Who Wants to Work for the Government?

In an era when everyone wants to be a millionaire, governments struggle to attract and retain highly qualified employees, making it more important than ever to understand what attracts people to the public service. Using contingency table analysis and logistic regression on the 1989 and 1998 General Social Surveys, we explore how individuals' demographic characteristics and the importance they place on various job qualities influence their preference for and employment in the public sector. Job security may still be the strongest attraction of government jobs, but high income and the opportunity to be useful to society also attract some Americans to the public service. Minorities, veterans, Democrats, and older Americans preferred public-sector jobs more than whites, nonveterans, Republicans, and younger Americans, who were otherwise similar. Women and college graduates were more likely than comparable men and less-educated respondents to have government jobs, but no more likely to prefer them. Overall, desire for government jobs declined markedly between 1989 and 1998.     

STR Data for the AmpFlSTR Identifiler loci in three ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian) of the Malaysian population

Allele frequencies for the 15 STR loci in the AmpFlSTR Identifiler kit were determined and compared for the three main ethnic groups of the Malaysian population comprising 210 Malays, 219 Chinese and 209 Indians. Blood was placed on FTA paper and DNA was purified in-situ.     

Women and Asylum: A Particular Social Group

This note examines the judgement of the House of Lords in the cases of Islam andShah, particularly with regard to their conclusion that women in Pakistan who were victims of domestic violence and not protected by their state could qualify as members of a particular social group under the Geneva Convention, and therefore attain refugee status. The note considers the Refugee Women's Legal Group's Gender Guidelines for the Determination of Asylum Claims in the U.K. and discusses the problems faced by women who claim refugee status. Finally, the conceptualisation of domestic violence as a political issue and therefore a matter falling within the scope of the Convention issue is analysed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mainstreaming: A case for optimism and cynicism

This paper seeks to evaluate the concept of mainstreaming against a range of feminist critiques of laws and legal systems and to examine the case for the pursuit of feminist politics through mainstreaming strategies. It begins, in section two, by identifying theme sin existing mainstreaming literature, and then in section three considers the potential of mainstreaming to tackle the causes o fine quality. In particular it questions whether mainstreaming can address the patriarchal nature of laws and legal systems and the essentialising tendencies of law, and whether mainstreaming can effectively tackle market-driven inequality. A final section considers the conditions under which feminists might consider engagement with mainstreaming and the limits of such strategies.