Search results

This manuscript examines the use of corporate women's groups to achieve a more level organizational playing field. It first reviews the literature on the use of such groups to bring about change, considering such topics as the origins, purposes, membership, structure, and benefits of such groups to women and to their organizations. Then three ongoing case studies of such groups are summarized Corporate women's groups face some unique challenges in changing organizations as a result of their bottom‐up approach to change.

What are UK women's groups like? Who do they appeal to? How do they compare with each other?

This article provides an introduction and assessment of the English and Spanish literatures on gender relations in disaster contexts. We analyze regional patterns of differences and similarities in women’s disaster experiences and the differing research questions raised by these patterns in the scholarly and practice‐based literature. The analysis supports the claim that how gender is theorized makes a difference in public policy and practical approaches to disaster risk management. We propose new directions in the field of disaster social science and contribute a current bibliography in the emerging gender and disaster field.

Across both the private and public sectors one strategy that has been used to support women in leadership roles and to increase women's participation in leadership positions has been to establish formal female specific networks. This paper examines the efficacy of such a strategy through a case study of one such group – the Australian Local Government Women's Association. Data for the paper are drawn from interviews with the 19 female mayors in the Australian state of Queensland. Participants were divided in their views about the organization. One group expressed support for women's networking, a second group was critical of women organizing in such a way and a third group expressed ambivalence about the value of women's networks. This paper draws on these views to assess the transformative potential of women's networks. It concludes that women‐only networks have a valuable role to play in securing greater equity for women in management.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand women’s working relationships and career support behaviors, by investigating expectations women have of other women regarding senior women’s roles in (and motivations for) helping junior women succeed, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors.

The authors surveyed self- and other-reports of senior women’s engagement in career assistance behaviors on behalf of junior women colleagues, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors. One sample of respondents indicated to what extent they believed senior women did engage in career assistance toward junior women, and to what extent they believed junior women did engage in career advancement. Another sample indicated to what extent they believed senior women should engage in career assistance, and to what extent they believed junior women should engage in their own career advancement.

Results suggest a disconnect between the expectations and perceptions junior and senior women have of each other. Junior women expect senior women to engage in career assistance behaviors to a greater degree than they believe senior women are engaging in such behaviors, and junior women think they are doing more to advance their careers than senior women are expecting them to do. The authors examine individual and organizational implications of these unmet expectations and perception mismatches.

Women-to-women working relationships are under-studied, and typically viewed in either/or terms – good or bad. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of women’s perceptions and expectations and offer suggestions for how women can influence female career advancement.

Women's increased participation in the workforce over the last ten years is clearly reflected in the growth and widening scope of the Women and Training Group, set up in 1979 with the Manpower Services Commission's support to provide a forum for national training bodies to exchange information, ideas and experiences on women's training opportunities. An overview of the Group's history and achievements to date underlines its ability to appraise and reflect the changing scene for women and organisations constantly. Forward strategy includes becoming more involved with policy makers in organisations, closer liaison with professional associations and wider representation at major events and on policy making groups. The aim is also to enable men and women to work together as equals, adopting a more integrated approach in the process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the meso-level social forces that influence moderate drinking in young women’s friendship groups through the application of social capital theory.

A qualitative inquiry was undertaken utilising peer-paired and small focus groups to explore young women’s drinking choices within their existing friendship groups. Guided by emic and etic perspectives, friendship groups were analysed to inform archetypical representations that illustrate group-level social capital exchanges.

The approach led to identifying four social capital and drinking archetypes. These archetypes indicate social capital-led “influencers” and “followers” and highlight the displays of capital practised by young women in alcohol consumption contexts.

The social marketing insight drawn from this study of young women’s drinking behaviours will inform social marketers on future strategic directions about how they can use alternative methods to segment the social market of young female drinkers and develop value propositions that will motivate them towards adopting or maintaining moderate drinking practices.

This study contributes to social marketing theory by demonstrating the worth of social capital theory as an alternative lens for social marketers to apply in explorations of group influences that shape behaviour. The research findings in the paper demonstrate how deeper theorisation provides rich insight into the meso-level, complex behavioural influence which effect young women’s alcohol consumption.

Post‐migration hardship often affects the integration processes of migrants from non‐English speaking countries and in particular of migrant women who often come as ‘dependents’ of male migrants. Institutional, social and cultural barriers make integration for migrant women slow and difficult to achieve. Involvement in community self‐help and mutual aid is an important strategy for disadvantaged groups in overcoming hardship and building social networks and capital. Community organisations are a bridge for migrants to access welfare rights and benefits, and to communicate with host local communities. This paper discusses the findings of a small‐scale study on the community activism of Turkish‐speaking women in London. Focus group meetings were conducted with self‐help/mutual aid groups run by Turkish‐speaking migrant women, using a typology of group political ideology and focus of change. Analysis showed that group participation was an empowering experience and a crucial strategy for integration in the host society. Depending on the type of the group, women acknowledged personal or social benefits from group participation. Implications for promoting service user empowerment and involvement of migrant communities through mutual aid activities are considered.

Smallholder is a relative term, used to mean a small‐scale farmer and also peasant rural‐based holders. They constitute over 85 per cent of the rural population, mainly tilling the land and contributing 90 per cent of the nation’s agricultural produce. There is an imbalance against the Kenyan smallholder women’s participation in development although they are the pillars of rural and national development. It is known generally that the African women are by default excluded from the center stage of the developmental decision‐making process. One crucial factor is the apparent low numbers of women as head of households besides being in key management and decision‐making positions. Essentially this work is built on the understanding that opening educational opportunities, erasing backward‐looking discriminatory practices and putting capacity‐building initiatives in place will increase women’s participation in the decision‐making process. The key questions see African women generally as educationally disadvantaged, affected by discriminatory practices and needing professional and management capacity‐building in the smallholder sector.

Over the last two decades, women's issues such as education, employment, pay equity, sexuality, lifestyle, housing, economics, environmental safety, health, child‐rearing practices, reproductive rights, military service, and criminal justice have become a major focus of public policy at every level. There has been equal interest about women of various ethnic backgrounds, women in other countries, and women's writing. There have been burgeoning social and political demands for research, scholarship, and activism on women‐related topics. To meet these demands, universities and colleges started interdisciplinary women's studies programs. Sheila Tobias, a leading scholar in the field of women's studies, defines it this way: