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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2005

Brigitte Lévy

Today, multilateral institutions and governments of industrial countries seem to agree on the need to reorient macroeconomic and structural policies in order to achieve a more…

53

Abstract

Today, multilateral institutions and governments of industrial countries seem to agree on the need to reorient macroeconomic and structural policies in order to achieve a more balanced growth of the global economy. At the same time, developing countries and civil society organizations have raised questions about the effectiveness of the current multilateral system. As well, new social and political concerns are reshaping our views about globalization processes. This paper looks at the ongoing process of global economic integration and demonstrates that new forces are reshaping the economies of the world and raising challenging questions about ethics, governance and security that will require corporations to respond with new strategies.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Brigitte Liebig and René Levy

983

Abstract

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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Yvonne Riano, Katharina Limacher, André Aschwanden, Sophie Hirsig and Doris Wastl-Walter

There is much scientific interest in the connection between the emergence of gender-based inequalities and key biographical transition points of couples in long-term…

1527

Abstract

Purpose

There is much scientific interest in the connection between the emergence of gender-based inequalities and key biographical transition points of couples in long-term relationships. Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple’s respective professional careers over space and time. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap by addressing the following questions: what are the critical biographical moments when gender (in)equalities within a relationship begin to arise and consolidate? Which biographical decisions precede and follow such critical moments? How does decision making at critical moments impact the opportunities of both relationship partners in gaining equal access to paid employment?

Design/methodology/approach

These questions are addressed from the perspectives of intersectionality and economic citizenship. Biographical interviewing is used to collect the personal and professional narratives of Swiss-, bi-national and migrant couples. The case study of a Swiss-Norwegian couple illustrates typical processes by which many skilled migrant women end up absently or precariously employed.

Findings

Analysis reveals that the Scandinavian woman’s migration to Switzerland is a primary and critical moment for emerging inequality, which is then reinforced by relocation (to a small town characterized by conservative gender values) and the subsequent births of their children. It is concluded that factors of traditional gender roles, ethnicity and age intersect to create a hierarchical situation which affords the male Swiss partner more weight in terms of decision making and career advancement.

Practical implications

The paper’s findings are highly relevant to the formulation of policies regarding gender inequalities and the implementation of preventive programmes within this context.

Originality/value

Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple’s respective professional careers over space and time. The originality of this paper is to fill this research gap; to include migration as a critical moment for gender inequalities; to use an intersectional and geographical perspective that have been given scant attention in the literature; to use the original concept of economic citizenship; and to examine the case of a bi-national couple, which has so far not been examined by the literature on couple relationships.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Shireen Kanji and Sandra Hupka-Brunner

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how and whether young women’s strong and early preference for having children relates to the degree of occupational segregation of the…

710

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how and whether young women’s strong and early preference for having children relates to the degree of occupational segregation of the careers they envisage for themselves and the careers they actually enter by the time they reach age 23.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on theories predicting that young women act to replicate gendered social stereotypes in their career choice and to anticipate careers they perceive to be reconcilable with future motherhood, the authors conduct quantitative analyses using panel data from the Transitions from Education to Employment Survey, a longitudinal survey of young people in Switzerland. OLS regression analyses how expressing a strong desire to have children at age 16 impacts: the proportion of women in the career engaged in at age 23 and the career anticipated age 16, relative to women not expressing this strong preference. Logistic regression examines whether selection into wanting children could be held responsible for the results. Finally the authors explore how initial expectations and later outcomes relate to each other.

Findings

Women who express a strong interest in having children (Kinderwunsch) at age 16 anticipate and enter occupations with a substantially higher proportion of women. Differences in objective labour-market characteristics, such as academic attainment, ability and psychosocial factors, namely self-efficacy, are not related to having a strong desire for children at an early age. Family factors have multifaceted effects.

Research limitations/implications

This research uses data from a cohort who were age 16 in 2000. The rapidly changing social context of Switzerland necessitates updating this analysis at regular intervals across cohorts.

Practical implications

Discussion is required to expand young women’s understandings of the implications of different career choices and to broaden the range of options that they consider and to which employers provide access.

Social implications

Wanting to have children is one of the factors that fuels occupational gender segregation. Although women might envisage that more gender-segregated occupations would allow them to combine work and family life, this may not be the case in reality.

Originality/value

This paper explores the important but previously under-explored relationship between early fertility preferences and occupational entry for women.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Nicky Le Feuvre, Morgane Kuehni, Magdalena Rosende and Céline Schoeni

The purpose of this paper is to examine the gendered processes of ageing at work in Switzerland, a country already characterised by particularly high employment rates for seniors…

591

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the gendered processes of ageing at work in Switzerland, a country already characterised by particularly high employment rates for seniors of both sexes, and where the notion of “active ageing” has recently appeared on the policy agenda. The study illustrates the mechanisms through which men and women accumulate dis-/advantage across the life course, and the influence that critical events in different life domains have on the conditions under which they prepare the transition to retirement.

Design/methodology/approach

The data used in the paper were collected with a mixed methods approach, including secondary statistical data analysis, expert interviews (with human resource and line managers), company case studies and 63-biographical interviews with male and female seniors employed in three different sectors (food distribution, health, transport) of the Swiss labour market. The interview guide covered issues relating directly to the employment histories and working conditions of the over 50s, but also enabled respondents to reflect on the influence of past or recent events in their private lives on their experiences of ageing at work (and vice versa).

Findings

The study shows that, in the Swiss context, ageing at work is a social experience, that is profoundly marked by societal-level normative “gender scripts” and by the gendered nature of major life-course transitions. However, rather than producing a clear distinction between the experiences of men on the one hand and women on the other, studying the accumulation of dis-/advantages (Dannefer, 2009) enables us to elaborate a more nuanced typology, mapping the Swiss experience of ageing at work according to four alternative ideal-type models: confident, resentful, determined and distressed.

Social implications

In a context characterised by prolonged life expectancy and restricted welfare budgets, a clearer understanding of the conditions under which men and women make decisions about the continuation, interruption or adaptation of their professional activities (and care commitments) in the second half of their adult lives has clear implications, both for patterns of “active ageing” and for gender equality.

Originality/value

The paper sheds new light on the gendered variations in the experience of ageing at work in the Swiss context; it examines the implications of the dis-/advantages accumulated by different categories of men and women during various transitions in the employment and family spheres on their autonomy, well-being and satisfaction during this critical period of their adult lives.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Ruedi Epple, Martin Gasser, Sarah Kersten, Michael Nollert and Sebastian Schief

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of cantonal social policies and cultural settings (in Switzerland) on women’s and men’s employment behaviour. Special…

1655

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of cantonal social policies and cultural settings (in Switzerland) on women’s and men’s employment behaviour. Special consideration is given to the transition to parenthood.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on data from the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS) this paper conducts multilevel analyses to test individual and cantonal effects on the probability of employment and on working hours. To analyse the effect of parenthood, models for women and men with children under three are contrasted with models for women and men without children or with older children.

Findings

The paper documents the persistence of gender inequality in employment linked to parenthood. How the reconciliation of work and family life can be realised for women and men strongly depends on a set of policies and cultural conditions. Moreover, individual characteristics such as education or marriage are important predictors.

Research limitations/implications

A shortcoming of this study is the focus on the individual employment use and not on household-level division of labour. This disadvantage is due to the design of the SLFS, which is (at present) the only available survey to allow regionalisation at the cantonal level. However, the paper adds important results to the debate about gender inequality and parenthood in Switzerland as previous research has focused only little on cantonal diversity.

Originality/value

The paper connects to previous cantonal comparative studies of female employment but extends their analyses in three important ways. By analysing cantonal differences in policies and culture this paper takes the diversity of framework conditions in Switzerland into account. Furthermore it simultaneously analyses male and female employment behaviour to get a better understanding of gender inequality and parenthood.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Available. Content available
159

Abstract

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

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Article
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Elena Makarova and Walter Herzog

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender stereotype of science by analysing the semantic attributes of gender in relation to three science subjects – chemistry…

2594

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the gender stereotype of science by analysing the semantic attributes of gender in relation to three science subjects – chemistry, mathematics, and physics – among students and their science teachers.

Design/methodology/approach

This cross-sectional study applied a survey of 3,045 students and 123 teachers in secondary schools. The gendered image of science was assessed using a semantic differential consisting of 25 pairs of adjectives with semantically opposite meanings.

Findings

In summary, the results of the study demonstrate that from the female students’ perspective mathematics and physics are negatively related to female gender, whereas chemistry is neither significantly related to the male nor to the female profile. From the male students’ point of view mathematics is negatively related to the female gender, whereas chemistry and physics are positively related to the male gender. In the science teachers’ perception chemistry and physics combine feminine and masculine attributes, whereas the teachers’ perception of mathematics matches only with the male, but not with the female gender.

Originality/value

In contrast to previous research, the study is the first to analyse the gender stereotype of chemistry as well as to assess the gender image of three science subjects from students’ and teachers’ perspectives.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 6 June 2023

Brigitte Burgess, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong, Wesley A. Pollitte and Pauline Sullivan

This paper combines prospect theory (PT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) proposing that technology anxiety (TA), risk averseness (RA), concern and resistance to use…

700

Abstract

Purpose

This paper combines prospect theory (PT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) proposing that technology anxiety (TA), risk averseness (RA), concern and resistance to use inhibit technology acceptance, while trust, social influence (SI) and compatibility are enablers to technology acceptance, particularly in the context of consumer adoption of retail technologies during crises.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of PT and TAM literature was conducted to develop a model which considers the impact of inhibitors and enablers on retail technology acceptance.

Findings

This investigation establishes a theoretical model of mid-crisis retail technology adoption behavior that can be tested quantitatively. Several propositions regarding relationships between proposed inhibitors, enablers and TAM are presented, as well as implications for future research.

Originality/value

This investigation further integrates PT and TAM, proposing that PT is an appropriate framework to investigate inhibitors and enablers of retail technology acceptance during crises.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 51 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

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Article
Publication date: 1 January 1994

Stella R. Quah

The international wealth of sociological literature on family policy has grown significantly during the past ten years not only in terms of the number of studies published but…

304

Abstract

The international wealth of sociological literature on family policy has grown significantly during the past ten years not only in terms of the number of studies published but, more importantly, in terms of the scope of topics and the depth of analysis. One of the reasons for this concern with family policy is the steadily increasing number of social policy areas (such as health, savings, housing, transport, food supply, recreation and welfare, among others) found to affect either the family as a group or individuals as family members.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 14 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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