large. Differences in social support continue delineating married women in nuclear households as a privileged group, but visiting mothers appear as a highly supported group too. There are not large differences in attitudes and values, as most women continue holding conservative attitudes on family issues, and most unmarried mothers plan to marry. Differences in reproductive health are large, showing that unplanned births and contraceptive failure are high in the underprivileged and youngest groups. Unmarried women seem to accept their pregnancies with no pressure to marry, and to give priority to other goals, such as their careers and homeownership, before the wedding, which they do not discard for the future. Under these circumstances, it is hard to interpret recent demographic changes in Chile as a SDT. / text

Working and unmarried women could have a life which married women had not. Instead of marriage, they built their social and family life on friendship. They lived with each other, payed rent together, discussed domestic issues such as cleaning and household labour. They also talked about love, and passion, and how to find a friend to share their life with. This particular group of unmarried women did not solely arrange friendship out of practical purposes but also of emotional and social bonds. This study focuses on the teacher Maja Beskow in Umeå and her diaries and correspondence with and about her friends from the year 1896 to 1923. What did they say about friendship? What aspects of life could be found within the friendships?

This thesis aims to gain a deeper understanding of relationships and sexuality of women at risk of social exclusion in Sri Lanka and the risk of violations of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) that they might face. Individual qualitative interviews with migrant women workers (n=18) and men (n=18) in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), women facing single motherhood (n=28) and women formerly involved in prostitution (n=15) were conducted. Conceptual approaches included gender, social navigation and SRHR. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. Findings revealed that the migrant women workers negotiated norms of respectability in a society that highly stigmatizes FTZ women workers, while the men identified conflicting constructions of masculinity existing in the FTZ. The women facing single motherhood navigated oppressive and stigmatizing social forces, and the women in prostitution constructed themselves as respectable in opposition to their societal disvalue and marginalization. In order to retain an image of sexual innocence, unmarried women are likely to refrain from demanding or demonstrating SRHR knowledge and accessing services. Furthermore, gender power imbalances leave the women vulnerable to sexual persuasion, coercion and violence. Once pregnant, social, legal, and knowledge barriers hinder or delay them in accessing abortion services. Unmarried pregnant women are thus left with the alternatives of adoption, infanticide, and suicide or become stigmatized single mothers with risks of health and social exclusion for mother and child. Extreme marginalization and limited power make women in prostitution vulnerable to unsafe sex, rape and violence. In conclusion, these women are likely to face numerous and serious SRHR hazards. The complexity of gendered social circumstances and the SRHR implications demonstrated in this thesis, add to the SRHR knowledge in Sri Lanka, and should inform politicians and policy makers about the need to improve the situation of all women in Sri Lanka.

本研究主要在探討30歲至45歲未婚女性的網路購物行為。先從次級資料的分析，來界定所研究的族群與範圍。接者，以深度訪談的質性方式，去了解未婚熟女網路購物的習性與實務(Habits and Practices)。並根據深度訪談的結果來設計問卷，進行量化分析。最後，從126份回收的有效問卷中，去了解未婚熟女的網路購物行為、其在網路購物上未被滿足的需求、及其對現有購物網站的品牌印象及品牌滿意度。 研究發現，未婚熟女族群對於現有購物網站的「個人資料安全性」、「售後服務」、「退換貨服務」、「詳細商品說明」、「網頁整齊不凌亂」等方面，仍有未滿足之處。同時，在以上未滿足的點上，表現較好的購物網站，會有比較高的品牌滿意度。 / This research is about the on-line shopping behavior of 30-45 unmarried women. First of all, the researcher defined the target audience by the analyzing the secondary data collected. Secondly, by deeply interview with 4 unmarried women aged 30-45, the researcher tried to understand the habits and practices of the on-line shopping behavior of 30-45 unmarried women. In addition, based on the deeply interview result, the researcher designed the questionnaire for following quantity analysis. From the 126 effective questionnaires collected, the researcher analyzed the on-line shopping behavior of the target audience, their unmet needs of on-line shopping and their brand image and brand satisfaction of existing shopping websites. The research discovered that personal information security、after-sale service、exchange and refund、detailed product introduction、clean and ordered web page are the unmet needs of the target audience. And those shopping websites which perform better on the unmet needs have higher brand satisfaction.