Why is the gender revolution uneven and stalled? Gender essentialism and men's movement into ‘women's work'

Men's limited movement into female occupations has been identified as a key barrier to future declines in occupational sex segregation and achieving greater gender equality. So why are men so reticent to enter jobs normatively regarded as female? Drawing from qualitative interviews with multiple stakeholders in four female‐dominated occupations in Australia, this article documents the processes that influence men's employment in gender‐atypical jobs. Gender essentialism is central to many processes that generate and/or stall changes in men's representation in female‐dominated occupations. While gender essentialism's role in producing and reproducing occupation sex segregation is well known, its role in reducing occupational sex segregation is a critical process which has previously received limited attention. The article details gender essentialism's integrative function.     

Quality management as a tool for job satisfaction improvement in low-level technology organizations: the case of Ethiopia

Human resources are an important determinant of operational performances as it is crucial for quality improvement. Research suggests that issues related to quality of work life of employees are often overlooked in low technology level organizations in the developing countries. This article aims to investigate the relationship between quality management (QM) practices and job satisfaction (JS) in relation with the Ethiopian manufacturing organizations. Data were collected using a structured survey questionnaire and face-to-face interviews of shop-floor workers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate the survey instrument and structural equation modelling was used for the analysis. The findings provide evidence that top management commitment, participation of employees and continuous improvement are significantly and positively associated with JS. However, customer focus has insignificant relationship and surprisingly, teamwork showed unexpected negative relationship with JS. The study provides important insights into the true worth of QM implementation in which it enforces the belief that its practices are the decisive factor in enhancing workplace satisfaction of employees.     

京津冀一体化河北省钢铁产业转型升级效果评价指标体系构建及应用研究

在实施产业转型升级过程中,构建合适的效果评价指标体系是一个复杂而重要的环节。依托京津冀一体化的发展现状,在分析了评价指标体系设计原则的基础上,从河北省钢铁产业转型升级对环境的影响、对省内经济的产业贡献和产业自身高效持续发展这三个维度出发,建立了京津冀一体化背景下河北省钢铁产业转型升级效果评价指标体系,为河北省钢铁产业转型升级的效果评价提供了一种结构性方法。据此,又提出了运用这一指标体系具体实施评价的原则与思路,从而为这一宏观实践活动提供了有益的启示。     

除尘器区低温省煤器烟道数值模拟

为实现除尘器区低温省煤器的节能改造,基于FLUENT6.3软件,对除尘器区低温省煤器烟道的流场进行数值模拟研究。研究结果表明:除尘器前烟道内流场严重不均,转弯处有明显的高速区与漩涡区,局部速度高达32 m/s;加装低温省煤器后,两低温省煤器内流场不均,最大速度偏差系数达79.3%,严重影响低温省煤器的换热效果,同时会磨损、冲刷低温省煤器管路,危及低温省煤器的安全;除尘器入口处出现大面积的低速区域,导致进入除尘器后流场紊乱、除尘器电耗高、除尘效率低等现象,除尘器前烟道内整流消涡可以根治除尘器工作效率的问题。     

Pathways from workplace flexibility to turnover intention: Role of work–family conflict,family–work conflict,and job satisfaction

This study examined the prevalence of workplace flexibility and the mechanisms that allow workplace flexibility to influence turnover intentions through work–family and family–work conflicts and job satisfaction among low‐wage workers in South Korea. Participants included 250 low‐wage workers whose monthly salary was less than 2 million Korean won (approx. $1,900). The study results indicate that low‐wage workers have limited access to workplace flexibility and that workplace flexibility plays a significant protective role in reducing their turnover intention, indirectly by decreasing work–family conflicts and enhancing job satisfaction. This article also discusses the implications of these findings for labor policy and social work practice.     

Gender differences in willingness to compete: The role of public observability

A recent literature emphasizes that gender differences in the labor market may in part be driven by a gender gap in willingness to compete. However, whereas experiments in this literature typically investigate willingness to compete in private environments, real world competitions often have a more public nature, which introduces potential social image concerns. If such image concerns are important, and men and women differ in the degree to which they want to be seen as competitive, making tournament entry decisions publicly observable may further exacerbate the gender gap. We test this prediction using a laboratory experiment (N = 784) that varies the degree to which the decision to compete, and its outcome, is publicly observable. We find that public observability does not alter the magnitude of the gender gap in willingness to compete in an economically or statistically significant way.     

工程量清单和合理低价评标法的探讨

探讨在适应市场机制和W TO的工程量清单计价模式下,建设工程招标定标过程中采用“合理低价评标法”可能出现的无序低价的情况及危害,并且提出解决此问题的几点建议。     

A Social Network Comparison of Low‐Income Black and White Newlywed Couples

Relative to White families, Black families have been described as relying on extended social networks to compensate for other social and economic disadvantages. The presence or absence of supportive social networks should be especially relevant to young couples entering marriage, but to date there has been little effort to describe the social networks of comparable Black and White newlyweds. The current study addressed this gap by drawing on interviews with 57 first‐married newlyweds from low‐income communities to compare the composition and structure of Black and White couples' duocentric social networks. The results indicated that low‐income Black couples entered marriage at a social disadvantage relative to White couples, with more family relationships but fewer positive relationships and fewer sources of emotional support (for wives), fewer connections to married individuals, and fewer shared relationships between spouses. Black couples' relative social disadvantages persisted even when various economic and demographic variables were controlled.     

Wearing corset,losing shape: The euro's effect on trade imbalances

When does trade become a one-way relationship? We study bilateral trade balances for a sample of 18 European countries over the period from 1948 through 2008. We find that, with the introduction of the euro, trade imbalances among euro area members widened considerably, even after allowing for permanent asymmetries in trade competitiveness within pairs of countries or in the overall trade competitiveness of individual countries. This is consistent with indications that pair-wise trade tends to be more balanced when nominal exchange rates are flexible. Intra-euro area imbalances also seem to have become more persistent with the introduction of the euro, some of which is linked to labor market inflexibility. Reviewing the direction of imbalances, we find that bilateral trade surpluses are decreasing in the real exchange rate, decreasing in growth differentials, and increasing in the relative volatility of national business cycles. Finally, countries with relatively higher fiscal deficits and less flexible labor and product markets exhibit systematically lower trade surpluses than others.