Material prosperity and financial capabilities of rural households with three children

Abstract

The article addresses the social and economic position of rural families having three children and presents an assessment of a “desired” level of average per capita money incomes of the families compared to the amount of subsistence minimum. Comparing real money incomes with subjective judgments on their own material wealth enables to find out the interviewed rural women's claims. A typology of strategies ensuring material well-being for rural families with three children is developed depending on the spouses' occupations. Strategies of the first type suggest that the spouses pursue professional occupations outside the home. Strategies of the second type imply that the husbands are officially employed outside of their villages, while the wives are to a greater extent, versus the first type, engaged in housekeeping and raising children. Strategies of the third type infer that the men are engaged in private subsidiary farming (PSF), handicrafts and part-time jobs, while the women are to the largest extern engaged in housekeeping and raising children. It is shown, that the strategy selected to ensure the household's material wealth determines the differences in the levels of material well-being of the families.