Symbolic reform in France: Egalite professionnelle during the Mitterrand years

This article examines the 1983 égalité professionnelle law adopted under the Socialist government. Using a policy process approach, the analysis shows how the 1983 law failed to go beyond symbolic reform in policy formulation and implementation. In symbolic policy the outcome fails both to effectively reallocate resources and to generate policy feedback. The article concludes that while symbolic policy in the case of égalité professionnelle brought public attention to problems of gender discrimination in employment it failed to generate a permanent policy community, inside and outside of government, interested in the enforcement of programmes from the 1983 law.     

Reversal of migration in the labor reserves of Zimbabwe? Prospects for change

Changing patterns of migration in Zimbabwe over time are reviewed, with particular reference to rural-urban migration and the government's efforts to slow out-migration from rural areas. The author notes that the recently established resettlement schemes are achieving a level of success in lowering rates of out-migration. However, he also observes that adequate credit for the purchase of equipment and cattle is necessary if out-migration is to be reduced.     

Comparing the Social Service Utilization, Exposure to Violence, and Trauma Symptomology of Domestic Violence Female “Victims” and Female “Batterers”

Although some authors have suggested that women batterers may really be self-defending victims, to date, no research has been initiated to empirically support this assertion. This paper describes the design and outcomes of a research project that investigated the similarities and differences between women adjudicated as domestic violence batterers and women identified as domestic violence victims. Findings indicated group similarities in the areas of exposure to violence and social service utilization. Although both groups reported high levels of trauma symptomology, victim scores were significantly higher.     

Constitutional authority and prospects for social justice for high-tension religious communities

By regulating religious practice, the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment challenges the authority of religious communities who may not have adopted American pluralism in favor of their own religious particularism. While the power of the Constitution is manifested in physical modes, its historic symbolic and socially constructed meaning elevates it as a competing transcending authority that challenges religious communities. Often labeled American civil religion, this authority either coerces non-mainstream religious communities to adopt modes of religious expression that mirror those of the dominant culture, or requires them to adopt a strategy for coping with its overwhelming social and political power. The Constitution's mechanism for guaranteeing religious free exercise thus serves as a method to limit religious particularism by coercing limited cultural orthodoxy through legal orthopraxy.Teach the [Constitution's] principles, teach them to your children, speak of them when sitting in your home, speak of them when walking by the way, when lying down and when rising up, write them upon the doorplate of your home and upon your gates. John Quincy AdamsRepeated by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger (Franklin, 1987). The passage is a slight alteration of Deuteronomy 6:7–9.     

The Vision of Federal Financial Management

This article provides a definition of what "good financial management" means in the respective local, state, and federal arenas and highlights some successful efforts of financial management improvement. Furthermore, eight evaluative criteria for assessing financial management performance developments are suggested and illustrated through current federal examples.     

Investigating the Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Risk-Propensity in Black/African-American Women

This study explored the relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Risk-Propensity in African-American women. An anonymous questionnaire was completed by a community based sample of 200 African American women with a varied history of intimate partner violence, to determine whether being in a violent relationship impacts HIV risk. Various statistical techniques, including structural equation modeling (SEM), bivariate correlation analyses and ANOVA were used to examine the data. A strong positive correlation was found to exist between sexual coercion and Intimate Partner Violence. In the effort to fortify prevention strategies, and reduce the rates of HIV infection in African-American women, additional factors that impact disease transmission were discussed. Implications for social work/mental health practice and suggestions for future research were made.