Uncertain steps into adulthood: Does economic precariousness hinder entry into the first co-residential partnership in the UK?

This study uses prospective data spanning 27 years (1991-2018) to explore the relationship between economic precariousness and transitions to first co-residential partnership among Britons aged 18-34 across three dimensions: age, historical time, and sex. Economic precariousness is measured using eight objective and subjective indicators, including income, employment, housing, and financial perceptions. Our results show that economic precariousness has a strong negative relationship with entering the first co-residential partnership among those aged 20-30, but the pattern is less clear among the youngest and oldest. Objective measures are easier to interpret than subjective measures. Historical analyses suggest that not being employed decreases the probability of union formation more in recessionary periods than in non-recessionary ones. Among working women, low labour income started to be a predictor of union formation in the most recent periods. Labour income is the only indicator presenting trends in line with our hypotheses across all dimensions.

Del campo a la ciudad: continuidad y transformación en el imaginario de un grupo de mujeres de los círculos más humildes de la sociedad chilena / From the countryside to the city: continuity and transformation in the imaginary of a group of women from the humblest walks of Chilean society

Sirviéndonos del recurso testimonial recogido durante un terreno que realizamos en espacios caracterizados por la precariedad socio-económica (pobreza) en dos comunas de Santiago, indagamos en el imaginario de un grupo de mujeres que pertenecían a dos generaciones diferentes. Fue así como recogimos imágenes, significaciones y autopercepciones de género que, advertimos, emanaban siempre desde un mundo de participación social signado por la ausencia de una figura masculina cuyo rol es proveer y proteger a la mujer y a sus hijos, la cual recreaba, desde la perspectiva feminina, una sensación de exposición y vulnerabilidad ante la hostilidades del medio ambiente y las precariedades de la pobreza.

Based on testimony collected in socially and economically precarious areas in two communities of Santiago, we investigated the imaginary of a group of women belonging to two different generations. We recorded gender self-awareness, images and meanings always emanating from a world of social participation marked by the absence of a male figure whose role is to support and protect his wife and children, expressing, from the female perspective, a feeling of exposure and vulnerability in face of a hostile environment and the precarious nature of poverty.