The Rise of the Sunbelt

In the last 50 years, population and incomes have increased steadily throughout much of the Sunbelt. This paper assesses the relative contributions of rising productivity, rising demand for Southern amenities and increases in housing supply to the growth of warm areas, using data on income, housing price and population growth. Before 1980, economic productivity increased significantly in warmer areas and drove the population growth in those places. Since 1980, productivity growth has been more modest, but housing supply growth has been enormous. We infer that new construction in warm regions represents a growth in supply, rather than demand, from the fact that prices are generally falling relative to the rest of the country. The relatively slow pace of housing price growth in the Sunbelt, relative to the rest of the country and relative to income growth, also implies that there has been no increase in the willingness to pay for sun-related amenities. As such, it seems that the growth of the Sunbelt has little to do with the sun.

Roles de género y la relación familia-empleo

RESUMEN: La reflexión y la acción en tomo al cambio de la posición de las mujeres en la sociedad está cambiando de perspectiva en los últimos años

Conciliación o contradicción: cómo hacen las madres trabajadoras

La rápida extensión de la actividad laboral femenina se acompaña en España de una escasa presencia del trabajo a tiempo parcial, de insuficientes servicios para el cuidado de niños y de una reducida participación de los hombres en el trabajo doméstico. En ese contexto, la pregunta que se plantea es cómo hacen las madres trabajadoras para compatibilizar en términos prácticos su doble responsabilidad laboral y familiar. A partir del concepto de estrategia se indago en los recursos que en mayor medida facilitan la conciliación entre el mundo del trabajo y de la familia, señalándose asimismo sus limitaciones. Entre otros, se abordan la ayuda de la familia extensa, la ayuda remunerada, los centros escolares, las estrategias espaciales y las estrategias temporales. Se concluye que entre familia y empleo hay hoy una relación de contradicción que quienes la encarnan más directamente -las madres trabajadoras- resuelven de forma privada, informal y no siempre satisfactoria. La información utilizada se basa en la Encuesta sobre Compatibilización Familia-Empleo, realizada en 1998 a una muestra representativa dr las madres trabajadoras españolas, complementada con datos de carácter cualitativo.sThe fast spread of female incorporation into the labour market is accompanied in Spain by a scanty presence of part-time work, insufficient child care services, and a limited participation of men in household chores. In such a context, the question raised is how working mothers manage to reconcile, in practical terms, their dual responsibility of working and taking care of the family. Starting out from the concept of strategy, an investigation is made into the resources which most favour the reconciliation between the world of work and the family domain, whilst also indicating their limitations. Amongst other topics tackled, are the help given by the extended family, paid help, schools, spacial strategies and temporal strategies. The conclusion reached is that between family and work there is, today, a relationship of contradiction which those who most directly personify it — working mothers — resolve in a private, informal and not always satisfactory way. The information used is based on the Family-Job Reconciliation Survey which was carried out in 1998 on a representative sample of Spanish working mothers, complemented with data of a qualitative nature

Equality and difference in the professionalization of women artists: Comments on the Texts of Alejandra Val Cubero and Natalia Izquierdo

A partir de los conceptos de igualdad y diferencia, se discuten las formas de profesionalización de cuatro mujeres artistas españolas. Solo en el caso de Maruja Mallo se observa una trayectoria equiparable a la de los hombres artistas, tanto en lo que se refiere a la formación académica en las escuelas de bellas artes, como al reconocimiento por parte de la crítica especializada, a la autonomía económica que le confiere su actividad como pintora y a la separación de su vida personal y amorosa respecto de su trabajo profesional. En los otros tres casos, los de la pintora Amalia Avia y las escritoras Carmen Martín Gaite y Carmen Laforet, hay una tensión entre la vida artística y la vida personal, en especial en lo que se refiere a la relación con los hombres, que se resuelve en supeditación, evasión o conflictoThe paths to professionalization of four Spanish women artists are discussed from an equality-difference perspective. Maruja Mallo is the only woman with a trajectory comparable to that of male artists in terms of formal fine arts training, recognition by specialized critics, economic independence through painting, and the separation between her personal and sentimental life and professional activity. In the case of the painter Amalia Avia and the writers Carmen Martín Gaite and Carmen Laforet, there existed a tension between their lives as artists and their personal lives, particularly regarding men, which was resolved through dependence, evasion or conflict

Family Networks, Gender and Social Policy

La preocupación acerca de la capacidad del Estado del Bienestar para responder a las nuevas demandas que el envejecimiento de la población va a producir en los próximos años, explica la creciente relevancia que las relaciones intergeneracionales, más allá de la familia nuclear, están adquiriendo en el debate público. El artículo discute el papel de la ayuda de la red familiar en la provisión de cuidado de los dependientes en perspectiva comparada en Francia y España. En ambos países, el protagonismo de los mayores en el cuidado de los nietos se ha incrementado en los últimos años. Hay, sin embargo, una diferencia importante. En Francia la ayuda de los abuelos complementa recursos generosos del Estado, mientras que en España sustituye las escasas políticas sociales. En ambos países son fundamentalmente las familias quienes asumen el cuidado de los mayores que no pueden valerse por sí mismos, siendo la lógica de las políticas sociales apoyarlas para que puedan seguir haciéndolo. Emergen así diversas cuestiones en torno a quienes van a ser los cuidadores del futuro, si es justo o deseable que lo sigan siendo las familias, o más concretamente, las mujeres.The concern about the capacity of welfare states to respond to the new demands the aging of the population will pose in the years to come, explains why intergenerational relationships, beyond the nuclear family, are becoming a relevant issue in public debate in Europe. The article discusses the role of kinship support for care in comparative perspective in France and Spain. Both in France and Spain the role of grandparents as carers seems to have increased in the last years. The main difference between the two countries is that in the former kinship support complements generous provision of services by the state whereas in Spain grandparents substitute scarce social polices. In both countries it is mostly families that provide care for the elderly, the underlying logic of policies being to help families with support services provided by the state. Several issues emerge as questions to be asked: whether in the future families and, more specifically, middle aged women will continue to be available as carers, to what extent this is fair or desirable and how should this resource be complemented with other resources from the state, the market or the community

New Gendered Relationships in Spain: "The Other" in the Care Triangle

Precede al título: The Work-Life Balance ISpanish couples have found new ways of organising their productive and reproductive lives within the domestic sphere. The increasing role of women in the labour market provides the basis for these new domestic structures, yet few social policies have been advanced to create greater compatibility between the worlds of work and home. Mothers of the new generation have to think of strategies to reconcile their labour and family life, with the employment of domestic service emerging as one of the most significant alternatives in recent years. On the other hand, immigration has suffered many changes, the most important being its increase and its feminisation. This is the result of the transformations experienced by the countries of origin of the migrants, including free-movers from the European Union, as well as the consequence of the creation of a new demand for workers in the receiver countries. Female employers and domestic employees meet each other in one 'home' &- that of the working Spanish mother &- now characterised by ethnic or cultural diversity and the permanent negotiation of individual, familial and group identities. The article analyses the discourse of working mothers who employ domestic service to care for their children, as well as the discourse of female migrant/immigrant domestic workers from Eastern Europe, North Africa and Latin America

Las familias monoparentales en España

El concepto de monoparentalidad adolece de una notable imprecisión al integrar situaciones muy diferentes como la viudedad, la procreación sin pareja y el divorcio o separación. El factor común a todas ellas es la carga de los hijos asumida por un único progenitor, lo cual obliga a definir el significado exacto de estos dos aspectos. El artículo presenta el análisis de la monoparentalidad en España realizado a partir de una explotación especial de datos del Censo de Población de 1991 y de la Encuesta de Población Activa de 1991 y 1996 según criterios comparativos con los adoptados en la mayor parte de los países europeos. Se aportan datos acerca de los núcleos familiares y de los hogares monoparentales y se analizan las características de las madres en situación de monoparentalidad según edad, nivel de estudios, actividad y paro.Lone parenthood is an imprecise concept including very different situations as widowhood, single parenthood and divorce. What is common to the three of them is that only one of the parents bears the load of the children. The exact meaning of these two aspects needs to be clarified. The article presents the analysis of lone parenthood in Spain based on data from the Census of Population of 1991 and the Labour Force Surveys of 1991 and 1996 according to comparative criteria used in most European countries. New data on lone parent families and households are produced and discussed as well data as on the main characteristics of lone mothers (age, eduction, employment and unemployment)