Making Policymakers More Gender Aware: Experiences and Reflections from the Women's Budget Group in the United Kingdom

SUMMARY

The UK Women's Budget Group (WBG) is a think tank focusing on the gender implications of economic policy that attempts to influence UK government policy to be more gender aware and adopt policies that decrease gender inequality. The WBG has had the overarching aim of encouraging the government to take account of gender in policy formation and to monitor and hold itself accountable for the gender effects of its policies. At the same time the WBG has advised the government on the gender effects of particular policies and proposed modifications to make policies more supportive of (or less harmful to) women, and poor women in particular. Such advice has covered a number of areas, including fiscal policy, tax credits, income support, financial support for children, childcare policy, maternity and parental leave, work-life balance policies, pensions, pay equity, training and productivity, the use of indicators and the collection of government statistics. While the government has been keen to acknowledge the WBG's influence on certain policies, in other areas the WBG has had no discernible effect on policy. This analysis focuses on several common gender issues, including taking account of gendered life-courses, intra- as well as inter-household gender inequalities, valuing and remunerating care and accounting for unpaid work, to assess the WBG's impact and possible reasons for success or failure.     

(Re)Envisioning Human Service Labor: Worker-Owned Cooperative Possibilities

This article explores the viability of worker-owned cooperatives as a promising human service delivery model that prioritizes the well-being of both care recipients and providers. In so doing, the current labor conditions of those providing direct care services are presented, followed by a review of cooperatives as a promising countertrend within human service delivery. Three case examples of worker-owned, direct-care cooperatives are presented, concluding with a discussion of the challenges and possibilities of this model and suggested next steps as we continue to (re)imagine modes of care provision premised on worker sovereignty, economic equality, and social justice.     

Father's involvement in the lives of children in foster care

Limited understandings exist about non‐resident fathers' views of their involvement with their children in foster care placements. Guided by the ecological systems framework, the purpose of this exploratory study was to gain insights into fathers' perceptions of their involvement with a child in foster care. Data were collected from demographic questionnaires and two focus groups with 17 men. Fathers expressed how kinship compared with non‐kinship placements affected their involvement. Fathers were also in agreement that their financial hardships were a significant factor affecting their involvement. Several fathers also reported how they experienced discrimination in the child welfare system as men. Surprisingly, uncommon to findings from other studies, few men viewed the child's mother as being a barrier to their involvement. The findings provide insights into factors requiring attention to help non‐residential fathers become involved with their children.     

Health and Well-Being for Late Middle-Aged and Old Lesbians in a Rural Area

Abstract

Previous research on lesbian health care has drawn primarily from samples of young lesbians living in metropolitan areas. Through face-to-face interviews with twenty-one lesbians aged 54 or older and living in rural communities, this exploratory, naturalistic inquiry begins to fill a gap in the literature by examining the health care experiences of older, rural lesbians. Five themes emerged from the narrative data: issues of access; good health/good care; open to her own diversity; family and community; and visions-ideals and fears. We present these themes through informant quotes and discuss implications for policy and practice.     

Long-Term Care Insurance in Japan

Abstract

Among all the industrialized countries, Japan has the fastest rate of population aging and the highest life expectancy at birth. It is projected that the proportion of elderly people will reach 35.7% in 2050. In this demographic environment, Japan launched a social insurance program for long-term care for the elderly in 2000. What were the forces that led Japan to establish a long-term care program for elderly people? What are the provisions for financing, benefits, and service delivery? What aspects of policymaking in developing such a program are unique to Japan? This article presents answers to these questions.     

Childcare: welfare or investment?

Conley A. Childcare: welfare or investment? Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 173–181 © 2009 The Author, Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. Childcare (also called day care or preschool) has generally served three purposes: to care for children while parents are employed; to provide early childhood education; and to cater to the needs of poor and disadvantaged children. This article proposes that the welfare approach to childcare be augmented by a social investment approach to enhance human and social capital investments among low income families and communities and to contribute to wider social development goals. The Head Start program in the United States and the Integrated Child Development Scheme in India are used to illustrate this argument.     

Health care as a social security benefit: Institutional approaches to extending coverage

Reaching universal health‐care coverage requires an appropriate mix of compulsory contributory social insurance schemes, with mechanisms to include the informal‐economy population, and tax‐based social assistance for those whose incomes preclude their own contributions. This article urges a reversal of the trend that favours the separate development of social health insurance by separate health authorities and makes the case for the extension of health‐care coverage using existing formal‐sector social security schemes, not least because they have the necessary political backing and institutional structures. The article reviews reasons for the slow pace of coverage extension to date, and stresses the added value of incorporating health care as a social security benefit while also acknowledging the importance of retaining linkages between statutory and well‐regulated community‐based or micro health‐insurance schemes.     

安土重迁:中国人稳定性的传统社会心理

中国古代文明是农业文明 ,特看重土地、家族和邻里关系 ,从而形成了安土重迁的传统社会心理。所以 ,人们迁徙重聚族、重怀故土 ,经商也重族谊和乡谊。这种安土重迁的传统促进了社会稳定和农业经济的发展 ,却制约了资本积累和商品经济的发展。在当今改革开放的时代 ,对商品经济的发展也产生了重大影响     

Services for disabled children: integrating the perspective of social workers

The paper addresses questions about the appropriate focus and direction of social work with disabled children, by triangulating parental views with those of social workers. Previous studies concerning services for disabled children have concentrated either on the views of parents or, less often, on those of service providers. This study adds to the picture by linking the two together and allowing service providers to comment on the views of service users. Parents of nine disabled children were inter-viewed following the introduction of a specialist disability team in an inner city borough, following the implementation of the Children Act 1989. The interviews took place over a 9-month period in 1995, and the comments of parents were then shared with social workers both from the borough concerned and from elsewhere. The parents' views reflect confusion about service provision, ignorance of their children's legal (as opposed to moral) rights, a preference for proactive service provision and the need for emotional as well as material support, the last framed variously as counselling, advice and someone to listen. There was little evidence that the Children Act, which could have facilitated improvements in all these areas, had made any discernible difference. Social workers' comments on these findings, with which they identified strongly, revealed a lack of confidence in their own abilities, a lack of clarity in their role and increasing disillusion with the services of their organizations. It is argued that in order to meet parents' expressed needs, service providers require a confident and fundamental shift in emphasis back to the role of social worker as provider as well as enabler.