Search results

This is a narrative describing events that led to four women finding their courage to save a nonprofit. Theirs was not the kind of courage that you see in movies where a hero saves the planet. Their courage was subtle, faint, and quiet. Their courage was driven by conviction and belief that someone must always do the right thing, despite the circumstance. The situation and circumstance were a local nonprofit organization being put at risk. That risk would have expanded into the community and impacted the human service work of the organization. The courage in this narrative includes whistleblowing. Whistleblowing is action that is generally considered to be most difficult, due to the potential impact on personal income and reputation. It took courage for three women, who remain anonymous to this day, to become whistleblowers. These women took a risk; they became vulnerable to fear of exposure, as they put their family incomes and personal reputations on the line. This is also the story of a novice chairwoman of a passive board of directors. She was forced to step outside her comfort zone to find and claim her courage. She was tasked with protecting the whistleblowers, addressing the issues, and resolving the problem. Yes, courage is just a seven-letter word, but when you are involved in a situation or circumstance, the weight of courage can feel monumental. The courage of four women and the seven-letter word courage saved the reputation, the service to the community, and the nonprofit organization.

Naina Subberwal Batra, CEO and Chairwoman of Asia's largest social investment network, explores why and how a resilient ecosystem is crucial in this time of global fragmentation and increasing disparities. In Asia, particularly, it has never been more urgent to take collective action as we face the sobering prospect that the region is unlikely to meet any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Bringing together people towards a common vision, however, takes more than just good chemistry; harnessing that convening power to create democratic solutions requires a blend of trust in the face of unfamiliarity, critical reflections amidst business-as-usual and innovation to move capital effectively towards impact.

Purpose – Although the proportion of women accountants is rising steadily, their number in partnership position remains constant. This article explores this phenomenon in an attempt (a) to identify the reasons behind it and (b) clarify which are the barriers that hinder female accountants from being in the top echelon of the accounting practice in an emerging economy like Cyprus.

Methodology/approach – The study reported in this article builds on two previous studies, quantitative in nature, carried out by one of the present authors. Utilising the findings of the two earlier studies, the authors use a qualitative approach to further explore the reasons as to why there is a ‘concrete wall’ for women in accounting practices at partnership level.

Findings – In contrast to other studies, the present study found that the prohibiting factor creating the barrier is not motherhood but the cultural attitudes and expectations of men imposed on mothers. Another finding is that despite the fact that there is a bigger pool of women today in senior manager positions, it is uncertain if the proportion of female partners will rise in a decade.

Research limitations – Although the qualitative study utilising interviews of both genders identified interesting concerns for the local accounting profession, these findings cannot be representative of all emerging economies.

Practical implications – The article adds to existing knowledge by clarifying the reasons discouraging women accountants from reaching partnership positions. Findings are of interest to industry stakeholders who wish (a) to attract more women accountants to partnership positions and (b) to develop an environment that addresses women's concerns and enhances their career aspirations towards reaching the top echelon of their profession.

Originality/value of article – Most research in this field utilises quantitative or qualitative research independently. In this research we utilise the results of the quantitative studies to indentify in depth the ‘real’ rather than the ‘imaginary’ barrier facing women accountants from entering partnership. Furthermore, this is the first time this is studied in an emerging economy, whereas all other studies are in developed economies.

Purpose – To examine how Black mayors in majority-White cities successfully incorporate the interests of African-Americans into their overall agenda for the city and the said effectiveness of this strategy electorally.Design/methodology/approach – Utilizing data from elite interviews and local newspaper articles, we apply the theory of targeted universalism to the governing approach of Jack Ford.Findings – Mayors of color often come into office with the dual responsibility of being an advocate for their respective racial group and a leader for the city as a whole. Jack Ford, the first African-American to be elected as mayor in Toledo, Ohio, took this challenge on gladly, but with mixed success. We find that Jack Ford used his powers as mayor to improve social conditions for Blacks in Toledo, yet also faced challenges in trying to better their economic opportunities. Moreover, he failed to parlay these particularistic efforts into a second electoral victory. In this case, a targeted universalistic policy approach to advancing Black interests had limited effectiveness. The single mayoral term of Jack Ford suggests that Black executives must walk a fine line between their (assumed or expected) racial empowerment role and their duty to advance the various interests that exist among residents of their city. Hence, we find that in order to have lasting electoral success Black mayors must be acutely aware of what is expected of them by the various constituencies they serve and govern accordingly.Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.Practical implications – The chapter includes implications for the development of an effecting Black mayoral governing strategy wherein the mayor can successfully advocate for the advancement of black interests in majority-White cities with specific policy proposals and programmatic developments.Originality/value – This chapter fulfills an identified need to study the governance of Black mayors in medium-sized cities and their representation of Black interests in the majority White municipal context.

Purpose: In this chapter, I explore the current activist disability landscape in Bulgaria, focusing on its apparent insusceptibility to change. My objective is to examine the interplay between the conflicting parties, focusing on the factors that conditioned their successes and failures.

Methods/Approach: Relying mainly on directed content analysis, I analyzed website publications, online discussions, official statements released during the protests, as well as 18 interviews of mothers of children of disabilities and the data from five focus groups.

Findings: On the local disability scene, we discern two types of collective action – phantom disability activism and toxic grassroots mobilization. The first one held strongly to the traditionally construed notion of disability as confined in the need-based system and defined solely as medical condition. The second one – although very important for putting on the agenda issues as personal assistance and demedicalization – embraced deeply disturbing and toxic activist rhetoric, giving rise of an “abled-disabled” citizen thus reinforcing neoliberal images of human worth and failure.

Implication/Value: This chapter offers a closer look at the different meanings and implications of success, failure, and enabling or halting political renewal with regard to disability. On an empirical level, it adds more to the existing knowledge about the opportunities for, the role, the outcomes, and the specific features of alliance building in a context as Bulgaria, which presents us with specific combination of socialist legacies, post-socialist ways of abandoning disabled people, and, at best, short-term and transient embodiments of the “Nothing about us without us” tenet.

This paper develops a new theory arguing that party change results from ruptures in political parties’ ties to civil society organizations. I demonstrate the utility of this approach by using it to explain why the Rhode Island Democratic Party (RIDP) changed from a hierarchical machine to a porous political field occupied by multiple interlegislator cliques and brokered by extra-party political organizations and professionals. While others attribute party change to bureaucratization, electoral demand, or system-level changes, I analyze historical, observational, and interview data to find that a severance in the RIDP’s relationship with organized labor prompted party change by causing power to diffuse outward as leadership lost control over nominations and the careers of elected office holders. In the spaces that remained, interest groups and political professionals came to occupy central positions within the party field, serving as brokers of the information and relationships necessary to coordinate legislative activity. This analysis refines existing theories of party change and provides a historically-grounded explanation for the institutionalization of interest groups and political professionals in American party politics.