High Level Of Ambition Research Articles

When the Spirit Blooms: Acquiring Higher Education in the Context of Welfare Reform

ABSTRACT Established within a political context greatly influenced by stereotypical assumptions of impoverished women of color, welfare reform codified a work-first philosophy meant to attack perceived “dependency” and spur “self-sufficiency.” This article describes the shortcomings of the work-first approach and highlights the importance of higher education for helping women, and especially women of color, achieve economic well-being. It then reports key findings from a study that examines the impact of higher education on the lives of welfare participants in California. Utilizing a mix of surveys, focus groups, and personal interviews, this study finds that despite the challenges associated with balancing parenthood, college-level coursework, and the bureaucratic demands of welfare reform, the stereotypical notions of the “welfare queen” do not apply. Instead, study participants exhibited a high level of ambition, persistence, determination, and hard work in pursuit of their educational ambitions; and in the process, improved their lives and the lives of their children.

Attitudinal Barriers to Women's Career Progression in Accounting in Australia

The literature on women's career progression in the professions has suggested a number of categories of factors that may explain the observed gender differences. This study uses data from a survey of Australian accountants to show the extent of differences between male and female accountants in their attitudes towards their careers. There are some differences between the genders in their ideas about requirements for promotion (although these are generally small) and in aspects of job satisfaction. Males aged more than 30 have higher levels of ambition and place more emphasis on career planning than do females over 30.

Political Unionism and the Corporatist Thesis

The notion of corporatism enjoys wide acceptance as an alternative to pluralist analyses of political processes in the West and as a way of imputing conservative functions to the more developed union movements that involve themselves in public policy and economic management. In both instances, the corporatist thesis rests on ahistorical functionalist assumptions and even fails to make out its claim to be an alternative to pluralism. Union involvement in public policy and economic decisionmaking is better understood in terms of unionism's historical maturation and higher levels of ambition in asserting wage-earner interests in economic life, factors that make them harbingers of radical change.

Ten-year experience of insulin treatment in gestational diabetes.

Between 1975-1984, 119 women with gestational diabetes (GDM) were treated with insulin in Uppsala, representing a mean yearly incidence of 4.5/1,000 pregnancies. Women with GDM were older and more obese than the general pregnant population. Insulin treatment was instituted during a 5-7 day stay in hospital. The mean total daily dose of insulin prepartum, when fasting blood glucose had been normalized, was 53 (SD +/- 25) units (34 +/- 15 units of rapid-acting and 20 +/- 11 units of medium-acting insulin), divided into two doses daily. Mean duration of treatment was 6.4 weeks. The perinatal mortality was 0.8%, compared with 7.4% in previous pregnancies in the same women. The perinatal morbidity was generally mild and included hypoglycaemia (10.9%), hyperbilirubinaemia requiring treatment (2.5%), shoulder dystocia (2.5%) and one case of mild respiratory distress syndrome. The rate of macrosomia was reduced in the present pregnancies compared with previous ones in the women with GDM, but not abolished completely, probably because of too short a duration of improved metabolic control. Spontaneous delivery was favoured and the rate of Caesarean section was 13.5%. Thus, treatment with high doses of insulin in an unselected group of women with GDM is feasible. Normal perinatal mortality, reduced macrosomia, and no gross perinatal morbidity was found in the infants. Though the extent to which insulin treatment per se contributed to the favourable outcome is difficult to assess, it is suggested that the case for a high level of ambition for metabolic normalization in GDM should be a subject of further study.