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Reports on findings from a research project, which has been examining the development of the New Public Management (NPM), a managerial reform movement for change in public sectors worldwide, and reports on a series of semi‐structured interviews with academics in Sweden and England as elements of NPM are introduced into the daily routines of university work. The findings suggest that, despite evidence of common elements of the NPM appearing in Higher Education in the two countries in question, as well as many similarities of experience and response among those subjected to change, there are differences ‐ with academics in England reporting longer hours and increased monitoring of their work than their Swedish counterparts. The article explores the nature of these similarities and differences.

Considers the implications of 30 per cent quota innovation for women politicians in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and other area of India since the 1990’s. Uses a survey to explore the influence of women on policy and compares this with some previous research in London. Suggest ways this representation may be sustained.

The paper seeks to offer a consideration of the adequacy of the concept of abeyance in accounting for women's movement processes in non‐social movement organisations in periods characterised by quiescence rather than insurgence.

The article is primarily conceptual.

By extending the political process school of social movement theory, which relies heavily on visible activism to explain movement success, to include the new social movement approach, it is contended that underlying processes of change, associated with the values and affiliations of those involved in non‐social movement organisations, become clearer. Less visible processes are identified through the variable rhythms and multiple, discontinuous experiences of women's movement supporters characterised as concealed adherents, informal networkers, and fellow travellers who can include male supporters.

Limitations: as the paper is primarily conceptual, there is a need to develop the practical implications beyond those mentioned below. Implications: there is a need to reorient research into organisational change to take fuller account of social movement processes.

It is recognised that the literature on organisational and managerial change in non‐social movement organisations needs to take account of the differing experiences and potential strategies of those likely to be affected.

Originality of the paper lies in the use of insights drawn from the field of political sociology to enrich understanding of gender and organisational change.

This paper sets out to explore the relationship between gender, New Public Management (NPM), citizenship and professional and user group identities and relationships within child care social work practice.

The paper utilises findings from a major comparative survey undertaken in Denmark and the UK as part of Doctoral research. In addition the paper draws upon more recent empirical research carried out by the author in Sweden.

Paradigms imported from the private sector have led to the adoption of NPM, fiscal austerity and the reorganisation of childcare social work throughout Europe. This paper illustrates the connectivities between NPM, gender, citizenship and the contested terrains within which professional and user group relationships and identities are being forged. The paper offers a unique insight into the operationalisation of NPM and gender within childcare professional social work practice in different European settings.

The paper's findings may be used to contribute to existing theoretical and empirical knowledge within the field of professional childcare social work and practice.

The paper offers a unique insight into the operationalisation of gender equality as a normative ideal premised on the development of organisational and legal settings which embrace an awareness of the duality of public and private spheres and the impact of different European welfare settings on the articulations of notions of gender and citizenship, which in turn operationalise processes of inclusion and exclusion of women as citizens, workers and parents.

This paper considers the role of gender in urban governance, taking Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in India as case study. Findings are presented from a research programme involving both female and male politicians and administrators in order to explore the ways in which women and men undertake the duties of public office. In attempting to take account of the historical traditions of Indian local governance, in the current post‐colonial context, characterized not simply by difference, division and hierarchy but also by tolerance, diversity, locality and collective values, it is argued: first that women are held in high regard, seen as competent, fair and flexible in their dealings with others; and second that women’s increasing presence may be bringing enhanced levels of respectability to local governance.

The paper seeks to evaluate the views of manager‐academics on gender equity and research in one UK institution.

The paper draws on semi‐structured interviews with 22 manager‐academics in one UK institution, against a context of national data.

It was found that manager‐academics had little knowledge of the conceptual issues surrounding gender equity and used a discourse of choice and agency to explain continuing inequalities in the research careers of women academics.

While the case study was carried out in one institution, it replicates many of the issues raised by national studies and data.

Good practice in encouraging gender equity for women academics engaged in research includes role models, confidence and support networks, gender awareness training for managers, mentoring and building networks.

The paper provides new empirical data on gender equity and research in one UK university and critically analyses the gap between theory on gender equity and practice of manager‐academics. It provides a link between a micro‐agentic viewpoint and a meso‐institutional viewpoint and suggests that both these as well as a macro national and supranational view will give a fuller analysis of the issue of gender equity and research careers for women academics.

This paper aims to explore the issues for middle‐level social work managers arising from the development of the new public management, with its emphasis on the intensification of work, the measurement of performance in service delivery, and cost efficiencies. This is commonly thought to have affected those working in human services such as social work adversely. This paper explores the nature of these consequences, from the point of view of those centrally placed in its implementation.

The methodology adopted in this paper is designed to acknowledge and explore the perceptions of middle‐level social work managers as they contribute to the social construction of the new public management. This is accomplished through in‐depth interviews with a sample of their number in Sweden and England.

The findings reveal that social work managers are not only comfortable dealing with budgets but also enjoy the autonomy this affords them in their relationship with their subordinates. The findings also reveal that they appreciate the benefits of the more generalised knowledges of management, used in their work with junior colleagues, who they attempted to lead rather than manage and who they respected as colleagues. This has further implications: the possibility of new career opportunities for these predominantly women managers.

The managers in social work see the knowledges gained from their position as managers as transferable to other areas of the public and private sectors, thereby opening up new career opportunities. They were also found to enjoy dealing with budget issues, contrary to earlier studies.

The paper seeks to examine the masculinist assumptions and effects of managerialism on public services through a trifocal model that considers their provision along professional, bureaucratic and managerial dimensions.

For the purpose of this examination, this paper uses the arguments put forward in a recent public debate on the audit culture which enjoyed the participation of a significant number of academic professionals who have experienced it and question its legitimacy, and those in the position of authority who promote and reinforce it. The evidence from this debate suggests that understanding managerialism requires not only an analysis that defines its factor but also a story, because understanding managerialism comes from experience that can be conveyed through accounts of how it feels and not simply by theorising it.

The paper finds that managerialism, by elevating management to an “ism”, has shifted the focus from performance, which is about results, to conformance with an emphasis on norm‐following behaviour rooted in masculinist ontology. In other words, it has shifted the focus from what professionals can do to what professionals cannot do. It demonstrates that audit, as a symptom of managerialism and as one aspect of managerialist practice, has its origin in the Utopian craving for an imagined ideal public sector. However, when they crystallise into a culture, they can be distorted to such an extent that they conceal more than they reveal with the result that the actual policy pursued is the exact opposite of the professed ideal.

The paper identifies opportunities for innovation, research and reflection by establishing the need for balancing the professional, bureaucratic and managerial dimensions and considering ways in which these dimensions can be located on their strengths.

The paper suggests that managerialism cannot be sustained indefinitely as it transforms public sector management from a moral endeavour to a self‐undermining amoral undertaking.

This paper introduces a radical shift in thinking, arguing for an end to managerialism not through a return to what preceded it but with an alternative that represents a way forward.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the attitudes of women and men in relation to gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equal opportunities in the changing context of neo‐liberalism.

The authors draw on results from an empirical investigation involving 1,731 questionnaires investigating the attitudes of women and men in a town in the north of Sweden.

The tentative conclusions suggest that even if they appear to co‐exist in contradictory ways, ideas of gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equality of opportunity are in the respondents' minds, alongside neo‐liberal notions of individualisation. The prevailing attitudes in respect of gender suggest that women and men make apparently free “choices”; the influence of age on attitudes to gender issues is also considered.

This paper considers neo‐liberalisation and its impact on gender equity in Sweden, a country with a strong reputation for gender equity and a tradition of collective, inclusive social democracy, somewhere we would be unlikely to find its embedded presence. Using a quantitative self‐reporting approach to attitudes relevant to the choices made by men and women, the study raises questions about gender‐appropriate domestic responsibilities and equality of opportunity in a country that has been and continues to be regarded as one of the most gender‐friendly in the world and likely to be resistant to the influence of neo‐liberalism. The implications are explored, with the evidence indicating the presence of neo‐liberalism co‐existing, albeit perhaps uneasily, with traditions of equality of opportunity and attitudes to gender.