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Family: Resources and Responsibilities in a Changing World

by Ohio State University Extension    

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 1994 as the International Year of the Family. The theme of the year was "Family: Resources and Responsibilities in a Changing World." The United Nations views the family as the basic unit of society and appreciates it for the important social and economic function it performs.

The family provides a framework for the emotional, financial, and material support important to the growth of its members. The family remains the unit that preserves and shares cultural values. It can, and often does, educate, train, motivate, and support the individual family member. Although families assume different forms and functions from one country to another and within each national society, all families were the focus of United Nation's global, yearlong effort.

Local and National Priorities

The International Year of the Family identified three specific family issues for local and national priorities:

1. Strengthening the family's ability to meet its own needs.
2. Clarifying and understanding the balance between how a family can satisfy its needs and what it can expect through public services.
3. Recognizing the effect of society's problems on family relationships and evaluating governmental policy intervention on the family.

Families' Relationship to the Economy

All three priorities are tied to the economy. Families can be viewed as the foundation of the world's economy. Whether selling jewelry in the Caribbean, raising cattle in South America, or heading a major industrial business in Germany, family members contribute to the economy. In a larger role, the family trains and motivates children to become productive members of society as they approach adulthood.

The program for the The International Year of the Family promotes the family as an income-generating enterprise to encourage the economic stability of families around the world. These enterprises are often essential for a family's survival, especially in developing countries or for families that are poor and headed by women.

The Role of Small Businesses

Small family businesses account for 80 to 90 percent of business activity in villages and cities of developing countries. They are usually home-based, family-owned operations that rely on family members for capital and labor. Credit, technical assistance, training, and marketing assistance may encourage families to be more self-reliant in developing and maintaining their own businesses.

Women play an important role in these small businesses, with many assuming the role of breadwinner. Approximately one of three households worldwide is headed by a woman, according to Families in Transition, a book released in 1992 by the International Federation for Home Economics. Many members of these female-headed households live in poverty. More than one-half of the world's women live in rural areas of developing countries. Many of them are poor, lack education, and have few work skills.

Of the world's small business entrepreneurs, seven of every ten are women. In some rural areas of the world, family food is grown by women who then take the surplus to the market. Small businesses are not limited to developing countries, however. In the U.S., worsening poverty has led some to advocate the creation of small businesses as a way to reduce the numbers of unemployed and welfare recipients. Some leaders have proposed the development of micro-enterprises to help save the country's inner cities. A micro-enterprise employs less than five people (usually family members), is financed with less than $5,000, and is home-based.

Many micro-enterprises are in service or retail areas, such as household services, car washes, phone answering services, and clothing sales. The micro-enterprise provides loans but also much more: self-esteem, autonomy, and support. Participants are motivated by peer pressure, hard work, discipline, and improved living conditions.

These small family business enterprises encourage initiative and self-reliance, hopefully leading to economic independence. Every year needs to be like the International Year of the Family -- one in which developing and developed countries alike share the goal of helping families earn a living to support themselves.

Reference

The Family: Bulletin on the International Year of the Family, 1994; Number 2 (1991), 4(1992).

Prepared by

Christine F. Olinsky, CFCS
OSU Extension Agent
Family and Consumer Sciences
Montgomery County