title: Childfree couples' experiences of stereotyping, harassment and pressure

authors: Riley, Theresa Mary

subjects: childfree

abstract: This qualitative study is about New Zealand couples who, by choice, do not have children. Strong social norms exist for couples to have children, and those who express a desire to do otherwise have been disbelieved, pressured, and stereotyped. Womanhood has continued to be associated with motherhood, and a maternal instinct is expected to drive women to have children. The aim of this research was to add to knowledge and awareness of how childfree people have experienced being stereotyped, pressured and harassed for being childfree. For this research, I conjointly interviewed ten heterosexual, childfree couples residing in the city of Hamilton. Participants self-identified as childfree, and ranged in age from 23 to 56 years old. Five of the couples also participated in a focus group. Participants related the ways in which they perceived that the wider social context played a role in the negative responses they experienced. Participants revealed how they felt less socially valued through: an idealization of parenthood, exclusion from work benefits, and an expectation that women should manage both employment and motherhood. Stereotyping was found to still occur, with participants reporting that they were labelled as selfish, immature, and anti-children. Stereotypes of being destined for loneliness in later life, and of their pets being substitutes for children were common. Some evidence was found in participants' comments that there were elements of truth in stereotypes of the childfree. The negative stereotyping appeared to have little, if any, impact on how participants viewed or felt about themselves. Participants reported feeling harassed by other people's disbelief in their choice, and assumptions, that despite what they said, everybody wanted children. The pressures experienced by participants took various forms, such as persistent questioning, and came from various sources, including siblings and acquaintances. Participants' reports of feeling pressured or harassed seem to reflect minor and fleeting feelings, rather than a continuing concern. How pressuring comments were perceived by the recipient was very context-dependent. Participants tolerated and coped with people's negative responses by various methods, such as confronting, ignoring, and avoiding the topic of children with certain people. I recommend that further research be done, and that work is needed to promote both acceptance of the childfree option, and freedom of women's identification from association with childbearing.

text: Childfree couples' experiences of stereotyping, harassment and pressure This qualitative study is about New Zealand couples who, by choice, do not have children. Strong social norms exist for couples to have children, and those who express a desire to do otherwise have been disbelieved, pressured, and stereotyped. Womanhood has continued to be associated with motherhood, and a maternal instinct is expected to drive women to have children. The aim of this research was to add to knowledge and awareness of how childfree people have experienced being stereotyped, pressured and harassed for being childfree. For this research, I conjointly interviewed ten heterosexual, childfree couples residing in the city of Hamilton. Participants self-identified as childfree, and ranged in age from 23 to 56 years old. Five of the couples also participated in a focus group. Participants related the ways in which they perceived that the wider social context played a role in the negative responses they experienced. Participants revealed how they felt less socially valued through: an idealization of parenthood, exclusion from work benefits, and an expectation that women should manage both employment and motherhood. Stereotyping was found to still occur, with participants reporting that they were labelled as selfish, immature, and anti-children. Stereotypes of being destined for loneliness in later life, and of their pets being substitutes for children were common. Some evidence was found in participants' comments that there were elements of truth in stereotypes of the childfree. The negative stereotyping appeared to have little, if any, impact on how participants viewed or felt about themselves. Participants reported feeling harassed by other people's disbelief in their choice, and assumptions, that despite what they said, everybody wanted children. The pressures experienced by participants took various forms, such as persistent questioning, and came from various sources, including siblings and acquaintances. Participants' reports of feeling pressured or harassed seem to reflect minor and fleeting feelings, rather than a continuing concern. How pressuring comments were perceived by the recipient was very context-dependent. Participants tolerated and coped with people's negative responses by various methods, such as confronting, ignoring, and avoiding the topic of children with certain people. I recommend that further research be done, and that work is needed to promote both acceptance of the childfree option, and freedom of women's identification from association with childbearing.

year: 2008

title: Design patterns for models of interactive systems

authors: Bowen, Judy

abstract: Building models of safety-critical interactive systems (in healthcare, transport, avionics and finance, to name but a few) as part of the design process is essential. It is also advised for non-safety critical interactive systems if we want to be certain they will behave as intended in all circumstances. However, modelling interactive systems is also challenging. The levels of complexity in modern user interfaces and the wealth of interaction possibilities means that modelling at a suitable level of abstraction is crucial to ensure our models remain reasonably sized, readable, and therefore usable. The decisions we make about how to abstract the system to retain enough detail to be able to reason about it without running into known modelling problems (state-explosion, verbosity, unread ability) are complex, even for experienced modellers. We have identified a number of commonly seen problems in such models based on occurrences of common properties of interactive systems, and in order to help both experienced and novice modellers we propose model-patterns as a solution to this.

text: Design patterns for models of interactive systems Building models of safety-critical interactive systems (in healthcare, transport, avionics and finance, to name but a few) as part of the design process is essential. It is also advised for non-safety critical interactive systems if we want to be certain they will behave as intended in all circumstances. However, modelling interactive systems is also challenging. The levels of complexity in modern user interfaces and the wealth of interaction possibilities means that modelling at a suitable level of abstraction is crucial to ensure our models remain reasonably sized, readable, and therefore usable. The decisions we make about how to abstract the system to retain enough detail to be able to reason about it without running into known modelling problems (state-explosion, verbosity, unread ability) are complex, even for experienced modellers. We have identified a number of commonly seen problems in such models based on occurrences of common properties of interactive systems, and in order to help both experienced and novice modellers we propose model-patterns as a solution to this.

year: 2015

title: Te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori: He aronga motuhake – ngā mokopuna a Te Kapunga

authors: Dewes, Te Kuru o te Marama

subjects: Reo Māori

abstract: Ko te tāhū o tēnei rangahau ko te reo Māori. Ko te ariā matua ko te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori, arā, ko te tuku iho o te reo ki rō whānau mai i ngā mātua ki ngā tamariki, ā, tae rawa iho ki ngā mokopuna. Kia whakawhāiti i te kaupapa, he aronga motuhake tēnei kei te titiro hāngai atu ki ngā whānau e whā ki ngā tāone e toru o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Tāmakimakaurau me Te Rotorua-Nui-a-Kahumatamomoe. Nā te hurahura i ngā āhuatanga reo i roto i ngā kāenga o ngā whānau e whā i kitea mehemea kei te tutuki tēnei tūāhua te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori. Tuia, he aha ngā momo āhuatanga kei te taunaki i tēnei mahi, ā, he aha hoki ngā ārai e whakahōtaetae ana i a ia.  piti atu, i noho ki te ketuketu i ngā whakaaro o ngā mātua e pā ana ki tēnei kaupapa te tuku iho i te reo ki ngā tamariki mokopuna. Kāre i aro ki te kounga o te reo, he kaute noa i ngā whakamahinga reo Māori me whakamahinga reo Pākehā. Kia whakaritea ngā āhuatanga reo o ngā whānau me ngā tamariki, i tū ngā mahi whakarongo ki ngā wāhi e toru, arā, ki rō kāenga, ki rō kura, ka mutu, i tū ki wāhi kē atu hoki. Nā runga i te whakaaro kei te mōrearea tonu te reo Māori, kua herea tēnei kaupapa ki te ahurea me te tuakiri Māori, te mana motuhake me te tino rangatiratanga.

text: Te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori: He aronga motuhake – ngā mokopuna a Te Kapunga Ko te tāhū o tēnei rangahau ko te reo Māori. Ko te ariā matua ko te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori, arā, ko te tuku iho o te reo ki rō whānau mai i ngā mātua ki ngā tamariki, ā, tae rawa iho ki ngā mokopuna. Kia whakawhāiti i te kaupapa, he aronga motuhake tēnei kei te titiro hāngai atu ki ngā whānau e whā ki ngā tāone e toru o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Tāmakimakaurau me Te Rotorua-Nui-a-Kahumatamomoe. Nā te hurahura i ngā āhuatanga reo i roto i ngā kāenga o ngā whānau e whā i kitea mehemea kei te tutuki tēnei tūāhua te tukuihotanga o te reo Māori. Tuia, he aha ngā momo āhuatanga kei te taunaki i tēnei mahi, ā, he aha hoki ngā ārai e whakahōtaetae ana i a ia.  piti atu, i noho ki te ketuketu i ngā whakaaro o ngā mātua e pā ana ki tēnei kaupapa te tuku iho i te reo ki ngā tamariki mokopuna. Kāre i aro ki te kounga o te reo, he kaute noa i ngā whakamahinga reo Māori me whakamahinga reo Pākehā. Kia whakaritea ngā āhuatanga reo o ngā whānau me ngā tamariki, i tū ngā mahi whakarongo ki ngā wāhi e toru, arā, ki rō kāenga, ki rō kura, ka mutu, i tū ki wāhi kē atu hoki. Nā runga i te whakaaro kei te mōrearea tonu te reo Māori, kua herea tēnei kaupapa ki te ahurea me te tuakiri Māori, te mana motuhake me te tino rangatiratanga.

year: 2017