Towards redressing historical inequities?

Abstract

This article examines women's positions at senior management levels of South Africa's civil service given its affirmative action policy that attempts to tackle women's historical marginalization in public sector organizations. It examines ‘women's empowerment', gender and race inside the public service within the context of South Africa's historical inequities within the civil service, and the post-apartheid government's attempts to correct these. It concludes that women's positions inside the civil service have improved gradually since the demise of apartheid, an initial step towards substantive equality with their male counterparts, but recognizes that much still needs to be done if women are to be represented proportionately in senior civil service positions. It argues that this might help to improve the implementation of gender sensitive programs at various policy levels. Information for this article was gathered from various sources including interviews with civil servants in selected national and provincial departments.     

Women at workequality versus inequality: barriers for advancing in the workplace

This study aimed at identifying the factors that working women in Cyprus are faced with which lead to experience discrimination, examining possible barriers that affect women's advancement and identifying organizational practices that assist them in achieving work–life balance. The data were collected by the distribution of a questionnaire, which was on a voluntary, anonymous and confidential basis and targeted women of four different occupational levels. Several barriers were identified, preventing them from advancement such as stereotypes, conflicting work and family obligations, lack of women role models and low levels of self-confidence. This research enhances women's awareness of the existence of gender discrimination at work and the barriers in their career advancement. It highlights the creation of company programs such as mentoring programs, refresher courses, flexible work hours and on-site childcare, which could help women in developing and advancing their careers as well as achieving work–life balance.     

Sex Differences in Responsiveness to Organizational Career Management

This is a study of differences between women and men in their responsiveness to formal organizational career management. Questionnaire data from 272 men and 101 women were analyzed. It was found that women's individual career variables were mostly similar to men's, but their responsiveness to organizational career management was higher than men's. Women's career effectiveness (performance, attitudes, identity, and adaptability) and career planning increased when the level of perceived organizational career management was high. The sex difference remained even when the effects of two other responsiveness-reducing factors, managerial position and tenure, were controlled. The results are interpreted in terms of women's cognitive construction of organizational reality. It is suggested that human resource managers have to distinguish between two different objectives: enhancing women's effectiveness vs. enhancing their career progress. To attain the first objective, formal career management systems should be developed. To attain the second, it is argued that women need to relate differently to the informal organizational system.     

Connecting Time and Space: The Significance of Transformations in Women's Work in the City

Growing numbers of women with children living in western cities are entering the labour market, raising new questions about changes in the allocation of the tasks of social reproduction between household members and others and about the effects of the increasing time women now spend in the workplace. As Manuel Castells noted over 25 years ago, women's unpaid labour has long been essential, not only in the domestic arena, but also in patching together facilities separated in space. The spatial layout of cities, with its specialized and segregated land‐uses, only works, he argued, if women's unpaid labour is available to connect urban locations. But many women now spend many more hours in the labour market, replacing their former domestic labour with a range of commodified goods and services as well as by help from a range of related or unrelated others, sometimes but not always remunerated and/or by state‐provided or supported services. This article examines the consequences of the growth of women's employment in Britain and the concomitant decline of the old breadwinner family, the growth of workfare policies that assume all individuals are available for waged work and the rise of commodified caring. The arguments are illustrated by empirical examples from interviews undertaken with middle‐class mothers in waged work in London and Manchester in the UK.     

Equal opportunity? Women's managerial careers in governmental organizations in China

There is very limited knowledge about women's management careers in China. This paper examines the opportunities for and barriers to women's careers in China, using governmental organizations as an example in which the State is not only the advocate of equal opportunity policies but also, in practice, the gatekeeper. One of the greatest disparities between male and female occupational patterns in China is in the sphere of government employment where only one in five employees is female. The aim of this paper is to understand the Chinese characteristics of gender inequality in management careers. In looking at the factors that influence women's upward mobility, the intention is to identify the barriers to the appointment of women to top jobs. Some barriers will be unique to governmental organizations and so will require special attention if they are to be eradicated. However, women also face more general barriers to success which transcend differences of occupational sector or society. It is hoped that this paper will lead to a greater understanding of how career barriers for women in China may resemble and differ from those faced by their counterparts in the West.     

‘Surfing on the ironing board’ – the representation of women's entrepreneurship in German newspapers

Despite extensive attempts to enhance women's entrepreneurship in Germany, a gender gap continues to exist. This article sets out to analyse the representation of women's entrepreneurship in German media, by analysing how it is depicted in newspapers and how this changes over time. Images transported in media might regulate the nature of women's entrepreneurship, as they contain information about ‘typical’ and ‘socially desirable’ behaviour of women as well as of entrepreneurs. This article contributes to developing an understanding of the relevance of media representation of the entrepreneurship phenomenon for influencing the propensity towards entrepreneurial activity.     

The effect of household appliances on female labor force participation: Evidence from microdata

We estimate the effect of household appliance ownership on the labor force participation rate of married women using micro-level data from the 1960 and 1970 U.S. Censuses. In order to identify the causal effect of home appliance ownership on married women's labor force participation rates, our empirical strategy exploits both time-series and cross-sectional variation in these two variables. To control for endogeneity, we instrument a married woman's ownership of an appliance by the average ownership rate for that appliance among single women living in the same U.S. state. Single women's labor force participation rates did not increase between 1960 and 1970. We find evidence in support of the hypothesis that the diffusion of household appliances contributed to the increase in married women's labor force participation rates during the 1960's.     

Unequal jobs or unequal pay?

This article draws on new data to consider whether women would benefit most from upgrading the skill levels of their jobs or from achieving equal pay for work of equal value. It looks in detail at skill, gender, and whether work is full-time or part-time, concluding that reassessment of the value of women's jobs would be of greater immediate financial benefit to women than upgrading the skill level of their jobs unless this upgrading gave them access to men's jobs at men's pay and benefit rates.     

Exploring servant leadership across cultures: comparative study in Australia and Indonesia

Several problematic aspects of women's paid employment - e.g. low pay and lack of promotional opportunities - are exacerbated by the segregation of women and men into different occupations. In this article, the potential of in-store equal opportunities policies to break down such gender segregation will be explored, through consideration of the existence and implementation of these policies in twenty-two multinational retail companies in Dublin and Paris. It will be argued that, with one notable exception, the instore equal opportunities policies are effectively neutralized, and furthermore are neutralized in nationally specific ways which can be related to differences between France and Ireland in the organization of labour-market regulation and in women's labour-force participation (LFP). The case-study findings also suggest that the 'country' variable has a stronger effect on the existence and implementation of these policies than the extent of a shop's links to an overseas headquarters. The findings of this study have implications for both the equity of women's incorporation into the paid labour force and understanding of aspects of HRM in branches of multinational companies.     

Economic Freedom and Women's Emancipation in the MENA Region

The position of women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a complex topic, difficult to comprehend without allowing for socio‐cultural norms, legal frameworks and the global gender context. In thinking about a practical framework for action, the free market perspective is relevant and necessary. However, this alone does not seem to provide a complete answer to the problem of promoting women's economic status. This article makes the case for the importance of market‐friendly, but also gender‐sensitive, policies to promote women's economic freedom and hence women's emancipation in the MENA region.     

What helps? Women engineers' accounts of staying on

We have considerable understanding of the obstacles that women engineers encounter and the reasons that they leave the field, but we know less about what enables them to remain. Adopting an interpretivist approach, this article examines how a group of British women engineers in two FTSE 100 companies account for “staying on” in their male‐dominated work settings. We delineate four specific forms of help that facilitate women's retention in the field. We argue that exposure to help leads to women developing a habitus that enables them to continue working in engineering. To conclude, we draw on our findings to outline HR practices that will facilitate supportive relationships in the workplace and pave the way towards developing more positive organisational climates.     

Alternative approaches to decreasing maternal anemia: identifying the need for social marketing strategies to promote iron-folic acid supplementation in the Peruvian highlands

• Anemia is the most common health condition affecting women during pregnancy, and leads to adverse health outcomes of both the mother and infant. Despite national fortification and supplementation programs in Peru, 21% of women of reproductive age are anemic. Adherence to iron-folic acid (IFA) supplements in this vulnerable population is low and influenced by side effects of the tablets, such as nausea and vomiting, caused by the generic formula of the tablets. The trust within a patient–provider relationship and the provider's competency at effective counseling increases women's adherence, whereas late entry into prenatal care and government regulations limit early initiation of IFA supplementation. It is important for partners to support women during supplementation and participate in their prenatal care. Social marketing strategies targeting the product, price, place, promotion, and policy of IFA supplements should decrease barriers to women's ability to obtain IFA tablets and adhere to the supplementation regimen and reduce iron deficiency maternal anemia. Public health practitioners implementing supplementation programs should consider different behavioral influences at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community levels that affect adherence.

Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ‘expat factor’: the influence of working time on women's decisions to undertake international assignments in the oil and gas industry

This article examines the effect of working time on women's willingness to go on expatriate assignments in the oil and gas exploration and production sector. The research draws upon an analysis of two case study firms' international assignment and working time policies, semi-structured interviews with 14 human resource staff responsible for policy design and implementation, and a survey of the views of 71 women expatriates, supported by in-depth interviews with 26 of the survey respondents. The research identifies an ‘expat factor’: assignees state that long hours are inherent in expatriation and necessary to further their careers. However, in practice, working time is not excessive and flexible working practices are utilised. Hours of work have little effect on women's decisions to undertake long-term assignments but alternatives such as short-term and commuter assignments are unpopular as their working patterns are disruptive to family life. This article contributes to theory development by linking two discrete frameworks that explain women's career choices when they strive to balance their career goals with their families and by identifying a career compromise threshold when expatriation is rejected in favour of family considerations. A model is proposed to link working time/patterns to women's international assignment participation.     

The Sorting of Female Careers after First Birth: A Competing Risks Analysis of Maternity Leave Duration

A number of contributions have found evidence that motherhood is a critical life event for women's employment careers. This study presents a detailed analysis for the duration of maternity leave in which young mothers can make a transition into different types of employment, unemployment as well as the next birth. We provide a comprehensive picture of the sorting mechanisms that lead to the differentiation of women's employment careers after birth. Our empirical evidence is derived from large‐linked administrative individual labour market data from Germany for a period of three decades. We obtain unprecedented insights into how women's skills, the quality of the previous job match, firm level characteristics, labour market conditions and leave legislation are related to the length of maternity duration. Expansionary leave policies, e.g. are found to be a key factor for the rising share of women who have their second child out of inactivity.     

Management Women in the Corporate Workplace: Possibilities for the Year 2000

This article considers what corporations' attitudes toward women will be in the year 2000, and what women's attitudes toward corporations will be at that time. Women's current position in the workforce is characterized. Consideration is given to the direction today's workplace is taking as it transitions to the start of a new century. Based on current observations and trends, the article explores the needs and desires of the twenty-first century woman. Four major tools available to U.S. corporations preparing to enter the next century are discussed, including family issues, a commitment to innovation, training, and women's contributions to the management of transition.     

Human resource management: gendered terrain?

This paper addresses the question of whether human resource management can offer greater possibilities for training, development or career advancement for women. Data from two case-study organizations with contrasting approaches to HRM ('soft' and 'hard') are presented. It was found that events in the external environment had impacted on both organizations and led to a reconceptualization of careers which had affected men and women. In general, women at Lloyds Bank, which was characterized by a bias towards the 'hard' approach to HRM, fared less well than those at Hewlett Packard, where the rhetoric, at least, was of 'soft' HRM. However, women's presence at higher levels in both organizations was limited.     

"Marie Howland—19th‐Century Leader for Women's Economic Independence

Marie Howland (1836–1921) was an important working‐class figure in the early U.S. women's movement who mounted an inspired challenge to separate spheres and the prevailing domestic ideology. Well before Edward Bellamy and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, she called for domestic work to be respected, paid, and collectively organized. Howland made it her life's work to remove barriers to economic independence for women through the overhaul of social and economic institutions that posited the home as the center of female existence and exploited workers. She wanted women to have the economic freedom to marry for love, not economic necessity, leave a bad marriage, survive widowhood, or not marry at all. By delving into Howland's early years in rural New Hampshire and the Lowell textile mills, her close association with radical bohemians in New York City, and her later participation in experimental communities, the following treatise provides a long overdue, comprehensive account of her life and work. My inquiry reveals how Marie Howland promoted women's freedom within a class analysis, rejecting Marxism and embracing the utopian socialist theory of Charles Fourier. It also offers an in‐depth look at her popular utopian novel, Papa's Own Girl, where a cooperative community of economically independent women and enlightened men replace the patriarchy and individual competitiveness of the emerging, but by no means entrenched, industrial order. In addition, my treatise focuses on Howland's efforts to put ideas into practice. Unwilling to limit her activism to intellectual discussions, she lived in a Fourierist household in New York City, a cooperative settlement in western Mexico, and the single‐tax community of Fairhope, Alabama. She pushed the Grange and the International Workingman's Association to focus on women's issues. She also made sure that her personal relationships with men were based on free love and mutual respect, not economic necessity and legal contract. I also examine how Howland dedicated her life to changing gender and class relations, but made little effort to improve conditions for African Americans. Like many white reformers, she drew on popular scientific theories of biological difference to justify the unequal treatment of African Americans. Besides shedding light on important intellectual and social developments, like phrenology, free love, Fourierism, the Grange, and theosophy, this examination of Marie Howland reveals the complexities, possibilities, and limitations of the women's rights movement before the passage of the 19^th Amendment.     

The Twenty‐First‐Century Quest for Feminism and the Global Urban

The purpose of this essay is to initiate a conversation about the production and analysis of knowledge on women and the urban. Starting with a brief overview of how women have been addressed in the field of urban studies, I turn to their treatment in works by critical urban scholars, revealing how women fall away from urban theories. The dismissal of women from theory construction and the impact on women's lives of the imbrication of the gendered subject into neoliberal discourses about the city adds urgency to a feminist intervention. A feminist analytic requires the promotion of a new kind of global urban studies that takes seriously women's struggles, strategies and everyday desires.     

Femmes et transports en milieu urbain

The purpose of this article is to attempt an approach to the problem of women in an 'urban setting'. Taking the Parisian region as an example, we analyse the ambivalent role played by transport in women's insertion in society. We try to pinpoint the determinants of women's mobility, one of the components of their way of life, considering both the availability of transport-public and individual-and the roles which are Allotted to women within the family. Stress is put on the prevalent contradictions which exist between the ideological norms of a patriarchal order which primarily bind women to the home and the requirements of the present capitalist system which needs them in the labour market while at the same time benefitting from certain aspects of the functioning of the family unit. Women are therefore constantly faced with the problems of reconciling family and domestic life with life outside the home. In this attempt at reconciliation, transport plays an important part.     

A comparative perspective on gender and accountancy

Different theoretical approaches have been used to examine the process of assimi-lation of women into professional occupations. A Franco-British comparative study of women's incorporation into accountancy is used to test the explanatory value of different bodies of theory. The research suggests that the integration of women into the profession may have progressed further in France than in Britain, and that the process is influenced by societal characteristics. Differences in the relationship between training, the role of professional associations, organiza-tional structure and the public policy environment are shown to affect women's choices and career opportunities.