Based on the observation done through netnography approach, there is a significant impact of young travelers who blogged about their experiences in Penang. These bloggers have indirectly served their role as an unofficial tourist guide to their own followers. Through the sharing of stories and information, it has become a way of interaction between authors and readers. The potential visitors to Penang were most likely to be attracted to visit the Island after they have read the posts by these bloggers. The travelogue posted can sometimes leave quite a big impact on Tourism Industry in Penang Island as some of these blog authors have hundreds or even thousands or readers who enjoy surfing through their blogs. Besides from that, due to the easy access of information available on these blogs, it has significantly directed the tourist gaze to what have been hyped on in these blogs. Readers were most likely to be eager to try on what is suggested by the authors in the blogs themselves, thus these authors act like a virtual tourist guide. It has also transformed the need to consult travel agency before going for a vacation in past years. Now, due to the free information, as well as free reviews provided on the net, tourists are keen to consult blog posts rather than paying a high price to know more about the place they about to visit. Thus, the investigation into the blogs of young travelers to Penang Island mirrored the themes of famous cultures and influence of technology that enable tourists to share traveling experiences. The comparative analysis of both male and female authors in their travelogue has shown how both genders differ in some aspects, in which they focused on different things while traveling. Social media are now avenues for people to evaluate and express their experiences of authenticity at heritage sites.
53 6. Conclusion
What does online travel writing mean? Netnography allows researchers to conduct an in- depth reading of individual blogs, thus interpreting author‘s writing independently, or by cross-comparison. Online travel writing enabled the authors to express themselves without having to limit themselves to anything. They could simply critique a certain restaurant that sells bad food, or review a hotel that provides slow services. Online-sphere has made an ordinary people turned into an independent food critique or hotel reviewer. Reading the blog posts of the bloggers who actively posting reviews of places they visited and food they ate has contributed to this gaze. At the same time, the presence of online reviews as such is transforming the way tourists looking for a travel guide. They were lesser need of paid travel agency due to the information available online free for public usage. Most of the blogs have highlighted the must-visit places for the tourists to plan their vacation to Penang Island, and this has contributed to the community online with useful pieces of information on the net. Thus, netnography can be utilized for a variety of studies. With the development of Web 2.0, this study definitely can contribute to the body of knowledge for studies that analyse online media as such. In addition to that, the Tourism Industry can benefit from the presence of technology usage as introduced in the blog posts, and with the rise of digitalized information on the net, young travelers might increasingly being exposed to the history of Penang Island. Finally, the paper also hopes to revolutionize the way an ethnographic study is conducted, by widening the source of information through the use of an online medium such as social media and online websites. The net has proven to be a new medium that managed to transform how people interact and the world has become limitless through the rise of the Internet.
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55
Double Abandoned: Experiences and Narratives of De Facto Single Mothers
Nor Hafizah Selamat*, Farah Syazwani Hayrol Aziz, Noraida Endut Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA), Universiti Sains Malaysia
School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia *E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Although a substantial body of literature exist on single mothers in Malaysia, literature that focuses specifically on the livelihood of de facto single mothers is almost non-existent. De facto single mothers is referring to a category of single mothers who are by law not categorized as single mother but in reality they are living like any other single mothers such as ―abandoned wives‖. The status of de facto single mothers is much more complicated than those single mothers who are divorced because their separation is not legally approved and therefore they do not have divorce certificate. By using in-depth interviews and observation, this paper will explore the experiences and narratives of 5 de facto single mothers in Penang. The findings revealed that de facto single mothers are more vulnerable and marginalised than legally separated single mothers (divorced). The life of single Mother de facto can be divided into 6 phases which include the emergence of marriage problems, separation, adjustment and coping and the life stability phase. It is argued that in each phase, the element of vulnerability is consistently existed involving the feelings of shocks and abandonment. It is also revealed that not having a divorce certificate would also means that they are not legally ‗single mother‘. This has led to what is called as ―Double Abandoned‖ phenomenon when not only are they being abandoned by their husbands (or sometimes families) but also by the relevant institutional agencies. It is suggested that the government should seriously addressing the struggles and challenges faced by these de facto single mothers so that a better provision of support and facilities can be made available to this group of single mothers.
Keywords: Gender, Livelihood, De Facto Single Mothers, Malaysia 1. Introduction
Conventionally, single mother refers to a woman who is widowed and had to continue the task of raising children or a woman who has been divorced and was given custody of her children (Rohaty and Mohammed Rais 1999; Bakri 2002). Although there is no precise statistics on the number of single mothers in this country, the increase rate of divorces among young couples reflect an increase in the number of single mothers. In 2000, the number of single mothers in Malaysia is about 620,359 people. The number is only taking into account the women who are widow or balu (death of spouse) (529,701) and divorcee or janda (90,655) people (Thuaibah@Suaibah et al 2004). According to the Organization of Women in Malaysia, female-headed households increased from 126,510 in 2000 to 600,000 in 2004 (Women Development Organization 2004).
Single mother is define as a woman who was not living with the husband and has to fend for herself and also her children; women who are in the process of divorce; woman who has a sick husband and not able to provide for a living and need special care, and women who are raising children without the help of a husband (Rohaty and Mohammed Rais 1999, Bakri 2002). Recently, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has redefines the term of ‗single mother‘ by categorizing it into three different groups.
56 to those women who are the head of the family, a divorcee or separated permanently from her husband and has unmarried children staying with her, the head of the family and is married but her husband is not able to work because of his poor health condition and there are unmarried children in the family and the third group is a woman who is the head of the family and has never been married. She has adopted children or children of unconfirmed status. However, the definition seems to ignore the other group of women who are being abandoned by their husbands, often referred as ‗abandoned wives‘. Abandoned wives can fall into the category of those women who are not recognized by law as single mothers but in reality they are living and facing hardships like any other single mothers because the structure and dynamics of this family relationship is in similar state of any divorced household and families (Bakri 2002). They are still in the marriage because of polygamy or in the process of divorce proceedings which usually will take years to settle but the wives have to provide income for the children after being abandoned by their husbands
Although a substantial body of literature exist on single mothers in Malaysia but due to lack of clarity and inclusiveness in defining single mothers in Malaysia, study that focuses specifically on the livelihood of de facto single mothers is not that many. This paper will be looking at how these de facto single mothers are coping with their livelihood and their experiences of being a single mother de facto. This study is therefore aimed to explore the experiences, challenges and narratives of de facto single mothers.