Time to care: socioeconomic,family, and workplace factors in men and women’s parental leave use

ABSTRACT

Parental leave has important benefits for women, men, and families. This study examines how individual, family, and workplace factors are associated with the length of parental leaves taken by workers in diverse jobs and work contexts, but with the same employer, focusing on gender differences in the factors associated with longer parental leaves. The data are the result of a collaboration between university researchers and a municipal employer. We find that gender was a major driver of the duration of parental leaves for these workers, who must use their accumulated paid time off or take unpaid leave for parental leave; women’s leaves were almost three times longer than men’s. We also find gender differences in the factors associated with leave duration. For women, socioeconomic status seemed to matter most, while for men, family and workplace context influenced leave length. The results indicate the centrality of financial considerations in parents’ leave decisions, reinforcing the importance of having a dedicated paid parental leave policy. We argue that paid parental leaves would help reduce disparities between and within genders at work and in the family.     

The communicative construction of FEMEN: naked protest in self-mediation and German media discourse

Abstract

In this article, we investigate how FEMEN employs female nudity to raise public attention in their mediatized strategies and how this form of naked protest is represented and interpreted in German media discourse. We will show that the significant media presence of FEMEN’s naked protest actions and its self-portrayal as the new feminism of our days have become increasingly ambivalent over time. As this is of great importance with regards to public perceptions of feminism, feminist activists, and feminist agency in general, our analysis provides a detailed investigation of the processes of appreciation and devaluation of FEMEN as an expression of contemporary feminists and feminism. Employing a qualitative discourse analysis, the article highlights the interwoven processes of contextualization and decontextualization in FEMEN’s self-mediation and news coverage in Germany. It is shown that FEMEN’s protests from 2008 to 2013 materialize in “local” actions, but are increasingly constructed and interpreted on a transcultural level. In this analysis, we identify the core interpretative scheme of decontextualization that becomes apparent in three forms of detachments. As we show, these forms of detachment are a core issue in the media’s devaluation and depolitization of FEMEN and feminism in general.     

Overcoming the barriers: a case study of service volunteers in post-Soviet Russia

Voluntary organisations and volunteer action are new pheno-mena in post-Soviet Russia. Despite growing needs, cultural and socio-economic barriers preclude their massive development. This is a report on a case study of a volunteer programme that succeeded in overcoming these barriers, and in recruiting large numbers of volunteers. Characteristics of the volunteers and organisational conditions that enabled this success were identified and lessons drawn.     

Heteroskedasticity in the Tobit model

The paper deals with parameter estimation and the testing of individual parameters in heteroskedastic Tobit models. The statistical properties of semiparametric and maximum likelihood estimators are evaluated. Correspondingt-test statistics are compared. Results from a Monte Carlo experiment indicate that the semiparametric estimator performs relatively better than the maximum likelihood estimator. The associatedt-test statistics appear to perform better than the corresponding maximum likelihood test statistics. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A06GP002 00008     

When urban policy becomes labor policy: State structures,local initiatives,and union representation at the turn of the century

Theory and Society -     

Has Welfare Reform Created “Chilling Effects” for Refugees in the United States?

The welfare reform legislation of 1996 significantly reduced noncitizens' access to public benefits. Research has indicated that welfare reform has had unintended “chilling effects,” whereby even those noncitizens who remain eligible for benefits do not utilize them because of fear and confusion. Although refugees were exempted from the benefit restrictions for a certain period following arrival, recent research has suggested that they too may have experienced chilling effects. This study was conducted to more accurately determine whether this has occurred, through the use of time‐series data for a sample of refugees who remain eligible for public benefits. The findings did not provide strong evidence that welfare reform has created chilling effects for refugees, although the possibility cannot be ruled out.     

Delusional themes of penetration and loss of boundaries and their relation to early sexual trauma in psychotic disorder

This paper explores how the psychotic experience of the penetration of destructive objects and a loss of boundaries appears in the delusions experienced by a woman who reported early sexual trauma. Through a close analysis of these psychotic experiences, this research seeks to illustrate how a psychotic personality organization, coupled with repeated early attacks on the integrity and boundaries of the self, can create a pervasive sense of being relentlessly pursued and penetrated by destructive objects. These delusions may serve multiple functions, as will be discussed. It is suggested that working through these experiences within the therapeutic relationship involves a gradual process of separating the inner from the outer, the destructive from the benevolent, so that a less fragmented, more integrated sense of self can emerge.     

Multilevel Factors Influencing Maternal Stress During the First Three Years

This prospective study applies family stress theory to the influence of personal, child, and familial factors on a mother's parenting stress during the first 3 years of her infant's life. Participants included 134 mothers and their infants at ages 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months from one site of a multisite, longitudinal study. Mother's personality was most predictive of parenting stress cross‐sectionally and longitudinally. Intimacy with partner reduced parenting stress early in the infant's life and at 36 months, whereas general social support was more important in the second year. Child temperament was influential at 1 and 36 months. Counterintuitively, mothers who were more satisfied with work or school choices were more likely to be chronically stressed. Implications are discussed.     

Malawi goes to scale with anti-AIDS clubs and popular media

This paper evaluates a project in Malawi that aimed to provide in-school and out-of-school youth with the necessary tools and skills to avoid high-risk sexual behavior, in order to reduce HIV transmission. Project components were school curriculum; extra-curricular activities; out-of-school youth clubs; enabling environmental support; youth reproductive health services; and research, monitoring and evaluation. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Youth Technical Committees established 3200 anti-AIDS Clubs throughout Malawi. These Clubs positively influenced members' behavior and helped to ‘break the silence’. An enabling environment was created through two popular radio programs, advertisements and provision of sports equipment. The out-of-school youth clubs needed clearer criteria and objectives. Many objectives were achieved, but the aim of establishing health services for youth was over-ambitious, and not achieved. This program is exemplary for the national scale that it achieved, and for its approach of using diverse partners to implement locally adapted components.     

WORKING CARERS OF OLDER ADULTS

Juggling work and care presents particular challenges to carers and employers. Employers are increasingly under pressure, both from within organizations and from recent government legislation and policy, to develop family-friendly policies to support informal carers in the workplace. Yet existing ‘family-friendly’ schemes and services are still primarily designed for working parents of young children and rarely address the needs of employees who care for older or disabled adults. This paper reports on a study which investigated how working carers and managers in two public sector organizations — a Social Services Department (SSD) and a National Health Service (NHS) Trust — combined their work and caring responsibilities. A multi-method approach was adopted consisting of five phases. First, a profile of the two organizations was established, followed by a short screening questionnaire to all employees to identify who was caring for an older adult over the age of 60. Third, a lengthier postal survey was sent to the 365 carers who had indicated a willingness to participate further. In the fourth and fifth phases, carers and managers were interviewed in depth about their experiences. This paper reports briefly on the survey, but then concentrates in particular on what was said in the interviews about what helps and hinders working carers of older adults. Despite the existence of policies to support carers, our findings suggest that these were far less important than informal support from colleagues and a sympathetic manager in the workplace. Commuting distance between work, home and the older person also posed difficulties for carers, along with inflexible schedules and work overload. Employers are urged to explore these issues further if they are serious about recruiting and retaining employees, and developing the work – life balance agenda to meet the needs of those caring for older and disabled adults.