Higher Participation Of Women Research Articles

A Study on Integrated Functional Adult Education Program in Pastoral Communities of Jarar Zone: Challenges and Opportunities

The main purpose of this study was to explore opportunities and challenges of integrated functional adult education program in pastoral community of Jarar zone. To achieve the purpose; qualitative research method was employed. For this study, out of nine woredas; three woredas were selected by purposive sampling. For functional adult education centers; four centers were taken by availability sampling. In the study, a total of 97 research respondents were involved. To collect data from each respondent group's; interviews, FGD and class room observation was employed. In addition, to support the findings, documentary analysis was done. Hence, for this study purpose, both primary and secondary data were used. Analysis and interpretation of data was made by using qualitative and narrative approach. Based on the analysis, the study confirmed that; low level of relevance and quality of adult education, unavailability of appropriate organization and structure, lack of qualified facilitators, insufficient financial and material support, poor capacity of implementers, lack of adequate training materials and poor integration of efforts were major challenges of the program. Beside to the challenges, the study also identified opportunities. These were conducive policy direction at country level, practicing of literacy skills by participants, presence of TEC and university, the signing of memorandum of understanding between ministry of education and other sectors, relatively high participation of women's, the establishment of government and NGO forums were the enabling environments. Finally, the study recommended that, greater attention should be paid to the preparation of facilitators guide, teaching materials, learning materials, the region and ministry of education should revise and include life skill contents of pastoral society in the program to make the program responsive to the needs of the community, there should be strong adult education management, coordination and organization structure, the region and woreda education bureaus should stress on the need for training of implementers, the region should develop the culture of consultation with involving partner agencies and there should be a need to integrate the other components of adult education together with literacy.

Demographic challenges for the future business leader: evidence from a Greek survey

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges posed to business leaders from major global demographic changes expected in the workforce composition, such as higher participation of women and more active involvement of elder and more experienced people in the future workforce.Design/methodology/approachThe authors ran a survey among 733 middle managers, focusing on their ideal leadership behavior. The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior project methodology was applied for data collection and analyses.FindingsSeveral significant differences were established in leadership ideals according to gender, age and managerial experience. The differences based on gender had higher practical significance than the ones based on age and experience of the respondents.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper adds up to the pertinent in the implicit leadership approach dialogue over the existence of stable, global and unchanging aspects of leadership.Practical implicationsLeader behaviors traditionally deemed as positive, such as the participative and charismatic/value-based leadership, are shown to be critical for the future business leader. Leadership development in organizations should focus on these two aspects.Social implicationsLeaders who can meet the expectations of diverse groups of people will be able to achieve inclusion of least privileged groups at the business level, leading to higher inclusion at the social, aggregate level.Originality/valueThe paper is the first to explore how documented demographic trends could affect the way that leadership will evolve in the near future.

Involvement of Gynaecologists in Colorectal Cancer Screening

Background and study aims: Primary care physicians play a principal role in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in many countries that are using a two-step program; faecal occult blood test (FOBT)+colonoscopy. In order to improve the screening uptake in the Czech Republic ambulatory gynaecologists in addition to GPs were involved in FOB testing in 2009. Our objective was to describe the contribution of gynaecologists to the provision of CRC screening. Methods: Data reported to health insurance companies and aggregated by the Czech National Reference Centre were used to monitor the screening process. We focused on the coverage by FOBT examination and positive FOBT rate. We describe time trends in the number and proportion of people tested, describe regional variations and show differences according to sex and age. Results: The target population for CRC screening above age 50 in the Czech Republic was 3,955,968 (37.7% of total population) in 2014. The number of all FOBT performed in primary care (by GPs and gynaecologists) increased from 357,893 in 2008 (417,364 - 2009) to 744,015 in 2014. In 2012, the total coverage of the target population was 25.5%; 23% of men and 27.5% of all women and in 2014 30.8%, 28.5% of men and 32.8% of women. In the years 2009, 2012, 2014 the total contribution of gynaecologists was 3.6%, 8% and 6.4% respectively, of all FOBT performed. Overall in the female target population it was 6.2% in 2009 (out of 236987) 13.6% in 2012 (out of 325,631 FOBT) and 11.2% in 2014 (out of 423660), while in the 50-54 age group 24.4% women were screened by gynaecologists in 2012 and 18.9% in 2014. The data showed significant variations between the 14 regions of the country. The overall positivity rate of FOBT has increased from 4.6% in 2009 to 7.2% in the year 2014. Conclusions: The participation of gynaecologists has contributed significantly to the higher participation of women in the real life Czech CRC screening program, particularly in the 50-54 years old age group, nevertheless the key responsibility stays with GPs. This measure is likely to be applicable in health care systems with a network of ambulatory gynaecologists, as is the case in the Czech Republic and in most Central and Eastern European countries.

Urban Planning and Health Inequities: Looking in a Small-Scale in a City of Cape Verde.

BackgroundThe lack of high-quality data to support evidence-based policies continues to be a concern in African cities, which present marked social, economic and cultural disparities that may differently impact the health of the groups living in different urban contexts. This study explores three urban units—formal, transition and informal—of the capital of Cape Verde, in terms of overweight/obesity, cardiometabolic risk, physical activity and other aspects related to the urban environment.MethodsQuantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this intra-urban study. A proportional stratified random sample (n = 1912 adults), based on geographical coordinates of private households, was selected to apply the UPHI-STAT questionnaire. In a second stage (n = 599), local nutritionists collected anthropometric measurements (e.g., height, waist circumference) and body composition by bioelectric impedance (e.g., body weight, body fat, muscle mass). In a third stage, pedometers were used to count study participants’ steps on working and non-working days for one week (n = 118). After a preliminary statistical analysis, a qualitative study was developed to complement the quantitative approach. Generalized linear models, among others, were used in the multivariate analysis.ResultsInsecurity was the main concern among survey respondents in the three units, notwithstanding with significant differences (p < 0.001) among units. About three-quarters (76.6%) of the participants of the informal unit emphasised the need for more security. The formal unit presents an older age structure (61.3% above 40 years old) and the transition unit a younger age structure (only 30.5% above 40 years old). Some health-related variables were analysed in each unit, revealing an excess of chronic conditions reported by inhabitants of informal unit, compared with the formal unit despite the informal unit’s younger age profile. The self-reported hypertension varied significantly among urban units (p < 0.001), with 19.3% in the formal unit, 11.4% in the transition unit and 22.5% in the informal unit. Women of the urban units present significant differences (5% level) for body mass index calculated from self-reported measures (p < 0.001), fat mass (p = 0.005), waist circumference (p = 0.046) and waist-to-height ratio (p = 0.017). For women, overall physical activity was 67.4% (95%CI [64.8,70.0]), with differences among urban units (p = 0.025). For men it was of 85.2% (95%CI [82.3,87.6]), without significant differences among urban units (p = 0.266). The percentage of women and men who reported physical activity in leisure time was discrepant, with 95%CI [22.6, 27.4] and [53.2, 60.2], respectively. The results of pedometers also indicated that men walk significantly more than women (p < 0.001), with a difference of approximately 2000 steps/day.ConclusionsThe data collection process itself also gave us some clues on the involvement of local communities, exploring the potential of social capital of these settings and the role of the woman in family and society in Cape Verde. The higher participation of women and residents of informal unit (the most disadvantaged groups) suggests these as the priority target groups for health promotion campaigns. The link between health planning, urban planning and security of the city needs to be reinforced to minimize health, social and gender inequalities.

Under-representation of women on dental journal editorial boards.

IntroductionEach journal’s editorial and advisory board plays a critical role in resolving gender bias in the peer-review and publication process. Thus, this study aimed to quantify women’s participation in editorial and advisory boards of major dental journals. Gender data on editorial and advisory boards were extracted from major dental journals, which were then categorized by journal specialty focus. The gender of the editor-in-chief and associate editor-in-chief was noted to assess the effect of journal leadership on women’s participation in journal boards. For comparison purposes, data were also obtained regarding the percentage of women faculty for each dental specialty.ResultsOverall, in the major 69 dental journals, 14.8% of editorial board members were women. An one-way ANOVA analysis revealed statistically significant gender differences between journal specialty categories (p = 0.003) with some dental specialties’ journals demonstrating a relatively high participation of women as editorial board members. There was a significant positive correlation for various dental specialties between women’s representation in editorial and advisory boards and women in similar dental academic specialties (p = 0.02, r2 = 0.55). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the presence of women in journal editorial leadership and the percentage of women serving as advisory board members (p = 0.03). Our results confirmed that the under-representation of women on dental journal editorial boards was significantly different between dental science specialties. When there were more women in journal editorial leadership positions, there was a higher participation of women as editorial and advisory board members. Journals should increase the numbers of women on editorial boards in order to secure diversity, improve publication quality and recognize women’s contribution to dental science.

Gender Diversity in the Boardroom. Context and Spanish Case

Gender Diversity in the Boardroom. Context and Spanish Case

MGNREGS: Employer of Last Resort A Special Reference to the Kerala

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted on 23rd of August 2005 and got presidential assent on 5th of September 2005 expressing the consensus of the State to use fiscal and legal instruments to address the challenges of unemployment and poverty. Today the problem of unemployment is the single largest puzzle of Kerala which is the highest unemployment rate among the states of India which accounts 25.5 percent. But most of the unemployed are educated. The worsening unemployment situation is obviously related to the inability of the economy of the State to generate any fresh employment during the last decade. While this phenomenon of “Jobless Growth” is observable in all the States in the country, the situation in Kerala appears to be particularly distressing because most of the labour intensive/labour absorbing traditional industries depending on exports is facing a survival crisis in the liberalized trade environment. Unemployment and under employment among workers in traditional sectors are indeed of major concerns. The significance of MGNREGA lies in the fact that it creates a right- based framework for wage employment programmes and makes the Government legally accountable for providing employment to those who ask for it. In this way, the legislation goes beyond providing a social safety net towards guaranteeing the right to employment. In Kerala, the program was initiated in February 2006 in the rural areas of two districts – Palakkad and Wayanad. The programme was extended to Kasaragod and Idukki by February, 2007 in second phase and to the remaining 10 districts by January 2009 in third phase. This programme came to be known as a Kerala State Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The responsibility has been assigned primarily to Local-Self Governments. Despite high levels of unemployment in Kerala, the high levels of literacy mean that unemployed men are educated and even though many men signed up initially and had job cards made, they do not want to do unskilled manual work and therefore have not applied for work on the scheme. While women too are educated they have not felt it to be below their dignity and in fact women frequently said that NREGA work, being 'government work', gave them a higher status. There are several constraints which hinder the effective implementation like difficulty in identification of sufficient number of projects, lack of staff at Gram Panchayat level, lack of participation of male members, lack of provisions for undertaking schemes require material and skilled labour cost , lack of awareness among various stakeholders , lack of capacity among the supervisors and monitors, reluctance in collaborating with the NGO sector in the state, lack of cooperation and collaboration between the project staff and Panchayat functionaries at various levels, lack of interest among the elected representatives, etc. This paper analyse the performance of employment generated by MGNREGS in kerala, participation of under privileged class like SCs, STs and women and analyse various issues related with this programme in Kerala. The notable feature of this scheme is high participation of women which constitute about 90 percent that is why this programme is also known ‘Women Programme’.

The academic jungle: ecosystem modelling reveals why women are driven out of research

The number of women studying science and engineering at undergraduate and postgraduate levels has increased markedly in recent decades. However females have lower retention rates than males in these fields, and perform worse on average than men in terms of promotion and common research metrics. Two key differences between men and women are the larger role that women play in childcare and house work in most families, and the narrower window for female fertility. Here we explore how these two factors affect research output by applying a common ecological model to research performance, incorporating part‐time work and the duration of career prior to the onset of part‐time work. The model parameterizes the positive feedback between historical research output (i.e. track record) and current output, and the minimum threshold below which research output declines. We use the model to provide insight into how women (and men) can pursue a career in academia while working part‐time and devoting substantial time to their family. The model suggests that researchers entering a tenure track (teaching and research) role part‐time without an established track record in research will spend longer in the early career phase compared to full‐time academics, researchers without teaching commitments, and those who were beyond the early career phase prior to working part‐time. The results explain some of the mechanisms behind the observed difference between male and female performance in common metrics and the higher participation of women in teaching‐focussed roles. Based on this analysis, we provide strategies for researchers (particularly women) who want to devote substantial time to raising their families while still remaining engaged with their profession. We also identify how university leaders can enable part‐time academics to flourish rather than flounder. In particular, we demonstrate that careless application of metrics is likely to further reduce female participation in research, and so reduce the pool of talent available.

Mokslininkių karjera tiksliuosiuose moksluose ir šeima: pasirinkimas ar dermė?

... Jai antrajame kurse vadovo buvo pasakyta [...], kad tu turi apsispręsti, ar gimdysi vaikus, ar užsiimsi mokslu.Docentė socialinių mokslų (edukologijos) daktarė Vilniaus universiteto Edukologijos katedra Universiteto g. 9/1, LT-01513 Vilnius Analizuojant teisės aktus, statistikos duomenis ir literatūros šaltinius, išryškinamas moterų trūkumas tiksliuosiuose moksluose, ypač aukštose akademinėse pozicijose. Remiantis kokybinio tyrimo „Moterų tiksliuosiuose1 moksluose ir aukštosiose technologijose karjera“ respondentų atsakymų apie šeimos ir mokslinės veiklos derinimą turinio analize, iškeliamos kliūtys moterų mokslinei karjerai.

Diverse thoughts on diversity in physics

Malcom replies: Ken Rideout has made some perceptive comments in his letter: The initial tendency for most of us who serve as faculty is to teach as we are taught. He recognized that in doing so, he was rewarding poor problem-solving techniques, thus hurting all students, the female students who were frustrated and the male students whose bad habits were reinforced. There is no substitute for good teaching, no matter the sex of the teacher. Would that other faculty were similarly concerned when otherwise intelligent people are unsuccessful in their classes. But the tendency in education all too often is to blame the students rather than also to consider the quality of instruction.Nicholas Nicholas misreads my intent. Taken a different way, when a field looks so unlike the population of students from which it draws, the field itself needs to consider where problems might lie. My children also attended Maryland suburban high schools; both daughters took physics. Fortunately, the teacher was good, and both emerged still liking physics, though the liking expressed itself in different directions. I concur that bad teaching can kill interest of all but the most determined students. I do not argue for proportional representation. Yet I wonder, as white males’ proportion of the overall student population dwindles, will physics shrink into a smaller pool, fated to see continued decline? Or will the discipline try to access talent in untapped pools by actually competing for it?In many historically black colleges and universities, the number of African American physics majors is increasing. Other countries have higher participation of women in physics than the US. Women receive more than 25% of the physics PhDs in Turkey and France, for example, compared with around 15% in this country. What do they know that we don’t know? And what do they do that we don’t do?Kristofer Gryte also misreads my intent. I believe that the current structure of physics education and of the physics community has created the field’s demographics. It is hard to argue that some populations “might be geared”—a euphemism indeed—toward physics when they do not have full opportunity to explore the possibilities, to study, to experience, and to consider careers in physics-related fields. Such euphemisms suggest predispositions (nature) that don’t reside in the gene pool. Rather they emerge through teaching and learning (nurture) that supports the curiosity in all of us about how our world works.I will not take on the larger issue of “field chauvinism,” since I believe that many concepts in physics are exceedingly accessible, even to young children.We need to go after the problem areas. I do not think physics should be a high-school elective. I agree with Nobel laureate Leon Lederman that it should probably be the first high-school science course and that the teaching of physics concepts should begin in pre-kindergarten.Gryte mistakenly pits equity against excellence. Gender-free and colorblind considerations can only be achieved by first taking both gender and color into account. Excellence and equity are inextricably linked; they rise and fall together no matter how much we wish it otherwise. If they fall, physics—and the publics it serves—loses.© 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Women in computing programs

Despite the fact that demand for employees with skills in computing still exceeds supply, there has been a steady decline in the number of women entering and graduating from computer science programs. Many attempts have been made to remedy the situation. A recurrent theme for both engineering and computer science programs is that programs can be made more attractive to women if they place a greater emphasis on applications of the technology. To date, most of the research on the under-representation of women has been conducted on computer science programs, and ignores the fact that many students enter the IT workplace with degrees in Information Systems (IS) or Information Technology (IT). Moreover, programs in IS and IT place a greater emphasis on applications. Given the reported importance of applications for the recruitment and retention of women, one might expect to see a higher participation of women in these programs. Using data obtained from baccalaureate or above institutions within the University System of Georgia, this paper shows that this indeed seems to be the case.

General practitioner based screening for cervical cancer: higher participation of women with a higher risk?

To test the hypothesis that a personal invitation for cervical screening by a woman's own general practitioner (GP) achieves a higher attendance of women with an increased risk for cervical cancer. Two general practices and the local health authority screening programme for cervical cancer, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Attendance rates of women with an increased risk of cervical cancer were compared for two invitation strategies: (a) invitation by the woman's own GP, and (b) invitation by a national call system through the local health authority. Data on risk profiles were gathered by questionnaire. Two hundred and thirty eight women eligible for screening were invited by their GPs (GP group), and 235 women by the local health authority (control group) in 1992. The personal invitation by the GP resulted in an 18% higher overall attendance, and a 28% higher attendance of women with greater risk because of sexual behaviour and smoking. Greater involvement of the GP in inviting women for cervical cancer screening results in a higher attendance, particularly among women with increased risk, than a less personal health authority call system.

Women and eugenics in Britain: The case of Mary Scharlieb, Elizabeth Sloan Chesser, and Stella Browne

Existing literature on eugenics only touches briefly upon the role played by women. This article sets out to examine the reason for the high participation of women in the British eugenics movement by focusing on the role of three individuals in the early part of the twentieth century. It concludes that an important objective of women in eugenics was the 'feminization' of its social agenda.

Unchanging Times: A Comparison of the Everyday Life of Soviet Working Men and Women between 1923 and 1966

The exceedingly high participation of women in the labor force of Soviet Russia makes the nation a very significant subject for the study of the impact of female employment and industrialization on the division of labor in the family. A comparison of Soviet time-budgets from the 1920's and the 1960's shows a continuity in the extent to which employed Soviet women have far more housework and far less free time than their male counterparts. The results are found to be comparable to those from studies undertaken in other nations and are explained from diverse theoretical perspectives. Especially significant may be the middle-class values of (perhaps) recent origin that are evident in Soviet Russia.