My Business Pays Me: Labourers and Entrepreneurs Among the Self–Employed Poor in Latin America

Are the independent economic activities of poor people “petty commodity production”—an informal way to earn a subsistence wage? Or are they “microentrepreneurship”, a launching point for capital accumulation and growth? This paper draws on fieldwork in Bolivia, Peru and Guatemala, focusing specifically on the poorest businesses. In–depth interviews indicate that even the smallest–scale producers, merchants and service providers have goals of “improving” their business and “growing” their capital, not unlike their capitalist counterparts. Yet, while growth is desirable, maintaining one's business as a steady source of income is a sufficient achievement for many. Poor self–employed people are both “labourers” and “entrepreneurs”; the key macro–level question becomes, not “Do petty–commodity producers have different goals than capitalist entrepreneurs”, but “What resources are lacking, and what obstacles exist, that keep many microentrepreneurs in low–yield activities, with little opportunity to grow their resources?”     

PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR SEXUAL,REPRODUCTIVE, AND PARENTING RIGHTS: AN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Despite important gains in human rights, persons with disabilities — and in particular women and girls with disabilities — continue to experience significant inequalities in the areas of sexual, reproductive, and parenting rights. Persons with disabilities are sterilized at alarming rates; have decreased access to reproductive health care services and information; and experience denial of parenthood. Precipitating these inequities are substantial and instantiated stereotypes of persons with disabilities as either asexual or unable to engage in sexual or reproductive activities, and as incapable of performing parental duties. The article begins with an overview of sexual, reproductive, and parenting rights regarding persons with disabilities. Because most formal adjudications of these related rights have centered on the issue of sterilization, the article analyzes commonly presented rationales used to justify these procedures over time and across jurisdictions. Next, the article examines the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the attendant obligations of States Parties regarding rights to personal integrity, access to reproductive health care services and information, parenting, and the exercise of legal capacity. Finally, the article highlights fundamental and complex issues requiring future research and consideration.     

Conditional openness: young people define practices for successful child protection interventions

Taking the reforms of child protection legislation that have occurred since the 1980s as a backdrop, this paper considers young people’s perspectives on the factors that facilitated their engagement with child protection services and the barriers they perceived to effective service delivery. Drawing on findings from a New Zealand study of young people’s experience of multiple service use (child protection, mental health, youth justice and remedial education), the paper identifies that that rather than being ‘resistant’ or ‘hostile’ to statutory child protection intervention, young people reported a ‘conditional openness’. This conditional openness was characterised by three themes: communication; continuity and consistency; and contextual and cultural responsiveness. Interventions with these characteristics activated this conditional openness allowing effective interventions to occur. Using a series of case studies, comprising interviews and agency case file records; the paper considers the experiences of 109 young people (12–17 years) as well as those of the ‘person most knowledgeable;’ an adult nominated by young people because they knew the young person’s situation well.     

Emerging Directions in Public Sector Management in New South Wales

This article describes some of the changes taking place within the NSW public sector to enable it to meet efficiently the future demands of a diverse community. It features a range of major reforms that are under way across legislative, administrative and financial frameworks to enhance the sector's ability to cope with technological advances and enhance service delivery.     

Nothing to spare : by Jan Carter, 237 pages. Penguin Books, Australia. Price, Aus. $6.95

When attempting to establish women's studies courses within institutions of higher education, women face a traditional power structure designed to obstruct movements for change. Four factors relevant to a power analysis of this situation are status, concrete resources, expertise and self-confidence. These factors are defined and examined in relation to the fight to establish women's studies courses. Within this background the issue of men as ‘patrons’ as teachers and as students, and the fact of women's anger are examined. Many arguments forwarded by conservative patriarchal institutions are discussed. The paper emerges from the experiences of the author in three universities. It is aimed at clarifying some of the traps set for women so that other women can eliminate any fears that their experiences are idiosyncratic or ‘their fault’ rather than part of a formalized power game.