Simmons R, Mita R, Koenig M A
Department of Population Planning, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-2029.
Stud Fam Plann. 1992 Mar-Apr;23(2):97-108.
This study investigates how employment in family planning affects the status of community workers. The focus is on three critical variables: prestige, professional status, and social influence. The data are derived from a focus-group study conducted in 1987-88 in the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Project in Matlab, Bangladesh. Focus-group sessions were held with community workers, their husbands, community leaders, and community women. Results show that although community workers initially faced intense hostility in the community, they succeeded in maintaining the prestige that is traditionally accorded to women in their conservative, rural society. Moreover, they established themselves as valued health and family planning professionals in a social context where professional roles for women have been extremely circumscribed. Finally, they gained social influence by performing a range of functions in the community that exceed formally prescribed job responsibilities. The professional and social leadership roles that community workers now assume imply a degree of status that seemed inconceivable a decade ago. That such change could result from a well-designed and appropriately managed family planning project deserves careful attention.
本研究调查了计划生育工作如何影响社区工作者的地位。重点关注三个关键变量：威望、职业地位和社会影响力。数据来源于1987 - 1988年在孟加拉国马特莱的母婴健康与计划生育项目中开展的一项焦点小组研究。与社区工作者、她们的丈夫、社区领袖以及社区女性进行了焦点小组讨论。结果表明，尽管社区工作者最初在社区中面临强烈的敌意，但她们成功地保持了在其保守的农村社会中传统上赋予女性的威望。此外，在女性职业角色受到极大限制的社会背景下，她们确立了自己作为有价值的健康和计划生育专业人员的地位。最后，她们通过在社区中履行一系列超出正式规定工作职责的职能而获得了社会影响力。社区工作者现在所承担的专业和社会领导角色意味着一定程度的地位，而这在十年前似乎是不可想象的。这样的变化能够由一个精心设计且管理得当的计划生育项目促成，值得仔细关注。
