Participation in the city: where do women fit in?

Women's priorities have often been ignored in the design of human settlements, the location of housing, and the provision of urban services. New forms of urban partnership are needed to develop participatory processes which include women and men at all stages of urban development. Participation is most commonly associated with political participation or activity. The author gives an overview of the "gendered city", then looks at how men and women benefit and contribute to urban life, through examples of opportunities for making a living and for using urban resources and services. She then moves away from participation as entitlement to consider participation as empowerment, looking at some problems faced by women in public office and grassroots organizations. The paper concludes in arguing that a gender perspective will not inform urban policy and planning processes automatically. Sections discuss gender and poverty in the city, making a living in the city, urban planning as a gender issue, getting around the city, access to resources and services, violence in the city, women's participation in urban governance, women's representation in public office, community organization and advocacy, men and gender issues, and forging linkages through participation.     

Airport baggage handling--where do human factors fit in the challenges that airports put on a baggage system?

The challenges put on large baggage systems by airports can be summarized as: handling a high number of bags in a short period of time, in a limited space, with all sorts of disruptions, whilst complying with stringent regulation upon security, sustainability and health and safety. The aim of this company case study is to show in the different project phases--as indicated in the system ergonomic approach--how the human factors specialist can play a major part in tackling these challenges. By describing different projects in terms of scope, organization, human factors topics covered, phases and lessons learned, the importance of Human-Computer Interaction, automation as well as manual handling and work organization in baggage is addressed.     

Where do Americans live abroad?

"This article examines the factors that influence emigration of U.S. citizens. Data from a 1993 survey administered by the U.S. Department of State as part of an evacuation requirements report form the basis for the empirical analysis. The empirical analysis explains the distribution of U.S. citizens residing in 65 foreign countries in terms of economic and political characteristics of the foreign states. The study finds that U.S. citizens are more likely to reside in rich and close countries than in distant and poor countries and that the foreign country's ties to the U.S. immigrant population and the use of the English language are important determinants of where Americans settle abroad. Political conditions and U.S. military presence also influence the choice of foreign residence."     

Continuity or rupture? Roma/Gypsy communities in rural and urban environments under post-socialism

The aim of the article is to contribute to existing research and debates on social change associated with the post-socialist transformation in Eastern and Central Europe. It does so by drawing attention to and examining the diversity of ways in which such change has been lived through and reflected upon by members of Roma (Gypsy) communities living in urban and rural environments. Drawing on ethnographic research amongst excluded and segregated Roma in the ‘ghettos’ of Czech cities and in rural ‘Gypsy settlements’ in the Slovak countryside, the author notes a striking difference between how members of these communities, belonging to the same extended families, lived through and reflect upon the post-socialist transformation. While the members of the Roma communities living in Czech cities perceive the post-socialist transformation as one of the most dramatic ruptures in their life trajectories, the rural Roma do not seem to have been affected as deeply and dramatically, and their life trajectories seem to be framed by different events than those directly associated with the market transition. The paper analyses and explains the social and historical conditions that (co)produce the sense of rupture or continuity in the life trajectories of members of Roma communities exposed to urban and rural environments.     

Where do underage college students get alcohol?

Alcohol consumption and related problems are common among underage college students, yet qualitative, in-depth information on how/where these students obtain alcohol is limited. We conducted focus groups pertaining to access to alcohol and related issues with 19 underage college students. They reported that alcohol is easy to obtain from a variety of sources, with friends/acquaintances who are of legal age or those with a false ID being the most common. Parties were also common sources, but "shoulder tapping" (i.e., asking a stranger to purchase alcohol) was not common. Disagreement arose over whether underage fraternity/sorority members have greater access to alcohol than non-Greeks. Our results provide updated information on the various sources of alcohol and associated issues among underage college students.     

Where do Remittances Go in Household Consumption? Empirical Evidence from Sri Lanka-Wide Micro-data

Private internal and international remittances are a major source of household money in Sri Lanka, yet their impact on household welfare has long been a research gap. Based on the Migration and Development Theory, this article examines how private remittances affect household expenditure behaviour, using nationally representative microdata and applying quasi-experimental methods. Private remittances have significantly increased household per-capita expenditure and initiated positive behavioural changes via increased allocations for basic needs, human and physical capital investment. Compared with internal remittances, the impact of international remittance shows a strong potential for reducing poverty incidence and improving people's well-being: households in richer/richest expenditure quartiles and urban households invest in education, which supports the country's long-standing record of education. Rural households demonstrate favourable changes in spending behaviour with receiving private remittances. From a public policy standpoint, government favours migration so that remittances are more likely to flow. A proper remittance-transfer mechanism to encourage smooth remittance is thus required.     

For compassion or money? The factors influencing the funding of micro loans

Aided by the Internet, microfinance institutions have found new ways to expand the reach of financing entrepreneurial projects on a small scale. Using a unique data set of individual loans posted to Kiva.org, we explore the determinants of lenders’ nonprofit lending choices in the growing microfinance industry. We find that lenders make choices in purposive ways even in the absence of market interest rates, especially with respect to the demographic characteristics of borrowers and the uses of proposed funds. Hence, the results provide valuable new information about consumer choice in charitable giving and investment.     

Is where i sit,where i stand? The Ontario farm women's network,politics and difference

The objective of this paper is to trace how the Ontario Farm Women's Network (OFWN), a provincial association formed in 1988, has translated an ideological commitment to an explicitly feminist struggle and to an economic struggle to ensure the survival of the family farm in Canada into practical politics. This article argues that the effectiveness of OFWN's activism lies in its creation of a reverse discourse that iteratively negotiates what it means to be a farm woman with what it means to be a farmer in the Canadian political economy.     

What do we mean by broadening participation? Race,inequality, and diversity in tech work

In this article, I review the literature on race and racism in tech work and show that challenges related to increasing diversity and inclusion for racial and ethnic minorities are complicated and shaped by both immigration regimes and gender inequalities that do not impact all minority workers the same. I show that people of color are especially likely to be excluded from decision‐making leadership positions, limiting contributions that would shape the form and function of new technologies. Despite the complexity of these obstacles, I argue that addressing them is critical since the technology on which we increasingly rely may embed old racial inequity in an emerging technological landscape. Building from the existing literature, I show that (a) Black and Latinx workers are under‐represented numerically in tech work and those who do enter the field confront racial bias and (b) even though Asians are not numerically underrepresented, workplace practices, often supported by immigration policy and stereotype driven biases, interrupt full participation in decision making. I conclude by arguing that technological products reflect this lack of diversity in ways that further disadvantage communities of color.     

Where Is Gender in Agenda Setting?

Abstract

Why do some issues surge to the forefront of our attention while others languish in obscurity? Feminist scholars have explored the emergence of issues such as rape, battering, no-fault divorce, pay equity, and other women's issues on the public agenda. Despite a burgeoning body of literature on feminist social movements within history, political science, and sociology over the last twenty-five years, scholars of agenda setting, public policy, and American politics more generally have largely ignored this work. Not surprisingly, this research cannot be simply added in to the dominant agenda setting theoretical paradigm; rather, the findings disrupt conventional understandings. This essay critiques two canonical works, Kingdon's Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies(1995) and Baumgartner and Jones's Agendas and Instability in American Politics(1993), and discusses exemplary feminist research. It argues that if we want to know how norms change we need to broaden our scope beyond political elites and interest groups to include social movements and newly politicized grassroots activists. We must see change as produced by networks of insiders and outsiders rather than exclusively caused by elites in formal positions. Feminist scholarship also takes seriously the discursive and emotional aspects of politics rather than utilizing a narrow pluralist framework. Moreover, it recognizes the important yet neglected role of law as both an arena and a discourse.     

What do lesbians do in the daytime? Recover

This paper examines a narrative taken from an ethnographic interview, for the speaker's conversational construction of lesbian and other identities along with ideologized personal history. To tell her story, Marge shifts to the discourse style used in the meetings of addiction recovery groups. She prioritizes the recovery (twelve-step) program's coherence system, structuring her life story in conformity with its terms while narrating a complexly queered identity. Four analyses are given, beginning with a Labovian formal examination and proceeding with a consideration of three types of discourse echoing: interdiscursivity, intratextuality, and manifest intertextuality. This study demonstrates the analytical linking of nonpublic linguistic discourse to social discourses; individual identity construction to social construction (and its coherence systems); and personal history to historical eras. The paper adds the concept of a metalevel complicating action to narrative theory and develops a means of examining intratextuality for critical discourse analysis. It presents a revised view of essentialism for the sociolinguistic study of gender and sexuality.     

Where do we stand? Recent AEA member views on professionalization

The professionalization of evaluation continues to be debated at numerous conferences in the U.S. and abroad. At this time, AEA member views on the potential benefits and negative side effects of professionalization are essential as the discussion evolves. This study provides recent views on major topics in professionalization, including potential benefits, negative side effects, processes, competencies, and procedures. Results from in-depth interviews and an online survey demonstrate that AEA members view potential benefits of professionalization to be stakeholder trust, evaluator reputation and identity, while concerns about a potential negative side effect known as the “narrowing effect” (i.e., some evaluators will be alienated based on their background, competencies, etc.) were expressed by participants. These recent findings can inform the ongoing discussion of professionalization, and suggest new directions for future research on evaluation.     

Where Is the Sex in Political Theory?

In the tradition of political theory, women and sexuality are rarely mentioned. When discussed, they are almost always treated together-women become nearly synonomous with sexuality while men, regarded as political or intellectual subjects, are disassociated from sex. This essay explores the implications of this phenomenon for political theory's construction of women, sex, and politics. It also examines the implications of the historical association of women with sex for contemporary feminist political thinking. The essay concludes with considerations of the ways in which traditionally gendered sexuality needs to be recast in order to liberate both women and politics from this history.     

Why do financial inclusion policies fail in mobilizing savings from the poor? Lessons from rural south India

Combining multivariate and qualitative analyses, this micro‐level study suggests an explanation for the persistence of informal savings in rural south India despite publicly run large‐scale programmes to promote bank savings. Gold, in particular, but also Rotating Saving and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) and private lending, remain the dominant forms of savings. We argue that cultural norms and social institutions, such as social class and caste, shape the nature of savings, and also the propensity and opportunities to save. Gold serves multiple purposes, financial, economic, socio‐cultural and political. Furthermore, we find that the preference of Dalits (the lowest caste) for gold illustrates a relative emancipation, which contrasts with the persistence of caste‐related prohibitions preventing them investing in other assets, such as land.     

Stakeholder participation in evaluation: How important is diversity?

Participatory evaluation seeks in part to promote exchanges of perspective and experience among diverse program stakeholders. Diversity in such exchanges is viewed as integral to the substantive and political strands of the participatory process. Yet, using the grounded experience of two participatory evaluation case studies, we offer some challenges to this ideal of diversity and suggest that when action is the desired outcome, somewhat less rather than more diversity of stakeholder participation is actually desired.     

Where in the world does neoliberalism come from?

Neoliberalism is generally understood as a system of ideas circulated by a network of right-wing intellectuals, or as an economic system mutation resulting from crises of profitability in capitalism. Both interpretations prioritize the global North. We propose an approach to neoliberalism that prioritizes the experience of the global South, and sees neoliberalism gaining its main political strength as a development strategy displacing those hegemonic before the 1970s. From Southern perspectives, a distinct set of issues about neoliberalism becomes central: the formative role of the state, including the military; the expansion of world commodity trade, including minerals; agriculture, informality, and the transformation of rural society. Thinkers from the global South who have foregrounded these issues need close attention from the North and exemplify a new architecture of knowledge in critical social science.     

Where do they turn? Social support systems of suicidal high school adolescents

Adolescents reporting suicidal behavior were found to be significantly different from those who were not nonsuicidal in their responses to variables related to parents' marital status, school performance and attendance, someone to talk to, and church attendance. Adolescents overwhelmingly identified their parents' demonstrations of affection as a very important way to "make a difference" to decrease suicidal behaviors. Health professionals need to note that approximately 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 4 boys reporting self-hurt behaviors may attempt suicide.