Child-rearing practices and attitudes of working and full-time mothers

Mothers who wish to work are faced with the double burden of paid employment and childcare. They also have to confront the widely held view that ‘a woman's place is in the home’ and the prevailing popular opinion that a mother who also works outside the home is somehow harming her child. Previous research has shown little evidence that maternal employment disadvantages children.The present study, a comparison of the child-rearing practices and attitudes of a group of working (both full- and part-time) and a group of full-time mothers of 4 year olds, reveals few significant differences between the two groups. Mothers in paid employment differ in only one child-rearing practice: they place greater stress on table manners.However, a number of significant attitudinal differences emerged between the two groups of mothers: working mothers found their child rearing more pleasurable, their relationship with the child was better and the child was more likely to be described as happy and contented. Working mothers were rated warmer, higher in self-esteem and less anxious about their child rearing. Husbands of working mothers were more likely and more willing to participate in childcare and were rated as having a more affectionate relationship with the child. Overall, the results of the study are strongly supportive of the aspirations of the growing number of women who wish to combine work and motherhood.     

Social capacity,sustainable development,and older people: Lessons from community-based care in Southeast Asia

While gender has become a central factor in development, age and older people are seldom considered, and many organisations assume a top-down, non-participatory model of care - even when these organisations are otherwise engaged in sustainable and participatory development. This paper looks at how older people have been involved in sustainable community-based care efforts in Southeast Asia, and argues that the key factor for project success is the building of 'social capacity' - the ability of a social group or community to function and care for its older members - which depends on the strategic approach to participation taken by the project.     

Development of an Audit Tool to Evaluate the Documentation of Partner Abuse Assessments within a Provincial Emergency Department: An Exploratory Study

The aim of this study was to develop a clinically valid and reliable audit tool that evaluates the assessment documentation of females presenting to the emergency department following an assault secondary to partner abuse. A 5-step process informed by a quality improvement approach was used to develop the tool and good inter-rater reliability was achieved. The tool developed has wide utility in services implementing family violence intervention in which nurses have a key role.     

Policing Race,Gender, and Sex: A Review of Law Enforcement Policies

Growing attention to the unique ways in which women of color’s bodies are racially profiled and policed has prompted questions concerning gender-specific impacts of law enforcement practices. Arrest statistics, patterns of enforcement, and high-profile cases of police violence against Black women and other women of color suggest that gaps in policy and implementation will disproportionately affect women of color. In the current research, the policies of 36 police departments across the country were examined to ascertain the degree to which they address profiling, police sexual misconduct, and other gendered experiences of policing. The findings reveal considerable divergence in attention to regulating police behavior in the context of interactions with women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, exposing important gaps in police policies, and highlight a need for further research and action specifically focused on intersectional factors at play in the context of policing women’s bodies.     

State Policies Affecting Cities and Counties in 1991: Shifting Federalism

States experienced considerable fiscal distress in 1991 as the recession led to widespread revenue shortfalls. In this environment, discretionary spending did not fare well. This article discusses five major policy areas: (1) state financial aid; (2) major changes in the "sorting out" of responsibilities between the state and local governments; (3) revenue diversification; (4) changes in limitations imposed on local taxes; and (5) new mandates handed down to cities and counties.     

Policy-making for the long term: the need to do more

Abstract. The government task of public policy-making has been growing substantially over three decades both in size and complexity. It will continue to do so. It is relevant to assess performance, taking account of the rule that even successful policies must be changed because the environment in which they work changes. This is illustrated in the areas of full employment and greater income security policies which now seem to entail endemic inflation. This in sight is underlined by Forrester's concept of the ‘counter-intuitive’ behavior of systems. Michael puts us on warning, too, that futures planning is handicapped not only by what we do not know, but by uncertainty as to what we need to know. The dimensions of the task of public lawmaking suggest a need for more effort on public policy research. This effort should be inter-disciplinary. It should be aimed far enough ahead in time to permit Useful work to be done and the results to be appraised and it should aim at seeing not only the early consequences, but also the longer-run results of policy actions. Sommaire. La responsabilité gouvernementale d'établir des politiques publiques a pris beaucoup d'ampleur au cow des trente dernières années, quantitativement et du point de vue de la complexité des décisions. Cette tendance ne fera que s'accentuer. Il est donc nécessaire d'évaluer les performances en acceptant comme prémisse qu'il faut éventuellement modifier les politiques même satisfaisantes parce que le milieu dans lequel elles s'appliquent ne reste pas le même. On peut en donner comme exemple les politiques contre le chômage et en faveur d'une plus grande sécurité du revenu qui semblent avoir entraîné une inflation endémique. Cette constatation se retrouve dam le concept de Forrester con-cernant “le comportement contre-intuitif” des systèmes. Michael nous avertit aussi du fait que c planification de l'avenir est gênée, non seulement par ce que nous ne savons pas, mais aussi par notre incertitude quant à ce que nous devrions savoir. Les dimensions même des politiques publiques demandent que l'on intensifie la recherche dans ce domaine. Cet effort devrait être inter-disciplinaire, il devrait être entrepris suffisamment longtemps à l'avance pour permettre de faire du travail utile, les résultats obtenus devraient être évalués et on devrait, en plus des conséquences dans la conjoncture, s'occuper de celles qu'entraîne à long terme l'application des politiques adoptées.