Gender wage discrimination in rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh

Female wages in Bangladesh are significantly lower than male wages. This paper quantifies the extent to which discrimination can explain this gender wage gap across the rural and urban labour markets of Bangladesh, using unit record data from the 1999–2000 Labour Force Survey. The gender wage differential is decomposed into a component that can be explained by differences in productive characteristics and a component not explained by observable productive differences, which is attributed to discrimination. An attempt is also made to improve on the standard methodology by implementing a wage-gap decomposition method that accounts for selectivity bias, on top of the usual “explained” and “unexplained” components. Analytical results from this paper show that gender wage differentials are considerably larger in urban areas than in rural areas and a significant portion of this wage differential can be attributed to discrimination against women. The results also show that selectivity bias is an important component of total discrimination.

Comparison of the work of psychologists in rural and urban settings : implications for professional training

To compare the work practices and training needs of rural and urban psychologists, 774 surveys were sent to psychologists throughout Australia. The psychologists were selected from the Australian Psychological Society (APS) Directory of Psychologists, 1992- 1993. A total of 86 rural psychologists and 282 urban psychologists responded to the survey. The survey comprised of four sections with questions asking respondents their demographic and employment background, past and current training activities, work experience, and relations with community. Results showed that the decision to practice and remain in a rural area was influenced by psychologists’ childhood experience and professional training in a rural setting, A substantial proportion of rural psychologists (28%) had been working in rural practice for five years or less. These rural psychologists were identified as a group that had a demographic and training profile more similar to urban psychologists than their rural colleagues. The employment conditions and training background of rural and urban psychologists were similar, though rural psychologists were more likely to be working in private practice and have undertaken their studies in a rural setting. Rural and urban psychologists rated their undergraduate and postgraduate training in psychology as only somewhat adequate. Training in rural health and community issues received the lowest ratings from both groups of psychologists. The work practices of rural and urban psychologists were also similar. There were some differences in the demographic profile of the client groups seen by the two groups. Rural psychologists reported the type of relations with their communities that are conducive to rural practice. The main evidence of this was that rural psychologists were collaborating with the natural helpers of their communities, and expressed willingness to formally train natural helpers to assist in the provision of psychological services. There were several conclusions drawn from this study. The first conclusion was that rural psychologists with urban demographic and training backgrounds are a group that is likely to migrate from rural practice to urban practice, Secondly, training needs to be specialised for rural practice if there is to be an improvement in the number of psychologists practicing in rural settings. Thirdly, rural psychologists were conducting the type of relations with their communities that are important to the requirements of rural practice.

How different is it really? – rural and urban primary students’ use of ICT in mathematics

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers the potential for changing mathematics education for both teachers and students. However, how ICT is used, and by whom, is critical to realizing this potential. This paper reports on an investigation of the use of ICT in the learning and teaching of mathematics in rural and urban primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Thirty-six teachers and almost 700 students were surveyed regarding their use of ICT for mathematics at home and at school, with a small number of selected teachers and students taking part in interviews. This paper focuses on students’ perceptions of ICT use. A comparison of rural and urban students’ responses shows little difference across most aspects of ICT use, and where there was a difference, the frequency of rural use almost always exceeded that in urban schools.

The association between self-reported diet quality and health-related quality of life in rural and urban Australian adolescents

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the relationship between diet quality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in rural and urban Australian adolescents, and gender differences.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional.

SETTING: Secondary schools.

PARTICIPANTS: 722 rural and 422 urban students from 19 secondary schools.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Self-report dietary-related behaviours, demographic information, HRQoL (AQoL-6D) were collected. Healthy and unhealthy diet quality scores were calculated; multiple linear regression investigated associations between diet quality and HRQoL.

RESULTS: Compared to urban students, rural students had higher HRQoL, higher healthy diet score, lower unhealthy diet score, consumed less soft drink and less frequently, less takeaway and a higher proportion consumed breakfast (P < 0.05). Overall, males had higher unhealthy diet score, poorer dietary behaviours but a higher HRQoL score compared to females (P < 0.05). In all students, final regression models indicated: a unit increase in healthy diet score was associated with an increase in HRQoL (unstandardised coefficient(B)±standard error(SE); B = 0.02 ± 0.01(SE); P < 0.02); and a unit increase in unhealthy diet scores was associated with a decrease in HRQoL (-0.01 ± 0.00; P < 0.05). In rural students alone, a unit increase in unhealthy diet score was associated with a decrease in HRQoL (B = -0.01 ± 0.00; P = 0.002), and in urban students a unit increase in healthy diet score was associated with an increase in HRQoL (B = 0.02 ± 0.00; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Cross-sectional associations between diet quality and HRQoL were observed. Dietary modification may offer a target to improve HRQoL and general well-being; and consequently the prevention and treatment of adolescent health problems. Such interventions should consider gender and locality.

Access to social insurance in urban China: a comparative study of rural-urban and urban-urban migrants in Beijing

 Since 1958 the hukou (household registration) system has assigned Chinese citizens either a rural or urban status. Some studies argue that the rural-to-urban migrants in China who do not have urban hukou are not entitled to urban social insurance schemes, due to institutional discrimination, which applies differing treatment to urban and rural hukou (chengxiang fenge). Although rural-urban migrants participate less in the social insurance system than their counterparts with urban hukou, a closer examination of recent policy developments shows that migrants actually do have the legal right to access the system. This implies that discrimination between rural and urban workers has been declining, and distinctions based on household registration status are less able to explain China's current urban transition. This paper provides a new way of examining Chinese migrants' social insurance participation, by adopting a framework that includes both rural-to-urban migrants and urban-to-urban migrants, which are an important, but less studied, migrant group. Among our key findings are that urban migrants are more likely to sign a labour contract than rural migrants; urban migrants have higher participation rates in social insurance than rural migrants; having a labour contract has a greater impact than hukou status in determining whether Beijing's floating population accesses social insurance; and urban migrants who have signed a labour contract have higher participation rates in social insurance than either rural migrants or urban migrants without a labour contract. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Fracture rates lower in rural than urban communities : the Geelong Osteoporosis Study

Background: Urban and rural communities differ in the incidence of several diseases including coronary heart disease and some cancers. Lower hip fracture rates among rural than urban populations have been reported but few studies have compared rural and urban fractures at sites other than the hip.

Objective: To compare total and site specific fracture rates among adult residents of rural and urban communities within the same population.

Design and setting: This is a population based study on osteoporosis in Australia. All fractures occurring in adult residents over a two year period were ascertained using radiological reports. The rural and urban areas are in close proximity, with the same medical, hospital, and radiological facilities permitting uniform fracture ascertainment.

Main outcome measures: All fracture rates were age adjusted and sex adjusted to the Australian population according to the 1996 census of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and described as the rate per 10 000 person years. The p values refer to the adjusted rate difference.

Results: The hip fracture rate (incidence per 10 000 person years) was 32% lower (39 v 57, p<0.001), and the total fracture rate 15% lower (160 v 188, p=0.004) among rural than urban residents, respectively. The lower fracture rates in the rural population were also apparent for pelvic fractures.

Conclusion: In the older rural population, lower fracture rates at sites typically associated with osteoporosis suggest environmental factors may have a different impact on bone health in this community. If the national rate of hip fracture could be reduced to that of the rural population, the projected increase in hip fracture number attributable to aging of the population could be prevented.

Tantalus and the tyranny of territory : pursuing the dream of parity in rural and metropolitan population health outcomes through primary health care programs

Many health professionals and rural health academics are motivated by the challenge of achieving equitable access to health care in rural communities with the implicit vision that fairer access to services might ultimately lead to more equitable health outcomes for people living in rural and remote settings. The purpose of this paper is to put the issue of rural and urban health outcome parity into perspective and assess recent progress towards achieving the ultimate goal of improving rural health status. I will also explore ways in which rural communities might increase their access to and use of primary health care revenue in the future to improve community health outcomes. While some improvements have been achieved across the rural health system in recent times, the fundamental problem of maintaining infrastructure to service community needs in rural areas remains as daunting as ever. Extensive evidence has now been assembled to show that rural people generally enjoy a much lower standard of health care, health outcomes and life expectancy than their urban cousins. The question underlying all of this evidence, however, is... must this always be so? Is it possible to redress the current inequities between rural and urban populations and could new primary health care initiatives, such as the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) program, be vehicles for achieving more equitable health care arrangements and health outcomes for people living in rural communities?

Water savings or water efficiency? Water-use attitudes and behaviour in rural and regional areas

Drought conditions in southwest Victoria, as in other regions of Australia and around the world, have caused the need to reduce water consumption to ensure security of supply into the future. To develop effective water-saving behaviour change strategies, an understanding of people's attitudes to the behaviour, including barriers stopping them from adopting the behaviour, is required. Thus, this paper explores the water-use behaviours and attitudes of rural and regional urban water users in southwest Victoria. A conceptual model of the factors impacting on water use of these users, including drivers and barriers to water saving, is developed. The factors that appear to impact on water-use behaviour not previously identified included the source of water supply (groundwater versus surface water), previous experience with water shortages and trust in the water authority and government. Also, a difference in the drivers for water saving was found, with farmers wanting to be 'water efficient' to keep their business viable and productive, while hobby farmers and residential users were 'saving water' for more altruistic reasons. These findings have implications for development of demand management strategies in this, and other, rural and regional areas. However, the conceptual model has to be tested to determine if it truly reflects factors influencing water-saving behaviour in rural and regional areas.

Activity preferences and participation of school-age children living in urban and rural environments

It is important for therapists to be knowledgeable about the impact of the environment on children’s participation patterns and activity preferences. This study investigated the activity preference and participation among school-age children living in urban and rural locations. The participation patterns and preferences for activities of 58 typically developing children (32 males and 26 females; response rate of 38.7%) aged 8–12 years were assessed across both urban (n = 24) and rural (n = 34) regions of southwest Victoria, Australia. The participation patterns and preferences for activities were assessed using the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment and Preferences for Activities of Children (CAPE/PAC).An independent samples t-test was used to determinewhether significant differences existed for theCAPE/PACscores for urban and rurally based children as well as boys and girls. Significant differences were found between the scores of children living in urban and rural areas on the following subscales: CAPE Diversity, CAPE Intensity, CAPE Whom, CAPE Where, PAC Physical Preference, and PACSocial Preference.Asignificant difference for rural and urban groups was found on the following CAPE activity types:Recreation Diversity,Recreation Intensity, Social Diversity, Social Intensity, Self-Improvement Diversity, and Self-Improvement Intensity. Rurally based children were engaged in a broader range of activities and did so more frequently than urban children. Differences in gender were identified with girls preferring to participate in social and skill-based activities and being more likely to participate with friends or people outside their home. However, there were no significant differences in the participation patterns of boys and girls. Physical, social, and structural aspects of the location where a child lives impact the frequency, type of activities, and whom a child participates with most frequently in out-of-school activities. The activity participation of boys and girls in Australia has become quite similar.

Rural-urban TBI outcomes : system design, experience and paramedic intervention

The results of this research suggest that outcomes following severe TBI are similar between rural and urban locations, and that paramedics face unique challenges when managing high-acuity low-frequency cases in rural areas.

A virtual clinic : telemetric assessment and monitoring for rural and remote areas

This article reports the establishment of a pilot ‘virtual clinic’ in a rural region of Victoria, Australia. Using low-cost videophones that work across ordinary phone lines, together with off-the-shelf (mostly automatic) clinical tools, local volunteers have been trained to mediate a virtual consultation between simulated patients and local GPs. This system has the potential to save long trips into town by such patients since the traditional ‘home visit’ is not feasible, as well as to provide regular home monitoring for those with chronic conditions. This in turn should impact favourably on ambulance deployment, sometimes enabling patients to avoid going to hospital or allowing them to come home sooner than otherwise would be the case, and generally to offer a sense of medical security to those living in isolated regions.

International comparisons of rural-urban educational attainment : data and determinants

We study cross-country differences in rural and urban educational attainment by using a data set comprising 56 countries. We focus on the determinants of rural–urban educational inequality, which is measured by the ratio of rural to urban average years of schooling within each country. We find that riskier human capital investment, less credit availability, a colonial heritage, a legal system of French origin and landlockedness of nations are all associated with relatively lower rural educational levels and greater rural–urban educational inequality. Conversely, larger formal labor markets, better infrastructure and a legal system of British origin are associated with relatively higher rural educational levels and lower rural–urban educational inequality. We also identify an interaction effect between economic development level and some of these factors. In particular, we find that as development level increases, the negative (positive) relationship between French (British) legal systems and rural–urban educational inequality is reversed and becomes positive (negative).

Review of rural and regional alcohol research in Australia

INTRODUCTION: Alcohol is the most commonly used drug within Australia. Recently, there have been indications that there is a greater incidence of high-risk drinking within rural populations as compared with their urban counterparts. High-risk drinking is associated with numerous conditions, such as diabetes, heart attack and cancer, as well as acute harms such as assault, suicide and road accidents. The objective of this article is to review the current research and relevant data pertaining to alcohol use and alcohol-related harms within rural Australia. METHODS: This paper is a systematic review of 16 databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO and Google Scholar. RESULTS: Overall, 18 studies describing alcohol consumption or alcohol-related harms were found. Approximately half of these studies were large-scale national population surveys, which were therefore limited in their representativeness of specific regional and rural towns. Most studies examining alcohol consumption used self-report data collection, meaning that interpretation of results needs to be tentative. There is a consistent pattern of higher rates of alcohol consumption and consequent harm within regional and rural Australia than in urban areas. CONCLUSIONS: There is emerging research examining alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harms within regional and rural Australia. All studies show that these populations experience disproportionate harm because of alcohol consumption. The causes and mechanism for this have not been investigated, and a program of research is required to understand how and why rural populations experience disproportionate levels of alcohol-related harm and ultimately, what interventions will be most effective in reducing alcohol-related harms.