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Unmarried Women (unmarried + woman)
Selected AbstractsServants and citizens: Robert Beale and other Elizabethans*HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 206 2006Patrick Collinson Within the Elizabethan polity, which, given the rule of an unmarried woman with no identified or universally acknowledged successor, was unprecedented and unique, the conviction among the queen's subjects that they were also members of a commonwealth, citizens, which they owed to their educational formation and religious world-view, was reinforced. After briefly examining the careers of a number of public-spirited Elizabethans, members of parliament biographed by the late Joan Henderson, this article focuses on Robert Beale, ardent Protestant, polymath, diplomat and long-serving clerk of the privy council, as the supreme example of a citizen concealed within a royal and loyal servant. [source] An unusual association of pemphigus vulgaris with hyperprolactinemiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 10 2002MNAMS, Sujay Khandpur MD A 21-year-old unmarried woman presented with oral ulcerations and generalized, itchy, fluid-filled, skin lesions of 10 days' duration. The lesions ruptured spontaneously, resulting in extensive denuded areas covered by crusts. One month prior to this, she experienced pain and enlargement of both breasts with galactorrhea. Her menstrual cycles were normal initially, but later she developed menstrual irregularities. No past history suggestive of any other systemic or skin disease, including atopy or drug allergies, could be obtained. Her family history was not contributory. Dermatologic examination revealed multiple, flaccid bullae and extensive denuded areas of skin covered with crusts over the scalp, face, trunk, and upper and lower limbs (Fig. 1). Bulla spread sign and Nikolsky's sign were positive. The oral mucosa, including the lips, buccal surface, tongue, and palate, showed multiple erosions covered with necrotic slough. The rest of the mucocutaneous and systemic examination was within normal limits. Figure 1. Extensive erosions and flaccid bullae over the trunk with breast enlargement The patient's diagnostic work-up revealed: hemoglobin, 11.2 g%; total leukocyte count, 7400/mm3; differential leukocyte count, P62L34E2M2; erythrocyte sedimentation rate, 34 mm/h. A peripheral blood smear examination, urinalysis, blood sugar, and renal and liver function tests were normal. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) test and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were nonreactive. Antinuclear antibody, lupus erythematosus (LE) cell, rheumatoid factor, and anti-dsDNA levels were normal. Serum protein electrophoresis demonstrated increased levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody. The serum prolactin level was significantly raised to 139.49 ng/mL (normal, 3.6,18.9 ng/mL). The sex hormone levels, however, including follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol, and progesterone, were within normal limits. The thyroid hormone profile was also unaltered. Chest X-ray was normal. Ultrasound of the abdomen and pelvis revealed no visceral abnormality and computerized tomography (CT) scan of the pituitary sella showed no adenoma. Mammography was negative for breast malignancy. A Tzanck smear prepared from the base of the erosion showed multiple acantholytic cells and lymphocytes. Histologic examination from an intact vesicle was suggestive of pemphigus vulgaris (PV), showing a suprabasal cleft with acantholytic cells and the basal layer demonstrating a "row of tombstones" appearance (Fig. 2). Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) revealed the intercellular deposition of IgG and C3 throughout the epidermis in a "fishnet pattern." Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) test performed on rat esophagus for circulating IgG antibody was positive in a titer of 1 : 120. Figure 2. Photomicrograph showing suprabasal cleft with "row of tombstones" appearance, suggestive of pemphigus vulgaris (hematoxylin and eosin, × 40) Based on the clinical and immunohistological features, a diagnosis of PV with idiopathic hyperprolactinemia was made. The patient was treated with bromocriptine mesylate (Tablet Proctinal, Glaxo Wellcome Ltd, India) at a dose of 2.5 mg twice a day. After 2 months of therapy, significant improvement in the skin lesions was observed. The existing lesions re-epithelialized with a drastic reduction in the number and distribution of new vesicles. However, no change in the mucosal erosions was noticed. IIF test demonstrated a lower antibody titer (1 : 40). The breast complaints also improved with a reduction in serum prolactin level to 6.5 ng/mL. The patient refused further treatment as she experienced nausea and dizziness with bromocriptine. After 2 weeks, the disease relapsed with the appearance of new vesicles over the forearms, abdomen, back, and thighs. She again complained of breast tenderness and galactorrhea, and the serum prolactin level was 95 ng/mL. The IgG titer increased to 1 : 120. Hence, treatment with oral prednisolone (2 mg/kg/day) and bromocriptine (2.5 mg twice a day) with an antiemetic was initiated. After 6 weeks, the skin lesions had cleared completely, the breast symptoms had improved, menses had become regular, and the prolactin level had decreased to 4 ng/mL. IIF test was negative for circulating antibody. Steroids were tapered off and maintenance therapy with bromocriptine at a dose of 2.5 mg/day was continued. [source] A return to romance: Winifred Holtby's spinster novels from between the warsORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 3 2003Wendy Gan In ,A return to romance: Winifred Holtby's spinster novels from between the wars', I discuss Winifred Holtby's representations of the spinster in The Crowded Street, Poor Caroline and South Riding in the context of contemporary discourses on the spinster which, I argue, affect Holtby's representations negatively. I also suggest that despite Holtby's feminist desire to recuperate the much-maligned spinster in her writing, her failure to decisively uncouple romance from the spinster narrative consolidates the spinster in her traditional social role and transforms alternatives to heterosexual marriage, such as work, into mere consolations for the unmarried woman. [source] Heritability and anthropometric influences on human fertilityAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003Lorena Madrigal This study researched the impact of anthropometrics and size-of-family of orientation on women's fertility by using path analysis. The data were collected as part of the anthropological study conducted in Ireland by Harvard University personnel before the Second World War. The women included in this analysis were all over age 49 and were either married or widowed at the time of the survey. Our results indicate that the heritability of fertility is moderate in this sample and that there is a tendency for heavy women to have a higher fertility. However, when anthropometrics and size-of-family of orientation were entered as independent variables in a path diagram, an insignificant portion of the variation of fertility was explained. In this Irish population, the main cause of differential fertility was cultural rather than biological. A large portion of women never married and no unmarried woman reported producing a child. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 15:16,22, 2003. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Welfare Reform and Health Insurance of ImmigrantsHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005Neeraj Kaushal Objective. To investigate the effect of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) on the health insurance coverage of foreign- and U.S.-born families headed by low-educated women. Data Source. Secondary data from the March series of the Current Population Surveys for 1994,2001. Study Design. Multivariate regression methods and a pre- and post-test with comparison group research design (difference-in-differences) are used to estimate the effect of welfare reform on the health insurance coverage of low-educated, foreign- and U.S.-born unmarried women and their children. Heterogenous responses by states to create substitute Temporary Aid to Needy Families or Medicaid programs for newly arrived immigrants are used to investigate whether the estimated effect of PRWORA on newly arrived immigrants is related to the actual provisions of the law, or the result of fears engendered by the law. Principal Findings. PRWORA increased the proportion of uninsured among low-educated, foreign-born, unmarried women by 9.9,10.7 percentage points. In contrast, the effect of PRWORA on the health insurance coverage of similar U.S.-born women is negligible. PRWORA also increased the proportion of uninsured among foreign-born children living with low-educated, single mothers by 13.5 percentage points. Again, the policy had little effect on the health insurance coverage of the children of U.S.-born, low-educated single mothers. There is some evidence that the fear and uncertainty engendered by the law had an effect on immigrant health insurance coverage. Conclusions. This research demonstrates that PRWORA adversely affected the health insurance of low-educated, unmarried, immigrant women and their children. In the case of unmarried women, it may be partly because the jobs that they obtained in response to PRWORA were less likely to provide health insurance. The research also suggests that PRWORA may have engendered fear among immigrants and dampened their enrollment in safety net programs. [source] Unmarried in Palestine: Embodiment and (dis)Empowerment in the Lives of Single Palestinian WomenIDS BULLETIN, Issue 2 2010Penny Johnson There are rising numbers of single women across the Arab world. While this is usually connected with delayed marriage, Palestine shows a unique pattern of early but not universal marriage. This article looks beneath the statistics to investigate the stories behind this trend. How do young unmarried women negotiate boundaries and understand and enact choice in the context of a society experiencing prolonged insecure and warlike conditions, political crisis and social fragmentation and where the high number of unmarried women can be an increasing locus of moral panic? In conducting focus groups with two generations of women, my research looks at the prevailing importance of education, civil society and security in negotiating space within women's lives and uncovers a long tradition of unmarried women leading full and significant lives which needs to be recovered from the past. [source] From Welfare to Work: Has Welfare Reform Worked?JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2001Neeraj Kaushal This paper discusses estimates of the effect of welfare reform,as measured by the imposition of time limits and family cap provisions, on the employment and fertility of less educated unmarried women. This analysis shows that welfare reform has induced less educated unmarried women to move from welfare to work in significant numbers. The imposition of time limits and other administrative reforms correlated with it have increased the employment of unmarried women with 12 or fewer years of education by an estimated 363,171, approximately 28 percent of the decline in welfare caseloads for this group since 1994. Furthermore, evidence shows that women who have left welfare for employment worked approximately 29 hours per week, which even at low wages may significantly improve their financial status relative to public assistance. However, little evidence can be found to show that the imposition of time limits and family caps affect the fertility of less educated unmarried women. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [source] Outside the Moral Economy?THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2007Single Female Migrants, the Changing Bangladeshi Family Unmarried female migrants, travelling overseas for work, form a small proportion of Bangladeshi overseas migrants. Their situation is anomalous and suspect, since unmarried women should remain at home under male protection and control. The stories of Dipti, a single woman who migrated to Australia in the 1980s, and of two other single women from her native village, demonstrate clearly some of the contradictions of these women's lives. Like other single female migrants I knew, Dipti retained close links to kin in Bangladesh, contributing significantly to the income of parents and siblings back home. Indeed, her constant and generous gift-giving can be understood as an attempt to counter her anomalous position and remain part of the moral economy of the village. However, Dipti's longing to remain part of an ,ideal' extended family conflicted with her relatives' desire for autonomy. This is because families in Bangladesh were themselves changing over this period, due to the intersection of the developmental cycles of domestic groups, dispositions towards the autonomy of children from their parents and each other, and through the economic pressures of contemporary Bangladeshi society, which provide a strong further impetus towards the financial autonomy of the nuclear family. These changes within the structure of their families result in alienating further these single female migrants. Thus, ultimately, both Dipti's attempts to maintain her extended family in Bangladesh and her efforts to recreate it in Australia were doomed to failure. The brief stories of the other two single women I use in the article are parallel to that of Dipti's. [source] Marriage still protects pregnancyBJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 10 2005Kaisa Raatikainen Objective To assess the risk factors and outcome of pregnancy outside marriage in the 1990s, in conditions of a high percentage of extramarital pregnancies and high standard maternity care, used by the entire pregnant population. Design Hospital-based cohort study. Setting A university-teaching hospital in Finland. Population The 25,373 singleton pregnancies of known marital and cohabiting status. Methods Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated to estimate the effect of extramarital childbearing on pregnancy outcome. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to control for confounding maternal risk factors. Main outcome measures Small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants, preterm birth (less than 37 completed weeks), low birthweight (LBW; under 2500 g). Results Of the study population, 67.5% were married and 32.5% were unmarried; 24.2% of all mothers were cohabiting. Unmarried status was strongly associated with social disadvantage and particular risk factors, specifically unemployment, smoking and previous pregnancy terminations, which in turn had an impact on obstetric outcome. There were significantly more SGA infants among unmarried mothers (P < 0.001), with an absolute difference of 45%; more preterm deliveries (P= 0.001), with an absolute difference of 17.5%; and more LBW infants (P < 0.001), with an absolute difference of 26%. The differences in adverse pregnancy outcomes between study groups (i) all unmarried women, (ii) cohabiting women and (iii) single women, remained significant after multivariate analysis at adjusted ORs of 1.11, 1.11 and 1.07 for SGA, 1.17, 1.15 and 1.21 for LBW and 1.15, 1.15 and 1.29 for the preterm births, respectively. Conclusion Even in the 1990s when cohabitation was already common, pregnancy outside marriage was associated with an overall 20% increase of adverse outcomes, and free maternity care did not overcome the difference. [source] | |||||||||||||