Joining the Dark Side: Women in Management in the Dominican Republic

This article presents evidence of the challenges faced by women in management in their interactions with men and other women, contesting the idea that men organizationally oppress women and suggesting instead that both men and women can be organizational oppressors of women. Using empirical evidence, this article provides new insights into the working lives and challenges of women in a Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean context. The article highlights struggles of power and credibility in women in management's relationships with men and other women. It draws on findings of research conducted in the public sector in the Dominican Republic, where in‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with professional men and women. This article has significant implications for advancing understanding of the dynamics of gender and organizations in developing countries, in particular, the experiences of women in management.     

Women and agricultural productivity: Reframing the Issues

Should agricultural development programmes target women in order to increase productivity? This article analyzes the challenges in distinguishing women's agricultural productivity from that of men. Most of the literature compares productivity on plots managed by women with those managed by men, ignoring the majority of agricultural households in which men and women are both involved in management and production. The empirical studies which have been carried out provide scant evidence for where the returns to projects may be highest, in terms of who to target. Yet, programmes that do not consider gendered responsibilities, resources and constraints, are unlikely to succeed, either in terms of increasing productivity or benefitting men and women smallholder farmers.     

Men Discussing Women and Women Discussing Men: Reflexivity,Transformation and Gendered Practice in the Context of Nursing Care

This article explores gender reflexivity through the accounts of men discussing women and of women discussing men as professional nurses. Drawing on data from an Australian‐based study, and with an orientation to gender as practice, it investigates the skills and aptitudes that each is seen to bring to the job, how men and women view the other's performance as caregivers and the experiences and challenges of working with the other group. Previous work has suggested there is a link between reflexivity and transformation as individuals self‐consciously shape identities and as they reflect critically on their social conditions. The results from this study question the nature and extent of these transformative powers and suggest different levels of reflexivity based on the extent to which individuals challenge gender norms. These levels are linked to experiences of dissonance as men and women work with each other in a ‘feminized’ context of nursing care.     

Misery Has Company: The Shared Emotional Consequences of Everwork Among Women and Men

Everwork—defined as a combination of overwork, face time, constant availability, and unpredictability—is becoming an increasingly common form of work, especially among highly skilled service workers. While such an environment would seem to disadvantage mothers in particular, I find that employees of all genders and parental statuses suffer in such intensive work environments. Through 50 in‐depth interviews with management consultants, I examine how employees reconcile their personal lives with the realities of everwork. I characterize young childless men and women as “quit intenders,” mothers as “tightrope walkers,” and fathers as “reluctant sacrificers.” This article offers new insight into the tensions employees face between their parenthood ideals and everwork expectations, the strategies they engage in to manage those tensions, and the emotional impacts they experience as a result. Because employees use career–life strategies that accommodate rather than challenge the fundamental nature of everwork, everwork environments may persist despite the negative consequences.     

The Social-Support Systems of Black Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Children and Power in Mexican Transnational Families

Today, many families find that they are unable to fulfill the goal of maintaining a household by living together under the same roof. Some members migrate internationally. This article addresses the consequences of a transnational lifestyle for children who are left behind by migrant parents. Using ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with a total of 141 members of Mexican transnational families, I explore how children who are left behind react to parents’ migrations. I focus on how Mexican children manifest the competing pressures they feel surrounding parents’ migrations and consequently shape family migration patterns. The article shows that children may experience power, albeit in different ways at different ages, while simultaneously being disadvantaged as dependents and in terms of their families’ socioeconomic status.     

Socialization and Work in Japan: The Meaning of Adulthood of Men and Women in a Business Context

Abstract  The Japanese term, shakaijin, refers to becoming a social adult, and locates the transition to adulthood in leaving school/university and entering an employment relation. In this paper we explore the role of company socialization in producing social adults. Company socialization is explored through a case study of a securities company, and an additional study of a large bank. New employee training programs are a central socializing event, and bridge the transition from school/university-to-work. In this study, events prior to and subsequent to new employee training arc also shown to play key roles in company socialization. Recruitment practices socialize as well as screen job applicants. Regular personal assessments continue socialization throughout the working life cycle. Based on the analyses of socialization in recruitment, training and assessment, two aspects of company socialization in Japan are emphasized. First, company socialization involves gender socialization. Male employees are the main subjects of company socialization, and their induction to social adulthood seeks to generate commitment and social integration to company life. Social adulthood of female employees is defined in connection with future familial roles rather than commitment to work. Second, the meaning of social adulthood for men is fused with acceptance of management goals. Company socialization attempts to align individual attitudes and behaviors with company goals.     

The Clinician's Voice and the Limits of Bioethics

The bioethics movement has long promulgated a model of ‘principled decision‐making’ in which ethical dilemmas and conflicts between various rights, interests, and ethical principles are central. In many respects this movement has had a laudatory impact on health care and on health professionals, but we will also argue that the bioethical model of ethical analysis has important limitations. The model's theoretical orientation is discontinuous with the training and skills of health professionals, the manner in which health professionals conceptualise and solve problems that arise in a clinical setting, and the time constraints inherent in most clinical situations. As such, the model is not readily applicable to much of the day‐to‐day work of clinicians and, in particular, to the routine ethical questions and situations that arise in caring for patients. What we suggest is that the bioethical model does not take into account that health care professionals, as part of their daily work, encounter and manage difficult, often conflictual situations and that they do so by bringing to bear conceptual frameworks and therapeutic techniques that have, embedded within them, the ethical values and goals of their own fields, as well as established ways of dealing with problems and addressing competing priorities. We further argue that from a systems perspective, the bioethical model and the pragmatic, problem‐focused ethical decision‐making of clinicians operate on different levels of complexity; whereas the former is especially appropriate for situations that resist consensus or that raise significant issues of public policy, the latter serves as an effective framework in less difficult or complex situations that can be moved effectively toward consensus and closure.     

Differences in Family Norms for Men and Women Across Europe

The authors examined double standards regarding divorce among parents with young children and regarding having children within nonmarital cohabitation across Europe. Whether people disapprove more of men or of women engaging in these behaviors is not a priori clear. The authors formulated arguments in both directions and expected double standards to vary cross‐nationally by the level of socioeconomic gender equality in a country. They conducted multilevel analyses on a sample of about 44,000 individuals nested in 25 countries, obtained from the European Social Survey (2006). Double standards were measured with a split‐ballot design. The findings indicated that men were generally more disapproved of than women when displaying the family behaviors under study. Overall, women endorsed both double standards, whereas men endorsed only the double standard regarding divorce. However, substantial cross‐national differences in the double standards exist. The higher the level of socioeconomic gender equality, the larger these double standards in favor of women.     

Life Course Diversity Among Older Lesbians and Gay Men: A Study in Chicago

How much can we assume about the shared life experiences of older lesbians and gays? This article is broadly concerned with rethinking the significance of this question as it pertains to cultural images and stereotypes of “older gay and lesbian” identities in a large and diverse American city. In 1996, the authors completed a 10-month needs assessment study regarding the lives and needs (social and psychological), which must be addressed for older lesbians and gays in the city of Chicago. The authors take the approach that simply being of the same or similar age is insufficient to understand the meaning of people's sexual identities. They entered into this study aware of some stereotypes about older lesbians and gays, but like previous investigators, they were surprised at the range of diversity that they uncovered. They discovered not only the common denominators in their participants' experiences and their lives, but as some commentators have already suggested, they also discovered a great deal of variation. To address the issues, the authors describe conceptual problems that emerged in a recent needs assessment of older lesbians and gay men in Chicago.     

Gender and Material Transfers Between Older Parents and Children in Ismailia,Egypt

In Egypt, kin relations have been governed by a patriarchal contract, which defines expectations for intergenerational support along gendered lines. Social changes may be disrupting these customs and bringing attention to the ways gender may influence intergenerational support in rapidly changing contexts. Using data from 4,465 parent–child dyads in Ismailia, Egypt, we examined whether intergenerational material transfers favored women over men and whether gaps in needs and endowments accounted for gender differences in transfers. Fathers gave children money and goods more often than did mothers; mothers received material transfers from children more often than did fathers. Compared to sons, daughters made transfers to parents less often and received transfers from parents more often. We found residual advantages to mothers and daughters, even adjusting for differential needs and endowments. Findings corroborate persistent norms of gender complementarity, patrilocal endogamy, and reciprocation for women's caregiving, despite changes that have threatened patriarchal rules of exchange.     

Ethical Issues in the Mental Health Treatment of Gender Dysphoric Adolescents

SUMMARY

This paper will focus on ethical dilemmas that arise in the treatment of adolescents with gender dysphoria. We will begin with a discussion of ethical and legal issues pertinent to the treatment of any adolescent, and then proceed to the gender dysphoric adolescent, since there is a great deal of overlap between the two areas. The authors re-view legal decisions, the existing data on adolescent decision-making, and ethical principles that may help the clinician in resolving some very complex situations. Utilizing case vignettes of three gender dysphoric adolescents, the authors provide a pragmatic illustration of the ethical dilemmas involved in evaluation and treatment of these youth. It is the authors' belief that treatment interventions should be based on respect for the adolescent's autonomy and confidentiality where he or she is deemed competent to make decisions.     

Gendered Projects of Solidarity: Workplace Organizing among Immigrant Women and Men

Drawing on an ethnography of organizing among Latina/o immigrant janitors in Los Angeles, I argue that constructing workplace solidarity between women and men is a dynamic, gendered project. I demonstrate both how this project unfolds and how it can be halted, with varying implications for gender and class inequality at work. Organizational restructuring upsets gender‐segregated divisions of labour making solidarity between women and men possible but restructuring also allows workers to reinforce gendered divisions and cultural distinctions. The mechanism pushing workers one way or the other is the degree to which the process of organizing recognizes gender inequalities.     

Women with disabilities in the North West province of Cameroon: resilient and deserving of greater attention

Cameroonian women living with disabilities face three‐fold discrimination as a result of their sex, perceived inability and low socio‐economic status. A needs assessment using focus groups (two focus groups, n = 24) and key participant interviews (n = 12) was conducted to explore the experiences of women with disabilities in the North West province in both urban and rural areas. The findings show that women faced both physical and attitudinal barriers, lived in poverty and felt that they lacked opportunities for gaining an education, finding employment and forming meaningful social ties. There was significant complexity of relationships, marriage and children in their lives. Participants generated ideas on changes that needed to be made for the betterment of their lives. Aspirations included increasing empowerment and education, gaining support from family and friends, increasing public awareness, adapting the physical environment and finding allies.     

Experience of Older Gay and Bisexual Men Living with HIV/AIDS

Although HIV/AIDS definitely impacts gay and bisexual men of all ages, the impact on people in their later years has not been actively investigated. This exploratory study obtained detailed narratives from 14 adults between the ages of 51-72, all of whom were infected with HIV. Ten of the participants were potentially infected through male to male sexual contact. The subjects reported living with HIV for substantial periods with an average of 13 years of life since diagnosis, estimating a duration of HIV seropositivity from 1-20 years. Most had significant health problems, which may be related to aging, in addition to a number of HIV-related symptoms. They expressed community identification as people living with HIV; some were highly identified as gay men, while other were closeted or in denial regarding their same-sex activity. Half felt to some extent bisexual, and described relationships with wives or other women. Although many participants maintained active social lives, others expressed feelings of loneliness and isolation. This group was minimally active sexually and several of the participants expressed reservations about safer sex, especially condom usage. A strong theme was the sense of having lived a full life, which may help the individual cope with his diagnosis. The findings suggest the need to examine the diversity among older gay and bisexual men living with HIV, how these experiences vary by race and ethnicity, and identification of issues related to prevention and services.     

Aging,Disability, and Disabled Older People in India

Summary

India is witnessing a demographic revolution, leading to a considerable increase in the proportion of older people in the population. Similarly, life expectancy of both the mentally and physically disabled has improved considerably. About 5% of Indian older people have problems with physical mobility. Aging has become a gender issue in India not only because more women are surviving into old age; they are also vulnerable and disadvantaged in many ways. In most cases they are the only caregivers available for the old and disabled. Older Indians are considered a high-risk group for multiple morbidity. It is estimated that nearly four million Indians suffer from mental problems. India has around 12 million people designated as “handicapped.” However, little information is available about disabled people who grow older. The National Policy on Older Persons, which has been recently formulated, aims at providing an improved quality of life for millions of older Indians. However, the concerns of older disabled and of the disabled who grow old are still treated separately in both policy and practice.     

Gender Differences in Expectations Predictive of Volunteer Experience Among Older Chinese Professionals in Hong Kong

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in expectations predictive of volunteer experience. Volunteering is one pathway to remaining actively engaged in later life and active engagement is considered one of the cornerstones of successful aging. The global feminization of aging underscores the need to consider gender differences when exploring factors associated with volunteerism. There is also a growing international interest in volunteerism among older adults. A sample of 438 Chinese professionals in Hong Kong ages 45-79, including retired (36.3%) and employed (63.7%), were asked about their expectations for volunteer work. Gender was evenly distributed, with 49.8% male and 50.2% female. Forty-three percent (43%) had volunteer experience. A multivariate logistic regression model was fit to sub-samples by gender, and gender differences emerged. For males, married and the expectation to utilize own skills were associated with volunteer experience. For females, self-rated health, retired, and the expectation to meet the needs of others were associated with volunteer experience. These results suggest that gender differences in expectations may influence volunteer activity.