Gendered perceptions: women in the labour market in Poland

Abstract

This paper considers the consequences of economic and political change in the early 1990s for women's situation in the Polish labour market. New types of employment emerged in various sectors of the Polish economy around the mid-1970s. Some, such as finance, insurance, education and health care became highly feminised. Under the Communist system, many regulations were introduced to allow women to combine paid labour with taking care of the household. In the new post-Communist economic situation, these gender-specific regulations work against women, making them less attractive to employers. In a situation of high unemployment, employers in the growing private sector can afford to make specific demands of their employees: that they be young, male, and mobile. Women are thus in a worse situation in the labour market even though they are often more educated than the men with whom they must compete for work. There is urgent need to introduce mechanisms to create a more equal labour market.     

Fighting Families: Family Characteristics Associated with Domestic Violence in Five Latin American Countries

This study uses data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) to examine the relationship between familial characteristics and the likelihood of experiencing domestic violence in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Peru. Logistic regression techniques are used to measure relationships between marital status, family size, partner alcohol use, socioeconomic status (SES), decision-making power, and education homogamy and the likelihood of experiencing partner violence. Cohabitation, female-dominant decision making, and partner alcohol are positively associated with domestic violence across datasets. Family size, SES, and education homogamy emerged as statistically significant in some, but not all of the datasets. This study helps clarify the profile of the abused Latina and also tests the applicability of current abuse research to a non-Western setting.While numerous forms of aggression are incorporated into the term domestic violence, the present study focuses exclusively on domestic violence involving physical abuse between heterosexual partners.     

The Effect of Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol®) on the Development of Chrysomya megacephala (Fabricius, 1794) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and its Implications for Forensic Entomology

This study investigated the potential effects of flunitrazepam (known as “date rape drug”) on the developmental cycle of Chrysomya megacephala, an important forensic species, and their possible implications for the calculation of the PMI. A 1050 C. megacephala eggs were divided into five groups with seven replications each. The eggs were placed on artificial diet prepared with four drug concentrations of flunitrazepam (4, 8, 16, and 32 ng/g), besides the control group (prepared with water). Were evaluated the potential effects on development time, weight gain, and mortality during the cycles. The drug had no significant effect on development time or mortality although it did affect the weight of the pupae and adults (Kruskal–Wallis, p < 0.05). The result can be deduced that the determination of the postmortem interval is not affected.     

Development and Validation of a Method Using Dried Oral Fluid Spot to Determine Drugs of Abuse

A liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method using dried oral fluid spots was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, amphetamine, and 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine. The oral fluid was applied to a Whatman 903 grade paper and submitted to a drying time of 2.5 h. The extraction procedure was optimized by chemometric approach using simplex centroid design. Spots were extracted with a mixture of acetonitrile, buffer, and methanol. Calibration curves covered a linear concentration range of 40–500 ng/mL. Validation parameters of linearity, precision, accuracy, selectivity, carryover, matrix effects, and stability were evaluated and showed satisfactory results. Spot homogeneity was also satisfactory, with less than 15% of deviation from nominal concentration. Spot volume did not influence accuracy when less than 100 μL of the sample was applied to the spot. The validation of the proposed method suggests a potential application in different scenarios in toxicology.     

Raíces Del Sur: Cultivating Ecofeminist Visions in Urban New Jersey

ABSTRACT

Significant research has been devoted to analyzing community gardens, including their benefits and problems. This article contributes to debates about community gardens by using concepts from feminist geography and food justice research to reflect upon the challenges and possibilities of community gardening in small, peripheral cities with large immigrant populations. We argue that these concepts provide a useful framework to enact ecofeminist visions through community gardens, especially in places dominated by immigrant populations that are particularly marginalized in the present political era. Our case study garden, Raíces Del Sur, was located in the City of Passaic, a low-income, post-industrial urban center surrounded by suburbs in Passaic County, New Jersey. As activists involved in the making of the Raíces Del Sur community garden to different degrees, and as researchers committed to an ecofeminist vision, we draw attention to the need for greater ecofeminist engagement with community gardening initiatives in cities throughout New Jersey.     

Comparative Perspective of the Brazilian and Indian Space Programs

In the early 1960s, India and Brazil started developing space capabilities covering three major complementary areas: (1) satellites; (2) launch vehicles; and (3) ground systems. More than 50 years later, India is among the most active and successful spacefaring countries and is developing cost-effective space technologies. On the other hand, Brazil still does not possess a launch system and has put into orbit only small and non-commercial satellites, several of them built with Chinese cooperation and launched on Chinese launch vehicles. The goal of this article is to compare Brazilian and Indian space programs, which present different levels of accomplishments. This analysis contains three elements. The first part discusses the two space programs’ evolutions and their contemporary features. The second part compares the space programs’ models from two observation variables: (1) the state administrative organization; and (2) international cooperation in the space sector. Finally, the third part of the article compares the strengths and challenges of each program, highlighting that an international partnership between Brazil and India in space opens a window of opportunity for Brazil to take part in a much wider range of projects than is possible if funded alone.     

Profile of Men Who Are Victims of Physical Violence by an Intimate Partner

The objective of this study was to characterize the profile of men who are victims of interpersonal physical violence (IPV) by an intimate partner. This study is a retrospective analysis of suspected cases of male victims of IPV by an intimate partner, aged 18 years or older, treated at a Forensic Medicine and Dentistry Center in Brazil. Sociodemographic variables of the victims, the types of violence and the patterns of injuries were evaluated. Over this period, 1520 suspected victims of IPV by an intimate partner were examined; 14.6 % (n = 222) of them were men. Based on Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) two dimensions were formed: the first dimension (internal reliability = 0613) was primarily formed by the relationship between aggressor and victim, the marital status and the type of IPV, and the second dimension (reliability = 0509) by the day of week, the period of day and the marital status.     

Wife-battering — An Australian perspective

This article examines the leading definitions of wife-battering and questions the emphasis on physical rather than nonphysical abuse. All dimensions of these definitions are analyzed, namely the form of abuse, severity, frequency, intention, and meaning. The final definition formulated is derived from these dimensions and from the accounts and experiences of battered women themselves. The incidence and etiology of wife-battering is then examined from an Australian perspective. Theories which concentrate either specifically on the profiles of the victim and perpetrator or on the family unit or external factors are discussed. Finally, women do remain in violent relationships and their reasons for doing so are considered.