Analyzing Politics and Change in Women's Organizations

Research on women's political action too often passes over women's organizations that do not officially adopt a feminist ideology and do not explicitly set out to change gender power relations. Based on implicit notions that such women's organizations are nonpolitical (or less interesting), the research often supports a false dichotomy between feminist and nonfeminist organizations rather than illuminates women's common political ground. This study addresses women's collective action, politics and change by focusing on the case of Nicaraguan Mothers of Heroes and Martyrs - women who lost a son or daughter in the revolution or Contra War. Although some members in Matagalpa critiqued male domination, the organization itself did not set out to challenge the gendered division of labor; indeed, their collective demands relied upon and in many ways reinforced traditional gender identities. I argue that such movements are important to feminist political analysis. As I demonstrate in this article, an organization's lack of an official feminist ideology does not mean that individual members do not express interests, identities and ideals that challenge the gendered status quo. Such research, however, requires a nuanced approach, recognizing women as both accommodating and resisting gendered social structures. Thus, this study challenges the dominant feminist-feminine dichotomy by demonstrating that women's collective action is not only per se political (and politically important) but may also challenge as well as reinforce gendered power structures.     

Assessing Child Protection Risk

Correspondence to Lorraine Waterhouse, Lecturer, Edinburgh Centre for Social Welfare Research, 23 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LN. Summary The article outlines a set of child protection criteria usedby social workers for the evaluation of risk in sexual abusecases. The criteria were distilled from research findings basedon a sample of 51 child sexual abuse cases drawn from ChildProtection Registers in Scotland in 1987/89. Criteria dividebetween two types: primary (child care) criteria which concentrateon assessing circumstances prevailing within the family home;and secondary (disclosure) criteria which serve to either substantiateor refute disclosure. Primary criteria include attitude of non-abusingparent to alleged perpetrator; access between referred childand alleged perpetrator; type of abuse; age of child or youngperson; attitude of alleged perpetrator to allegations; andparental attitude to social work investigation. Secondary criteriainclude belief or disbelief of child; psychological symptomsin child; physical signs of abuse; children's attitudes towardsremaining at home; and criminal or psychiatric history includingalcohol or drug abuse. In practice the criteria tend to be usedlike a set of building blocks: tall towers represent higherrisk; low towers lesser risk. Given the enormous stakes involvedin child protection decisions, front-line practitioners wereunder considerable pressure to ‘play it safe’.     

Factors Predicting Admission of Elderly People to Local Authority Residential Care

Correspondence to Dr Ian Sinclair, Director of Research, National Institute for Social Work. Mary Ward House, 5–7 Tavistock Place, London WCIH 955 Summary Successful community care may partly depend on identifying thoseat risk of entering residential homes and targeting servicesto them. This article is concerned with how this identificationcan be achieved. It considers a sample of old people livingalone. in touch with home helps or social workers and followedup for between two and four years. The research examined thefactors likely to produce admission, and used discriminant analysisto predict it.     

On the Contingent Valuation of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuation: Part 2 - The CV/SG "Chained" Approach

This article reports the results of a study aimed at estimating a willingness-to-pay based value of statistical life for road risks using a multi-stage approach which involves "chaining together" responses to contingent valuation and standard gamble questions.The rationale for employing a multi-stage approach is to break the wealth/risk of death trade-off down into a number of conceptually manageable steps, thereby trying to attenuate the various biases that appear to be pervasive in responses to more direct contingent valuation questions in the health and safety field.     

Parental Rights Assumptions, The Passage of Time and 'Natural Justice': The Use of Section 3(1)(d) of the Child Care Act 1980

Summary This paper reports a study carried out in two Social ServicesDepartments, of 63 children in care under Section 2 of the ChildCare Act 1980, in respect of whom parental rights had been assumedunder Section 3 on the ground that they had been in Section2 care for three years or more. Some of the arguments put inthe debate about ‘natural justice’ in relation toparental rights assumptions are briefly considered in the introduction;recent changes in such assumptions are then outlined. The studyand its main findings are then presented, with reference tothe findings of other studies of parental rights resolutionswhere appropriate, Finally, the implications of the study forthe ‘natural justice’ debate are discussed. Theauthor's main conclusion is that the existing procedure is anomalousalthough Departments' use of it may be acrupulously careful.The grounds for assuming rights should be revised and the procedureshould be carried out by a family court.     

On the Contingent Valuation of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuation: Part 1-Caveat Investigator

This article reports the results of two studies aimed at testing and refining a procedure for estimating willingness-to-pay based monetary values of safety using the contingent valuation method. In spite of the fact that respondents were given the opportunity to discuss various safety issues and key concepts in focus group meetings held in advance of individual interviews, and were also given ample opportunity to revise their responses in the light of the overall pattern of these responses, the results show clear evidence of extensive and persistent insensitivity to the scale and scope of the safety improvements that were specified in the contingent valuation questions, as well as vulnerability to framing effects. This clearly casts serious doubt on the reliability and validity of willingness-to-pay based monetary values of safety estimated using conventional contingent valuation procedures.     

Two Value Positions in Recent Child Care Law and Practice

Summary This paper aims to explore two contrasting viewpoints on stateand agency intervention in child care, and the major pointsof divergence and similarity between these viewpoints. Materialis drawn from literature and from interviews conducted by theauthor with individuals prominent in the child care field.¹Simply put, one viewpoint emphasizes the prevention of the break-upof ‘natural’ or biological families and the restorationof biological ties where severed, while the other advocatesthe readier removal of children from natural families and theprovision of permanent, secure substitute families when naturalparenting is unsatisfactory. At attempt is made to place thesetwo positions in a wider intellectual context.