Navigating,challenging, and contesting normative gendered discourses surrounding women’s pornography use

While there exists some empirical research on women’s use of pornography, the manner in which women do, and how they understand their pornographic spectatorship, remains under-examined. Focusing on the narratives of 26 women gained through both focus groups and individual interviews, this research explores how women who use pornography and other sexually explicit materials navigate, reaffirm, challenge, and contest normative gendered boundaries that surround women’s sexuality, sexual pleasure, and women’s pornographic use. While ‘pornography as female degradation’ is the most visible feminist discourse, the findings of this study suggest that the meanings attributed to both the experience of engaging with pornography, as well as with pornographic materials themselves, were far from wholly degrading, and in fact, served to provide pleasure, sexual self-actualization, and even corporeal validation – disrupting normative discourses of desiring and desirable bodies.     

Federal Employees’ Job Satisfaction: Does Transformational Leadership Matter? The Case of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Morale among U.S. federal employees has increased but remains low compared to the private sector and in certain agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which has experienced scandal and management challenges, including a crisis of leadership. Using data from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this article examines the influence of transformational leadership (TFL) on job satisfaction/commitment among VA employees. Regression analysis reveals a positive association between satisfaction/commitment and each of the four TFL dimensions, controlling for the other dimensions and sociodemographic characteristics. Employees who perceive leaders as fostering creativity, empowerment, trust/respect, and clear goals/expectations are more satisfied/committed.     

Endorsing empowerment? A critical comparative study of peace education in Jamaica and Peru

Is empowering peace education primarily about providing individuals with skills to respond to violence they experience and capabilities to enhance their own lives? Or is inspiring social transformation to alter forms of injustice that contribute to violence an equally valid and important dimension of an empowering peace education program? This article draws upon the authors’ experiences researching peace education programs implemented by local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in two different contexts: Jamaica and Peru. The basis for comparison is grounded in the discourse key actors in these NGOs utilized in reference to their respective educational initiatives, explicitly emphasizing empowerment for marginalized groups. Using critical qualitative techniques and troubling the idea of ‘empowerment,’ the authors analyze the discourse of empowerment to look beyond explicit truth claims and unveil tacit assumptions regarding the purpose and desired outcomes for the beneficiaries of their respective programs. The authors interrogate what definitions of empowerment – social and/or individual – the program stakeholders envision as well as how they believe such empowerment comes about. The study’s findings contribute to the need to critically unpack the commonly uncritical use of the term ‘empowerment’ as necessarily directed toward addressing social inequalities and altering unjust power relations.     

Political capabilities for democratisation in Uganda: good governance or popular organisation building?

Opinion is divided about the capacity of civil society organisations (CSOs) to enhance the political capabilities of disadvantaged groups in neo-patrimonial contexts, and particularly through a hegemonic paradigm which seeks to advance poverty reduction through good governance. Drawing on a qualitative study of CSOs in western Uganda, this paper argues that strategies focused on increasing the participation of rural citizens in formal decentralised planning spaces may be less effective in enhancing their political capabilities than those facilitating social mobilisation through the formation of producer groups and federations. This has important implications for thinking and practice around popular empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa.     

人工智能时代人才赋能系统构建理论与应用探析

人工智能在人才管理方面的应用越来越普遍，但组织如何发展人才、实现人才的价值，依旧是 人工智能应用探索的关键。人才赋能系统的形成一定程度上为组织人才发展提供了有效智能化工具。本研究在 指出人才赋能系统构建是人工智能时代下人才管理与发展的新机遇的基础上，介绍了人才赋能系统的内涵和理 论基础，并阐述了人才赋能系统的普遍适用性及其在企业人力资源管理中的应用。     

Policies of Gender Equality in Ethiopia: The Transformative Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the question of why does an African country that had more women queens and empresses throughout its history practically than any other African country have the oldest known women queens in Africa, and purports to be committed to gender equality end up undermining its own objectives. The article shows that the focus on integrationist paradigm, an approach which focuses on the participation of women in the existing development paradigm, undermined the transformative nature of gender policy because it does not conceptualize gender parity as an end by itself, but as an instrument for economic progress. Consequently, progress towards gender parity remains to be little-by-little despite the strong political commitment to gender equality. The article concludes that the transformative nature of gender policy has been endangered by emphasis on macroeconomic outcomes, macro-level conceptualization of gender issues, and the limited role of civil society in influencing policy decisions.     

Foreign investment,black economic empowerment and militarised patronage politics in Zimbabwe

This paper seeks to analyse Zimbabwe's economic empowerment policy. It argues that while there is a felt need for Zimbabwe to redress colonially induced injustices and racial imbalances in the ownership of the means of production, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the indigenisation of the economy is fundamentally flawed as it deters investors and may further damage the country's already extremely fragile economy. The implementation of the land reform programme contributed to the decline of Zimbabwe's economy: lessons learnt from the programme and related economic policies of the past 15 years highlight the problems of empowerment policies that are intertwined with patronage politics. The government's negation of basic economic principles and failure to open spaces for critical engagement with all relevant stakeholders epitomises an ill-advised indigenisation and economic empowerment strategy. The policy will not promote and retain foreign investment;nor are there sustainable prospects of internally oriented accumulation strategies on the horizon.     

LEGAL PROFESSIONALS AS TEACHERS OF FOSTER YOUTH: CHANGING EXPECTATIONS AND DEMANDING THE BEST

The foster care system sets low expectations for foster youth, and ultimately the system produces poor results in terms of outcomes. In its unique role, the legal system and its actors have the responsibility and opportunity to change expectations, mentor, and provide a frame work for successful reform using the skills inherent in the practice and study of the law. Importantly, foster youth must be supported and expected to achieve high educational outcomes through goals that are developed in partnership with service providers and professionals like attorneys.     

数字赋能监督:权力监督模式的智能化转型

数字技术的创新驱动、政治生态的监测预警、监督效能的提升需求,为数字赋能监督提供了多重动因。数字赋能监督以实现监督的数据化、规范化、系统化、长效化为目标,致力于实现从"人工操作"费力看到"数据碰撞"智能算、从"亡羊补牢"堵漏洞到"未雨绸缪"早预防、从"单打独斗"发力散到"攥指成拳"合力显、从"闭环管理"仅治标到"稳定持久"重治本的转变。面对数字赋能监督的技术性阻力、结构性掣肘、价值性壁垒等制约因素,可以从前提设置、制度建构、数据采集、平台搭建和效果评估等方面予以突破,注重人工引导与技术制约的调适,实现顶层设计与框架锚定的对接,强化数据孤岛与数据安全的平衡,增进网络空间与实体部门的协同,关注数据表象与数据背后的质效。     

国际发展援助中妇女发展的目标分析——以范式变迁与制度安排为视角

国际发展援助中的妇女发展项目与女性主义的社会性别概念相结合后,妇女发展历经了妇女参与发展(WID)、妇女与发展(WAD)、社会性别与发展(GAD)三种范式的演变。在国际发展援助机构的援助和支持下,妇女发展项目目前已经形成了一系列制度化的安排。