The Glass Ceiling Revisited: Determinants of Federal Job Advancement

Using the results of a recent survey of federal employees and focus groups of the same population, this article extends previous research on the existence of a glass ceiling in the federal bureaucracy. Even when controlling for differences between the sexes in human capital factors, work habits, work opportunities, and personal circumstances, women who have been in the federal bureaucracy from zero to 10 years and from 20 to 30 years have not advanced in their professions as successfully as have men. In contrast to and departing from previous research, there is little evidence that a glass ceiling has been experienced among women who have worked in the bureaucracy between 10 and 20 years. Additional findings consistent with past literature include the fact that among women who have faced gender-based barriers, those who chose to have children during their careers have been especially disadvantaged. We conclude that the glass ceiling on the federal level, where apparent, has been multidimensional and quite subtle.     

西方青少年的反社会行为问题

各种研究结果显示,年轻的罪犯,尤其是经常犯罪的年轻人,有心理障碍的比例较高.Gunn等人(1991)发现,有1/3年龄在16-18岁之间被判有罪的男孩被诊断有心理障碍.……     

A Reconceptualisation of the Antecedents of Party Activism: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Leading researchers are questioning the continued use of competitive model testing to explain participation within British political parties. This paper argues that difficulties with this approach have not arisen out of the use of model testing per se , but because of the shortcomings of the models currently in use. A multidisciplinary approach towards accounting for participation exposes some of the theoretical and analytical shortcomings in previous research into political party members, and identifies relevant factors underlying participation that merit investigation in greater detail. In particular, analytical frameworks derived from the disciplines of marketing, nonprofit management and organisational behaviour provide appropriate and robust instruments for measuring factors underlying participation that are generally ignored in the political science literature. Alternative models comprising appropriately theorized variables drawn from a number of disciplines are presented, and the implications of a multidisciplinary approach towards explaining party activism are discussed.     

Reviews

Imaginary Company

Jennifer Scanlon, Inarticulate Longings: The ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture, London: Routledge, 1995, £40, £12.99 (pbk.).

Penny Tinkler, Constructing Girlhood: Popular Magazines for Girls Growing Up in England, 1920–1950, London: Taylor &; Francis, 1995, £38, £12.95 (pbk.).

Reading for Wifehood

Kate Flint, The Woman Reader, 1837–1914, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, £25.

Literary Companions

Betty Rizzo, Companions without Vows: Relationships among Eighteenth‐Century British Women, Athens, GA and London: University of Georgia Press, 1994, $55.00.

Women's History Repeats Itself

Rene Denfeld, The New Victorians: A Young Woman's Challenge to the Old Feminist Order, London: Simon &; Schuster, 1995, £16.99.     

Unconscious Bias Training: The ‘Silver Bullet’ for Gender Equity?

Western Governments concerned about the lack of gender equity in their workforces are increasingly seeking to address the negative effects of unconscious biases on employment decisions to counter the effects of hidden prejudices. Although unconscious bias has received limited attention in the human resource literature, social psychology literature has identified inadequacies with this practice, including that such training may entrench and normalise unconscious biases. We argue that the popularity of unconscious bias training invites agencies to view this practice as a ‘silver bullet’ to achieve gender equity, but that its effectiveness is likely to be limited unless accompanied by sustained interventions to address discrimination. Further, the impacts of unconscious bias training need to be rigorously evaluated to assess whether government resources are being effectively utilised. Consistent with international research, such an evaluation may reveal that unconscious bias training has unintended negative consequences, but that the training can be improved to reduce these consequences.