Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic
In Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, household composition has changed drastically over the past half-century. Although the cooperative division of labor between married couples was a cornerstone of the traditional Inuit economy, a large proportion of households in Kangiqsujuaq today are headed by single women...
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2018
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 http://meridian.allenpress.com/human-organization/article-pdf/77/2/122/1728549/0018-7259-77_2_122.pdf |
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crinformauk:10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 2024-05-19T07:36:23+00:00 Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic Ready, Elspeth 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 http://meridian.allenpress.com/human-organization/article-pdf/77/2/122/1728549/0018-7259-77_2_122.pdf en eng Informa UK Limited Human Organization volume 77, issue 2, page 122-134 ISSN 0018-7259 1938-3525 journal-article 2018 crinformauk https://doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 2024-05-02T09:24:08Z In Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, household composition has changed drastically over the past half-century. Although the cooperative division of labor between married couples was a cornerstone of the traditional Inuit economy, a large proportion of households in Kangiqsujuaq today are headed by single women with dependents. Examination of factors associated with marriage at the individual level and of patterns of wage labor participation within households shows that economic cooperation between married or common-law partners is associated with considerable advantages in the mixed cash/subsistence economy, particularly for households where both partners have steady, well-paying jobs. Married households have lower rates of food insecurity and are more invested in traditional harvesting and sharing than the households of unmarried individuals. Despite these benefits, there are significant challenges to forming successful households based on economic cooperation between men and women. The lower economic status of married households with only one primary wage earner, particularly in terms of per capita income, suggests that a domestic partnership may not provide any economic benefit if a prospective spouse or common-law partner is unemployed. In the current context of high unemployment in Kangiqsujuaq, this tradeoff may help explain the high prevalence of unmarried household heads and has important consequences for cultural transmission and mental health in Inuit communities. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit Kangiqsujuaq Nunavik Informa Human Organization 77 2 122 134 |
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In Kangiqsujuaq, Nunavik, household composition has changed drastically over the past half-century. Although the cooperative division of labor between married couples was a cornerstone of the traditional Inuit economy, a large proportion of households in Kangiqsujuaq today are headed by single women with dependents. Examination of factors associated with marriage at the individual level and of patterns of wage labor participation within households shows that economic cooperation between married or common-law partners is associated with considerable advantages in the mixed cash/subsistence economy, particularly for households where both partners have steady, well-paying jobs. Married households have lower rates of food insecurity and are more invested in traditional harvesting and sharing than the households of unmarried individuals. Despite these benefits, there are significant challenges to forming successful households based on economic cooperation between men and women. The lower economic status of married households with only one primary wage earner, particularly in terms of per capita income, suggests that a domestic partnership may not provide any economic benefit if a prospective spouse or common-law partner is unemployed. In the current context of high unemployment in Kangiqsujuaq, this tradeoff may help explain the high prevalence of unmarried household heads and has important consequences for cultural transmission and mental health in Inuit communities. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ready, Elspeth |
spellingShingle |
Ready, Elspeth Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
author_facet |
Ready, Elspeth |
author_sort |
Ready, Elspeth |
title |
Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
title_short |
Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full |
Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Who, Being Loved, is Poor?: Poverty, Marriage, and Changing Family Structures in the Canadian Arctic |
title_sort |
who, being loved, is poor?: poverty, marriage, and changing family structures in the canadian arctic |
publisher |
Informa UK Limited |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 http://meridian.allenpress.com/human-organization/article-pdf/77/2/122/1728549/0018-7259-77_2_122.pdf |
genre |
Arctic inuit Kangiqsujuaq Nunavik |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit Kangiqsujuaq Nunavik |
op_source |
Human Organization volume 77, issue 2, page 122-134 ISSN 0018-7259 1938-3525 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259-77.2.122 |
container_title |
Human Organization |
container_volume |
77 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
122 |
op_container_end_page |
134 |
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1799475497504079872 |