Female volunteers: An asset to the reproductive health sector in rural Cambodia

The results of a field study examined in this article show the remarkable success of a reproductive health education and community outreach project in Cambodia that has been implemented by the Ministry of Women's and Veterans' Affairs since 1995, both in terms of levels of volunteer activity and in terms of the impact of the project on increased knowledge and practice in reproductive health issues among the target population. A key to the project's success appears to be its adherence to principles identified, but seldom practised, such as a strong commitment to capacity building at all levels.     

‘red tips for hot lips’: advertising cigarettes for young women in Britain, 1920-70

The girl or woman smoker is a twentieth-century phenomenon. In 1900, smoking was invariably associated with sexually deviant womanhood. Today, smoking is firmly, if contentiously, established as a feminine practice in British society. This article examines one aspect of the twentieth-century feminisation of smoking in Britain, namely, the ways in which smoking practices have been presented as appropriate for young women in the period 1920-70. Advertisements featured in magazines for young women aged 15-29 years have been chosen as a particularly apt medium through which to explore some of the ways in which cigarettes and smoking practices have been delineated and infused with meaning. These advertisements constituted a discourse for the circulation of messages about the relationship of women to cigarettes. Findings reveal a number of shifts in cigarette advertisements featured in Women's magazines from 1920 to 1970. Firstly, during the 1930s and early 1940s, advertisements were, in contrast to later counterparts, preoccupied with establishing smoking as a feminine practice. Key to processes by which smoking was feminised were various mechanisms whereby the cigarette was depicted as part of the presentation of a heterosexual identity and where smoking practices were embedded in heterosexual relations and rituals. Secondly, there was a discernible shift in the way women were addressed by advertisements, from potential women smokers in the 1930s to more general consumers in the 1960s. Thirdly and relatedly, the significance attached to women smoking changed between 1920 and 1970. In the 1930s, smoking was utilised to signify that women were ‘modern’; in the period 1960-70, smoking served to indicate that women were recognised, and accorded status, as consumers     

Parental choice of primary school: the legal implications and parental perceptions

This article gives an overview of the rules that apply to school admissions and the operation of parental preference in particular. It reports on a piece of empirical research into parental perceptions of their ‘rights’ and comments upon the legal implications of the limitations of parental choice     

Literary feminism

Susan Sheridan, Christina Stead, Key Women Writers, (Harvester Wheatsheaf). Hemel Hempstead, 1988; Janet Todd, Feminist Literary History, (Routledge), New York, 1988; Jane Heath, Simone de Beauvoir, Key Women Writers, (Harvester Wheatsheaf), Hemel Hempstead, 1989; Linda Kauffman, (ed.), Gender and Theory: Dialogues on Feminist Criticism, (Basil Blackwell), New York, 1989; Patricia Waugh, Feminine Fictions: Revisiting the Postmodern, (Routledge), London, 1989.     

Where Have All the Women (and Men) Gone? Reflections on Gender and the Second Palestinian Intifada

The authors ground their reflections on gender and the complex realities of the second Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation in the political processes unleashed by the signing of the Israeli–Palestinian rule, noting that the profound inequalities between Israel and Palestine during the interim period produced inequalities among Palestinians. The apartheid logic of the Oslo period – made explicit in Israel's policies of separation, seige and confinement of the Palestinian population during the intifada and before it – is shown to shape the forms, sites and levels of resistance which are highly restricted by gender and age. In addition, the authors argue that the Palestinian Authority and leadership have solved the contradictions and crisis of Palestinian nationalism in this period through a form of rule that the authors term ‘authoritarian populism’, that tends to disallow democractic politics and participation. The seeming absence of women and civil society from the highly unequal and violent confrontations is contrasted with the first Palestinian intifada (1987–91), that occurred in a context of more than a decade of democratic activism and the growth of mass-based organizations, including the Palestinian women's movement. The authors explore three linked crises in gender roles emerging from the conditions of the second intifada: a crisis in masculinity, a crisis in paternity and a crisis in maternity.     

安琪儿

“在马身上,你希望的和你得到的往往是两回事。”我的丈夫贝尔经常这样对我说,但是产马驹的季节的确是一个充满梦想的季节。当我们开始在我们的农场上养appaloosas(马的一种)时,我就梦想着蓝色的缎带和迫不及待的买主。第一年,几只小appaloosas身上斑斓的色彩把农场打扮成了一个会动的花园。它们的脸上、身上闪动着各色的斑点,如同穿着一件碎花衣裳。     

The prevalence of drugs in injured drivers

In mid 2009 Victoria introduced compulsory drug testing of blood taken from all injured drivers taken to hospital. Δ(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), methylamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methylamphetamine (MDMA) are prohibited and if drivers are positive to any amount an automatic penalty is enforced. Laboratory screens were conducted on preserved blood using ELISA testing for cannabis metabolite and methylamphetamines and a fully validated LC-MS/MS method for 105 drugs including THC, amphetamines, opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants and antipsychotics and a number of other psychoactive substances using a minimum of two transitions per drug. Conventional GC-testing for ethanol was used to screen and quantify the presence of alcohol. 1714 drivers were tested and showed alcohol in 29% (≥ 0.01 g/100mL) and drugs in 35%. The positive rate for the three drugs prohibited by legislation was 12.5%. The prevalence of THC, MA and MDMA was 9.8%, 3.1%, and 0.8%, respectively. The range of THC concentrations in blood was 2-42 ng/mL (median 7) of which 70% had a concentration of 10 ng/mL or higher. The range of concentrations for MA and MDMA was 0.02-0.4 and 0.03-0.3mg/L (median for both drugs was 0.05 mg/L). Drugs of any type were detected in 35% of cases. The other drugs were largely prescribed drugs such as the antidepressants (9.3%) and benzodiazepines (8.9%). Neither 6-acetylmorphine nor cocaine (or benzoylecgonine) was detected in these cases.