Women's and Men's Access to Employer-Provided Benefits: An Assessment of Women's Acceptance as Breadwinners

abstract This article asks whether the rising number of women in the paid labor force over the last half-century has been accompanied by a parallel trend of increased recognition of a breadwinning status for women, or if traditional role conceptions have persisted in spite of women's changed economic and social circumstances. I theorize that employer-provided benefits are a unique form of compensation that, by helping parents balance work and family, directly affect parents in their capacities as breadwinners. As such, assessing women's and men's access to these benefits over the period of women's rising labor force participation can be very revealing of the acceptance of women as breadwinners. To acquire a general picture of women's and men's access to employer-provided benefits, I compare access to benefits from 1940 to 1990 in a modal women's occupation ("professional nurses") to a modal men's occupation ("automobile mechanics and repairmen"). Through the studied time span, these occupations are the largest comparably sized women's and men's occupations that are also similar in pay level and extent of unionization. This allows me to control for pay level and unionization, important alternative explanations for women's restricted access to benefits. I hypothesize that nurses have had more restricted access to employer-provided benefits than have auto mechanics. I find a disadvantage for nurses relative to auto mechanics through most of the time period, which nonetheless diminishes and then reverses slightly at the end. Taking into consideration subtleties, as well as patterns masked in the data as presented, these findings suggest at best a rather slow rate of acceptance of a breadwinning status for women, and at worst, a continuation of traditional gender norms.     

青年男女各50份笔迹对比分析

男性与女性的笔迹是否存在差异?过去这个问题一直被认为是笔相学派的范畴,但是,随着现代科学的发展,特别是心理学、生理学的发展,人们逐渐认识到男性与女性有着不完全相同的生理、心理特点.本文通过对在校男女大学生各50人的笔迹进行调查分析,结论是男性与女性在笔迹上并没有绝对差异,但在概貌特征、书面语言特征、运笔笔力等方面存在差异.     

Viewpoint: The Evolution of Access to Space as an Idea and Technology

The focus of this paper is on the evolution of access to space from its beginnings as an idea to its implementation as a usable technology. This evolution takes place through the policy process that encompasses agenda setting, formulation, implementation and change. Agenda-setting is where the idea for access to space emerges. Formulation concerns the concepts and policies that then allow for implementation of launch vehicle technology. Implementation generates specific outcomes. These outcomes are initially characterized by rapid technological innovation followed by a steady state of development. The path of development is one of how access to space became wedded to national security. Changes occur as commerce and economics begin to play a role in access to space. The policy process evolves through the actions of the pertinent actors. An examination of the ways in which these pertinent actors interpreted, formulated and implemented the idea and technology of access to space is discussed. The interactions among actors take place on the basis of political, organizational and technical decisions that actors make in regard to access to space.     

The Effects of Mandated Health Insurance Benefits for Autism on Out‐of‐Pocket Costs and Access to Treatment

As of 2014, 37 states have passed mandates requiring many private health insurance policies to cover diagnostic and treatment services for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). We explore whether ASD mandates are associated with out‐of‐pocket costs, financial burden, and cost or insurance‐related problems with access to treatment among privately insured children with special health care needs (CSHCNs). We use difference‐in‐difference and difference‐in‐difference‐in‐difference approaches, comparing pre–post mandate changes in outcomes among CSHCN who have ASD versus CSHCN other than ASD. Data come from the 2005 to 2006 and the 2009 to 2010 waves of the National Survey of CSHCN. Based on the model used, our findings show no statistically significant association between state ASD mandates and caregivers’ reports about financial burden, access to care, and unmet need for services. However, we do find some evidence that ASD mandates may have beneficial effects in states in which greater percentages of privately insured individuals are subject to the mandates. We caution that we do not study the characteristics of ASD mandates in detail, and most ASD mandates have gone into effect very recently during our study period.     

Lifestyle and the Depoliticisation of Agency: Sex as Power in Women's Magazines

Sex, due to its connotations of dangerousness and the non-traditional, has been used heavily in women's magazines and other mass media to signify core values of power and freedom as part of their brands. Through this process, other forms of agency for women have tended to be excluded. In these magazines women are shown to be assertive, powerful and independent, not through the political views that they hold, not through the way that they act upon society, but through the way that they seduce men and behave sexually. We show, using a number of examples, that for this to happen a fantasy space has to be created: a space where real-world obstacles and meanings are erased, allowing a repertoire of theatrical sexual play to operate. This is typical of the lifestyle society in which we now live. In this society, we define ourselves not on the basis of who we are, in an older sense of gender or social class, but in terms of what we do and the values we hold. The way we communicate these values is often through our use of consumer products, which allows us to align ourselves with the core values and meanings with which the products have been loaded. But while lifestyle itself may be a matter of choice, the choices available to us are often created to serve the interests and needs of large corporations, of consumerism. Sex is one such choice of which we must be very careful.     

Education as an equalizer and challenges to the American Republic

This paper compares the educational system in the United States with those in two other countries. One is Sweden, a developed country that enjoys peace and social tranquility; the other is Iraq, a developing country that is torn by wars and tyrannical political systems. Based on such comparison and while acknowledging historic differences between the three countries, this paper will identify ＂cost of education＂ as a major causal agent in producing two social groups. The first group is a small, elitist cluster emerging as the leading force in all aspects of society and governance; the second group is a larger under-educated cluster, suffering from insufficient resources and forced into marginalization as voiceless, non-productive, non-competitive and expendable segment in society while plagued by poverty, or under unemployment, crime and economic hardship. In recognizing the limitation of access to education by the second group as the primary causal element in such disparity, this paper recommends ＂free access to quality education＂ as a fundamental right for all Americans and as an equalizer in correcting the American regime values in order to remain competitive in challenging.     

加入WTO:我国廉政建设面临的机遇与挑战

加入WTO ,标志着中国社会主义经济建设将完全融入世界经济体系之中。它所产生的影响是多方面的 ,其中不可忽视的是对我党廉政建设和反腐败斗争将产生重大而深远的影响。我们要充分利用加入WTO给廉政建设带来的机遇 ,积极应对挑战 ,探索新时期廉政建设和反腐败斗争的新方法和新途径     

Lights on the shadows of public procurement: Transparency as an antidote to corruption

The increased focus on marketizing mechanisms and contracting‐out operations following the New Public Management reform agenda has sparked a debate on whether the close interactions between public and private actors might drive corruption in the public sector. The main response to those worries has been increased transparency, but so far empirical evidence of its efficiency remains scant and mixed. This article argues that the beneficial effects of transparency on corruption are contingent on type of transparency, and in particular, who the intended receiver of the information is. Drawing on newly collected data of more than 3.5 million government contracts between 2006 and 2015, the analysis shows that overall tender transparency reduces corruption risks substantially, yet that the effect is largely driven by ex ante transparency, that is, transparency that allows for horizontal monitoring by insiders in the bidding process.     

地方政府目标责任考核中存在的问题与政策建议——以陕西省的目标责任考核为例

目标责任考核对陕西省经济和社会的发展起到了很大的推动作用,但在其实施过程中还存在着考核对象分类不尽科学、"目标责任"确定的方式不合理、民意测评形式化、平时考核缺位、考核组织不健全等问题。为充分发挥考核制度的激励作用,应当从对象分类、目标责任设置、平时考核制度建设、考核机制完善等方面采取措施解决考核中存在的问题。     

Broadening Benefits from Natural Resource Extraction: Housing Values and Taxation of Natural Gas Wells as Property

We study the effects of the property tax base shock caused by natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale in Texas—a state that taxes oil and gas wells as property. Over the boom and bust in drilling, housing appreciation closely followed the oil and gas property tax base, which expanded the total tax base by 23 percent at its height. The expansion led to a decline in property tax rates while maintaining or increasing revenues to schools. Overall, each $1 per student increase in the oil and gas property tax base increased the value of the typical home by $0.15. Some evidence suggests that the cumulative density of wells nearby may lower housing values, indicating that drilling could reduce local welfare without policies to increase local public revenues.     

中美签署入世协议：一个影响广阔而深远的战略决策

１９９９年１１月１５日 ,中美签署了关于中国加入世界贸易组织的双边协议。这个振动全球的重大事件 ,对中国来说不仅具有重大的现实意义 ,而且具有深远的历史意义。这不是一个普普通通的决策 ,而是一个影响广阔而深远的战略决策。（一）中美关于中国加入世界贸易组织的谈判拖了１３年。去年４月 ,朱基总理与克林顿总统在华盛顿没有谈成 ,１１月 ,中美两国代表团在北京却谈成了。这是为什么？中美两国政府和领导人 ,特别是江泽民主席和克林顿总统从发展中美关系的战略高度出发 ,非常重视这一谈判。中美两国发表的新闻公报指出 :“中美两国…     

试论社会主义义利观

树立社会主义义利观是社会主义精神文明建设和物质文明建设的需要.社会主义义利观必须坚持义利统一的价值导向.     

Canadian Abortion Policy: National Policy and the Impact of Federalism and Political Implementation on Access to Services

The Canada Health Act requires provinces and territories toprovide medically necessary services and to provide equal accessto such services. Since 1995, the governing Liberal Party hasissued statements indicating that it views abortion servicesas medically necessary services. Yet the operation of healthdelivery systems in Canada is primarily reserved for the provincesand territories. Provincial and territorial access to abortionservices is significantly affected by bottom-up political implementation,where national policy is often undermined and "trumped" by thepolitics and pressures operative within provincial and territorialpolitical systems and by other intense interest group pressures.     

"效率优先,兼顾公平":历史与现实之评述

13年前中共十四届三中全会提出的“效率优先,兼顾公平,”其实质体现的是新旧体制的转换,是用机会均等的公平观对结果均等的公平观的取代。这一提法具有很强的历史和现实合理性。在实践中,我们存在的问题是没有认真落实“兼顾公平”。目前,为了解决严重的分配不公,我们必须更加重视公平。但在很长历史时期,作为战略方针的“效率优先”不能因目前更加重视公平的潮流而牺牲掉。可以说,以经济发展为基础,在效率与公平之间保持适度关系,应当是我们寻找社会主义市场经济体制下制度化分配的指导思想。     

如何优化政治运行机制?--兼评介施九青著《当代中国政治运行机制》

施九青的<当代中国政治运行机制>具有重大理论创新意义和应用价值.它开创性地提出了构建"纵横四位一体"("纵",即中央、省地市县乡、基层单位、个人;"横",即政党、国家政权、社会团体、经济文化组织)的政治运行机制体系的设想.在当代中国,完善、优化政治运行机制,核心问题是理顺民权、政权、党权的关系,克服苏联模式的弊端,实行党政分开、政企分开,既坚持又完善共产党的领导,进一步发挥多党合作与人民政协的作用,真正实现人民当家作主.