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Emerging Economies (EEs) are characterized by sustained growth performance, but they suffer from inequality as well, especially the Gender Inequality. Literature points out a number of gender norms which play a significant role in aggravating the gender disparity. The chapter chooses a panel of 25 EEs for the period of 2007–2020 to investigate how gender norms can affect the female labor force participation (FLFP) and development relationship. Results suggest that EEs are in a stage of development where even if countries are growing at a reasonable rate, FLFP is falling. Further investigation reveals that skewed sex ratio can dampen the impact of development, whereas secondary school enrollment and legislation to protect women from sexual harassment in the workplace may foster the effect of development. Thus, policies to encourage parents to invest more on the girl child and providing legal support to women at the workplace can be effective policies to reduce gender inequality.

Issues of women’s education and empowerment of women have been incorporated in the framing of the role of women in international development from the 1970s, primarily as a response to the liberal feminist movement agenda of the time. This analysis examines the degree to which liberal feminism and liberal feminist theory is reflected in comparative education scholarship in the lead up to and beyond the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The analysis first explores the underpinnings of liberal feminism, which constitutes the ideal embedded in development education for girls and women. It follows up with a reflection on the literature in the field of comparative education that reference liberal feminism framework and feminist theory in exploring educational issues and ways in which the theory is located in the research. Illustration of examples that demonstrate the limits of liberal feminism as a theoretical framework and barriers to the use of liberal feminist theory as an ideological guide are captured in the findings. The search is limited to the six dominant scholarly outlets in the field of comparative education; namely Comparative Education Review (CER), Comparative Education (CE), Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education (Compare), Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education (Prospects), International Review of Education (IRE), and the International Journal of Educational Development (IJED). Only works that explicitly mention liberal feminism/liberal feminist perspectives are included in the analysis. This research contributes to the acknowledgement of the liberal feminist theory in development education and for the field of comparative education. It will also help with understanding the politics of ideology and representation in scholarship and development interventions.

Purpose: Despite the significance of filial piety in intergenerational relationships and its important influence on parental health and well-being, few studies have explored the personal meaning of filial piety to older parents. This qualitative study aims to address this question.

Design: Responses to an open-ended question of “What makes a filial child in your view?” from a sample of 432 older parents in a rural Chinese county were collected face-to-face and analyzed using content analysis.

Findings: The personal meaning of filial piety varies. Seven broad themes emerged. These include widely persistent traditional filial piety beliefs (Be obedient, Respect, and Maintain frequent contact and show emotional care), filial piety values similar to filial obligations described in Western cultures (Help older parents when in times of need and Be a good citizen and take good care of themselves and their families), and traditional filial piety norms in the absolute form (Take care of every aspect of the parents’ life and Provide financial and material support to parents). Themes were also compared with dimensions of the intergenerational solidarity model.

Originality: Findings reflect the coexistence of traditional and modern filial values in relation to participants’ interpretation of filial piety, indicating that traditional filial piety beliefs are fading even in one of the least developed areas in China. Implications for interventions enhancing offspring’s filial performance are discussed.

Research limitations: Future studies on the understanding of filial piety from the perspective of offspring are warranted to draw a holistic picture of this topic.

Family violence is a universal problem which is beginning to grow to a significant scale in Syria. Although it has existed for a long time, the actual characteristics of this scourge in our country are not known. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the family violence in Syrian society.

This work consisted of an epidemiological approach to domestic violence in Syria during the year 2010. A questionnaire had been developed which is used for the study of the socio-demographic profile of families and the study of violence in the family. This study has been conducted on a survey of 365 women.

The analysis of the results reveals the following characteristics: 16% of the women in the sample were victims of physical violence. The youth is a risk factor for these women, the age range most affected by violence (45%) is that of women aged between 20 and 40 years. Violence affects all social, economic, and cultural classes; anger is an aggravating factor of domestic violence; in fact, 27.3% of spouses who assaulted their wives were in an angry state.

The violence in the family is a very sensitive issue and very common, but the exact prevalence of violence in the family is not known. Therefore, the violence in the family is underdiagnosed. An urgent response plan is needed to reduce the spread of this scourge and its consequences.

Women perform the majority of household labour in many families around the world. However, the unequal division of household labour does not lead to dissatisfaction among women. In the present study, the author introduced the intergenerational household assistance to understand married women’s and men’s satisfaction with division of household labour in China, in addition to three major theoretical perspectives in studies of western families (i.e., relative resources, time availability, and gender role ideology). Logistic regression analyses on a nationally representative dataset (the Second Wave Survey of Chinese Women’s Social Status) were performed to study this topic. Consistent with studies in the West, the results show that relative resources, time availability, and gender ideology were associated with married Chinese women’s satisfaction, while married Chinese men’s satisfaction was only associated with time availability (the household labour done by them and their wives). Importantly, married women with parents-in-law’s household assistance tend to be more satisfied than those with help from their parents. The findings demonstrate that Chinese marriages are intertwined with intergenerational relationships and suggest that it is important to take into account of the influence of intergenerational relationships in studies of Chinese marriages.

Purpose – This chapter attempts to understand the impact of war, conflict, and forced migration in the northwest border of India on the security of the aged widows and the ways they respond, construct, and negotiate their lives.

Methodology – The study is based on group discussions in villages and camps and narratives of seven widowed women who were asked to tell the story of their lives.

Findings – The chapter highlights that widowed women's agency was exercised in a significant manner during the situations of war, conflict, and forced migration, but it was largely circumscribed by the intersection of patriarchy, rural structure, customary practices, and inheritance rights. New norms and new roles were taken up in the migrant camps, but village life with its traditional extended family structure was still considered ideal for the social security it provided. However, aged widows are no longer treated with respect and care, suggesting a decline in the traditional joint family system and of the dominant position of elderly widowed women in it. This was accelerated in conflict situations.

Research implications – The research calls for focusing on women's agency and moving beyond the victimhood paradigm in women's studies. It highlights the significance of individual interpretations of events and the relevance of qualitative methods such as life stories.

Value of chapter – The chapter is valuable for its work on themes such as rural life, gender, and conflict studies and for policy makers to initiate plans dealing with the problems of forced migrants and of the security of the older people, particularly widows.

Detecting and describing intergenerational ambivalence in historical populations is a challenge because historians are dependent, for the most part, upon the evidence that has survived, rather than on evidence elicited by researchers from participants. In this respect, the distant past is more problematic than the recent past, of course; and studies of recent (but past) generations have been able successfully to integrate documentary, statistical, and interview material (Hareven, 1982; Macfarlane, 1977). Still, such studies cover only a short stretch of past time. The purpose of this essay is to review research on family history dealing with the past three or four centuries in order to see how the subject of intergenerational ambivalence has been dealt with, if at all, and how it might need to be incorporated into historical thinking when certain kinds of situations come under scrutiny.