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Since many Afghans, especially in rural areas, favor traditional, customary, and tribal laws over national laws, they tend to disregard the constitution and national governmental structure under the new democracy that gives girls and women protection. These laws allow girls to attend school, and ban child marriage; therefore, the problems related to these practices should be decreasing. However, since many in the more rural areas of Afghanistan do not honor the regulations, laws, and rulings of the national government, serious problems still exist for girls and women. Those to be addressed in this chapter are high rates of illiteracy, child marriage, obstetrical fistulas, poor health, domestic violence, and self-immolation.

As a growing literature points out (Aronowitz, 2009, pp. 165–213), HT becomes criminal because it involves displacing, exploiting and commercializing a human being, all of these necessitating transportation, trade and torture to varying degrees to survive and succeed (Nair, 2010, pp. 12–19). John T. Picarelli informs us, these began ‘in the Americas’ from 1502, ‘when Portuguese traders brought the first African slaves to the Caribbean’ (Picarelli, 2011, p. 180, but see all of Chapter 9). African slaves continued to be imported into the United States until 1808, but by the time the 13th Amendment ‘outlawed’ indentured servitude in 1865, the 645,000 slaves shipped from Africa had multiplied beyond 4 million, to whom were added (a) Chinese women, ‘to work in brothels … to serve both the Chinese and white communities’ after the 1860s; (b) Europeans, through collusion between ‘criminal syndicates’ and ‘U.S. [law enforcement] officials’, in what was called ‘the white slave trade’ from the 1880s (Shelley, 2010, pp. 235, 237); and (c) Hispanics (Alba & Nee, 2003; Gordon, 1964; Suárez-Orozco, 1998), in tandem with the dominant U.S. migratory inflows and economic needs after the 1960s (Borjas, 1999; Huntington, 2004, pp. 30–45), and the emergence of sex tourism after the Cold War (Clift & Carter, 2000; María Agustin, 2007; Rogers, 2009; Thorbek & Bandana Pattanaik, 2002).

This chapter examines the catalysts that led drones to become a vast consumer market in a very short space of time. It tells the story of the drone’s resurgence as an object of popular desire and how this reflects a certain kind of technotopian allure, which is found more widely in the technological consumer culture. In so doing, it examines the historical origins of the drone across military aviation and musical culture, along with the major achievements in modern civilian drone exploration. The chapter also draws on literature in design theory, historical analyses of drone patents and speculative fictions within product development to articulate the central drivers behind the proliferation of drones in civil society.

In April we celebrate Pets Are Wonderful Month (PAW) to honor the companion animals that bring joy and love to their owners' lives. Humans have lived with animals as companions for thousands of years and during that time our knowledge about the animals we choose as pets has grown enormously. Recent research involving pet therapy indicates that not only do pets give us love and companionship, but they also are beneficial to our physical and mental health. Pets are used in nursing homes, prisons, and mental health institutions, with autistic children, and in many other capacities.

Georg Simmel described how a person can be a stranger, a member of two cultures but belong to neither (1950). Being a stranger though, goes beyond belonging. Strangeness goes to the soul of who we truly are: it defines our beliefs, delimits our practices, and gives depth to our everyday lives. Strangeness allows and sometimes forces us to cross the borders from the safe confines of our normal lives into the murkiness of the unknown social reality beyond it.

The purpose of this paper is to link the fields of research on strategic decision (SD) making and integrated reporting (IR) and advances knowledge of the concept of integrated thinking by describing how financial information and non-financial environmental, social and governance (ESG) information are used in different phases of the strategic decision-making process (SDMP).

In total, 15 senior executives from twelve different industries were asked about the importance of different types of information within SDMPs. The data were analyzed by means of content analysis.

The authors derive a four-phase model and explicate the utilization of financial information and non-financial ESG information within each phase. The findings show that both types of information affect SDMPs, but the importance of each type differs among the phases.

This study offers practitioners a yardstick against which to compare how they use different types of information throughout the SDMP.

This paper provides a conceptual model of integrated thinking in SD making by connecting two separate fields of research. This connection will permit deeper study of the field of information and its implications for SD making. The present investigation shows that IR can promote integrated thinking in companies, as the broader range of information at hand allows companies to form a holistic picture of internal management questions and incorporate information that has not been previously prepared or associated with existing information.

We examined the role gender plays in managerial stereotypes and changes that have occurred in the US for executive women in the workforce. We also investigated factors and personality traits that affect advancement into upper management for all executives and those that affect women in particular. Despite increased organisational sensitivity, public policies, and equal rights legislation, women continue to be underrepresented in corporate America. Pay increases and promotions for females have not kept pace with those for men. Study results also indicate that managerial womenwho juggle jobs and family life benefit from these multiple roles, but women who put off marriage and family to build top‐level careers suffer in later years from greatly reduced chances of finding spouses and having children. Further adaptation of organisational culture in the new economy, weakening of the glass ceiling phenomenon, and family friendly work policies may alleviate some of the difficulties experienced by women who want it all.

The purpose of this paper is to examine companies’ reasons for voluntarily obtaining third-party integrated reporting (IR) assurance and the role of external auditors in the assurance process.

By conducting 25 in-depth semi-structured interviews, a wide range of significant actors in the assurance process of integrated reports are addressed. In addition, archive materials are considered. The authors apply institutional theory, agency theory, and the diffusion of innovations theory to analyze IR assurance.

Companies follow coercive pressures by their stakeholders when obtaining external assurance. They intend to appreciate their non-financial indicators and increase their credibility and reliability. Auditors play an important role as change agents for the implementation of IR assurance by, e.g., supporting the correct interpretation of the International Integrated Reporting Council standards and by promoting IR.

First, 25 in-depth interviews can only give a first insight about the stated questions. Second, this paper only considers auditors and company representatives from Germany. Third, investors were not questioned about their attitude toward IR assurance.

The results may serve as a basis for the implementation of IR assurance.

This study combines the relatively unexplored research field of IR with three established theories. Hereby, it exposes companies’ motivation for obtaining external assurance and auditors’ role on the assurance process.