BlfrUncastar Farming, Saturday, January 24,1998 Franklin 4-H Beef The Franklin County 4-H Baby Beef Club held its buyers award banquet at the Kauffman Community Center recently., There were 112 4-H mem bers, parents, and buyers pre sent. Bill Reagan, county agent, introduced the buyers that pur chased steers at the sale on Sept. 27. He told them that rais ing a steer is only a means to an Weight class champions ara Jason Metzler, Matt Haw baker, Justin Conner, Jodi Meyers, and Marla Metzler. Banner awards given at the Franklin County 4-H Beef Club include from left, Justin Conner, grand champion; Jodi Meyers, reserve champion, and Jordan Conner, champion fitter. UNIVERSITY PARK (Center Co.) - Economic development could do much to reduce the dis parity in income between rural women and their urban counter parts, female and male, accord ing to two Penn State researchers. "Rural women are signifi cantly more likely than urban women and men to have less than a high school education, be unemployed or under employed and work in service-sector occu pations," says Bridget K. Gorman, doctoral student in sociology. "Much of this can be traced to the nature of the rural labor market, which is marked by high rates of unemployment and underemployment and low educational levels." "The plight of rural women is exacerbated by the simple fact that, regardless of geography, American women are more like end. The main goal of the 4-H pro gram in the beef club is to build character in the life of a youth. It teaches them responsibility, to be honest, how to accept if you win, and how to accept if you loose. These are things that a youth needs to learn before they become an adult. It is because of these buyers who purchase these animals Rural Women ly to be poor than American men," notes Dana L. Haynie, doctoral student in sociology. "The feminization of poverty has been accelerated by growing numbers of female-headed households," Haynie says. "Furthermore, despite the nar rowing education gap between the genders, women in general are still concentrated in tradi tional women's professions teaching, nursing, secretarial work and the multi-faceted ser vice sector. The researchers used the 1990 public use microdata set entailing a survey of 619,250 individuals residing within 394 local labor markets. They employed multiple logistic regression to test the effects of labor market characteristics and individual attributes on poverty risk. "Rural labor markets tend to that the club can continue a pro gram such as this. Duane Hawbaker, club leader, intro duced the head table which con sisted of the officers and leader ship of the club; president, Jimmy Clapsaddle; vice presi dent, Brad Rife, Secretary, Jodi Meyers; treasure, Micah Hawbaker; social committee, Cassie Lowans; fair committee, Justin Conner. The Club then gave the awards out, which the members earned at the roundup. Grand champion Banner went to Justin Conner, Reserve champion Banner went to Jodi Meyers. First place weight class tro phies were as follows; light weight, Jason Metzler, medium weight, Matt Hawbaker, light heavy weight, Justin Conner, medium heavy weight, Maria Metzler. Champion show Plaque went to Justin Conner and champion fitter plaque went to Jordon Conner. First place fitting trophies were novice, Jaclyn Upperman, intermediate, Jason Metzler, junior, Justin Conner and senior, Marci Sites. Best project book plaque ages 8-13 first place, Jason Metzler 98.5 and Marcia Metzler 98.5. Second place to Jaclyn Upperman 98.0 and Micha Hawbaker 98.0. Ages 14-18 First to Justin Conner 99.5, and second to Matt Hawbaker 98.5 and Jordon Conner 98.5. Dairy weight gain plaque went to first, Maria Metzler 2.87 and second, Tim Mackey 2.60. Duane Hawbaker, club leader, recognized Bill Reagan, county agent, who will be retir ing at the end of December, with an appreciation plaque for his many years he was involved with the Beef Club. Regan start ed in 1956 as county agent and also as adviser for the Franklin County Beef Club the same time and has been actively involved ever since. He was compliment ed for his wisdom and under standing of how he handled deci sions in the midst of changing times. Flo, his wife, also was rec ognized with a bouquet of flow ers for her support for him as he worked with our youth. Regan made some comments of happenings over the years from 1956-1997 of his involve ment with the Beef Club. Club Secretary Jodi Meyers then pre sented Duane Hawbaker and Kevin Stahl with a gift of appre ciation for the time they spent as leaders of the club. Face Higher Poverty Risk have the least amount of diversi ty in terms of employment," says Gorman. "In past decades, the best-paying jobs were in manu facturing and mining, but these are the very jobs that are evapo rating in many rural areas." That leaves the hodgepodge of service sector jobs, which sup posedly is filling the void left by departing manufacturing and mining industries. "Unfortunately, the type of employment men and women find within the service sector is often polarized," Gorman notes. "Men tend to work as man agers of businesses, supervisors, operators of complex equipment, truck drivers and so forth, "Haynie adds. "Some women also can enjoy reasonably well paying, prestigious jobs in such professions in real estate, insur ance, finance, counseling and communications, but these Mr. and Mrs. Bill Reagan are recognized for the many years of service to the 4-H Beef Club. Best project book awards, from left, Jason Metzler, Justin Conner, and Mark Metzler. Recognized for leadership of the Franklin County 4-H Beef Club, from left, are Kevin and Deb Stahl, Bill and Flo Reagan, and Duane and Jo Hawbaker. opportunities are less likely to be present in rural labor mar kets." Particularly in rural sections of the country, women are far more likely to be concentrated in the stereotypical service sector job; sales clerk, motel desk clerk, waitress or cook in a fast-food restaurant. Those jobs are usu ally low-paying, comparatively high-stress and frequently tem porary, Gorman says. "Men and women in the United States do not live in a vacuum," Haynie says. "Their changes for economic success (or failure) are shaped not only by their personal attributes, but the constraints and opportuni ties present in the community where they live and work. Government policy makers at all levels need to keep that in mind. Gorman and Haynie are co authors of the paper, "A Gendered Context of Opportunity: Determinants of Poverty Across Urban and Rural Labor Markets," presented last year at the convention of the American Sociological Association in Toronto, Canada.
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