The new gender essentialism--domestic and family 'choices' and their relation to attitudes

This paper critically examines two strands within contemporary gender essentialism--that is, the argument that men and women are fundamentally different and that it is this 'difference' that explains the continuing social and material differences between the sexes. The first strand we examine is Hakim's 'preference theory', which has argued that persisting sex differences in employment patterns are an outcome of the 'choices' made by different 'types' of women. We next examine the claims of populist conservative feminism, that has argued that women (and men) in partnerships will be happier if they adopt a gender role traditionalism in the domestic sphere. Our empirical findings suggest that neither of these theoretical explanations are supported by our data, which is derived from the samples of six countries participating in the International Social Survey Programme Family 2002 module.     

Employment,flexible working and the family

This paper assesses some of the implications of one of the major social changes to have taken place in the West during the second half of the twentieth century--that is, the increased employment of women, together with normative changes in gender relations and in women's expectations. These changes have been linked to an increase in individualism, which itself is associated with the transcendence of 'first modernity'. Thus it is suggested that new approaches to social analysis are required (Beck). Here it is argued that, rather than develop completely new approaches in order to grasp the changes that are under way, the 'economic' and the 'social' (that is, employment and the family) should be seen as intertwined, rather than approached as separate phenomena. Past debates in feminism, changes in the family, and flexible employment are critically examined. The growing tensions between employment and family life are discussed. It is argued that these changes are associated with the intensification of capitalist development, rather than reflecting a fundamental transformation of society. Existing approaches to the analysis of social change, including Polanyi's analysis of the development of 'counter-movements' against the 'self-regulating' market, will, therefore, still be relevant to our enquiries. In the concluding section, a programme of research that would examine these changes is outlined.     

Complementarity and substitutability in family members' time allocated to household production activities

This study reviews the concepts of complementarity and substitutability and the theoretical representations of these concepts used in demand analysis. It highlights difficulties encountered in empirical estimation of these relationships in the absence of adequate price data. A procedure for investigating these relationships in demand analysis under the assumption of constant relative prices is proposed. A model is formulated to test these relationships in family members' time allocated to household production activities. The data used in this analysis were collected in the Interstate Regional Research Project (NE-113), U.S.D.A. A simultaneous regression procedure is used. Results indicate that time of homemakers and their spouses are weakly complementary in several household maintenance activities, unpaid work, eating, shopping, recreation, organizational participation, physical and non-physical care of family members, and physical care of self. Homemaker's time in food preparation and spouse's time in physical care of self are found to be weakly substitutable. Relationships of substitutability are identified for each family member individually in his/her own discretionary activities. Discussion centers on implications of the model assumptions and use of residual analysis in applications other than demand analysis.Rosemary Key is an Assistant Professor, Department of Consumer Economics & Housing, 103 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. In addition to time management, her research interests include the psychological foundations of managerial activity, and how time use impacts consumer behavior. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.     

Building Strategies: Equal Opportunity in the Construction Industry

The building industry, as one of the last male bastions, has seen a significant degree of resistance to concepts such as ‘gender equity’ and ‘affirmative action’ and resentment at what is seen as the ‘big brother’ approach of the government's ‘social justice’ agenda. There is a widespread misinterpretation of ‘equal opportunity’, with men either taking the stand that women are not equal physically or that if they want equal opportunity they must demonstrate that they can do everything in the very same way that a man does on the building site. Recent work suggests that organizations which are proactive on equality issues have usually extended the equal treatment model to incorporate difference initiatives such as mentoring, fast-tracking into promotion positions or going out of their way to recruit from minority groups. It is argued here that, in an area such as the building industry, it is crucial to combine both strategies if the issue of women's disadvantage is to be adequately addressed. This paper explores girls' experience of entry-level and trade training, the attitudes of male workers and contractors to female apprentices, and the issue of support from teachers, vocational guidance officers and parents. Queensland has been chosen as the site for this study because, after a long period of conservative rule, it had become the most ‘backward’ of all the Australian states in matters of gender equality. The advent of the Goss Labour Government (1989–96) provided opportunities both to ‘catch up’ and to learn from the limitations of earlier equal opportunity initiatives.     

Responding to the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative: a multilevel community approach to building aging competency

Infusing age-specific, multigenerational content into social work curricula at both the MSW and BSW levels are key goals in preparing age-competent social workers to meet the needs of our current and future aging populations. The social work profession has a holistic approach and crucial skills that can promote aging well. This article will discuss an innovative, multilevel intervention strategy supported by the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Initiative that formulates, implements, and sustains age-infused curricula and assures the education of age-competent social workers by capitalizing on a "community-focus" strategy.     

Black Rain: a kaupapa Māori (a Māori approach) to addressing family violence and intergenerational trauma

In working with Māori to address family violence and the trauma that arises when it is occurring across generations, three elements are essential. The first is helping whānau (family members) to recognise and reconnect with the impact of the violence they are caught up in. The second is to do so in a way that contextualises this because it never involves and affects individuals alone. And third is to do so by being conscious of the whole of a person's being and being aware that the spiritual realm is the entry point. For 30 years, Fay Pouesi has been working with Māori whānau, initiating kaupapa (approaches) that include these three elements. This article details one kaupapa, known as Black Rain, which has been successfully helping men and women to break the cycles of intergenerational violence within their whānau since 2010. To do this, we will draw upon Fay's work and that of two colleagues who now work with her.     

Public Perceptions of Health Risks from Polluted Coastal Bathing Waters: A Mixed Methodological Analysis Using Cultural Theory

This article explores public perceptions of, and attitudes toward, possible health risks from polluted coastal bathing waters in the United Kingdom. Cultural theory is applied in the present analysis, using a mixed methodology of quantitative analysis from interviews and qualitative interpretation of focus group discussions to provide insights into how different cultural solidarities view a number of issues. These include risks to health; attitudes toward regulation; public consultation and information provision; and trust, blame, and accountability applied to different stakeholders in the bathing-water-quality debate. The results show that individuals' standpoints can be represented on a number of dimensions, consistent with cultural theory, including perceptions of power and authority, beliefs in the efficacy of collective action, and acceptance or rejection of incremental change as opposed to radical solutions. The discussion focuses both on methodological and substantive issues related to the use of cultural theory as a research tool, and on policy recommendations arising from this research.     

Realizing the potential of a strengths-based approach in family support with young people and their parents

This paper on a strengths-based approach (SBA) to practice is based on empirical research with stakeholders involved in an intensive support programme for young people at risk and their parents in Ireland. The Youth Advocate Programme (YAP) model provides wraparound support to respond to their needs by focusing on their competencies and their coping skills and building networks of community-based supports. The model includes parents or carers in the suite of support offered by advocates. An SBA to practice has been discussed for some time in academic literature and practice guidance. However, it tends to be considered primarily in relation to social work practice, and there is ongoing ambiguity as to what it actually involves in day-to-day engagement with individual family members. Insightful, rich accounts of SBAs as part of routine practice provided by young people, parents and practitioners form the basis to this paper and detail how these approaches support the development of hope-inspiring relationships and promote positive change. Relevant literature and research situates the debate on the experience of using SBA, the wider challenges faced by families, the impact of SBA in practice on those receiving the support service and its potential for use in the wider continuum of children and family services.