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1 – 10 of 13The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore links between a revisionist view of the “feminisation of poverty” in developing countries and women’s work and home-based enterprise in urban slums.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s discussion of the “feminisation of poverty” draws substantially from ethnographic field research conducted in The Gambia, The Philippines and Costa Rica. This research led the author to propose the notion of a “feminisation of responsibility and/or obligation”. The latter approach draws attention to issues such as gendered disparities of labour, time and resource inputs into household livelihoods, which are often most marked in male-headed units, and are not captured in conventional referents of the “feminisation of poverty”, which are rather narrowly confined to incomes and female household headship.
Findings
An integral element of the author’s critique is that the main policy response to classic “feminisation of poverty” thinking, to date, has been to “feminise” anti-poverty initiatives such as Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and microfinance programmes.
Originality/value
The paper argues that the “feminisation of poverty” compounds the tensions women already face in terms of managing unpaid reproductive and/or “volunteer” work with their economic contributions to household livelihoods, and it is in the context of urban slums, where housing, service and infrastructure deficiencies pose considerable challenges to women’s dual burdens of productive and reproductive labour. The paper emphasizes that to more effectively address gender inequality while also alleviating poverty, policy interventions sensitive to women’s multiple, time-consuming responsibilities and obligations are paramount.
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Haya Al-Dajani, Zografia Bika, Lorna Collins and Janine Swail
This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This editorial aims to investigate the interface between gendered processes and family business by exploring the extent to which gendered processes are reinforced (or not) in family business operations and dynamics. This approach will complement the agency and resource-based view theoretical bases that dominate family business research (Chrisman et al., 2009) and further contribute to extending gender theories.
Design/methodology/approach
Acknowledging that gender is socially constructed, this editorial discusses the interface between gendered processes and family business within entrepreneurship research.
Findings
Despite a growing interest in gender and family business, there is limited literature that explores gender theory within family business research. A gender theory approach embracing family business research contributes to a needed theoretical deconstruction of existing perspectives on the operations, sustainability and succession of family businesses in the twenty-first century.
Originality/value
This editorial makes a contribution to extant scholarship by extending gender theories through an exploration of the gendered processes in family business research.
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The two chapters in this section present an invaluable opportunity to reflect upon the advances made, and challenges still to be surmounted in the study of gender and development…
Abstract
The two chapters in this section present an invaluable opportunity to reflect upon the advances made, and challenges still to be surmounted in the study of gender and development. In the late nineteen‐seventies, when the field was expanding, the enthusiasm over innovative research was equaled only by the expectation that the study of gender would soon issue a theoretical corpus of sharp descriptive and explanatory potential, and broad in its capacity for generalization. That goal has not been fully realized, and the reasons, historical as well as ideological, deserve attention.
Gay Young and Heather Alderman
In 1995, Mexico again slid into economic and social crisis without full recovery from the crisis of 1982. When the Mexican peso plunged in value right before Christmas 1994, many…
Abstract
In 1995, Mexico again slid into economic and social crisis without full recovery from the crisis of 1982. When the Mexican peso plunged in value right before Christmas 1994, many segments of the society that were affected had not regained the purchasing power of 1980. The broad outline of the Mexican government's program for responding to the most recent crisis is parallel to the prescriptions offered in the 1980s; indeed, the response represents prevailing mainstream neo‐liberal economic thinking — stabilization, structural adjustment, privatization, and so on. However, lacking a well developed social welfare system, the burdens of adaptation to adverse economic conditions fall primarily on women in households in the struggle to preserve individual well‐being. This paper, then, joins a growing body of work attempting to analyze the connection between micro‐level household conditions, including gender relations, and gendered macro‐level processes, such as ongoing economic liberalization in Mexico.
Elvis Korku Avenyo and Erika Kraemer-Mbula
Examining the impact of gender on various aspects of business performance has gained research and policy traction, although the empirical evidence remains inconclusive. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Examining the impact of gender on various aspects of business performance has gained research and policy traction, although the empirical evidence remains inconclusive. This paper aims to focus on one type of business, namely, informal enterprises and one dimension of business performance, namely, product innovation, to better understand how product innovations affect employment in both female- and male-owned informal enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper relies on a unique data set of 513 informal enterprises located in two urban centres in Ghana (Accra and Tema), covering the period between 2013 and 2015 and the Dose-Response Model to examine the effect of product innovations on employment in informal enterprises in urban Ghana.
Findings
The findings suggest that product innovation has considerable beneficial impacts on the creation of employment in informal enterprises. The results do not show systematic differences in the factors affecting product innovation in female- and male-owned enterprises. However, they suggest that although female-owned enterprises are less likely to introduce product innovations, they do sell more innovative products.
Originality/value
These findings support the view that innovation is “gendered”, and therefore, requires a “gendered” policy lens.
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This article describes the design of an induction programme for post school students and the research findings. The objectives were to help young people develop their skills and…
Abstract
This article describes the design of an induction programme for post school students and the research findings. The objectives were to help young people develop their skills and confidence in learning through an experiential approach. A very simple taxonomy was introduced based on things which need to be memorised, understood and done (MUD). This led to further exploration of ways of memorising, understanding and learning to do things.
Brittany Paloma Fiedler, Rosan Mitola and James Cheng
The purpose of this paper is to describe how an academic library at one of the most diverse universities in the country responded to the 2016 election through the newly formed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how an academic library at one of the most diverse universities in the country responded to the 2016 election through the newly formed Inclusion and Equity Committee and through student outreach.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper details the context of the 2016 election and the role of social justice in librarianship. It offers ideas for how library diversity committees can address professional development, recruitment and retention efforts and cultural humility. It highlights student outreach efforts to support marginalized students, educate communities and promote student activism. Finally, it offers considerations and suggestions for librarians who want to engage in this work.
Findings
This paper shows that incorporating social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion requires individuals taking action. If institutions want to focus on any of these issues, they need to formally include them in their mission, vision and values as well as in department goals and individual job descriptions. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas University Libraries fully supports this work, but most of the labor is done by a small number of people. Unsustainable practices can cause employee burnout and turnover resulting in less internal and external efforts to support diversity.
Originality/value
Most of the previous literature focuses either on internal activities, such as professional development and committees, or on student-focused activities, such as outreach events, displays and instruction. This paper is one comprehensive review of both kinds of activities.
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A question of size THE Committee set up by the Minister of Education in 1957 to “consider the structure of the public library service in England and Wales, and to advise what…
Abstract
A question of size THE Committee set up by the Minister of Education in 1957 to “consider the structure of the public library service in England and Wales, and to advise what changes, if any, should be made n the administrative arrangements, regard being had to the relation of public libraries to other libraries,” was the first such since the Kenyon Committee which reported in 1927. One of the most controversial aspects of the Roberts Committee's deliberations was the consideration of the minimum size (in terms of population) of an independent library system.